WORLD DETAILS

NAME: Vilis
HEX LOCATION:      Spinward Marches 1119
UWP:               A593394-A
PBG:               820
TRADE CODES:       High population, Industrial
BASES:             Imperial Navy, Imperial Scout Service.
ALLEGIANCE:        Imperial
STELLAR DETAILS:   Primary Star: G5 V     Mass: 0.94    Luminosity: 0.916
                   Binary Star:  M8 D     Mass: 1.11    Luminosity: 0.000003

SATELLITE DETAILS: Number: 2
                   Satellite 1: UWP:Y200000-0, Orbit: 5
                   Satellite 2: UWP:Y200000-A, Orbit: 25

SIZE RELATED DETAILS
Basic World Type: Planet - Molten core
Diameter: 8,000 km     Density: 0.96  World Mass: 0.234    World Gravity: 0.6 G
Orbit Period: 346.43 Std Days         Distance: 1.0 AU     Eccentricity: 0.005
Rotation Period: 14.589 Std Hours     Axial Tilt:  23°     Seismic Stress Factor: 2.586

ATMOSPHERIC RELATED DETAILS
Composition: Standard O₂-N₂ mix, with sulphur taint.
Surface Pressure: 2.0 Std             Mean Temp:  54.5°C   Native Life: No
Terraforming - Atmospheric: No        Albedo: No           Greenhouse Effect: No
Weather Control: Yes

HYDROSPHERE RELATED DETAILS
Composition: Liquid H₂O, with sulphur taint.
Hydrographic Percentage: 34%          Tectonic Plates: 5
Terraforming - Hydrographic: Yes      Terrain: Yes

POPULATION RELATED DETAILS
Total World Population: 8,000,000,000
Starports and Spaceports: A/A/A/D/A/A/A/B/A/A
Primary Cities: 10                    Orbital Cities: Yes

Social Outlook:
    Progressiveness: Progressive, Enterprising
    Aggressiveness:  Expansionistic, Neutral
    Extensiveness:   Discordant, Friendly

Unusual Local Customs: Marriage is not generally practiced on Vilis.

GOVERNMENT RELATED DETAILS
Representative Authority: Representative Democracy - several specialised councils.

LAW RELATED DETAILS                   TECHNOLOGY RELATED DETAILS
Uniformity of Law:     Undivided      Technology Profile:


Legal Profile:                        High Common TL:        A
    Overall Law Level: 3              Low Common TL:         5
    Weapons Law Level: 0              Energy TL:             A
    Trade Law Level:   3              Computer/Robotics TL:  9
    Criminal Law:      6              Communicationss TL:    A
    Civil Law:         4              Medical TL:            8
    Personal Freedom:  5              Environment TL:        B
                                      Land Transport TL:     B
                                      Water Transport TL:    B
                                      Air Transport TL:      B
                                      Space Transport TL:    A
                                      Personal Military TL:  A
                                      Heavy Military TL:     C
                                      Novelty Tech Level:    C

RESOURCES AND GOODS
Resources:
    Natural:       Minerals
    Processed:     Agroproducts, metals, plastics
    Manufactured:  Durables, consumables
    Information:   Artforms, documents

---

Vilis.

Vilis is not a pleasant world; a barren ball of rock and dust in an almost-too-close orbit around a G-type star.  Life never evolved here naturally.  At the equator, the surface temperature is almost high enough to boil water, but at the poles it drops to a more bearable 30°C.  The polar regions are where the people live.  Eight billion of them, huddled in temperature-controlled dome cities perched along the edges of the two small seas.

There are other reasons to live at the poles, besides the heat.  The two large moons, particularly the nearer one, place a great deal of seismic strain on the world, but the polar regions have fewer quakes than the rest of the world.

Add to that catalogue of problems the presence of a strong sulphur taint in the atmosphere from the volcanic activity, and you have a recipe for a world where nobody would want to live.

Unless the world in question is a treasure trove of mineral wealth, including exploitable quantities of several rare elements, among them that most essential material for Jump drives: lanthanum.

Profit Margin banks low above the desolate surface, following directions from Traffic Control which put her on a heading for one of the better starports in the North Polar District.

The general comms channel is open, and there's a lot of chatter among the other ships coming and going here.  Most of it is about one thing; war.  It's been thirty-three days since the Zhos handed in their official declaration of hostilities, but things being what they are, the news had ony come through Vilis in the last two weeks, probaly just a few days before it had reached Mjolnir, Profit Margin's last stop, across the border in the Sword Worlds.

Finally the ship reaches the port, descending into one of the docking pits.  The pit isn't sealed.  The atmosphere is able to support human life for short periods without ill effect.  Longer with a filter mask.

Profit Margin had left Mjolnir in a hurry.  There are no passengers aboard, apart from Corlan DeSant, her long-term/permanent passenger.  There just hadn't been time to find any.

What there is, though, is forty tons of fruit from Gungnir.  Jago had bought it as a speculative cargo, for just Cr 3,800 per ton.  Given time he had hoped to turn a good profit at Mjolnir.  With luck he might still manage it at Vilis.

With the ship safely down, Jago and Jett shut down her flight systems.  Meanwhile, her armaments are taken off-line, and Saskia cuts the main fusion plant back to minimal output.  Outside the ship, port workers hurry out to connect the service umbilicals and fuel lines.

Jago leans back in the pilots chair and blows a long plume of imaginary smoke, up towards the bank of Unitarian looking switches over his head. Tapping imaginary ash from his real, but unlit cigar, he reaches for the Tannoy.

“There we go everybody,” the words echo around the ship in a tone that suggests the Captain is in a good mood, “down safe and sound. No one goes ashore without a communicator and a filter mask please, Shui, can you make sure that Mr DeSant is properly equipped.”

With the mike off, he turns to the navigator sitting next to him, “looks like we have to buy fuel here Jett, can you see to it, I’m going ashore to try and flog this cargo while it’s still edible.”

Shui, seated lotus in the medical bay, looks up as the Captain's voice echoes through the room.  Casting off the tattered remnants of her meditative state, she slowly rises and moves to dress herself more appropriately.

Finished, the medic-cum-steward walks quickly to the door, unlocking it, leaving, carefully locking it again (it is the medical bay, after all), and heading down the their 'passanger's' room.  Her feet pad silently as she walks.  Strange man, she considers.  Still, would it be such a bad life?  Moving from port to port?  Never stopping where you have already been?

Thinking about that, Shui feels the situation to be just about perfect.  And as long as they continue to have him aboard...they will continue to fly in that manner.  Which suits me quite well.

With communicator and equipment swinging in one hand, she chimes the door with the other.  "Mr. DeSant," she pages, keeping her voice pleasant, "I am here with your required equipment, and information regarding the world upon which we have just landed."

"Down safely, again?  It's getting a bit boring, skip," Yas teases Jago back over the comm before she takes a seat in the crew lounge, having finished her shutdown of her turret and enjoying a glass of orange juice.

As she sits there her mind wanders back in time about three months, about the rather brief meeting with her sister Tasmin.  It was not something she had expected, but she certainly did not mind that kind of surprise, as it had been too long since last she saw her kid sister.  Tasmin was pretty much like she always had been, but she had some interesting stories to tell, such as about that space station and "the thumper".  Interesting story, and she knows how to tell one of those.  For soem reason Tasmin also had seemed set on flirting with Caution, possibly because of all the stories Yas had related to her over the years.  Trying to make him blush, no doubt. 

"Here's to you, sis.  Godspeed," she says, lifts her glass of orange juice and sips it.

"Jago, I'm going to need some down-time here, remember." Saskia's voice reaches the bridge via the intercom, "With leaving Mjolnir so fast, I never did get a chance to see what the trouble is with the plasma induction field coil.  The power fade was up to 1.7% on that Jump, and if it reaches 2.0, we could lose the drive."

She glares at the case of the offending component.  Maybe, now that they're back in Imperial Space, she'll be able to scrounge some parts.

With its characteristic, and seemingly unfixable, screech sounding louder than usual in the dense atmosphere, the ship's main ramp drops open, and Jago strides down onto the ferrocrete of the landing pad.  He turns at the bottom of the ramp, watching for a moment as the port techs connect the last of the umbilicals.  Jett should now have access to updated navcharts and data.

With battle-groups moving about the Marches, current information becomes even more vital.

Jago moves away towards the bay doors, and soon finds a map of the port, with the Trade Hall clearly marked.

---

Corlan opens the door to Shui, and accepts the print-outs and issued equipment with a grateful smile.  He flips through the documents, mostly descriptions of hot springs, geysers, and similar features found in volcanic regions.  He selects one, "Good grief!  There's a spring here that blasts a jet of scalding water nearly one hundred metres into the air every two hours.  I have to get some holos of that."

He discards the next two, then holds up another one.  "The lanthanum mines and refinery might be interesting too, in a big impressive machinery kind of way."

---

Yas relaxes in the crew lounge.  Jago liked the turrets operational whenever the ship was running in normal space, and with at least one Zho fleet already somewhere in Imperial territory, he's being even more careful.  Of course even with the upgraded computer and armaments, if a battleship comes after them, then Profit Margin is toast.  Still, at least they'll be able to discourage fighters, and some of the other smaller ships from taking too close an interest.

Luckily, for the moment, all the action seems to be three or four weeks' travel away, up around Regina and the Zhodani border.

---

Saskia starts to strip down the plasma coil.  It's an unpleasant job.  On this model of Jump drive, you can see the coil housing without problems.  But actually getting close enough to work on it means crawling under the main phase compensation chamber.  It's hot under there, and cramped, and (not for the first time) Saskia curses the designers.

---

On the bridge, Jett starts his navdata downloads, and contacts the Port Authority to arrange for refuelling.

---

Kal-chan shuts down his gunnery console, then reactivates it to check an odd reading that had caught his eye during the shutdown process.

"Mr. DeSant," Shui cautions quietly, putting a hand on his arm to garner attention, removing it once she has succeeded.  "Please note - this is likely a dangerous world.  While under Imperial Rule, with extensive laws, the laws regarding weapons are quite lax, so it is quite likely people carry firearms or beam weapons openly.  In the current...socio-political climate," she continues, referring to the anxiety regarding the budding war, "the society may be a trifle...tense.  Prone to surges and swells of sudden reaction."

The Doctor smiles, slightly.  "I suggest you request only sanctioned tours, ones with extensive security.  And I insist you wear your mask at all times when exposed to the atmosphere.  Failure to do so may cause long-term damage to your respiratory system.  Please remain in contact with the ship.  And, one final thing.  Do you require a member of the crew to accompany you?"

Quickly, she runs over the list in her head, hunting for things she might have forgotten.  She's new at this, so it's possible.

Saskia curses again, as she smacks her skull on the power distribution core.  Even muffled by being under the drive, her language still sounds impressively like a catfight.  With nukes.

"Hlarapral staetaorylharr htiisssh-haehoarl?" she snarls.

Since rescuing an Aslan ambassador from that hotel fire two years ago, she had made a special effort to learn their language.  Much to her delight, it had turned out to be ideal for cussing in.  Even a relatively innocuous phrase, like, "Which fool left that there?" could sound quite vicious if you got the intonation just right.

Crawling out from under the drive she studies the plasma coil.  Then, with a sigh, she starts muttering notes into the mic of her handcomp.  "Thirteen millimetre buffer valve.  Main field damper, and degausser grid.  Eight millimeter drop vent.  No, Shtohaer!  Make that both eight mill drop vents!"

It's a wonder we ever get out of Jump alive in this pile of junk! she thinks sourly, then adds, out loud, "Sorry, Baby.  I know it's not you."  She pats the side of the drive tenderly, "It's ALL that mean ol' Jago's fault for making you work so hard.  Yes, it is."

Having finished her orange juice, Yas gets up and heads over to her room, where she begins to get gear that she believes will be crucial when stepping ashore.  Once she has got it all, including several nice guns, she heads over to the bridge.

"So, I understand the law here allows me to bring any gun I want, eh?" she asks cheerfully, hoping to rile someone up a little by sounding like the gun toting nuts she almost is.

She pulls out her .50 gun, a beast of 2 kg under 1 G, but here on this planet only 1.2 kg.  Enough power to stop a charging bear dead in it tracks with one shot, with a muzzle energy three times the energy from a measly Magnum .44.

"My little baby," she says with a ominous grin and pats it, knowing full well they probably will not fall for that act again - but it is still fun to tease them from time to time.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:26, Thu 03 Nov 2005.

Jago sets his footsteps towards the trade hall, taking in the sights and sound of this place as he goes. As he’s likely to be stuck here for a while, his interest is more acute than usual and he’s particularly interested in anything that might prove problematic, and any potential sources of entertainment.

At the trade hall, priorities change, now he moves into commercial mode as he seeks out a good price for the fruit he needs to sell, trying  half a dozen agents to get the feel for the market, then openly playing the best two against each other in search of the best price.

Kal-chan smiles easily at Yasmine. Stopping power came from within, from the heart, not from the gun or the hand. Yas likes her toys, so he says nothing.

He turns back to his console, letting his smile fade. Placing his tongue in his cheek for a moment, he frowns at it for several long moments. What was it? Everything looked normaly, now. It could be a hiccup in the system, but he didn't like those. Better to run a quick system check and keep an eye on things for a few  moments, first. Catch up with the others in a bit.

Jago works the buyers against each other and, while it doesn't go as well as it might have done, he eventually walks away with a sale agreement.  Teldar Factors wants the fruit.  Doubtless they will make a nice profit selling the cargo on, but they did offer the best price, and they can arrange collection tomorrow morning.


Kal-chan runs some diagnostics on the systems, careful and methodical.  Still unsure what had caught his eye as he shut the gunnery systems down, he doesn't want to miss it a second time.


Corlan listens to Shui's advice, then nods in agreement.  "Well, that all sounds sensible enough, though I usually prefer not to travel with a bodyguard.  Still, as you say, things are a little different these days."  He considers his options, then asks, "Who would you recommend?"


Jett chuckles as Yas goes into "scary" mode.  He's known her long enough now to realise that it's all in fun, intended to get a reaction from him.  "Nice gun, Yas.  But I'm hoping you won't need it here.  Yes, you can carry it, but I bet they won't like you using it."
"And I... uh oh... this doesn't look good."

He points to the comms screen, where latest news is being downloaded from the port's databanks:

---

Rhylanor/Rhylanor (0306-A434934-F) Date: 201-1107
Word has today been received by fleet courier of the invasion of Regina, the capital of the Spinward Marches.  Naval spokesmen of the 212th Fleet declined to comment publicly, but in private one naval officer expressed the opinion that prolonged resistance on the world was unlikely in the event of a serious Zhodani assault.

Coming only days after receipt of the news of the outbreak of the war, news of Regina's invasion is a heavy blow to hopes of an early victory over the Zhodani.  The fall of Regina could sever the main communications artery to the Jewell subsector, and seriously hinder communication with fleet elements presumed to be fighting there.

---

"That came in today, about an hour ago." he says, checking the time stamp on the file, "But it was released about two minutes ago.  I hope folks don't riot or something while Jago's out there.  I mean, Regina's well away from here, right?  People won't panic yet, will they?"

"Hmm.  Yeah, it's not what you'd call good news, but I doubt there will be much problems here at this time," Yasmine says, trying to convince herself as well as Jett.  "Jago should be just fine, but perhaps we should let him know anyway, and meet up.  There's always the off chance of someone going nuts, be it over the war or anyway."

"Jago, news about Regina's fall just came through.  Shouldn't be a problem, but to be on the safe side, we'll meet up with you," she calls to Jago, with a calm and collected voice, as if asking him to pick up a pair of Etranian pears from the store while he is there.

"Right, one or two of us should go and meet him.  Any volunteers?" she asks with a grin.

Kal-chan shakes his head at the news. Regina. He'd been following the news closer than the others. Were they okay? In some cases, they could handle themselves, that's what they were all about, but without proper guns and armor....? That was why Kal-chan had eventyally left them. Their philosophy made no sense, now more than ever. Well, there was no sense worrying about it. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't leave the Profit, and he'd never get onto Regina now, anyway. But that was the worst of it, he couldn't do anything to help. All he could do is wait and watch.

He shakes his head again, this time to clear his head of thoughts of his family and community. "UH... Yas, have you seen this? There's some sort of power spike in the laser power linkage during shutdown. It's small, but... kind of consistant."

Saskia stretches the kinks from her back, then lifts the coil onto the bench.  "Alright, let's see what we can save, shall we?"  She pulls on a pair of goggles, and snaps the lenses down over her eyes.

"Ow!  There's more fractures than metal in here!  How did you hold together so long?"

Totally by instinct, she reaches for the microwelder, finding it first time, without looking, and fires it up, "Lucky for you I'm so gifted."

”Thanks Yas, it just came through down here. How is Corlan taking it, that’s his home planet? I’m about done so I’ll start heading back.”

Jago stifles the emotional cocktail that threatens to overwhelm him, Corlan is not the only one who hales from Regina. Looking around, he tries to read the reaction on other faces.

Since it would be hard to miss Caution's reaction, Yas replies to Jago quickly to Jago; "I don't know if he knows yet, boss.  I'll check it up A.S.A.P..  Meanwhile, I'll volunteer Jett to go meet you, just to be on the safe side," and grins at Jett and waves a thumb at him to move out as she herself moves over to Caution to begin to study the screen.

"Spike?  It's probably nothing, but have you tried running a deep diagnosis?  We should be on the ground more than enough time to finish it," she says, having placed herself behind him where she can put a hand on his shoulder and be close without appearing as if actually trying to console him, which she actually is.  Her own mind wanders to Tasmin, the one in her family that is likely to feel this more than their parents ever will.

"Yeah, I'll do that," Kal says. "Just wanted to check with you first, you know? It'll keep me from having to find something to do on this ball of dirt, anyway." He tries to laugh a little. And it'll let him keep an eye on the news, which is what he was hoping for.

Shui considers Corlan's question quite seriously.  She doesn't want someone who will get a lot of attention.  Big people like Kal-chan can often be a magnet for fights, especially when situations are tense.  Not that the big man can't handle himself - she bets he can.  But still....

"Ms. Crow would likely be your best choice," Shui informs the passanger.  "I shall page her, request her opinion on the matter."  She smiles, a hint of genuine amusement lurking at the back of her eyes.  "She is likely more qualified than my self to judge, as well."

Her left hand rises, the dataglove a black stain on her pale skin.  A touch, and the holo-icons spring into view, hovering over the back of her hand.  Fingers stab out, through the magnetic fields, and the glove interprets the motion, opening a radio linkage.  Another touch, this time to Yasmin's portrait.

Shui smiles.  "I hope she is wearing her com-unit."  Then she speaks into the glove.  "Ms. Crow, it is Shui - might I have a word with you?"

"You want me to go over there?  Sure, no problem." Jett says, smiling happily.  It's got to be better than watching the downloads.  He swivels his seat away from the panel and heads off the bridge.

"I'll just go fetch some stuff, to be safe.  There should be somebody here to link us up for a refuel in the next little while.  If I'm not back, you'll need to give him an authorization code.  I wrote it down, that sticky on the panel."

He waves a hand towards the console, then he's gone.

"You do that...  Never hurts to be thorough," Yas says and pats Caution on the sholder and then turns to Jett as he speaks.

"No problem, Jett, I'll...  Now what?" she begins as her communicator wakes up.  "Sushi!  A word?  Sure, I'll be right over, so hwere are you?  Ah, right.  Be there in a moment," she replies to the call and chuckles as she signs off.

"I'll need a raise soon if this keeps up," she tells her fellow gunner as she heads over to see what it is the good doctor may want.  Hopefully not another examination like the last, cold hands is not pleasant anywhere unless they are at the end of your own arms and not touching anywhere.

Yas makes her way across to the passenger section, chuckling quietly as a stray memory drifts through her mind of how their old steward, Duke ("Duck", as she was fond of calling him) used to hate it if other members of the crew mixed with the passengers.  Thankfully, the ones since had been more reasonable.


Jett gathers his belongings and heads out to rescue Jago.  The port is well endowed with signs and notices, so he shouldn't get lost.


At the controls of the ventral turret, Kal-chan starts the diagnostic sequence and tries not to worry.  The "latest" news is almost three weeks old, and it would take Profit Margin five or six weeks to get to Regina anyway.  For all he knows, Imperial forces could already be back in control there.

On the belly of the ship, the ventral turret comes to life, moving through a series of programmed exercises and acquiring entirely fictitious targets.


Corlan reads the information on his chosen tourist sights more carefully as Shui makes her call to Yas.  He sighs.  "Well, I have no doubt that Ms. Crow is very competent.  I'm just sorry that I need to take her along.  I'm sure she'd rather be doing something else, other than leading an old man about by the hand."


Saskia continues to work, repairing what she can, and noting the components that need replacing.


Jago stays near the entrance, one eye watching for Jett, the other studying the crowd.

Shui blinks at the sobriquet - it's still new, and she isn't certain if she should be irked at being compared to Japanese food, or not.  "Thank you, Ms. Crow," she replies, politely, deactivating the dataglove's comm-unit a moment later.  Their passenger receives an apologetic smile for the wait.  "If there is some difficulty with Ms. Crow's schedule," she attempts to reassure him, "I'm certain she can select a replacement.  If necessary, I, myself, will go along."

Then she's there, a short, intense woman striding up the hallway toward them.  Shui give her a little bow as she approaches.  "Ms. Crow, I trust you are doing well today?"  Clearing her throat, she indicates Corlan with one hand.  "Mr. Desant is planning some sight-seeing, and there is some concern regarding the volitility of the current situation.  I thought it might be possible to assign him a bodyguard.  What do you suggest?" she asks, waiting to see what Jasmine says.

"I am well enough," Yas replies with a crooked smile and finds it good to hear it has nothing to do with cold hands this time.  But then she shakes her head slowly and motions to a seat.

"If you would, Corlan.  There is something you need to know.  And you too, Sushi," she says, using the name she always uses for him.  He has been aboard for such a long time that he is more like part of the crew anyway.  But now she has to tell him that his homeworld is being invaded.

She remains standing, waiting for him to sit down, her hands crossed behind her back and with a serious expression on her face.

Kal-chan reclines as best he can in front of the console and stretches his feet out, waiting for the report to run. Sure, there are other things he could do, but right now he's more content to just sit and be alone with his thoughts, close to his console and onboard the ship. Just in case, he'd gone to his quarters and armed himself. Someone might call him and need his aid soon, but maybe this would be one of those nice quiet stops. Was it him, or did they seem to have too few of those?

Corlan considers Yas' words, his face dropping, "Well, I can't say it was totally unexpected.  Regina is close to the border, and even with the garrisons and the bases, it'd make a very tempting target, for morale reasons as well as strategic."

He sighs, "I lived through the last one, such as it was, a quarter century ago.  But that was over almost before we knew it had started.  This looks like it might last a little longer."

He picks up a holofiche from the bedside cabinet, studying the images within in silence, for almost a minute.  "Very well.  Can somebody arrange to have all news about Regina, the world itself that is, not the whole subsector, automatically copied to the terminal in here."

"Usually I'd just check the news in the lounge, as and when I get the chance.  But this seems too important for that."

Pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, and bowing his head, he adds, "It's alright, Ms. Crow, I don't think I'll be needing your company today.  I seem to be developing a headache.  I believe I'll just postpone my tour of the mines."

"Sorry to be the bringer of such news, Corlan.  And I'm sure we can patch it through straight away.  If you wish to have an escort later, just drop me a word and I'll be there," Yas says, nods to him and Sushi and turns around to head back to the bridge after a quick and faint smile to Sushi.

At the bridge she sits down to keep an eye on things, uncertain what button to press to patch the news through to Corlan.  She begins to look through what she knows about it all to see if she can figure it out on her own, thereby impressing Jago a bit perhaps, and even Jett.  Show that she is not just a jar-head, even if they hardly thinks so.  She thinks...

Ugly news, and her job, to boot.  Shui knows she should have been the one to deal with this issue.  She's grateful to Yasmine for doing so, and frustrated with herself for not keeping up, properly.  Part of your duties, Shui.  This is who you are, now.

"Thank you, Ms. Crow," she whispers as Yasmine strides from the room, returning the other woman's small smile with a rueful expression.  She doesn't know the crew very well - yet - but feels that she has had the honor of observing something very important about the fierce gunner.

At the moment, though, there is a pressing concern.  Moving up beside Corlan, Shui puts a hand on his arm, lightly.  "I'm terribly sorry, Mr. DeSant."  Biting her lip, she tries to think of some way to help him through the pain.  "Would you like to sit down?  Is there anything I can do?"  If he indicates yes, she tries to assist by guiding him to a chair.

Corlan puts the holo back on the cabinet and slumps down onto his bed, but it tips over and, moving to stand it up again, Shui finds herself looking at an image of two children, and a woman, aged about thirty or so, who has Corlan DeSant's eyes.
"I'll probably just have a rest for an hour or so.  That's my daughter, and my grandchildren.  They're still on Regina.  I think... no... I know they're fine.  They live well away from the major cities."

He kicks his shoes off, and lays down.  "I feel very tired, suddenly.  I'll sleep for a while, and call if I need anything."


Jett contacts Jago as he approaches the Trade Hall, "Jago, I'll be there in five.  Anything I need to be aware of?"


In the Hall, Jago is finding it increasingly lonely.  It seems that people have decided to close up early for the day.  One woman, the factor that Jago had sold the fruit to, stops to speak to him.  "Don't worry, Captain.  We'll still take the cargo off in the morning.  Things will be back to normal by then anyway.  The same thing happened when the news came through about the war starting."

"People just want to spend a little time with their families, I suppose.  Myself, I'm going to buy a new suit, before the prices jump again.  Good luck, Captain."


Yas works her way through the files, and eventually finds the system that filters the news stories.  Altering the settings to ensure that Corlan gets all messages which contain references to Regina is simple enough.

Changing them so that he only gets stories about the world itself, and not the subsector, looks as though it might be possible, but tricky.


There it is again.  The diagnostic has picked up the power anomaly in the laser, and is now trying to trace it.  In fact, Kal-chan can see that, according to the readout, the anomaly is identical in magnitude to what he'd noticed earler.  The margin of error is far too small for this to be just some random fluctuation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:14, Tue 08 Nov 2005.

Kal taps his fingers on the console and his eyes narrow as he watches the readout. This wasn’t an accident. There was something going on in the weapons system, or maybe in the power system. A less diligent gunner would have missed it. How long had he missed it? Yas seemed to trust him to handle it, so he wasn’t about to let her down.

He leans forward to stare at the readout a little while longer, then goes to work to trace the power spike.

"I'm certain they are, sir," Shui agrees, certain of no such thing.  Wars are terribly indiscriminate, and something to be avoided at any cost.  There were far, far better ways to settle disputes.  That was, after all, why her family existed.  "Please do call if there is anything you require," she says, stepping back with a slight bow, before turning and slipping out of the room.

On the other side of the door, safe, she leans against the wall, breathing out in a long sigh.  Then, shaking her head and pushing herself forward, Shui quickly strides down to the medical bays, to have another look at her supplies.  She has a faint itching in her back, something that screams it might be a good idea to do an inventory, now, and discover if they are short on anything.

“And good luck with your shopping,” Jago thanks the woman who’s taken the trouble to reassure him, with a warm smile, the responds to his communicator.

“It’s all quiet here Jett, I’ll meet you by the entrance.”

The captain is in pensive mood as he makes his way across the echoing hall and stands by the doors, staring out across the apron and the sun bleached landscape beyond, so much so that he doesn’t notice Jett’s approach.

Continuing to work with the system, Yasmine attempts to patch through what is essential.  It is a chance to learn a little, as well as do Corlan a favour.  Anything she can do to keep him informed may help to ease his worries a little - unless of course Regina falls.

So she focuses at the task at hand, reading and searching her way through the menus and systems.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:02, Tue 08 Nov 2005.

"Jago.  Any trouble?" Jett asks as he steps up to Jago.  Looking around the near-deserted hall, he answers his own question.  "Well, I guess there's not enough people about to cause trouble."


Yas finishes her work at the computer, and the display gives her a confirmation that her changes will take effect immediately.  Now her only concern is whether they are the correct changes.


With the gunnery systems running in test mode, Kal-chan watches as the diagnostic routines gradually close in on the problem.


Shui's inventry of the medical stores proceeds quickly.  Profit Margin is not a large ship, and her crew and passengers have been generally healthy, so the supplies have tended to stay at a fairly constant level.


Back in engineering, Saskia finishes her repairs, but the plasma coil is a mess.  It will work, though probably not for long.

Hm.  I shall have to ask about that.  Putting down the medical log, Shui glances around the room before moving to her own locker.  Pulling out her jacket, she pauses, frowning, and brings her dataglove up.

"Captain Lanza - this is Doctor Tiesi.  Is there anything requiring my immediate attention?  Our guest has chosen to rest for a time, and I was considering a brief foray out of the ship."  Optomistic in her anticipation, she takes a moment to strap on a shoulder holster before shrugging into the coat and hunting for her 'mask.

We are in a spaceport.  There ought to be some markets nearby.  Something to look at - goods from this planet, goods from other planets, all outrageously priced, but a fine diversion.

"Hopefully that did it, and not turning off the hotwater in my shower," Yas says with a grin and gets up.  "I'll have the boys check it out later, and blame them if it's messed up."  She does not think she got anything wrong, but then, computers seem to mess up whenever you look away.  With a shrug she makes her way over to Caution again and peeks over his shoulder to see how his problem is getting along.

"So, found anything?" she asks and resists the sudden urge to jam her fingers into his sides and shouting "boo".

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm just trying to narrow it down still. Something is pulling a little power from the main distribution grid whenever the targetting modules shut down. I'm just going to try to trace it, find out where the power goes, and who does what with it. Power doesn't just disappear..."

He reconfigures the diagnostics with ease. He liked a challenge.

"Ah, so there is something, eh?  Well, I won't get in your way," Yasmine says and pats him on the shoulder, turns around and heads over to her own turret control to do a deep diagnostic, just in case.  She is certain that he will find things out on his own, and does not need anyone looking over his shoulder.

Taking a seat at her own controls she starts up the diagnostics and sits back to watch for anything unusual, no matter how insignificant.

With Jett and Jago ashore, Yas, Kal-chan and Saskia all busy, and her only passenger asleep, Shui has little else to do, other than go and take a look around the port.  As she crosses the docking bay, the door opens, and Jago and Jett step through, returning to the ship.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:17, Fri 11 Nov 2005.

"As clean as a Rhaspthorian Trunk Walker," Yas says and shuts down her console again.  "That's good to know though," she continues to comment to herself as she makes her way into the crew lounge again, with little else to do at the moment other than waiting.

"Hey, Shui." Jett says, smiling, as he and Jago come back to the ship and see the newest crewmember just leaving.

"Where are you off to?  Like some company?"

Shui bows, slightly, upon bumping into the Captain and Jett at the airlock.  "Good day, gentlemen."  She deactivates her dataglove, and nods to Jett.  "Mr. Grady.  That depends upon what the Captain says, but should I have leave to go, company would be most welcome."

Turning to the Captain, she repeats her question of before.  "Captain Lanza, our guest has decided to remain at rest for the nonce.  I am unsure whether or not you have duties for me, at present - the medbay is sufficiently prepared, and I can find little else to do, myself.  Should there be no other requirements, at the moment, I would enjoy a small amount of time at the starport."  A brief smile.  "I am hoping to find a market, actually."

“Go ashore by all means, just make sure you have a communicator,” the Captain says, he’s single minded if nothing else, “most of the people from the trade hall went home when the news broke, so don’t count on much being open elsewhere.”

Shui frowns.  "A pity.  Still, one can hope."  More than a little miffed that her exploratory plans are coming to naught, the doctor shrugs philosophically, letting the tension go.  "I shall make the attempt, nonetheless.  Mr. Grady, should you plan on accompanying, I am leaving immediately, barring a minute or two for you to pick up anything you require."  Her frown flattens, from disapproval to concern.  "I wish to be here when our passanger awakens.  He may require something."

Jago smiles, “don’t worry, I’ll look after Corlan,. I you want to go shopping, why not head into town, they shouldn’t be effected there yet, unless there’s a spate of panic buying.”

Whatever a Rhaspthorian Trunk Walker was, it must not be very clean. The problem was interesting. He wondered if maybe Yas knew about it, already. If it was supposed to be there, somehow. She would have told him, wouldn't she? He'd make sure she knew about it if she was playing again. If not, he was going to prove no problem could escape him. They'd see why he was as good as anyone else on this ship, in his area of expertise.

He saw the area where the problem was, he just needed to narrow it down, now. The first step was always to narrow the scope of the problem down to its smallest component. Sure, it would take hours of tedious work, but what better use of his time was there? He scanned the news again for anything new on Regina.

There is a strange atmosphere in the port, and in the adjoining star-town.  An atmosphere filled with the sort of tension that doesn't appear about to errupt into violence.  It's more like everybody is waiting for somebody else to do something.  Anything...

But all they do, the relatively few people who are still about, is watch the news displays.  Even though those displays, in all likelihood, won't be updated until the next X-boat from Rhylanor arrives with news from Regina, in 24 hours or so.

The town is a quiet.  Many businesses have closed early, and those that are still open have far fewer customers than usual.

Jett and Shui make their way through a metropolis which is rapidly emptying.  The snatches of conversation they overhear as they head for the central shopping district are not reassuring...

"Hendran's are bumpimg their meat prices already."
"Arballe's are bumping everything.  Only a few credits for most things, but still... "
"... and then he threw everybody out and closed the store.  Said it's the end for him."
"Tried to get them to accept an X-boat message to his brother at Regina, but they wouldn't take it... "
"... wants to move out!  Go somewhere where we won't die if the ships stop coming."


Jago strolls up the ramp, and then, as an afterthought raises it to keep possible intruders out.  Kal-chan seems to be messing about with the gunnery systems, though Yas is relaxing in the lounge as Jago passes through.

The bridge panel repeater on the forward wall of the lounge shows that the Jump drive no longer exists, so Saskia must be working on some part of it, with the monitoring systems disconnected.  Either that or the ship is in bigger trouble than normal.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:58, Mon 14 Nov 2005.

"Hey, skipper.  Had a nice field trip?" Yas asks in passing as Jago passes her by, looking up from her hot chocolate with a grin.  "You may want to check that I actually patched the news from Regina through to Corlan.  I think I got it right, but you're the pro on that bit," she explains before he is completely gone from there, and then turns back to enjoy her cocoa.

“I didn’t get as much as I wanted, but I did get an assurance that the cargo will be unloaded tomorrow,” Jago tells Yasmine, “I’ll check on that news filter, but it will just be endless and pointless speculation for a while yet.”

"Even so, Corlan asked for it, and the customer is always right, right, Skippy?" Yas says with a big smile and blinks innocently at him.  "Good news on the cargo though, let's hope it do show."

As she strolls in search of a marketplace, Shui regards the people around her with a certain aura of sadness.  "Changes," she remarks quietly.  "War comes, and people begin to run for cover.  And who can blame them?"  Violence begets fear, which begets more violence.  As always.  Something her family always tried to avoid.

Violence, wars...they never solve anything.  Good medicine is holds the key to dealing with humanity's problems.  Serving the people is an honorable calling.  What a shame, she thinks to herself, walking beside the much larger man, that my family would be most disappointed in me.  Turning my back on them.  Taking a lesser path, rather than the one of the greater good.

But she never had the courage to walk that path, and fell off of it long ago.  Now, Shui hopes she never meets her brothers, or (worse yet) her parents.  She doesn't think she could bear their disappointment.

"I'm hoping things settle down a little, once the initial shock wears off." Jett says in reply to Shui's half-whispered comments.  "Vilis is far enough from the Zho border that maybe there won't be much trouble here.

"Once people realise they're not right on the front line, maybe they'll be a little calmer."

The navigator points to a store front, bearing the legend "Curios and Antiques", "Might be worth taking a look?"

"Perhaps you are correct," Shui returns, nodding.  She does not, however, state what she feels.  Front lines have a terrible habit of moving.  And a single spark can ignite a conflagration - wars have a tendancy to breed.  She hopes she's wrong.  But it wouldn't take much, in some places.  Not much more than the example of another world.

The doctor glances up at the sign and nods, a hint of a smile touching her pale cheeks.  "I see I was wise to wait for the navigator," she notes, before pushing open the door and stepping inside.

The inside of the store is crowded with stuff, much of it far beyond any reasonable attempt at classification, other than to say that it's mostly "useless junk".  There are old empty bottles and jars.  Statues.  Pottery.  Chunks of crystal, deeply-inscribed with odd patterns and left exposed to the elements, for chemicals and sand to erode them into organic forms.  Imported ceramic-bladed knives, hand-decorated by local artists...


On the bridge of Profit Margin Jago starts to check Yas' work on the filters, and finds that he probably couldn't have done any better.  Then he notices the message warning is blinking.  A quick check shows that there's a call in the buffer, addressed directly to him.

Once more, Yas is having some time for herself, so she makes it back to her room to do some workout - as much as it is possible in that limited space.  A quick change into her "workout outfit", a warm-up session and she is on it, doing push-ups, sit-ups and whatchamacallits.

While she works out she thinks about the now long past meeting with her sister, the things that has been done the last two years and what has not been done.  For some reason she thinks better while pushing her body towards new limits, improving herself each day rather than allowing herself to fall into indolence and contentment.

Before she has got very far into her workout, there is a quiet knock on Yasmin’s door, Jago stands outside with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Sorry to interrupt Yas, but I’m heading over to the terminal. Someone has left a message for me to call,” he tells her, “no signature or ID and an unfamiliar number. I’m probably being silly but I thought I’d call it from a public communicator. I don’t expect to be long.”

"Want me to tag along?" Yas offers, wondering what it is all about but knowing better than to ask.  If he wanted her to know he would tell her.  She waves a thumb over her shoulder and says, "I can throw on a jacket and we'll be underway right away."

“No, you carry on with your press-ups, I need you to mind the shop while Corlan is still on board. I’ll take the air raft and a communicator, maybe you could keep one on in here, just in case.”

"Sure thing, Skippy," Yasmine says with a smile and nods to her communicator on the bunk.  "After what we've been through I never go anywhere without it.  Good thing they can stand showers," she chuckles and begins to close the door, then she looks up at his eyes, her face taking a more serious expression.

"If you need anything, just give me a holler, Jago."

Jago matches the chuckle with one of his own, “I’ll let you know what’s going on as soon as I’ve figured it out,” he tells her.

"I'll hold you to that, Skippy.  Now jump along, I got fifty more push-ups to do," Yas laughs, winks and closes the door.  Once along again she drops to the floor and actually begin the push-ups, even starting counting from one.

"One...  Two...  Tree...  Fower...  Fiver...  Six...  Seven...  Eight...  Niner..."

Jago heads out through the hold to the Air Raft bay, jumps in and runs quickly through the pre-flight checks.

Once all is ready he opens the hatch and heads back towards the merchant’s hall in search of a public comm. unit.

Shui slowly slips through the shop, moving from display to display, eyes soft, that faint smile on her face.  She reaches out to touch a crystal, finger sliding along the smooth, wind-seared surface.  A bottle is hefted, held up to the light, gazed through, replaced.  Her thumb hooks a crude necklace from its perch, lays it across her arm for examination.  Every single object seems to gain some special signficance, a worthiness, in her eyes.

Except the knives.  She passes those by without expression, the smile fading for a few seconds.

Pausing in the centre of the shop, the doctor closes her eyes for a long moment, taking in a deep breath.  Her smile widens, and she turns toward a forked, crystaline tower, implausibly spiked by wind and grit, some edges almost bladed, others worn smoother than razor-cut carrots.  With a sad sigh, and a brief glance around the rest of the shop, she focuses her attention on the small, oddly shaped nick-nack.

"Yes," the woman whispers, and picks up the crystal.  "This will do."

Jago drives the airraft back to the hall.  Once there he finds the public terminals and makes his call.  it is answered in seconds, though the screen on the comm unit remains blank. 


With her new purchase safely packaged, Shui leaves the store with Jett.  Now there are even less people about than before, and those that are still on the streets seem very subdued...


On the bridge of Profit Margin the comms warning telltale starts blinking.  After a couple of minutes, it stops, only to start again almost immediately...
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:38, Thu 17 Nov 2005.

Cradling the package in her arms, Shui frowns with deep concern.  "The news spreads.  There will be changes, soon.  Right now, people are fearful, and fearful people may do foolish things."  The doctor glances up at Jett.  "Not that I anticipate riots, but still...isolated violence is not out of the question."

Picking up her pace, she beckons for him to keep up.  "We should return to the ship, immediately."

"I agree." Jett looks around, "So, any idea which way it is?"

He manages to hold his serious expression for a little less than two seconds, before his face cracks into a smile.

"Just kidding!  It's this way."

The navigator starts away, leading the way back to the ship.

Continuing her workout, Yas soon feels that it is enough for now and heads into her shower for a quick, refreshing shower.  After towelling she gets fresh clothes and pulls them on.  A check in the mirror and she steps out of her cabin, heading for the bridge again.

She catches the comm flashing and hurries over to get it before it is too late.

"This is Profit Margin, how can I help you?" she replies with her best stewardess voice that could make any receptionist green with envy.  A smile is also in place in case they are using the vidlink.

There is no video feed, but the male voice coming from the comm sounds worried, to the extent that it's easy to immagine the frown and the assorted wrinkles and creases that go with it.  He starts speaking almost before Yas finishes her greeting.  "Ah... hello!  Kaelar, there's somebody there!  Yes, I'm talking to her now... wait a minute!  Hello, I want to book passage on your ship for four people, Captain, three adults and a child.  How much will that cost us?"

Jett and Shui are making their way back towards the ship, but are still some distance away from it when they see the fighting start.  The owner of a store decides to shut up shop for the day.  Some of the customers object, and in moments, the brawl spills out into the street, scattering passers-by.  While the owner tries to escape from one group, others move into the store and start to steal the goods - simple groceries for the most part...

Sounds a bit desperate.  Perhaps someone looking to get away from this place and to a safer one.  Can't really blame them, Yas thinks to herself as she listens to the man and realises she forgot to introduce herself.  One reason she prefers not dealing with people on the behalf of Profit Margin - she simply is not meant to do it, she is meant to shoot and blow things up.

"I am Yasmine Crow, security chief, the captain will be back shortly, sir.  And that would be, per person, 10,000 per jump for High passage, 8,000 for Medium and a mere 1,000 for Low.  But we have yet to get a destination, our cargo dictates that, sir," she explains, if need be raising her voice so she can finish without being interrupted, although not so much she is shouting.  "Let me find out where we are headed before we book anything, sir.  You will of course be given first refusal, that I guarantee."

Shui's eyes widen at the sight.  "Oh, no," she whispers.  It's starting.  Already.  "I can't-" she begins, but that's all she can say.  There isn't time to explain.  Punching numbers into her dataglove, she struggles to alert the local constabulary while pushing herself into a run.

On this planet, the doctor considers, fear beginning to pulse in her veins, weapons are illegal.  If we start shooting indescriminately, people will shoot back.  But that means, she realizes, pulling up just short of the people mauling the shopkeeper, they know what weapons are...and maybe nobody is in a hurry to actually start something lethal?

She has little choice.  These people are tired, frightened, and desperate...but she can't let them hurt the store owner.  Tapping the dataglove opens a line over the radio to the captain, and then Shui pulls out her snub-pistol, firing a warning shot into the wall of the building over the mob's heads.  "Enough!" she cries, as loudly as she can.  "Everyone - stop!"

First, call the 'police', if there are any.  Second, the warning shot, when close enough.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:29, Mon 21 Nov 2005.

Time for a little manual labor. Kal-chan now had a theory to work with, one he'd been mulling around in the back of his mind, along with a few other things, for a while. It was time to trace things a little further.

Jett draws his autopistol and considers firing a warning shot into the air, until he remembers that the city is a sealed environment.  Like Shui, he puts a round into a wall instead.

"Why don't you all just move along. people?  The authorities have been called, and will be here shortly."

Or so he hopes.

Jago finishes his call and makes his way back to the air raft, where he stands a moment looking thoughtfully over the sun bleached landscape to where the Profit Margin stands in all it’s battered glory.

With a sigh and a wry smile, Jago jumps in and heads back to the ship, dropping the raft neatly I through the hatch in the top and sealing it off.

In the forward crew lounge, Jago pours himself a coffee and carries it through to the bridge.

This message was deleted by the player at 03:21, Mon 21 Nov 2005.

Jago curses as his comms set kicks in with shooting, shouting and general mayhem.

“What’s going on?” he asks

Seeing Yasmin on the bridge he says, “seems that Jett and the Doctor are under attack, grab Kal and meet me at the Air Raft.”

“Saskia,” he says over the crew intercom, “Jet and the doctor are in some kind of trouble in town, we are going to try and bail them out so you are on your own here for the moment, OK, keep your comms link handy and I’ll give you an update when I know more.”

Jago takes a long pull of his unlit cigar, and strides purposefully back towards the Air Raft, leaving his coffee on the console.

OOC
I’ll get my eyes tested in the morning   :O(

"We'll get back to you, so can I have your comm number?  All right, thank you..." Yas tells the voice at the other end, types the number down and then adds, "Have a nice day!"  And it is too late to regret it, so with a shrug she closes the comm and jumps up to follow Jago, only pausing to first of all grab Caution and then past her place to grab her auto-shotgun as well as her snub pistol.  The first gun to quickly clear any serious trouble, the latter one to hopefully prevent the first from ever happening.

"Let me guess, they took the last item on sale and now they need to get to the register?" she jests as she boards the raft.  It was something she always did, the jesting, ever since her days in the marines.  A way to put some emotional distance between yourself and a situation where colleagues are endangered, allowing you to act with a cool head.

Jago barely has time to get the car in the garage before the call comes in, and Yas is so keen to go that she even forgets to mention the people wanting to book passage as she goes to fetch some of her toys from her cabin.

As she goes past Kal-chan, she grabs his attention and orders him to come with them.


At the store, the gun fire (and threat of imminent police action) seems to have calmed things down, at least for the time being.  Much of the crowd has moved off, most of them empty-handed, fading into doorways and access ways between the stores.  Only a few hardcore trouble-makers are still lingering, and they seem more content to shout abuse and insults than to actually do anything.

The proprietor is down, clutching at his right arm, his moans almost drowning out the wail of the distant siren.


In engineering, it's doubtful if Saskia even hears Jago's orders, laying underneath he precious drives grumbling about the way things always tighten themselves when you want to move them, and loosen themselves when you want them to stay put.


On the bridge, the comms board lights up again, indicating another incoming signal.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:14, Mon 21 Nov 2005.

"Captain," Shui says over the comm, "we may have some trouble here."  The first words she has spoken after the gunfire.  Slowly moving foward, the woman keeps her weapon trained in the general direction of the troublemakers - not aiming at anyone in particular, just the ground in front of them.  Not enough to make them fear for their lives, just enough to threaten.

Try not to spark something, Shui.  "We've stopped a group of rioters from looting a shop, but the storekeeper is injured, police are on their way, and there are still some angry people in the vicinity."

I doubt the Captain will be pleased to hear this.

Kneeling down beside the shopkeeper, Shui lets Jett take over crowd-watching, and slowly begins to examine the man.  "Sir, please do not move.  I am a doctor - I want to help you."  If she receives any sort of affirmative (really, if she DOESN'T receive a negative) Shui will immediately begin first aid, starting with a painkiller.

"Gotcha." Kal-chan nods with grim satisfaction. "Hey, Yas, did you know-- Oh, yeah, coming..." He closes the hatch, determined to trace the little bugger down more, later. It sounded like something serious was going on. He closed the hatch back down and secured, making a mental note to get back to this when he was back on the ship.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:30, Mon 21 Nov 2005.

It seemed that Jett and the doctor are not fighting of a rabid lynch mob after all, he’ll have to haave a little talk with Shui about comms procedures, but now is not the time.

“So what is it you want us to do doctor?” Jago asks, prepping for dust odd with a little less urgency now, “might be over reacting,” he says aside to his passengers.

Shui swallows, hearing the sirens getting closer.  "I am...uncertain as to how well the local authorities will take to us having fired our weapons in this situation.  Fortunately, we did not hurt anyone."  She takes a quick glance around, at the former 'rioters'.  "However, I believe we are in no immediate danger.  From the mob."  Such as it is.

"Do you have any...advice?  Or should I arrange for a transport home from the police station?"

”I suppose just walking away before they get there is out of the question?” Jago can here the sirens faintly over Shui’s comms link so they couldn’t be far, they would certainly arrive on scene long before he could.

"Regrettably, no," Shui continues absently, still carrying out First Aid on the wounded shopkeeper.  "I am in the middle of assisting the injured...should I finish before the police arrive, I will be certain to make my exit."

Actually, Shui decides, she probably won't.  There's always the chance of someone doing something to the injured man.  Better to stick around, but not inform the Captain it is her plan.

He'll only worry.

"So no rush anymore then?" Yas asks as she settles down with her selected weapons, ready to go to act as reinforcements for the doctors and the navigator.  At least is sounded as if, for now, they would not need another doctor.  For some reason, that position seemed to be the "haunted" one on Profit Margin, evne if it had been a while since now.

Before Shui and Jett can continue any further, the street is filled with flickering blue light as a police vehicle comes around the corner.  Some sort of eight-wheeled armoured van, just one short step, and a different colour scheme, away from being an actual mititary vehicle.

It grumbles to a halt in front of the slightly-looted store, and a turret on top swivels to sweep the suddenly empty street.  The guns are large calibre, Shui could probably ball up her hand into a fist and push it into the muzzle, with room to spare.

A hstch on the rear pops open, and a half dozen cops scatter around the vehicle.  Each of them is carrying a portable version of the same ridiculous guns that grace the turret.  Shui and Jett can see the mags on these though, the rounds are some sort of orange rubber beanbag.  Most likely painful, rather than lethal.

A cop, in full riot armour, approaches the two, where they wait with the injured man.  His weapon is pointed in their general direction, but not at them, though those of his squad-mates are aimed a little more... accurately.

"Right then, who'd like to tell me what's going on here?"

“No rush,” Jago confirms with a little smile, “the danger is over and the police are on scene so we may have to bail them out. Sorry about that, but I got initially is an open mike with gunfire and shouting.”

Jago starts winding down the air raft and continues conversationally, “I am expecting a visitor within the hour, we have another Intelligence assignment, that’s who our mystery caller was. I don’t have details yet, but I’ll let you know.”

"Ah, speaking of calls, we got wanna-be passengers.  I left the number, so we can get back to them.  Sounded like they wanted out of here, not caring whereto or anything," Yasmine remembers and then chuckles.

"Open mike with gunfire and then no rush?  Which one of them did that?" she wonders, still chuckling.  "And another assignment, uh?  So do we have to go square one and jump to square two, or...?"

”I don’t think so, the guys said we wouldn’t need to change any of our existing flight plans, which we haven’t got anyway, “

Jago climbs out of the vehicle as he speaks.

“A passenger with no destination,” Jago grins, “in a hurry though I imagine, I wonder how much time Saskia needs, I did promise I wouldn’t rush her this time.”

"So..." Kal-chan tried to interject casually. "Would this be a good time to talk about the extra circuitry glued and soldered into the ships targetting system? The unregistered mysterious one that tries to sneak a little extra power from the system every now and then without anyone noticing?"

"I shall have to speak with you later, Captain.  The Constabulary is here."  Shui carefully deactivates the link, making certain her weapon is still safely stowed, then raises her arms carefully, waiting while the men file out, keeping her under their aim.  Non-lethal...but no doubt painful, and they are careful at keeping me under guard.

"Shui Tiesi," she calls out, when the police officer is finished.  "Registered Doctor.  I came upon this man being mobbed.  I fired one shot -"  Her arm comes up, slowly, to point at the rather large hole in the wall "- there, to discourage them.  They fled.  This man has a broken arm, and some of his goods have been stolen.  I have been administering first aid."  A careful summation of events.

Careful, like Shui, herself.

“Why do you ask Kal, is it the sort of thing you are likely to talk about?” Jago asks with equally studied nonchalance, though his interest is obviously piqued.

"Oh, it is! as a matter of fact, cap'n. I've been tracking the little bugger down all day, too. It's an odd looking component epoxied to the inside of the casing and linked into the systems. Whoever did it had to move aside board LTM-7C to make room between that and LTM-7D. It was quite a job because LTM-7C has over twenty discreet components mounted on it, not to mention half a dozen multiple-redundancy logic chips and connecting linkages-- er... anyway, it wasn't a casual job, I don't think, but don't ask me what it does. I had just found it when we had to rush out to help S.T., so this is the first chance I had to bring it up. Here, let me show you...." For the moment, Kal drops his Big & Dumb facade. It wasn't like the crew really bought it anymore, though they knew he'd always be a naive farm boy; but for Kal-chan it was a habit too hard to break.

"A WHAT!?" Yas calls out and nearly jumps out of her seat.  Who had done such a thing to her ship, where she was in charge of security - if she found them she would take her time to make them tell her everything, including when they first used a toilet for anything else beside a playing-pond.  "By the Fuming Swamps of Loomis Demise, skip, this is my slip-up, let me fine-comb this ship - those things could be anywhere!"

This is personal to her.  Somehow she has been made a fool out of, and she is not going to takeit gracefully.  Also looking every bit as annoyed as she feels, she still also keeps a cool that is nearly scary to see, and it is no doubt bad news for whoever did it, if she ever finds out who it was.

Jago has grown serious as Kal-chan talks, but he cracks a smile at Yasmin’s reaction.

“What I’d like to know is what it does, it might not be a threat, especially if Hrouff fitted it. Would you like to continue your ‘research’ Kal? but leave it running for the moment, let’s not let on that we know about it. I’ll put out some feelers when our visitor comes on board.”

Jago pauses in thought, the unlit cigar shifting  from side to side in his mouth, “I’ll be on the bridge,” he says after a moment, you two better standby in case Jett or the Doctor run into more trouble. I’ll have to teach you two to fly this thing,” he says patting the air raft.th0oughtfully.

"Sure thing, skippy, I'll go take a look at Caution's little friend, and then see if there's one hiding on mine as well.  If it's been there a while, it can be a fluke that he spotted it this time," Yas says and motions for the "dumb farmboy" to show her the naughty bit.

Yas and Kal-chan peer into the open gunnery console, where the module sits with all its innards exposed.  Including one part which clearly doesn't belong, since it has a definite jury-rigged look to it.

But it doesn't have the artistic quality of Saskia's jury-rigging.

Still, jury-rigged or not, somebody went to a lot of trouble to put it in there and make the necessary connections so that it would mesh into the system without affecting performance.


The cop directs two of the others over to the store, while studying the hole in the wall and checking the injured man.  He raises his left hand and uses some form of sign language to the driver of the squad vehicle, who nods and gives a thumbs-up through the armoured windscreen.

"A medwagon should be here in a couple of minutes.  I'll need to take... "  He breaks off as the other two return from the store, and a faint crackle of radio traffic reaches the ears of Shui and Jett.

"Well, it looks like your story might check out.  I've got to let you go for now, things are getting a little volatile here today.  But I'll need your names and a contact address in case I need to follow this up, and some sort of ID to prove you're who you say."


Jago gets onto the bridge just in time to see the comm signal wink once, then go off.  Almost immediately it lights up again...

"Ain't Sassy's handiwork, but it sure is something we weren't meant to find, by the Fiery Forek Nebula!" Yas mutters as she studies it more up close, in hopes of finding otu a bit more about the intrusive little component.  "Hmm, let's see..."

She cranes her neck to the limit and takes her time to study the thing, wondering who has placed it there, when and not the least how, without anyone knowing.  Has it been there ever since these things where fitted, or has it been planted there later?

"Of course, officer," Shui states, with a glance at Jett.  She breathes a little more easily, now - things look like they're going to be calming down.

Without them being shot.  Even better.

Fishing about (carefully and slowly), she comes out with a datacard, this one official documentation - her license to practice.  "My thanks, officer.  I hope this clarifies the situation a trifle.  I live aboard the Profit Margin - it's in port, at the moment."

The officer inserts Shui's caed into a scanner and downloads the data into the unit's storage, then does the same with Jett's details.  As he finishes, there are more sirens approaching.

"That'll be the medwagon.  We can handle it from here.  I recommend that you head for home.  We'll be in touch if we need anything else, and we need to be kept informed if you're intending to leave port, purely so we won't waste time trying to find you after you've gone."

He hands back the IDs.


Yas and Kal-chan study the mystery item for a while, Yas tracing connections visually, not actually touching anything yet, then leaning closer, getting a good look at the device itself.

"Hey, Sassy, can you hear me?  If so, come on over to Caution's little playroom, I got a job for you," Yasmine says over the ships intercom.  Waiting for an answer she looks over at Caution with a grin.

"This thing here, it's a transponder, sending out an ID, letting them coddled navy tossers know we are in the area where they are.  Or to trace stolen stuff, but they gave this to us, the bubbleheads.  But I got an idea...

The grin grows a bit crooked and she chuckles, turning back to study the device again.  "This one is a L-RIP VII I believe.  See how this external attachment cord is coiled around a inner core, that's to minimise the drain while keeping it cool," she explains.  "It must have misaligned, somehow, and given itself away anyway."

”Profit Margin, Captain Lanza speaking”, Jago answers the comm. but his mind is elsewhere.

Saskia drags herself out of the drives innards and makes her way towards the intercom, muttering, "So help me, Yasmine Crow, if this is another of your lame attempts to set me up romantically, I'll see to it that your shower delivers only cold water."

She mashes the stud with her thumb, "Sure, Yas, I'll be right there."

Pausing only to make a note of where she's up to, she heads over to the gunnery positions.  "What's up?" she asks Yas and Kal-chan.  Or, at least, she asks their rear ends, which is the only part of them she can see.

"I got one for you here, I bet you'll like this one," Yas says, looking up with a teasing smirk on her face, having no idea Sassy is all about romance and fondling studs at the moment.  "C'mon over here.  You think you can put this baby on its own, independent circuit?  So we can turn it on and off as we pleases, you know?"

Jago answers the comm, and a female voice replies, speaking rapidly, her voice on the verge of cracking as she forces the words out, "Ah... Captain, I'm... glad I could... catch you.  How s-soon... will you be leaving Vilis, and how... soon can we come... aboard if I book passage for n-nine people?  If you accept the booking now, I can offer you twelve thousand per person.  Is that enough?"

"Thank you, sir," Shui states, bowing slightly.  "I will be certain to do that.  All of it," she amends, in case there is any doubt.  Replacing her ID, the Doctor tugs at Jett's arm.  "Best we go," she whispers.  "The Captain will, no doubt, be unhappy with us."

Hurrying, now, she heads back toward the ship, package in tow.

"So what you're looking for is a way to cut this thing out of the system, but switch it back in when you want.  Okay, step aside and let me get a closer look."

Once she has room, Saskia peers into the console.  It only takes a few seconds before she says, "No worries.  I can rig a bypass between - here, and, let's see - here, then fit a switch on the bottom edge of the console, nice and discreet.  Any idea how it got there?"

The man’s attitude brigs Jago’s attention sharply back into focus, people willing to pay over the odds for tickets with no destination could present a fine business opportunity and shed load of trouble.

“I have your number here Sir, I’ll get back to you when we have a destination,” Jago smiles and cuts the connection without waiting for the protests or pleading that are bound to follow.

Having just seen Saskia go through the small door at the back of the cockpit that leas to the ventral turret, Jago follows her o see what the situation is on Kal-Chan’s device
.
“So, what do we have here people?” he asks from the doorway, there are already three people in the tiny gunnery console, and Jago ruefully observes that it would be a squeeze for him if it were empty.

"That'll be great, Sassy.  I knew you'd like this one," Yasmine says with a chuckle and then, before she can reply to Saskia's question, Jago poses another one.

"Transponder.  Used to track stolen goods, or to alert the Navy babies whenever we get near their postings.  No clue how it got here, but it could have been here ever since we got these things installed.  Probably the most likely scenario, as well," she explains and squeezes out of the turret control, finding it a bit too close for her comfort.  No so much the contact as the lack of movement.  "My idea is to keep it, but with the option to deactivate it whenever we feel like it.  Could be fun."

Saskia moves out, heading back to engineering to collect the things she'll need.

As she heads through the crew lounge, there is a screech of tormented metal which echoes through her innards.  Everybody ignores it - it's just the main ramp dropping.

Which means it must be somebody with the access codes coming aboard...


Jett and Shui are back at the ship, none the worse for wear.  When they reach the top of the ramp, Jett punches the sequence to close her up and lock her.  Another squeal. long and drawn-out, and the ship is sealed once more, with all her family home and safe.


On the bridge, the comms light is flashing as Kal-chan checks the gunnery logs for the last couple of years.  And there it is.  His little glitch goes right back to the system overhaul.  Of course he has no records from before the Navy fitted the new computer, but the rogue transponder is Navy issue.

He reports his findings to Jago.

"Well," Shui notes, dusting herself off, "that was an unfortunate trip."  Picking up the small 'sculpture', she looks up at Jett.  "Thank you for the escort, Jett.  I doubt that the crowd could have been pacified, were I alone."

She's not terribly imposing, and any number of them could have had firearms.

"I should find the Captain," she continues in a distracted murmur.  It's telling as to how off-balance she feels - the doctor doesn't normally talk to herself, at least vocally.  With that, and another bow to Jett, she moves a few steps, stopping to listen, then heads off in the direction of voices.

For some reason, everybody except Saskia is crowded around the ventral turret gunnery station when Jett and Shui get to the bridge, and Saskia joins them a few moments later with a toolkit and a handful of electrical components.

The comm signal is blinking frantically, ignored by all, because mostly their peering into the gunnery station, as if it were the most fascinating thing in the universe.  Which considering the ship is on the ground and they're not under attack, it shouldn't be.

It should be really boring and uninteresting.

“Lets give Sakia a bit of room here”, Jago says to no one in particular, “I’m expecting a visitor shortly, I’ll be on the bridge until he arrives.”

Jago steps through, sinks down into his chair at the pilot station and takes a couple of long pulls at his cigar while staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Eventually he reaches forward and answers the comm.

"Exactly, give the girl some room.  She's got temper," Yas agrees with Jago where she is outside of the gunnery station, having stepped out once Saskia came in there.

"So, had fun then, shoppers?" she asks Jett and Sushi with a grin, makign sure none of them are running around with any immediately noticeable holes or such, beyond the normal orifices like the mouth and such, of course.

OOC:  Yas stepped out when Sas got there the first time, see above.  ;)

At Yasmine's warning, Shui makes certain to give Saskia a wide berth, staring curiously for a long moment.  She's about to speak, to offer an explanation to the Capatin - in fact, her mouth is open - when Yasmine tosses a question her way.  Quickly reorienting her mind, Shui nods to the other woman.  "Fun enough.  I did not think this small planet held such potent amusements."  A hint of a smile touches the corners of her mouth.  "But I fear my heart cannot often withstand such diversions."

The smile fades into a grimace, and she turns back to Jago.  "Captain Lanza," the doctor begins, "I regret the poor handling of the situation.  Next time, I will attempt to be more discreet."  A shrug.  "Should there be a next time."

I have the ominous feeling there will be...

“No harm done,” Jago smiles at Shui over his shoulder, “just remember that if we don’t know what’s going on, imagination fills in the gaps.”

Jago, having reassured Shui, finally completes the action of answering the comm.

It's another query about booking passage.  The woman has a definite Vilani accent, and seems very unsure of everything, except that she needs accomodation for two passengers, as long as the ship is heading deeper into Imperial territory.


Saskia finally clears the assorted onlookers out of the gunnery station and sets to work fitting the switch.


As Jago deals with the call, he notices that the security monitor is displaying somebody approaching the closed ramp.  He's dressed very casually, but there's something about him that screams "military" at the top of its lungs.  He walks under the belly of the ship, and stops there.

Waiting.

“Yas, would you greet our guest please,” Jago indicates the figure in the screen, “we’ll meet him in he forward crew lounge I think, and no one to mention the wigit that Saski is fixing,” he adds in a louder voice that all can hear.

"Captain," Shui states quietly, waiting for an opening, "if we plan on taking on more passengers, I will go and do inventory of our current space and supplies, as well as prepare unused, locked-down rooms for guests."  She cocks her head.  "We *will* be taking on passengers?"  The Doctor/Steward's tone of voice indicates she's aware of the current money issues, and expects the answer to be yes.  Expects.  Not demands.

“Yes, go ahead Shui, and could you check over the low births as well please.”

"Of course, Captain."  With a short bow, Shui nods to the rest of the people still in the area, and immediatly ducks out to carry out her duties.

More people means more conversation...assuming they do not take the low berths.  She doesn't like the idea of people taking those things.  Should something go wrong, she's the ship's doctor - their deaths will be on her hands.  Well.  That is why you became a doctor, is it not?  To prevent that sort of thing from happening?

Moving to the rooms, first, Shui considers her options.  I shall have to have the Engineer take a long look at any cold-berths that will be used.  A very, very long look.

Yas makes her way out to admit the guest, who accounces himself as, "Mister Santorri, here to see Captain Lanza."    She leads him up to the forward crew lounge, per Jago's instructions.

Mister Santorri doesn't look very comfortable there, while he waits for Jago to finish with taking the call.  Perhaps it's Yas and Kal-chan hanging about, watching him.  Or perhaps it's just that the crew lounge is small enough to make visitors feel claustrophobic, especially if there are several people in there.

If Jago leaves his cabin door open. it's a little better.  Only a little though.

Jett studies his board, puzzled.  Nobody has started the refuel yet.  The tank seals haven't even been unlocked, ready for Profit Margin to start drawing fuel.

Strange.  Wonder what's going on?

Since Jago is on the comm, he decides to wait instead of calling the tower just yet.  Instead, he leans across to the captain, "Jago, want me to take that while you deal with your visitor?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Sun 04 Dec 2005.

Yasmine stands around, doing her duty as the security officer and keeping an eye on things.  For all she knows this fellow might be here to add another bug in their system, or to check up on the existing ones.  Whenever he looks her way she show a small smile, however, so she will not end up spooking him too much.

"Can I get you something?" she asks finally after getting yet another glance.  "Sir." she adds, the smiel growing a bit brighter.  She wonders whether he is a captain, higher or lower.  How much of a puppet is he?  Juding by his nervousness she would say quite the puppet.  Holding back the itch to make him really uncomfortable - he is part of the buggers that bug Profit Maring, no doubt - and make him squirm like a little maggot.  But the smile appears quite friendly.

“Thanks Yasmin,” Jago says as he exits the bridge, then to Santorri he offers his hand and a smile, “sorry to keep you, the comms have been going non stop.”

Pulling up a seat opposite, Jago sits, and for once, tucks his unlit cigar away. “Is this OK?” he asks, “we can speak in my cabin if you’d rather, or take a walk.”

Well.  Not much for me to do, here.  Shui glances around the final passenger cabin, noting its immaculate state.  The Captain seems to keep them in good condition, even when they aren't being used.  With a sigh, she heads back to the Med-lab, entering and nearly tripping over her package.  A rueful smile crosses her face, and Shui slowly opens it up, carrying the bizarre column over to one of the cabinets and placing it within - in front of the glass.

Visible, but untouchable.

She stares at it wistfully for a long moment, then turns away to take inventory of the medical stores.  They're up to date, of course.

With nothing else to do, at the nonce, and with no wish to leave the ship again, she settles herself down behind her desk, slowly going over the ship's personnel medical reports, hunting for things that need to be updated.  Including physicals.

"This will do just fine, Captain." replies Santorri, taking a seat himself, "The proposition I'm about to put to you will be very difficult to conceal from your crew in any case.  Also, Commander Gvaegech trusted them, so who am I to disagree. eh?"

"First, I am Lietenant Yve Santorri, Imperial Naval Intelligence.  Now, as you are aware, two years ago the Navy spent several million credits upgrading this ship.  While we saw a reasonable return on that investment during your operations with Commander Gvaegech, we would like to offer you an arrangement which woulsd allow us to continue realising a return on the outlay, while allowing Profit Margin to use the IN-provided upgrades to make potential, additional earnings.  All legal earnings, I might add."


He pauses then, just for a moment, eyeing Jago as if deciding whether to continue or not.  He decides quickly.

"Do you know, Captain, what a Letter of Marque is?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:59, Sun 04 Dec 2005.

“Some sort of government sanctioned piracy dating back to the days of water born navies?” Jago asks, his tone and expression makes it clear that he is asking a question, not making a statement.

Santorri’s questions rises a host of other questions in response but Jago waits to her the man out as many of these will probably be answered.

Shui sits at her desk, silently reading her records.  At one point, she adjusts her glasses.  At another, she removes them, cleans them slowly, then continues to read.  Nothing more.  No sign of her feelings crosses her face.

Finally, she finishes.  The doctor pushes her chair back, staring off into space.  One fingertip taps the table, twice.  A fine brow arches, ever so slightly.

Well.  This will certainly be the most interesting job she's had.  At least past adventures have guaranteed everything in the ship will be in good working order.

Santorri shakes his head, "Not exactly."

"During the last war, one of the major activities of the enemy was commerce raiding.  Small ships, lightly-armed by military standards, would make their way deep into Imperial space and attack merchant shipping."

He leans forward in his seat, continuing, "Profit Margin, and the few other ships we have upgraded similarly, could give a commerce raider a nasty surprise.  Her sensors are actually superior to most Zhodani milspec systems, and the upgraded weapons can deliver severe punishment, at short or long range."

"Now while any ship is entitled to defend itself against hostile action, and the Navy administers bounties, issued by civillian authorities, on known pirate vessels, a Letter of Marque allows you to collect bounties on destroyed military shipping too, and to actively hunt down and terminate threats to commercial shipping within the Imperium."

A smile then, and, "In other words, Captain, Profit Margin gets paid to defend itself from trouble, and would be authorised to actually go looking for such trouble, at your discretion.  All while going about her regular business."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:03, Mon 05 Dec 2005.

"I see.  We are to act like a sheep, then shed our woll and bite them by the throat.  And thanks to the advantage of sensors, we can simply happen to stray closer...  I like it, as long as we are indeed free to go where we want when we want it.  Speaking as the security officer, of course," Yas says from where she is leaning up against the wall, arms crossed over her chest and one foot back against the wall.

"Oh, LT, you would not happen to have any news about the situation not out on the public channels, would you?  Especially concerning Regina...  Or be able to keep us up to date on such things?"

Jago nods in agreement with Yasmin’s assessment, she has her own way of phrasing things but, as usually, the sentiment is the same as his own.

Yasmin is defiantly more direct in asking unrelated questions and Jago stifles his smile and looks to Santorri for any news of home.

"I'm sorry, but the only information we've had through from Regina since the war started is the stuff that's coming through on the X-boat network, which is the same as what everybody else is getting."

Santorri shrugs, looking glum, "We got word of the fighting at Regina about an hour before TNS did.  None of our own couriers have made it through."


He turns his attention back to Jago, "Are you interested in this offer, Captain?  It allows you to carry on with business, and we both earn some benefit from the enhanced systems aboard this ship."

“Yes we are interested,” a little smile tickles the corners of Jago’s mouth, “we’ll be pleased to make our own little contribution to the war, pleased to make the space lanes a little safer for other merchants and if our efforts are recognised with cash, major bonus.”

“Will the Bureau be able to keep us up to date on such enemy activities?”

Not quite ready to give up, seeing how their long-term passanger as well as Caution has interest in it, Yasmine slips in just after Jago, "Part of the payment for the risky service we would provide you with could be that whenever we are in your area, you could provide us with any news that will not reach us otherwise.  I am sure your superiors can see this as quite acceptable, as it is a matter of maintaining the morale aboard the ship."  She smiles at the lieutenant, although the voice carries forth a sincere and serious message.

"As far as tracking enemy activities go, Captain, I can issue with with clearance documents which will enable you to contact personnel at Naval facilities and be granted access to certain records and information."

"In systems without such facilities, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that you can probably find out about shipping hazards from other captains and the local rumour mill."

A shrug, and then, "Frankly, such rumours are probably as accurate as our own information.  That's where most of it is culled from anyway."

He turns his attention to Yas, "I'd give you news if I had it, Miss... Crow, isn't it?"  He regards her for a moment, a fleeting expression of puzzlement on his face.  Then he seems to decide that whatever is bothering him doesn't matter anyway, "As I said though, the Navy has had no news from Regina since the invasion started."

"Security Officer Crow, yes.  Ex captain in the Marines.  And, I think you misunderstood me, Lieutenant," Yasmine says with a big grin, wondering what that look meant.  It certainaly was not a look some guys gave her, and he probably would not dare to even think about mixing business and pleasure anyway.  "I mean of course for future reference.  I am certain you would share any information you had right now, naturally."

"I think you misuderstood me, Miss Crow." Santorri replies, with the hint of a smile, "You asked me to pass on news when you're in my area.  I'm afraid that my area doesn't extend very far beyond arm's reach."

"My position in the navy, is the Intelligence Liason Officer for Vilis.  I have very little influence beyond the base here.  The documents that I offered to your Captain, will actually give him more influence than I have in other systems."


In Shui's quarters, the intercom chimes, interrupting her study of the medical records.  Corlan DeSant's face appears on the tiny screen.  "Miss Tiesi, can you spare a few moments to come and see me?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:38, Thu 08 Dec 2005.

“Well it’s all good for me, where do I sign?” Jago asks.

“I take it that l a letter of mark is not actually a government secret, but just in our own best interest not to advertise.”

Blinking, Shui pushes her glasses up slightly and stares at Corlan's face for an instant, before breaking into a pleasant smile.  "Immediately, Mr. DeSant."  Picking up her bag (just in case), she stands up and heads out of the room, smile fading as she walks.

It's a short walk, and the smile is back when she knocks on the door.  Voices, coming from elsewhere on the ship, but that's none of her concern right now - the important thing is the client's request.

"All right, I will put it in small words for you, Lieutenant," Yasmine says with a hint of acid in her voice and puts her hands on her hips, resting most of the weight on one foot.  "Tell your superior to relay any news they get that does not make it to the official news.  And don't tell me the long nose of the Navy doesn't reach this far, and around where we will be, or you wouldn't be here.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go do something useful instead.  Caution, you keep an eye on our guest."

With that she turns around and walks over to where Saskia is, who clearly can see what she thinks of the Navy as she steps just inside the doorway.  She says nothing, however, but stops to watch what the engineer is doing, the annoyance on her face slowly being replaced with interest.  Yes, this is doing something far more useful, and she can still hear anything that is said at a normal tone of voice.

Jago hides his face behind his hand as he loses the battle to subdue a grin.

"Uh... oh, no, it's perfectly legal.  But as you say, advertising that you have such it might not be the best thing."

He reaches into his jacket and pulls out two envelopes and a datachip.

"This envelope is yours, and contains a copy of the contract, on official Imperial stationery.  Pretty much proof against counterfeiting.  The datachip is an electronic copy of it, with swcurity codes and tags that make that forgery proof too.  It's readable by all standard datapads, and you'll need to present it when you collect bounties, along with sensor data to confirm kills.  It also gets updated with a record of claimed bounties each time."

Then he hands Jago the second envelope, "This is our copy of the contract, I'll need you to sign, Captain."

"Ah... come in, come in."  Corlan stands aside, allowing Shui to enter, then gestures towards a chair, "Please, sit, Miss Tiesi."

As soon as she is settled, he clears some documents which are spread across the bed, before sitting on it, "I need some help, I'm afraid.  I didn't rest much after you left.  Too many things going around in my mind, I suppose."

"Anyway, I have been thinking, and I currently have, I believe, two courses of action open to me, both of which you may be able to help me with.  The first is to ask Captain Lanza to take the ship back to Regina, or as close as he can get, and drop me off.  If he won't do that, then the second is to ask you to put me into cold sleep until Regina is liberated, so that I won't spend all my time worrying about my family."

"There is, of course, also a third option, that of leaving the ship and trying to gain passage back to Regina elsewhere, but I'd as soon not do that.  After two years aboard Profit Margin, this has become home to me."

He lowers his gaze to the papers still on the bed, "So, I need advice first, and possibly your professional help afterwards.  Do you think the Captain would agree to my request?  And, if not, I need you to freeze me."

“This will take a few minuets Lieutenant,” Jago says as he takes the document and leafs through it, “can I get you anything while you wait, a drink or something to eat perhaps?”

There are several pages of fine print in this document, and Jago reads quickly through the whole lot, before pulling a well used pen from the pocket of his well used jacket, and signing each page in the corner, in addition to the dotted line with its obligatory ‘X’.

Jago returns the signed document with a smile, “I don’t suppose you know what the hold up is on refuelling, lieutenant? We aren’t in a great hurry there are goods to unload, but I do like to be ready.”

Shui blinks, shocked at the request and struggling not to show it.  She understands his desire, but that doesn't mean she wants the man to throw himself in harm's way.  The first two choices definitely constitute that.  "Mr. DeSant," she begins, mind whirling, "I would advise against this, but I can see you have made up your mind...and I can comprehend your desires."  Were it my Family, even after so long away, I would go.  Frowning, she places two fingers on her forehead for a moment, then pushes her glasses up, expression firming.

"It is possible the Captain may agree to your first request.  It cannot hurt to ask.  As you know, I am new aboard this ship.  I suggest that you have a better knowledge to what Captain Lanza will agree, and you would not have asked if you did not have some kind of educated guess.  As to the cold-sleep..."  Her lips thin.  "I do not reccomend that option.  Even with units in as spectacular condition as I have discovered aboard this ship, there is always a chance of malfunction.  Better to take passage aboard another ship, should Captain Lanza refuse."

Her dark eyes soften for a moment.  "Should he require further payment, I would like to deal with that, myself - or at least assist.  You will require your funds for your family - I have no such necessity.  Think of them, before you refuse my offer."

When Jago has signed the contract, Santorri takes it back and glances at the signatures before putting it back in his jacket.  "I have no idea, Captain.  Things have become a little tense in the town today, perhaps it's spreading to the port personnel too."

A shake of his head, "Port Authority is a civillian organisation.  Probably you should contact them."


In the ventral turret gunnery position, Saskia leans back away from her handiwork, and gives Yas a thumbs-up sign.  All done.

"I wouldn't hear of taking your money.  I have more than enough of my own, thank you." Corlan replies to Shui's offer, looking faintly shocked at the idea of it.

"Very well, I'll speak to the Captain.  Do you know if he's aboard at the moment?"

It seems that a decision has been reached, and Corlan DeSant is going to act on it before he has time to change his mind.

Jago chuckles, “I’m sorry if we keep plaguing you with questions outside your field Lieutenant, an occupational hazard I expect.” Standing, Jago offers his hand, thank you for coming over and explaining all this, be sure that we’ll put it to good use.”

Worried she might have offended, Shui bows, shortly.  "My apologies.  My offer sprang solely from concern."  Dropping that subject, the doctor straightens, nodding.  "The Captain is, indeed, aboard.  In discussion, perhaps, but I heard his voice.  Shall we seek him out?"  She suspects that keeping Corlan moving might be the best bet.  Keep him doing, rather than thinking, mulling over his predicament.

As long as things continue to move along, it will give his mind something on which to focus.

Jago sees the INI officer off the ship, lifting the ramp again, just as soon as he gets clear of it, then starts back to the crew lounge, just as Corlan steps through the hatch from the passenger section, followed by Shui.

"Ah... Captain Lanza.  I was just on my way to see you.  I need to speak to you about where the ship will head next, if you have time now?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:46, Tue 13 Dec 2005.

"Is the nincompoop gone now?" Yas asks as she pops her head around the corner.  "Good.  I came this close to shooting him where it hurts.  Let's see if the little critter left some droppings this time around," she says and steps over to his seat, beginning to more or less dismantle the whole thing, bit by bit and inch by fraction of an inch.

"I better check anythign he touched here," she comments as she continues her "investigation" into this matter.  If there is anything there she will find it, down to the last dandruff that he may have left behind.  She will of course not touch anything suspicious-looking.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Tue 13 Dec 2005.

“Yes come on through, we can talk in my cabin,” Jago gestures for Corlan to go first and when the passenger walks through the forward crew lounge and encounters Yasmin dismantling everything in sight he keeps a straight face, with some difficulty, and says “good job Captain, carry on.”

Once the cabin is reached and the door closed firmly on the chaos outside, Jago fetches the good malt he keeps for just such occasions, and a couple of glasses.

“A drink perhaps,” he offers, ”while you tell me what’s on your mind?”

"Uh, can I have a word next, Sir?  It's kinda important." Kal-chan asks as Jago goes past.  It looks as though is luck is holding firm.  Just when he wants to talk to Jago, so does everybody else.  He just hopes that none of them have bad news to pass on before he gets his turn.

Then the cabin door closes.  Something he's always associated with trouble.

Kal-chan sighs, and goes to help Yas.

"Will do, skippy," Yas chirps as Jago passes and then looks up at Caution as he coms over.  "Talk to Jago?  Nothing serious I hope.  If you're wondering about the bug, he's hardly blaming you or anything, you know," she says while she continues to search, now with her former marine colleague to aid her.

Jago pauses before going into his cabin, “make yourself at home Corlan,” he says to his guest, “help yourself to a drink, I wont be a moment.”

Still in the doorway, Jago turns and peers intently at Kal-Chan, “what is it?” he asks with a little smile, “more trouble?”

"Not exactly, Sir.  But I need to speak to you.  Privately."

“I was just going to have a chat with Corlan, will it wait until after then?”

"Yes, it's not that urgent that a few minutes, or even hours, will make a difference.  But it is important."

Kal-chan can feel his face flushing red.  He knows that Yas is staring at the back of his head.  He can feel her eyes boring into his skull.

"I-it's about Regina." he finally finishes.

Yas says nothing, but she gets a nagging little voice trying to make itself heard in the back of her head.  With a shrug she turns back again to her search, pretending it is nothing - but she does not even fool herself...

Jago glances between Corlan inside the door, and Kal-Chan on the outside, “OK, as soon as we are finished I’ll give you a call and we can talk in here.”

With what he hopes is a reassuring nod, Jago enters the cabin and closes the door firmly behind him.

Shui watches Corlan head into the Captain's cabin, then slowly turns to others.  She looks over at Yasmine and her 'task', then turns a long, steady stare on Kal-chan.

One thing the doctor hates is mysteries.  But the thing she hates more than mysteries are nosy busybodies.  And she's honest enough not to require a mirror when she steps near that line, herself.

With a nod, she settles down into a chair, waiting to see what the result will be with Corlan's talk.  "What are the odds," Shui finally states, to the area at large, "that the Captain will agree to take Mr. DeSant home?"

Corlan sits nervously in Jago's cabin, accepting the offered drink.  When Jago indicates that he's ready, he launches straight into his request...

"Captain Lanza, Miss Tiesi said I should come and speak to you.  As you will recall, Regina is my home, and I have family there still.  The recent news has made me concerned for their well-being., and, while I know there is little I can do for them, I would feel better if I were closer to them."

"In short, Captain, I'm requesting passage to Regina.  Or as close as you're willing to take me."

“That’s a tricky one Corlan, I do sympathise, my own family is there as well, but I simply don’t think I can afford it,” Jago bites his lip and pats down his pockets in search of that cigar. “I have to run a pretty full ship just to meet the mortgage payments, its six or seven jumps back home I’d guess, and if I can’t fill most the ship with passengers and cargo for each jump, I’m in trouble.”

Jago finds his cigar, or at least the broken remains of it, and sets about transferring flakes of tobacco from his pocket to the incinerator as he continues. “If I there were people and goods heading in that direction I still wouldn’t go unless all the crew were willing, it just wouldn’t be right to put them into that kind of danger without it. You do realise the dangers of such a journey to yourself, personally?”

With his pocket mostly clean, Jago fetches a fresh cigar from his desk, “talking of dangers, I was coming to see you presently, to let you know hat we have another commission for the Imperial Security Bureau, well not so much a commission as, letters of marque. Basically we get a bounty for any Zhodani we take out in the course of normal operations.”

“We won’t be leaving here for a day at least, I’ll put out some feelers to see if there is any trade in that direction, and we’ll take it drop there, how dies that sound?” Jago smiles, trims the end from his fresh cigar and pops it into the corner of his mouth with a disproportionate measure of satisfaction.

"What?" Yasmine says and looks up from her search.  "Back to Regina?  I think a frotlog bird with one wing missing has a bigger chance impressing the ladies during mating than that happening, to be honest.  It's a mighty long way, but nothing is impossible, after all.  So, he wants to go home, uh?  Can't blame him, really," she concludes and glances sideways at Caution before once more returning to her, so far, fruitless search.

Shui listens to Yasmine's assessment of the likelihood, then rubs her forehead.  This isn't good.  Not at all.  "No," she agrees quietly, "I cannot blame him, either.  I pray he manages to convince the Captain."  Her fingers drum together for a moment, tips padding against each other, then she frowns.

"What is going on?  Everyone seems to be a trifle on edge...did I miss something?  Beyond a mob attack?"

"It's not so much convincing as making it possible, I think.  I'm sure we'd all go there if all we had to worry about was going there," Yasmine continues while searching, lifting up the seat and feeling around the frame.  "We had a visitor from the Navy.  Making sure he didn't 'forget' something...  Other than that, I don't know."

"'Making it possible'?"  Shui rolls the words over in her head, considering their meaning.  "And what did this naval person leave behind?" she inquires, thoughtfully.  "Surely not a uniform, or medal.  Something more precious, no doubt, and equally ethereal?"

She frowns.  "As for possibilities...is it debt, then, that is the issue keeping us from bringing Mr. DeSant home?  Are we in that deeply?"

"Just some Navy droppings, possibly.  You know, more bugs and such," Yas continues.  "And those are often quite expensive, yup.  Debt is only one part of the equation.  But let's wait and see, I can't say much more until I know more," she chuckles.

Shui raises an eyebrow.  "He planted listening devices?"  A hint of disgust creeps into her tones.  "One would think the navy had better things to do than harass us.  Or maybe it is simply a sign of the times."

She frowns.  "Do you require any assistance?  I am not completely unversed in this situation.  I had taken a berth aboard another ship, perhaps two years ago, and a similar situation..."  She waves one hand.  "Well, that is neither here nor there.  The point is, if I would not be underfoot, I can aid you."

"He might have.  Turns out they've had us bugged since probably we got these upgrades, two years ago.  And this time I ain't taking any risks!  Feel free to check around here, it is the only place where he actually touched anything.  We should have given him a cup without a handle filled to the brim with hot coffee so he had to keep his hands on it," Yas explains, glancing up at Sushi briefly with a crooked grin on her face.

"Perhaps laced with some phenolpthaline," Shui mutters irritably, and glances around the room.  "Well.  I will assist, then."  She puts fingers to the bridge of her nose, as though struggling to remember something, then nods, decisively, moving to an area of the room.  A glance at Yasmine to confirm it has not been checked already, then she begins.  Her sweeping is hesitant at first, but then her motions grow more relaxed.

"It has been a while," Shui confesses.  "If they installed bugs, might they have also installed some surplus hardware within the engine core, or the weapons?  Something small, out of the way?"  She pops up again from her search.  "What do they think you did to warrent this sort of treatment."

Very careful question, there.

"Did?"

Yasmine starts to laugh with amusement and stops her search for a bit, turning to grin ominously at Sushi.

"They want to keep track of their goods, of course.  When we are nearby, the bug Caution found tells them that.  Keeping tabs on us, without asking.  But if they tried it this time around, then we will find it," she says, still chuckling as she turns back to her so far fruitless quest.  "Oh, and we need to check every single system they upgraded back then.  Every single thing must be swept."

Shui blinks at Yasmine's stare, adjusting her glasses.  The woman, on occasion, makes her nervous.  "Well.  One hopes that is the only reason they would wish to track you.  The Navy often does things for different...more difficult purposes than the obvious."  Her small smile certainly edges into the 'wry' territory.

"I would suggest sweeping more than the modified systems," she continues, going back to her search.  "Did you have their technicians under guard the entire time?  If not, they would have had plenty of opportunity to place a bug elsewhere.  Perhaps multiple bugs."

Corlan nods slowly.

When he speaks, his eyes are fixed on a point on the floor.  "Very well, Captain.  I understand your position perfectly.  I will need a little while to consider my own position, and my options."

"It is possible that I may wish to terminate our arrangement.  Should I decide to do so, I will let you know in plenty of time for you to find another fare."

He places the glass, almost untouched on the desk, and stands to leave, "I have no hard feelings about this, Captain.  I just want you to know that.  I have enjoyed my time aboard Profit Margin immensely, and should I choose to leave her, I will miss yourself and your crew.  You have all made my stay aboard a... most happy one."

"But I am concerned about my children, and my grandchildren.  Thank you for your time."


Outside, Jett steps into the lounge, looking curiously at Yas and Shui as they tear the place apart.  He moves across to Kal-chan, and asks, "Jago about?"


Saskia tidies up in the gunnery position, and packs away her tools.  Then she gives the console an affectionate pat before heading back to her beloved drives.  They'll be missing her.

"C'mon, it's the Navy we're talking about.  They hardly know why they do anything, they just do it because their bosses said to do it," Yas replies with a snort, still search but now moving to look under things as there is is not much left of the seat itself, running fingers around.  "And the whole ship was upgraded, basically.  Even the paint.  But I'm sure Sassy can help with that so we don't have to crawl to everywhere trying to spot something with our eyes.  This right here is different, though.  If he did drop any, it won't be concealed."

"Hm."  Shui nods.  "I am concerned about bugs that remain deactivated for a long period.  They could activate only briefly when they encounter a Navy beacon, and then shut themselves off, again."  She sits up, briefly, brushing back her hair and adjusting her glasses.  "We would never find those, save through sheer luck."

A glance to Jett, but he is speaking to Kal-chan, not her.  Ducking her head, she goes back to hunting.

"Exactly.  That's the one Caution found.  Well concealed.  Probably a minor malfunction that made it show up in the first place, it should've masked itself better.  But then, this is the Navy we are talking about," Yas comments with a teasing glance at Jett, knowing he is ex Navy after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:02, Thu 15 Dec 2005.

“Well I certainly understand that,” Jago responds to Corlan seriously, “and I must say I, that is we all consider you to be more than just a passenger, I’m miss you if you have to go, and not just because you have provided the only income I could absolutely rely on over these last two years.”

“We’ll see if there is any trade in that direction, I’d certainly like to oblige you if I can,” as Corlan leaves, Jago stands and sees him to the doorway.

“Hello Jett, can you give me a minuet, I’ve promised Kal-chan a word first, it’s turning into a busy day.”

“Kal-chan, would you like to come in?”

Kal-chan stands asice for Corlan to pass.  The older man says nothing as he heads for the door to the hold, and the passenger accomodations beyond.

The gunner enters the office, closing the door behind him.  He doesn't relax, but stands at attention.  When Jago offers him a seat, he somehow manages to sit at attention.

"Well.  Sir.  As you know, I've been here for two years now, and I like the job, and everything, and the others are good to work with, and the conditions and pay are good, and all of that.  It's all good, and... "

He finally winds down, sensing that perhaps he's starting to ramble a little.

"Best to get it over with, I suppose.  I want to resign, Captain." he watches for a reaction, just briefly, before continuing, "Regina is my home, and when we heard about the War, it didn't mean much.  But now the Zho's have taken my home.  It's personal."

"I'm going to sign up with the Corps again.  Maybe I can do a little bit to help.  I know we've got that Letter from the White Suits, but I'm a Marine, Sir.  I'd feel better fighting groundside, with battledress and an LAG."

Jago listens to Kal-chan in silence, and remains so for a little longer, “I’ll be sorry to see you go I must admit, but I wouldn’t dream of trying to stop you,” Jago says. “If you give me a while I’ll sort out the paperwork and the wages I owe you, maybe we can all go ashore for a drink this evening, before you head off.”

"Thank you, Sir.  I'd be pleased if you would have a drink with me."  Kal-chan stands, prepared to leave, then hesitates, "Oh, just one more thing.  Shall I tell Yas, or would you rather speak to her about it?"

"This is rich," Yas groans and fishes up her find.  "Here, since you asked about Ridge before.  Seems he left this one behind," she says and tosses a small item to Sushi.  "Seems to be the only weird thing about here though, so I suppose maybe he didn't leave any droppings, this time."

"I have found nothing, either," Shui states, one hand snapping out like a cobra to take the chip out of the air.  She pushes her glasses up on her nose, one thin brow rising as she takes in the title.  "How...interesting.  I have seen these in stores, of course, but never viewed one."  The woman sits down on the ground, frowning, and takes off her glasses to clean them with her shirt.

"It is possible your visitor left nothing behind.  Perhaps they are confident with what already lies aboard?"  A grimace, at that.  It isn't a pleasant thought.  Abruptly recalling the chip, she transfers her glasses to one hand and flicks it toward Yasmine with the other.  "My apologies."

"Interesting isnt' the word for these things.  And be glad you've never watched one," Yas smirks and catches the remains of a previous gunner in her right hand.  "Quite possibly, they may have had only one, or many devices hidden.  That's why I'm going to search Profit Margin through and through."

"Why the apology?" she then asks as she looks down at the palm of her hand where the chip lays, before turning to toss it in the trash system.  She grins with satisfaction as she hears the thing fall down the neck of the trash receptor, which starts up and makes the process short with the lewd bit and the naughty byte too.

"Through and through?" Shui inquires, stretching.  "I had no idea you had such interest in purile vids."  Waving off the attempt at a witticism, she replaces her glasses.  "If there is any way I can be of assistance...well, to begin with, I expect I should search the medbay.  Thoroughly."

And despose of any lurking detritus simultaneously, she decides.  While Shui hasn't found anything yet, that could sipmly be because she wasn't looking.

"Now that apology would be welcome," Yasmine says with all her teeth bared in a smile that left some friendliness to be wished for - but there was plenty of amusement there too.  "You do that, but I hope Sassy can help us make it more effective.  I should probably go ask her already."

"Hm.  My earlier apology was for not returning the chip, promptly...I see I will have to keep some banked for dealing with the fallout from my sense of humor."  The woman definitely has her a little nervous, Shui considers.  Too many memories.  Too many echoes to the past.

"I shall endeavor to find any small, deactivated devices that Saskia's technology cannot locate...but, like you, I hope she will be able to expediate our search."  With a quick bow, Shui hurries off to begin her search of the medlab.

Cursed Navy.  All big ships, big guns, and ego.  Never thinking to do things the quiet, polite way....

“I’ll tell her if you like,” Jago says to Kal-chan, “but it would probably be better if you did, you know, one marine to another.”

“Would you send Jett in if you see him please.”

"Yes, Sir.  I'll do that straight away.  And I'll speak to Yas too." he raises his hand, and gets it halfway there before he realises that he's not back in the Corps yet, and Jago would probably have him thrown off the ship if he completed the salute.

He manages to turn it into scratching at his neck, then quickly turns and leaves.


"Jett, Jago says he'll see you now." he says to the navigator, and then comes the part he's dreading, "Uh... Yas... I need a word with you."

"I won't take much of your time, Jago.  I've just come to give you this." Jett passes a piece of paper over, "It's my resignation, I'm afraid.  I was on the bridge checking the datafeeds earlier, and the Navy is putting out a call for volunteers.  Especially for people with prior service."

"Seems they're pulling a lot of ships out of retirement too, to reinforce the front line squadrons, and they need crews for them.  I'm a good nav, and they'll need specialists.  So I'm going to sign up again."

"My family have been Navy all the way back for about five centuries, back to the Civil War.  We just missed the First Frontier War, but we've served the Imperium in every war since.  It's a matter of pride, as well as duty."

"Hey, you could have kept it for all I care," Yasmine calls out with a chuckle, shakign her head.  The new Doc is a bit nervous for some reason.  She begins to replace the stuff on the seat when Caution comes out of Jago's office and sounds as if he was about to ask her on a date, stuttering all over the place.

"Sure thing, Caution.  What's up?" she asks, dodging the chance to joke.  She knows his home is in trouble and she has no wish to put her foot in her mouth or something, seeing how far back they go.  "Want to talk here, or want to go somewhere else?" she asks, both soundign and looking quite sincere as she watches him for reactions.

Looking distinctly conspiratorial, Kal-chan beckons for Yas to follow him through to the bridge, where there seems to be another call waiting.  He looks nervous, and starts to say something a couple of times, only to stop after the first few words, and try again.

At last he screws up his courage, and simply says, "Yas, I've quit.  I'm signing up with the Corps again, and maybe I'll get to help kick the Zhos out of my home."  He thrusts out his hand towards the Chief Gunner, "It's been a pleasure working with you."

Jago sighs but smiles at Jett and offers his hand, “well good luck old friend, give them hell for all of us.”

“Kal-chan is off to join the marines, we were going to have a little drink tonight, I guess it’ll be a double fair well now.”

Jago follows Jett out to the crew lounge in search of any one else lining up for a career change but it’s empty right now so he just gets a cup of steaming, black coffee and wanders out to the cargo deck with it.

Not sure if she had expected it or not, Yasmine says nothign at first, only stands there looking at Caution for what no doubt feels like hours to him.  Then she steps past the outstretched hand and grabs him in a big hug that probably at first scares him more than the look has.

"I understand," comes the emotional words while the firm hug lasts.  It is the first time she actually has hugged anyone in front of him, apart from her own sister two years ago.  But he had become a part of this crew, perhaps partly because he is an ex marine liek herself - but he was the sort she could rely on no matter what.

The hug lasts a bit longer than it perhaps should.

The cargo deck is deserted too.  The ship seems like a ghost ship, and at the rate people seem to have decided to leave, it appears that it might soon become one in reality.  The air is cool in there, environmental controls set to maintain the hold at a temperature that will keep the fruit fresh for as long as possible.

Jago's breath steams, almost reminding him of the days when he used to actually light his cigars.

At least the fruit should be gone in a few hours, and once it clears the ramp, it's no longer his to worry about.


Living up to the nickname that Yas uses for him, Kal-chan cautiously returns the hug, still unsure if this is one of Yas' jokes.  He'd hate to end up sitting on the floor with a dislocated shoulder or something.  Especially since Yas is so much smaller than him.


In the medbay, Shui starts her search, but there are so many potential hiding places that it soon becomes apparent that she'd need to be very lucky to find anything at all.  At least without help.  There are drawers and cabinets, many of them containing small, slightly suspect, packages, nooks and crannies in larger equipment, vents and ducts, the list is endless...

Blowing an errant strand of hair from her eyes, Shui sits down on the floor, frustrated.  This will take days.  Well, days or not, it needs to be done.  She quickly slices the medical bay into smaller pieces, mentally of course, and inputs the list into her dataglove.  From there, she focuses on a single area.

Too much, and she'll get exhausted and sloppy.  Too little, and it'll never be finished.

Methodically, the doctor begins to work through that area.

Of course, this is no guarantee I won't MISS something, curse it.

"So," Yas says abruptly, and probably a bit too loud, as she breaks of the hug and grabs Caution by the shoulders, "when do you leave?  Soon, I suspect, but have you got any plans?"  The voice is wrestled back into a more normal tone and she even braves a smile.  I will miss you, you big, clever oaf, she thinks as she holds on to him while waiting for an answer.

Since he is so up close, he can no doubt see that she is honest in her query as well as what she is saying, even if he perhaps needs a moment to settle after her outburst.  Funny how the light seems to reflect a lot in her eyes too - but perhaps it always has.  She rarely stands still to someone this close up.

Cradling her left hand in her right, Saskia walks barefoot into the lounge.

A thin line of blood runs from between the index and second finger, across the palm, and into her cuff, where it becomes a spreading stain on the grey fabric.

With nobody about, she changes direction and heads for Shui Tiesi's quarters, where she clumsily pushes the button on the panel next to the door, with her right elbow, "Shui?  You in there?"

Shui jerks up, inside the access area for storage.  There is a dull thud, and she emerges a moment later, rubbing the back of her head.  Ow.  Huzzah - something to distract her from the irritation of the search.  "Enter," she calls, walking quickly across the room to key the door herself, looking back to memorize her current position in the search.

Hissing open, the door reveals Saskia.  Bleeding.  Shui notes that part almost instantly.  "Come in, Saskia - please, to the bed, and take a seat.  I'll have a look at that immediately.  What did you do?"

"What did I do?  I was stupid, that's what I did!" Saskia almost snarls, angrily.  Then her expressions shifts to one of shock, followed by embarrasment, and she continues, "Sorry.  It hurts.  I didn't mean to take it out on you. or anybody else for that matter."

The engineer slumps onto the edge of the bed.

"I was under the mass compensation unit, trying to realign the polarized coupling grid, because it's not quite in phase with - " she trails off as she realises she's starting to ramble about stuff that only engineers are interested in, and not even all of them.

"I was working under the engines, reached into the tool box without looking, and spiked myself on a coil degausser.  Nasty thing, got a point on it like a needle. but bigger.  Got me right between the first two fingers."

With a soft smile, Shui brushes off the engineer's angry greeting.  "Think nothing of it...understandable, given the circumstances."  Her expression  during the explanation isn't one of total incomprehension, though she appears somewhat tentative.  At the 'it hurts', she applies a mild, local pain reliever, and then begins to sterilize the wound (which quickly grows cold, the pain first distant, then gone).  "Hm.  Puncture wounds often hurt far more than cuts, and take longer to heal.  I will see what I can do - this is deep, but not serious."  She glances up.  "You will live," the doctor reassures Saskia with a small smile.

"In fact," she continues, appling a broad-spectrum antibiotic, "you may be back at work soon...might.  I will need to have a closer look before I seal it up."  Shui pauses.  "The tool.  It looks like this?"  Her hands sketch out a rough approximation of the device.  "Hm.  I had occasion," she continues, pushing her glasses up and going back to looking at the wound, "to assist an engineer on one of my other berths.  I fear I have no idea what the 'mass compensation unit' is by name, but if you pointed it out to me, I would likely understand better."  She ponders the wound and the explanation, both.  "In phase...coupling..."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Tue 20 Dec 2005.

Nervously extricating himself from the hug, while trying not to appear too keen to do so, Kal-chan smiles, his face starting to turn red.  Which is an improvement on the last time Yas had gotten hold of him, which was during his basic training.

Back then his face had started to turn blue, while she demonstrated that training could beat size.

"I'll be leaving as soon as the Skipper gets my pay fixed up.  But we're going for a drink tonight." he says, then quickly adds, "Not just me and him... everybody can come along.  If they want.  I don't want to force anyone to go."

"A drink sounds fine by me," Yasmien says with the biggest smile Caution probably has ever seen.  As if the reddening face was a signal for another hug, she grabs him and gives him yet another one, this time squeezing hard - not that she could really squeeze this guy, and it was not aimed at hurting; more to squeeze him up tight against herself, hoping to make him remember her for a long, long time to come.  Plus, she rarely got to hug anyone anyway, and this was one of the few guys she ever would consider hugging, so why miss the chance?

"You go get them, you heartbreaker you!" she tells his ear while hugging him.

While Shui works on her hand, Saskia keeps her eyes averted.

"Sorry." she says for what feels, to her, like about the hundredth time, as pain, which is currently pure imagination, causes her to wince and pull her hand away again, "I'm just a bit squeamish.  Don't like blood.  Especially when it's mine."

Trying to keep her attention off the doctor's work, she looks instead at the open cabinets and drawers.  "So, been having a tidy up?" she finally asks, her voice sounding weak and strained.

"Oh, and do you have something I can be sick in?  Just in case."

Without looking around, Shui reaches out with a foot, absently snagging a small basket from the floor, guiding it to her hand.  Placing it one the table next to Saskia, she continues to check the woman's hand.  "Just...searching for...tracking devices."  She pauses, looking up.  "Navy tracking devices.  You may vomit in that, should you wish.  Please."

The doctor nods, slowly, before splinting Saskia's hand.  "I have a lot of experience with blood, else I suspect I would be rendered ill by the sight.  This will hold your hand steady for a while, allowing the internal injury to close.  It is deep, but not terribly serious."  She looks up again.  "Painful, though, when the 'shot' wears off.  There is some small damage to the surrounding tissue.  I will spray it shut," Shui continues, picking up a tube of Seal-All^TM, "and you will refrain from using it for at least four hours.  Allow the wound to begin the inner sealing.  Then be careful with it, and do not overwork it.  I realize you have duties, but if you overwork the hand, you may permanently damage it...which would pose severe difficulty in your carrying out of future duties."

The spray-bandage is a cool wind on the back of Saskia's numb hand.  Shui raises one eyebrow when she finishes.  "Now.  Should the pain return, take standard pain relievers.  Should they not suffice, return here, and I will give you something stronger.  Do not concern yourself with it - I am here to assist, and this-" a wave at the hand "-definitely requires assistance."

"Oh, right.  Like the one in the belly turret station." Saskia stands, inspecting her hand.  She looks like it's something that's been dead for a couple of weeks, somewhere warm.

"Well, seeing as how I've been told not to do any real work for a while, maybe I can help you out here?  Sorta return the favour?  I've got a hand scanner back in engineering that should pick up even the tiny charge in a bug."

She smiles, "It's not a bug detector, but the manufacturers claim it can pick up the current in a fly's brain, when it's dreaming.  I can fetch it up here and help you search if you want?"

Jett had returned to his quarters, then realised that his tunic was still on the bridge, along with the comm code for the local Naval recruiting office.  With a sigh, he returns to the bridge, steps through the door, and stops in his tracks.

Kal-chan and Yas are... hugging!  I've known Yas for, what, five years?  I've never seen her hug anybody!  I'd best go before she notices me and makes my life a misery until I leave.

He turns to leave quietly, and fails entirely as his hip bangs against the side of a control panel and knocks a datapad to the floor with a loud clatter.

"Hm?"  Shui glances up again, just finishing off the spraying.  So there were definitely more bugs.  She listens quietly while the Engineer goes over her plan, then slowly nods.  "Yes...yes, I believe that might be suitable.  In fact, likely will.  There are few electronic devices, here, and things that do carry a current I can sweep myself.  If your sensor functions properly, it would be of enormous assistance."

Again, that small smile as she pushes her glasses up.  "I would appreciate it no end, Ms. Blake.  And it would certainly allow your hand the time to rest."

And you, perhaps.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:47, Wed 21 Dec 2005.

"Jett!  You need a hug too!" Yas calls out and breaks away from the reddening Caution, takign a step towards the navigator with arms spread wide and an equally wide smile on her lips - somehow appearing a little bit like the spider closing in on the fly caught in its web.

"C'mon, you know you have wanted this ever since you came aboard all those years ago," she coos, yes, actually coos and bats her eyelashes at him.  Of course she is really enjoying this, knowing fully well that neither of the guys have ever seen her like this, and it no doubt makes them nervous.  But then, she has had very little reason to actually hug either of them before, and what better way to make them remember her by than to show that she is indeed a fully grown woman under her rough Marine surface.

In addition, the sight of their faces will keep her grinning for many a weeks to come.

"Please, call me Saskia.  I'll be right back."

She almost runs back to engineering, and is back just a couple of minutes later, "Here we are.  If there's anything here that shouldn't be, we'll soon find it."

The scanner consists of a rectilinear block, about twenty centimetres long. by ten wide and five high.  A transparent panel at one end  reveals a tightly wound coil, laid horizontally across that end of the unit.  There is a display window on the top, and a pistol grip and trigger underneath.

"It has a range of about half a metre, but gives better results if you get closer.  I'll do the scan, and if I find anything, you can tell me if it should be there.  Okay?"

A look of concern is quickly replaced by a grin of amusements as Jago stands in the bridge doorway and watches Yasmin close in on her new victim. He leans one shoulder casually against the doorframe, his bulk blocking any escape through the narrow space, and rolls a cigar between his fingers.

“You guys were quite safe while signed on, but now,” Jago shakes his head in mock despair.

Shui waits for the other woman to return, smiling faintly when she does.  Saskia gets around pretty quickly when she wants to do so.  The doctor studies the tool with some interest, cocking her head to the side, then pushing her glasses up and leaning forward.  "What a fascinating tool...Saskia.  I would definitely like to observe its use - in all likelihood I will learn something useful.  Yes, please go ahead - I will inform you if there ought to be current in an area or device."  She frowns.  "Though I am hardly a designer.  Still, it should be easy enough to verify with those things for which I cannot say...."

With a nod to the other woman, Shui slips around behind her, staring at the display.

On the bridge, Jett finds himself trapped, a situation which brings an admitadly embarrassed smile from Kal-chan.

"What's the matter, Navy?  Too used to letting the Marines deal with the close-quarters action?"

Then, shocked by his own daring, he shuts up and raises his hands to Yas in a gesture of pacification.

"Thanks, Jago." mutters Jett, "If I hadn't already quit, you'd be getting my resignation later."

He glares at Kal-chan, for the taunt, and then tries one last gambit.  "Yas, are you sure you want to do this?  I mean, hugging a Navy officer?  Think of your reputation."

Then he surrenders, realising that he's outnumbered.

"Caution," Yas says and looks back at him with a grin, "I had no idea you were such a ladies man!  Lucky for me you're leaving, uh?" she teases him and then turns back to the navigator with the same grin.

"Why, Are We There Jett, I didn't know you cared!"  She bats her eyelashes at him and advances again, "Reputation?  Who here would ever dare telling anyone?  Hardly you," she continues and then gives him a big hug as well.  While hugging him she looks over at Jago with a look that might scare him a little.

"You want one too, Skippy?" she asks him in a very feminine manner, so completely unlike her usual way to speak.  All the while she is squeezing the soon to be former navigator of the ship they all have been on for what feels like an eternity - but not because it has been boring or tedious in their company.

"I will miss you," she whispers to Jett while keeping her smile aimed at the captain of Profit Margin.

In the medbay, Saskia starts checking for bugs, moving the hand scanner quickly and smoothly.  Every so often the display flickers, and she moves the device back a little to take a better look at what it picked up.  In most cases a quick inspection reveals the cause of the blip to be perfectly, but when Saskia isn't sure, as in the case of some of the medical equipment, Shui is there to give her expert opinion.

And so the work continues.

"Here's something!" laughs Saskia as the scanner picks up a current, followed by a disappointed, "Oh." as Shui indicates that the thing should really be there.  Again.

She sighs, and recommences the search.

"I had no idea you had so much electronic stuff in here, Shui.  I don't need to come in here that often, so I suppose I just never noticed it.  Only time I was in for anything serious was a few years ago.  Smoke inhalation.  Even then I just stopped by for a quick checkup, and went back to my own room."

Jago grins and waves of Yasmin’s offer as he clears the doorway and heads for the comms set. “Better not, I’m still on the crew roster.”

“Last job before you to split,” he says as he pulls out a seat, “find us somewhere suitable for this farewell drink.”

Once at the set, Jago Ignores the activities behind him and gets to work.

OOC
You guys will know by now that Jago never quibbles about footing the bill for this kind of thing.

"Regrettably," Shui agrees, "much of the equipment is electronic.  Too much, in my opinion.  I try to avoid using it as much as possible - I need to be able to feel my way through a diagnosis more than depend on a machine.  The vagracies of human biology are far more different than those of machines."

She frowns, hoping she didn't make the wrong point.  "Not to say that all machines are the same.  They certainly are not, even from the same assembly-line.  But the variations are...smaller," the doctor finishes, shrugging.

"How did it come about that you - no, that has a battery, but I shall check it in any case - that you suffered from smoke inhalation, Saski?"

"Hey!  No need to apologise to me for not liking machines.  Sometimes I'm not too fond of them myself." Saskia says, with a laugh.  "I understand what you mean about instruments too.  There's times when I feel like I can tell more from talking to the drives, or just touching the casings, than I can from the readouts."

A nervous pause, then, "Does that sound crazy?"

Saskia waits, while Shui eliminates another of the medical devices from the search, "The smoke was an accident.  Jago paid out a bonus, and I decided I was going to stay at the best hotel in town for one night.  Take a bath instead of a shower, and dress in something other than a shipsuit for once."

The engineers shoulders slump, "No such luck though.  Some dumb frelling vargr planted an incendiary charge because he was drunk, and he'd lost a fight with a human.  The hotel wouldn't let him in because he was in a mess, and he just lost it.

"The place caught fire, and the suppression systems failed.  People were going to die, trapped on the top floors.  I got a lot of guests to the roof, because the elevators had shut down, and there was fire in the stairwells.  Lucky I had my commlink, and Jett and Yas came in the 'raft and helped me set up a rope slide to the next building.

"Managed to get everybody out, and saved the life of an aslan ambassador and his two aides.  Got an award from them, and a letter that gives any ship I'm working on special rights at any port in aslan space."

She smiles then, though she still looks sad.  "Suppose they thought I was some sort of hero, but I was just acting on instinct, in a panic.  Even afterwards I couldn't think straight, and did some stupid things for the next couple of days.  So much for Saskia Blake's Big Night of Luxury."

"Not crazy at all.  When one begins to understand the ways things connect, in one's chosen profession, one can find the smallest of issues, diagnose it, from subconcious observation of changes to small to conciously note."  She pauses, then smiles.

"And that, of course, is not even getting into the realm of the spiritual...which, I fear, is beyond my knowledge, but not my acknowledgement.  If you get my meaning."

Watching Saskia continue the search, listening to her speak, Shui is struck by a wave of sympathy for the other woman.  Someone else might have laughed, seeing only the amusing parts of the story (and there are those, to be certain), but to Shui, it speaks of loneliness and longing.  A desire to have something different, to be different, just for a night.  To dream and experience, just for a night.  All dashed, all through coincidence.  'Wrong place, wrong time'...and the night is shattered.

Reaching out, she puts one hand on Saskia's shoulder.  "Perhaps in our next port, we can arrange something like that.  Singly, or together, depending on your wish."  A small smile.  Everyone has dreams.  If you can't pursue them, just for a night, where does that leave you?

If only my family understood that, she thinks ruefully, squeezing Saskia's shoulder then releasing.

Saskia smiles, "That could be good, yes.  Maybe see if Yas wants to come along too.  Just us girls together."

Then she laughs, "But wherever we go, we ask to see their fire safety certification first, before we order anything."

She returns to her work, painstakingly covering everything, in excruciating detail, and happily chatting to Shui.  It's almost like working in engineering, but at least she knows that the answers Shui gives aren't just in her own head.

Jett hugs Yas, and replies, louder than Yas' whisper, "I'll miss everybody here too, Yas.  Profit Margin crew... we're family.  I'm counting on you to look after them until I come back."

Releasing the gunner, he crouches and pats the deck, "And I'm counting on you to look after Yas."

"Yeah.  She'll look after me," Yas says and barely avoids having her voice crack.  Feeling something strange in her eye she brushes past Jett towards the crew lounge.  "Duty calls.  See you boys in a bit," she calls out, sounding like the same old Yas as always.

But once she finds herself alone in the crew lounge a single tear begins to flow over in her eye, and as she walks with long, determined strides into the cargo hold it breaks free and wanders down her cheek.  Stopping just inside the entrance she leans back against the wall and as her head falls back to gaze up towards the ceiling a hand comes up to remove the incriminating evidence from her cheek.

An unknown amount of time later she pushes away fromt he wall and moves over to a nearby wall panel.  Crouching down she begins to remove it, whereupon she busies herself with whatever is inside.  Her hands and fingers get dirty, but she does not seem to notice even as she wiped her cheeks with them, focusing on her work.

Its a long, hard bit of work, leaving Shui time to talk with Saskia and consider her words.  Just us girls together.  An odd feeling.  She knows what it is, of course.  Belonging certainly isn't alien to the doctor.  But it has been awfully rare feeling for the past...well, many years.

It's just one comment, in the middle of their work, but sometimes one comment can brighten your day.

When they finally finish, Shui sits back on the floor and brushes back her hair before adjusting her glasses, vexed.  "Well.  I should be pleased," she begins, "not to find anything wrong...but at the same time, I am bizarrely vexed that we spent so much time to unearth nothing."  Amused at her strange feelings, she shakes her head.

"Just be grateful we found nothing." Saskia smiles, "If we'd found one thing, then Yas would have been in here next, ripping the place apart just to be on the safe side.  And she'd do it the old-fashioned way.  No hitech gear for Yas, she doesn't completely trust them."

The engineer grows thoughtful then, "I guess she's a bit like us in that.  She'd rather trust instinct than some gadget.  Must be what they used to call feminine intuition."

She shrugs, and heads for the door, pausing as it slides open, "Thanks for letting me help, Shui.  It took my mind off my hand for a while."

Shui slowly pulls herself off the deck.  "I shudder at the though of Ms. Crow unleashed upon my laboratory.  It is possible she will decide to check these walls despite our 'success'."  The doctor grows silent, considering Saskia's words regarding intuition.  Men are gadget-prone; perhaps there is something to that old saying.

"I was honored to accept your assistance," she finishes, with a quick little bow.  Reflex, one she has not been able to eradicate, after all these years.  "Please, be free to stop by the lab and search again, any time you wish."  Again, that small smile, slowly fading as the door closes.

Shui glances around, experimentally.  Then she moves to the door, waiting until Saskia is long gone, and keys the lock.  Back into the room, and she begins pushing furniture about.  Things aren't right.  Things are downright dangerous - she has actually pulled her gun with intent to use, not clean, in the last eight hours.  Bugs aboard the ship.  What next?

Best to use the free time productively.