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?"