Space.  Empty and cold.  Dark here, with only the faint, distant light of a solitary red sun to relieve the gloom...

And then there is a flare of blue-white, and Profit Margin is suddenly there.  Electronic senses reach out, searching, feeling space, and gradually the radio wavelengths give up their information.

Arkadia system.  Less than a million kilometres from the port beacon.

And something else, thin and faint, weaving through the static and finally finding its way to the bridge.  A voice...

"... ay Die under attack.  Location seven zero mark three degrees Right ascension, four six mark five degrees declination.  We need help.  Repeating.  This is freetrader Never say Die under attack.  Location seven zero mark three degrees Right ascension, four six mark five degrees declination.  We need help.  Main power has shut down, we are running on batteries.  Weapon systems are offline.  We have eight crew and fourteen passengers.  Help us, please."

"This is freetrader Never say Die under attack.  Location... "

The message continues to cycle...
This message was last updated by the GM at 10:45, Wed 07 June 2006.

"Hear that?  Sounds like we're about to try out these systems again.  We're near there, right?" Yas calls over the crew intercom and the chuckles dryly, as she tend to do when there is a battle coming up.  While she knows the danger of combat she also always switches to her old Marine mode and turns into the weapon they trained her to be, ready to do what it takes to win the day, or at least the battle at hand.  She begins to set up the weapon system even as she speaks.

"Profit Margin, old girl, looks like we get to kick some ass again," she mumbles, off the intercom, and smiles bleakly, patting her weapon concole gently.  "Hang in there folks, Yasmine Crow, ex marine captain, is here to deal with these vermin, deal with them real good," comes the by now nearly ritual phrase as her countenance turns hard and cold.

Pirate or warship makes no difference to her - if they pick on civvies they are legal prey in her book, and she never has hold back when dealing with that type before.  "Be rough with those rough", that is the way it works, and she can be rough all right when it matters.

Shui, in her quarters/laboratory, is in mid-feeding of her second guest - the voracious little beast eats quite a bit.  She keeps it on the other side of the room from her first, friendlier find.  No sense in mixing oil and water.

When Yasmine's voice comes over the intercom, she frowns.  Something is up.  Not having heard the com-signal to the bridge, the doctor activates her dataglove's interlink and pages the bridge.

++ Bridge?  This is Shui Tiesi.  Is there something requiring attention? ++

"We're pickin' up a distress call, Shui.  Faint one, so likely to be some way off.  I'm tryin' to get a fix on it now.  Stand by."  Conrad replies, working the comm panel with an expertise that rewards his hours of practice in Jump.

"Got it, Jago.  It's been runnin' for - damn!  Range is a touch under nine billion kay-emms. a bit more than eight light hours.  No, at best we're lookin' at - fifteen or sixteen days to get there, that's with max thrust.  Same to get back again."  His face drops as he checks the figures again.  "Close in time, but wrong end of the system.  They're way off the charts."

"Too far, Shui, much too far." he says quietly into the intercomm.

At the phrase 'distress call', Shui immediately stands and moves to her cabinets, leaving the intercom on.  She begins removing small cases - medical supplies - and piles some of them on the floor.  The rest are replaced.  All of the ones on the floor are of the kind used for immediate issues.  Her tension bleeds into the room as she hurries to another locker to pick out a carrying case large enough.

But Conrad's explanation stops her in her tracks.  She wavers, looking back at the supplies with a forlorn expression.  Keying the intercom, she responds, her tone hopeless.  "Is...there is no way we can expedite an intercept?"  The doctor closes her eyes.  You cannot jump blind within a system, Shui.

"By the Fiery Forek Nebula!  Damn!  Frikling slimescroters!  Shit!  Mestrakated kroll!!"

Yas is not using the intercom, but both those on the bridge as well as Tylen in the other gun position can easily hear her as she begins to curse, kick and slap stuff.

Clearly the lady is not happy about this at all.

Inside she feels helpless, angry and sad.  So much for coming to the rescue.  It is just like Dry Oceania again - all she can do is sit and listen while others suffer and die.

"I will get you, I swear," she mumbles a quiet oath to whatever ship is attacking Never say Die.  Then, louder, she says, "Please, tell me we are going to hunt those vermins down!  We've got that letter now!"

"Tanks are empty after the Jump, Shui." Conrad keeps his voice pitched low and gentle, understanding the woman's sorrow, "An' even if they warn't, it'd still take us a whole week to reach 'em."

"It's jus' bad luck.  This time we're in the wrong place at the right time, 'stead of the other way 'round."

Jago says nothing as the news comes in but growls in quiet frustration when Conrad announces the range.

“Give me the bearings range and for Arcadia please Conrad,” he says as he brings the Profit Margin round to the general direction, “and continue to monitor that signal, any information might be useful.”

“Yasmin, don’t get distracted, give me a local sweep please, lets make sure that there isn’t another one sneaking up behind us.”

Knowing fully well that Jago only asks her to do the sweep keep her busy as she always stays level headed even when cursing and kicking things she still complies and starts a local sweep.  It is after all in the back of her bones to do her duty, so automated that she would have to put effort into it not to do it.  But he means well and that is all that matters, and she can at times need someone to tug her down a notch or two.

"Roger that, boss," she replies over the com to him, her voice now completely void of any emotions.  Her usual way to surpress her emotions.

++ Thank you, Conrad,  ++ Shui replies as she slowly sits down at her desk.  ++  I understand.  ++  The quick discussion from the rest of the crew is distressing.  Conrad is quietly fatalistic about the matter.  Jago's tones are tightly controlled.  Yasmine sounds empty, void and cold as the space about them.  All of them are hiding what they feel, and that's hardly a surprise.  Shui clenches her fist for an instant; the motion comes surprisingly easily to her.

Then she pushes herself up.  She can't help the crew of that ship.  But she can try to help hers.

The woman strides quickly from the room, keying a general intercom to the passengers.  ++ This is the steward.  We have safely exited Jumpspace, but I ask you to please remain in your cabins.  There are some local issues that need to be addressed.  The Captain and Crew appreciate your cooperation.  Please let me know if there is anything you require.  ++

She heads for the Galley - there are things she can do in this circumstances that might assist in smoothing over jagged emotions.

Conrad transfers the course information to Jago's board.  Arkadia is about four hours distant.  He reduces the volume on the comms board, and scans the other frequencies for chatter.

The main thing he has trouble understanding is why the other ship was so far out from the main world when it was attacked.  There's nothing out there to attract a trader, and if it was a misJump, then what were their attackers doing way over there waiting for them?

Unless it was an arranged meeting.  Smugglers double crossing each other?

WORLD DETAILS

NAME: Arkadia
HEX LOCATION:      Spinward Marches 1217
UWP:               E446845-6
PBG:               402
TRADE CODES:       None
BASES:             None
ALLEGIANCE:        Third Imperium
STELLAR DETAILS:   Primary Star: M1 V     Mass: 0.48    Luminosity: 0.04

SATELLITE DETAILS: Number: 2
                   Satellite 1: UWP:Y215418-5, Orbit: 10
                   Satellite 2: UWP:GS00300-5, Orbit: 11

SIZE RELATED DETAILS
Basic World Type:  Planet - molten core.
Diameter: 6,560 km     Density: 0.98  World Mass: 0.123    World Gravity: 0.49 G
Orbit Period: 48.168 Std Days         Distance: 0.2 AU     Eccentricity: 0.025
Rotation Period: 31.3 Std Hours       Axial Tilt: 24°      Seismic Stress Factor: 3.3

ATMOSPHERIC RELATED DETAILS
Composition: O₂ - N₂ mix.  Oxygen lower than standard.
Surface Pressure: 0.48             Mean Temp: 0.0°C    Native Life: Yes
Terraforming - Atmospheric: No     Albedo: No          Greenhouse Effect: No
Weather Control: No

HYDROSPHERE RELATED DETAILS
Composition: Liquid H_sO - low oxygen levels.
Hydrographic Percentage: 56           Tectonic Plates: 5
Terraforming - Hydrographic: No       Terrain: No

POPULATION RELATED DETAILS
Total World Population:  400,000,000
Starports and Spaceports: E/Y/E/E/H/H/E/E/E/E
Primary Cities: 10                    Orbital Cities: None

Social Outlook:
    Progressiveness:  Conservative, Stagnant
    Aggressiveness:   Unaggressive, Neutral
    Extensiveness:    Discordant, Friendly

Unusual Local Customs: Although Arkadia has a good public education system, those seeking a career as military officers are typically
                       required to have attended private, fee-paying schools.  Arkadians argue that this ensures a better education for
                       military officers, and that a large proportion of the military are the sons and daughters of the upper classes.

GOVERNMENT RELATED DETAILS
Representative Authority: Representative Democracy
Representative Authority: Ruler
Division of Authority:    No division

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

Legal Profile:                        High Common TL:        6
    Overall Law Level: 5              Low Common TL:         3
    Weapons Law Level: 4              Energy TL:             7
    Trade Law Level:   3              Computer/Robotics TL:  6
    Criminal Law:      4              Communicationss TL:    6
    Civil Law:         6              Medical TL:            6
    Personal Freedom:  2              Environment TL:        7
                                      Land Transport TL:     7
                                      Water Transport TL:    7
                                      Air Transport TL:      7
                                      Space Transport TL:    6
                                      Personal Military TL:  7
                                      Heavy Military TL:     7
                                      Novelty Tech Level:    7

RESOURCES AND GOODS
Resources:
    Natural:        Agriculture
    Processed:      Agroproducts, Non-Metals
    Manufactured:   Insignificant
    Information:    Artforms

---

Jago drops Profit Margin onto the field, without the aid of traffic control.  Luckily there don't seem to be any other ships in the air today, and precious few on the ground, for that matter.

Starports on Arkadia are somewhat basic.  The one that Jago selects for his landing is five kilometres from the capital, the most important port on the planet.  It consists of a concrete field, surrounded by a mesh fence, and a single office building which serves as the port authority and customs house.  The only entrance to the field runs alongside that building (unless you count the holes in the fence.

There are animals eating the weeds on the field, and sleet is falling steadily from the clouds which make the sky almost as dark as night.  The thin air ruffles the woolly coats of the grazing creatures, a cold wind.

Welcome to a spring afternoon on Arkadia.

It gets better... to refuel, the ship will have to hop across to the far side of the field, and drink seawater to get the deuterium out of it.  Either that, or head for the system's gas giants at some point.

Backwater planets... gotta love 'em.

Conrad looks at the readout on his panel, and sends it across for Jago to see.   Seems like the air is breathable, though a bit like being at very high altitude, and the temperature is currently a balmy -1°C.

"Jago, I'd suggest that y'all stay outta Saskia's way.  I don't 'spect she'll be likin' the fuel situation much." Conrad says, running his gaze down the display.  "Anyhow, we got enough juice to make it out to the nearest gas ball, an' I reckon we'll do better scoopin' there than in the ocean.  Sides which, if we've got any passengers aboard, a gas scoop can be excitin' for 'em."

Then his attention is captured by the animals outside, "Groats!  Well now, them fella's'll live just 'bout anywheres, won't they?  Good eatin' too."

Shui slowly walks onto the bridge to get a better look at the outside.  She alternates between that and the holo-screen hanging over her dataglove, and smothers a faint sigh of disappointment.  Apparantly the Medical Tech-level is insufficient for her restock the small amount of supplies that have been used.

Perhaps at the next port.

"Groats?"  The doctor leans to look out at the animals.  "Interesting.  I was not aware that was their name."  She looks toward Conrad over her shoulder.  "I, too, will take your advice and not mention fuel to Ms. Blake."  Something flickers on the holodisplay, and she glances down.  "Apparantly the weapon laws are fairly loose, here," the doctor states dubiously.  "Automatic weapons prohibited.  Nothing more."

She dislikes this situation, where every man and woman may be carrying a firearm.  It's true that such planets usually have social constraints on violence for that very reason, but if someone with anti-social tendancies happens to have an issue with people....

"Did we...receive any information about the ship in distress?" she asks quietly a moment later.

"Reminds me of home.  Those things out there looks a lot like the politicans back home," Yas says as she comes up and looks out the window, having finished her post-landing checks and secured her weapon console.

"No autos?  Bummer, I guess old Sievie Wonder stays home again then, and The Riddler too.  Just me, Boom Boom, Major Overkill and Surprise then, as usual," she then sighs and shrugs, hearing Sushi questioning the laxness of the gun laws.

Then she turns more serious and waits for an answer to the doctor's question regarding the other ship.

"Nope.  Least they ain't volunteered nuthin'.  I can call 'em up an' see if'n I can get some more from em.  Need to see if'n they's got any nav updates anyways."

Conrad makes a few adjustments to the comm, "This here's Profit Margin callin' Wakelin Field Control.  Jus' wond'rin' if'n y'all has any L.N.U.s I can grab off'f your system."  He takes his finger off the transmit key, "Now we jus' see if'n anyone's home.  If'n I don't get me an answer, I'll try agin in a minute."

“How far is that gas giant Conrad, do you recon it is why the ‘Never Say Die’ was so far out?”

“If a bandit or raider has set up shop in this system, the gas giant would be a good spot to hang out and as we are going to need fuel in any case, it would be a shame to pass up an opportunity to try out the new weapons and sensors the navy have supplied.”

“First things first though, Shui, disembark the passengers please, you may have to organise transport for them. Conrad, see what system information is available, and find out what you can about recent flights, in and out. I’m going to see if I can find a bier for this cargo, and pick up any rumours while I’m ashore, Yasmin, would you Boom Boom, the Major and Surprise come with me please,”

“Tylen, your on security, and as this place is about as secure as a not very secure place, extra vigilance.”

“Keep your eyes and ears open people, any little thing might be useful, and remember that if this guy is a permanent resident here, he probably has his own people on the ground, looking for likely targets so, don’t let on that we are anything other than a simple trader, just passing through, OK”

“Once we are done we’ll compare notes and decide what, if anything, we can do.”

Jago thumbs the intercom to the engine room, “Saski, there’s no fuel here and we’ll be dipping the gas giant as soon as the passengers and cargo are unloaded, is there anything you need while I ashore?”

"Wakelin Field Port Authority, Leila Hayes speaking.  We can send the information you need as soon as you're linked into the system, Profit Margin.  Be aware, please, that if you're planning on scooping fuel, we currently have a problem with illegal interception of shipping in the system.  We have requested Imperial assistance, and until such time as it arrives, we cannot recommend travelling to either of the two giants.

"Arkadia has facilities for syphoning sea water, located here at Wakelin Field."  It's almost like a standard meet'n'greet speech, except that the young woman sounds very tired.

"Is there anything else we can help you with today?"

Saskia sighs, and acknowledges Jago's words, "Got it Jago.  Scooping it is."  She toggles the intercom off.

Then she snags the system data from the main displays and takes a quick peek for herself on the repeater screen.  Cold, thin air, dim sun.  "Well, that's just typical.  I'm never going to sell those swimsuit samples, if we keep coming to places like this.."  She considers the shut down procedures, then decides against them, since they'll be leaving soon anyway.  Instead she just cuts things down to standby.

The Jump Drive catches her eye, "Don't you look at me like that!  It was Jago's idea to come here.  Yes, I know you don't like frelling scooped fuel, but you should give him a hard time about it, not me."

"Maybe I should leave Surprise at home so we could have a double date," Yasmince cracks as a joke and chuckles.  "Sure thing, boss.  Let me just put on my shades and some sunscreen, this place sure needs that," she continues and turns to wander into her cabin to prepare herself for another trip out on a lovely resort-like planet.  He sure knows to pick them, Captain Jago Lanza.

"And they won't let me bring any autos.  Forget the nukes then.  Pfft," she is heard mumbling to herself as she wanders off.  Behind all these smart-arse comments she tries to bury any conscious thoughts about what happened with Never Say Die.

"Why, yes, Ma'am, there was one more thing." Conrad replies to the woman, smiling briefly before allowing his expression to become more serious, "On the way down here we picked up a distress call from a ship called, Never Say Die.  Now I know that she got into trouble a fair way out, an' we only caught part of the message.  I was wond'rin' if'n y'all had any more details, jus' in case we can be of assistance?"

Meanwhile his fingers are dancing over the controls, running some basic calculations through.  He transfers the resultant data to Jago.

Shui gives Yasmine a commiserating smile, though obviously she is of the other camp.  Her personal preferences do not reduce her empathy for another's exasperation.  "I suppose you will merely 'have to do', Ms. Crowe."  It could be sarcastic, coming from anyone else, but from Shui it is merely a trifle ironic.

"Thank you, Mr. Dietz," she replies to the pilot with some relief, eager (and worried) to hear news regarding the other ship.  It is almost certain to be bad news, but one needs closure on these things.  One needs to hear the truth, so that one can grieve for lives lost.

Regrettably, she has duties, as Jago reminds her.  "Of course, Captain Lanza."  A quick nod to that worthy, and she turns to go.  But the Doctor pauses to touch the pilot on the shoulder.  "Mr. Dietz - if you could send me the results of your query?  I would be most appreciative."  Then she's gone, headed for the passenger cabins and their no-doubt eager contents.  Her fingers already dance across the holo-keys of her dataglove, calling up information on local transport companies, searching for the most economical and most reliable choices.

There is a rustling sound, and the woman is distracted for a while.  It seems the port's records are kept on paper.  Finally she looks up.  "Here we are, I have a memo about it.  The call first came in about six hours ago, but the coordinates they gave place the attack some seven hours earlier.  The ship had been in to Desallo, uh... that's one of the other landing fields, a little over a week ago."

"Their flight plan said they were heading for the closer giant, Genova, to fuel and then Jumping to Garda Vilis."

She considers her words for a moment, then adds, "I suppose they just Jumped across the system.  They couldn't have travelled that far on just their M drive.  Not in a week."

"This is very irregular,  They would have no reason to Jump there.  There's nothing there.  No planets, nothing.  Unfortunately we have no way to reach them in anything less than a week, and the distress call cut off about an hour ago."

"Don't fret it, Sushi, I'm kidding!" Yas calls out before she vanishes out of sight into her cabin.  Once in there she starts to dress for the weather, or lack thereof, and straps on Major Overkill (the BIG revolver) in the hip holster and prepares Boom Boom (her good old scattergun) to be carried along over her arm or slung over the shoulder.  Sadly, no concealed weapons, but hopefulyl Major Overkill will be enough to discourage those not scared of shotgun pellets.

Once everything is in place, from her cloth armour and the reflec under her clothing, and of course her old dagger in her boot (she more or less sleeps and showers with that one - almost), and warm clothing combined with a mask she is all set.

A quick check in the mirror to make sure she looks good as well, or at least as good as she can, and she steps out to wait in the lounge to see if Jago is ready.

Shui assists the passangers in disembarking, giving them whatever assistance they need to get to the airlock, and from there to any vehicles that happen to be waiting for them.  Hopefully she found the best service, but the customers likely don't care about the loss of one credit.  Not at this point, as tired as they probably are from this...odd journey.  She skillfully deflects questions regarding the 'almost-alert' of a short time past, and cautions them to be careful.  The air here is thin, and they need breathers for extended periods outdoors.  Having looked it up, she gives them directions to the nearest facility that would sell such devices.

Above all, she remains friendly, courteous, and even warm.  When she hopes they will consider berths with the Profit Margin again, and that she hopes to have the pleasure of their company again, it is as though she means every word.  Because she does.

Once the passengers are on their way, the doctor sighs and rubs her head.  Without a breather herself, she is a little fatigued.  Though the doctor keeps herself in excellent condition, she also is not used to the thin air, and shuttling back and forth between ship and vehicle, carrying luggage, has been quite taxing.  Slowly walking inside, Shui shuts the door and slides down the wall to sit and slowly breath in the ship's atmosphere.

Finally the dizziness passes, though the headache remains.  Rubbing at her temples, Shui slowly pushes herself to her feet.  Her left finger and thumb clamp down on the muscle just above the webbing between right thumb and forefinger, and she presses down, hard.  Hard to the point of pain, hard to the point of her breath coming a touch faster.  Finally, when her vision starts to blur a touch, Shui lets go and the burning pain subsides to a dull ache.  As she walks toward the low berths, that pain slowly fades...and takes much of her headache with it.

She needs all of her concentration for her next task.

With a thick jumper under his jacket, a communicator in his pocket and a snub hanging on his hip, Jago is ready to face the world, not one he’d been to before, but he’d seen the like.

“Looking good, as always,” he comments to Yasmin as he steps out into the lounge, “we’ll take the air raft, we’ll stop at the trade hall first, then find a bar near the port here, see what the word is on the ‘illegal interception of shipping.’

"Why, thank you, Jago.  Looking good yourself.  It that  a new snub?" Yas replies with her typical grin and then nods in agreement with his "plan".  It sounded simple and effective enough, as all good plans.

"Sounds good to me, why walk when you can float, eh?  Bar hopping sounds like fun too," she chuckled at rested her scattergun up over her right shoulder while holding it in the right hand.  "You do the talking and I'll do the walking, boss."

She consciously was going to carry the shotgun highly visibly to convince anyone even thinking about going after them for the wrong reasons that they were not worth the trouble.  Plus she got to look cool when striking poses with it, like just now.  A girl is a girl, after all, even when she kicks arse and blows off heads with guns.

Jago scrambles into the air raft and tugs the dust cover of the controls.  He starts her up, then reaches across to open the garage door.  Dim red light, and a sizeable helping of sleet, floods into the hangar as the access cover slides aside, leaving the raft free to rise out of Profit Margin on its grav motors.  He thumbs the running lights to on, and puts the headlights on to be safe.

Yas is waiting for him down by the ramp, under the ship, and in shelter.  For now...


Shui is in a room not much bigger than the air raft garage.  This one though is mostly filled with cryobunks, low berths as most call them.  She activates the main control panel, and starts them thawing.  Hopefully nothing will go wrong...



Tylen stands guard duty, but as soon as yas is away from the ramp, he'll be able to shut up shop until the corpsicles are ready to leave, so he'll be able to relax a little once the ramp is raised.  Nothing much to do but think...


Conrad starts working on the best course for a refuel, just in case of trouble, and bearing in mind that the best time to plot an emergency course is before the emergency starts.


Saskia relaxes.  Most of her systems are shut down for the moment.  All seems quiet, and there'll be plenty to do in a little while, flushing out the last of the contamination in the vents.

Tylen makes himself comfortable as possible whilst remaining alert. As he's got boring guard duty (again!) he's not bothered to dress up and is relaxing in his favourite red T-shirt, faded tan fatigue pants and his usual big boots. He keeps one revolver loaded and cocked on the table in front of him whilst he strips and cleans it's partner.

With things fairly quiet, Saskia makes her way out to grab a coffee.  Nobody about really, though she can hear Conrad at work on the Bridge.  She doesn't head through to see him, but takes the coffee back through with her to Engineering.

The EPS display shows a power drain.  Frowning she checks it out, then relaxes as she spots that it's the lowberths.  Shui must be thawing the cheap passengers out.

Sliding the power display to one end of the panel, she starts running a diagnostic on the air filters.

Waiting for the boss to come around with the floaty, Yasmine is busy keeping one particular groat at a distance.  Whether it is her scent, personality or the guns the gunner of Profit Margin has no idea, but the groat refuses to leave no matter what threatening, pleaing, coercing or coaxing is applied.

"Fine, stand there then looking dumb, but you are not coming with me in the raft," Yas finally says with a sigh and stick her tongue out at the groat.  THe critter seems to take this gesture at a sign of her ever growing affection as it moves up closer to nudge her gently with her horns.

"Hey, you horny cretin, not that close!  Where is that old groat!?" she complains and looks around for Jago, as she, surprisingly gently, pushes the groat away with the butt of her shotgun.  Oh, no offence intended," she sneers at the groat who looks a bit sad at her rejection.

Conrad stretches and pushes away from the controls.  He's got a whole set of course plots running now, with several different departure times.  He can do a few more, and keep updating as things go on, so that as soon as Jago wants to go he'll have something close lined up and be able to give him a decent approximation on the transit time.

Good.  Time to stretch his legs perhaps.

Not that he's planning on going outside.  Oh no.  He's seen the weather out there.  One day Hell will freeze over, and it'll still look tropical compared to Arkadia.

The ship seems very quiet today, Now that's odd.  Did everybody 'ceptin' me step out? he thinks, then raises his voice,  "Hey, is anybody home?"

Shui watches the readouts like a hawk.  Slowly the coldsleep containers come online...slowly the vital signs begin to rise.  All of them.  Yellow...then green.  She puts her back against the wall and shudders, raising one hand to brush at her eyes.  It always brings tears to her eyes when they come through safely.  Always.

She hasn't lost one yet, but she will.  She knows she will.  They told her that in training - 'You will lose one.'

With a sigh, she pushes herself away from the wall and moves to the first container.  At that point, Conrad's shout echoes through the ship.  Shui gives the door a bleak smile, still feeling emptied by her sudden rush of relief, and keys her dataglove for the intercom.

Somehow it feels wrong to be calling out loudly in this room.

++ Mr Dietz, I am currently assisting coldsleep passengers during their wakeup.  I most certainly will be here for a bit. ++

And not likely to go anywhere for a bit, afterward.  This always leaves her a little drained.

The voice from the intercom, sounding so close behind him, just about doubles his heart rate.  Not a ghost.  Shui, working to get her passengers ready to leave.  Now that could have been embarrassing, if he'd been killed by the ship's medical officer.  Though really it would have been Yas's fault, since she'd told him the story about the vargr ghost that had nearly killed them all in Jump.

He presses the comm switch, "Hey, Doc, I reckoned y'all had gone off'n left me alone.  Glad to know I'm not the only un had more sense'n to go out there."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Tue 20 June 2006.

Tylen finishes re assembling his pistol before responding to Conrad's shout.

"I'm here, numbing my ass by the exit ramp. Once Jago and Yas have made their move I'll lock up down here and come and join you."

He loads the spotless pistol, cocks it and lays it on the table. He then picks up the other piece, dumps the shells and begins to strip it down.

Jago brings the air raft down gently beside Yasmin and her new found friend, “he’s only coming I if he’s house trained,” he remarks about the animal.

Once Yasmin is aboard, he lifts the craft to about ten feet and heads over to port control at a moderate speed.

“I assume you’d like to have a go at the raiders out there, what’s your take on the situation right now?”

It's good to speak to someone.  Shui breathes out slowly, regulating her intake and output, and moves to the first container.  All the while, she continues to speak over the dataglove.

+ I view myself as fortunate for the company, Mr. Dietz.  Fortunate in more ways than one.  We have had no incidents with our passengers.

Perhaps you are a good luck charm? +

The doctor carefully helps the first person from their berth (such an odd linguistical coincidence, given the current situation...berth...birth) and helps them into their clothing.  They will be woozy for some time, so she administers the necessary chemicals now.  Someone else calls out - Tylen.

+ Good that you remain as well, Mr. Ogresh.  I believe Mr. DeSant will also be on board.  It will take me a short time - perhaps an hour, at most, to assist these people in their departure.  Following that, I believe I will make for the galley for a cup of tea. +

It's not radically ambitous, but right now it feels like all Shui could manage.  Waiting for the coldsleepers to awaken really takes a lot from her.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:29, Wed 21 June 2006.

"Oh no, I told him he is not invited, but you know how some males can be," Yasmine replies to Jago with a wicked grin and gets into the raft, making a face at the groat as she has taken a seat.  The groat pulls a long face and looks about to cry - if groat can - but then it spots another groat and seem to forget all about Yasmine Crow, former Captain of the Marines.

"See.  So much for his fidelity," she snorts, but can not help a smile that sits askew creeps over her features.  Then, however, she turns quite serious as he mentions the cowards that attacked Never Say Die.  Taking a deep breath she begins to talk.

"You know I would.  I haven't got a clue why they were out there though.  Even if Never Say Die smuggled something or whatever, innocent people got caught in the middle.  But there has to be some reason why they were all the way out there, and why the ship that attacked them was there too.  It all stinks, but I do think we should look into it, or it might happen again.  Either the raiders for connections down here, which mean they would know we were headed that way too, or Never Say Die probably was up to something.  Either way, hell yeah, I want to do 'something' about them."

The Trade hall is in the port's single building, though "hall" is perhaps a trifle grandiose.  It's a single room, perhaps fifteen metres by ten, with several rows of seats, tubular netal and orange plastic, all facing towards two desks at the far end.

When Jago and Yas walk in, all the seats are empty, and only one of the desks is occupied.  The sole occupant is leaning back in his chair, reading a newspaper.  He spares them a quick glance as they approach, and asks, "G'day.  Buying, selling, or just got yourselves lost?"


In Profit Margin's main hold, Conrad stops to talk to Tylen.  They are, after all, the two "new boys" on the crew...  All seems to be quiet, though by the looks of the monitor at the top of the main ramp, a herd of groats have moved in under the ship, for shelter.


Gradually the passengers come out of their coldsleep, probably looking forward to their trade conference.  Sluggish from the sleep, none of them seem to feel up to repeating the disagreement which had accompanied their arrival.  Their mumbled responsws to questions show that they are awake and undamaged, though they do little to answer any questions about why anybody would organise a trade conference in a charming little spot like Arkadia.

The cargo ramp is as good as anywhere else.  Tylen is working there, and the cryoberths are close by, in case Shui needs help.  Conrad smiles to Tylen, sipping at his coffee.

"Keepin' busy I see, Tylen."  He glances at the monitor display, and chuckles, "Well, now, them groats jus' has to be the funniest lookin' critters in the galaxy.  Tasty though."

In the air raft, Jago listens to what Yasmin has to say and nods in agreement.

 “I don’t want to subject passengers to any unnecessary risk,” he says, “and I’m not making any promises, but, we will make some discreet enquiries, see what’s been going on here, and maybe we’ll take off empty, for a little tour round the system.”

At the trade hall Jago looks around with a wry smile and tries to remember why he picked this planet as a destination.

“Good day yourself,” Jago replies to the man with the paper, “at the moment we are selling, 35 tons of liquid polymer plastics, we might do a little buying later perhaps.”

Tylen completes his weapon check and reloads the second hamdgun.

He looks up at Dietz. Personally he finds nothing amusing about the appearance of Groats, but he appreciates Dietz attempt to be sociable and smiles at his weak humour.

"I've seen and heard of weirder things than Groats Dietz, but I don't think I've tasted any better."

He stood up and strapped on his rig.

"I'd better lock the door now Jago's clear. I'll be back in a tic."

He shoos a few overly inquisitve groats of the loading ramp and raises it for security.

"Well, I understand that, naturally, but we can't just sit by and watch when we can make a difference either.  I suppose we can't afford to chug around without passengers for a while?" Yas replies to Jago, no longer considering Corlan a passenger.

---- ---  --   -

Yas, as she told Jago back at the ship, allow the boss to do the talking and only nods in response to the greeting.  She stands there with the shotgun slung back over her shoulder again, looking about causally, looking very much the part of a bodyguard despite her small size.  But as anyone with some sense knows, good things often comes in small packages.

"Okay then, liquid polymer plastics it is, just give me a mo on that, if you  could?"

He drops the newspaper pn the desk next to him, fishes a large pad of printed papers out of the top drawer, and proceeds to leaf through them.  "Let's see then, J, K, L, here we are... hmm... nope.  Probably listed under P for plastic.  Ah, here we go.  Liquid polymer plastics.  Thirty five you say.  Okay."

He starts scribbling some figures down on a scrap of paper, "Useful stuff that.  Always got a good market for it.  Pour it to any shape you want, then add a drop of catalyst, and in ten minutes it's solid as concrete."

He fishes a thin booklet out of the desk and cross-references the figures with a complex chart, "A-75" before looking up the resultant code on another page near the back of the volume.

"Okay.  Got it, I can offer you... " he scribbles a figure down, then sucks at his bottom lip a moment, before writing down another set of numbers on another slip of paper and sliding it across to Jago.  "That's in Imperial Credits, and has local taxes already accounted in."

"Now then, if we shake hands on this right away, I can give you the price guarantee slip now, and you'll get your payment as soon as the customer collects the cargo.  Do we have a deal, Captain?"

With the diagnostic running automatically, Saskia comes out of Engineering and makes her way out to thre cargo bay, taking a shortcut through the airraft garage.  The metal floor in the garage is cold against her bare feet.  Not that she minds.

Cutting through into the cargo bay, she can hear Tylen and Conrad talking quietly, somewhere beyond the cargo containers, but she doesn't really pay much attention.  Instead she heads for the lowberths.

Shui has the passengers well along on the cycle now, and things look good from the board.  Assuming that green means "good", as it does on the boards that Saskia has set for herself, for all she knows, green might be a bad thing for Shui's preferred setup.  Unsure, she opts for the safe approach, asking in the hushed tones that she always feels like she should use in here, "Hey, Shui.  How's it going?"

Shui turns away from her patient as Saskia enters - the man is sitting up, leaning forward, shaking the cobwebs from his thoughts.  There is a hint of weary confusion on her features and a slight hesitation before her answer, almost as though she has difficulty processing the question.  "Going...oh!"  Her gaze snaps back to the panels for a moment, but they're fine.  "Yes, it...everything is proceeding well."  She stares at Saskia for a long moment, then her eyes slowly trace the wall back to the green lights.

"Everything is well."

Abruptly the doctor seems to give herself a mental shake, and a small smile grows on her lips.  "It grows a trifle lonely in here, awaiting the awakening.  Thank you, Saskia," she says in the same, quiet tones as the Engineer.  "Everyone are well past the danger point, and things should proceed without complications."

Another person is beginning to twitch.  That would make four of six, with the other two slowly rising to conciousness as well.  Shui hesitates, then gives the Engineer a pleading look.  "I would appreciate the company.  If you don't mind."

Then she hurries to assist number four.

Tylen returns to Dietz.

"Well that's us all locked up until the boss man gets back."

He activates a screen which gives him a view of the outside of the hatch.

"I've got nothing much to do except watch the screen. Any jobs you need a hand with?"

"That's good then." Saskia answers, smiling nervously from where she stands, still in the doorway.

Leaning forward a little, she watches Shui work for a few moments, chewing on her thumbnail.

"I couldn't work in here the way you do.  I never liked it in here, even before the thing with the - " she stops suddenly, glancing at the waking man.

The engineer holds her hand to shield her lips from any possibility that the man might see what she says, and mouths the final word, "- ghost."

Conrad grins at Tylen, "I'm a navigator, my job purty much ends when the ship kisses the ground.  All I got to do is wait for the latest nav data from the port folks.  It's worse'n usual here.  The 'puter system they use over there is less use than a handcalc.  Hell, they still use groundcars out there that burn fossil fuels."

He shrugs, "I know what y'all mean though, I was the same when I came out o' the Navy.  Had trouble gettin' used to free time.  I've no idea what it's like in the Scouts, but the motto in the Navy was, if y'all don't have nuthin' to do, grab a datapad and fake it, 'fore they give y'all a real job.  It's a mite diff'rent on a merchant."

"It can be difficult," Shui admits, with an involuntary glance at the boards.  All green.  And that's the hardest part - waiting.  Watching as the telltales creep up.  Hoping all of them will make that magic wavelength, and not stop at red or even yellow.

Someday, one of them will.  And some passenger who simply couldn't afford to otherwise make the journey, may very well die.

"As for...that other thing," she returns, checking the man's pulse and bloodpressure, "I have yet to see any evidence.  That isn't to say there is nothing to see," she cautions, hopefully before Saskia can think she's brushing off the idea.  "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio..."  Shui doesn't know where the quote comes from, but it's something her father used to say a lot during training for the family business.  "One must keep an open mind about these things," she continues, "lest one be surprised at a most critical juncture."

Legends abound on dozens of worlds about ghosts.  Its seems plausible that some of these legends are correct.

"How are things down in engineering?" she inquires, knowing it is Saskia's favourite topic.  "I am aware of our fuel situation...."

Confidence flows in, replacing the nervousness, "It's all looking good there.  Got the air system cleared out now, and I'm just running a diagnostic to make sure it's back to normal.  All in the green so far."

She smiles, "I'll be able to flush the whole air system while we're down, just to be sure."

Leaning closer, she whispers, "The ghost wasn't real.  We had a run in with Vargr pirates and took on prisoners.  Berth Number Five developed a faulty thermostat, and got too cold.  The Vargr's nervous system started to superconduct, and he was awake in the berth, but not really awake.  More like dreaming I suppose.  He thought he was dead and in some kind of awful afterlife."

"Then his brain got colder, and he developed psi powers, and started messing with the ship.  In Jump.  It was very worrying."

"Mmm.  I will certainly be pleased to have a 'clean' ship."  Shui's lips compress.  "I was more than a little disturbed by the possibility of severe problems."  All of this is said away from her patients, of course.  No sense in arousing panic.  "But you seem to have it firmly under control.  This is truly welcome news."

Shui leans a little closer when Saskia whispers, nodding slowly.  She had read that file in the medical logs, but hadn't put it together with Saskia's comments of a 'ghost'.  It makes sense, and she gets a more detailed idea of what it must have been like with manifestations of psi-power occuring.

More detailed, and more frightening.

"'Worrying'," she whispers with a small, nervous smile, "would seem to be an understatement."  The Doctor glances around the room, imagines it cold and still with a partly aware psychic in one of the tubes.  Partly aware...and frantic.  "Terrifying is the word that leaps to my mind."

Jago removes his cigar and rolls it between his fingers while he considers the offer on the paper. The natural instinct of any trader is to reject the initial offer, and it goes against the grain to deal with only one trader. Had he time Jago would haggle, bluff, test the market elsewhere, play one trader off against another and generally indulge in all the activities that made his work so much fun

The consideration doesn’t take long, and the cigar goes back to its accustomed place in the corner of his mouth, to free up the hand so he can offer it to the other man.

“That’s a deal then. I’m Captain Lanza of the ‘Profit Margin’, who do I have the pleasure of dealing with?”

Sadly, the situation is far from normal and the captain would have to forgo the niceties of his profession, the profit margin on that run has been significant, and he contents himself with that.

"Lippy, useful stuff?  Not sure I want to know what for," Yas mumbles under her breath with a face stuck in neutral, picturing some mob boss using it to get rid of inconvenient people while feeling like she wants to fake falling asleep to get some kind of excitement going.  Although she kind of likes the way he sucks on his lip.  That is not something people with computers tend to do, as they are too stressed out for such a simple thing.  Too bad he was not more of a cute one, but then, was passes as fashion on this frozen mudhole or whatever is not exactly working his favour either.

Once the question comes for Jago she expects him to start the War of Haggling, as usual, but as the cigar comes out of his hand she looks him over to make certain that he is not looking flushed or pale and as if he was about to pass out, her scattergun dropping to poitn at the floor in case she need to make the heroic effort of catching the skipper before he hits the floor.  Chances are she would get pinned, and in this line of work there is no posthumous medals for Above and Beyond the Call of Duty or Medal of Honour or something like that.

"Are you feeling all right there, boss?" she half whispers, leaning forward a little, making certain that he does not seem to be on drugs or something either.  Never know if that stuff in the vents for to him, his condition in general considered.  When they are back aboard she should get him into her exercise program.

Tylen nods in agreement with Conrad.

"I guess it's that way in any branch of the service. If you ain't busy, look that way."

He chuckles,

"Funny to be sitting with nothing to do, I wonder if this planet has anything like a library?"

He switches on a computer and searches for a menu offering local news or history information.

Surprisingly, considering the local tech level, the computer manages to link to a (somewhat primitive) local network in a little under three minutes.  It doesn't look promising.

There is a directory of local services, including a map to the nearest library (paper books!), a news page and weather reports.

The news seems to consist of three main stories:

• SPACE PIRATES RAID SHIPPING AGAIN.             Page 453
• HEIRARCH DECLARES BOUNTY ON PIRATES.           Page 455
• DESALLO ICE BEARS CAN SNATCH LEAGUE TONIGHT.   Page 457

---

"The name's Horvachi, Captain, Byrel Horvachi, and it's nice to deal with a man who can make a quick decision.  The buyer is a company called Dalzer Brothers.  I'll place a call to them in a mo, and they'll be in contact about collectin' the goods.  They're inside the city limits, so it shouldn't take long."

He copies the figure to another slip of paper, this one more official-looking, signs it himself, stamps it, and hands the top two copies to Jago, before filing the other two in two different folders.

"Anythin' else I can help you with today?"

---

"Damn Perivan and his cheap tickets." another passenger wakes to find that low passage is not as pleasant as he might have been led to imagine.  Sure... you get to sleep away the boring journey, but you wake up cold, disoriented, and occasionally with a mild headache.

Still... it could be much worse...

"Hey, this looks interesting,"

Tylen pulls up the first two items

"Well, between you and me, I was scared of meeting the ghost, but I was more scared of what it might do to the ship." Saskia watches the passengers as she whispers, "I didn't think it could kill us using the ship, but I was worried about what it would do to her when she stopped it."

Trailing her fingers down the wall, the Engineer continues, "She's a good ship, Shui, solid.  Lucky too."

There is an almost fanatical light in her eyes now, as she continues to speak, "She looks after us.  We're her children, even the ones who left.  I - " she pauses then, closes her mouth, her face turning red.

Shui listens carefully, knowing she is about to learn something of great import about both ship and engineer.  She is not disappointed.  The doctor has been on many ships in her life.  On some, the engineer does a job.  On others, the engineer despises the ship for a 'rustbucket' (or even worse sobriquets).  On more, the engineer does their job carefully, and with great affection.  And on a few, very few, so little that she could use the term 'a couple' and not stretch the definition, the engineer's life is the ship, and the ship's life is the engineer.

Now it appears Shui will need to find a different word.  'A couple' no longer applies.

The woman ensures nobody is within hearing.  "I am proud beyond measure to have a place aboard this ship."  All true.  "Especially so, knowing your care for it.  With someone like you to assist it in its work, I have every confidence in The Profit Margin.  And for one, I do not wish to leave."

A sick feeling grows in her stomach at the words.  Shui has just begun to become at ease, here.  She begins to feel as part of the family - the irony is heavy.  For she may not have a choice.  She may be forced to leave, at any time.

But that is not now, not here, not this moment.  What the woman has said, what she confided in the doctor, begs reply, and Shui continues to whisper.

There is no way to get more than one story on screen at the same time, and the update speed is somewhere between slow and dead, but it's news...

SPACE PIRATES RAID SHIPPING AGAIN.

For the second time this month a ship has fallen victim to what official sources ar referring to as Space Pirates [See Also: HEIRARCH DECLARES BOUNTY ON PIRATES.  Page 455].  The merchant vessel NEVER SAY DIE broadcast a call for aid earlier today, reporting that it was under attack by an unspecified ship or ships.

The NEVER SAY DAY left DESALLO FIELD a week ago, filing a flight plan which should have taken her out of the system.  Instead it is suspected she may have run afoul of her attackers while she was engaged in a smuggling operation.  This conclusion is supported by her reported position, which was well outside the usual shipping lanes.

Gyan Lerianz, aide to the Heirarch's office, today had this statement:

"NEVER SAY DIE was clearly involved in some sort of criminal activity, most likely smuggling.  Although both victims in the recent spate of attacks seem to have been engaging in such activity when attacked, the government of Arkadia will not allow criminals to prey upon even each other."

"The pirate vessel or vessels currently hidden somewhere in the outer regions of the system could easily decide to shift operations closer to Arkadia itself, and so represent a clear and present danger to shipping entering the system on legal business."

"A request for Imperial Naval intervention has been placed, but recent political developments may, obviously, reduce the speed with which such aid is provided."

Ms Lerianz went on to state that the Heirarch's office was looking at ways to deal with the situation, even if outside help should prove to be unavailable.

• PLAY SUPERLOTTO, FOR PRIZES UP TO 5 000 GUILDERS.  PLAY TODAY.  Page 621.

---

HEIRARCH DECLARES BOUNTY ON PIRATES.

Gyan Lerianz, aide to the Heirarch's office, today issued this statement on behalf of the Heirarch:

"His Excellency, Elberin Vurcheesa, Heirarch of Arkadia, has today declared that a reward of 100 000 Imperial Credits will be paid to the Captain of any vessel able to demonstrate that he has, through force of arms, ended the threat of pirate activity in the Arkadia system by any ship or ships currently engaged in such activity."

Other than technical details and legal statements which were appended, that was the sum total of Heirarch Vurcheesa's declaration.  Experts at DESALLO FIELD stated that they thought the measure was "too little, too late", and that, since Arkadia is not on a major shipping lane, there will be few captains willing, or able, to take up the challenge.

• MAKE YOURSELF MORE ATTRACTIVE TO TH OPPOSITE GENDER - NEW SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUE - ONLY Gu.150.  Page 974.

"Well, I did wonder why they were way out there when we picked up their call.  Pity we couldn't've got to 'em in less'n a week.  Too far out.  Jus' like it says there, way off'f the shipping lanes." Conrad seems thoughtful as he gives his own verdict on the stories.

"Kinda makes me think though.  Why would a pirate ship wait all the way out there?  Trade can't be good for them, that far off'f the regular routes.  I'm thinkin' it was a smugglin' deal gone wrong.  The two ships arranged to meet up, and the other one di'n't play straight.  Maybe it happened the first time too."

“You could point us at a decent bar, Byrel, somewhere that we can mix with other spacers and swap a bit of gossip.”

"Yasmine Crow," Yas says, looking at Barrel of Water or whatever his name was, giving him a nod as he looks her way.  Since neither of them seemed to notice her, much less introduce her, she did so herself.

Then she listens and watches again until the man asks if he can help with anything else.

"What he said.  Plus if you know of any shops that sell a bit of local stuff, but not that specifically targeted at tourists or something, if you get any of those," she says with a smile, wondering if anyone even remotely sane would come here as a tourist.  Apart from Corlan, that is.  She is surprised he is not out collect groats or something.  At least she can get him a little something.

"It's an interesting puzzle all right Conrad."

Tylen seemed less inclined to accept Dietz theory.

"I wonder if Jago will be tempted by the bounty, or intrigued by the puzzle."

He thought for a few moments and saved the two articles to a data pad. If this was such a backwater world why would anyone bother smuggling here? And where was the profit to the Pirates in reducing traffic in what was a relative backwater already?

"A bar?  Well, if you just go out the main gate and keep straight on for about ten click you'll come to a small dome on the left of the road.  That's what serves as a Startown in these parts.  There's a couple of bars there.  Lenacher's is probably the best, and they serve a good steak, I've heard." Horvachi replies, after so little thought that the directions could almost be part of his regular conversation.  It probably is, since there is so little else for a crew to be doing around here.

"You'll prob'ly find a gift store or two over there, as well, Miss.  But I'm not sure if they'll have the sort of thing you're after."

"Well, it can't hurt to look.  If nothing else, maybe I can buy a groat or two when I get back here," Yas says with a chuckle, wavign a thumb in the direction of the groats.

Or at least in one of those directions, as they most likely are found all around, perhaps even in the bar for all she knows.  Maybe even one of them runs the darn bar.  As long as they are not too love sick she does not mind, though, as she has seen far worse animals walking on two legs, and even served with a few of those things.

"Thanks," she adds with a smile at the man and turns to Jago to see if he is ready to hit the road, although not literally.

The Engineer smiles and looks past Shui at the readouts, just for a moment, before returning her attention to the Medic with a guilty expression, "Sorry, force of habit, keeping an eye on display panels.  Can't stop myself, even when they're not mine.  Even when I don't understand them."

The smile returns, nervous, and with it a change of subject, "We should talk to Yas about going for a drink while we're down.  This place doesn't look much, but maybe it'll have some nice places."

"Understandable," Shui murmurs as she assists another one of the people to rise into a seated position.  "It is still part of the ship, is it not?  And thus your responsibility."  She glances at the panel herself, and a slightly sour expression touches her face for a moment.  It looks extremely out of place on the doctor's visage.  "I would rather they were not mine, but...it 'comes with the territory', does it not?"

And who else has the training aboard...?  No, the responsibility for these should be yours.  There's no sense in being crabby about it.

Poor Saskia looks a trifle pressured; Shui has noticed she can be so in extended conversations (that have nothing to do with engines, or the like).  She doesn't hold eye contact with the woman - rather, she glances toward Saskia from time to time, to continue holding a rapport without the possibly-unnerving long stare of normal conversations.  Besides, she has to deal with the people as well.

"I would enjoy getting out for a short time.  Besides which, I need to purchase something local.  A...habit of mine."  Embarassment touches her tone for a moment.  "I usually procure something produced on every world I visit.  Perhaps you and Ms. Crow might assist me in the choosing."  Turning away from the passenger for a moment, Shui lights up with a surprisingly wide smile.  "Of course, Ms. Crow will likely press me to purchase some sort of firearm," she finishes, amused by the image.

"Or something sharp." Saskia replies with a smile, putting a surprising amount of effort into simply attempting to relax, "She likes knives too.  Though, for a Marine, she doesn't get all mushy over cutlasses, the way a lot of them do."

She stretches, twisting a kink out of her neck, "A bit of shopping could be fun, yes.  What sort of things do you like to buy?  I bought some swimsuits once, but I lost them in a fire at the hotel.  Apart from those, I sometimes buy something small, if it catches my eye."

"Jago has a thing on his desk that he bought some place back in the Swordies.  Nobody knows what it is.  He says it changes shape, but if it does, well, I don't know how it works.  Oh, and Ridge - " she stops, like running into a wall, "Sorry.  I talk too much sometimes."

”Excellent, we’ll try Lenacher’s, perhaps you’d like to join us when you finish here,” Jago replies with a warm smile.

As he walks out with Yasmin, Jago twirls his cigar thoughtfully, “you might be on to something there you know, I wonder if there is a market for groats on Frenzie?”

Jago and Yas return to the air car for the short hop over to the dome that Byrel had mentioned, but uses his comm set on the way.

“Conrad, it’s Jago, I’ve sold our cargo to a company called ‘Dalzer Brothers’, thy will be contacting the ship about to arrange collection, could you handle that please, sooner the better. Meanwhile Yasmin and I will be at a place Lenacher’s, it’s in a dome just outside the port, if anyone wants to join us they are welcome, may be Corlan would like to wet his whistle.”

Waving to the man, Yas follows Jago outside again.

"Frenzy?  Sounds like a place as lovely as this, if perhaps less friendly," she comments with a smirk and shakes her head, "but I won't babysit the groats if you bring any aboard!"  She winks at him and then takes her seat in the hover.

Once Jago stops talking over the comm unit, she turns to look at him and asks, quite inncently, "Are we there yet?"

"Well, I'm hopin' he'll be tempted by one or th'other." Conrad remarks, studying the display, and wondering just how attractive he could be for 150 of the local currency, and then the comm chirps.

"'Scuse me." he reaches past Tylen and transfers the call to this station.  It's Jago, with instructions.  "Dalzer Brothers.  Gotchya, Boss.  I'll listen out."

He closes the connection, returning the screen to the news stories, then gives the cargo a long look.  Thirty five tons of liquid plastic, "I hope Dalzer Brothers've got some way've shiftin' this.  Somehow I don't think droids'll be that common hereabouts."

"Something sharp?"  Shui frowns.  "I have some scalpels, myself.  Oh, a knife or the like.  Well...I have never liked knives."  Or pistols.  Or rifles.  Or....  The list rambles on in her head.  Weapons disturbed her.  Items made and practiced with for the sole purpose of killing.

Of course, knives at least had the benefit of being usable as tools.

"I wonder why she does not like cutlasses?"  Shui ponders this interesting tidbit.  Another facet of the personality of the Security Chief.  So many more to go before she could put a sufficiently detailed picture together.  "Well," she states, assisting a passenger to stretch the kinks out of his arm, "a knife is certainly more useful than a cutlass.  Perhaps that is the reason?"

And interesting question.

"Swimsuits.  Now that is an idea."  The doctor slowly nods.  "I do not have a swimsuit.  As for myself, I prefer things locally made.  An artist's work.  A sculpture.  An interesting bit of electronics, handmade by a native.  Something small, as you prefer, that I can put up on display for a while, then store and take out when I have need of the memories."  She smiles and shakes her head at her own silliness.

"I have been to many worlds, and I am a poor chronicler.  I wish for things to keep - that will be my unwritten diary."

And along comes another conundrum - the supposedly shapeshifting item of Captain Lanza, and Ridge's...what?  Shui doesn't know, and it would be rude to pry.  Still, that is about the latter.  The former, though, of that she can ask.

If the woman doesn't want her to know, she simply can avoid an answer.  "As what does this shapechanging object appear?"

"Whatever it feels like." laughs Saskia, then seems to think better of it, "Sorry.  Next time your in Jago's office, it'll probably be on his desk.  It sits in a metal dish, and it's about this big."

She clenches one fist to give a rough idea of size, then spreads her hand flat, "But sometimes it looks more like this.  Jago says it can be any shape or color, but he's never seen it change shape - it only does that when he's not looking.  He also says it turned into a liquid once, which is why he stands it in a dish."

"Oh, and the other day it was two pieces.  I picked one up to look at it, and it got warm as I moved it away from the other one.  Not hot enough to burn me, but noticeable."

Shrugging, she finishes, "Next time we land somewhere with good enough tech, I'll try to book some time with some good sensors.  Neutrino densitometers, meson analysers, the works.  See if I can get a look at its guts."

Shui continues to assist the passenger while listening to Saskia's explanation of Jago's shapeshifting find.  Very...strange.  "How odd," she notes, a small crease between her thin brows as she considers this curious object.  "I would be very interested in seeing your results, Saskia."

She turns away from the man once he finished his recover, and scans the hold to see what might come next.  "If you do not mind...what is your background?  Education, experience, that sort of thing.  I find myself curious - you seem to have a wide range of skills in the technical field."

Tylen nods at Conrads comment.

"I'm with you there brother, that stuff doesn't come in small bottles and I'm definitely not handballing it off the ship!"

He triggers the intercom,

"Um, Saskia? Do you have any suggestions as to how we unload all this liquid plastic if Jago's buyer doesn't bring any lifting equipment?"

Jago and Yas reach the dome, as mentioned by their guide.  It has to be the place.  It's the first structure they come to, and there are vehicles parked outside that don't fit into the local tech profile.

Leaving the "car" outside, they step through door, a simple revolving arrangement that serves to trap the warmer, higher-pressure atmosphere inside.  There isn't a lot of room.  The dome is only about ninety metres across, and crowded, with buildings that almost touch the overhead.  Making matters worse, the lighting isn't the brightest, adding to the claustrophobic ambiance.

The first thing they see is a large, glowing sign across the front of one of the buildings directly opposite the dome entrance:

L nacher's Port Bar&Grill.
Best prices for food and drink.
 Taynor Horvachi - Proprieter.

A narrow street runs away to left and right of them, curving tightly around the interior of the dome, and there are a few shops dotted along it, between the offices of assorted small (and seedy) businesses, private investigators, taxi companies, and fast food vendors.

"Not much in the way - oh, excuse me." Saskia starts to say, and then breaks off as Tylen's voice sounds over the intercom.  She listens to his question, then answers, "Most places know that merchants don't have much room to spare for cargo handling gear.  Either the transport provides it, or the port will have something we can borrow.  If worst comes to worst, I have some equipment that I use if I have to move anything heavy in Engineering.  It should be able to handle those containers."

She turns her attention back to Shui, and takes her thumb off the stud, "Sorry about this."

Tylen turns to Conrad,

"I expect we'll have to call the port if they arrive without anything."

He sighs,

"Bang goes the chance of a drink at that bar Jago mentioned."

"Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Right.  Me."

"Well, I did some school, when I was young, but probably not as much as I should have.  The planet where I lived only had about forty thousand people, so I never really made many friends." looking at the healed up cut in her hand, Saskia avoids meeting Shui's gaze, as she talks about herself.

"Always had problems with people.  Probably never socialised enough as a kid.  Anyway, I was happier tinkering with machinery.  Used to help my pa with the  agromechs.  Then when I was eighteen, I joined the Navy.  They gave me some tests, and made me an engineer.  I was happy, I like machines."

"So I did about sixteen years in the Navy, and in return they trained me.  Then they decided they didn't want me any more.  Lucky I met Jago, and he needed an Engineer."

She shakes her head slowly, "That's it really."

Jago grins as he looks round at the claustrophobic squalor, and inhales stale, under oxygenated air through his unlit cigar. Although he feels at hoe here, he appreciates having Yasmin at his side and he gives her a little nod before heading across the road to Lancher’s.

“Mostly we are here to see if anyone knows what’s going on in this system, if it comes up in conversation, we play down the Margins weaponry, and take care not to mention that we haven’t been able to replace our missiles,” the captain says with a wink.

"Forty thousand people?  An agrarian planet?" Shui asks, curious.  She, herself, comes from such a planet, where farming is the main purpose, but the population is higher than that!  Agromechs.  Yes, likely a farmworld.

Her eyebrow rises, though, at the rest of the tale.  "Sixteen years with the navy?  Very impressive, Ms. Blake.  Small wonder you are so skilled in the matter of keeping this ship in flight."  One final adjustment, and the last of the passengers is on his feet.  "How fortunate that you met Jago.  How did that transpire, if you do not mind me inquiring?"

One hand gently urges the final client toward the door, and she turns a small, hopeful smile Saskia's way.  "I regret, I must escort our passengers...but I would be pleased if you could accompany me.  Assuming Mr. Ogresh does not require you for work."

Returnign the nod along with a small grin, Yasmine looks around the place.  It looks a lot like some of the places she has been stationed during her service, if perhaps a bit cleaner.

"Well, considering how lightly armed Profit Margin is, that won't be an issue.  As for the rest, not a problem.  I suppose we're not shopping for any nukes this time either then?" she replies, the last with a mock expression of disappointment.

She walks along with the typical casual look of someone who is a trained bodyguard trying a bit too hard to look inconspicious.  Too much confidence radiating, or whatever.  All done quite intentional, of course - while they may downplay their ship, she wants to make sure any bad elements will know better than to make a stupid move.

"Well, now, I've known Jago for a while, though I only jus' came to work for him.  If'n he promised us a drink, then he'll see we get it.  As for the pickup, I'll check with 'em when they call, make sure they know that they'll need to bring some help on over." Conrad drawls, not seeming particularly worried.

"I'll tell 'em we ain't got no way've dealing with their cargo, if'n they don't bring sumthin' along."

Saskia hesitates a moment, and then agrees to go with Shui, "There's not much to tell really.  I got discharged by the Navy, and found myself on Regina, looking for work.  I signed aboard Profit Margin under her previous skipper, Eneris Arbailan.  Six months later he retired, and sold the ship to, as it turns out, Jago."

"I still needed the work, even with a different skipper, so when Jago offered, I decided to stay on."

The engineer suddenly stops in her tracks, "Will we be going outside?  Only I'll need to put some shoes on, if we are."

"Fortuitous coincidence, that meeting."  She supposes someone had to buy the ship, but it happened to be a good Captain.  "I expect you have been to many worlds, then."

When Saskia stops, Shui does so as well, with a glance down at the unshod feet.  True.  "Are we going outside?"  It's a valid question.  "Should we wait for others, or ask the rest of the crew if they wish to meet the Captain and Ms. Crow?"  It's possible that having a group might push Saskia back into silence.  Possible, but...that's not really Shui's call to make.  Trying to anticipate what another person will do, and act according to that, is a sure path to ruin.

"Well.  What are your thoughts on the matter, Ms. Blake?  Do we attempt the world on our own, or seek assistance?"

Ten kilometres away, Jago and Yas enter Lenacher's Port Bar & Grill, and find the place far cleaner inside than the outside would have suggested.  Spotlessly clean, in fact.  Music plays at acceptable levels from, and the room is moderately brightly lit.

There are about fifteen or twenty people sat at tables around the room, all in twos and threes.  About half of them are dressed in styles or materials which would likely not be available on Arkadia.  A solitary Vargr sits in the furthest corner, working its way... her way, judging by the clothes, through a large steak, with a speed and efficiency which would have put many an industrial bot to shame.

Behind the counter is an individual who appears to be a clone of the man who had directed the two Profit Margin crewmembers here.  He leans forward, peering at them intently, "G'day folks.  First time in Lenacher's ain't it?  Thought so, I never forget a face, not even the ones with fur on 'em.  Well, Taynor Horvachi's the name, I own this place, an' yer first drink is on the house, what'll she be, then?"


Back on the ship, the comm chimes.  An outside call...

Tylern is about to reply to Conrad when the Com chimes announcing an outside call.

"Looks like you'll get your chance,"

He says.

He returns to his seat and sets his screen to slowly cycle through all of the Profit Margins eternal scanners.

"Good day."

"Yup, first time."

"Well, I did forget to shave this morning!"

"Call me Yas."

"Sounds good, especially if your got some genuine stout in stock, mister Hoveritch," Yasmine replies inbetween the sentences and stepped up to the counter with a grin.  Placing her shotgun at the counter in front of her she takes a seat on one of the bar stools.  She does not need more than one, after all.

"I can't really do anything much right now." Saskia says quietly, eying the ramp, where Tylen and Conrad are watching the monitors.  "Maybe go out for a few minutes, at most.  I have things running that I need to check on occasionally.  Tests and diagnostics."

Even to Saskia, it doesn't sound too convincing.

”Thank you, a beer please, perhaps you could recommend something local. Your establishment comes highly recommended,” Jago says with a grin, “is that your brother, working in the trade hall?”

While he waits for his drink, Jago looks around at the other customers with an appraising eye.

Shui notes the glance, struggles to interpret.  Dancing the dance of conversation is difficult for her.  In this case, Saskia has answered her question in two ways - verbally and non.  Her father would say that the body never lies.  Her father would tell her to trust her observations, not what comes from people's mouths.  Father, there are times when I curse you for being right.

"Perhaps a few minutes, then?  Should we run short of time, certainly you and I can return to the ship," Shui offers, choosing the path of the body...and giving Saskia an 'out' at the same time.  Her thumb touches a holokey on her dataglove.

++ Mr. Orgesh?  Mr. Dietz?  Ms. Blake and I plan to enter the town in a short time, perhaps for some refreshment.  Should we pick up something for you, or would you care to accompany? ++

Tylen responds to the outside call,

"Profit Margin. How can I help?"

Whilst waiting for a reply he answers the Doctor,

"Just waiting for Jago's customer to pick up the cargo Doc, If this is the guy we should be ready to rock in a couple of ticks."

Tylen takes the call, and the monitor fills with static - audio only.  A female voice, accompanied by the hisses and crackles of a poor connection, comes from the speakers, "Hello.  My name is Fenna DuPris, I represent Dalzer Brothers ALC.  We have been informed by a Mister Horvachi that you have a cargo waiting to be collected?  Thirty five tons of liquid polymer?  I was just calling to arrange for a team to come and collect it first thing in the morning, if that would be agreeable?"


In the bar, Jago and Yas are served their drinks, while Taynor Horvachi keeps up a string of chatter, "Ah, yer spotted the resemblance, eh?  Yeah, we're twins.  He sends a bit of business my way when he gets the chance, sorta help me get on my feet, since I just took this place over a little while back.  But I won't use him sending me a captive audience, so ter speak, as an excuse ter let my standards slip."

"Way I sees it, he can send me a customer once.  It's up ter me ter get 'em back a second time.  'Ere yer go.  One stout fer the Lady, an' a beer fer yerself, Sir."
This message was last updated by the GM at 19:19, Sat 08 July 2006.

"Yeah, Okay Miss DuPris that will be just fine with us. Thank you for letting us know so promptly."

He waited until the connection was broken. and then triggered the com to Shui.

"Hey Doc, the buyers aren't coming until the morning so we're free to escort you ladies to town. Be with you in a minute."

He holstered his guns and pulled on his leather jacket.

"You coming for a cold one Conrad?"

"Not bad, not bad at all!" Yas says after having tasted the stout and grins at the bartender.  "Almost enough to tempt me into coming back to this planet," she chuckles and glances around.  When she gets a positive response from someone she smiles at them and lifts her glass ever so little, although that Vargr does not seem too keen on it, but she gives a grin anyway.

"Hey, boss, will you be all right for a while?  Looks like the boys over there can use some different company for once," she says, looking at Jago and nodding loosely in the direction of the group of spacers that seem to appreciate her attempt at being friendly.  "I should give them a moment or two while I finish this!"  She lifts her stout with a wink.

Saskia considers her options carefully.  If she chooses to go for a drink, the worst that can happen to her diagnostics is that they will complete themselves and hold the results until she gets back and checks them.

True, it would mean going away from the ship, a course of action which tends to produce unfortunate results, in her experience.  But the last two times, when there had been trouble, she had gone out alone.  This time she would have company, and when they had all gone for a drink to say goodbye to Jett and Kal-chan, she'd actually enjoyed herself.

"I'll be back in a minute, Shui.  Need to get changed."

Shui gives Saskia a short bow, and when she straightens there is a hint of a smile on her lips.  "Of course, Ms. Blake.  I should do so myself."  With that said, there is nothing to do but quick-walk toward her quarters.

++ Certainly, Mr. Orgesh.  Our passengers have left, and myself and Ms. Blake are going to freshen up.  We will meet you at the airlock, shortly. ++

The door hisses open before her.  She gives her own passengers - one in a solid, secured case, the other in a more casual environment - a quick nod, and moves to change her clothing.  Tight, black top, sans arms for comfort, midlength lighter skirt (also tight, but more businesslike than revealing), and her jacket, along with the proper (casual) shoes.  As an afterthought, she adds her snub-pistol and picks up her small 'purse' - actually a well-packed first-aid kit.  One can never be too certain, and like Saskia, Shui does not like to be away from the tools of her trade.  One never knows when someone might require assistance.

The gun, now, she could do without that.  But caution is wise, and it seems to be the norm for this world.

Prepared, she walks quickly to Saskia's quarters to await the engineer.

Jago chuckles, “go ahead Yas, knock yourself out.”

Jago watches Yasmin cross the room, then turns his attention to the beer, and the man who served it, “excellent brew,” he says, raising his glass and draining half of it. After a pause, Jago asks, “is it always like this, or is the war affecting your trade?”

"Sure, why not.  I'll just let Jago know we're on our way over to him."

Conrad keys in jago's comm code, and as soon as it's answered, he explains that the rest of the crew will be joining Hago and yas at the bar, as well as reassuring the captain that the cargo collection has all been arranged.

Then he goes to fetch his warmest jacket, having seen the weather.

With a chuckle Yas picks up her shotgun and makes her way towards the group of spacers, lifting her glass in greeting as she comes towards them.  While she does she takes the opportunity to study the group to try judge what they might be and if they are the sort she really would like to hang out with for more than a few minutes.

Also, never know if any of them are cute and suitable to flirt with a little.

"Mind if a girl in-between jumps crashes the party for a while?" she asks as soon as she can do so without shouting, offering a plesant smile.

Tylen saunters down to the airlock. He checks the ships security measures are on line and ready to activate when they depart.

With Profit Margin's security systems engaged, and the few auxiliary entrances secured, the ramp drops, giving it's characteristic screech.  The four crewmembers, together with Corlan DeSant, stroll down and into the cold, thin air of an Arkadian late afternoon.  There is a light snowfall, as Tylen raises the ramp again and activates the pass code.

Luckily it's just a short distance to the port building, and from there the five are able to hire a taxi: a primitive six-wheeled groundcar in red and black, with an engine that roars like some kind of wild animal, and stinks of badly-processed hydrocarbons.  As it jolts across the rough concrete of the road, they have time to reflect on just how far transport has advanced.


Yas has found good company.  A small group of belters, just passing through on their way to Garda Vilis, where there are reports of lanthanum deposits in the system's sparse planetoid belt.  They seem to be in good spirits, which is hardly surprising, considering that they expect to be extremely wealthy within the next thirty days...

At the bar, Yaynor Horvachi continues to serve drinks as people request them, and he seems happy to talk to Jago (and anybody else, for that matter).  "Lessee now, I took over here about two months back.  It's pretty much always like this.  I mean, the reputation's good, but we're lucky ter see six ships in a week.  The two things sorta balance off, see?"


The door opens, and the remaining five of Profit Margin's oddly-mixed family stroll in.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:30, Mon 10 July 2006.

"...and then, their ship blew into bits!  Now, if the Vargr had survived, they would have learnt not to underestimate the enemy, ever!  Of course, once you're spread over and entire sub sector it is kind of hard to learn much at all anymore," Yas chuckles, finished her tale about how they got the drop on the Vargr's.  The story only gets better with time.

"So, Jockram was it?  ...will you retire once you strike that lanthanum load, or will you keep beating the crap out of space rocks?" she inquires with a big grin at one of the fellows.

Shui takes a long look around the establishment, one fine eyebrow arching upward, and slowly nods at what she sees.  "Well.  It is good to find a respectable establishment."  She doesn't add 'for a change'.  That might imply that some of the other bars and restaurants she has frequented in the past were less-than-savoury.  Which would be rude.

"Thank you for accompanying us, Mr. DeSant," she continues with a nod toward the older man and a small, half-smile.  "I suspect you should be working on your filing - I do apologize for dragging you away from that workload."  One hand touches Saskia's elbow for a moment, an unconcious acknowledgement of the other woman's presence, then the Doctor turns to the men.

"Where shall we sit?"  Men usually have odd ideas, like putting their backs to a wall, or sitting near a window.  She'd rather they make the choice than have them fidgiting during their exploration of the local brew.  "With Ms. Crow?  Or shall we leave her to her conversation, and the Captain to his?  Surely they will join us if they so desire."

A Vargr, alone.  Curious.

With yet more new customers, the barkeep goes into his spiel, "Welcome to Lenacher's.  First time here fer all've yers, yes?  In that case, the first drink each is on the house, see?  What'll it be, people?"

Yas seems to be getting on famously with the three spacers.  One of them, perhaps pushing fifty, answers her question, "Going to retire of course, leave these two losers to mine rocks, while I buy me a planet with oceans of beer to live on."

"In your dreams, old man!"

"Only one loser 'round here, and it's you!"

In the far corner of the bar, the Vargr stares at Yas' back, though it doesn't stop eating.

Saskia also spots the Vargr.  She moves closer to Shui and murmurs, "I hope it's not looking for trouble.  They can be a bit unpredictable.  It was a Vargr that started the hotel fire I got caught in, back on Dinomn."

Then the barman draws her attention, "I'll have a beer please, the most expensive you keep in stock." she says, brightly.

Tylen grins at Saskia's cheek,

"That's a great plan, one of those for me too!"

Whilst waiting he glances round the room. Yasmin has made herself the centre of male attention (as usual) and there's the lady Vargr stuffing steak down her face.

Oh well, he thinks, at least there's beer.

"Oooh, I see!  You will all fight one another over the findings and..." Yas starts and then spots her friends arriving.  "Hey, look, my friends are here!  HEY!  Over here!" she calls out and waves a hand at her fellow crew members to show them where she is, and that it is her.  "Ran away from work, did you!?"

"Was it?"  Shui eyes the Vargr thoughtfully.  She isn't terribly familiar with the race.  "I had no idea."  Then they're at the bar, with both Saskia and Tylen already making their orders.  Shui ponders for a moment, then leans a touch forward to garner the bartender's attention.

"I would appreciate a glass of your lightest white wine, if you would be so kind."  She had almost asked for rice wine, but that brought back some bitter associations the doctor would rather forget.

Then Yasmine calls from the other end of the room, and Shui turns to politely wave.  There is simply no way she will shoot a reply the length of the bar.  "It would seem," she states quietly, "that Ms. Crow has discovered our presence, and does not seem adverse to our joining her."

Tylen waved back at Yas.

"If you are agreeable Doctor I suggest we do just that"

He offers her his arm.

"Allow me to escort you through the crowd."

He smiles at the Doctor and raises his glass.

Waiting for her drink, Saskia continues talking to Shui, "I think he was drunk, and he'd been in a fight, and the hotel wouldn't give him a room because he was in a mess.  So he made a bomb from something flamable, fuel or cleaning fluid or something, I expect, and threw it into the hotel."

A glance towards the alien in the corner, "They aren't all like that though.  Hrouff was always polite."

Then she spots Yas too, "Yes, let's go and annoy Yas."  She laughs then, a small sound, tinged with nervousness.

Shui's eyebrow rises further at the drunken Vargr story.  She has no doubt Saskia is telling the truth (at least, whatever truth she may have been told).  But the idea that some creature might...and for a room?

For a sick moment, she wonders if her father might have had a good point.

"They aren't all like that though."

"I should certainly hope not," comes her faint reply, complete with a quick glance toward the Vargr.  It seems interested in Yas.  Oh dear.

Tylen's sally puts her more at ease, and she replies with a nod.  "I am, Mr. Ogresh, and I will."  Her free hand lightly takes his arm.  He's a good man, she feels, under the slightly scruffy exterior.  Given the nature of their jobs, of course, Shui is the only one with the need and capability to remain neat and tidy at all times.  They both are good men, she judges - Tylen and  Conrad.  She offers a smile to Saskia, and reaches out to touch her wine-glass to the woman's beer mug.

*chink*

"Mr. Dietz, you will be joining us, I trust?" she asks hopefully.

"Jus' as soon's our gracious host's finished pourin' me my drink." he smiles at the bartender, and accepts a glass as it's handed to him, "Many thanks, Sir."

He turns to tag along with the others, making his way across the room towards Yas, who seems to have the three men laughing a lot, doubtless with some slightly smutty story, or a yarn about guns.  Jar Head humor.

"Hey, look, they decided not to be shy!  This here's Sassy, engineer and quite the little heartbreaker, so watch it with her.  Oh, but if you break her heart, I'll break your neck," Yas starts to introduce her friends as they draw nearer.

"Next we got Sushi.  She likes to play doctor, oops, I mean, she is out ship's doctor!  Got a thing for bugs, she does.  I'm still getting to know her bit by bit, but what I have seen, I like.  And no, not in the shower," she introduces the doctor.

"Then we have an ex Navy squid, let's call him Ditsy, and he claims to plot our course when no one is looking, although I'm sure he cheats somehow, because so far he has done a good job," she continures with Conrad, winking at him.

"...and last we had a crazy old scout, Quadman, or Ty, or whatever.  He's into his quadbike, and that's all cool, even if he should try something with two wheels, like me!" she then finally introduced Tylen.

"The are both quite fresh, as in new to the crew, so I am still trying to get them trained and housebroken...  But they seem A-OK in my book so far, despite Ditsy having a history with the Navy," she finishes with a huge grin and a not so little teasing glimpse in her eyes.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:09, Fri 14 July 2006.

"Greetings, friends." says the eldest of Yas' companions, a man of about fifty, with a shaved head and mismatched eyes, one blue, the other green.  His face is deeply tanned, a tan which could not have come from Arkadia's feeble sun, but the tan stops just above the collar of his work shirt, leaving the rest of him white.

"The name's Jockram, and these two are Banster and Hegerich."  He indicates the other two men, both younger, perhaps in their twenties, and sporting similar tans and lack-of-hairstyles.  "Grab some chairs.  Yas here's been telling us all about you, but we won't hold any of it against you."

All three of them roar with laughter.


Corlan, left alone near the bar, moves to a seat near Jago.  He sips at his drink,  quietly at first, until he finally asks, "Well, Captain, what's our next port of call?  After we leave Arkadia, I mean."

Tylen raises an eyebrow, to be honest he'd forgotten all about the quadbike stored in the hold, he wasn't gonna letYasmine get away with all the shots in.

"I should try something with two wheels like you eh Yas? Ladies and Gentlemen, a big hand for Miss Yasmine Crow, ships bike...I mean biker!"

He raised his glass and stuck his tongue out at Yas.

Yasmine Crow, ship's biker, stops her glass of stout as she is lifting it to the mouth when Tylen's comment comes across.  The glass slowly lowers and she gives Tylen as look and a grin that seems to foretell that something really bad is coming really soon.  The next moment she saunters up to his side and slides her free arm around his shoulder, squeezing him a bit to show off the muscles her small size still packs.

"Tylen, Tylen, Tylen..." she starts, speaking slowly and with almost a sigh, shaking her head slowly.  Then she points a finger towards his nose with the hand holding her stout, takes a deep breath and speaks again.

"If that was supposed to be some kind of an insult, you really should come live with the marines for a week.  Heck, a day would do it, or an hour!"  She bursts out laughing and lifts the hand that held him up to ruffle the scout's hair.

"See, told you, he's a crazy old scout!  But he's harmless, as you hear," she tells the three miners with a huge grin on her face, still chuckling.

"Good day, Mr. Jockram," Shui says quietly, nodding to the man and his associates.  Yasmine has no doubt been filling their ears with all manner of amusing comments.  She glances wistfully back at the bar for a moment, where Corlan speaks with Jago.  She should have invited him to come along with them, had in-fact assumed that he would.

Nothing to do about it now.  To leave would be rude.

The doctor settles herself quietly in the seat, and leans back from the table.  One drink, she tells herself, then she'll go back to the bar 'to get another'.  It will be simplicity to remain there, speaking with Corlan and Jago, and not appear rude.

It almost looks like there's going to be a fight for a moment, after Tylen returns Yasmine's libidinous comments with one of his own.  Fortunately, it doesn't quite play out that way.  Shui smiles weakly over at the others, and shoots a helpless look at the bar.

They're still talking, curse the luck.

“Corlan,” Jago smiles when the other man joins him and raises his glass in salute, “well, this is not the most exotic place we’ve ever shown you, and I’m afraid it doesn’t get much better, we are headed for Frenzie it’s a vacuum world. Still there is a Navy base there, so we shouldn’t be bothered by pirates or raiders. Did you hear about the message we picked up as we came out of N space?”

Normally Jago is very cagy about discussing his plans in public places, but not on this occasion, in fact he was timing his words to as to be overheard by the barman in the hope of drawing him into the conversation.

Tylen grins ruefully, he mimes a plane crashing with his hands and makes appropriate noises.

"Oooooh Tylen crashes and burns again! I never get the better of Yas!"

Having established his credentials as "One of the Lads" Tylen is happy to sit on the edge of the conversation and sip his beer whilst Yas does her stuff. He's really keeping his ears open for gossip about pirate activity and the availability of replacement missiles for his turret.

Taynor Horvachi chuckles at Jago's remarks, "Pirates is it?  Well, there's no pirates at Arkadia either, I reckon.  Face it, there's nothin' a ship could carry out of here that'd be worth the deuterium a pirate'd burn stoppin' it.  I don't reckon it'd be smugglers either - same reason."

"Me, I reckon it'll turn out ter be somebody with a grudge against the ships' owners.  Somebody who doesn't care how much they lose on the deal.  If somebody finds the connection between the ships, they'll find who's behind the attacks."


The three belt miners seem in good spirits, and pleased to meet new people.  "It's not Mister Jockram, it's just Jockram.  Though when we get to Garda Vilis and I strike it rich enough to buy a planet, I might let my subjects call me Jockram the Magnificent."

"What about... Mister The-Magificent?" Hegerich interrupts, followed by Banster, who holds up a thumb and forefinger, approximately a centimeter apart, "Or Jockram the Tiny!"

"See what I have to put up with?  They're forgetting that I own the Hound, and without me to pilot her, they'll be walking to Garda Vilis."

Hegerich snorts, spraying beer out of his nose, then coughs, and finally says, "If you call that piloting... "

“Ships; has there been a lot of attacks then?” Jago asks, “I suppose we are safe if your theory is right, no on has a grudge against us.”

Shui sits silently, a small smile pasted on her face as the conversation flows around her.  Inside, she wants nothing more than to just get.  Out.  Of.  Here.  She shoots a quick glance at Saskia, hoping she hasn't dragged the girl into something rather far from 'fun'.  Tylen looks reasonably at home, here.

But she can't take any more of this, herself.  Shui has been in this place in a hundred bars in twenty worlds while looking for a berth.  There is no need for it, now.

The glass comes up to her lips, and down.  Again.  Very little wine remains, and she stares at it for a moment before realizing her salvation is at hand.  How much longer should she wait to be polite?  The answer eludes her, but something else catches her eye.  There are a pair of small flecks on the outside of the wineglass - evidence of Hengerich's recent eruption.

Perhaps the answer does not elude her after all.

"Pardon me," the woman whispers.  Shui slowly stands, with a quick look for Saskia.  "More wine," she explains, and her hand makes a vague motion with the wineglass...but keeps it well away from any fine-intentioned people who might be tempted to go get her drink for her.  She never once looks at the Vargr, except in passing.  There's a skill in keeping an eye on something using peripheral vision, and it has begun to come back to her, now.

Tylen notes the conversations with interest, food for thought anyway.
He notices Saskia is sitting quietly, he wracks his brain for a suitable subject to engage her in conversation.

"Hey, Saskia. I'm looking for advice, I've not had the quad out for a while and I'd like it to be ready for use if I need it. It's been stood awhile is there anything you can think of that I'd need to check over?"

He hopes her interest in technical matters extends to internal combustion engines.

"I'll talk it over with you when we get back to the ship.  Need to have a look at it first." Saskia answer's Tylen, and finishes her beer.  "No sense me telling you to check something if it hasn't got one of those." she finishes, smiling.

Then, "Yas, do you need another drink?  I'm just going to get myself one."

"Well, at least you miner's need not worry about those pirates out there, eh?  They don't want ore and wouldn't know if it was worthless or pricesless," Yas says with a grin at the three men who jokes among themselves.

It seems as if Sushi is not quite at home here, from what the ex marine can tell, and she whispers to her, "I ain't said nothing, so don't worry."  As the doctor excuses herself Yas lets her go withotu further ado, not about to force any company on anyone who does not want it.

"Sure, another stout, Sassy," she replies to her friend as the engineer inquires about whether or not the gunner needs it, giving her a smile as well.

Shui turns her smile to Yasmine, no longer needing to paste it on.  "I have no concerns in that matter," she whispers, before stepping away from the table to await Saskia.  Yasmine isn't likely to say all manner of things about her - that isn't an issue here, not at all.  She trusts the security chief.

It's the culture shock that bothers her.  No doubt her brothers could fit themselves in quite well, no matter what their feelings, but Shui isn't them.  She waits for Saskia, and gives the other woman an apologetic smile as they step away from the table.  "I am sorry, Ms. Blake," the doctor says, sotto vocce, "but I fear I must retire from the table.  I find myself a trifle uncomfortable.  But I did not wish to abandon you, without giving explanation.  I am going no further than the bar, where I shall sit with Captain Lanza and Mr. DeSant.  I suspect there is another chair...but I shall certainly not be insulted if you prefer to remain at the table to which you have been invited."

When Shui and saskia head for the bar, to join Jago and Corlan, that leaves only Conrad, Tylen and Yas in the company of the three belt miners at the table.  Taynor Horvachi moves to serve the two ladies, while Corlan moves along a little, smiling, to give them some room.

No sooner have the two women left the table, than the Vargr picks up her own drink and stands.  Small, even by Vargr standards, she stands no more than 1.5 metres, and looks to weigh no more than 45 or 50 kg.  Still, the big revolver at her hip would make a reasonably good equaliser.  She marches across towards the exit, and at the last second she swerves aside to tap Yas on the shoulder.

In a deep throated growl, she says, "Hoomaan!  I have heerd you brag and boast about killing Vargr piraates.  Is thees truth, or were you just trying to impress po-ten-tial mates?"

Saskia is about to answer Shui, smiling, when a movement from across the room cayches her eye.  She watches as the vargr crosses the room and pokes at Yas, issuing what might be considered a challenge in some places.

"I think we're about to see some trouble." she murmurs to the other woman, and pushes up close to the bar to give the fight some room to develop.

Yas turns to look at the Vargr who tapped her on the shoulder.  She looks the Vargr up and down before answering.

"It's true.  They opened fire, we responded.  They lost.  I've also had the pleasure of working with another one of your kind, and he was quite an agreeable fellow.  Or I could tell you a few stories about blowing up human pirates if you want, or tell you about back when I were in the Marines and had to shoot the enemy regardless what they looked like, human or not.  But when someone shoots at me or my ship, I take it personally, humans or Vargr doesn't matter," she says without looking away from the Vargr, although she does turn a little to show that she has a really huge revolver in addition to the shotgun she has within arms reach all the time.

"As for any potential mates, heh, no, sorry boys, not looking for that," she adds, half turning her head towards the men while her eyes never leave the Vargr.  If need be she is ready to take any actions needed to defend herself, fist or gun, although she hopes this Vargr will be more like Rough rather than the foolhardy pirates they encountered.

Tylen quietly slips a hand onto the butt of one of his revolvers underneath the table. He continues sipping his beer with the other.

At the bar, Jago cracks a little smile when he notices the Vargr tackle Yas about the pirates; he has acquired a fairly strong affection for the race after working with Hrouff for so long.

"You are Cap-tain of thees ship?  I will hire/rent to hunt for piraates here, in Gnavshroukt system, what Hoomaans call Ark-kadia." the Vargr glares at Yas, her tail low and ears back.  Not exactly a poker face, by anybody's standard, but a classic picture of an angry Vargr.

"My brother, Oezzarr, was killed by piraate aenunel.  Was nav-igat-or on Hoomaan trader ship Big Deal.  Piraates take Big Deal three week gone.  I not see or hear brother.  I pays plenty-much Imperium credits if you say hunt piraates - "

"Excuse me, Miss?" the bartender calls across, "If she's bein' a pest, I can ask her to leave?  Dakingzool, I told yer ter stop botherin' the other customers!"

"Not bother, offer bus-in-ness deal.  And name is Dhakhingzuel, Hoomaan." the Vargr snaps, glancing towards the bar, briefly, before returning her attention to the group at the table.

"Oh, dear."  Shui steps back, taking in the scene.  And here they are, her and Saskia, caught out in the middle of the floor.  "I am certain Ms. Crow can handle herself," she replies quietly.  Despite that, Shui glances around the bar.  There is a moment where she's certain a group of supportive Vargr will show up from nowhere.

Fortunately that doesn't happen, and Yasmine artfully deflects any hostility.  Suddenly a confrontation becomes potential employment - a useful bit of verbal aikido.  Shui relaxes a touch.  "It appears she has the situation well in hand," the doctor whispers to Saskia in relief.  Fist fights are not on the list of Shui's favourite things.

"Rent my ship to hunt pirates?" Yas echoes and tries her best to look the part of a captain.  Then the bartender calls out and Yas waits for the Vargr to reply before offering her own answer.

"Not at all, sir!  Business propsition, that is all.  Thanks," she calls out and turns to look at the Vargr.  Dashing Fuel or something.  Perhaps best avoid using her name.

"Well, we came here to trade, but give me a moment to tell my, er, second in command about this offer while I think it over, he handles the boring figures and numbers, after all," she lies to the Vargr, deciding it might be a bad idea to reveal the truth at this time, and turns to head over to Jago to consult with him.  At least she can give the Vargr a preliminary answer then.

Then she stops and moves over to the Vargr, leaning in to whisper, "Oh, how many credits would this entail, by the way?  It must be worth the risk compared to any trade we can do, after all, if I am to consider this," and smiles without showing any teeth, in case it would be misunderstood.

Conrad is quick to move aside when the Vargr approaches.  It's been too many years since his Naval H2H training, and he's not at all sure that he can handle a small Vargr.  Besides, outside arm's reach means he's at nice range for pistol use, at which point he remembers that his pistol is currently locked away in his cabin.

Nice and safe.

He could hardly be blamed for that one, since he had left the ship for a pleasant evening of socialising, not for a gunfight.

Tylern relaxes, and unobtrusively slides his hand back above the table. still holding his empty glass he follows Yas with the intent of letting Yas and Jago know about the Government offer of bounty on the Pirates.

The Vargr simply tilts her head to ons side and watches as Yas makes her way over to Jago, followed by Tylen.  She doesn't follow, possibly to give Yas some room to hold her discussion with her underlings in some privacy.


The miners, meanwhile, are involved in a long and rambling discussion of what constitutes adequate piloting...
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:41, Fri 21 July 2006.

Having already decided to look in to the piracy here, to asses the practicalities of getting involved, Jago is not in the least bit adverse to someone paying him for doing so. On the other hand he’s determined that any operation he carries out will be on his own terms, and has no intention of doing anything until he’s satisfied that he knows what he’s putting his ship and crew up against.

"Hey, Jago.  Not sure how much you heard, but..."

Yas explains the situation to Jago, keeping her voice to a whisper and avoiding to look over at the Vargr, but making some gestures and such to give a good show.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:14, Sat 22 July 2006.

Tylen whispers also,

"On top of whatever the Vargr will pay there's a 100,000 Imperial Credit bounty paid to anyone who can prove they've cleared the pirates out of the system."

There's something about the wording of that bounty post that Tylen isn't comfortable about, but he assumes it's kosher. It doesn't do small planetary governments any good to renege on bounty agreements, if they do they often find themselves unable to attract a saviour the next time they have a bandit problem.

A grin starts on Jago’s face when Yasmin relays teh offer, but he struggles to suppress it, “five grand,” he whispers, “five thousand wont even cover the wage bill.”

“Let’s not get carried away Yasmin, we’re a trading ship, not a police ship,” Jago says out loud with a little indignation in his voice, “we got lucky last time, but we’d have no real chance in a head to head encounter, heck, we haven even been able to replace the missiles we used.”

“Invite her over to the ship tonight,” Jago reverts to his quite whisper, “but remember, we are posing as a potential target here.”

OOC
Jago is assuming that the operation will take from ten to fourteen days including flight time for a round trip.

”That would be a help,” Jago whispers, giving Tylen a little smile.

"Hey, I didn't make the price, I'm just relaying it, boss," Yas whispers with a shrug and then, speaks up louder with a grunt.

"Oh posh!  You're such an old pessimist!  I'm not saying we should clear the whole sector, or take them on head to head!  I'll ask her over so we can talk about it in private tonight!  And hush about the missiles, will you, by all the space dust in the Omnicron system!"

Then, a whisper again, "If you say so, boss.  I'll make sure to limp as I go back so I look like an easy target," and she winks at him with an impish gleam in her eyes.

Muttering as she walks back to the Vargr, she makes certain to mumble so the Vargr can hear it, as if unintentional, about him being cheap and not stocking up on missiles when they had the chance, but yes, it was not much creds but still a change from jumping around frozen balls of dirt with a minimal profit.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:06, Sat 22 July 2006.

The Vargr listens to Yas as she approaches, and slowly, at first, her tail starts to wag.  "You will do thees?  Hunt aenunel piraates?   Oezzarr will be re-veng-ed!"

"You needs missiles?  Is trader by land field, some-time have such.  Buy them off other ship."


Corlan, who has sat next to Jago the whole time, is beaming after Yas leaves.  "A little excitement next time out, eh, Captain?" he asks, quietly.  "Good.  It might help to keep my mind off other matters."

Tylen grins at Jago, and walks back over to the bar.

"I'll have another of those beers please, you've got a good brew here."

He turns to survey the room, checking for any unusual interest in Yasmine's conversation.

"Well now, let's not talk about it here.  Come and talk at the ship, and please, keep it down about the missles," Yasmine says and "realises" she speaks a bit too loudly about the missiles herself.  She grimaces and then shrugs and gives the details as to where Dashing Fuel can find Profit Margin, and at what time it would be good to meet.

"Then we shall talk business," she says and nods firmly to the Vargr to let her know they will talk more in private later on.

”I’ll make sure to limp,” Jago grabs his drink as an aid to laughter prevention. The Vargr’s tail has a sobering effect, there could be few people in the bar who didn’t know what she was after by now, and that was hardly a sign of disappointment.

“What’s that you say Corlan?”

Some days, the captain wondered why he bothered.

OOC
Did anyone overhear Corlan’s remark?

Pleased that the situation has been salvaged, Shui turns back to Saskia.  An eyebrow quirks, ever so slightly.  "Relief is too weak a word," she notes quietly.  "I feel myself in dire need of refreshment."  Right about now she recalls the snub pistol, and feels weak in her knees.  Disgusting thing, and here she was carrying it during this altercation.  What if someone had pulled out a weapon?

She shoots a look at Conrad, the only one who doesn't appear to be part of the conversation - Tylen appears to have joined into the plotting, whatever it was, and Corlan is now discussing something with the Captain in low tones.  "Mr. Dietz?  Would you like to join us at the bar?"

Then it clicks in her head.  Sometimes Shui can be rather slow on the uptake - it comes from focus.  Focus on one thing, to the exclusion of all others.  It's rare, and only happens in certain circumstances.  This sort of situation happens to be one of them.  It finally sinks in that they're talking about hunting pirates.  Dismayed, Shui pauses.  "Oh dear."

It had to happen sooner or later, one part of her mind argues.  She knew that.  The Profit Margin is a privateer.  There is a war about to break out.  And it's pirates.

But still.

Dhakhingzuel nods at Yas' instructions, a very human gesture, "I will see later at thees ship of yours.  We make deal."  Then, with a scowl at Taynor Horvachi, she leaves the bar.

The miners are still discussing their own business, but after the Vargr leaves, Jockram pushes himself to his feet and beckons Yas over before moving towards Jago.

"Now, I know Yas ain't really the skipper on your ship, and I just wanted to warn you not to trust the Vargr.  Those two ships went way off the main routes, just to get attacked, and I reckon somebody persuaded them to go out there."

"Strikes me that paying them to go out and hunt pirates would be a good way to get them to go way out in the wilds."

"But, if your mind's set on doing it, we might be able to surprise them if it is a trap.  If I were to follow close by, in the Hound, I could add an extra laser to the mix.  If you want?"


At the bar, Horvachi continues serving drinks.

"Oh, there's a surprise.  I've only met one sensible Vargr, really, and that's it," Yas comments quietly as she followed Jockram over to Jago, limping a little and muttering about some old injury.

The rest she leaves to the captain to decide.  She will not tell Jockram anything unless he does so first, after all.  But is sounds good to her, to have an extra little surprise for the pirates - and it makes sense what he says too, and might explain why Never Say Die was so far off the main course.

Then again, for all Yas knows Jockram might be the pirate's right hand, and turn on them just as they spring their would-be trap.

"Why would you do that then, Jockie?" she asks with a grin, not changing the attitude she has had with the miners all along.  It would not do to tip him off in case he indeed was in on the scheme.

"Why?  Because I served on a Naval auxilliary ship, a resupply tender, a quarter century ago, during the last war." Jockram replies, speaking quietly, his voice serious.

"Most of the fighting back then was done by commerce raiders, because the War didn't really last long enough to get the main fleets mobilized.  There were a lot of them, though, that were just pirates taking advantage of the situation.  I picked up a fair bit of resentment for those scum when I saw some of the things they did.  Not just the victims of the raids, but the hardship that they could cause on a world by attacking its trade links."

He sighs then, "Ever seen an asteroid colony, when prices for food, water, and even air start to climb because of piracy?"

“It had crossed my mind that the Vargr might not be kosher,” Jago confides softly, “I understand that there is a substantial bounty on offer, maybe, if there are two of us, uit might be worth the risk, I’ll have to find some missiles first though, right now our turret is just for show.” Jago talks quietly and glances over his shoulder from time to time.

Tylen continued to lean on the bar as he consumed his second beer. He nodded and smiled at those who made eye contact, usually with a friendly "Evening."
or "How ya doin'?". He remained alert, looking out for anyone taking an interest in the "Profit Margin" Crew.

Conrad makes his way across the room, taking a seat at the now empty table where the Vargr had sat.  On his way there he contrives to pass as many tables as possible, occasionally nodding to the patrons, and asking them in a slurred voice (which makes his usual drawl even harder to follow) if they have seen his pal, Daraish.

Slumping at the table, he proceeds to mumble to himself.

Either he can't hold his liquor, or he's a damn fine actor.

All the talk of pirate hunting has Saskia worried.  Even with her Naval upgrades, Profit Margin still isn't a warship, even if she is more heavily armed than some military craft of her size.

The engineer whispers to Shui, "Shotz!  I spend all my frelling time holding the ship together, while certain other people are doing their best to get her kicked apart again."

Shui spares a dubious eye for Conrad as he reels off toward a table.  She can't tell if he's faking, or why he might be, but it's an awfully big coincidence that he has decided to seat himself at the Vargr's abandoned table.

"Apparantly Mr. Dietz will not be joining us," she murmurs to Saskia as they make their way (finally) to the bar.  "I must admit, I do not look forward to this, either.  It will likely end with situations I try hard to avoid."

Violence.  Injury.  Death.

In her own way, Shui is a lot like Saskia.  But her concern rests upon the organic componants of the ship.

"With luck," she says hopefully, "the ship will come through with flying colours.  Perhaps the Pirates will have fled."

Time passes, and things remain moderately quiet in Lenacher's.  A few more customers come in, but approximately the same number leave.  Jago, Yas and Jockram talk quietly, discussing options.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:47, Thu 27 July 2006.

Conrad eventually stands and staggers back to the others.  He drapes one arm around Tylen's shoulder and looks at Jago before saying, perfectly clearly, "I been lissenin' in on some'v the talk 'roun' here Jago, an' I think I've figured out what this's 'bout.  Y'all wan' to hear it here, or shall we wait 'til we get back on the ship?"

Jago’s snort is almost a laugh, “back to the ship I think, I’ll give you a lift Conrad.”

“Jockram, I’ll make some enquires and give you a call,” Jago says to the other captain, “it will depend if we can get our weapon system operational.”

“I’m heading back,” Jago tells the others who are near him, “you guys don’t have to, your not needed until tomorrow but if you want to come now there are a couple of seats in the air raft.”

Shui, seated at the bar, possibly with Saskia and Corlan, turns to nod her head to Jago.  "Thank you, Captain Lanza."  She considers the offer.  "However, for myself I believe I wish to peruse the shops nearby."  She still hasn't found anything appropriate for remembering this planet, unless one considers the bottom of a wine glass.  The doctor reaches out and taps the glass experimentally with the nail of one forefinger - it's an odd motion, coming from her.

I believe, she considers ruefully, I have had a touch more than I should have.  Nothing like poor Conrad, of course.  She studies him for a moment, makes a mental note to fix up something for a hangover before she goes to bed tonight.  Probably best to simply deliver it to his quarters.  But the doctor knows she has had enough.  Enough to impair her driving, should she consider to do so.  Enough to impair her judgement, if not her coordination.  The former can be far, far more dangerous than the latter.  And ironically, it is the first thing that goes.

"In any case," she finishes, checking to see if she has settled up for her last drink, "I have had enough."

"Well, I haven't had nearly enough," Saskia states, finishing her beer with a frown which changes, a moment later, into a nervous smile.

"Shopping could be fun though.  Maybe pick up something nice.  I saw some stores on the way in here that might have something worth spending my hard-earned salary on."

Cold thin air bites into the back of his throat as Jago steps out under the crystal clear stars. He helps Conrad, and anyone else who’s accepted the offer of a lift, into the air raft, then climbs into the pilots position himself. Pre-flights aren’t necessary in a vehicle like this, but the captain runs quickly through the basics out of habit and instinct, before lifting gently from the ground and heading back towards the ship.

Tylen bows to the Engineer and the Doctor.

"Well, since the Captain has gone and poor Connie's a bit worse for wear, perhaps you'll allow me to escort you Ladies on your spree. I've only had two small beers and I'm capable of remaining quiet for hours as well as carrying all manners of parcels."

He smiled,

"You never know, I might even find a souvenir myself."

He didn't feel comfortable leaving the two women alone, neither was particularly comfortable with combat and if anyone were looking for a soft spot to attack the "Profit Margin" crew they would be it. Without the Doctor and the Engineer life would get very complicated on board the ship. Besides, they were better company by far than a drunken pilot and Tylen could use a stretch of his legs after the long journey.

"Hey, Corlan, what do you say to go find you something in these shops?  Something unique for Willies," Yas asks the passenger that has become a paying member of the crew, in effect.

"ither way, I will catch up later, Jago," she tells her captain before he leaves.

"You got lucky there, Sushi.  Usually he really dislikes being called 'captain'," she informs the doctor once Jago is gone and gives her a grin.  "I thought I told you that before?  Maybe your memory is not too good after drinking five glasses, eh?" she continue to tease.

Jago pulls the airraft into the cold sky of Arkadia, swinging it around towards the port, with Conrad in the passenger seat.

Meanwhile, back in the dome, in the street outside Lenacher's, it becomes apparant that anybody hoping to find high tech goods here is going to be sorely disappointed.

The street contains another bar, somewhat seedier in appearance, with a luridly illustrated sign proclaiming "SING-ALONG to POPULAR TUNES for BIG BIG PRIZES!!!", plus two taxi offices, and half a dozen shops, selling things ranging from fast food ("All you can eat groat special"), electronics, weapons (only knives are on display in the window, behind a steel grille which makes them near impossible to see), local newspapers and magazines (on paper no less), and, at the far end of the street, a jewellers offers a  range of cheap analogue watches.

Corlan regards Yas, with a friendly smile, "Hopefully they'll have something I can't get somewhere else.  Even if it's only the local news sheet."

"Perhaps you can ask for one to go, Ms. Blake?"  Shui has been on many worlds where people were allowed to drink as they walked...so long as they did not become drunk.  "There is no harm in asking...though there is in my mistake."  She faces Yasmine.  "My apologies, Captain Crow.  My mind slips on occasion.  Even after -" she checks "- three glasses, as a matter of fact."

Three.  That's two too many.  She'll have to be more careful, but Shui really had been enjoying herself.

"Between Mr. Ogresh and Mr. DeSant, I believe we three are well and truly escorted.  My thanks, Gentlemen," she states with a nod to both men.  "You will be joining us, Captain?" Shui inquires of Yasmine.

Apparantly so.

Before she leaves, Shui inquires at the bar if it is possible to have a drink 'to go'.  It tunrs out it is, and she quietly purchases one for everyone in the group, depending upon what she observed of their tastes.

And now they stand out on the street, and the only things that look 'local' are the knives.  Shui sighs.  She hasn't bought any weapons from any worlds yet, but she might have to do so now.  "I fear, Mr. DeSant, that we seem to have stumbled into a cultural wasteland."  The doctor shakes her head.  "Starports.  Most likely we would find something of greater interest much further out."  She wonders how Corlan will report this in his journals.  Cold.  Dusty.  Knives, beer, and cheap watches.  "Do you see anything you like, Ms. Blake?  Mr. Orgesh has been kind enough to volunteer his arms...though I somehow doubt he will be straining," she finishes, giving the street another dubious glance.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Sat 29 July 2006.

The air raft floats gracefully over the short distance back to the Profit Margin, it hovers for a moment over the ship while the hatch opens, then sinks in to nestle into its securing latches in the hanger bay.

“There you go Conrad,” Jago says jovially as he hops down to the deck with surprising nimbleness for such a bulky man, “lets get some coffee on the go”

Tylen managed to intercept the Doctor as she gets the round in and order a soda. He would have loved a third beer but he wanted to remain quick and alert. He'd never really shopped like this, like a lot of guys he normally only went to shops when something wore out and needed replacing. He had only a vague idea of what one bought whilst shopping for souveniers. Maybe he could pick up a pack of T shirts, black perhaps to make a change. The doctor seems disappointed with the selection.

"Well I guess we could try a little further out, Maybe they have a Mall or something."

Actually Tylen didn't hold out a lot of hope. He'd visited a few of these agricultural worlds when he was in the Scouts. They were, for the most part culturally stagnant, one industry planets. They bred or raised one crop, and lived or died upon the profit. Many where so boring they either de-populated themselves as all the young people fled to find excitement in space or they imploded as the gene pool decreased producing more and more genetic instabilities every generation as they failed to attract new off world settlers.

"Well, from what I gather the next town is as far from this place as this is from the starport itself.  This is probably how local it gets, considering most things are probably imported anyway," Yas replies to Sushi suggestion to go further away.

"The best bet is probably the local news, if you want something genuine.  No doubt some different stories making headlines too, I bet," she agrees with Corlan and grins.

"Now then, if you really want to go somewhere more remove from starport, we would have to find transportation.  No way I am walking ten clicks in the kind of weather they have got here outside these little bubbles!  I'm not in the Marines anymore, so i don't have to do such things, unless I want to," she continues and looks around the street.  "I suspect this is pretty much the life here, as dull as the planet.  I bet Ridge'd been able to dig something seedy and kinky up, though.  He had a gift for that!"

Shui holds back a sigh.  She's happy with her position on the ship.  She loves the people and the work (except for the Low Berths - that part is a constant source of tension).  She gets to see a myriad different worlds.  So why is it that she feels as though something is missing?

Human nature, most likely.

"I suspect Captain Crow is correct, Mr. Orgesh," she says quietly, then smiles.  "Well.  I do not require something local, save as a souvenir.  Perhaps, as Mr. DeSant suggests, a local newsheet would be my best choice."  The doctor shifts her shoulders, straightens her back.  "Yes.  I believe that would do quite well."

"I would rather not wander far afield in search of a knick-knack.  Nor would my choice of venue be somewhere seedy and kinky," she notes, a trifle primly.

Conrad sobers up with remarkable speed on the way back to the ship, and once they're safely inside, away from prying eyes, he stretches.  "Surely is int'restin' what folk'll talk about when they think the only person in range is too drunk to pay 'tention."

He helps Jago with the shut down as he speaks, "Take them boys back in the bar f'rinstance.  They were all talkin' bout how the first ship that got attacked, the Big Deal weren't havin' too much luck findin' a cargo.  Her captain, Ortega, well, seems she was in that bar most nights complainin' about her  problems."

He checks that the raft is secured, the straps that will stop it moving about in the garage locked down and tightened, "Then one day she lifted, and flew straight into these here supposed pirates.  Now, there was a lot of talk 'bout how she must've found a cargo, an' more talk 'bout what sorta cargo would attract pirates to a dump like this."

"Anyways, it occurred to me, an' this's jus' a guess, mind, that you don't need a cargo.  Face it, how much would the ol' Profit margin be worth if somebody stole her?  I mean, compared to a couple've hun'red thousand, tops, for her cargo."

"Yes, let's try the newspapers first.  With luck they might have local information too, like where we can buy other things." Saskia adds her own opinion to the rest, and starts towards the news store.

Who knows, they might even have some tech magazines, though from what she's seen of Arkadia, Saskia would mainly be reading them for their comedy value.

Tylen was rather disappointed with the selection, but he wanted to make the trip succesful for the Doctor.

"Maybe if we tried inside the jewellers? I mean, they might not put the good stuff in the window for security reasons."

He turned to the Engineer,

"That's a pretty good idea Sas, papers usually have a classified section and they might even have a guide to better places to hang out than the space port."

”I wondered how drunk you were,” Jago says with a smile, “well done Conrad, good job there.”

As he sets up the coffee maker Jago considers what’s been learned so far, and what further information he’d like.

“Just two ships missing it seems, and probably not from piracy, I’d like to know more about those ships, and the flight records for this system over the last two months, to see what other ships came in or out of the space port here..”

“There were twenty two people aboard the ‘Never Say Die’ according to that message we picked up, I wonder if the ‘Big Deal’ was carrying passengers? Her navigator was the brother of that Vargr who approached Yasmin and wants us to go look for him, she should be here at the ship soon; perhaps she can throw some more light on the situation.”

"Very well, then," Shui acquieses with a small nod.  "Newspapers first, and then perhaps we can attempt Mr. Orgesh's excellent idea of the jewelry establishment."  She's more than content to follow along with the others.  It's better that way, better than splitting up.

She's in good company here, and comfortable with that fact.

"Mr. DeSant?  Captain Crow?  Will you be joining us?"  She cocks an eyebrow at Corlan, gives Yasmine an almost-bow - more of an inclination of her body.

Corlan nods at the idea of trying the newspapers, and follows along as the group of explorers make their way across to the store,

Inside, it's dim and warm, the window at the front his hidden behind a set of shelves, filled with magazines and newspapers.  Along one wall is another set of shelves, filled with assorted, brightly-wrapped confectionary.  A glass-fronted cabinet near the end furthest from the window contains dark glass bottles, their labels as colourful as the wrappers on the shelves.

Opposite that is a large board, covered with pieces of coloured paper, all of them with writing.  Most of the writing looks to be hand-produced, but on some of the larger pieces it has been printed.

At the very back of the store is a counter, with newspapers stacked in front of it, and on top.  A woman sits there, heavily wrapped up, despite the warmth in here.  She even wears gloves, fingerless, so that she can turn the page of the magazine on the counter before here.  She raises her head as the crowd suddenly pours in through the door, and it can be seen, in the dim light, that she looks to be about three hundred years old.

"G'day.  Can I help you people?"


Back aboard Profit Margin everything is quiet, except that the comm panel is humming to itself, a light flashing to indicate that there is a message.

"Good day, proprietress."  Shui bows slightly, but her eyes never cease taking in the dimly visible items on display.  She quietly pads up to where the woman sits.  "May I purchase a newspaper?  And what might those be?" she inquires, pointing toward the glass bottles.

It's possible she might find something a trifle more durable than paper, here.

Coffee in hand, Jago absently toggles the switch to take the incoming message, “I think I’ll have a word with flight control!” he remarks over his shoulder to Conrad.

Whilst Shui Tiesi engages the merchant in conversation, Tylen strolls over to the notice board and begins to read the scraps of paper.

Yas walks over to look at the magazines, giving the woman a nod.  Hopfully this little dirtball of a planet sticks to the common language so that she can see if there is anything of interest in there.

The woman smiles at Shui, "Offworlders, eh?  Surely you can by a newspaper, yes.  Just take your pick, there's about half a dozen different titles down there in front of the counter."

The woman peers towards the cabinet, with its bottles, "Afraid they'r just sodies.  I don't have a permit to sell booze, so sodie is all I have."

Yas moves across to study the magazines, and Corlan joins her, picking out a magazine with some sort of propellor-driven aircraft on the cover for himself.

Scanning the small ads, Tylen soon discovers that many of them are too faded to read in the dim interior of the store.


Perhaps Jago should take a psi test next time he's outside the Imperium, the light on the comm panel is a message, recorded about twenty minutes earlier, a woman's voice, "Hello, this is Ellan Tyrreto, at the Port Authority Traffic Department.  I'd like to speak to the Captain of Profit Margin, at his earliest convenience."  The message finishes with a comm code.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:08, Fri 04 Aug 2006.

Tylen brightens at his find.

"Hey Doc,"

He calls delightedly,

"Take a look at this."

He indicates the card advertising the curio store.

He turns to the shop keeper,

"Can you direct us to this place?"

He points to the address on the card.

Jago smiles as he calls back the number for traffic control, and takes the unlit cigar from his mouth when the call is answered.

“This is the Profit Margin, I’d like to speak to Ellan Tyrreto, the call is expected.”

“Jago Lanza, ”he introduces himself when Ellan comes on the line, “Captain of the Profit Margin, how can I help you?”

Shui gives the woman a warm smile.  "The paper will be quite sufficient, thank you."  She slips over to the rack, studying the choices.  One, more serious than the others, catches her eyes, and she picks it up and turns in time for Tylen's discovery.  "Mr. DeSant - perhaps a copy of this one, though if pirate tales are more to your liking...."

Quick steps bring her to where the card hangs, and she studies it, moving the glasses forward on her nose.  Now that definitely brightens her day, though she doesn't plan on relinquishing the paper.  "...and thank you, Mr. Ogresh," she finishes with relief.  "This is an unexpected and welcome surprise."  Something I can purchase!

Excellent.

"Hmph, had I been an archeologist I might have been interested in these gun magazines," Yas comments to herself as she replaces the magazine with a shake of her head.

"Find anything of interest, Corlan?" she asks as she turns to see what the others are up to, finding this place about as much fun as a posh dinner party.

The woman takes Shui's money, frowning briefly at the Imperial currency, and moving her lips as she makes the conversion in her head, before handing the medic her change in small octagonal pieces of copper and silver.  Not Imperial Credits, but of possible interest to a numismatist.

She glances up at Tylen's question, "Eh?  Oh, that'll be ol' Barclay's junk shop.  If you follow the road round to the right, as you step out, it's about a quarter of the way 'round the dome.  Can't miss it.  Just stay on the road, and it's right next to the Post Office."

Corlan smiles at Yas, "I was just surprised that they have aircraft here, with the air being so thin.  Then I saw how they do it, look...  Oversized wings and compressor systems on the engines.  And they stay low, to take advantage of the ground effect."

"Imagine it... screaming along at four hundred kilometres per hour, less than ten metres off the ground, with only simple propellors to keep you in the air.  Quite terrifying!"


Back at the ship, Jago's call is put through without delay.  There is no video.  "Captain Lanza, thank you for calling back so soon.  I needed to speak to you about the comm traffic your ship reported on arrival, the message from Never Say Die.  Do you by any chance have recordings of the signal?  Your own equipment is likely far more advanced than our own, and might have picked up something we missed."

"Really?" Yasmine says with her face brightening a little as she leans over to peek at what he has found.

"I wonder if they will let a stranger go for a spin!  That'd be fun, almost like going fast on the motorcycle," she says enthusiastically, picturing herself screamig a few feet over the ground with her lif ein her own hands.

"Excuse me, do you know if there is anywhere where one might try these flying machines?" she asks the woman behind the counter.

No visuals in, no visuals out, Jago flips off the comms camera, (OOC. I’ll make that a standing protocol please). It seems to Jago that if someone is deliberately not showing an image, it won’t hurt if he does the same, and if they just don’t have image capability, they’ll never know anyway.

”We’d just dropped out of N space when that message came trough, and our rather ancient computer has to prioritize the sequence in which the functions come back on line, comms recording is pretty far down the list but I’ll check for you, can you hold on a mo.”

Actually, Jago is rather fond of the computer and considers it to be the sixth member of the crew, as he buys a little ‘fishin’ time’ he tips it a wink, just so it’s in on the ruse and doesn’t take offence at being called ‘ancient’.

A little fishin’ then, “this wont take long,,” Jago says, the carries on in a conversational tone, “so you get a lit of piracy in this system, I see you have a reward out?”

"Not a lot of piracy, no.  This is probably the first in the last century and a half, at least, since Vilis became the subsector capital, and all the trade routes shifted."

"I think the reward has been offered to try and nip it before it gets properly established.  You know, let any potential pirates know that we won't stand for it here."


"Hire a plane?" the news seller looks a little puzzled, "I don't know of anywhere that'd let you hire one to fly yourself.  They're expensive.  The port gets them landing there though, passenger and cargo transports.  You might be able to book a ticket for a flight on one of those."

Then Corlan says, "Oh... look at this one." and holds the magazine open, in front of Yas' nose.

“Oh, what about the Big Deal?” Jago asked with a little surprise evident in his voice, “didn’t she fall victim to pirates?”

"Bah, passenger transports, no way," Yas sighs and then starts to say something else when she finds herself forced to step back to see what actually is in that magazine.

"Hey, yeah, look at that!  Mmhmm, looks like a sensible craft, that!  I wonder if it belongs to Paranoid Pete or something?" she chuckles and moves the magazine out of the way so she can look at Corlan.  "Are you going to buy that?  If not, I think I'll take it to show the flying 'noia some possess here!"

Shui pockets her money.  A 'junk shop' sounds a little less appetizing, but one person's junk may be another person's treasure.  Perhaps this will be hers.  "Thank you," she says quietly, stepping back to allow others to discuss with the woman.

She will have to go get this currency changed before they leave.  Something to remember.  Though it could also be a decent enough remembrance.

Yasmine is talking with Corlan and the woman, so Shui quietly moves to the front of the store and looks out at the cold, rocky world.  There is a certain beauty to it, if one looks carefully enough.  The universe, Shui knows, is all about perspective.

Tylen moves to stand with the Doctor looking at the world outside.

"It ai'nt what I'd call pretty Doc, but it's got something I'd have to admit."

He paused for a moment in thought, striving for words he rarely used. He recalled a phrase he must have read years before,

"I guess I'd call it, 'A bleak and inhospitable majesty'. Yep, that's what this planet has."

He fell silent; a little embarrassed at his outburst.

"Buy it?  I... " Corlan looks perplexed, and then realisation his him, "Oh, you mean the magazine.  For a moment I thought you were talking about the aircraft.  By all means, Miss Crow, take this copy.  They have another on the shelf."

He hands Yas the magazine, and picks up the other one for himself.  "They might not be grav vehicles, but they do have a certain... style to them."


Yes, that's correct Captain.  Both Big Deal and Never Say Die were attacked.  We believe that both attacks were carried out by the same pirates, and this is the first pirate vessel we've had in the system for one hundred and fifty years."

”Oh I see, I thought you meant only one attack, rather than only one pirate. Hold on a minuet…, here we are, one recording as requested. I’ll pop it onto a data slug and bring it over.”

"And why not?" Shui agrees, quietly.  "Though perhaps not inhospitable.  Perhaps one merely needs to know where to look."  She frowns.  "Though it goes without saying that strangers would find themselves in such a predicament.  Your description certainly seems apt, upon reflection."

She glances up at Tylen, one eyebrow rising slightly.  "A poet?  Or an avid reader of such, Mr. Ogresh?  Either way, if you have poetry, written by yourself or others, I would be interested in reading it."  Turning back, she stares out the window again, her eyes searching amidst the weeds and rocks.  The doctor is not even certain of the object of her hunt.

"It would be the more interesting if you wrote it," she admits.  "I might then be able to say I knew a poet."

"I don't get this." Saskia studies one of the magazines, frowning, "Why is the computer so big in this picture, and why do all these wheels and dials on the front look like an angry face?  It has smoke coming out of it too."

She flicks back a couple of pages and looks at the title of the article, "THE TIN GOD: A Tale of Technological Terror.  Okay.  Hey look, the computer says, right here, 'Now you will serve ME, puny humans!'  Better not let the ship's computer see that."

The engineer hides her face in the magazine and stifles a laugh.  The front cover bears the title World's Best SF and a picture of an improbable spacecraft, leaving an equally improbable vapor trail through space.  The back cover has advertisements for X-ray spectacles, which will apparantly allow the wearer to see through peoples' clothing, and for something called "sea monkeys".

"I mean, why doesn't somebody just frelling reboot the thing?  Or pull the plug?  It's no good - I have to buy this to see why they can't just switch it off."

If a suitably equipped observer was to perform a detailed photographic analysis of Tylens deeply tanned face at his moment, they might just discern a slight reddening of the cheekbones.

"Ummm, well I wrote some stuf once, you know, like when I was a teenager."

He has, in fact, written poetry for most of his life but he has never shared it with anyone. He clears his throat, looking for a less sensitive topic.

"So, you like collect stuff from every world you visit? That's a really cool idea. I wish I had thought of something like that. I saw a lot of amazing places when I was in the Scouts, but I never even thought to take a photograph. I guess I'm just going to have to rely on the old grey matter when I come to write my memoirs."

"That'd be most helpful, Captain.  We have imported readers that can handle most types of media.  Come up to the third floor and ask for department three twenty-one."


The woman takes the money for the various purchases, and provides change in local currency.  There seems to be a surprising amount of change in each case.  Everything here costs a lot less than an Imperial Credit, possibly due to the low exchange rate of the local Guilder.

"I got a close fix on Never Say Die's transmission." Conrad says to Jago, as he calls up the nav data and indicates the display.

"Got a direction, an' a distance, based on the time marker on their signal, that all ties in with their reported position.  While you're over to the Port Office, I c'n fix up some course plots to get us over there, if'n y'all still wan't that?"

Shui's eyebrows both rise at Saskia's exasperated exposition.  "You should definitely purchase it, Saskia - I would enjoy reading it, myself, when you are finished.  It sounds as if it might provide amusement, even to someone of my limited engineering background."  From the window she studies the front cover.  There's something like a big, frowning face on it, and Shui blinks in bemusement.

Tylen, however, sounds quite uncomfortable on the subject of poetry.  Perhaps he does not consider it masculine?  Shui has heard of such things, and no longer considers the attitude odd, despite the fact that it is completely different in her culture.  Different strokes, as the saying goes.  "A pity," she notes casually, hoping to put him back to a more relaxed state.  "I would have enjoyed reading your work.  I wonder how it might have went had you continued."

But he quickly changes the subject - she knows that when she hears it - and Shui is content to trundle along in the wake of his words.  "There is no time like the present to begin."  She sighs.  "Too many people decide that since they did not start something in their youth, it would be a waste to begin it now."  One hand comes out with a small, local coin, which she rolls back and forth between her fingers for a moment.  "Others seize the opportunity when it comes, and when they think of it."  Her gaze slides across the room to where Corlan DeSant stands, and a small smile tugs at the corners of her mouth.

Her thumb snaps the coin into the air.  It spins, looking like a hazy globe, as she stares at Corlan.  Her hand flicks out in pursuit, to catch it while it hangs at its apex on a level with her ear; then Shui looks back at Tylen.  "So.  We all must choose which we are, at every minute of our lives."

Saskia buys the magazine, rolling it up and tucking it into one of the bigger pockets on her coveralls.  Then she moves directly under the light and examines her change curiously.

Money, stamped out of metal.  Not the usual hard-wearing plastic bills she's used to.  Interesting, in a strange sort of way, and it occurs to her that nervousness has kept her aboard the ship at almost every port for the last two years.  How many frontier worlds, with strange customs and stranger currency, has she missed in that time?

And now Shui is talking about siezing, or missing, opportunities.

Tylen rapidly reviews what he knows of the doctor's heritage. He stands upright and alert.

"Very well then Doctor, I say we go now and seek further trinkets for your collection."
He smiles,
"maybe you'll provide me guidance on how to start mine."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:34, Sun 13 Aug 2006.

“Department twenty one, on the third floor, I’ll see you shortly Miss Tyrrento,” Jago cuts the comms link.

“Good work Conrad, ,do those course fixes but there’s a lot more I want to know before I commit to going after this pirate ship, I’m still not totally convinced that there actually is one.”

“There should be a Vargr turning up soon, she says her brother went missing on the Big Deal, the first ship to be lost, and I’m inclined to believe her, but from what you told me, the incident sounds more like some sort of scam by the captain than any piracy. Anyway, make her comfortable if she turns up, I’ll be back presently.”

Jago downloads the sound file and pulls his jacket straight as he heads for the hatch, “oh yes, for some reason Yas told this Vargr that she was the ship’s captain.”

"I would be more than pleased to assist, Mr. Orgesh.  You do me honor with the request."  Shui bows to Tylen, then turns back to Saskia.  "Ms. Blake, will you be coming to the 'trinket shop'?  They might have antiques there.  Perhaps ancient electronics, or obsolete machinery.  Surely something will be of interest to you.  Mr. DeSant?  Yourself?  Captain?"  This last directed to 'Captain' Crow.

"Sure, I'm up for it."  Saskia nods, showing uncharacteristic enthusiasm.  After all, she'll be with friends.  What could go wrong?

(Apart from the dome being hit by a Sword Worlds orbital bombardment, or filling with smoke in a fire, or being quarantined due to some strange alien illness, or a psychotic Vargr going berserk with a slugthrower on full auto.)

"Should be fun." she adds.  "Should be."

"Ah, great, thanks, Corlan.  It'll be a cute memento from here," Yas says with a grin and then nods to Sushi.  "Absolutely, Doc."