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.