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.