"Yes, especially dumb jarheads like me," Yas sighs and shakes her head slowly, remaining deadpan serious.

She looks over at the doctor as she suggests one cake, showing an expression of shock, more or less.

"One!?  I need two, for balance!" she exclaims, if gently, and nudges her upper torso area to show what she is talking about.  It was an old joke in the Marines, and old habits die hard, pretty much like Yas herself.

Before the doctor can react, consciously, the ex captain chuckles and smiles.

"It's not my birthday yet, no, but thanks for the offer, I'll keep it in mind...  As for a diet, you needn't worry about that with me, I'm stuck in an old Marine rut there..."

In her cabin, Dhakhingzuel hears the captain's male assistant announce that there will be a meeting in the passenger lounge.  She collects her tunic from the cabinet where she had carefully placed it, knowing that humans can be finnicky about that sort of thing.

It is good that the crew of this ship are inviting her to their meeting.  It shows that they recognise her abilities.

Then the other, the servant, contacts her, asking about beverages.  "If you has knaergrouckh, with lots sug-grrr, that will be good.  If not has thees, I can drink tea or cof-fee.  Vargr bio-chem-ist-ry very same to hoomaans."

She steps outside then, into the lounge, to await the arrival of the human captain, and her crew.  The human that she has seen here before is already waiting.

Tylen takes a seat in the lounge and waits.

Shui keeps a bemused smile on her face at Yas' joking.  As a doctor, most 'biological' jokes tend to go past her - she just doesn't have the sort of preoccupation with the body that one tends to find among soldiers.

Not that it's wrong - when people coming under fire every day, life boils down to a febrile desire to keep doing just that:  living.  Sex probably tops their lists, and when they're not trying to survive, it probably bounces around their heads like a ping-pong ball.

As a doctor, though, Shui has seen enough bodies, naked and living (as opposed to 'armed and dead'), that much of the humor is gone.

"'Dumb Jarhead'."  She shrugs.  "I am certain you could do better with your diet - everyone could - but that is hardly a reason to qualify yourself so.  Indeed, I was under the impression that a certain amount of common sense and practicality came with surviving so long in the marines."

She looks up as the Vargr enters, and gives a short bow.  "Good day, Dhakhingzuel."  It isn't an easy name, but Shui has been practicing.  "We may very well - there was a Vargr aboard at one time, and I based my list of food purchases upon the records of that time.  A moment - I will see what I may find."  The steward moves to the pantry, and begins searching.  At the scuff of another pair of feet, she pops her head out.  Tylen.

"Mr. Ogresh.  Please, serve yourself.  The coffee-" indicating the pot in the centre of the table "-is fresh."

Tylen smiles,

"Thanks Doc."

He pours himself a mug of the fragrant brew and sips it. It's good.

"Hey Doc, damn good coffee."

He calls out, then walks to the pantry door.

"Can you do me a favour? Call me Tylen or Ty. The 'Mr Ogresh' stuff makes me think of going to the Dentist or something."

Her world crumbles, another foundation stone pulled from beneath her feet.  How ridiculously melodramatic, Shui.  The doctor pops her head back out of the pantry, blinking with some surprise at Tylen's proximity.  "It is not my habit to people by their familiar name...however, I have come to recently realize that such may not be the desire of those to whom I refer."  She realizes, then, that she takes refuge in formality - the idea of using people's first names has made her uncomfortable.

With an effort, she presses away the tension.  "Tylen it will be, then.  I hope you will not hold it against me should I lapse on occasion.  It is merely...habitual.  Not a desire to place you in a chair and examine your teeth."

Suspecting that Sushi probably thinks sex is on the mind of her and every Marine more or less constantly, Yas decides to withhold any other jokes of that nature.  Why continue to feed that image when it is just that, a way to get by.

"Yeah well, that's how we're labelled.  Dumb jarheads, with only one thing on our mind.  It's easy to fall into that act too.  But if you're dumb, yeah, you won't last long.  I've seen too many rookies die on their first combat assignment," she says, sounding a little tired at the last bit.

Then the doctor is off on her duty, so Yas saunters over to the seatings and takes her seat where the cup of cocoa is waiting.  The sight of the Vargr reminds her about their little deceit, and she wonders if they will keep it up or not.  It does not matter either way to her, and she suspects she will know soon enough.

His Scout training had taught him a great deal about body language and he immediately registered the Doctors distress. He hurried to amend his error.

"I'm sorry Doctor, I forget you come from a culture where formality is considered polite. In my culture it is customary to invite ones friends to refer to one by your first name or even nickname. Please forgive me, if you are more comfortable with Mr Orgesh then I shall be Mr Orgesh to you."

He smiled,

"Or even Orgesh san if you prefer."

He gave his best impression of a formal bow.

One by one, the crew of Profit Margin find themselves in the unusual surroundings of the passenger lounge, with Saskia and Conrad the last to arrive, apart from Jago.

Corlan and Dhakhinzuel are there too, as requested, awaiting whatever words the captain has for them.  Though the Vargr does not yet realise exactly who the captain is...

Shui spared a quick glance for Yas, worried that she had said something wrong.  Ms. Crow sounds extremely tired and worn.  That can't be good.

She turns back to Tylen, as he comes to a realization of his own...an slightly incorrect one, as it happens.  The doctor cocks her head to the side, and then shakes it.  "No, Tylen, that certainly will not be necessary.  My people are not nearly as caught up in the 'face' of things as those of japanese descent."  She gives him a little bow, in return.  "And my family, despite their adherence to tradition, have never been followers of Kongzi."  Kongzi, also known in other cultures as Confucious. 

"You wish to be called Tylen - it is your name, and your culture.  Yasmine has made that point to me regarding herself?"  Going back into the pantry, she takes out the package of knaergrouckh, struggling to recall how it might be prepared.  "Would it not be rude of me to insist on my own means of addressing you?"  A small smile, to ensure he does not think her offended.  "You honor me, after all, by considering me a friend.  Should I not return this honor?"

"But excuse me a moment - I need to speak with our guest."  Hurrying to Dhakhinzuel, Shui inquires as to the method of preparation of the drink.  Once she has that information, she moves back to the counter in order to whip one up for the Vargr.

On the way, she passes by Yasmine, and pauses to whisper something before continuing.

Jago saunters into the crew lounge wearing a serious expression, and pauses to examine the assembled faces. Wasting no time, the captain begins his address as he moves over to the coffee machine and pours himself a cup.

“The situation is far from clear here, everyone I talk to has a different take on it so we are going into this thing with an open mind. Two ships have gone missing here recently, the ‘Never Say Die’, who’s distress call we heard on the way in, and the ‘Big Deal’, about three weeks ago, the engineer on that ship was Miss Dhakhingzuel’s brother,” Jago nods towards the Vagre. “Both ships were well outside any practical shipping rout, the Big Deal was intent salvaging another ship lost in this system ten years ago, but there is no explanation for the Never Say Die being so far out.”

Jago takes a sip of his coffee.

“What I intend is to head out there and take a look, nothing more at this stage, what we do then will depend on what we find. As I say, we are keeping an open mind here. It is likely that we will find a hostile ship, not necessarily pirates though, and I don’t intend to speculate on the various theories that have been offered up.”

“We will be accompanied by the ‘Ore Hound’ which has a powerful drilling laser that can also be used as a weapon, we trust that ship just as long as it doesn’t point that laser at us and we’ll keep an eye on it at all times to make sure. The government here has put up a reward, if we qualify, we split with the Ore Hound, and I divvy the rest up equal shares between everyone here. A reward would be separate to any prize money that might be forth coming from our ‘letter of mark’, if we were to qualify there, then we’ll do the normal spilt within the ship.”

“Although money is always nice, it’s not the reason we are doing this. If the navy have to deal with it they will need to pull resources away from the war effort, chances are that they won’t and other ships will fall victim, either way, I can’t just walk away if there is a chance that we can do something about it.”

“One final complication is the ‘Shata Lunoqi’, our hostile ship might want to have a pop at here if she’s in a bad way.”

“We’ll be leaving in about an hour, once I’ve cashed this money order, just in case we have to jump the system rather than coming back here for a cargo.”

“So, any questions?” Jago finally lowers himself into a chair and takes another sip from his cup, “nice coffee by the way,” he adds, raising the cup in Shui’s direction.

Tylen nods, the deal seems fair, the motive honest and altruistic. This system needs the mystery solved before more people die or merchants start avoiding this planet, plus the damaged Navy ship would be easy prey for a Pirate or Enemy Privateer.

"No questions from me on the mission Boss. You want me to watch your back while you pick up the cash?"

Shui listens quietly to the explanation.  The idea still puts a sick feeling in her stomach, but she is now resigned to their mission.  A quick glance to Tylen, as he speaks up regarding an escort, and then she returns her gaze to Jago.

"I second that motion."  Unsure as to the current status between the Vargr, the Security Officer, and the Captain, she uses no titles, no names.  "I believe it might be wise if Tylen accompanies you."

Dhakhingzuel is a little confused at first.  The wrong person is addressing the group.

The male, who does not look as if he could defeat the true Captain of this ship if it came to a physical dispute, seems to be acting as the leader here now.

For a moment, she opens her mouth to voice an objection.  Then she closes it again, as the male's words sink in, and realisation emerges.

She knows what is happening here.  The ship is going into danger, and her commander does not wish to put pressure on the crew (and possibly the elderly passenger too), forcing them into going along if they don't wish to do so.  So she lets the lower status male make the announcement, and thus avoids bringing her own klaegzoukhin to bear on the situation.

A wise move, and one which gives the crew some freedom of choice, without forcing them into conflict with their leader.  Any decision not to go along will be seen as a dispute with this male, not with the Captain.

Later, when the mission is over, the Captain will be able to approach any who dropped out, and persuade them to rejoin the crew, and nobody will lose face.

The Vargr smiles. not showing her teeth.  She has made a good choice, it seems.  The ship has a commander who displays surpassing cunning.

Her eyes are fixed on Yas, as she says, "I will fol-low.  I will see piraates all dead.  For ghost of Oezzarr."

When Sushi whispers to her, Yas looks confused and then shakes her head with a shrug.

"You haven't," she says and gives a quick smile, wondering what had given the doctor such an impression.  Sometime she suspects they are way different, simply, which on its own easily creates misunderstandings.

Sitting back to enjoy her cocoa she listens to Skippy, Quadman, Sushi and Dashing Fuel in turn.  No need to speak while the cocoa still is warm and everyone else is talking, after all.

Apart from not being in the military at all the mission reminds her about a couple of old stories in which she was taking part, and although she can tell the doc is not too happy about the prospect, to her it is partly her life - perhaps that was why she joined up with the Marines, despite having had other options available.  Options no one knows about now except for her.

She merely nods to Jago and then cracks a crooked grin at the Vargr, along with another nod.  If she has nothing to say, there is no point in saying anything.

Conrad says nothing, looking around the lounge from face to face.

Finally he stands and stretches, "Well now.  If'n nobody else has anythin' to say, I guess we should be gettin' ready to move out then.  Y'all want me to put in the call to Ore Hound, let 'em know it's time to go?"

With nothing else left to do now, Conrad places a call to Ore Hound, followed by another call to Traffic Control, requesting clearance, which is granted with no difficulty.

Jago makes a quick trip to the tower collect the payment for the cargo, and then lifts Profit Margin as soon as he gets back.  Her tanks are full, and she could Jump as soon as she hits the hundred diameter limit, if Jago decides that's what he wants.  Despite Yas' numerous references to missiles, her magaxine is full, as is the autoloader on the belly turret.  With any luck though, potential aggressors will think she's poorly armed.

The plasma guns should come as a surprise too.

By the time she reaches the edge of the atmosphere, Jockram and his crew are close behind.  With a little more luck the two ships might appear as a single object on any long range scans.

Conrad's best course plot gives them about 100 hours to kill before they reach the closest giant, at full acceleration.

Ore Hound slides in closer, less than twenty metres away now, and Jockram sends a low-power tight-beam signal.  "This is your close pal.  You want I should snuggle up, or keep my distance?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:02, Sun 26 Nov 2006.

”Snuggle up close Jockram, we’ll try to appear as a single blip,” Jago confirms over the tight beam.

Sunk into the deep and familiar comfort of his pilot chair, Jago relaxes as the automatics take over.

"Roger, we'll hold close in, and match course all the way."

A quick burst of her manouvering thrusters, amd Ore Hound narrows the gap to eight metres.  Conrad sends them the course data, to assist in their attempt to stay close.

Shui waits during lift.  Regrettably, there is little she can do at the moment.

Once the ship is up and moving out of the gravity well, once it could be considered perfectly safe to move about, Shui does so, heading for the galley.

++ Should anyone wish refreshments, ++ she sends over the intercom during a quiet period, ++ please do not hesitate to ask. ++

Tylen settles into the familiar cocoon of his turret. He runs his systems checks and powers the laser. After that there's nothing to do but wait.

Keeping track of what she needs to keep track of, Yas soon has nothing to do and so decides to see if the doctor if free to see her.

"What's up, doc?" she asks as she steps into the crew lounge and spots Sushi.  "When you got a moment, let me know," she continues and walks onwards towards her quarters.  "I'll be back out in a moment."

Shui looks up as Yas wanders in, and returns her greeting with a quick smile.  "Preparing refreshments," she answers.  "If you have time now, Yas, I am available.  Here, your quarters, or my own - whichever would be more conducive to discussion."

"Oh, better make it your place.  Mine's a mess," Yas replies, the last bit clearly a joke, judging from the tone of voice and the grin on her face.

"Back in a minute, just need to fix a few things," she continues, a bit louder, stopping outside her room a moment to see if Sushi requires something else.

"Very well."  Lacking any orders for food for the nonce, Shui packs up her work, places it in the fridge, and heads for her 'office'.

Once there, she puts on a small pot of tea out of habit, and stops to say hello to her passengers.  One of them backs away in an ornery manner - she doesn't stick her hand in that container.  The other is more than happy to say hello in return, and she lets it investigate her fingers for a moment before moving to pull up a second chair and soften the lights a touch.

Now the room is no longer sterile, but comfortable.  Good.  She places the 'good' passenger on the desk, in the container - it might help Yas feel more at ease.

Useful little creature.