"You are most welcome for the coffee...my apologies about the bedding."  She frowns.  "I have been lax - fortunately, I have others to take up my slack."  The frown shifts to an appreciative smile.  "You have had no problems dealing with them?  Good."  Good for them, of course, and possibly good for the ship.  Any foolishness on the part of the prisoners would likely get them shot - none of the crew are going to take unnecessary chances with pirates.

"Having been a scout, I expect you are well-acquainted with being low on rations," she notes, finally getting to the teapot.  "Though I could always hope otherwise."

“Do we have any stats on those ships Conrad,” Jago asks, “and are they flying in formation, if we are grossly outmatched then I’ll drop the idea, though it might be wise to slip gently out of sight anyway.”

“Or hound,” Jago thumbs open the tight beam, “you have those two incoming swordies I hope, we are getting out of sight behind this snowball while we decide how to handle them.”

"ore Hound here, Hegerich speaking.  Yeah, we got them right at the limit of sensors now.  Jockram's thinking of going out there to moon them, or something... soon as he wakes up, me an' Banster'll talk him out of it."  A second person can be heard laughing in the background.

"We also show that the third ship is still climbing out of the ecliptic.  Think you're right about that one, Conrad... she's in trouble and hoping to make repairs.  Probably expects that the Navy ship will go after the other two rather than her, because they're the most likely to get away."


Dhakhingzuel sits on her bed, thinking about what Yas has told her.  She had already heard that the captured crew might not be the pirates who murdered her brother.  Still, they were part of the same group.

Still half-asleep, she answers the Human, "We will sniff how turns out, Cap-tain.  If these ships... from Sword Worlds, yes?... if Sword Worlds order piraates to attack, then Sword Worlds are re-spon-sible for piraates kill Oezzarr."

"If pack leader give command for kill, then leader is guilty, same like foll-owers.  Even if leader not kill with own hand."

"Kill piraates' masters, same like kill piraates.  Same end."

"Judgin' by the drive output, an' the acceleration, 'fore they turned towards us, I'd say one of 'em's in the three-four hun'erd ton range, so a mite bigger'n us." Conrad rechecks the figures, then starts an analysis program running.

"The one that turned tail looks ter be 'bout the same size."

"The other ship that's comin' this way seems smaller.  Smaller'n us even.  I got the figures runnin' through the sytem now, lookin for matches.  If I had to guess, I'd go for light escorts, and maybe a scout of some kind."

"They're too far apart to be called 'in formation'.  The three of 'em took off in three different directions.  One just kept goin', till she shut down her drive, but these two turned." he indicates two blips on the screen.  The smaller one'll be here, 'bout thirty hours ahead of the larger.  That'll be in somethin' like seventy hours."

Saskia nods to Shui, "Better than I thought.  Even after you said he was alright about it, I was still worried about seeing him, face to face."

She hesitates, closing her eyes, then continues, "That didn't really sound the way I meant it to.  I wasn't worried about what Jago would say, or do, or anything, just that I don't like letting him down."

"Of course, Saskia," Shui replies with a smile.  "None of us wish to let down Captain Lanza, and I know you take your position here very seriously."  Not like any of them view their post as fun and games - really, the dedication in this crew is commendable.

"It would be very difficult having to tell Jago something..."  She trails off for a moment, the continues, her smile a touch brighter.  "Something that might disappoint him.  But you have a responsibility to yourself, as much as you do toward this ship - for many reasons, and one of them I know you understand.  If you do not take care of yourself, who will take care of The Profit Margin?"

She pours a small cup of tea for herself, made from long-hoarded leaves from her homeworld - one of the few things from her family she has kept.  "Tea?" she inquires of Saskia and Tylen.  To be polite, but also in the hope that one of them might make the attempt.

Coffee rules the roost around here, though.

"I'm glad you see it that way," Yas admits and nods in confirmation, "They are indeed the ones behind the activity of the pirates, and the ones working with them.  With some luck we will get us a couple of them, though, and I think I got an idea that I should present to, er, the crew," she says and turns to leave.

"You have plenty of time to rest, though, as they will not be anywhere near here for many hours yet," she says as she stops inside the door in case there is something else on the Vargr's mind.

If there is nothing, she will return to seek Jago out to present her idea regarding the ambush.

Happy that she is appreciated, Saskia raises her mug to Shui.  "Sorry, I made myself a coffee."  Then she turns around and pours it down the waste disposal.  "Probably shouldn't have done that.  The way I make the stuff, it'll probably eat it's way out of the recycling plant, and straight through the frelling hull."

A smile then, perhaps to reassure Shui that she's joking, "I'll take tea, this time.  I need to get some sleep before those warships arrive, so I should lay off the coffee for now.  I expect I'll be living on it, after they get here."

A thoughtful expression crosses her face, and is followed by a grin, as she remembers, "I heard Conrad saying something about that wreck having cases of some kind of gourmet tea in the hold.  Really expensive.  Might be nice to sample some of that, if Jago decides to grab it."

Tylen smiles at the doc's depreceating comment.

"I'd hardly call you slack Doc, you've been outside and in conference with the Captain. I was left in charge of the Prisoners and I figured that was their well being as well as their security. I guess if we keep 'em comfortable and fed they'll be less likely to kick up a fuss."

He scratches his chin.

"It beats me, but even on the minimum rations and having to bunk down on pads on the floor the poor sods seem almost happy, like they've been worse off up to now. The way they look you'd think we'd done 'em a favour by blowing the ass off of their ship!"

"Leave the coffee to the professionals," Shui replies to Saskia's apology, "and I will not come down and touch your tools."  Her small smiles ensures it is nothing more than a joke - she would never dream of touching the engineer's gear.

"Tea, then."

She begins pouring tea for herself and Saskia - one of her family's green teas, and certainly not a blend.  Steeped at ~80^oC for two and a half minutes.  No more, no less.  She doesn't count, now - instead, Shui goes by aroma and an innate sense of the timing.

At the mention of the find aboard the ship, her nose wrinkles.  "Saskatchia tea.  Yes.  I did see that.  I have a small sample, but do not plan to try it myself."  She shrugs, placing the tea service on the table - a small pot, and small, thin cups in the asian style, without decoration, only a thin, burnished glazing.  "My family never approved of Saskatchia tea, for all of its popularity with the upper classes...I cannot recall why, for the life of me.  I was very young when I last heard it mentioned."  There must be a reason.  Her family makes no decisions without a reason.  Perhaps it is made of human bone meal, or something equally decadent and horrific.  She wouldn't put it past the jaded upper class, and it would certainly explain her family's aversion to the drink.  Such things digusted them.

"They make tea, my family."

A small bow to Tylen.  "Kind words, Mr. Ogresh."  Hardly surprising that they are wise, as well.  "Despite which you have done me a great favour."  She frowns, considering his words.  "Given the condition of their ship, as I understand, and their living conditions, as well as the thought of what might happen to them, I suspect they are most grateful at how events have turned out.  And, of course, the tension is off, now.  They have lost their ship, they are no longer pirates, and they are not going to die - whatever may come in the future, it would most certainly be better than their circumstances yesterday, and their fate is no longer in their hands."  The frown becomes another small smile.  "Were I in their position, I would relax as well."

Jago studies his cigar intently, or seems to, his eyes are actually focused in the middle distance, lost in contemplation of the various options, risks, strategies and potential profits.

“OK Hegerich, I’m going to suggest that you gently ease your boat round into the shadow of the rock, out of sight of the Swordies. They will be scanning ahead of their line of flight so the sooner you move the less chance of detection and if they don’t know that you’re here, you have more options. Could you get Jockram to call me when he wakes, please.”

Jago flips of the tight beam and turns to Conrad, “same applies to us of course.” As he speaks Jago reaches up to the bank of switches over his head and flips three, “the question is, how fast are they? Assuming they headed on out of that fight at maximum burn, can you work out their acceleration for me, please.”

Another switch opens comms to the ship, “ladies and gentlemen, be aware that we are about to engage in some low level manoeuvres, just thrusters stuff Shui, no need to man engineering.”

Taking the controls off of the auto pilot, Jago studies the readouts and gently nudges the Profit margin across the icy terrain. No longer will the ship be tied to one specific spot on the frigid little planetoid, now it will be allowed to turn as it will, as long as it remains as a screen to hide them from the approaching Sword ships. Salvaging cargo from the hulk will be more difficult, but there are a couple of days for that, no rush.

“You and I will stand watch Conrad, grab some sleep, I’ll wake you in four hours and you can do the calculations then.”

"Already done." Conrad answers, before taking another hit at his coffee.

"Small ship's pullin' two gees.  The one behind it's doin' just over one point one.  Now, the third ship, 'fore she cut her drives, was makin' three gees.  If'n y'all figure the two bigger ships to be the same type, which ain't certain, mind, then the slower one's damaged.  Whether she'll still be damaged when she gets here in a hunerd hours is anybody's guess."

Tylen stood and finished his coffee at Jago's announcement.

"Looks like there's a might more trouble brewing, glad I reloaded that magazine whilst we had the time."

He rinsed the cup and stowed it carefully.

"Best start getting things stowed for action. Anything I can help you with Doc? I guess Captain Jago won't have need for me for a while yet."

"I think we've got plenty of time yet." Saskia remarks to Tylen, with a smile.  Then she turns her attention to Shui.  "Did you try checking the data files?  Maybe there's something in there about it."

There is a terminal in the crew lounge, and she walks across to it and starts searching the ship's library for a reference to Saskatchia Tea.

"Found something.  Ew!  Not sure I'd like to try that, after all."

She waves one hand towards the screen.

Saskatchia Tea: A much sought-after beverage, often served at higher class
restaurants on a number of worlds across the Vilis and Lanth subsectors of
the Spinward Marches.

The tea is produced by crushing the shed carapaces of several varieties of
small insect (Saskatchia species) native to Rushu (Spinward Marches 0215)
into a fine powder, which is dissolved in hot water to make a drink.

OOC - I probably DID check the Data Files, because I remember that little description... :(  Still, I could only find the Boss' information for me that my character remembered off the top of her head.

IC -

"Trouble indeed," Shui murmurs.  The next few hours will be tense - a pity they don't have the chance to drop their prisoners and passengers off the ship.  She offers Tylen a quick smile in answer to his offer.  "Only company for Ms. Blake and I, I would say.  It would be most welcome.  My things are still relatively belted down from the last announcement for trouble - nothing has moved, and I expect my own guests -" her pair of very dissimilar insectoids "- will survive as long as we do."

Saskia's discovery prompts a quick glance toward the computer screen.  Not as bad as Shui thought, though in the same ball-park.  "Hardly surprising," she murmurs, a shadow of disgust passing across her pale features.  "Father and mother always did have impeccable taste.  Small wonder they disliked this."  And a care for the lives of all manner of creatures, she considers.

Something they had successfully imparted to her, even if she rejected their other philosophies.

"You would do better with this," she notes, tapping the teapot then pouring a small, steaming cup for Saskia.  "Soothing, cleansing, flavourful."  Not torn from the bodies of dozens of tiny creatures.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:38, Wed 03 Oct 2007.

Profit Margin, guided by Jago's skillfull handling of the controls, and supported by nothing but her maneuvering thrusters, glides lazily across the ice, only a metre or so above the frozen surface.  Slowly she climbs out of the crater, and then across the rough moonscape, surrounded by a cloud of ice crystals...


Dhakhingzuel considers Yas' words, "Is way of Vargr.  Pack leader is resp-ons-ible for result of orders.  If orders fail too much, foll-owers will take  pack from leader.  With bare fangs if must.  Make this order fail, and even if one who gives order is not here, maybe lose all pack.  Maybe life too also."

The Vargr shakes her head, "I say good night, Cap-tain, and good hunt."


Up above the moon, Ore Hound starts to move, using minimal thrust.

Yas grins and nods.

"In a slightly different way, it works in our military too.  Soldiers may not be there to think, but it is unavoidable sometimes, and those in charge may suffer the consequences of ill thought orders," she agrees, of sorts, and then, before the door closes, says "And a good rest to you."

Then she wastes no time before she marches over to the crew-side lounge, even if she stops to check her usual panels and stations on the way, but it is quickly done - all it has to do is to flash clear, after all, and pass a quick test to verify that claim.

Soon she steps into the lounge, with the words, "Stop talking about me now, cause I'm here."

On her lips is a teasing grin, suggesting that she hardly meant what she says.

Catchign the last of the comment about tea, she chortles and suggests "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.  The most weird stuff can be not only edible, but tasty too.  Be it plants, animals, bugs or other stuff.  Maybe I should put you all through the Marine's survival course, eh?"

The scary thing is that she sounds as if she might actually mean it.

"Ms. Crow," Shui greets Yasmin as she enters.  She gives the woman a small bow.  "I apologize for my ill-considered remark - no offense was intended to any who consume such things."  A small flick of her index finger indicates the terminal screen.  She takes another cup from the counter, places it on the table in easy reach of the Security Officer.  "Your cocoa?"

"I regret, though," she begins, moving back to her own seat and her tea, "that I will have to pass on the animals and insects, though I have eaten fungi in the past.  I fear my personal diet does not permit me to consume such organisms - only plants, fungi, and algae."  She takes a small sip of her tea, closes her eyes for an instant, then nods, satisfied.

"Offence?  If I took offence to something, you'd know it.  Relax, doc, just saying.  It was not just for you either," Yas chuckles and accepts the cocoa with a nod.  "Thanks."

"Ah, one of those.  People who believe it is fine to eat the stuff that cannot run away from us, but still needing to kill something to survive, eh?  Just don't tell that to any plant-folks you might meet!  Although the centaurs, or K'kree, certainly agrees with you," she tells Sushi with a wink as she finds her seat and sinks down into it with a happy sigh.

"Well, as long as no one tries to eat me or mine, I can't really say much about who eats what.  After all, some species can't digest the green stuff, others can't digest the red, but we all must eat to live.  Then, some take it too far, and only live to eat, eh, or wishes to convert others to their views, like the centaurs," she says and sips her cup.

"On another note, seems like we did well today.  Here's to that streak continuing until next time we hit port," she suggests, raising her cup and giving the doctor a glance.  "After that it's a new start, as always."

"Yes, one of those,"  Shui murmurs.  She finishes her tea then moves to the sink to wash out her cup.  Task completed, she carefully wipes it out, then wrings the cloth out to near-dry.  Both cloth and cup get stowed, and she turns to the room.  "A new start, indeed.  Captain Lanza has informed you of my decision, Ms. Crow?"

"I regret I will be taking my leave of the ship when we next enter port," she informs the room.  "Personal business.  Hopefully this will not inconvenience the crew...it is possible there is an acceptable Doctor or Steward in our makeshift prison cell, who would only be too grateful for a second chance."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:21, Thu 04 Oct 2007.

“Good work Conrad, go grab some shut eye, I’ll give you a call in four or five hours.”

“Computer, plot the trajectories of the three Sword ships, this ship, the Ore Hound and the Harpers Dream and display them on my screen as an animation along with nearby astronomical bodies.”
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:31, Sat 06 Oct 2007.

Jago's screen lights up, with the requested display.  All objects are neatly labelled, and marked with green points.  Backtracks are also marked in green.  Projected courses are in amber.

Profit Margin itself winks green-red-green-red.  The display runs through a sequence, showing Profit Margin and Ore Hound moving in a long slow orbit with the ice moon.  Harper's Dream is near one edge of the screen, slowly moving out of the displayed area.  One of the Sword World ships is near the top of the image, also moving out of the area, a little faster than Harper's Dream, and well above the ecliptic.  It looks as though she just cut her engines, once she was far enough away from Arkadia, without even bothering to try and kill her momentum.

The final two ships are accelerating towards the gas giant.  Their predicted courses show them heading in to the giant itself.  Planning on refuelling, or hiding out in the atmosphere, there's no way to be sure at this point.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:43, Sat 06 Oct 2007.

"Yes,  and even though I suspect the reply will be similar, I wish to extend to you what I did to our last doctor leaving due to 'personal business' - if there is anything I can do, name it," Yas tells Sushi in-between sips of cocoa, looking at the doctor over the rim of her cup.

How many doctors would that be now?  Three?  No, four.  Must be their work, or something, the security chief figures.  Either that, or there is some kind of curse over that position.

She sighs and looks down into the cup.  Then, a deadpan comment; "A shame it is.  You make excellent cocoa."

“Computer, run that again please, but this time plot an intercept course that brings the Profit Margin into firing range of ship ‘A’ with the shortest possible flight time.”

Jago didn’t have to say please to the computer, but manners cost nothing and it did no harm.

OOC
Ship 'A' being the smaller of teh two headding this way.

"I thank you for the offer, Ms. Crow," Shui begins, "but some things one must take care of oneself."  She gives Yasmin a small bow.  "As for the cocoa, I suspect all you require is for someone to follow the instructions on the box."  A helpless shrug.  "It is what I have always done."

"Mr. Ogresh.  Ms. Blake."  A small bow for each of them.  "I really should deal with my belongings."  Shui exits the room and quickly moves to her own office.  Despite her earlier preparations, there are things that need to be done.  One of which is separating her gear from that of the ship.