Shui closes her eyes, knowing a dismissal when she hears it.  The doctor nods as she slowly stands.  "I understand, Captain."  There is no rancor in her tone, no anger.  So many things she would say, but to do so would sound arrogant or superior, when she knows she manifestly is not.  To continue the argument would do neither of them any good, and Jago must think of his crew now.  "I will take my position, then.  If there is any way I can assist during the hostilities - equipment moved, devices or information provided, even food?"  She raises her hands helplessly.  "I trust you will let me know?"

To shirk her duty to the crew during battle would be to risk even more deaths.  If her presence can save even one life, it will be worthwhile.

"For now, I will run another check on the medbay."  Her third, but better safe than sorry.

Tylen listen to the conversation quietly. He appreciated the Doctor's point of view, and admired the courage it took to maintian such a philosphy. He had to agree however with the Captain. In a war it was a soldiers duty to deny the enemy any chance to refit or repair, to harry them until they were unable to continue. The Swordies ahd come to this sector intending to fight, and it was in the interests of all of them to make them realise that his sector was a tougher challenge than they had originally realised.

As Jago and Shui exit the Captain's office, and reenter the lounge, Conrad returns from the bridge, a puzzled look on his face.  Once in the presence of the other crew members, and their guest, he announces, "We might have to change any plans that was made.  This moon's spin jus' gave us a lookit the ships comin' in, just on passives, so not too clear, an', well, it looks like they might not be no more."

"The trailin' one, the biggest, well, she's cut her drives, an' keeps repeatin' some sorta short message, in code.  Might be a distress call, but I can't tell, not for sure  The other one, the one in the lead, is decelleratin', hard."

He scratches his head, "Only thing I'm puzzlin' over is, if'n it's a shout for help, why're they puttin' it in code?  Unless'n they're tryin' to hide somethin'.  I got the computer workin' to break it, anyways."

Shui, on her way back to her quarters, pauses.  This could be of critical importance, both to the decision to attack and to her own part in their subsequent actions.  If it is a distress call....

Tylen stood fluidly and looked at Jago,

"Captain, might I suggest we ready ourselves for combat? If they're calling for help, then maybe help is on it's way and we're gonna need to be ready when it get's here."

“Well there’s an interesting little twist,” Jago says, absently rolling his cigar between thumb and finger, “does it actually count as a distress call if it’s in code?”

“Computer, could you plot the probable courses for those two ships in the light of this new information, please.”

“We’ll play it cool for now Tylen, if we start warming up the main drives we’ll give ourselves away. My guess is the big guy is in trouble and the little one is attempting an evac, naturally they wouldn’t want anyone else to know.”
.

Tylen inclined his head, accepting his Captain's decision.

"We'd best keep an eye out for any other activity, if they're calling for help in code it may be that there other Sword vessels operating in this sector."

"Must have been battle damage to their M-drive.  That'd tie in with them limping along.  I expect something just gave up finally." Saskia says, swinging her legs out from under her, and sitting up straight.

"Maybe they're sending in code so that Shata L won't be so tempted to break orbit and come over to take prisoners.  You know how nothing attracts a razorshark like blood in the water?  Same principal."

She smiles at Tylen, "I think they're the only ones in this system.  Otherwise they would have called for reinforcements during the battle.  Anything outside the system won't pick up the signal for years, if at all."

"So, we watch and see what happens.  If they indeed go back we can pursue our plan and, once they are in the right spot, pounce.  Give them a chance to surrender, and if they don't take it, well, that is their choice," Yas says as she gets up and puts her cup away.  "Makes our job easier with only one hostile, and makes them more likely to surrender - even if that means they probably won't, as that is as good as unheard of."

"They give and expect no quarter, those Swordies, so we owe it to their past and future victims to stop them, as I see it," she finishes, sounding deadly serious.

The computer provides Jago with the information he requested: the larger ship has cut its drive, and at current velocity it will cross the gas giant's orbit in approximately 145 hours, about 55 hours later than the original estimate.

Without some way to adjust its vector, it has no chance of making its rendezvous with the planet, which is moving at about 30,000 kph.  It will miss by almost two million kilometres.

As far as the other, smaller ship goes, the figures are far less precise, since the computer has now way of knowing how long it will decelerate for.  The best it can do is provide a range.

The smaller ship has an estimated travel time, to arrive at the gas giant, of somewhere between 64 hours, and infinity...

Tylen sighs,

"Well, provided nothing happens in the meantime, we got about 3 days wait. Magaine's fully loaded and systems all checked. You want a hand modifying those missiles Sask? I'm no whizz with a soldering iron, but I can help with the heavy lifting."

"Oh, trust me," Yas says and puts a heavy hand on Tylen's shoulder, looking at him in an overly serious manner, "there's no need to volunteer for hard work here.  There's plenty of that to go around," she finishes with a chuckle and then nods to Sassy as she lets the hand drop.

"Ain't that so, Sas?" she asks her with a soft smile that suggests that these kind of situations are not entirely new.

"For one thing," interjects Jockram, "if we don't go out to offer them a hand, and, by my reckoning, that'd take somewhere between forty and sixty hours to get over there, I'd assume that Jago still wants to make a salvage run on the derelict."

"That way, if things change, and it turms out to be better to run, we won't have lost everything."

Jago seems preoccupied and only grunts in response to Jockram’s remark. Presently though, he seems to come to some sort of decision and springs into action.

“Who knows anything about Swordies? Are they likely to want to be rescued or will they just blow the power plant if they think they end up as POWs.”

“Computer, if there are no changes to the drives of the larger ship, and the smaller ship is attempting to match vectors at a close range for the transfer of personnel, where and when is that most likely to take place?”

“Saskia, I don’t think we’ll need those decoys after all, but keep working on the remote sensor thing, that might well be useful in the future, even if we don’t use it now.”

“Yasmin, what’s your opinion of the threat that those shadow creature thingies pose, if we go out walking on the surface. I’ll be leaving you in charge here if we go, hopefully with nothing to do.”

“Do you have any spare vac suits on the Ore Hound Jockram, I’m thinking of recruiting a few extra volunteers for the salvage mission. Maybe you want to come to or send some of your guys along.”

“Tylen, are you up for a little stroll round to the derelict with us?”
.

The computer works briefly, then gives Jago his answer.

"At present values, rendezvous of the two vessels will take place in 6 hours and 57 minutes, at a distance of 299,635,207.24 kilometres from Profit Margin's current position."


Jockram whistles, "My guess was a little off."  He punches the figures into his hand comp, and adds, "It'll be more like seventy hours out, give or take."

"We don't have any spare suits, but we do have something that can help.  A couple of years ago I got hold of a suit of battledress, with all the heavy armour, battlecomp, and sensors stripped off it.  No good in a fight, but the power system and linear frame are intact.  Makes cargo handling easy, like having two or three extra people on a team."

Tylen nodded to Jago,

"Sure boss, I'll get suited up as soon as you're ready."

He stood, waiting for instructions. There had been little for him to do since he and Yas had scouted the Pirate vessel, and the chance to get off the ship was appealing.

Shui gives a little bow.  Crisis averted, for the moment.  "Captain, I will resume my duties, including preparing food for the captives.  That will free Mr. Ogresh for more important things."

"Threat from the Shadows?  Negligible, so far, but then, we have made certain to steer clear of them, which is a wise approach I would say," Yas replies pragmatically and then shrugs, with a small smile, "Nothing to do, eh?  There's plenty to do here, including a few things I've neglected due to our little expedition.  I'll keep busy."

"As for the Swordies, they're fanatics, as bad as they come.  Almost the human version of those crazy Centaurs; their way or no way, more or less.  Sure, generalisations are in general incorrect, but they won't go easily, if at all.  If there's any 'sensible' Swordies they sure aren't sent out to do battle against the enemy where they are likely to give away secrets if captured, or surrender as soon as things look a bit grim.  Their orders will dictate that, usually."

"Heck, I'm an old die-hard myself, and I probably wouldn't surrender easily if I were them," she tells Jago before turning to Jockram with a strangely happy grin.

"Now that gives me an idea that I'll save for later, Jago, but for now - I am qualified for using those, having spent plenty of time in one, and I can do my share of work, keeping the thing working while we take shifts inside it.  How does that sound with you, Jockram?  And with you, Jago, should he approve?  I'd hate sitting around doing nothing when not in J-space!"

Jockram chuckles at the look of glee on Yas' face.  "Jarheads and their toys, eh?  I've got no objection.  Like I said, it operates fine, but you have to rely on your own suit for life support.  Banster normally uses the 'dress for us, but with two people working in shifts, the thing could keep going round the clock."

There is a faint chirp from the vicinity of Shui...

“OK, I need to get over there and earmark stuff we want to bring back so, Yasmin stays here and I take Banister on the first trip, after that I’ll put Yasmin in charge, you can use the suit or not, whatever you want. I’m going to send Tylen with you, Conrad if he wants to and I’m going to see if any of the prisoners want to join in.”

“Is that OK with everyone? I’m off to talk to them now.”

Jago gets to his feet but waits for any responses before leaving the room.
.

"Aye Boss. I'll check the suits and pick up my carbine."

Tylen was itching to get moving.

"No problem," Yas says with s shrug.  "I'll come with you to see our guests, they might need a friendly face if offered a 'space walk'," she says with a big grin and then winks at Jago, since they are more likely to expect that from her after her little speech before.  Still, if she is to be in charge she will want to be on top, where she likes it.

Shui, listening to her dataglove, nods her head.  "My thanks, Mr. DeSant.  I'm certain - very certain - the Captain will be pleased at your analysis."  She glances up.  "Captain Lanza, Mr. DeSant has some preliminary conclusions regarding the creatures we encountered, based on their behavior.  He is of the belief they were following the sunlight, attempting to remove themselves from the shadows caused by our arrival."  She quirks an eyebrow.  "He believes they do not enjoy the shade."

Tylen nodded,

"Makes sense, must be precious little energy out in the ice, mebbe they photosynthesise or something, or maybe they just need the heat."

Jockram gives Jago a grin, and a nod.  "If you take Banster over while you see what you want, he can start shifting everything into two piles, yours and ours, as you point it out."

"I'll head back to the Hound now and tell him, rather than using comms.  I know he'll be glad to stretch his legs a little."

He turns then, "Thanks for the coffee, Shui.  Much better than the muck I'm used to at home."