Tylen nodded,

"The universe is a funny place, I've seen some unusually adapted life forms, but I have to say those Ice Creatures are the most puzzling yet. I wonder if they're even catergorised. Mebbe when the Doc files her reports we'll find we're famous."

He grinned.

Jago returns relaxes and returns Shui’s hug with warmth and friendship.

“Good, that’s settled then” he says, beaming as he steps away, “this is turning into a good day after all.”

"I wouldn't count on that, Jago." Yas says, quietly, as she steps back into the lounge, her face expressionless.  "Conrad just showed us the sensor logs.  The Swordies didn't just scupper their crippled ship.  They nuked it, without waiting to see if they could take off the crew first."

"They just launched a couple of missiles at it, once they were in range, and changed course as soon as they had a confirmed kill."

Profit Margin's Security Office turns quickly and punches the wall, "Bastards!"

"You got that right." affirms Saskia, coming through directly behind Yas.  "They just lost any frelling sympathy I might have had left for them."

She shakes her head, "But now I'm wondering if this is just business as usual, for them, or if they were trying to hide something that they didn't want our Navy to find out about.  Conrad thinks it's the first option, but I'm not so sure about that - they don't have enough of a fleet that they can afford to waste ships on impulse."

Shui bows, a touch lower than her wont.  "I am pleased you think so, Jago," she says as she straightens, her cheeks reddened slightly by emotion.  She draws in a deep breath, then lets it out, resettling herself aboard the ship both literally and figuratively.  Her tension loosens its knot, and her shoulders relax a touch.  "Would you like your coffee now, Captain Lanza?"

Corlan smiles back at Tylen, "I suppose, at the end of the day, there are worse things to be famous for than the discovery of  a new life form."

He chuckles, as he adds, "I wonder if it will be named after one of its discoverers?  Glaciesreptare lanza, or some such.  I'm sure Captain Lanza would be proud to have his name immortalised in such a manner."


Jago thanks Shui for her offer of coffee, and looks at his Engineer and Security Chief, both of whom appear considerably less happy than the Medic...

Jago’s gratitude for fresh coffee is soon soured by the report from Yasmin and Saskia,

“What’s he doing now?” he asks as he goes into action mode and moves towards the bridge.

“Any chance of survivors?”

“Computer, plot the courses of the two remaining Sword ships pleas, and put it on my display.”
.

Jago's panel lights up, displaying a three dimensional image of the Arkadia system.  Worlds are shown, as are the larger moons.

Profit Margin, Ore Hound and Shata Lunoqi are all marked, the latter in orbit around Arkadia itself, and the others near the gas giant (though the ice moon itself is deemed too insignificant to show at the current scale).

There are also two Sword World ships, and a slowly expanding debris cloud.  One of the ships is sitting high above the ecliptic, dead in space, it seems, with no movement vector attached to it.  The other ship is moving towards it, swinging around in a long, slow arc, with an ETA of about 48 hours...

Shui observes, handing out drinks-of-choice to those present.  She studies the computer imagery with the eye of a talented amateur, knowing enough to understand what she sees, but with insufficient experience to extrapolate further.

No matter.  The doctor has never been shy of asking questions when necessary.

"Can we reach the Sword ship before its sister does?" she inquires softly.

"Don't reckon they were too concerned 'bout survivors" Conrad growls, selecting and enhancing parts of his sensor display.  "They opened fire on a ship that had no way to dodge.  First missile opened her guts an' cracked the power plant.  Any boats that avoided those two blasts would've had all their systems fried by the EMPs.  Comms, life support, navigation, all gone."

"Second missile just added more radiation to the mess."

He nods to Shui, "Gimme a second, an' I'll check.  Though if'n we head on over there, we might jus' give 'em a common enemy, an' encourage 'em to work together, one last time."

"Don't reckon so." Conrad replies, after a brief check of the figures, "But it'll be close."

"They've got a head start, but the drive ain't runnin' too smooth.  That erratic accel makes it hard to give any exact figure, but y'all're lookin' at 'bout an hour behind 'em, give or take an hour."

A shake of his head and an apologetic look at Shui, "Sorry I can't be more precise.  We could get there at just 'bout the same time, or two hours too late.  To complicate it, they don't need to get there - all they got to do is get close enough to open fire."

"What if we give them another target?  Can we fire something to draw the attention away enough for them to see it as a more imminent problem to deal with?" Yas inquires, more thinking out loud than anything else.  In the Marines they left no one behind, they even went out of their way to rescue those who fell behind anyway.  This was so vastly different she could not really grasp it, or perhaps she simply did not want to.

Tylen returned the smile,

"Now that would be a mighty fine thing, to give your name to something that's still gonna be out here years after we're all dust."

He sghrugged,

"Any way, standing here dreamin' about it ain't gonna get the cargo loaded. I best go see if Jago's got any use for me. If you'll excuse me folks."

He nodded to De Sant and the Alien before withdrawing and heading off in search of Jago,

"Hi Boss, what's next?"

Shui droops at Conrad's affirmation of her suspicions.  The only way the Profit Margin could possibly assist the survivors would put them in direct conflict with the remaining Sword vessel.  "I understand, Mr. Dietz," she says quietly, handing him his coffee.

Yasmine brings up an interesting possiblity, though Shui shies away from actually using weapons to 'attract' the attention of the other ship.  Then again, at extreme ranges it seems unlikely the would damage the Sword vessel.  Then what?  "If it drew them away long enough for assistance to arrive," she ponders aloud, considering.  Could they not evade the Sword ship until someone else - Jockram, perhaps - attempted to take on survivors from the crippled one?

The cocoa, of course, goes to Yasmine, and Shui offers a small bow to Tylen as he enters the somewhat crowded cabin.

"Might be able to rework that missile I was fixing up to use as a sensor drone." Saskia says thoughtfully, "Put a governer on the drive to restrict it to about three gees, and make it burn a bit inefficiently.  Switch the active sensors back on, with the power cranked right up, high as it'll go.  The electronics will probably burn out in four or five hours, but while they're working they'll look like a ship's long range systems."

"With the modified drive signature, from a distance it might pass for an SDB or light escort coming after them.  Not guaranteed, but it's the best I can come up with at short notice.  It could be enough to encourage them to try to get as far away as they can."

The engineer hesitates then, before adding, "Of course, if it doesn't work, we'll give away the fact that we're about.  Maybe show where we are too."

Having arrived mid conversation it takes Tylen a few seconds to realise the implications of what is being discussed, but it seems plain that Saskia is talking about using a missile to somehow decoy the Swordies.

"Pardon me for butting in, but would it be possible to launch the missile unpowered then activate the drive by remote? That way it would show up on the scanners some way away from our exact position. The gravity on this planet ain't too high, mebbe we could flush it out the tube with just gas, like an air gun, then spark it up when it's drifted a good way out."

"With the weight of a missile, I'm not sure we could give it enough of a push that way." Saskia replies thoughtfully, then drags out her hand computer to check the figures.  "It would be moving too slowly, and it'd be hours before it got far enough out that you could start the thrusters up without giving away our position.

"It does have the advantage though that the missile would probably tumble about before it fired, due to turbulence in the gas that you used to push it.  So when it did fire, it would start off thrusting in a fairly random direction, making it harder to tell where it started out from."

"Shata Lunoqi broke orbit.  She's pullin' five gees an' headin' out to where the Swordies should meet.  Looks like the Navy boys've finished some of their repairs an' reckon it's time to look into this."

Conrad falls silent, briefly, while he checks figures, "Don't look like she's got full power yet, but she'll still get there way before the killers will."

The engineer and the gunner discuss possible strategies, and Shui waits, outwardly calm.  Inside, her heart pounds.  They might be able to do something, after all...assuming agreement comes from on high - Jago is the Captain, and his word is law.

But before that transpires, Conrad steps in with an update, and Shui closes her eyes, slowly breathing out.  "Thank you, Mr. Dietz."  Saved.

(NPC'd)

Jago sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose.  This is the last thing that he wanted.  His ship is in a war zone and, heavily armed though she is, Profit Margin is no match for a real warship.  Warships don't have to worry about profits.  The volume that a merchant, or a pirate for that matter, uses for cargo, a warship fills with power plants, drives, weapons, marines, and hangars for fighters.

Finally he opens his eyes, "We'll take a break, get some food, then carry on with the salvage work.  Those are warships out there, and we can't stand up to even one of them.  The odds have shifted heavily in Shata Lunoqi's favour.  Less Swords ships than when they first showed up, and those damaged.  Plus she's had time to make a few repairs."

"I think we'll let her deal with this."

Another sigh, as he adds, "Shui?  Do you have anything for the mother and father of all headaches?"

Tylen nods, Jago's caution makes sense even though it irks the ex scout to let someone else do the fighting.

"I'll give the suits a once over and check everything is charged and working properly. Can't be too careful with Suit safety, even on a low risk job like this."

He remarks, before heading back to the airlock to check the integrity on everyones equipment.

Shui drops her eyes for a moment, wishing she had faith in something beyond herself.  Something to which she could pray for the people aboard the distant ships.  But it appears one little bit of her family's teachings has stuck - she has little faith beyond the reach of her own skill, and the skill of those about her.

At least she can apply that skill here.  "Certainly, Captain."  A small bow to Jago.  "You have a choice, of course.  Given your level of fatigue and stress, I would reccomend a massage - cranium and back - to relieve the tension, relax you, and allow you to get some rest."  She shoots him a warning look.  "Rest is required, sooner or later."

With a sigh, she reaches into the pocket of her coat, removing a small pad of tabs.  "Alternately, we can employ a chemical solution.  I would prefer the other, but would understand if you lack the time."

"How's'bout if'n we tight beam all the sensor data we've gathered on those ships over to Shata Lunoqi?"  Conrad suggests, hoping that Jago agrees.  "She's probably got most of it anyways, but ya never know - might be a little somethin' in there she can use, even if it's just extra evidence for any trial that comes out of this."

Privately, he's hoping for a war crimes hearing.  Opening fire on their own ships is just sick, in his opinion.

(NPC'd)

Jago shakes his head, and gives Shui an apologetic smile, "The massage sounds good, but it will need to wait until later.  Just like taking a rest will."  He accepts the medication from her.

"We'll be going back out in a little while, to try and get the rest of the stuff."

"Conrad, contact Shata Lunoqi, and keep as much about us as you can out of the message, while giving them enough to throw the book, no... the whole damned library, at the Swordies.  Yas, be ready to suit up.  You'll be coming along this time."

"Make that war crimes," Yas more spits out that says and gives Conrad a solid pat on the shoulder.  "Doesn't matter if it is the enemy or your own side, some things are criminal any way you look at it."

With that she turns her heel and walks of to busy herself with her duties.