It actually takes something more than an hour before everybody is suited up, cycled through the airlock, and across at the wreck.  Banster joins them on the way over, stomping along in a vaccsuit which has a partial exoskeleton strapped to it.

"I was told that I'm to help move everything into two piles first, yours and ours, and then we can see about hauling it back.  Right?" Banster sends a low power transmission on an open channel.  "Oh, and Jockram says I have to talk to your Doc, but he wouldn't tell me why.  I hope she knows what it's about."

They start down into the crater, where the broken hull of the wrecked ship sits on the ice.


Aboard Profit Margin, all is quiet.  The only people aboard are Shui, Yas, Saskia, Corlan DeSant, Dhakhingzuel, and the pirate with the broken arm.  Corlan is in the passenger side lounge, showing Dhakhingzuel his holographic collection from his visit to the wreck, including the strange lifeforms encountered on the ice.

The pirate is in the "brig", looking blankly at the trid menu.  There are hundreds of them.  None of them older than a couple of years, and none of them with a title that he recognises.  He briefly considers, Pirates of the Spinward Main: At Imperium's End, then rejects it, given his current circumstances.  Likewise Asteroid of Blood and the vaguely disturbing Desperate Shipmates don't make the grade.  Eventually he settles for a documentary on the Fourth Frontier War, which, at 120 minutes, is almost longer than the war itself...

In Engineering, Saskia continues to fiddle about in the missile's innards, making adjustments to its settings.  Elsewhere Yas finds something to occupy herself while she waits for her turn to head over to the wreck, and Shui continues with her own work.


Jago and his expedition reach the hulk, make their way up the side, and through the useless airlock, into the interior.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:04, Wed 12 Dec 2007.

Tylen switches on his suit lights and looks round the interior with interest. He's heard the explanation for the ship's crash, but a jump failure is an occupational hazard in space travel and the fact that the ship he is on has suffered one evokes no more than a sense of curiosity. He has faith in the Profit Margin and her devoted Engineer. He turns his head to Jago and triggers the com,

"OK Boss Man, where shall we start?"

Jago looks round at the hold, the lights on his helmet following his eyes, “basically anything that’s intact and small enough to shift, which in this gravity is most of it. Take your time now, no rushing, you may be able to lift a ton with a constant but moderate effort, but it still has inertia and once it’s moving, even slowly, it’s going to break a lot of bones before it stops.”

“Over here is where they stored the fancy stuff, lets start with that.”

OOC
Jago is referring to room 14 on E deck.
.

Jago leads the way to what used to be an area set aside for exotic cargo... things with odd environmental requirements, and the like.  To those who haven't been here before, the area is a surprising mess, covered with layers of coloured ice, and with the isolation lock standing open.

Banster stops in the entrance, and raises his left hand, holding it out in front of him for a few moments, before announcing, "No radiation, beyond the normal background levels."

He moves forward. into the chamber, and experimentally lifts one of the remaining cases.  "Any idea what this yellowish stuff is all over anything?  I'd rather not take anything back that might turn out to be explosive."

“Turns out to be some sort of fruit juice,” Jago reassures the miner, “there are explosives over there which I though you guys would like.”
.

Taking the time to go over security details and check-ups while she has the chance, Yas spends her time with her head inside various compartments more than not.  One by one the systems are checked, and when needed, tweaked, adjusted or changed.

While working she ponders that chances of getting hold of a proper suit, with all the stuff left.  It cannot hurt to ask, and even if it would be an old or partly defunct suit it will give her something to tinker with, apart from her bike, that is.

Which is the very thing she returns to once all the check-ups are done.

Tylen starts to methodically examine boxes, looking for the maimum commercial value in the most compact packaging. The thought of elderly explosives makes him shudder, and he offers up a silent prayer that Jago isn't planning on having any aboard.

"Juice?  Nice... " Banster says, with a laugh.  "Perhaps we can scrape it off the walls to use in drinks.  It'd serve double duty...  Ice and a mixer in one."

"The explosives could be useful, if they haven't decayed too far.  Under these conditions, they should be okay.  The cold will have stopped just about any reaction going on in there.  But just to be sure, I'll have Hegerich check them over before they get aboard the Hound though."

Gradually, the cargo is checked over, and split into two lots, as the time slips by.

After about an hour of work, Tylen finds something odd.  A case, red in colour, some seventy by twenty by twenty centimetres, and apparently made of wood, fitted with metal handles on the two swallest sides.  Though much smaller than the others, it seems to be much heavier.  He tries to lift it, but the resistance created by its mass is far too much.  A closer look reveals that somebody has broken away part of the wood, and that it is only a thin layer over a metal box inside.  There are no markings on the outside of the crate to indicate what it might be.

Banster declares it safe, at least as far as radiation is concerned.


Back on Profit Margin, Yas  finishes her chores, and goes to work on her motorcycle, which is more of a hobby than actual work.  Saskia starts making the final adjustments to the missile, and Shui prepares datafiles for her successor.

Tylen examines the box closely for any other clues as to it's purpose or contents. He hails Jago,

"Boss, did we manage to retrieve any kind of manifest from the ship's computer? I'd feel a bit safer about this if we had some idea of what it is before we take it aboard. Mebbe Saskia or the Doc could figure out some way of scanning it to determine the contents before we carry it over to the Margin?"

Banster looks around, "I doubt they'd've had a manifest.  Jockram said she'd turned pirate."  His gaze falls upon a human hand reaching out of a solid metal support pillar a little distance away.

"Even so, I'm not sure they deserved what happened to them."

He leans down and grabs one of the handles on the case, and tries to pull it out into the open, where there's more room to take a look at it.  It hardly moves.  "Hefty little bugger." the miner comments, "You didn't epoxy it to the deck as a joke, did you?"

Tylen stays Banster with a wave,

"Let's not move it again until we know just what it is."

He turns to Jago,

"This sounds kind of stupid Boss, maybe I'm getting paranoid or something, but I have a bad feeling about this."

He gestures at the crate,

"All this dressing up seems a lot of hassle for a simple metal box, It's obvious that the wooden crate is there to somehow conceal the true nature of the package. Now the records say this ship went Pirate, and we have a ship load of Pirates over there,"

He waves in the direction of the Margin,

"Who were forced to turn Pirate under threat of a bomb on their ship. Now, far be it for me to deny us any profit from salvage here, but that little box looks like it could hold a pretty nifty bomb to me. Mebbe we should check it out in situ once we move all the good stuff back to the ship."

The pirates refered to by Tylen continue their work sorting out the cargo into two groups, as directed.

Banster studies the crate, and shines his suit lights in through the small opening.  "I don't think a hidden bomb would be left sitting in the hold where the crew could find it.  If we carefully break away more of the wood, we might be able to see what those markings in there say."

Tylen nods, but is obviously non comittal.

"OK, I'll take a look."

Carefully he begins to break the wood away, concentrating on the area of the exposed script.

Jago’s cigar moves around speculatively inside his helmet, as if conducting an imaginary orchestra.

“Knowing the capabilities of that suit Banister, what would you guess the mass of that thing to be? Denser than lead I’d warrant, though weather that’s the material of the box, or it’s contents remains to be seen.”

“How hard is that metal Tylen, can you scratch it with steel? ”

“We are about ready to start shifting the first load back to the ships, we’ll learn what we can about this box and see if Saskia or the computer can throw any light on it when we get back, though if Banister can’t shift it, we’ll probably have to leave it anyway.”
.

"I'd say it weighs at least a half ton, and probably a bit more on top of that." Banster transmits, then pauses for a couple of seconds, as he considers that.  "Denser than lead, I reckon, by quite a bit."

He leans closer, and activates a couple of extra lights on the suit, giving Tylen some added illumination where he works.  A larger chunk of wood breaks away, revealing more of the lettering on the metal beneath.


There are hinges along one side of the revealed metal, and a lock at the opposite side.  It definitely looks to be another box hidden within the outer wooden case.

Banster straightens up.  "Great Maker!  Jago.  We don't want to leave this behind."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Fri 28 Dec 2007.

Conrad, happy that the recently retired pirates are busy hauling crates of tea about glances curiously at where Banster is helping with the examination of the crate.  From here, it certainly doesn't resemble a standard cargo pod.

His earlier research had indicated that this ship, the Marcucci had been captured by pirates at Quare, Just beyond the frontier, about four parsecs from here.

That might explain why the red crate was not Imperial standard.

"What is it?  Somethin' from outside the Imperium?"

Once certain that the one-armed bandit is behaving and doing his part, Yas sits down to tinker with her motorcycle.  It is not exactly a chore, but more like meditating.  She makes a few mistakes and learns from them, getting to know the machine well enough so that she will be able to repair it even if it was pitch black and it only looks clear without being it.

She has some time before the deliveries starts to arrive, and takes it with pleasure, losing herself in her task - and yet keeping an eye on the surroundings, just as she always do, including when she is fast asleep.

Tylen attacks the case with the prybar as instructed, then checks the result.

"No go Boss,"

He relays to Jago,

"It's way tougher than steel."

He turns to Banster

"That classification mean something to you?"

He asks, indicating the writing on the case.

"You could say that, yes." Banster turns to where the captives are working, then to Jago, Conrad, and finally back to Tylen.  When he's sure he has their attention, he makes a great show of switching his comms to another channel, allowing Profit Margin's crew to see the new figure on the display screen of his control pad, but ensuring that the pirates are unaware of the change.

Once he's sure the crew are all on the new channel, he continues, "The markings tell me it's iridium.  I should have guessed at something like that from the weight.  Iridium's dense.  Rare too... which is why they made the Imperial throne out of it, because it's valuable.  It's also used to back most currencies."

"Last time the Hound was in a good port, we were talking about mining, and we joked about striking iridium.  Just for fun, we checked the prices.  If that box holds iridium ingots, then they're worth about Cr10,000 per kilo, easy.  If we split them two ways, Jago, between your crew and ours, and that bit where it says 612 kilos is right, and it feels about right, then each ship would make about three million credits."

Tylen whistled slowly,

"Now that's some spending money."

He whispered. He nudged the heavy box with his toe,

"Bugger to move about though, tell you what, Saskia's got a really neat gizmo for shifting heavy stuff."

He turned to Jago,

"Shall I go ask Sas for a loan of her toy Boss, make it a damned site easier to shift this across to the Margin?"

Jago’s eyes narrow and his gauntleted hand bashes against his helmet as he distractedly reaches for his unlit cigar.

“Open it,” he says shortly, “if it’s ingots it will be easy enough to shift separately and if there are any surprises I’d rather find out here.”

.

Tylen examined the box, taking in the catch, but also examining the hinges and the joints in order to make an educated guess as to whether the box was trapped in some way.

Banster helps Tylen to break the wood away from the inner case, gradually revealing a dull metal box, with carrying handles.  There is a lock, fitted to the side of the box, directly beneath the catch.  A standard keypad combination type.  The display is dark.

More than ten years sitting, forgotten, in a cargo hold has, doubtless, left the batteries dead.  There are no other markings visible on the case... nothing to indicate where it might have originated.

"Did you get hold of this hulk's log?" Banster enquires, hopefully, "Jockram might be interested in finding out where she's been.  Just in case there's a system somewhere nearby with an iridium-rich belt."

"Hey, Yas." Saskia says, approaching the gunner.  Her eyes, though, aren't on the other woman.  Instead they're fixed on the assorted pieces of motorcycle, neatly laid out on the floor.  She's smiling.

"Wanna get a coffee.  We can grab Shui too, talk about the boys behind their backs, while they're all off the ship."

"Heh, sure thing, Sas.  This won't go anywhere," Yas says with a chuckle, secretively happy over the interruption as she has stared herself blind at the bits and lost her place.  A break to clear her head is exactly what she needs.  It is so much easier with guns; those she knows well since many years, while this whole combustion engine deal is still quite fresh.  Still, she learns a bit every time she tinkers with it.

Pushing herself up on her feet she realises that she just stained the legs of her outfit and chuckles.

"Whoops.  Oh well, at least it's on the front of the legs, so I won't be sitting on it," she says with a wink, but steals a glance at her rear.  It would not do to sit down with a greasy butt, oh no.

"Ah, good, all clean.  Now we can talk dirt about the boys instead," comes the comment, followed by a short laughter as she steers her path towards the lounge.

Saskia leads the way, her bare feet padding across the lounge floor, and leans on the call button at Shui's door.

"Anybody home?  You in there, Shui?"

"Ah, going to try to coax embarrassing medical secrets out of Sushi, eh?  Doubt she will fall for it, but sure, be my guest," Yas teases Saskia, knowing that the engineer knows that the chief of security is indeed only teasing.

Shui, nodding at her desk, jerks awake.  The screen before her is dim, the energy saver having powered it down some time ago.  She blinks in bemusement, glancing around the room (now even more sterile than before), then studies the flashing light at the door.

Saskia.

"Yes.  Yes, coming," she manages, pushing herself to her feet.  A crick in her neck seems to be the only casualty of her exhaustion, and the doctor moves to the door, opening it with her smile in place.

"Ms. Blake.  Ms. Crowe.  My apologies for my tardy response.  What might I do for you?"

"Of course.  You never know, Tylen might have a birthmark, shaped like a scout ship, somewhere embarrassing." Saskia replies to Yas, and giggles.

Then Shui opens the door, looking tired, "Us defenceless girls are going to gather together in the lounge, for protection, while all the big, strong menfolk are off the ship.  Care to join us?" the Engineer says, with a smile.

"It's just for coffee or tea, you understand.  We'd never dream of talking about them while they aren't here.  Oh, and Yas can probably get into Jago's cabin and get some of those really good cookies that I'm sure he hides in there."

"Or maybe a tattoo reading 'Mummy' somewhere," Yas chortles and then she waves hello to the doctor, who looks a wee bit tired.

"Y..yes, it is so sc..scary here all a..alone," she stutters and glances around nervously, clinging to the arm of Sassy.

"Uh huh, need to make sure they aren't poisonised or something else bad.  Who would help us then, if our leader falls ill with stomach poisoning?  I mean, with that impressive-sized tummy..."

Reasonably confident that the box is safe, Tylen examines the lock to see if the battrey can be replaced, or if it might be forced. Just on the off chance that the lock does not function without power, he also tries opening the lid manually.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:47, Tue 08 Jan 2008.

Shui's eyebrows climb higher.  She brushes an errant lock from her face, then offers a deliberately over-formal bow. "This one would be most pleased to accompany you, Ms. Blake," she demurely replies.  "For protection, of course, huddled about the fire - and to ensure that no false words are said behind the men's backs."  She glances back in the room - everything looks set.

"I hope to hear only the truth."

Stepping into the hall, she closes the door behind herself.  "Very wise, Ms. Crow - a fine security officer you make, anticipating such threats.  You might also consider it a request from the doctor to remove said cookies from Jago's reach.  We will do him a favour by assisting his compliance with my suggested diet plan."

"Spoken like the wise doctor you are!  I shall set forth on this mission forthwith!  Well, that is, once we are safely at his door, would not want to wander around this big ship alone and end up lost, since our navigator is not aboard to assist us," Yas tells the other two ladies, playing her part quite well.

After a couple of steps she asks, nervously, "Are we there yet?"

While the majority of Profit Margin's crew prepare for an impromptu conference on health and safety, the remainder, aboard the wreck, study the newly discovered box, whose markings indicate that it contains a fortune, if Banster's expert assessment is to be believed.

Tylen checks if the lid can be opened first, but once he discovers that it's definitely locked down, he turns his attention to the lock itself.

Tylen shakes his head.

"It's still locked tight boss. I guess we could put a new battery in, but we'd either need the security code or someone adept at code breaking."

Jago nods, “not a problem, just leave it there and we’ll make sure the others bring back some cutting gear, a thermal lance or diamond bladed angle grinder perhaps, Saskia will know.”

“Right then, I think we’ve marked up everything we want to take, lets get this first lot back to the ships.” Jago checks around his imitate vicinity to ensure that he hasn’t missed anything obvious, then gathers up his part of the load.
.

At the door, Saskia suddenly stops, "Before you open the door, Yas, does anybody want to make a little bet on what shape Jago's thing is?  Just for fun."

She thinks, briefly, then adds, "Last time I overhauled the turrets, I had a bucket full of bits that were left over when I put them back together.  I'd be prepared to put them up as a stake, since I have no credits."

By the time she finishes, she's struggling not to laugh, "I bet Jago's thing looks like a bunch of grapes."

Yas' right eyebrow arches up along with the left corner of her mouth as she gives Sassy a long look from top to toe.

"Indeed," she says, leaving it perfectly unclear what she is commenting.

"Well, I got some magazines I picked up from some planet we landed on.  Weird language, so I have no clue what the articles says, but there are pretty pictures in them.  Clothes, underwear, and what seems like a centrefold fellow...  Modestly posed and all, of course, so not for a laugh, I can bet those.  I think Jago's thing looks like a fruit bowl, with two apples and a banana..."

The smile that now appears seems all too sweet and innocent, somehow.

"As for those parts, we shall have a talk later...  You must be the one who stole my little good luck charm..."  She winks as the engineer.

Shui tags along with the other two women, noting with some amusement Yasmine's somewhat unconvincing attempts to act fearful.  She sometimes doubts the woman has that capacity.  Except, perhaps, when it comes to official visits to the doctor.

Certainly not when it comes to actual physical threats.

At the door, her eyebrows rise.  Ah, yes, now she remembers, though Saskia's phrasing....  The engineer, awash with hilarity, brings a small smile to quirk her lips.  "A fine question, Ms. Blake.  I think Jago's thing currently resembles a longish tube, tied in a knot," she muses.  "Stakes?  Credits make for boring stakes."  Her brow furrows.  Magazine, bucket of bits...  "I fear I have few personal effects.  I would offer my cabin guests, but I doubt either of you would wish them."  The bugs aren't exactly everyone's idea of 'interesting'.

"Perhaps a massage?  I am no professional, but have had some experience with thereputic massage."

"I don't think there was anything vital in the bucket, but then I have no idea what most of it did anyway."  Saskia is trying hard to keep a straight face, but isn't having much success.  It's nice having so few people aboard.  It allows her to relax much more than is normal for her.

"A massage would be fine with me.  Open the door, Yas, so I can claim my winnings."

"A massage?  Best for you that you lose then, Sushi!  I want my massage," Yas says with a huge grin and nods to Sassy.

"Stand back, I am about to do so Security Chiefing," she tells the other two and gets to work - opening the door.

"Hard work, and not for amateurs, but now it is done!  Now then, onwards," she then whispers secretively and moves inside the office, dead set on tracking those treats as well as checking Jago's thing.

The door to Jago's cabin/office slides open at the deft touch of the Chief of Security, who is obviously in the process of performing her regular duties, otherwise why would she have brought an engineer and a medic with her, if not to deal with some emergency?

The thing is in plain sight on the desk.  Or rather, it is in plain sight, approximately twelve centimetres above the desk... a small crimson sphere, hovering above the metal dish that it normally stands in, and revolving slowly on all three axes.

More importantly (since none of the guesses are even close, so the bet will be hard to judge) there is half a packet of top quality cookies standing on top of the safe.


On the wreck, Banster moves the explosives as far away from everything else as it's possible to get, then indicates the crates which don't contain a fortune in iridium, and switches back to the open channel.  "Those are all marked as 250 kg.  I can manage one of those easily.  The rest of you carry one case between two of you.  They won't be heavy of course, just cumbersome, so take them slowly."  Most of that speech is directed at the prisoners, since Banster is sure that Profit Margin is crewed by professionals.  Then he adds, "Oh, before you take them into the hold, make sure the floor grav is dialed right down."

"Looks like you lost, Sushi.  And you too, Sassy.  Pay up," says the Head of Security as she makes a beeline towards the package of cookies she spied.

"Almost too late.  The package is half full.  Or half empty, depending on your disposition.  Oh well, we shall soon correct that, right, girls?" she exclaims and grabs hold of the package, stealing glances all around as if expecting Jago to come running, having sensed his cookies were in danger.

Highly unlikely

The running part, that is.

She turns to study Jago's thing, hugging the cookies protectively.  After a moments contemplation of the hovering thing she muses, "Interesting.  Reminds me of a date I had once."

Shui studies the globe for a long moment.  "I would guess," she begins slowly, "that since none of us are correct, all three will have to pay up, or not at all."  What she will do with half a bucket of random bits and half a magazine, Shui isn't certain.

She moves to the desk and crouches, studying the sphere.  "Curious.  Levitation, even.  This may seem like nothing more than a toy, but has anyone ever attempted to quantify the energy it must use?  Or identify it?"  Who knows what secrets could be locked within a seemingly innoccuous appearing item?

"In any case, we have the cookies," she points out.  "Perhaps it would be better to discuss terms of forfeit elsewhere."

"What a good idea!  We all pay up!  Sure is worth a few magazines to get a nice massage," Yas quickly agrees with a grin, glancing over at the doctor briefly before resuming to study the thing.

"I suspect it is better not to tamper with it.  Heck, for all we know it can be a part of some multi dimensional Elderly God only just protruding through into our universe, just waiting for someone to start poking at it," she suggests, somehow doing it with a completely straight face, and falls silent for a moment, staring at the artefact.


A hand slowly lifts up and moves towards the levitation mystery when suddenly...


"Oh, yes, cookies!  Must make haste to secure the health of our fearless leader," she exclaims loudly and abruptly, and more or less forces her way past the others and out into the hallway outside.

Certainly she is not planning anything sinister, such as setting an extra cookie aside for herself?

No, it cannot be.

Can it?

Looking at the object - Jago's thing, so to speak - Saskia shakes her head, "I have no idea what it is, or what it's for.  It doesn't seem to do anything, as far as I can tell.  Well, nothing that seems useful anyway."

She leans closer, "And it doesn't really break the Laws of Physics.  It's more like it just politely nudges them to one side, then ignores them."

With a shrug, she turns to follow Yas.  Though not without a look back at the mysterious device.

The discussion of forfeit will probably need to wait until they have a moment to chat.  Shui regards Jago's odd toy for a long moment, digesting the words of both women.  They do little to assuage her curiousity.  Her fingertips drum on the desktop.

Then she shrugs, unable to find a reason to tarry further.  "And yet, I wonder how," she murmurs, following the other two women from the office to the crew lounge.

Once there, of course, Shui immediately busies herself with the preparation of the proper beverages.  A mixed group - cocoa, tea, and coffee.

Tylen examines takes hold of one end of one of the crates,

"You and me then Boss?"

He calls to Jago, his teeth flashing in a smile behind the faceplate of his suit.

Banster picks up a case of explosives, without any obvious effort.  "I'll take these first, get them out of the way so there's less chance of an accident here."

He starts towards the exit.  "Pity that our buggy is out of order.  A vehicle would have made this so much quicker."


Back on Profit Margin all seems to be quiet for the moment.  The passengers are discussing the peculiar forms of life that they've either seen, or heard of, at various times.

Meanwhile, the three crew who are still aboard are congratulating themselves on the successful liberation of the cookies which had formerly been imprisoned in Jago's office, and performing an extensive debriefing of said baked goods.

Her beverages finished, Shui moves to the table with a small tray sporting her tea and the other women's cups.  There is enough coffee and cocoa prepared for further helpings...and visitors, should the unlikely come about.  Seating herself, she carefully passes out the cup, taking in the melding of the aroma - the sharp, chocolate-ish scent, the bitter strength of the beans, and one of her family's brands of tea.  It makes for a curious mixture, and not at all unpleasant.

Leaning over, she gingerly retrieves the outer packaging of the cookies - the inner tray already resting on the table - and runs over it with her eyes.  "Ah."  A small expression of rueful dismay.  "I fear I must leave the cookies to the two of you."  Shui shrugs.  "I doubt this will come as a terrible revelation, and in any case, I far prefer company over consumables."

Sipping her tea, she regards the other two over the rim of the cup.  "And so, of what shall we speak?  The men?  Are they so important?"  A small smile, at that.

Tylen looks up,

"I'm not sure if the quad or the air raft would be much use on this moon, what do you think Boss? Should I pop back to the Ship for some transport or shall we just tough it out and do it the old fashioned way?"

“The walk will do us good Tylen,” Jago says, his breath a little laboured with the effort of controlling the crate, “any ways, the air raft wouldn’t be much use, it’s an atmospheric craft, there’s a little clue hidden away in the name. Actually it’s not atmosphere but gravity that would be the problem, I doubt that there’s enough here to stop it drifting of into space as soon as you open the throttle.”

“The quad though, that’s a different matter, I hadn’t thought of it before as it belongs to Yasmin, but if she wants to bring it when she takes over, that’s fine by me.”

Appart from the heavy breathing and an occasional mumbled curse, Jago falls silent as he presses on towards the Profit Margin.

.

"Exactly why we ought to talk about them," Yas interjects where she curls up in her seat, grabbing her cup with on hand - and a nod to Sushi - and a cookie with the other hand.

"It's a no-brainer, pure nonsense talk, just for a laugh, which of course is unavoidable when talking about men," she continues, shaking the cookie at the doctor as if lecturing her.  The voice remains strangely serious, but if looking close enough there are those fine lines around the eyes that reveals it all to be in jest.

"As for these," she says and bites down on her cookie, "it's a wise move in case they are bad.  Wouldn't want the doc to fall ill and be unable to treat us!  Right, Sas?"

Saskia is sitting, looking very thoughtful, as Yas askes her something, "Sorry, I was thinking about something else."

A shake of her head clears away some of the dust, as she tries to remember what Yas might have been talking about.  In the end she settles for a "That's right." and hopes to catch up, if the conversation continues.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:40, Mon 21 Jan 2008.

Banster carries the explosives towards Ore Hound, moving easily across the snowball's surface, while Jago and his work gang concentrate on the, much safer, cases of tea.

Soon they are all above the crater rim and working their way carefully across the rough terrain of the frigid moon.

Tylen thinks for a moment as they struggle across the frozen surface,

"I don't reckon there'd be too much traction for my Quad, and it you did get grip you might end up flying right off one of these bumps and never coming back down again. I've done some crazy stuff, but achieving escape velocity on a Quad ain't one of my ambitions. Guess we're stuck with the hard way for all this cargo."

Shui, about to respond to Yasmine's witticisms, pauses to stare directly at Saskia.  Her thin brows knit together for a moment as the engineer replies distractedly.  "Is there something the matter, Ms. Blake?" she inquires solicitously.  "Or has something caught your interest more than the foibles of the gentlemen with whom we share a ship?"  Her smile is wry.  "I cannot imagine that, but...."

Yas decides that this is one of those moments when silence is indeed golden, and so she avoid mentioning anything of what nearly took place once, and only once.  It was between them, anyway, and no on else.

The cocoa and the cookie gets her attention as she munches on the latter and slurps the former while watching the clearly elsewhere present engineer, her good friend Saskia Blake and listening for any answer to the question posed by her somewhat newer friend, Sushi Tissue.  Sush Tush.  No.  Schwee Tea-Ess-Eee or something...  The Doc.  Yeah, that works.

"No.  No.  Nothing like that.  At least, not with the current ones.  Jett laughed at my swimsuit, and Ridge had the social graces of a ragfish, but the ones we have now are okay."

Saskia's face starts to turn an interresting shade of crimson.

"Sorry, it's just that my mind was wandering.  Thinking about that little souvenir of Jago's.  I'd love to know how it does what it does, and how it knows that nobody's watching while it does it."

Her brows knit together further at Saskia's description of their former shipmates.  Shui never knew Jett and Ridge well - she had only been on one or two flights before they left - and this disturbs her.  "If that was how they treated a beautiful woman, especially one in a swimsuit, then we are well-shy of them," she mutters darkly, reaching out to touch Saskia's hand in support.  Evidently the lack of manners had significant effect upon the engineer.  Then the shadow passes from her face and she smiles.  "Though yes, Mr. Ogresh and Mr. Dietz seem to be gentlemen.  Rough-hewn, perhaps, but all diamonds begin unpolished."

Yasmine is unusually silent.  Shui shoots a quick look her way to find the marine occupied with cookies and drink.  She returns to the conversation.  "I, myself, would like to examine the device further.  I assume efforts have been made to record its transformations?"

"Girl, forget Ridge.  I'm unsure if he'd be classified remotely humanoid even, and his view of females, oh boy," Yas says and shakes her head in dismay, and then continues, "as for laughing at swimsuits, that's their loss.  As a security chief I had to make certain no one burst out laughing at the wrong time, so any images of a female in anything but a non-transparent spacesuit had to be removed from the ship."

"Oh they best be, or they will have to deal with me.  I look out for my girls, so don't you worry none, Doc, Sas," she adds to the doctor's comment about Ogresh and Dietz, giving the other two women a firm nod.

Then the subject changes again.

"Here's an idea.  Set up a cam that only take snapshots.  No constant recording, but a picture now and then.  At least that will reveal if it changes slowly or instantly," she suggests, and then adds with a voice veiled with mystery, "that is, if it indeed does change..."

She nods a couple of times, slowly and solemnly.

The crimson intensifies at Shui's comments.  "Yeah, Ridge wasn't very nice to anybody, male or female.  As for the bathing suit, well, I'd be the first to admit that it wasn't really the height of fashion."

Yas's odd remark about the object on Jago's desk brings a smile, "Perhaps it doesn't change shape.  Maybe it does something to your brain so that you just remember it being a different shape.  See, now, it's a shame Ridge isn't here any more.  Who better to check if something's messing with your brain, than a man who doesn't have one?"

A momentary pause, as a wicked grin spreads across Saskia's face, then, "Or a brain."

"Fashion is subjective - the known worlds are indeed large.  Besides which, a man would be a fool to mock your appearance, Saskia, no matter what you wore."  Shui's lips thin; irritated as she is, she forgets to employ the woman's proper name.  Perhaps Jett had merely been employing a grade-school technique to garner attention from the opposite sex.  Some men never grew out of that sort of thing.

"I am most certain you do, Ms. Crow, and am most grateful for your expert protection," she continues, relaxing somewhat.  "Glad am I that such shennanigans ceased before I took up residence."  Fortunately for them, the two men had avoided any poor behaviour around her.  Perhaps it had something to do with her position as doctor.

She ponders the thoughts on Jago's thing, considering possible methods of surveillance.  Yasmine's idea, the photography...if coupled with a standard surveillance camera set to go on and off at specified intervals, it seemed a decent method.  It was certainly one her father would consider.  "Telepathic," she muses.  "But we all remember it the same way.  Impressive control..."

Then a small smile edges the corner of her mouth at Saskia's witticism - it seems the engineer has recovered her aplomb.

"Fashion, oh yeah, there's a whole fermented can of Markovian worms best left unopened," Yas chuckles and shakes her head slowly.  "Which is why I quickly learnt to ignore it and go with what I like!"

"They weren't all that bad, though, well, except Ridge, just a bit... daft, she said in a strange kind of defence of the boys.

Then she bursts out laughing and slaps the arm of the engineer approvingly.

"Stewardess, a saucer of milk to Miss Blake's table, please!  Meow!"

After a moment she wipes a tear and chuckles out, "How do we know we all see it the same way, if it indeed controls our minds?  I'm just asking..."  By the end of the sentence she seems dead serious, and moves her hands out to the sides as if fending of questions.

As the men approached the Profit Margin, Tylen triggered the channel to the ship,

"Uh Ladies? Would one of you mind dialling the floor grav of the hold right down for us? We got a fair load to carry in and I'd hate to feel the true weight of it until it's safely down on the ground."

"Ah, that's for me!" Yas exclaims when the request of low gravity comes.  "Got my stuff spread out, must secure it, so I will see to it.  Back in a wink of a Berzergian blinking beast eye blink," she assures them and gets up even as she speak.

"Give me a moment, Trigger, and I will do so," she tells Tylen over the coms and waves to the girls as she steps lively towards the hold.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Yasmine." the engineer replies, with a look of complete innocence.

As Yas heads off to deal with the gravitics, Saskia sighs, and smiles, a little sadly, in Shui's direction, "The peace and quiet didn't last long, though I suppose it'll be a while before they get all the salvage aboard, and come back in here."

Leaning back in her chair, she stretches, "Better make the most of it, I suppose."

Already?  Shui gives Yasmine a sad wave as she heads off to ready the cargo bay for the plunder.  "Peace and quiet," she remarks to Saskia, "are in short supply on this vessel."  She studies the woman as Saskia stretches, considering.  So many interesting people aboard this ship, and few of them she has come to know on any level past the superficial.  Her fault, Shui imagines - she knows it is difficult dealing with her, the way she addresses people, her own personal habits.

"Ms. Blake," she begins, somewhat hesitantly - certainly not the norm for her - "I have been considering my decision.  It may be that my situation is not what I thought it was."  Her hands twitch, and she stills them, studying the eyes behind the engineer's concealing spectacles.  "While I doubt Jago will hold our disagreement against me, I thought I might ask you, since you have been here longer than I - do you suspect he would have a problem with...ah, tearing up my resignation, if that is the proper phrase."

"Well, after what's happened recently, I think he'd rather keep you aboard.  You know your way around the Margin, and you know her crew." Saskia replies, earnestly.

"Plus you're the only one here who is actually polite to Jago.  That's got to count for something, right?  You call him 'Captain', even when there are no passengers nearby.  Yas tends to just call him, 'Hey, You!' or something, in that situation.  In fact, you mostly call him 'Captain' when he isn't close enough to hear you."

Smiling, the engineer sits up straight, dropping her feet to the floor, and leans forward, staring straight at Shui, "I think that he won't have much problem tearing it to tiny, little, frelling pieces.  I'm talking neutrino-sized pieces.  Or smaller."

It doesn't take Yas long to make her bike secure, and shove any loose parts into a storage locker.  Then she cuts back through to the Bridge, turns the deck plates in the hold down to zero, allowing the moon's miniscule gravity to take effect in there.

A short while later, a low squeal echoes through the pressurised parts of the ship, transmitted there via the hull and deck, as the cargo ramp drops, allowing external access to the hold...


Outside, the salvage party approaches, the hazard flashers under Profit Margin's belly reflecting off their helmet visors, warning them to stand clear as the ramp descends.

Always prepared, like any good marine (the lazy scouts stole it), Yas had all the parts on a sheet she easily could fold up and tuck away - but it was still best done before the gravity was as good as gone.

Soon she finds herself back with the girls, having announced to the boys that they could struggle aboard now, at least after her checking in on the injured would-be pirate.

"What pieces?  Did you eat all the cookies while I was gone?" she asks and takes her seat again.  "I figure we got a few moments before the kids stumbles in here.  Then maybe it is my turn to play with that little toy the miners got!"

Shui mulls over the engineer's words, not missing the shift in the woman's body language.  What it means, she can't quite ascertain, save for emphasis and, hopefully, agreement with the tearing of resignations.  Saskia usually doesn't come down hard on one side or the other unless it involves the ship - when she does, Shui has learned, it's a wise idea to listen.  There's a lot more going on behind those spectacles than just concern for the Profit Margin.

Though to be fair, that likely does take up the lion's share.

The doctor offers the engineer a quick, almost shy smile, unused to such vehement support.  "I shall certainly inquire," she responds, her mind finally made up, Saskia's reaction having made the difference.

Then Shui turns her gaze to the returning Yasmine.  "Ms. Crow.  Merely discussing the shredders aboard the ship - apparantly Jago has a version capable of reducing notation to the subatomic.  Possibly he simply has it stuffed into the barrels of ship's cannons?"

Another small smile to Saskia, this one quick and wry.  "A product of my youth, Ms. Blake.  Titles and designations, familial names before the personal.  It must seem woefully provincial to most people, but...."

Jago is breathing heavily by the time he gets back to the Margin, even without gravity the load has mass and inertia that some how, always seem intent on doing things other than what was required of them. The friction free surface of this little icy planetoid didn’t help a great deal either.

“I don’t want these things punching through the bulk heads,” he says once the loads are started up the ramp, “go carefully and get them tied down straight away.”
.

"Shredders?  All he has to do is say the word, and anything he wants self-destorys.  He is, after all, the captain, even if he do prefer to not be called that to his face.  Which reminds me, it is Yas, not Ms. Crow.  Remember what I told you earlier, hmm?" Yas says teasingly and with a crooked grin.

"A shot in the dark here - a girl got to have some fun - would that involve you and a certain paper you handed in recently?" comes a prodding question, as she rests her weight on the back of a seat, arms straight and shoulders pulled up around her still grinning head.

Tylen nods to Jago,

"Aye aye Boss!"

And follows the cargo up into the hold. Once there, he makes use  of the low gravity to help move the cargo up against the walls where he stacks it, lashes it dow, and pulls a cargo net over it all. Once done he hurries to a comlink and hails the crew lounge.

"Hey, looks like you all played it right getting out of the heavy stuff. Got to go back and fetch the rest."

He slips back down to where Jago waits.

"Stowed and secure Captain,"

He informs the man.

With the aid of the erstwhile pirates, the first group of cargo containers are secured in the hold, with no mishaps.  Harper's crew seem willing to do their share of the work, even if they have no real choice in the matter, and two of them prove to be particularly helpful in securing the salvage, indicating that they have some experience in this area.

Tylen's voice, distorted a little by the acoustics of a vaccsuit helmet, comes through clearly in the lounge, where the tea party continues.

"What's that?" Saskia wonders aloud.  She stands, looking towards the Bridge, then suggests, "Maybe I should get to Engineering.  Just in case."

Shui glances up as Saskia does, thin eyebrows drawing down.  "Not a warning alarm.  Why not remain seated, Ms. Blake?  I can have a look, see if I can puzzle out what the problem might be, and let you know if it requires any of your expertise."  The steward stands, replacing her tea on the table as she does, then heads to the door into the bridge.  "If it is anything more than reading a screen, that is...."

Jago’s scowl at being addressed as ‘Captain’ goes mostly un noticred behind the reflections on his face plate.

“Thank you Tylen. Everyone take an hour before heading out again.”

“Shui, the crew need refuelling, think you can organise something, don’t skimp on the ‘Harper’s’ people, they’ve earned their share.”

As he talks Jago closes the ramp and begins letting atmosphere back into the hold.

“Keep an eye on that gear everybody, look out for reactions to pressure or temperature rise, it’s been in sub zero vacuum for a long time.”
.

Atmosphere floods the hold, and water vapour condenses and freezes on the newly-loaded salvage, before starting to melt again, as the ship's systems work to bring the temperature up to something bearable for humans.

Banster's voice comes across the comms, "Jago, I've dropped the explosives off outside the Hound, for Jockram and Hegerich to look at.  They didn't kill me on the way back, so I'm guessing they're not too unstable"

"We have some heavy-duty mining cutters aboard... should make short work of that box.  Want me to fetch one over with me?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:22, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Shui, staring down at Conrad's displays, blinks at Jago's request.  ++Understood...Mr. Lanza,++ she replies, catching herself in time.  ++I have further information,++ she continues, her eyes still on the small drama being played out on the screen before her.  ++Of the two Sword ships we have tracked, only one remains.  The other has been scuttled - thermonuclear charges, from what the sensors gather.  The second ship is moving off the elliptic of the system, on a rendezvous with the third Sword ship, the one lacking power and navigation.++  Presumably to do the same, Shui notes dispassionatly - a logical step for the soldiers aboard.

She shakes her head.

++We are well out of range of any threat from the destruction of Sword One,++ she finishes, moving back into the lounge.  Quickly, the Steward runs down the situation for Saskia and Yasmin as she moves to the food storage unit.  "And so, apparantly we have lost the chance to instigate an encounter between ourselves and the Sword ships," she finishes, keeping the relief out of her tone.  "Captain Lanza has requested I prepare a meal for our returning heroes as well."  Her eyebrow quirks.  "I can do so and continue to converse."

“That would be good Banster, we’ll be heading back in about an hour.”

“Thank you Shui, I’ll be through in a moment to take a look.”

Satisfied that all is well in the hold Jago waits for the pressure and temperature to come up before breaking the seals on his helmet.

“Good work everybody. You Harpers people will have to go back in your box for now but I’ll open up a second cabin for when you get back next time, as long as you continue to behave yourselves.”

“Tylen, would you do the honours please.”

That settled, Jago heads for the bridge, twisting off the suits gauntlets as he goes.

.

Tylen nodded,

"Will do boss."

He confirmed. He unscrewed his helmet, and motioned for the former Pirates to remove their own suits.

"Boss says you've earned a rest, which I reckon is fair. It's back to the lock up for you I'm afraid, but our good Doctor will rustle up some chow for you, probably better vittals than I managed earlier."

He smiled, but his hand remained close to the slung Carbine as he herded the prisoners back towards the makeshift Brig.

As Tylen escorts the prisoners back to the makeshift brig, Jago and Conrad make their way back into the crew lounge. where Shui is making a start on refreshments, while Yas and Saskia seem to be trying to hide something among the cushions on one of the couches...

The prisoners give Tylen no trouble whatsoever, and the one who had stayed behind because of his injured arm is sitting watching a documentary trivid, about Marine trainees at boot camp, when the door opens.

Corlan and Dhakhingzuel are in the passenger side lounge as Tylen passes through, going over Corlan's recordings of his field trip.  Both greet Tylen cheerfully as he makes his way back, having locked the pirates in again.

"Good day, Mister Orgesh."

The Vargr nods towards the locked cabin, with its reluctant occupants, "All good there?"

Conrad follows Jago through, removing his helmet and gauntlets as he goes.  With a smile to the ladies, he heads towards the bridge.

"Well now, let's take a look.  See what's goin' on out there."  He goes to his console, and starts making adjustments, muttering as he works.

A quick check reveals no Vargr trundling after Jago, so...  "Captain Lanza.  Mr. Dietz," Shui greets the two men, immediately turning to making their preferred drinks.  Coffee - hardly surprising around here.  "A pleasure to see you back aboard, safe and sound.  Hopefully the salvaging went well."

Jago’s regards Yasmin and Saskia through narrowed eyes but Shui deflects any questions with her greeting and he turns his gaze to her, “it went well thank you.”

“Are you trying to distract me from what those two are up to? I find I’m better off not knowing in most cases.”
.

Shui raises an eyebrow.  "Captain Lanza."  A small frown pulls down the corners of her mouth, totally unsupported by the amusement in her eyes.  "Are you suggesting I would not otherwise greet you in such a fashion?"  She turns back to the coffee, picking up Jago's mug and offering it to the Captain.  "I fear you seek subterfuge where none exists."

Truthful...while her greeting might distract Jago, she certainly had not planned it that way.

Tylen smiles,

"Hi to ya both. Yeah, the poor beggars seem happier in there than they were on their own boat."

He shakes his head,

"They were even grateful when I fed 'em the reconstituted goop that Jago stocks for emergencies. Man, you got to be really badly off to enjoy that stuff, it's worse than the survival rations in the Scouts."

Conrad gives a long, low whistle as he studies the sensor records for the last half hour, fast forwarded.  "Display time reference 235-1107 13:25 to 235-1107 13:35.  Playback speed times three.  Begin."

The computer follows Conrads instructions, then starts again as he commands, "Repeat."

This time, when it finishes, the Navigator changes his instructions, "Enhance Grid 32.4 by 17.6 by 12.1.  Repeat.  Step backwards, one minute intervals.  Begin."

After a couple of minutes, he hits the intercom stud, "Yas, Saskia?  Can y'all come on in here?  I need some opinions."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Fri 15 Feb 2008.

Saskia is surprised when Conrad calls her, unsure why the man would want her advice on something.  If the ship had been in flight, she could have understood it, maybe.  But Profit Margin is sitting dirtside, (iceside, she corrects herself mentally) so it's not likely to be an engineering problem.

"I'm on my way." she replies.

Stepping through to the bridge, she asks, "What's the problem, Conrad?"

"They are cow-wards." Dhakhingzuel growls, glancing towards the brig door, "Their grat-it-tude will be because they live still, instead of being in Ounegsogh, the Hell of Cow-wards."

Corlsn chuckles at the Vargr, "I have tasted this ship's emergency rations, Dhakhingzuel.  They would be better off in a Vargr Hell."

She looks at her fellow passenger, and suddenly laughs, banging her palm, flat, on the table, "Then it is no more than they des-serve, yes?"

"Does the salvage operation go well, Mister Orgesh?" Corlan asks, politely.


On the crew side, Yas and Saskia head through to  talk to Conrad, leaving Jago and Shui alone in the Crew Lounge, for the moment.

Jago’s mouth curls into a quirky, sideways smile as he takes the coffee from Shui, “thanks,” he says taking a sip.

“You know I’m going to miss this when you’ve gone, I’ve never had a steward who makes coffee this good all of the time. I always get a decent Java but some people I’ve had could make it taste like dish water. Heck, with most of them I’ve resorted to making it myself when they wern't looking.”
.

Shui bows, a small fold from the waist.  When she straightens, she offers a small smile.  "You do me great honor, Captain Lanza," she returns, relieved to be able to offer him his proper title.  "My mother..."  Shui pauses, then cocks her head for a moment, her smile losing one of its sides.  "My mother taught me very well," she finishes, considering the man.

Embarassment touches her eyes.  "As for the matter of my leaving...I find myself in a peculiar situation, Captain.  I may have been overly hasty, premature in my decision, which puts us both in an awkward position."  For someone who carefully considers her every move, it is a mortifying admission.  "I find my situation has changed, somewhat.  Perhaps it is possible you have not yet filled my position aboard the ship?" she asks hopefully.  The question leaves a way out for Jago to refuse, should he so desire.

"Dren!  Those frelling fahrbot Swordies.  Fanatics, all of them."

Saskia studies the sensor data as it plays back on the monitor, and her face grows pale at what she sees, "They'd cut their own mivonks off, and eat them, raw, if they were ordered to."

A little more thought, and she calms down somewhat, "Makes me wonder what they thought they needed to hide that much."

"Yep, that's about what I figured too.  I guess they're up to somethin'." Conrad agrees with Saskia, "Well, not even countin' the whole declarin' war on their neighbors thing, obviously."

"Notice how they di'n't start to turn until they had themselves a confirmed kill though?  Wanted to be certain'd be my guess."

“Why Shui, I’d be delighted if you were able to stay with us, we all would.”

Jago beams happily, step forward to wrap Shui up in a big, old, friendly hug, but holds off at the last moment and lets his arms drop loosely into a slightly embarrassed silence.

“I’ll tell the others,” he says, “or would you rather?”

OOC
Sorry, thought I’d posted this ages ago.
.

Tylen turns to Corlan,

"Pretty much as expected on the Salvage front. It's a fairly mixed bag of stuff. If there's any serious profit to be made it will be in how Jago decides to market it. He's the trader of the outfit."

Tylen refrained from mentioning the explosives or the mysterious box in front of either of the passengers. What Jago information decided to release was up to him, and he trusted the Boss to make the best decision for everyone. Since the Vargr had technically chartered the ship there may be a share due to the Alien.

A small frown creases Shui's brow, and she cocks her head to the side for a moment.  Embarassment touches her cheeks - perhaps it is her own manner that puts the Captain off?  He stands before her, a forlorn figure, and she cannot let him continue to believe his feelings are unwelcome, nor their expression.

Stepping smoothly forward, she loops her arms around his neck and leans into him, cheek against his shoulder - for all of its delicacy, her hug is not an air-kissing A-frame, but a true continuation of his first, friendly reaction.  "Thank you, Captain Lanza," Shui whispers, giving him a gentle squeeze.  "I would be honored if you would let the others know."

How else to tell him how much the ship and crew have come to mean to her?

OOC - No problem, had that happen myself!  :D

"To be expected, I suppose.  If they had been engaging in piracy just before their mishap, they likely had little control over the cargo they were able to obtain." Corlan replies to the gunner, with a nod.

The retired businessman smiles, and continues, "Interesting though a visit to a genuine wrecked pirate vessel was, I must admit that I found the discovery that there are things capable of living, even on a desolate ice moon, such as this one, was the most fascinating part of the experience."

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.