Striding back toward the 'lounge' where she left the monks, Shui pauses to answer the captain.  + Captain Lanza, I need only to run a quick medical check on the low-berth passengers, though I would prefer to give Mr. Tescali his full medical as soon as possible. +  It looks like that's out of the question for the moment.

Studying her dataglove's holoscreen, she checks to see if there are any further passengers expected, and that everyone (including Corlan) is now safely aboard.

Saskia snorts at Yas's remark, and answers, "You should be so frelling lucky."

Followed by, "Not clockwork.  No way they'd get enough power to run it from a wound spring, and if they could, they wouldn't get the efficiency to let it lift all of those bags.  I'm guessing a fuel cell, or maybe - "

Jago's call interrupts her speculation, so she reaches for the nearest comm panel, "Drives all in the green, Jago, just waiting for you to give the word."

Ash looked up from one of the displays on his console and gave Jago the thumbs up, as he noted, "All bridge pre-flight checks concluded and signed off, Captain."  He leaned back in his chair waiting for the others to sound off.  As he did so, he glanced again at the passenger roster: Corlan DeSant, the Selaccis, Conrad, Mr. Kostekyn, and the younger couple - made seven.  Ash thought that he recalled Jago mentioning something about one of the low berths being free, but as it stood, there were six monks filling the six cryoberths.

Ash cleared his throat quietly, before asked "Captain, do we intend to leave one of the staterooms empty on this trip?  Are we still waiting on someone?  Or are we giving one of the sleepers a free upgrade?"  He gave Jago a crooked, if slightly conspiratorial, smile as he added, "You know, if we tried to be nice and upgrade one of the monks, I am not sure that Tsort would approve.  Upgrades might be an abomination."  Ash made a mental note to make sure that he brushed up on the tenets of Tsort as soon as possible.

"Drums and keyboards haven't arrived yet." Tylen reminds Yas before she makes her report on cargo.  Then he saunters back up the loading ramp and stands at the top looking out over the spaceport, "I wonder what they intend to do with the hovercraft?" he comments casually, before he glances across at Yas.  "You got your eye on that clockwork sex toy then?" he asks with a grin.

Grinning at Saskia's remark and pulling back her fist as if delivering a punch to the engineer's nose Yas shakes her head and then laughs briefly.

"I owe you one now, Sassy, I owe you one!"

She looks over at Ty as he speaks and shrugs, "They best hurry delivering them then or they have to send a shuttle after us, we got a schedule to keep, you know," and then glances over at the hover craft.

"Maybe they are tired of it and will let it fry during take-off?" she suggests to the former scout and adds, "I'm no mind reader so you best ask them, I suppose."

Then she squints at his last comment and seems to ponder the question.  Then she confides in him, in a theatrical whisper, "He is a looker, I'll say that.  And you're just too much man for me, or I'd be all over you by now.  I'm hopeless that way."

To herself she briefly thinks about the last time she actually did the deed, but brushes it aside as quickly.  Business before pleasure, after all.

(NPC'd)

Jago nods, but the unlit cigar moves from one side of his mouth to the other, and back again, before he answers verbally, "That's all the passengers I could get for Frenzie.  I asked Shui to check if one of the sleepers wants an upgrade.  Not sure if she has an answer on that yet."

Outside the ship, the hovercraft answers the questions regarding its fate by firing up its motors and moving away, towards the exit from the bay.

Jago activates the intercom switch again, "Shui?  Don't forget to see if one of the low berth passengers wants to travel warm.  Be as quick as you can on the medicals, and let me know as soon as you've got the sleepers tucked in."

He grins at Ash as, still addressing the Medic, he adds, "You'll have a week to give Mister Tescali his check-up, once we're in Jump.  I suspect that, like most Navigators with nothing to do in J-Space, he'll welcome any sort of distraction by the third or fourth day."

"Yas?  Tylen?  Cargo all loaded?"  He can, of course, see that the hold looks full, simply by pulling up a feed from the hold security cams, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do these things.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:11, Sat 28 Nov 2009.

"Just waiting for the musical instruments, chief." Tylen responds with a shrug and a grin at Yas, as he acknowledges her description of her own sexual proclivities.  "Yeah ... right."  he comments softly.

There are times, Shui thinks, where she could use an assistant.  This is one of them.  Takeoff can be difficult, between settling all of her passengers (Steward) and getting the Low Berth people prepared (Doctor), while simultaneously ensuring the crew has whatever they require for comfort (Steward, and more of a personal task).

+ Of course, Captain Lanza. +  Entering the lounge, she moves to speak with the abbot, carrying out a quick headcount as she does.  "I'm ready to take you to your berth, now - there will be a medical check, then I can settle everyone and we'll be off."  She leans a little closer, lowers her voice.  "Abbot Letts, there is an unused cabin.  If one of your order wishes to remain awake during their travels, we can certainly accomodate them - the Captain's offer."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:36, Mon 30 Nov 2009.

Saskia takes the opportunity to head through to Engineering.  She knows everybody in there is behaving just fine, but she'll feel much for comfortable sitting where she can talk to them during the lift.  As she settles into her seat, a thought strikes her (or is possibly whispered to her by the fusion plant).

She activates the link to the Bridge, "Hey!  Don't forget to make sure you've sealed the new airlock before we leave the atmosphere."

"If they aren't here soon we'll donate them to charity.  A good cause any way you look at it," Yas says to Ty with a grin of her own.

"And yes, I couldn't possibly handle as much man as you are, being the delicate little flower that I am," she said in a surprisingly gentle and meek voice, batting her eyelashes at him.  The multiple guns and toned up physique somewhat spoiled the impression, however.

"Nah.  You'd just chop off the bits you wanted ...." Tylen responds with a grin.

"True.  Shall I do so now?" Yas says matter-of-factly and looks at Ty with raised eyebrows, putting a hand on her machete, ready to oblige, complete with a friendly yet forbidding smile.

The Abbott smiles at Shui, and shakes his head slowly, looking for all the world like somebody indulging the questions of a child.  When he speaks, his voice bears an odd sing-song intonation, as if he is reciting something from rote, "And Schaefer slept, and Holy Tsort appeared to him in his dreams, and said unto him, 'Lo!  You are blessed above all others upon this vessel.  They shall see the Dark Places of the Void, and the knowledge of those Places shall drive them unto madness.  You shall not share their Fate, for you travel in sleep, and shall not witness the Darkness.  This is My will.'"

"'And when he awoke, he found it was just as Tsort had pronounced.'"

The holy man pauses for a moment, "I'm sorry.  It is one of our most basic tenets that the true Tsortist must travel between worlds only in coldsleep.  To do otherwise risks the discovery of secrets which man was not meant to know.  Followed, shortly afterwards, by insanity."

"And probably death."

Jago chuckles at Saskia's reminder, "I thought I'd leave the door open, and let in some fresh air while we're in Jump.  Already done, Saskia.  Lock's closed and sealed.  And so's the ramp, now."  He reaches out and slaps the appropriate control, and Yas and Tylen find their banter rudely interrupted by the screech of the cargo ramp lifting off the ferrocrete of the bay.

The latches thump home and, officially, Profit Margin is not really on Garda Vilis any longer, at least as far as the local police are concerned.  A murder on board would now fall under the jurisdiction of the ship's own security personnel.

The Captain pulls the displays from Ash's console over to his own and scans them quickly, "Good work." he comments.  "Do you want to call Traffic Control and ask for clearance to lift in about thirty minutes, or shall I do it?"

"You'd blunt that on the tin man" he shouts across the squeal of the ramp as he heads back into the main  body of the ship.

Shui listens to the story, gleaning what information she can from it about the Order.  It does point out some interesting ideas they might have about the rest of the universe, but she only smiles, nodding to his refusal.  "As you wish, Abbot.  Please, follow me - we should get you safely asleep, then, and before that I still require basic medical checks on you and your people."

With that, she leads to them to her office/medical laboratory; following the medicals (brief, but detailed enough not to be perfunctory), she will get them safely ensconced in their sleep-berths.

"I meant you.  I'd be happy to provide this service," Yas calls out with a wide grin as she trails a bit behind the former scout, making certain everything is in order before she stops at a panel where she quickly makes a security check to verify that everything is indeed in order.

"I buy you a drum kit and now you are after my drum stick?" he asks rhetorically "Still ....   If you are that hard up, I will get you a selection of ..  err ..  alternatives next time we hit dirt ...." he continues grinning as he waits for Yas' security to check to be completed.

"So kind of you to offer, but I'll live.  And so will you, it seems, for now," Yas says with a sweet smile and voice alike.  "'sides, you'll regret the drum kit once you hear me play it out of tune..."

"I got an electronic set, they are self tuning ...." he grins across at the ex-marine "So you might be off the beat, but you won't be out of tune."

This message was deleted by the player at 22:46, Fri 04 Dec 2009.

"Oh, but you've never heard me attempting to play, not yet at least.  I can clap out of tune, even.  Beat, now that I've got beaten, kinda comes with the training, you know, but the only tune I'm good with is the radio variant," Yas confesses and then, after a pause with a suspicious look at Tylen, adds, "...unless the set you're talking about is, y'know, 'alternatives'?"

Ash inclines his head acknowledging the Jago's compliment on his work, then has to stifle a chuckle when asked about his preference when dealing with Traffic Control.  He states plainly, starting slowly as he measures his words, "Perhaps, 'want' is too strong a word, Captain."  Ash smirked slightly before he continued, "However, it is your prerogative to delegate the duty, for whatever reason; for example, if you find it to be too tedious or distasteful.  I am more than willing to request flight clearance."

With that Ash toggled the dynamic display that controlled the ship's external comm opening a connection to the Garda Vilis Traffic Control. "Garda Vilis Flight Control," he stated in his monotone 'professional' voice, "this is the Profit Margin requesting clearance for departure in thirty minutes.  That is an estimated departure time of eighteen-twenty hours.  Do you copy, Flight Control?"

"Garda Vilis Downport acknowledging request Profit Margin.  Please stand by for data squirt.  Have a safe journey."

Moments later, course information is scrolling across Ash's console, and repeated on Jago's.  The Captain nods, "That's good.  No traffic problems flagged.  Keep monitoring the channel though, just in case somebody Jumps a battlefleet into orbit.  Happened at Arkadia, and this system is a much bigger target."

He activates the intercom, "All hands.  We'll be lifting in thirty minutes.  I want everybody at... " a pause, Profit Margin is a merchant ship - it doesn't really have a battle stations, at least not one that Jago has ever called for.  Though, now that he thinks of it, he'd be willing to bet that Yas has planned something out, "... I want everybody ready, in case of anything unexpected on the way to the Jump point."

Shui works through the health checks on the monks.  They all seem to be in good shape, something the Abbott attributes to their healthy diet, in which anything more exotic and tasty than bread and water seems to be tempting the wrath of Tsort.  It's perhaps a good thing they'll be spending the whole trip asleep, since the ship's stores don't have a lot which is that bland.

In Engineering, Saskia's drives are running smoothly and green markers are spreading across her main instrument display at a steady pace...

Now on to the rough part.  With the physicals complete, Shui assists the monks in preparing for their time in coldsleep with the proper doses of chemicals, and gives them time to get comfortable in their chambers.  As they fuss and fiddle, she runs one last diagnostic on the units, her concerns at a peak.  She hasn't lost anyone yet, and doesn't plan to on this voyage.

A final check, and she remote-links her data glove to the coldsleep monitoring system, to give her an alarm should any fluctuations occur in their operation or the life signs of the passengers.

All that remains is to push the button, once the monks are settled.

Shui gets the monks settled with ten minutes to spare.  The first of them is already asleep, his core temperature dropping to hypothermia and beyond even before the final berth is sealed.  Their leader insists on going last.

Even if the Abbott, by some freakish chance of metabolism, isn't completely asleep by the time the ship lifts, the internal grav and inertial dampers will ensure that he doesn't feel any movement...

The chronometer on Jago's panel blinks through the last minutes, and then the final seconds, and Profit Margin rises into the air, dead on schedule, graceful as a bird.  She slips into the traffic pattern, transferring to new vectors as required, and climbing easily away from the port.  Two kilometres up, and four out from the perimeter beacon, the drives ramp up to a full two gees, and the climb becomes steeper.

"If you have anything you meant to leave here, you're too late." Jago announces, pulling Ash's own course up, ready for use.  Once they out of the Traffic Control Zone, they'll be free to take whatever route they want.

Minutes pass, until finally, "Garda Vilis Downport to Profit Margin, on my mark, you will be exiting the Regulated Traffic Zone.  Five... four... three... two... one... and mark."

"Thank you, Garda Vilis.  Profit Margin adjusting course to... two four niner point three seven and heading for the Jump limit."


Things go smoothly.  The ship travels out from Garda Vilis, and reaches the hundred diameter limit a little over five hours later.  Saskia confirms the drive status, and Jago dims the lights briefly (because passengers love tradition).

And suddenly, where Profit Margin was, there is now only an expanding cloud of rapidly dissipating photons and other, more exotic, particles.