Jago consider's Ash's question briefly, and then shakes his head, "I'm not expecting trouble.  Mostly I just want another set of eyes and ears along.  That way, if there's a lot going on out there, some important little detail is less likely to get missed."

As soon as the navigator is ready, Jago heads down the ramp, with a cheerful nod and a, "Looking very professional." to Tylen.  He also hands the gunner a sheaf of paperwork.  "That's the docs for the thirty tons of grain, just in case somebody comes to pick it up while I'm out."

Then he heads away from the door marked, "Immigration", instead going toward a less conspicuous one, labelled as leading to the "Port Marshal's Office".


Shui and Yas find themselves in the passenger side lounge, where Conrad is putting is shipboard experience to good use, reminding people not to forget their belongings, and generally organising things.  Corlan, since he is not planning on leaving the ship here, is sitting in his cabin, with the door open, watching proceedings.


In Engineering, the drives are quiet.  Only the power plant is still in use now, and that is ramping down to the minimal output required, now that the ship is down.


Jago and Ash reach the door, just as a group of techs come through it.  Jago spots the one who looks to be in charge, "Crew Chief?"  As soon as the other man confirms his identity, Jago instructs him regarding the ship's needs, "I want fuel, water, data, and effluent lines.  No power linkage though... engineer likes to handle that herself."  He resists the temptation to add, "Wash the windshield, and check the tyres."

The ground crew set to work, opening a series of hatches along the wall, and running assorted lines from them to the ship.  Jago and Ash, meanwhile, continue on to the Port offices.

"Oh yeah, I know them.  There'll be plenty of fights, people on both sides venting frustration, some on the same side too, and also personal grudges being exposed during shore leave, but it'll be short and not overly brutal, seeing as the MP will be all over the place.  Throw a few punches and then scatter, kinda.  It's good, really, to vent I mean, and it'll make things easier once back on the ship," Yas says with a chuckle and then, for a moment, her face adopts an utterly blank expression while the voice carries a sharp edge, "in most cases.  Some things are... ...harder... to pretermit."

Another lifetime, yet still yesterday, so much anger and even more sadness.  She would do it again, though, eagerly.  Some things are harder to let slip without consequences, someone had to collect the debt.

With a visible mustering of willpower the ex-marine shakes it off and refocuses on here and now, and on the other woman, with the grin slowly returning, "So yeah, we'll be perfectly safe as long as we stay out of the arguments and avoid any stray bottles and chairs, if the owner is unwise enough to leave the latter loose!"

"Now then, who do we kick off the ship first, again?" she asks, quietly but eagerly, looking prepared to do so literally in all potential interpretations of the phrase, with boots looking like they would be painful to encounter on a personal level.

Not blind, nor tone-deaf, Shui doesn't miss the change in Yasmine's behavior and tone.  Certainly she isn't fully in the know as to the Security Chief's reason for leaving the Marines, and she wouldn't wish to pry - if Yasmine wanted her to know, she'd talk.  Perhaps sometime in the future...

...but from the sounds of it, what Yasmine speaks of might very well have something to do with it.  One can only imagine what it might have been.

"Indeed."  Shui grimaces.  "Some things are very difficult to dismiss."  Having gone through something along those lines herself, she can appreciate Yasmine's sudden closing off, though she doubts they had the same experience.

But as Yasmine returns to herself, so, perforce, must Shui - she nods to the ex-marine's assessment of the situation, a hopeful light entering her eyes.  "I can only pray that will be the case, Ms. Crowe.  As to the passengers - good day, Mr. Dietz! - we begin with the first class cabins, assisting them -" some emphasis on the phrase "- with an easy leavetaking.  After this, we move to the remainder as needs arise."

"Hey, Ditzy," Yas waves to Dietz as Sushi greets him and nods to her instructions, letting slip completely the comment about things difficult to dismiss.

"While I'm better with ass-cisting them off I'll do my best merely assisting them," she tries to reassure the stewardess and attempts, probably in jest, to adopt a meek expression which may be more scary than her usual business-like 'I am a bad-ass marine you do not want to mess with, punk' attitude.

"I'll get Jago for this, one way or another," she mutters under her breath, jokingly - or perhaps not.

With some luck one of the hoity-toities will go on a crazed rampage, for once.

"Aye, Captain.  I can manage that, I believe."  Ash said with a half-smile, half-smirk, "My reflexes may not be what they used to, but my eyes and ears work just fine."  Ash could and definitely did respect Jago's cautious side.

He followed Jago through the bustle in the hanger to the Port Marshal's office and beyond.  Ash kept his eyes and ears open as ordered, watching for anything unusual or any sign of what might be the cause of all of the commotion in orbit around the station.  As they walked through the hallways between offices, he configured his comm to tie into the public network.  Also, Ash pushed a feed into the Port Authority channel for any additional announcements or traffic updates.  And just in case, since there was a naval station on Frenzie, using his Naval officer identity codes, he tried to tap into the public and private armed services channels to see what type of chatter was going on there.   Ash pushed the streaming data banners through his comm onto the reticule of his HUD, which still shaded part of his left eye.

With everything except the most basic systems powered down, Saskia leaves her post and makes her way to her cabin, where she pulls on her one and only pair of boots.  Then she goes looking for Jago.

The Bridge is deserted, and so is the Captain's office.  With a start, she realises that there doesn't seem to be anybody else aboard.  At least, not as far as she can see in Crew Territory.  She smiles.  As far as she can tell from here, it's just her and the machines.

Perfect.

Then she presses the intercomm switch.  "Yas?  If Jago has gone dirtside, that puts you in command.  I'm requesting permission to go out and see if I can scare up some supplies for Engineering.  Spare parts, mostly."

"Well, let us perforce save our ill-wishes for Captain Lanza, shall we?" Shui brightly requests, hoping the security chief will go back to her customary expression.  The mask-like, innocent face she puts on won't win the Profit Margin any good reviews from the passengers to any guild or starport employment board.  "I doubt we shall see any trouble with our passengers..."  Trailing off as she reaches the Salicci's door, Shui puts on her own game face and chimes.

"Steward Tiesi and Chief Crow," she notes through the intercom.  "May we assist with disembarkment?"

Taking the papers from Jago, Tylen nods at the captain  and idly taps the papers against his leg for a moment or two.  Then with a look of irritation he slips then carefully into an inside pocket of his jacket.

Unable to bear the fake face for too long Yas finds herself wearing her usual dealing-with-customers face once they reach the first door.  So much for the hope to kick some butt off the ship.  Ah well.

As Sushi announces their presence she snort in a semi-failed attempt to cover up a laugh.

"Sorry, thought you were going to say dismemberment, you know," she whispers in a hissing attempt to not laugh.

The Selaccis, as it turns out, are almost ready to leave.  Their droid is in the stateroom with them, ticking quietly as it assists in packing their belongings.  It glances towards Shui and Yas, and gives a cheerful, "Good afternoon, ladies." as the steward and security officer appear at the door.

The Selaccis themselves are both in the room, and are a little less friendly. There appears to be a certain amount of tension between the two of them.  Jacob Selacci does manage a nod of thanks, "Thank you, but I believe everything is fine... "

"Hah!" Simone interjects, shoving clothes into a bag.

"... and we should be ready to depart shortly."


Outside the ship, the ground crew link up the umbilicals, per Jago's directions.  Tylen can see some of the work from the ramp.  They seem to know what they're doing. 


Jago and Ash walk some distance until they find themselves in an office area.  The signs above the door indicate that this is the Port Marshal's office.  Around the walls is a vast array of holoprojectors, generating a massive image of the planet and the nearby space just below the high ceiling.  The image appears to be real-time, showing all the ships in orbit, along with projected courses.

In the centre of the room is a circle of desks, each manned by a port employee clad in a port authority uniform.  Most of them seem to busy, either speaking into headset microphones, or talking to people seated opposite them at their desks.  Hundreds more people are in the room, apparently waiting to speak to one of the port employees.

Jago wanders slowly through the crowd, his attention seemingly fixed on the holographic orrery, with Ash following close behind.

Tylen lounges back against the nearest strut and plays idly with his data glove, flicking a button or two and then keying a message quickly.


With a chuckle at what ever he saw on the glove he lets his hands drop and rest lightly at the front of his belt.

Shui coughs after Yasmine's witticism, shooting her a quick glance as the door opens on the Selucci's.  Apparantly, however, the situation is somewhat less than marital bliss - the couple appears to be more than a little at odds, something she had not noticed during the short voyage.  A recent argument?  Or something simmering below the surface Shui hadn't picked up?

"Good afternoon," she replies to the droid - politeness as built-in to her as it is into the 'tronic.  She bows to the Selucci couple, giving no evidence she has noted their tension.  "As you wish - please comm me when you are prepared to go, and I will see about your leave-taking."

When the door closes, she cocks an eyebrow.  "I doubt they need any assistance from you, Ms. Crow - they seem quite capable of dismemberment, themselves."  She sighs, frowning; guests with issues are a sore point with Shui.  She'll be going over her own performance for the next two days, worried her own actions (or lack) may have catalyzed their difficulties.

"Mr. DeSant and Mr. Dietz are next," she frets, "then I will -" finally "- be able to release our low-berth passengers from their chambers."

She detests the low-berths - dangerous, dangerous things.

With no immediate response from Yas, Saskia considers her options.  As Profit Margin's Chief Engineer, and one of the longest-serving crewmembers, in the absence of Jago and Yas, then she is the ranking officer.

"Permission to go ashore, Lieutenant Blake?"

If Lieutenant Blake notices her sudden promotion, she chooses to ignore it.  "Permission granted, Ensign.  Bring me back some icecream.  Coffee flavored."

The engineer makes her way out into the hold, where she finds Tylen standing at the ramp.

"I'm just going to see if I can get some spares and replacement parts.  If you see Yas or Jago, can you let them know?  Shouldn't take long."

Ash follows Jago around the large holographic display.  He is watching the people as well as trying to take in all of the information on the three dimensional display.  He smiles weakly as he notes to Jago, "Well, Mr. Dietz should have no problems with his stated desire to reenlist here - the IN appears to have no shortfall of personnel or ships right now.  We can only hope that Mr Dietz has a quiet tour."  Ash knows that the latter is highly unlikely, nor quite possibly, does Conrad want it that way.  Still, in Ash's past experience, the quieter a tour the better.  All seeing 'action' really ever got me, Ash notes wryly to himself, was to get shot at.

Ash taps Jago on the shoulder and asks, "Is the plan to leave as soon as possible, Captain?  It seems that it is sort of expected of us.  I am not sure how much time the Profit Margin will be given once our passengers disembark..."

Tylen nods as Sakia goes past, "Sure.!" he responds to her request to inform Yas of her where abouts.

Bored, he pulls a coin from his pocket and starts flipping it idly, then rolling it around his knuckles.  The flips work out OK, but as he rolls the coin across his knuckles it drops to the floor and he has to bend down to pick it up again  more practice needed he thinks to himself with a grin.

Although he appears casually occupied with his toy, he stays aware of what is happening around the ship and, in particular, by the pile of crates.

Unfortunately, Shui's conversation with Yas is interrupted by an odd chirping noise which comes, hopefully, from the former Marine's pocket...

"Your pocket is beeping."  A small moment of humor from the doctor - understated, of course.  She continues to march for Corlan's room, knowing full well Yasmine can talk and walk at the same time, whatever another non-marine might think.

Some people might even be foolish enough to say so out loud and within earshot.

"I'm sure they are, sounds like they've got things to talk about.  Not shadow on you, though, rich folks tend to work themselves up easily enough, in my experience.  But, yes, onwards, hope still lives for more excitement," Yas comments as she glances back at the now closed door, briefly having pondered blasting the robot for calling her a lady.

"Ah, yes, it does that when it's happy," she says in response to the beeping pocket, although it is more her communicator near the pocket than the pocket itself making the noise.  But that noise means a priority message, by whatever form.

Bringing the device up she looks at it and humphs, clearly reading on the small display.

She pulls up her left sleeve and taps on her wrist, evidently typing something.  Then she grins evilly and says, "Now someone else's pocket is beeping too."

When his data glove buzzes discretely, Tylen check and reads the incoming message. For a moment his fingers play across micro keys, before he drops his hand to his belt again, the half bored smile never leaving his face as he starts to lounge again.

Once again the pocket is happy and Yas picks it up with a sceptical expression.

"Pardon me, I'm a wanted woman.  Not sure if that's a good thing or not, yet," she tells Sushi and then proceeds with reading the new message.

With a smile that grows ever so crooked she types on her wrist again and then mutters something about someone needing shooting somewhere.

"Thanks." Saskia responds to Tylen, then proceeds down the ramp.  She stops, and turns back for a moment, "I've got my communicator, if anybody needs me."

After which she decides that she really can't put it off any longer.  She moves out from under the ship's belly and looks around the bay.  Offices there, Customs there, and no door conveniently marked as the way to the shops.

With a sigh, she heads for Customs - there will probably be somebody there might who will be able to give her directions.

All out of hugs?  That probably saves me from traction Tylen thinks as he reads the message from Yas, a broad grin on his face, as he lounges against the strut watching the guys work on the ship.

However, he makes sure he keeps an eye on the crates.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:01, Thu 21 Jan 2010.

Shui cocks an eyebrow, waiting as Yasmine answers a pair of communiqué.  A slight smile touches her lips as a picture springs to mind - all over the spaceport, people's pants ringing.  "I see that as usual you are giving as good as you get," she notes, arriving at Corlan's door.  There's no reason to put on an official face, so she chimes him as they talk.

"Perhaps you have a date in port?" she probes, almost slyly.  "I can do this myself if there are places you must be...."

"Oh yes, I always send word for a date in ports we are going to," Yas replies with mock sigh and puts the back of her hand against her forehead in a dramatic gesture.  "So many planets and only one of me, oh, how the universe must suffer in vain desire and hope."

"No, no date.  Or are you asking me out on one?" she then quips and flashes a big, big smile at the other woman.

Saskia doesn't make it as far as Customs.  Instead she runs into a security patrol, two officers in light ceramite body armour and helmets.  A short conversation reveals that she is heading in the wrong direction, she needs to go back about two hundred metres and take a left...

Conrad Dietz, as might be expected of somebody with a military background, is all prepared to leave the ship.  His bags are packed, and having given what help he could to other passengers, he is now sitting in his cabin, with the door open, staring at a blank wall with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Jago moves towards one end of the open office, not so much threading his way through the crowd as scaring it out of his way.  At last he reaches a bank of terminals near one wall.  As soon as one is vacated, somebody rushes forward to occupy it.  Eventually Jago is the new occupant of one.  He studies the screen for a moment, then starts typing.  As he inputs the details of the cargo he wants to sell, the screen displays a list of possible purchasers.  "Most of them look like agents." he explains to Ash, "They'll put me in touch with somebody else, and take a cut of whatever they pay.  These last two look promising, though.  Do you want to call one, and I'll take the other?"

On the cargo ramp, Tylen continues to goof off, as the techs finish hooking up the ship, and start to move on to their next job.  As they go, the former Scout hears them joking about how much overtime they'll be earning this month...