With the newly-rescued damsel in distress in tow, the crew of Profit Margin make their way back through the maze of tunnels, corridors, and concourses which comprise the port complex.  They stay close, making their way through the crowds.

In front of the window of a tailor's shop a scuffle breaks out as they pass, but two red-clad, and armed, Port Security officers are close by, and hurry to break it up.  As the crew move on, they hear the sound of a siren coming closer, somewhere behind them.  It seems that arrests are the order of the day at the moment.

Further on, and more security officers are standing on a crosswalk, some five metres above the deck, observing the crowds below, while one of their number discusses something with the leader of a quartet of Marines.

Never overly comfortable in crowded areas, Tylen is starting to feel slighly uncomfortable.  It is clear that trouble of some sort is brewing around here, and it would be better that they were back at the Profit Margin before it kicked off.

One of the thought that runs through his mind is particularly disturbing If a kick in the shin gets Saskia a stay inside and fine, what would matched pair of shotgun blasts bring Yas?

Keeping a careful eye out, Tylen starts to work out how far it is to the ship ....
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Tue 06 Apr 2010.

"There was this bar, and this drunk was telling a really wild story.  Some of the other customers started laughing at him, and things turned nasty.  The cops showed up and started to make arrests.  I tried to stop them arresting the storyteller, and ended up getting arrested myself." Saskia explains, looking more than a little embarrassed.  "I managed to get the whole story out of him in the drunk tank.  It's a bit strange, but I think Jago will be interested in it."

"Hmm, only light armaments, no backup.  Nothing major, evidently, just plain, boring standard patrols," Yas comments as she glances around the place, counting and assessing the Marine presence.  "Minor civilian unrest, I'd say, and at the moment they don't expect it to escalate.  Maybe they're too busy with that, though, to bother much with shin-kicking ladies."

She chuckles as nudges Sassy, then flashes her coat.  "We'd have gotten you out of there on way or another."

"At least your career as an outlaw allowed you to complete your self-imposed mission then, eh?" she continues as she turns around again to keep up the pace on their march toward the Margin.

So much security.  So many people about.  There's a tension in the air - Shui feels it more than she had when they headed for the police station.  Has she simply become more attuned to it?  Or is it rising.

"Perhaps we should hurry," she quietly suggests before returning her attention to the engineer.

"I would be curious to hear the story myself," the doctor muses.  If it was enough to capture Saskia's attention, it certainly is worth hearing.  But Ms. Blake's own story hammers home the point of rising tensions - police coming to make arrests based on a bit of mockery in a private establishment?  It seems...excessive, even for a planet of this level of security.  "To hear it over hot drinks and lunch in the ship's lounge, mind.  I hope you are correct with your assessment, Ms. Crow," she adds, with another quick look around herself, searching for more pockets of trouble in the crowd.

Closer to the docking bay, the crowds are growing denser, and it becomes noticeable to everybody that a lot of them are carrying luggage.  Ahead another squad of marines seems to be trying to divert people away from the direction that Profit Margin's crew need to travel in.  They are having a certain degree of success, turning people around and sending them back the way they came.

One of them glances in the direction of the approaching crew, and nudges one of his fellows.  The two men start forward, avoiding other people and making a direct run towards Saskia and her rescuers.

They stop directly in front of the crew party, and the second man, a scarred veteran standing about two metres tall, with muscles which are obvious even through his light armour, which bears a sergeant's rank insignia, shakes his head, "Not a good day to be taking a walk, Captain.  Or should that be 'Citizen Crow' these days?  Do you have pressing business down that way, Ma'am?"  He jerks his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the exact direction back to the docking bay.

Ash listens to Saskia's story with more than passing interest.  He figured that it must have been one heck of a story for there to be an actual brawl instigated.  Ash still found it incredibly difficult to envision Saskia getting that worked up, but then he really has only known her for a week or so.  Given that and Saskia's ready admission that she is willing to 'go for the gold,' Ash doesn't take a chance and his hands, sequestered in his duster, move slightly to block access to his mivonks a little more readily.

He was about to ask a question about Saskia's adventures, when the two gentlemen approach the group and address the Chief of Security, in a rather disparaging manner.  His hands don't move, but Ash can feel the fingertips get a little clammy.  He eyes the two men warily and then glances back at Yasmine, getting ready to follow her lead.

When the marines walk up to them, Saskia steps back, behind everybody else.  She's working on the assumption that Yas and Tylen are definitely carrying, and Ash and Shui might be.

Which leaves me the only person here that I know definitely isn't packing firepower.

Her only real option, if trouble starts, is to run away.  A move that would be facilitated by being as far from the marines as possible.

So far though, they seem friendly enough.

Tylen groans internally and tenses slightly as the Marines detach themselves and head straight for their group.  The scout then steps slightly to the side offering a bit of a covering pocket for the Engineer and the Doctor if  they should choose to use it.

However, he visibly relaxes as the marines address Yas.  They clearly know her of old, and the question about their destination is politely phrased, and even implies concern for her safety.  Confident that Yas will handle the marines, Tylen turns  his attention back to whoever might be close by on his side of the group.

Just for a moment his hand drops to where his gun belts should be, but finds the place empty.  With a slight shrug he scratches his chin with his thumb, and then lets his hand drop down to his side.

Shui, on the lookout for trouble, spots the marines as the others do.  Her lips thin as the marines close in, and she hopes it isn't trouble they seek.  Then they speak...unfortunately, recognizing Yasmine still leaves the question open for discussion.

Ash seems ready to assist their security chief, and Tylen moves to allow both her and Saskia some measure of protection.  Good.  Saskia pulls back - wisely, given the circumstances - and Shui opts to join her, leaving it three crew members against two marines.  The marines, no doubt, would judge this close to even odds, shaded in their own favour.

Wrongly judge it so, in fact.

Shui knows of Mr. Ogresh's background, physical condition, and has heard something of his skill - she would, were she so inclined, bet on the hardened scout over an average marine six days of seven.  And Yasmine?  No contest.  Mr. Tescali she does not know, but at this point, he's icing on the cake.  The only question, if things go poorly, is how much of her own medical supplies she will have to use up getting them back on their feet.

As it happens, though, her own movement is not without a touch of tactical reasoning - with most of the attention faced forward, the doctor takes a moment to check the space to their backs.  Marines, as Yasmine has demonstrated, are hardly the lunk-headed idiots the vids like to make them out to be.

Especially not when it comes to their own tactical movement.

"Actually, that would be Security Officer Crow, also second on command," Yas says with a deadpan voice and stretches up a little, placing a hand on the coat near where she is packing a shotgun.

"Marcus, you old worm, been promoted to Gunny, uh?  Or did they discharge you upwards by mistake?" she near laughs and throws a mock punch at the massive chest of the man.  "What the frell are you doing in this arse-end of this miserable universe?  How's the old gang?  Bet I could still take you down too!"

There is a rather strong possibility that she knows the man.

"Is that you, Uukhudimakalaan?  Mac?  Grown a bit since last, eh?" she then asks the other man, appearing to pronounce his name flawlessly.  Without waiting for a response she then replies to the thumbed inquiry.

"Yup, on our way home to the Margin, with a really dangerous criminal in tow," she says and waves her own thumb in the direction of Saskia and then chuckles.  "You know how engineers can be!  Why, what's seems to be the problem?"

The Marines regard Saskia with some skepticism.

"We're mostly doing okay, Ma'am.  We're here with the fleet.  Resupplying and personnel rotation.  At least for the Navy.  No rotation for those that do the real work." the sergeant responds to Yas.  "Because things are so busy, the locals requested help with security, and our company is down here this week."

"Things were just calming down a little, but now there's a new problem.  News feeds are reporting that Duke Norris is dead, and the civilians are getting a bit nervous.  We've been ordered to keep them from panicking, and turn them away from the ships, because Command doesn't want riots as they try to get transport to worlds further from the border."

He frowns, "It's not good, but it needs doing.  Supposed to be reinforcements on their way down as we speak."

"I can let you through, since you have legitimate business here, but you should be careful.  We got a report that the second squad got swamped, and lot of people got through the checkpoint.  If you want, I can lend you a couple of jarheads to see you get home safe?"

Ash relaxes visibly, as the remarks are not nearly as disparging as he initially anticipated.  Apparently, just merely Marine banter, he notes to himself.  Ash scans the crowd, taking a backwards glance to make sure that the Doctor and the Engineer are still with the group, as he tries to keep one ear on the conversation between the Security Chief and the two Marines.  Ash winces ever so slightly when the remarks about the Navy are made, but he also recognizes that the Marines are on their 'home' turf and that their assessment is likely correct.

Besides there are a great many other things to worry, if what the Sergeant reports is true.  If the Archduke is truly dead, then banter between the services is irrelevant.  He glances at the others for their reaction, hoping that the churning in his stomach is just the station's coffee rebelling.  It can't be true, he notes to himself, but Ash's eyes dart to reticule on his headband as he scans the various public news and data feeds for more information.

It appears as if no hostilities are about to erupt, and Shui relaxes...only to stiffen at the news of the Duke's death.  Immediately, she raises her dataglove and begins searching the local net for any solid confirmation of this tragedy.  The world is about to destabilize for a short period, and now everyone knows it.  Which means...the period might be longer and deeper than first anticipated.

They need to get to the ship.

"Ms. Blake...perhaps we should move closer to the others," she murmurs, catching Ash's quick, nervous glance as the man runs his own check on the local news.  Seeing this, Shui abandons her search - his doesn't take as much of his attention off his surroundings, and she's concerned about Saskia, already the victim of a harrowing day.

Perhaps it is his Darrian background, but Tylen doesn't appear concerned by the death of the Duke.  A slight shrug of the shoulders, perhaps, as he hears the news, although he reaches into a pocket and pulls out a small coin.  Without thinking he starts fiddling with it as he continues to watch the crowd passing by.

Tylen is confident that Yas will make the right decisions to get them back to the ship in  one piece, it is his job is to watch her back.

The second Marine, Uukhudimakalaan, probably of Vilani descent judging by his name, keeps a wary eye on the crowd.  His weapon is cradled casually, not quite pointing directly at any of the passers-by.

The sergeant nods approvingly as Shui and Saskia move a little closer to their friends, "Good idea.  Things can get out of hand a lot faster than you might think."

"We'll be heading back to the ship, yeah, and if you can spare the personnel, certainly.  Wouldn't do to get one of my shipmates injured on the home stretch." Yas replies.

"Dead, eh?  Yeah, that'll make some people nervous.  Know who got to him?" she asks, having no doubt that his death was anything but natural.

"Reports are saying he got sick.  I'm not buying it though.  Norris was - is - tough, and he has his own doctors.  I just don't see some kind of 'flu taking him out."

The sergeant grins as Yas accepts his offer, "I'm glad you accepted the escort, Ma'am, otherwise I'd have had to arrest you and march you back to the ship under armed guard."

"This way, please, ladies and gentlemen."

He leads the way back to the checkpoint, "Bennes and Carson, front and centre.  Got a job for you.  You are to escort the Captain and her crew-mates back to their ship.  Take good care of them, the Captain is one of us.  I hear that she so much as scuffed her boots while under your protection and you'll both be on PD for a month."

So with two extra guns, and a pair of cutlasses, the group continues on their way back to the ship.

"Correction, you'd try to arrest me and end up forcing me to embarrass you in front of your men," Yas retorts with a grin of her own.

Waving for the others to follow she marches along with the gunny, looking over the two escorts as the are given explicit orders to see to that no harm befalls any of them.  She briefly considers kicking something in order to scuff her boots, just to see if her old comrade in arms will prove true to his word, but then she would not be around to witness it anyway.

"Hey, send me a call if you got time, Gunny," she calls out as they begin the trek back to Profit Margin.

Numbers and strength - two things valuable, Shui suspects, in getting them back to the ship in one piece.  Hopefully the mere presence of the marines alongside their own people will be enough to ward off the casual criminal, or near-hysterical citizen looking for someone to blame.  A sad situation, to be sure, made worse by the chaos to come.

She hopes the people of the planet survive it without terrible losses.

"Thank you very much for the escort, Gunnery Sergeant," she offers as they leave the rest of the marines behind at the checkpoint, then turns to address their escorts as they walk.  "Your pardon, marines, but if you have a moment when we arrive at the ship, I might be able to put something together for you and your friend - ah, your unit."  The Steward waves back toward the other marines, still holding the line.  "Perhaps a small meal and coffee, or something along those lines?"

Not for the first time on this trip ashore, Tylen misses the familiar weight of the pistols at his hips.  I must talk to Yas about that second shotgun.  Maybe a  canvas shoulder bag would disguise it?" we wonders as he takes his place on the flank.

He is acutely aware that his side of the party is not well defended.

Ash walks with the rest of the group.  His eyes are still scanning the crowd, but it is also apparent that his attention is split between his virtual and material realities.  Ash figures that he and Tylen as minimally armed as they are, are more the protected than the protectors.  And that may not be a bad thing. he notes to himself.  He purses his lips before he notes in a low voice to the rest of the crew, "Lung Infection.  Unconfirmed.  The worst kind of information - short and all too brief.  It leaves too much to the imagination..."

He shakes his head slightly, "And the lot here have a lot of imagination; we are much too close to the border for comfort; people here are really paranoid.  Rumors and speculation are rampant.  People are really scared."  Ash exhales slightly, before he continues, his voice ratchets down a notch, "Scared people are the worst.  They can act the most irrationally; especially if they figure that they have nothing to lose..."  He hunches over slightly, pulling his duster closer around him; all of a sudden the station's temperature seems just a little bit chilly to him...

Saskia hurries to keep up, glad now that she is no longer out here alone.  Even with the two extra guards she doesn't feel entirely safe.  After all, that bar had broken out into a brawl easily enough.  All it had taken was one man to throw a punch, and before anybody knew what had happened the owners had called for the police.

Still, she did manage to get some useful information out of the old man.

With a start she realises that she is falling behind a little, so she runs forward and grabs hold of the tail of Ash's coat, not wanting to lose contact with her friends.

The sergeant glances at Shui, and nods his thanks, "Just doing our job.  Thanks for the offer, but decent food and coffee would be wasted on these apes.  They've been eating Corps rations for so long their stomachs couldn't handle the real thing." he gestures towards Yas, "Ask the Captain."

"I'll try to get a message to you, Ma'am," he says to Yas as the group are preparing to move out, "but you know how it is.  I still have a real job, and I'm likely to be a little busy for the next few months."


Moving forward through the crowd is worrying... there is a certain amount of tension in the air.  And it's building.  One of the Marines glances back over his shoulder, "Ma'am, if any of your group are armed, I'd suggest carrying the weapons openly.  Means they'll be quicker to put into use, and when people see them, it might make them think twice about getting too close."

Without waiting to see if anybody follows his advice, the Marine returns his attention to the crowd.

The two men advance at a steady pace, their training allowing them to open a path without actually having to resort to physical violence.  There is a faint crackling sound from the second Marine, and he raises one hand to his ear, and says quietly, "Understood, Gunny,  Will wait for extraction."

Then he speaks aloud, "Sergeant says that when we get to your ship, we're to wait there for transport."  He grins at Shui, as he adds, "Guess we'll get to try some of that coffee you offered, after all."

"Yas?"  Tylen asks reaching an open hand across to the Ex marine, hoping she will pass the second shotgun over.  "I think it might be time to take you up on the loan of your old shotgun." the ex-scout says to his colleague.

The other hand still fiddles with the coin, while his eyes hardly move from the crowd about them.