A series of mechanical  bangs and clatters echoes through the hull, announcing the detachment of the shuttle from Profit Margin's airlock.  Jago relaxes visibly, "Ash, take her to the Jump point, and prepare to Jump on my command.  Saskia, make sure the capacitors are fully charged and ready to go.  I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

He starts towards his office, "Yas, speak to Shui first.  Then come and see me.  You know where I'll be.  Tylen, keep an eye... " he glances round, looking for the gunner, just in time to see that he's already gone.

"Huh!  Must've read my mind."  The captain disappears into the office.

Many observations occur after the Navy ship closes the connection, all of them registering some sort of bemusement.  "Better than that, Mr. Orgesh," Shui assures the gunner.  Certainly he appeared much more efficient than a spit-and-polish officer.

Turning toward Yasmine, she bows slightly. "Nothing of serious note, Yasmine," she begins, honoring the woman's request despite her discomfiture, "merely a follow-up of something you mentioned before."  Her eyes flick to Ash. "Mr. Tescali, I will await you in my office...after I have settled our newest guest."

Jago picks that moment to rattle off his wishes, and the steward waits quietly until he finishes. "Ms Crow - Yasmine - if you like, we can speak as I take Ms. Taylor to her room." The woman will require the assistance - the hallways are still at full-gee.

"Ha!  I'm wearing you down!  Yasmine now, soon it'll be Yas!"

Yas moves up to the doctor-stewardess and punches her lightly on the arm while firing a broad smile at her.

"Sure thing, boss, just don't scream if the desk's not there, yeah?" she teases the captain as he retreats.

A last glance in the direction of the airlock, a flash of sombre emotions, and then she urges Sushi towards the passenger lounge, the grin back in place.

"So, wassup, doc?"

Ash nods in reply to Jago, "Aye, aye, Captain."

Then he smiles genially at Shui, as he notes, "I will visit you for my medical interview after we hit jump space, Doctor."

Ash moves to enter the bridge.  And unlocking the navigator's console, he starts to chart a route for the Margin to the nearest Jump Point.  That location will finalize the jump vectors and complete the jump calculations which should allow them escape the confines of the Frenzie system.  Ash chooses the tightest arc he can manage for the specifications of the Profit Margin and its dual Mitchells-Hyundyne thrusters, knowing all the while that they don't want to look like they are in a rush, but still want to make the best time possible.

Ash is extremely careful about circumventing the Children of the March and its shuttle as he moves the Profit Margin away from the battle cruiser.

"Thank you, Mr. Tescali," Shui returns to their new pilot, before heading off with their pregnant passenger and security officer.  She glances at Yasmine as she assists Keryn into the higher gravity area.

"Ms. Crow...Yasmine...you reported a medical issue to me recently," she begins, keeping the tone light.  "At the time, you said you would consider further action regarding the issue, but that was all.  I was merely wondering if there had been further problems, or if you had come to a conclusion regarding future action."

No specifics, but she doubts Yasmine has forgotten.

"Yep, I did that.  As for action, haven't thought much about it.  Pain, no doubt present, means less once you've crawled a mile with broken legs, y'know?" Yas states pragmatically with a crooked grin, doing what she can to help, if anything, and then shrugs her shoulders.  Almost as an afterthought she adds, "Not that I care to do that again, mind you."

A dry chortle and then she looks over at the doctor.

"Unless, of course, the doctor says otherwise.  This ain't the battlefront, after all.  But, if something's there constantly you'll get used to it, no?  Whether it's pain or people..."

Profit Margin begins to angle away from Children of the March, and the cruiser starts to decelerate, allowing the merchant vessel to pull further and further away.  Their cumulative thrust increasing the distance between them by almost 40 metres/second².  The shuttle is easily capable of matching the cruiser's manoeuvre, and soon slides in under the belly of the larger ship to dock with it.

When the two ships are about three kilometres apart, Children of the March turns end over end and starts back towards her original station, in orbit above Frenzie.

Profit Margin continues her slow climb to the Jump point, 368,000km above Frenzie.  Still almost two hours distant.

Jago comes out of the office with Children of the March falling further behind.  "Tylen, grab yourself a coffee.  I don't think anybody's going to risk attacking us with the fleet in the system in strength.  Well, anybody except the Navy, that is, and if they come after us, I reckon all our guns would be good for would be scorching their paintwork.  A little."

"Ash.  I'm thinking 728-907 is definitely our next port of call.  I don't know how long this business with Yas will take, so if I'm not out of the office by the time you're ready to Jump, just go for it.  I'll let Saskia know, but I figure she'll be ready... she's usually a jump or two ahead of me with anything to do with her engines."

'This business with Yas'  and 'Two hours' makes Tylen grimace as he climbs out of his seat "Do you want a coffee, Ash?" Tylen asks stifling a soft cough.

He figures that the Doc is going to be busy with passengers and Saskia is going to be running around sorting out engines, the same as she normally does -  so he might as well bring his coffee back here.

Ash watches the Children of the March falls away, as the two ships' relative velocity vectors diverge.  Only when Tylen asks about coffee, does Ash notice that he has been holding his breath.  He glances at his fellow ex-Scout and nods, "Hmm... Oh, yes, Mr. Ogresh.  Some coffee would be much appreciated."

Ash tilts his head slightly when the Captain changes his mind about their destination point.  He glances Jago's way.  "Aye, aye, Captain.  Laying new course for System 728-907."  Ash continues to tap away at his console, as setting the course is his job.  He pulls up his alternate set of jump calculations and begins the final iteration over the projected jump point proper vectoring and time signatures.  Given that Jago's job is deciding where to go - and his reasons do not have to be public - Ash debates internally for a moment.  But then figures that it never hurts to ask...  He clears his throat slightly before continuing, "May I inquire as to the change of destination, Captain?"

"I'd say it's due to my instincts as a merchant captain, and my ability to sniff out a trade opportunity at interstellar distances." Jago replies to Ash, nodding sagely as he does so.

Then he laughs, "But if I did, it would be a lie.  Mainly it's just that the port, for want of a better word, at 728-907 is marginally better than at Mirriam, and the only people living at '907 are a handful of port staff, and a half dozen prospectors scraping about in the dirt.  No cities, no crowds, and no cops.  So if there's any sort of riots, like on Frenzie, we'd almost outnumber the locals, and nobody would be telling us what we can and can't use to defend ourselves."

"From there, we hit Denotam, then Rangent, and we're on the Main."

A shrug.  "Mirriam has no law either, but it has a few more people, at least a thousand, according to the library data.  And the higher tech means they're likely to be better armed."

"So mostly it's just good, old-fashioned paranoia driving the decision."

Shui frowns thoughtfully as Yasmine explains.  Finally, she gives a long, slow shrug, her reluctance obvious. "Yasmine, obviously your wishes are the most important thing.  I would just like to point out that living with pain is not nearly as pleasant as living without."

A worried expression passes over her sharp features, like a shadow.  "Then there is the matter of long-term issues.  Pain now indicates a problem.  Problems can grow over time, and while there is 'later' to deal with them, by the time 'later' comes around, one often finds it more difficult to cure."

The doctor sighs.  "I am, of course, not arguing your choice, but as your doctor I feel it is no favour to you not to present you with those thoughts for consideration."

Ash nodded mechanically as the Captain spoke casually about his awesome interstellar mercantile instincts; the edges of his lips only twitching once during the entire sentence.  Then he chuckles and, then laughs along with Jago, unable to contain himself.

Ash nodded, his expression sobering significantly, as the conversation turned serious.  "Eminently sensible, Captain."  He paused and then pursed his lips for a moment before continuing, "While, I am sure that you have already thought of these things, if I might suggest, Captain."  He looked at Jago in earnest, "One, given the state of things here - System 728-907 may have a number of refugees and traders that have been diverted ahead of us.  I would expect that while we may outnumber the natives - there could be more people than the Library suggests already at 728-907 - and they'll be scared and angry.  Though, I am sure that Mirriam is not any better..."

"What I mean to say," Ash noted, catching himself rambling a bit, "is that we may not find much in the way of trade goods, freight or speculative until we hit the Main."

"And two," he adds, a shadow crossing his face, "I think that you should consider a policy for the crew that no one travels outside of the Margin alone on System 728-907.  I... I think that incidents with both Ms. Blake and Ms. Crow here on station at Frenzie were troubling, even if no one was really hurt."

Ash holds out his hands in a slightly dismissive and slightly conciliatory gesture, as he notes rather self-deprecatingly, "Of course, you know the crew much better than I.  And given that the presence of Mr. Armusezash and Ms. Talyor would not be on the Margin without those forays - perhaps... perhaps, I have spoken out of line."

Tylen pauses on his way to get the coffees as he listens t Ash's conversation with Jago, smiling slightly as the captain speaks of his incredible mercantile ability.

The discussion about law levels and population density seems eminently sensible, however the trade discussions don't really mean all that much to him at the moment.  Charts and routes are something for the pilot and navigator and commander, not the second gunner.

However, when then discussion turns to not being allowed out of the ship alone Tylen almost starts to laugh, but manages to turn it into a quick cough.  Shaking his head we wonders if he heard the new navigators background right.  Tylen was sure Ash has said Scouts - but that sounded much more Navy - or even  army.

Still half chuckling to himself he heads out to get  coffee, before returning to the bridge area.

"Never said it was pleasant, merely that you get used to it.  And I'm well aware that pain equals problem too, believe me.  Finally, as I said, I'll do whatever you recommend, as long as it doesn't keep me from my duties, that is," Yas says with a cheerful grin and pats the doctor on the back a couple of times.

"Oh, just no cutting limbs off, I know how you doctor's like to think," she teases Sushi.

"No removing of limbs, indeed."  Stopping at the door, Shui keys it, opening it for their guest.  "I think we should do something about it, and as soon as possible.  I will get back to you with options, then."

She motions into the room.  "Ms. Taylor, you will find the gravity here more to your liking, I suspect.  We'll slowly ramp it up as you exercise.  I will show you around, then you can get settled and come see me at your convenience." 

"I'm gambling that refugees will have headed for somewhere with a few more facilities.  We're talking about people from an underground city, remember.  Roughing it in an open field, without a roof over their heads, and no toilets, probably won't be high on their list of situations to move into."

"Don't worry about talking out of turn... I'll leave the court-martial and summary execution by spacing until we're out from under the Navy guns." Jago assures Ash, with a smile.  "I was going to have a word with everybody once we're in Jump anyway.  I'm planning to restrict shore leave because, let's face it, there's nowhere to go on 728-907, unless you want to take scenic holos of groats eating grass.  And you can likely do that from the cargo ramp."

He gives Tylen an odd look as the gunner stifles a laugh.

"I'm also thinking of getting Yas to teach everybody, including the passengers, a few basic self-defence techniques.  We have an empty cargo hold for the next week at least, so we might as well use it for something.  You never know, Saskia and Corlan might turn out to be veritable killing machines."

The look on his face seems to indicate that he doesn't quite believe that last point himself.

Ash nods quietly to Jago as he explains his logic.  He keeps his mouth shut, since he is sure that the Captain has already made up his mind.  And likely, the Captain has also already pondered the fact that all of his logic applies to his ship as well - the Margin (along with Keryn and Eneris) is fleeing Frenzie and has chosen to go to System 728-907 as the most expedient (and yet potentially out of the way) route to the Main.

Ash cracks a smile when the conversation turns to him getting spaced soon enough.  Then, he quips thoughtfully as he rubs his chin, "Well, I could use a couple of new groat pictures for my collection ..."

Ash tries to ignore Tylen's chuckle-cough, but mostly just reddens slightly.  Thankfully, Tylen exits the Bridge without further comment.

"I cannot speak for Mr. De Sant.  However, with respect to teaching Ms. Blake more hand-to-hand techniques..." Ash notes dutifully and with a rather deadpan expression and tone, "I will remind the Captain that she was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer within the last 24 hours."  But then he can't maintain the facade and another smile peaks through.

"Fair enough.  Options are usually nice.  Not always, but usually," Yas chuckles and then turns to Keryn briefly.

"If you want to get in touch with me just let Doc here know, and I'll be here, all right?"  She smiles gently and makes certain that the girl got the message before turning to Sushi again.

"Oh, and no cutting me in half either, all right?" she adds to the previous train of thought.

"Ms Taylor.  I hope to see you soon for an examination and with regards to your exercising." She indicates the wall-mounted intercom.  "Merely page me there.  For now, I shall let you get acquainted with your new quarters."

With their new guest settled, Shui turns to Yasmine as the door cycles shut.  "Hmmm...no, no bisection.  But that shrapnel does need to be removed, and I would like to get to it as soon as possible.  I have been studying the issue, and the operation is a short one - and an easy one.  It should not set you back more than a day, and if we are in J-Space, that should not be a problem."  She smiles, a lopsided expression. "It will also give you a nice souvenir...should you wish to keep the piece."

"Well, once we're in J-space and my duties are done, I suppose.  Just one day, though.  As for souvenir, nah, maybe I'll keep it long enough to blast it out of the airlock.  Mementos of a painful past isn't something I need, being alive is all the reminder necessary," Yas says with a grimace, slowly shaking her head.

For a moment her gaze is lost in the distance but then she shakes it off and turns to the doctor again.  "I'll let you know when I'm free, then it's up to you."

"Of course, Ms. Crow."  Shui nods her head.  "A day, no more, is all it shall be.  I will ensure this."  Her voice is almost comically solemn at first, then drops lower, growing serious. "No momentos, then.  If you wish, I can discard it myself - you never need see it, Yasmine." Not that Yasmine is afraid of the shard, but the doctor completely understands her feelings.

Both in a professional capacity and a personal one.

She recognizes the marine's distant stare; she has seen it before, in port-side bars in the eyes of veterans.  In Tylen's eyes.  In my brothers' eyes.  Killing - in wars, for survival, for money, for a code or philosophy - leaves a void inside, and Shui can feel it in the former marine.  Yasmine has been in her share of battles - and more - and every one has left a terrible scar.

Ah, Ms. Crow...you have wondered why I detest violence so.  Perhaps you believe I look down upon you and others who have fought.

But my sorrow is only in part for those who die.

The rest is for those left behind...including those who do the killing.

"I will be prepared, Yasmine," she assures the other woman.

Grabbing a couple of mugs Tylen grins as he imagines Shui shuddering at the cavalier way he pours  the coffee.  Oh well he thinks as he makes his way back to the bridge.

"Coffee" he says quietly, holding the mug out towards the navigator.

Ash accepted the mug from Tylen, "Thank you, Mr. Ogresh."  He paused for a moment, as he took a sip and then leaned back in his chair to look up at his fellow scout.  He asked idly, "You don't think my suggested precautions are necessary, do you?"

He gave the gunner a slightly crooked smile, "I'm not very adventurous for a detached duty scout, eh?"  Ash rubbed his right knee absent-mindedly for a moment, as he took another sip of coffee.  He savored the smooth flavor of the brew, the steward on the Profit Margin definitely knew what she was doing - much more so than the last crew he was with.

"No, no, it's mine.  I'll get rid of it myself," Yas says, shaking her head.  Save it long enough to dump it somewhere where it will be forgotten.

"Well, at least sometime it's easy to get rid of things that pain you, eh?" she says and chuckles, and turns to head for the captain's cabin.  "But life's not that simple all the time and sometime we do things we have to even if we don't really want to.  Like Teryn, leaving like this.  But she got guts, the little one.  Let's just make sure she'll not end up with shrapnel in here for as long as we can, eh?"

Then she laughs, briefly, and adds, "Listen to me ramble!  I'll go see Jago now, let you get back to your duties.  See you soon."

The merchant ship travels, at best acceleration, towards the hundred diameter limit.  As it passes 368,500 km from Frenzie an indicator lights up on the bridge, accompanied by a brief tone.

Ash and Saskia have a brief conversation and, a few seconds later, the Profit Margin falls out of the Universe, leaving only a rapidly expanding sphere of visible light and exotic particles.  Soon that "photonic boom", as it is known in common vernacular, fades, and nothing is left...