Shui tags along with the group, content to allow others to do the talking and make the decisions.  Despite her capacity to fly the air-raft, she's not anticipating the drive back with delight - the stress is considerable, given her limited skills and the cramped hallways.

Not to mention them being filled with people who are less-than-sanguine about current events, bordering on shifting into an angry mob in areas.

Saskia has the choice of line figured out and Ash seems to be doing well enough with the request, so the steward takes several slow breaths in an attempt to relax, glancing around the station lobby with some interest.  Evidently there isn't much to see, given the terminal boredom of the desk officer, but one never knows.

The officer makes a note of the details on the terminal, and hits a key.  "There is a fine of 125 Frencs to pay."  He glances up, and briefly studies the clothes that the group before him are wearing, then adds, "That's 62 Imperial Credits, including a handling charge for currency conversion."

He waits, while the cash is counted out, then types a brief entry into the terminal.  "If you'd like to take a seat, your friend will be out shortly."

All in all, the process has taken only a few minutes, so far...


Outside Tylen watches what appears to be a rapidly developing riot, from a safe distance.  But just when it looks like things will develop into something a little more worrying than a bit of shouting and jostling, a patrol of Marines arrives on the scene, and the crowd starts to disperse quickly.

It might be something to do with the fact that, unlike those encountered earlier, the troops in this patrol are in full battle-dress.

Tylen's watches laconically as group seem to change from protesters to potential rioters, and he is just considering sending a message to the others when the marines appear.

Hie eye brows go up a notch as he sees how well equipped they are and comments rhetorically "Battle dress?"  still it seems to have the desired effect and the crowd starts to disperse.

For a moment or two he lets the shot gun rest in his lap as he works with his data glove.

Fist he sends a text message to Saskia to warn the group inside the police station  <<< Be quick.  Marines in battle dress making defensive line outside police station>>>  then follows that with a similar message to Jago.  <<< Potential riot situation.  Be vigilant.  Marines in battle dress in corridors.  All safe here  >>>

Nonchalantly  he leans back in the seat and takes a hold of the shotgun again.  With the other thumbnail he picks gently at  something stuck between his teeth as he watches the line of marines.

Ash is busily trying (though also trying to be attentive and not too obvious) to pull up currency exchange rates when the officer helpfully, if still sounding tired, notes the amount required in Imperial Credits.  He nods and produces the required amount, after digging in one of the interior pockets for a moment.  After the cash is counted and the appropriate electronic entry is made, Ash recalls Jago's request for a paper trail; so, he raises a tentative hand and asks the officer, "Sorry to create more paperwork for you, but may I have a receipt for that amount, please?"

Then, being directed to wait, Ash motions to his two female companions and to the waiting area.  He shrugs a slightly resigned shrug, seeing no reason not to enter the area to wait as directed.  He looks for three seats together, but settles for two adjacent seats as close to the desk as possible.  Ash quietly gestures to Saskia and Shui to take the seats, seemingly electing to stand nearby.  He sighs slightly, and notes quietly to no one in general, "And now, I guess, we wait..."  Ash glances at Saskia and Shui with a slightly crooked smile on his face.

Saskia pulls her comms from her pocket and studies it for a moment, frowning.

Then she leans a little closer to Shui and Ash and speaks quietly, "Just had a message from Tylen.  Looks like the marines are stepping things up a notch.  They're patrolling in power armor now.

"Either they think things are getting worse, or they're trying to show people what to expect if the situation worsens."

Saskia, Shui and Ash (clutching a receipt) sit and wait.

Outside, Tylen watches the Marines.  A bottle is thrown, but smashes harmlessly against a trooper's armour.  The Marines do nothing in retaliation.  They just stand there, and the cops fall back behind them.

Then one of the Marines raises a weapon, something bulky.  A few seconds later that section of the corridor is filling with a pale yellow mist, and the mob starts dispersing.  Quickly.

Elsewhere, Yas negotiates with a dealer in starship supplies and equipment.

A door opens, and a scruffy old man shuffles through, escorted by an officer.  The cop, oddly, has his right arm in some sort of metal cast.  It seems that things are so busy at the beleaguered Security Central that even those officers with injuries are being called in to help out.

The old man starts towards the exit, but the cop uses his left hand to grab him and guide him towards the desk where Saskia and the others sit.  Finally he spots Saskia, and stops before the trio.

"Well?  What the frack do you shower want?"

"Not a good sign, I would say," Shui quietly notes when Saskia passes along the information from Tylen.  "Either way." A show of force might cow people...and also stir up angry emotions.  The people might not vent their frustrations on the marines, but places where no battle-dress could be seen would become fair game.  "I will take it as the former, I think, and prepare for the worst," Shui breathes, already considering their route for the return trip.

Even if it takes longer, she vows to stick to the higher, main corridors as much as possible.

Finally the officer brings their new 'charge'; Shui ignores him for the first few seconds, her eyes on the policeman's splinted arm, her fingers itching to examine, to assist.  But...he has work to do, and she has people who need her present, not helping someone who has already seen a medical officer (from the look of it).

A bad sign if even the sorely injured are present, even if only on light duty.

The older man's greeting isn't exactly friendly, but given the situation, possibly understandable.  Shui stands as he moves closer, but as he addressed Saskia, waits for the engineer to answer.

Saskia doesn't bat an eyelid.  She just beams at Eneris Armusezash and replies, "We don't want anything.  We've come to do you a favor.  We've paid your fine, you old frellnik, and we want to make you an offer."

She looks about, nodding her head almost imperceptibly towards the desk, "But we should talk about it somewhere else.

"Hear us out.  If you're not interested, we can give you a ride home.  It's not safe to be walking about out there just now."

Ash is in the midst of carefully folding the receipt for placement in one of his duster pockets, when the man they are to retrieve is brought out.  He turns and blinks at Eneris, not knowing quite what to make of the bearded man's rather terse and rather aggressive answer.  It's not quite the level of gratitude that he expected, especially since Saskia made is seem as that the man was friendly.  Though, having travelled a little, Ash knows that not everyone shows their gratitude quite the same way.  Thankfully, Saskia is much quicker on her feet (figuratively speaking, at least) and Ash nods slowly as Saskia explains the situation to Eneris.

Ash gestures slightly to the exit, gently trying to expedite the exit from the crowded station.  He then stands dutifully, waiting for the others to get going so that he can fall in line.

"What sorta favour?" Eneris Armusezash asks, eyeing Saskia suspiciously before glancing briefly at her companions.  Then he seems to slump, "Sorry.  It's just that when some motherfracker offers to do me a favour, I usually end up on the rough end of the fracking deal."

"Alright.  I guess the least I can do is listen to what you have to say.  If nothing else, the fracking ride home'll be appreciated.  Let's go."

He notices Ash's gesture, and starts to walk in that direction, not stopping until they are outside, in the passageway, where Tylen still waits near the air-raft.

"Mr. Ogresh, my thanks..."  Shui's voice trails off as she takes note of the marines in full battledress.  For once, her eyebrow fails to rise.  "Perhaps we should leave as soon as possible," the Steward murmurs, a rare note of haste in her voice.  The situation on the colony seems to be deteriorating rapidly - while it is under 'control' here, what of elsewhere?

"I shall definitely stick to the larger tunnels," she mutters.  "Mr. Armusezash, perhaps you might seat yourself and strap in?"  With some haste, the doctor hops into the driver's seat and begins the process of powering up the vehicle.

The air in the area outside the security HQ is cold and still, and carries on faint metallic taste, which seems to burn at the throat slightly.  As the crew climb into the air-raft, one or two notice an itchiness in their eyes.

Then the vehicle is moving, and both the unpleasant taint, and the irritation diminish as they move away into the complex maze of tunnels.  Twice they pass places where store fronts have been blackened by intense heat, and at one point they have to choose another route to avoid a tunnel which is filled with smoke, bright flames flickering in the murk.

At other places, they pass above bands of rioters moving largely unopposed through the corridors.

Eneris shakes his head, "What the frack's going on?  All this happened while I was in fracking jail?"

The air-raft flies out into a large, open chamber, forty metres high, with walkways all around it, every three metres or so.  Most of the floor is covered with neatly groomed vegetation, laid out in careful geometric patterns, and in the centre of the hall stands a starship, perched upon an ornamental plinth, and surrounded by fountains.  The surrounding balconies support trees and vines.

Above the ship is a holographic display of a solar system, the Frenzie system itself, judging by the labels alongside the various planets.

Overhead is a transparent dome, giving a view of the sky.  Apparently they have become lost.

There don't seem to be many people about, so Shui slows the air-raft to a halt, but doesn't land.  As the air stops rushing past, bird song reaches their ears.

"Planetfall Park." Eneris announces, "The ship is the actual Scout/Courier that first discovered Frenzie, in 570-whatever.  They just disabled the drives and powerplant, and pumped the hull full of duracrete to make it into a monument."

"I hate this fracking place.  Makes me think of greenery and sky and animals and all the crap that Frenzie doesn't have."

"So what exactly was it you wanted to talk about?"

Leaving Saskia to talk with her friend, Tyler hits his data glove for a mapping program, and hopefully the equivalent of a tunnel based Sat-Nav system that will show them the way 'home' to the profit margin's booth.

It's certainly a beautiful sight, but equally certainly an embarassing one.  Shui closes her eyes for a moment, her lips thin.  Anyone else would appear to be berating themselves, possibly in the foulest of languages, but surely not the steward.

Hem gai tsan!  Six times accursed fool!

Her eyes crack open.  "Apologies," the doctor whispers.  "I sought a more open way back to the ship, and evidently turned left when I should have turned right."  Or gone straight, but she doesn't bother with the unnecessary qualification.  "Thank you, Mr. Ogresh...perhaps it would be best if someone gave directions as I drove."

She wants to sink into the seat with embarassment, but there's no time for that yet.  Not yet.  Not before she gets everyone home in one piece.  But the sudden self-doubt, frustration, and overall tension has set Shui's nerves singing, and buried instincts begin clawing at what little remains of her serenity.  They have to move, to get out of the aircar - hovering here is too exposed.

Nonsense.  Everyone is safe.  Calm yourself.

"They must have closed the ventilation system down." Saskia comments, resisting the urge to rub at her eyes, "Seems like they've been using some sort of gas.  Shutting off air flow would make it more effective in the area where it was used, and stop it affecting the whole place."

Then there is the flight through the tunnels, and she is glad that the raft moves out of reach of the mobs.  Eventually they reach the park - Planetfall Park it's called, even if the monument is to a survey ship, not the first colonists.  Probably because a colony ship would be too big to fit in here.

Eneris asks what they want, again, and he deserves an answer, "We need a treasure map.  You told me about that world, and the souvenir you took.  Our skipper has one of them too, and would be interested in seeing where you got it from.

"We want you to show us where you found it.

"In return, you work passage on our ship, and you're standing with us when we get there.  You'll get away from Frenzie, maybe end up some place where they do have all that crap that Frenzie doesn't, and you'll get a chance to maybe find another of those things."

She looks around, spotting a small speaker, partly concealed among the greenery, and is briefly puzzled until she remembers the birdsong.

"So, what do you think?"

Ash smiles sheepishly to the others, he is navigator after all - and feels a certain onus, even if the situation is quite fluid and they have taken many, many detours.  He sighs a slightly plaintive sigh as Shui lands the air-raft so that Ash can get his bearings back and formulate a plan to actually get them back to the Profit Margin in one piece.  Some navigator I have turned out to be, he muses to himself.  His eyes falling on the old survey ship turned duracrete monument for a moment.  In his four year tour with the Scouts, Ash never actual got to pilot one of those.  His brow furrowed for a moment, mostly he had spent his time getting shot at in space and up close and personal.  Ash rubs his right knee reflexively for a moment.

Then, Ash blinks hard, as if waking up from his short revelry.  The disoriented look is replaced with a slightly distant look as he gets 'back to work' and pushes various overlays into the reticule of the eyepiece to his headband.  Ash turns and listens quietly to Saskia's proposal to Eneris, watching the older man's reaction as he continues to review the station maps and checks the local news feeds scrolling past his eyes.  At least, that is what he appears to be concentrating on, even if his eyes dart back to Eneris ever so often.

Eneris considers Saskia's explanation carefully, tipping his head far back to look up at the black sky visible beyond the domed roof.  He says nothing for a long while, but finally drops his gaze, sweeping it over the park itself.

"Okay.  I'll go along with it, but on one condition."  He scratches at his heavily stubbled cheek, "I'm not that fracking young.  I get tired.  I want a guarantee that I can jump ship any time I get tired of chasing this.  No questions asked."

"If it happens, it'll probably be somewhere nice.  With open air and real sky.  Until then, I'll help all I can, and try to tell your captain how to find the right place.  But as soon as I feel like I've had enough. I want to be able to fracking leave."

"Is this acceptable?"

"I can't see Jago objecting to that." Saskia replies, with a cheerful smile, "Trust me.  He's not the sort of person who would imprison you in your cabin, or something."

Unless you're a pirate, of course. she adds, mentally, and the smile falters for an instant, then returns, "I'm sure he'll be grateful for any help you can give."

Eneris ponders Saskia's response, while Shui and Ash compare notes, and attempt to correlate their information with the air-raft's flight recorder.  Finally they realise that there should have been a left turn at one particular junction, whereas Shui had, in point of fact, flown straight on.  In the near identical corridors and tunnels, it was an easy mistake to make.

Just as easy to rectify.

Having given enough thought to the matter, Eneris nods, "Fair enough.  As they say in the Scouts, take me to your leader."

"Thank you, Mr. Tescali."  With a nod to their capable navigator, Shui programs the route into her dataglove and activates the holofunction to bring up a map - it will, of course, drain the batteries at a ridiculous rate, but be more than sufficient to bring them back to the ship.

Should all go as planned.

With their passenger's agreement secured, she eases the raft into a slow turn, then smoothly accelerates down the proper path.

In some respects the location  has by-passed him completely - for some reason the ship monument, the  gardens, even the piped bird noise has barely even registered.

But with the new route decided and their passengers acceptance of the situation, Tylen shakes his head hard, perhaps to clear it then coughs softly a couple times.  Finally he leans back in his seat, shot gun at the ready, prepared for the rest of the journey back to the margin.

Ash nods quietly to Shui as they confer and she thanks him, his ears burn a little red with the acknowledgment, though he hopes that no one notices.  Ash knows bloody well, that this little detour is likely his fault.

So, as they get underway, he sits down and watches their route carefully, trying to be extra vigilant about their progress towards the Profit Margin and to be informed well in advance of any potential pitfalls along the way.

Ash is not sure about the Saskia's 'cabin-arrest' comment.  But, he knows that he will get a chance to get more details about that from the rest of the crew later, in more private circumstances.  Having secured Eneris' tentative agreement to their proposal is more than enough for the moment.

The air-raft hurtles through the corridors at a steady fifty kilometres per hour.  Not its top speed, by any means, but fast enough to make it a less than tempting target, while affording Shui adequate time to react to obstacles.

Obstacles like the team of four armoured Marines who flag the air-raft down at one point.  The troopers are in full battledress, their faces hidden by the sealed helmets, and their voices sounding flattened and indistinguishable from each other as they are filtered through speaker systems.

A brief question and answer session, and checks on the vehicle's identity, sees them waved on, with instructions to head straight for their destination, and only take detours to avoid anything that looks like a trouble spot.

Not long after, Shui makes the turn that had been missed before, and a short while later, they pass the entrance to one of the docking bays.  They're getting close to the ship.

Eneris suddenly speaks up, "Say, before we leave Frenzie, do you think your skipper would let me go and collect my stuff?  Don't have much.  Just a change of clothes and some old holo-images."

Ash frowns slightly when Eneris breaks the silence, his head turns slightly to bring the old spacer's face into his peripheral vision, "Hmm ... You probably should have an escort, Mr. Armusezash.  We would not want you to get lost."  But, Ash can relate, he can fully understand the sentimental attachments that people develop to their 'stuff'.  However, in this case there is a certain amount of expedience that they are trying to achieve.  He queries with some urgency "Where are they stored?  And how much and far away is that?"

With that, Ash then starts scrambling to pull up maps and plot potential routes.  He notes off-hand, "Umm... I suspect, that this request would probably have been easier to fulfill before we passed the Marine checkpoint..."  Something scratches at the back of Ash's neck, raising the small hairs there.  Perhaps I'm just being paranoid, he reassures himself, I mean, what could possibly go wrong ?!?...

Tylen throws Ash a strange look, wondering what the hell he is thinking of.  "We will be back at the ship soon and you will be able to ask him yourself." Tylen drawls, trying to suggest a different approach "Perhaps he will be able to ask Yas to collect them  for you." he says grinning at the thought of the ex-marine in her pseudo armour squishing her way through the crowded corridors.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:59, Tue 29 June 2010.