"Thought for a moment I saw a voluminous captain of a kick-arse ship getting his stern kicked by a scrawny engineer, but no, nothing," Yas says in her best matter-of-fact voice.

Hopefully that scrawny engineer is all over this already, coasting along in J-space is not the most productive life, neither is dropping out of is somewhere you did not expect.  But she will cross that bridge when and if she comes to it, unless she decides to blow it up, of course.

"Shall I do a quick check of the other systems?" she asks Jago.  If nothing else it will at least give her something to do other than sit on her rear and see things that are not there in the random static of J-space.

Ash shakes his head slowly to Jago's question.  He taps his console to tie his link into the general crew link even though Jago is on the bridge with him.  Ash speaks so that the others can also hear him, stating tentatively, "++I'm not seeing anything unusual with the sensor readings, Captain.++"

He pulls up another couple of displays and notes, "++All systems look normal to me, all metrics are currently reading nominal.++"  He glances at Jago, "++I've got greens across the boards, currently, Captain.++"

Relieved to find the passengers sanguine, Shui seeks to address their concerns.  "Of course, Ms. Crow will certainly tailor her tutelage to the physical conditions of her students," she assures them.  "Some of the teaching will be theoretical, some practical, and the practical portion will be done in controlled conditions.  I, myself, will be on hand to monitor."

After that potentially worrying comment, the Steward shakes her head, smiling.  "Not that I expect to be needed.  This is not some rough-and-tumble free-for-all, no.  And should anyone lose interest, obviously they can choose any time to bow out."

A pause.  Then, "Applying to the passengers alone, mind." Her smile grows slightly ironic.  "Captain Lanza has made it compulsory for crew.  Including himself."

She keeps her attention focused on the passengers, her primary concern.  It requires an effort of will, but Shui trusts her fellow crew to take care of whatever problem has cropped up; her responsibility is here.

"Jago, I got it." Saskia finally reports in, "It was just the lights themselves, that's all.  A fuse burned out and the backup circuit took over. It didn't affect anything other than the EC-I.  I'm replacing it now, so you can relax - we aren't misjumping or anything."

Just like my old scout ship Tylen thinks to himself, smiling slightly as he watches for the reaction of the others in the bridge area.

Jago relaxes as Saskia explains the problem, and thanks the engineer for letting him know.  He hits the intercom stud and makes a ship-wide announcement, "Attention.  This is your Captain speaking.  We apologise for the recent brief fluctuation of the lights.  This was cause by a problem with a fuse, and was automatically rectified.  At no time was the ship in any danger.  Thank you."

He removes his hand from the panel, and ponders for a moment.  Then he turns to Yas, Tylen and Ash, "Do you think I might have overplayed it by mentioning that we were in no danger?  I always wonder if it's a good idea talking about how we aren't in danger, because it might start passengers wondering if there are times when we might actually be in danger."

The passengers are discussing the combat training with Shui when Jago's announcement goes out.  There is a brief pause in the discussion while they all listen to it, followed by a few comments.

"Does that happen often?" Keryn asks, without any real hint of concern in her voice.

"What?  captain Lanza making an announcement?" is Corlan's immediate response, accompanied by a chuckle, "Actually, I think that's the first one I've ever heard him make."

"No, of course not.  I mean the thing with the lights." the young woman says, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation.  She glances at Shui, "I feel sorry for you, having to put up with Corlan all the time."  Her smile seems to indicate that she might not be entirely serious on this point.  "I've only known him for about a day, and he's driving me mad."

"Happened all the time when I was in the Navy." Eneris assures her.

Relieved that the passengers aren't unduly disturbed by the interruption, Shui shakes her head at Keryn.  "Mr. DeSant has his own charm - a surfeit of it, in fact - but on occasion his sense of humor is somewhat odd."  Like Keryn's, her smile takes any and all sting out of her words.

Her eyebrow rises when Eneris chimes in, and she blinks in mock surprise.  "Mr. Armusezash, you were driven mad every day in the navy?"  The Steward shakes her head.  "My apologies, Mr. DeSant's humor appears to have infected me...fortunately I have antidotes back in my office.  More seriously, absolutely correct - even the best of ships can encounter power fluctuations, and it happens with such irregularity to the Profit Margin that this one even surprised the crew.  As it turns out, a fuse, nothing more."

Her smile widens as she imagines Saskia combing the ship in search of the offending part, muttering dire imprecations against the manufacturer and the faulty fuse itself for failing her ship.  "I am very certain our Engineer has completely dealt with the issue.  More beverages?  Or food?" she inquires.  "Or questions regarding the classes?"

A sigh of relief escapes Ash's lips when Saskia's explanation comes out over the comm.  He visibly relaxes in his posture and his finger movements become far less frantic.  In fact, they pretty much stop, although a could of the displays on his console continue to stream a steady set of new numbers scrolling the old ones off the bottom of the display.

Ash smiles slightly at Jago's question to the crew on the bridge, he notes enigmatically, "Well, what's done is done, Captain."  He pauses for a moment and shrugs, "But, I think that passengers are all adults and they know there are inherent dangers in space travel.  Ultimately, your confidence is what they key off of."

With the mysterious power fluxuation explained and disaster avoided, he then busies himself with tidying up his console, realigning the dynamic displays and outputs back to their normal configurations and layers.  Ash is quite meticulous, spending plenty of time 'getting it right' - probably more of a by-product of his Imperial Navy time, than anything from the IISS or plying the free trade routes.  Still, the routine is deeply enough ingrained in him that Ash doesn't really question it.

He rubs his right knee again idly, looking thoughtful for a moment.  Then Ash sits up a little straighter and locks his console, "Captain, with your leave, I'll report to Medical for my physical."

Saskia is about to go back through to the lounge, until she remembers the defence lessons which are being set up.  She hesitates while she considers that, and then returns to her console.  After all, if a fuse burned out, then there must have been some sort of EPS surge or fluctuation to cause it to happen.  And there's nothing to stop that irregularity happening again.

"I ought to check that out, to be on the safe side." she says, as she starts summoning up system displays, color coded for normal and maximum expected power levels.  "If frelling Jago needs me to beat him to a pulp, he'll just have to come and fetch me.  This is important."

Had somebody been in the Engineering compartment with her they couldn't have failed to notice her wink at the panel.

Jago shrugs, "I'm sure they'll figure it out, Ash.  And Shui's over there with them, so she can help them with that."

He glances at a time display on his panel and announces to the room at large, "We can start the  defence classes in fifteen minutes or so, I guess."  Standing and stretching, he adds, "I'm going to get changed into something more suitable for combat.  If I don't have anything in my closet, I'll just strip naked and smear my whole body with grease."

In Engineering, Saskia continues to work.  Important work.  Tracking down the cause of the (minor) power fluctuation which led to the problem with the lights. 

Eneris chuckles at Shui's joke about being driven mad in the Navy.  "Not far wrong there."  He leans back in his chair, "You know, there are still a lot of ships out there where they dim the lights just before they Jump.  Dates back to when they had less efficient power plants, so non-essential systems would have to be cut so's they could divert power to the drives.  Nowadays a lot of captains still do it, just for luck."

"Oh... I've seen that in vids!" Keryn says, excitedly, "I always wondered why the lights went down for a few seconds, but nothing else was affected, like the machines in the ship casinos and everything."

In his mind's eye, Tylen gets this mental image of a greased pig and people trying top catch it, that he had seen on some pseudo historic game show.    It had looked amusing at the time, watching them all fall around the floor.

The grin caused by that image lingers as his mind turns to the forthcoming exercise session.  "We had self defence classes in the scouts, of course, and I never was much good at them.  I was always better at dodging and blocking the strikes, or wriggling out of holds than I was at hitting people." the ex scout confides in his companions. "So what approach are you going to take Yas?  Should I just put a set of sweats on, or should I follow the captain's advice and come down in just my shorts?" he asks half grinning.

"Luck and chance are factors in space travel," Shui notes.  Then she smiles, shaking her head.  "Not huge ones - no more than luck plays a part in avoiding an accident when one walks to the corner store - so there is no reason for concern.  But much as a mother might say a prayer when her son leaves the house for the store for the thousandth time, so do ship's captains and crew have their own rituals."

She cocks an eyebrow at Corlan.  "I am certain Mr. DeSant can regale you with things he has seen in his time aboard this vessel - stories of our curious idiosycracies that have no doubt left him scratching his head in perplexity.  I assure you, there is always a reason behind them...even if we, ourselves, do not recall it!"

As Jago turns away to leave the bridge, Yas makes a fine show of sticking a finger down her throat before grinning at Tylen and Ash.  Then she heads off to make sure her classroom is ready for lessons to start.

Fifteen minutes later, most of the crew assemble in the hold.  Shortly after, all three of the passengers have joined them, though Corlan has thoughtfully provided a chair for Keryn to sit on, and it is clear that the young woman will not be joining in any of the more active parts of the training, at least for the moment, due to the fact that she is not accustomed to the gravity in the hold.

"I can watch what happens," she cheerfully explains to anybody who will listen, "and I can probably learn some of it that way."

Apart from Keryn's chair, the only other piece of "furniture" in the hold is an empty cargo container which serves as a makeshift table.  On the top of it are a number of lengths of plastic tube, about twenty centimetres long and two centimetres in diameter.  Yas stands behind the table, surveying the class, some of whom are noticeably conspicuous by their absence.  Behind her, her new suit of armour gleams dully where it is strapped to the wall between her own motorcycle and Tylen's small ATV.

Five minutes late for the lesson's start, Jago enters, wearing a set of orange coveralls, and dragging an annoyed-looking Saskia by one arm.

Yas walks around to the front of her table, "Okay... how many of you've got any experience in close combat?"

Ash glances at his crewmates for a moment and shrugs slightly.  "Ummm...well..." he offers, "I... I haven't had any real formal training beyond the basic self-defense techniques taught in the services.  You know, IISS basic and such."  He gives the assembled a slightly crooked smile, as he adds, "But, I have been stabbed in a bar brawl before, though..."  And Ash pulls up his left sleeve to the elbow, revealing an old scar on his forearm.  Actually, two of them, as the knife in question appears to have passed all the way through Ash's forearm and come out the other side.   The wound is fully healed - marking it as an old injury, though it looks pretty ragged as though the knife was probably serrated; but also, perhaps, the medical care at the time was not top-notch.

Arriving early for 'class', Shui ensures there are towels, water bottles, and a first aid kit within easy reach.  Likely as not, none of these will be needed - this isn't aerobics and people will be going very easy, she suspects.  But it's always good to be prepared.  She whispers thanks to Corlan and ensures Keryn is comfortable - offering a waterbottle - before returning to study the table and its assortment of 'weaponry'.

Jago and Saskia trickle in last, and the class begins.  So to speak.

She should have expected the questionn - worse yet, Yasmine's choice of words has left her no wiggle room save outright lying.  Shui closes her eyes for a long moment, silently cursing herself, then opens them as Ash answers.  The scar is noted, as is his rundown of his training and experience; more details on the wound will be asked when they finally do the physical, a good time being after this class.  The man finishes, leaving the floor open.

The taste of bile is bitter in Shui's mouth, but she raises her hand.  "Experience," the steward manages, then swallow to hydrate a dry throat.

Perhaps she will be needing some of that water, after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:09, Wed 09 Feb 2011.

By the time he gets to the 'gym', Tylen has changed into a pair of shorts, one of his old black tee shirts and a pair of old, well worn, plimsolls for the training session.

"Not really." Tylen offers when Yas asks about close combat experience.  "Just the basic IIS stuff like Ash, I suppose." he grins as he continues "And even then I was more concerned with getting away than hitting someone.  Shooting them  up from a  safe distance is much more my style."  he concludes.

Lounging across to the supplies that Shui has provided, he helps himself to a water bottle and takes a mouthful as he listens to the others.  "Whoo.  You are the dark horse." he grins across at Shui as she admits her experience with close combat.  "What with you and Yas, a man won't be safe around here ..."  he tails off in mock horror.

Saskia waits, frowning, for as long as she can.  Then she sulkily volunteers, "I had some training in the Navy.  Not much though.  Just enough to know not to get in the way of a boarding party and leave it to ship's troops or the jarheads, no offence Yas, to deal with them.

"I don't remember most of it anyway."

Jago smiles ruefully, "I've been beaten up in more than a few bar brawls over the years, but I can use a knife for something other than buttering toast, if I really must, despite what some of you might think."

He looks at the passengers, "What about you three?"

Corlan shakes his head, "I'm afraid I have no combat experience at all."  He chuckles, "For me, self defence has always meant hiring a bodyguard, on the few occasions when I felt I might run into trouble."

"I am keen to learn how to defend myself though." he finishes, with obvious enthusiasm.

Eneris states, "I learned a little in the Navy, but back then 'close combat' meant about twenty thousand klicks.  Got some experience with zee-gee fighting, but mostly, like Saskia said, we were taught that Marines were better trained for that stuff."

Keryn sighs and blushes a deep red, "I once hit a boy with my shoe because he kept saying I was stupid.  Made him cry.  I was about seven at the time, and I got grounded for two weeks.  My parents made it very clear that fighting was not a nice thing for young ladies to do.  That's about everything I know about it."

Standing in a pose with the legs slightly far apart and hands clasped on her back Yas looks ever the part of a drill sergeant.  Listening to each one as they either confess or deny experience of close combat, the former group being utterly dominant, Yas' face remains blank, apart from a slightly crooked and brief grin at Keryn's confession.

"Truth to be told, fighting is not a nice thing for anyone to do," she says in a grim tone.  "But sometimes," her eyes wander over those gathered, "you don't get to choose.  Whether it is a war or a personal conflict, the choice is sometime taken away from you, or made on your behalf.  Therefore I shall do my best to teach you the basics, with the focus on disarming the situation.  That is always the best option, at least in personal conflict.  Now, I cannot teach you much about diplomacy, so I will focus on what comes after that fails."

She walks up to each one in turn and looks them in the face, saying nothing.  Her gaze is intense and she gives the impression of trying to look through the person before her.  Then she steps back to stand in front of the desk.

"The first manoeuvre, and the first thing you should try, is to practise the better part of valour.  Strategic retreat or whatever fancy way of saying it.  I call it 'live to fight another day', but then, let's hope you won't have to do any fighting at all."

Clearing her throat she cracks a rather ominous grin.

"I'll assume you all know how to run for your life, so we won't actually practise that part," she says and chortles before the grin fades.  "But always try to avoid fighting.  Best way to survive a battle is to not take part and all that."

"We'll go over unarmed combat as well as some basic mêlée weapons."  She turns half around to pick up a piece of plastic tube and then turns back again to hold it up to her "class".

"This is a deadly weapon," she says and gives a pause for effect.  A flimsy piece of tube that "at best" could scrape the skin or smart a bit if slapped with it.  "A knife, a bottle, whatever you want.  It's more or less harmless, so we'll use it in our lessons about what to do when facing someone with such a weapon, using it on someone efficiently - such as 'good' spots to strike, and also what to do if both of you got one.  Now, it's mostly harmless, but try not to poke it into eyes, your own or someone else's, it's a bit unpleasant."

"Well, I could kill with it, in several ways, but let's not go there."  It is impossible to tell if she just cracked a joke or not.  "But!  Enough talk, though, let's get down to business..."

Shui can only offer a weak smile in response to Tylen's banter, good-hearted though it might be.  She listens to Saskia note her own lack of training, Jago discuss his prowess with a knife, and the passengers, unilaterally, claim little to no training.

Hardly surprising, the entire list - otherwise Yasmine wouldn't be making the offer of this class.

And with that, their teacher begins.  Shui thinks it's wise to start with the idea that there are times when a fight is unavoidable - too often people pander to pap like 'running is the best defense in any situation', ignoring cases where it would be dangerous to immediately bolt, cases where one is protecting another, or cases where it is simply impossible.  She contiues, still wisely, by stressing the fact that running should be used when possible.

Again, a fact often ignored for the extremes.

Then come the 'weapons'.

Shui immediately moves to where she placed the drinks and picks up two pairs of plastic laboratory glasses - all she had in her storage.  If they continue this sort of thing, she'll have to put in for more, but for now...  Moving to Corlan and Keryn, she pushes a pair into each of their hands.  "Doctor's orders," Shui whispers.  "Do not take them off."  Then she moves back to her place, and listens attentively to their instructor.

At least their two entirely civilian passengers have eye protection.  Mistakes can happen.

After the brief introductory remarks and the provision of safety equipment for the passengers, the lesson starts...

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

It starts simply enough, with a brief discussion of the theory of hand-to-hand combat, and moves on to examples.  Yas selects victims partners to demonstrate various moves on, and then, after a couple of examples, pairs everybody up so that they can practice for themselves...

So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

By the second morning, a lot of the initial awkwardness has dissipated, and everybody seems to be getting into the spirit of it.  For just a couple of hours each day, the division between crew and passenger is blurred...

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

On the third day, Keryn manages to join in the exercises, alternating between ten minute spells of activity and twenty minute rest periods, all closely monitored by Shui...

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive

Day four sees the first real injury - in an attempt to evade a lunge from Corlan, Jago overbalances and bangs his elbow against the wall.  Yas refuses him a time-out, because (as she points out) a real opponent wouldn't give him a break if he were injured in a fight...

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

On day five, Keryn is splitting her time between half hour periods of active partcipation, and half hour breaks.  She really seems to be enjoying the class, and even manages to successfully block or dodge a sequence of "knife" attacks from Tylen...

Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive

The sixth day brings a prolonged sparring match between Ash and Eneris, with neither of them able to gain the upper hand, until Yas finally calls a halt on the grounds that everybody else is sitting about doing nothing...

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

On the seventh and final day, Shui and Saskia end up sitting on the deck on opposite sides of the classroom, both laughing hysterically after their sparring match results in them simultaneously disarming each other... 

The eye of the tiger...

With the week of classes over, Yas dismisses everybody to prepare for the emergence from Jump, though not without a warning that they will need to keep practicing if they don't want to lose their newly acquired skills.

The final class is over and at least the week ended well.

Saskia doesn't have time to waste waiting about.  By her estimate she has about two hours before Profit Margin drops out of Jump.  Plenty of time to shower and grab a change of clothes.  Maybe even something to eat.

She smiles at Shui, thanks Yas for the lessons and starts back towards her quarters.  Then she turns back, looking about on the deck.  Spotting her target, the plastic "knife", she snatches it up before walking away again.

As she goes through the hatch, the deadly weapon vanishes into her pants pocket.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:01, Wed 16 Feb 2011.

Amused by her gaffe in sparring, Shui waves a goodbye to Saskia as the engineer leaves.  The passengers are all well, and headed back to their quarters; no problems there.  She clumsily toys with the 'knife', the 'weapon' no more than a small length of plastic in her hands, much as it has been for the entire series of exercises.  Her only true expertise with knives involves surgical scalpels, and Shui knows she is a Ship's Physician, not an ER doctor.

She carefully sets the plastic toy down with the others, smiling slightly.

"I should prepare for the exit from Jumpspace," the doctor murmurs, before turning to Yasmine.  "Thank you, Ms. Crow." She bows slightly - as is her wont, not in mockery of martial traditions - and heads out of the room for her quarters after collecting the day's towels and empty bottles of water.  There is work to be done, the Steward realizes as she marches along the hallway.  Food to be readied, coffee to be made, and she, herself, must be presentable.  And yet, Shui realizes as she enters her quarters, she has a few minutes.

And that the classes are finally finished.

Sealing the door, she simply drops the bottles and towels on the floor and stumbles into her fresher.  Peeling her clothes away, she activates the water and dials up the heat.  The knot in her stomach slowly unravelling, Shui steps in, and the steaming, near-scalding spray gradually sluices away the grime, the sweat, and her overflowing tension.

It's also good at hiding tears of relief.

Ash had to admit that the slow-motion duel between he and Eneris had been pretty funny.  They circled and feinted (but luckily did not faint), they parried and then circled some more.  Even though Ash was probably a decade (if not two) younger than the grisly ol' spacer, he didn't move much (if at all) quicker.

After the class, Ash gives Yasmine a quick, but sincere, "Thank you." before he heads to his quarters to freshen up.  Back in his quarters, Ash showers quickly then starts to dress.  As he straps on his belt and utility knife.  He draws the old blade and fingers the Imperial Naval emblem on the pommel.  He smiles sadly, as he reminisces about the ceremony in which the blade was presented to him a decade and a half ago.  He rubs his left forearm again idly as his mind wanders.  There had been some fencing lessons then, too.

Then Ash shakes his head and blinks as he dispels the cobwebs and comes back to the present.  He sheathes the knife and finishes dressing.  After a quick shave, it is onto the bridge to prepare for the jump transition back to n-space.  He unlocks his console and pushes the jump transition estimation timer to the forefront of his displays and onto the main tactical screen for the bridge.  Ash also starts to pull up the various star charts for their presumed destination, System 728-907.  That is, assuming that the power glitch at the beginning of the trip wasn't an actual misjump...

Like the others, Tylen lets himself get fully involved in the combat practice,  his hands and feet seem to be quick, often letting him get into position faster than he, and probably, anyone else expects.  However, he is much more interested in the defensive moves, than learning too many ways to strike his opponent.  Even when it is his turn to be the knife wielder against Keryn, his strikes are unimaginative and fairly routine, although they would certainly have been effective if they had made contact.

After the final lesson, he grins across at the others "That was fun Jago.  Perhaps you ought to arrange classes like that every time we jump?  A physical task in the morning and perhaps a more cerebral class in the afternoon?  After all, the more one knows ...." he tails off as if expecting everyone to know the ending of that old adage themselves.

A quick shower and change and Tylen heads back to his station ready for when they leave jump space.  After all, you never know what is going to be lurking out there.  Leaving the door to the gunnery station open he watches the general goings on in, and around, the bridge.