Ash continues to track as many of the objects visually as he can, watching various pieces of debris with almost morbid fascination.  Another segment of his mind is preoccupied with the math and the topologies - the epicenter and time of origin all helping to build the working theory.  Seeing the estimated event time and location, he ventures half-heartedly, "Could be a misjump..."  But Ash (and he is pretty sure the rest of the crew) know what is the more likely reason - or at least the worst case.  And, thus, better to be prepared for something hostile remaining out there; better safe than sorry.

He starts to open up the sensor sweep for a wider angle array, to look for anyone or anything else in the area.  It wouldn't due to be surprised - otherwise, they might wind up being another debris field to be avoided.  Ash purses his lips at the thought, stamping it down and pushing it to the side.

Ash also starts to scan the common hailing frequencies.  He doesn't broadcast anything yet, but it would not due for the crew of the Profit Margin to be missing any urgent or emergency hails in their haste to avoid the debris field.

Tylen keeps a finger on the laser fire control, until finally he succeeds in hitting the target.  A 250mW beam laser, at a range of little more than a kilometre, is sufficient to vaporise the piece of debris...

The ship accelerates, matching velocity with the majority of the debris in the immediate vicinity and vastly reducing the chances of a collision.  Jago nods at Ash's suggestion, and says quietly, "Might be... might be... "  He sounds doubtful regarding the possibility of a misJump. 

Jago keeps the drive running just a little longer, and Profit Margin starts to overtake assorted wreckage.  With the ship moving just a few metres per second faster than the debris, he cuts the thrust.  Now the threat is from directly ahead, and the velocity is low enough that they should have plenty of time to deal with anything that looks dangerous.

"Shui, I think we're okay for the moment, but please stay alert.  Thanks."

+ Indeed, Captain?  Good news, then. +  Breathing a sigh of relief, Shui keys off and slowly stares about her cramped quarters.  "Stay alert," she murmers, recalling the old joke.  "The galaxy needs more lerts."  Silently, the doctor finishes preparing her 'black bag', then strides back into the hallway, heading toward the bridge.

With the bag in-hand, proximity is more valuable than being in the med-lab.  Besides, she can't see anything from there.

Opening a channel to Tylen Yas notes that "Well, well, on the second try.  Looks like you do need the practise, Quadman."

Then, a channel to the bridge as well.  "Looks like some Vargr met someone or something that didn't like them.  Takes me back, it does.  May still be about, although you can go far in the time since this happen, if you want."

She sets her scanners to maximum, ignoring that it will pick up a lot of false alerts, but better that than missing something if it is indeed still out there.

Tylen grins at Yas's banter, and the reply comes quickly and easily to his lips.  "At least I manage to get a lock on it and then get a couple of shots off ..." he responds highlighting the fact that Yas didn't even manage to get one shot off.

However, Tylen concentrates his scans on the immediate area, looking for anything else that might be dangerous to the margin.

"I let you take it, kid.  And you evidently need the practise," Yas replies in a matter-of-fact tone.  "It was 15 long seconds out, plenty of time.  So I waited for you.  But had you missed last I'd been forced to shown you how it's done."

"Of course you did Yas." Tylen responds, but you can hear the grin in his voice.

"Kids," Yas replies with a sigh and then focus on her duties.  Maybe next time she will shot first and tell him later, once he awakens.

Ash glances at the tactical displays.  But with the slight pressure from the acceleration dampened by the inertial compensators, Ash is confident in Jago's abilities to get the Profit Margin out of danger.  Instead he pulls up sensor sweeps of the larger pieces that they are passing passes any discernable markings through to the recognition software in the library.  He magnifies and rotates the visual readings to try and get a better handle on what he is seeing.  Trusting in the alert systems, Ash pushes communications scanner and proximity displays to the background while he the begins to scan the data packs to see if he can correlate anything.

The markings are distinct and garrish enough to perhaps connotate a connection to the Vargr...  Ash purses his lips, while they are on the frontier, it is rare for Vargr incursions.  "Glory hounds." he mutters quietly with a slight shake of the head.  Perhaps it is merely paranoia, but to Ash the timing is far too fortuitous to be purely conicidental.  He lets out a measured exhalation and redoubles his efforts to better the ship's computer's efficiency in identifying the remnants of the ship that surrounds them.

Some engineers would be content to sit at their station and watch the instruments.  Saskia isn't.

While she does keep a careful eye on the panel, she gets up occasionally and physically checks the drives.  A touch here, a few words there.  Reassuring the machines, and herself, that everything is running properly.  It's not that she doesn't trust the instruments -- it's more a case that she trusts her own senses more.

At the moment she has her hands resting on the casing of the port manoeuver drive's HEPlaR intermix chamber, feeling the vibration of the engine as it provides the thrust to keep the ship safe.  Anybody walking into Engineering would doubtless find it odd that she is quietly singing a child's lullaby to her engines.

Ash manages to focus the ship's optical sensors scan the debris, while the computer runs pattern recognition software on the markings on the wreckage.  Eventually it displays a message...

SCRIPT IDENTIFIED: VARGR TEXT.  GVEGH LANGUAGE.  PROBABILITY: 93.75%

Yas and Tylen rotate their turrets to point directly ahead.  For the moment though, there is no immediate danger.

Jago spots part of a symbol emblazoned on one piece of wreckage, "There."  He pulls the image off to one side while others continue to flash across his screen.  "Corsairs." he says to Ash, indicating the partial depiction of a burning skull.

He opens a channel to the gunners, "Looks like some Vargr pirates might've run into somebody who didn't just fall over and die.  Keep your eyes open."  Not that he needs to tell them, but at least it will show them that he is paying attention.

Finally he switches to a direct link to Shui.  "I'm going to take us out of the debris field in a few seconds.  Can you go across to sit with the passengers, just in case?"

Pausing in the hall, Shui feels a pang of distress at the captain's request.  But it's an understandable, despite the fact that it takes her far from what transpires.  The steward accesses her dataglove again.  + Certainly, Captain Lanza.  The passengers are in their quarters, but I will remain in the nearby lounge. +

A flick of her finger switches off a holokey, and she changes direction, heading into the cargo bay to make her way to the passenger lounge.

She doesn't argue, though something inside her rails against it.  If the ship is damaged...if people are injured...her responsibility, even to the passengers, is to save the crew first.  The crew is vital to the survival of the ship; without it, the passengers as a whole are doomed.  But Jago doesn't need an argument right now, and the situation sounds under control.

She'll take it up with him later, Shui decides as she navigates the cargo bay.

"Yeah, Vargr's biting off more than they can chew.  Reminds me of the good old days," Yas replies to Jago with a tone of voice that suggest that perhaps the good old days were not always that good.

It may be a merchant with a bite or something less friendly.  Either way she would spot it long before it spotted them if she had any say in it, and if the thing indeed was still around.

Ash nods in acknowledgement to Jago's assessement.  He had come to the same conclusion, just about the same time.  He purses his lips before noting, "Best behavior, Captain?  While we aren't corsairs..." he muses out loud, "perhaps the natives are more trig-..  er... restless than usual?"

Ash continues to scan the tactical displays anything out of the ordinary, while he starts to work up a route to the main colony.  "Plotting course to the downport, Captain..."  Then Ash glances at Jago, "Or are we just going to just try to skim some water and leave?"  Ash is not sure the latter will really go over well with tensions so high...

Jago takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a long sigh, "Might have been somebody like us, a soft target surprisingly able to fight back," Jago responds to Yas, "Or there might be a Navy ship lurking about.  Or it might be a falling out among thieves.  I'm not going to start taking chances."

Then to Ash, "Aim for a nice ocean, we'll set down well away from land and let the Margin drink her fill.  We can refine the fuel as we scoop it.  With this debris up here, I don't know who's in charge down there, and since we'd have to refine any fuel we bought at a backwater port like this one anyway, I don't see the point risking a landing there."

"Which reminds me... "

"Saskia.  Just to let you know, we're going for an ocean skim here."  He takes his finger off the comm before the Engineer can reply, and activates a ship-wide channel, so that everybody will hear it.

"Your attention please.  I intend to avoid the port here, and skim fuel from the ocean.  It'll be just as good as anything we can buy hereabouts.  This means we'll be setting down in mid-ocean.  There is no cause for alarm - the ship is, naturally, watertight."

"Our steward will be available in the passenger lounge shortly, should you have any questions or concerns.  Thank you."

"Ocean refuelling!" Saskia snaps, "Frelling ocean frelling refuelling!"

She gives the power plant fuel pump a hug on the way past, "Don't worry.  I'm going to check the processor and the filters now.  You'll get good fuel.  You never know your luck.  Maybe Jago will fall in and be eaten by - eaten by one of those big fish things.  What are they called?  Shacks or something?"

Ash nods and notes dutifully, "Aye, Aye Captain.  Picking a 'nice' ocean."  The alteration to the plotted course is minimal - less than a fraction of a fraction of a second of a degree of arc, given that the target is only a couple of thousand miles away - a drop in the bucket really, given that they were hundreds of thousands of miles away currently.  Still, down to seven significant figures, it mattered.  And at the very end, it would definitely matter.

As for 'nice', Ash presumes discrete and calm are the most reasonable interpretation of the word.  The former he can make a guess at given the topological maps of the main planet.  The latter will require recent telemetry data, which Ash has to monitor, especially as they get closer.  For now, a best guess will do.

The revised plot is pushed to the tactical display and the coordinates and calculations relayed to the computer, the Captain, and his console.  The detailed destination map revises immediately with an advisory that there was no starport at the target.  Ash acknowledges the warning, silencing the alarm.

He leans back in his chair for a moment, pushing against his harness.  Ash glances up at the displays and notes, "Course correction in, Captain. New plot up - I'll monitor weather and revise as necessary."  Even though he is well aware that the information is redundant.

Once Tylen is comfortable there is no immediate risk from more of the debris. he allows his turret and sensors to turn a full 360 degrees, to try and get some idea of the wider picture, before allowing the  turret to return to the forwards position.

"What's the weather like down there?" he asks on the crew channels when Jago talks about ocean refuelling.  "Can we catch a few rays and play quoits up on the top deck?"

"Thanks, Ash.  Oh, while I think on... can we drop the 'captain' thing?  I prefer 'Jago', or 'skipper', or 'boss' or almost anything.  I even prefer some of the things Yas and Saskia call me.  'Captain' is okay for talking in front of the passengers, or on special occasions, but the rest of the time it seems too formal."

Jago starts Profit Margin accelerating again, racing to get ahead of the debris front before turning the ship towards the planet, which lays some 650,000 kilometres away.

Once they are moving again, he starts calling up planetary details.

"Temperature looks to be ideal for shorts and no shirt." Jago responds to Tylen, "So a bit of sunbathing  might not be out of the question.  We'll be in the water for a few hours, at least."

When Shui gets to the passenger lounge, the door to Keryn's cabin is open.  She can see the young woman laying on her bed.  Gravity in the cabin has been ramped up to constant 0.8 G over the week in jump, and Keryn seems to be adapting to it quite well.  "Excuse me... can I talk to you for a minute, please?  I have some questions."

Finally she reaches the passenger lounge, her mood greatly improved by the lack of 'emergency' in the Captain's tone as he speaks over the PA.  Hearing Keryn's call, Shui cocks an eyebrow at the open door, but refrains from comment - in truth, she hadn't told everyone to keep their doors shut.  Hurrying over, she stands in the room's doorway, gripping the frame tightly with her left hand...just in case some kind of surprise springs on Profit Margin.

As one man with whom she used fly would say, 'T-plus five minutes is still an emergency'.

"Of course, Ms. Taylor," she assures the woman. "Ask away.  And as you may have guessed, the situation is under control...what seems to be the problem?"

"I heard Captain Lanza's announcement." Keryn says, nervously, "Did I understand it right?  He's going to land the ship in an ocean?"

"Is that safe?  Why would he do that?  Oh, and will I be able to look at it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:51, Tue 15 Mar 2011.

"Well at least some good has come from it." Tylen comments then uses his data glove to send a message to Shui.

++  Have we got sunscreen?  Jago says the weather down there is good and there will be time for sunbathing ++

"I knew we should have got a jet ski ... he muses.

Shui smiles, nodding her head. "You did indeed hear correctly, Ms. Taylor," she assures the woman.  "It is a safe, commonplace procedure with a competent crew and captain - we have both.  The idea is to gather fuel - hydrolysis can remove the hydrogen from water, allowing us to increase our fuel supplies at the expense of a little time." Stepping inside, she cocks her head, considering.  Seeing the ocean would be a novel experience for Keryn, but she doesn't know the...

*Ping*

A brief message from Tylen, and she has the answer.  "Apparently the ocean will be open for viewing," she notes, one eyebrow quirking.  "It seems that at least some of the crew is interested in sunbathing...I might partake of that myself, though I suspect I will be kept busy supplying drinks, food, and sunscreen." She glances up, meeting Keryn's eyes.  "Perhaps something you would not wish to miss...of course, we will have to find the proper attire."

Her fingers dance along the holocontrols for a moment.  + Of course, Mr. Orgesh.  We have sufficent sunscreen for a considerable time in the open air.  I will have to check ambient UV levels, mind.  One hopes you have your bathing suit. +

++ My What? ++

Tylen sends his response back to Shui.