Shui pauses and an amused look flickers across her visage.  Then her fingers shift across the holokeys.

+ Unless you plan on swimming and sunbathing naked.  While this is common on my home planet, I would personally suggest you refrain - others on the crew or passenger list might not be so sanguine about such things. +

"Apologies." She bows to Keryn.  "There appears to be some confusion among the crew as well."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Tue 15 Mar 2011.

Ash purses his lips and nods to Jago, when he strongly suggests that he stop calling him 'Captain'.  "Yes, Ca..." he begins and barely catches himself.  After letting out a measured exhalation, Ash starts again.  "Yes, sir." is about all that he can manage.

Ash stares at the tactical displays for a bit, lost in thought.  Both of his stints in the Imperial Services had had some hierarchies.  The last crew he was with the Captain had preferred the term 'Captain', so, Ash hadn't worried about it.    Most of his other working passages, Ash had not really had the time to get to know the captain of the ship - it hadn't been an issue there.  But using the familiar form of address with Jago didn't seem quite right yet to the navigator.

But, he knows that he should get to know Jago and the crew better - otherwise, his stint with them will be as short as it was with everyone else.  The Doctor virtually ordered him to do so, and deep down Ash knows that she is right.  Not that it makes it any easier or more comfortable.  He lets out a slightly plaintive sigh.  Then shakes his head.  And then Ash glances at Jago and asks slightly tentatively, "Umm.... Skipper, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Ash shifts his body to be more square with Jago, "I assume that you aren't really beholden to the INI and that your stake in the Profit Margin is substantial."  He pauses for a moment and then continues, "So, why do you Travel?  I mean, the ship is a nice home and all, but you could probably settle down quite comfortably and not have to worry about riots or corsairs.  Or profit margins and cargoes and buyers.  Or any number of other things..."

Tylen grins at the doctor's response and a brief vision of the two of them skinny dipping flashes across his mind.  Maybe I should offer to rub her sun tan  lotion in  ...." accompanies the images.

Back on the crew comms channel he asks, "Jago?  How about a  nice desert island?  I am sure Yas and I can find some fresh game and we could have a Bar-B-Que."

Jago takes the opportunity to answer Tylen's question, while he ponders what to say to Ash, "My first priority is going to be safety.  If that means sitting in the ocean, a thousand klicks from the nearest land, I'm afraid that's what I'm going to aim for."

"Besides, I don't believe that any animal you and Yas hunted would end up in big enough pieces for a barbecue.  Unless you know a recipe for barbecued soup?"

Finally he answers Ash, "For one thing, the Margin's mortgage is nowhere near paid off yet.  So I have to keep earning credits for that.  That means either getting my hands dirty, or sitting somewhere and letting somebody else run her.  But that clashes with my other reason - I like seeing new places, new things."

"For instance, not long ago, we found a wrecked ship on an ice moon.  While we were poking about, we discovered these... well... I don't know if they were plants or animals.  Mostly they were a patch of coloured ice that moved over the surface, and seemed to live by photosynthesis or something.  Never seen anything like it before, and probably won't ever again, because I don't usually make a habit of setting down on barren snowballs."

He grins, "But it was worth seeing the things, just once, and knowing that we might be the only people who had ever laid eyes on them."

Keryn looks confused at first, "Sunbathing?  Oh, is that when people are just laying about outside and not doing anything?  I've seen it in vids, but it's not really possible back on Frenzie.  Is it safe to do?  For me, I mean." she lays one hand on her stomach, "What about radiation and everything?"

Saskia calls up the data for their destination on her monitor.  "Looks like it might be reasonably nice.  The oceans are water, and safe for people to swim in, so they aren't going to do any damage to the hull or the intakes.  Should be able to get a full load of fuel in no time." 

Though her voice is calm, cheerful even, she is still quite angry.  The positive face is purely for the benefit of the drives.

"I would have to check the various radiation levels," Shui replies, pleased the young woman is thinking ahead, even when not fully comprehending the concept.  "If proper sunblock is applied, normally there is little danger unless UV or other radiation levels are quite high; indeed, the additional vitamin D one receives from time in the sun can help promote good health.  If necessary, we can also put up some kind of sun shield - an umbrella or lean-to allowing you to enjoy the fresh air and the sight without being in direct sunlight at all."

She takes a moment to consider.  "One might wish to have a good book if one is not swimming, assuming staring out over the sea for hours on end is not the sort of thing that interests.  For myself, I have found it very calming and peaceful."

"What if I only use my machete?  Or my hands?  I could wring the neck of some big wild ox!" Yas offers over the comm while she keeps scanning around for any sign of trouble.  Then she muses, "Sunbathing, eh?  Could be nice, but not sure I want to jump into the ocean unless we do a full analysis first.  The stories I could tell you about getting waist-deep in water on other planets without knowing what is in there, oh boy..."

Ash listens to the crew chatter on the comm line with a slightly bemused expression, but does not respond.  Instead he watches Jago carefully as the Captain explains why he doesn't cash in and settle down,  He nods as listens - an eminently sensible answer; even if, the answer is not unique.  "Well, sir, as a career curiosity seeker," Ash ventures, "determining the origin of your mysterious psychoactive object d'art is a true mixture of business and pleasure for you then."  He gives the skipper a slightly crooked smile.

"I wish that I could say that it was purely curiosity that kept me on the go." Ash sounds a bit wistful, "And while, it is a part of it. ... for a long time I've been chasing a dream, I guess.  A hope for something better; I don't really know what, but better than what my family had on Jewell."  He looks at Jago, wondering if he should say any more, but Ash can't seem to help himself, "I ... I thought I had found that in the Navy, but washed out there.  Hard.  Been searching ever since."  He shakes his head a little bit, as if to clear it, "It's a bit silly.  I know that that Life is not meant to be a Means, but an End in and of itself.  I guess I just keep hoping, sir."  He shrugs slightly, but doesn't continue.

Instead, Ash start to pull up library data from the ship's computer.  Now that Yasmine has planted the see, he wants to verify that ocean is not tainted or inhabited by anything too dangerous (especially if the crew intends to swim) - and that the atmosphere isn't too thin or tainted for any reasonable sun exposure.  Upon reviewing some of the information at hand, Ash wonders out loud into the crew linked comm, "The Library data on the system shows large forests, which we are unlikely to be close to ... no large or higher evolved animals known or encountered... but a significant insect population noted.  While we are unlikely to encounter those, since we won't be close to land, it might be good to have some repellent on hand.  Just in case."  Ash flicks off the comm and continues to peruse the Library data as well as watching the tactical displays and proximity alarms.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:00, Tue 22 Mar 2011.

"I've got repellent, and propellant.  Scatterguns work well for bigger bugs, anyway," Yas comments a chortles.  "But yeah, flying bugge... er, bugs can be as bad as swimming ones.  I could tell you some stories there, this wasp-like thing that would lay eggs in your eyeballs...  Or the other one, that...  Well, maybe I'll save these for the camp fire tonight, eh?"

"I'm not sure we'll be having a camp fire." Jago interrupts Yas's gruesome tales, "We'll probably be far from land, and I'm not going to let you light a fire on top of the hull.  And even if you'll never listen to a word I say, Saskia might object."

Keryn pays rapt attention as Shui explains the dangers inherent in sunbathing, and the precautions which can be used to minimise the risks.  "Swimming might be fun, if it's allowed.  Water supports the body, doesn't it?  It might give me a break from the gravity, if it's higher than what I'm used to.  Is swimming difficult to learn?"

"Hello... " interrupting the banter, Jago pulls up a sensor display, and announces over the crew channel, "We have company.  Neutrino emissions, some forty thousand kilometres out.  Looks like somebody just powered up their fusion plant."  He transfers position data to Ash, Tylen and Yas.

Ash sits up straighter immediately and begins to scan common communications frequencies for hails.  "Is our transceiver information up and running?" Ash asks Jago.  He doesn't specify which, assuming that the Captain has the one he wants going already going.

His finger is poised over the comm display, "Should I hail the ship, Sir?  Or do you want me to wait for them to make their intentions more clear?"  As Ash waits for Jago's decision, he keeps a close eye on the movement vector of the neutrino source.  His experience as a navigator kicks in and Ash's brain is already starting to mentatlly plot optimized alternate routes for best intercept, least contact and evasive action plots for varying pursuit speeds...  You know, just in case.

"Swimming is certainly allowed," Shui assures the young mother-to-be, "barring dangerous toxins in the water."  She'll have to do tests beforehand - one never knows what kind of chemistry or biology one will find until one checks.  As for swimming being difficult, no - it is quite comfortable, due to the buoyancy."  She taps her lip thoughtfully.  "I am, of course, no great swimmer myself, but I find it easy to paddle around.  Perhaps you shall join me, and we can amuse the others with our lack of skill."

They really need to find some sort of swimming gear for Keryn, Shui decides.  Something to wear.  She surveys the young woman, studying her size and dimensions, trying to figure out who on the crew comes closest - herself, Saskia, or Yasmine.

"I am certain something can be arranged," she murmurs thoughtfully, calling up personnel files on her dataglove, checking heights and weights.  They don't tell the whole story, of course, but it's a start.

Jago shunts the information from the sensors through to Saskia's station in Engineering, and calls her, "Saskia, we've got some company.  Can you take a look at these neutrino readings, see if you can work out anything from them?  Thanks."

Then the gunners, "Tylen, prep a missile, just in case.  If I have to give the word to launch, I want it out of the tube before I've finished speaking.  Yas, take point defence for the moment, just in case they decide to send us a package."

"Ash, see if you can get me any clue on what it's doing, I can't even tell if it's moving with all this junk in the way, see if you can clear the scans up a bit."

And finally a message to Shui, nothing spoken, just a brief chirping alarm signal to let her know that she should call the Bridge when she has a moment...

"I suppose I could try swimming then." Keryn replies, "If the water isn't too deep, or too cold."  Then she laughs and adds, "Or too poisonous, or too radioactive."

"I must seem like a complete fool sometimes, worrying about things that other people take for granted."

Tylen swung his turret towards the neutrino bust as Jago identified it, then acknowledged the command to prep up a missile.  "Aye Aye, boss."

"Not at all, Keryn."  Shui moves a little further into the room.  "When I consider how many times world-bound people have worried about pressure drops, explosive decompression, and such other things, I would never say so."  She lets out a quiet laugh of her own.  "I suspect it to be a matter of one's perspective - familiarity breeds contempt, while the unknown is fertile ground for worry."

She cocks her head to the side.  "We all have our own fears, and I am well-convinced that no matter how logical a fear might seem for us, there is someone in the universe for whom it would be ridiculous."  One eyebrow rises ironically.  "Which might make the fear no less valid.  For myself, I respect you erring on the side of caution rather than recklessness - you have someone else depending on your decisions, after all."

Ash nods to Jago. "Yes, sir.  Running filters on the sensor feeds now."  His eyes darted between the raw and altered displays, as he noted, "I've been wanting to try this six-fold symmetrical notation filter that I read about in the Popular Communcations..."

His brow furrows as the white noise in the signal increases by over an order of magnitude - generating a proportional number of false positive images on the filtered display.  "Well," he notes ruefully, "that is not it."  And he begins to feverishly pour over his calculations looking for the mistake that he is sure is there...

"Maybe an older model." Saskia informs Jago after briefly examining the data, "Resonance frequencies are all in the lower bands, but really spread out.  For a more modern unit, I'd expect to see tighter focussing in a narrower range, and that range would be at higher frequencies.

"Low neutrino resonance tends to be a sign of lower fusion efficiencies, and wider spread across frequency bands usually indicates less precise reactor control."

She pauses, reconsidering, "It could be a sign of damage, I suppose, but I don't think so.  It looks too stable.  The frequencies are spread over a wide range, but they're spread evenly over that range.  For damage, I'd expect to see a lot more fluctuations in the proportion of neutrinos in each band."

While Ash tries to clean up the scan in an effort to get more information about what the neutrino source is up to, Jago makes a small course adjustment - Profit Margin is still headed for the planet, but not quite so directly.  They will have the benefit of whatever cover the debris can provide for a little longer...

The captain's eyes don't quite glaze over as Saskia feeds him her assessment of the source, but he does say, "Thank you." as soon as he thinks he has heard enough, before she can continue with a more detailed technical explanation.

"Okay everybody.  Looks like it's an old power plant, or a faulty one.  Don't get complacent though.  An old ship can still carry nice modern weapons."  Just like the Margin.


Keryn nods as Shui speaks, "Well, I must admit, I learned everything I know about other worlds and space travel from holodramas."  A smile, and a small laugh, "I was almost surprised when we were in space for a whole day without being attacked by Vargr corsairs, suffering a drive failure, and being hit by an asteroid."

"I'm probably going to be terrified the first time I see a wild animal.  The nearest we had on Frenzie was rats, and there weren't many of them."

"Thank you for your help.  With everything."

"Holodramas, goodness!" Shui lets out a laugh of her own.  "We've all seen those, and they do tend to colour perceptions.  Isn't it lucky they're largely exaggerated?"  She smiles at Keryn's confession of her concerns regarding wild animals.  "I would guess that being cautious of wild animals is a far wiser choice than unwary, Ms. Taylor."

For a moment she stares at the ceiling, considering.  "When I first stepped aboard a ship, I admit to expecting broad hallways - sparklingly clean - fine dining, dashing shipmates, humorous banter...perhaps even a handsome, misunderstood pirate?"  Another quiet laugh follows.  "You can guess which holodramas I watched.  Some of those things I have encountered," she confesses, "but not always.  In fact, quite rarely, given some of the ships upon which I have travelled." The Steward touches the wall.  "This one matches most closely the list of my expectations, and is the best I could imagine."

The steward inclines her head slightly at Keryn's thanks.  "But it is my pleasure, Ms. Taylor.  I am only too happy to assist - your entry aboard this vessel was certainly under difficult circumstances, and I would much rather see you leave it with only fond memories of your time aboard it."

Ash frowns, he knows that he is letting the Captain and the rest of the crew down by not getting results.  It is not a new feeling for him; far from it - the feeling could be a microcosm of his life, but for once, he would prefer not to have to live with the embarrassment.  Ash lets out a measured exhalation and starts in on his task of clearing up the sensor signal one more time.  He can feel the sweat beading on his brow as he sets all of his concentration on the task.  The navigator no longer keeps a running commentary of his efforts to analyze or filter the data.  Ash is fully aware that the rest of the crew is relying on him for proper results.

The ex-Navy, ex-Scout washout can only hope that their trust in his abilities is not misplaced.  But he sorely suspects that they are...

It takes but a moment or two for Tylen to arm the first of the missiles in the rack.  A fast diagnostic program runs a short test on the  command and control systems while another diagnostic checks the launch rail and  initial racking software.  Once the missile and its launch rail are shown to be working properly, he flips the switch that selects that missile for launch.  "Ready." he grunts into the comm system as he starts running launch checks against the other two missiles.

Taking the point of the defence to the point, as is the nature of such defence, Yas watches and waits.  Old power plant or not says nothing about the teeth of the critter, or whether it is hostile or not.

While she waits she hopes that her protégé is feeling safe and secure, possibly even getting spoiled by the stewardess.  Hopefully she will have some time to sit down and talk to her once they are on the planet, or the ocean, as the case is.

"Let's just make sure they aren't going to wait for us to settle down in the water, eh?  Sassy, can you rig some sort of remote warning system in case they do try to sneak up on us while we're dipping out toes?" she calls over the crew comm.

Jago makes a fractional adjustment to the ship's course, and glances at Ash, "Any progress on clearing up the sensor data?"

"Well, I'm just glad to be off Frenzie." Keryn says, not sounding particularly glad, "I was on my way to the port with some other people to try and catch a ship.  Then we heard fighting, and everybody else decided they were safer at home.  I carried on.  Then Yas found me and brought me the rest of the way.  Told me I should avoid the craters in the corridors.  Something about fuzzy guns, or something.  And radiation - she definitely mentioned radiation."

A few final tweaks of the controls allows Tylen to get a fix on the location of the potential enemy "... and locked on." he adds softly as he finally picks up a clear fix through the debris.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:12, Sat 02 Apr 2011.