WORLD DETAILS

NAME:              728-907
HEX LOCATION:      Spinward Marches1214
UWP:               D955000-2
PBG:               610
TRADE CODES:       Low Population, Nonindustrial, Barren
BASES:             None
ALLEGIANCE:        Third Imperium
STELLAR DETAILS:   Primary Star: F1 V   Mass: 1.62
                   Binary Star:  M4 D   Mass: 1.11

SATELLITE DETAILS: Number: 1

SIZE RELATED DETAILS
Basic World Type:  Planet - molten core.
Diameter:  14,880 km   Density: 0.99   World Mass: 1.4      World Gravity: 1.1 G
Orbit Period: 1,624.298 Std Days       Distance: 2.8 AU     Eccentricity: 0.005
Rotation Period:  41.75 Std Hours      Axial Tilt: 40°      Seismic Stress Factor: 6.396

ATMOSPHERIC RELATED DETAILS
Composition: Standard oxygen-nitrogen mix
Surface Pressure: 0.48           Mean Temp: 22.467°C     Native Life: Yes
Terraforming - Atmospheric: No   Albedo: No              Greenhouse Effect: No
Weather Control: No

HYDROSPHERE RELATED DETAILS
Composition: Liquid water
Hydrographic Percentage: 53%        Tectonic Plates: 1
Terraforming - Hydrographic: No     Terrain: No

POPULATION RELATED DETAILS
Total World Population: 6
Starports and Spaceports: D
Primary Cities: 0                   Orbital Cities: 0

Social Outlook:
    Progressiveness:  Conservative, Advancing
    Aggressiveness:   Unaggressive, Neutral
    Extensiveness:    Harmonious, Friendly

Unusual Local Customs: None noted.

GOVERNMENT RELATED DETAILS
Representative Authority: None
Division of Authority:    None

LAW RELATED DETAILS                  TECHNOLOGY RELATED DETAILS
Uniformity of Law:     Personal      Technology Profile:

Legal Profile:                       High Common Tech Level: 2
    Overall Law level: 0             Low Common TL:          1
    Weapons Law level: 0             Energy TL:              2
    Trade Law level:   0             Computer/Robotics TL:   2
    Criminal Law:      5             Communications TL:      1
    Civil Law:         0             Medical TL:             0
    Personal Freedom:  5             Environment TL:         0
                                     Land Transport TL:      2
                                     Water Transport TL:     2
                                     Air Transport TL:       4
                                     Space Transport TL:     2
                                     Personal Military TL:   2
                                     Heavy Military TL:      2
                                     Novelty Tech Level:     4

---

Jago brings the ship in, in a long, gentle descent over the ocean, eventually picking a location at seeming random.  Profit Margin settles into the water, and Jago uses the thrusters plates to adjust her buoyancy, until she floats with the ocean surface about level with the bridge viewports.

Jago makes an announcement on the crew channel, "Okay... we're down.  We'll need to use the dorsal airlock to get onto the top of the hull, but for the moment we've got our own private island.  With one advantage... if it starts to rain, we can move our island."

"No way.  We're not letting them through either our lounge or the engineering.  Right, Sas?  I'd suggest we open the air raft bay, take the raft out and park it on top, then we use the extendible ladder there, herding 'em through the cargo bay" Yas objects over the crew channel while she sets her turret to keep an eye on the atmosphere so that it will alert her as soon as anything bigger or faster than a fat gull flies through it.

Once that is done she steps out onto the bridge and steers toward the crew lounge, giving a quick wave to anyone on the bridge, intent on getting to her quarters in order to get ready to catch some rays - after having applied sufficient protection from any deep-fry rays, of course.

"In fact, I'll take the raft out myself," she adds over the channel with a grin that is audible to those that cannot see her, figuring that will send someone else scurrying to do so before she can reach the bay.

"Definitely don't want people tramping through here with their dirty boots." Saskia replies over the intercom.  "If we do it the way Yas said, we can lock the door back here and keep everybody out for the duration.

"Oh, and, Jago.  The pumps are on line, and the filters are set up.  You can start refueling when you're ready."

Tylen saves his display settings for when they take to the air again, and then reconfigures the displays  to monitor the underwater environment.  Not only does he check for  man made objects but he also scan for sea life, both large and small.

Setting his data glove to download information  about native sealife, Tylen checks the local weather, as he waits for his aquatic scans to produce their first results.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:16, Sat 30 Apr 2011.

Ash slaves a number of the sensor and ship's comm feeds and displays to his comm and headset.  He then locks his co-pilot console, giving no one in particular a smile when he hears Yas' threat to drive.  He's pretty sure that they wouldn't call the air-raft a 'raft' if it didn't have a minimal level of seaworthiness...

He notes to Jago, "Ms. Blake says that we are ready to commence refuelling, Boss."  He glances at the Captain and prompts, "Should I initiate the sequence?"  He checks his HUD display to ensure that the Margin's fuel status is among the set of internal sensor feeds that he has on display.

Ash gets ready to get his swimming trunks on; it may only be an old set of board shorts, but it'll be better than nothing.  He doesn't expect to be getting into the water (and he dearly hopes that Shui will have extra sun screen since he himself has never bothered to buy, pack or carry it) as he will generally be monitoring signals and such, even when outside, but one never really knows what will happen that might necessitate getting in the water.  Much like life, he muses, so, best to make some attempt at being even slightly ready.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:26, Sun 01 May 2011.

"That does make more sense." Jago agrees, "Never really had to do this before, so hadn't thought about the best way of getting people onto the hull.  Okay, everybody, we're going to do this Yas' way, so if somebody wants to take the car out before Yas gets to it, I'd be grateful."

"Shui, if you or Keryn need something to wear, speak to Saskia.  I believe she might have something suitable."

The Captain stretches and nods to Ash, "Yeah start it up."  Then he adds, quietly, "Set the pumps to half speed for now, they'll be quieter, and It'll give us an excuse to sit here longer.  Frankly, we deserve a break."

Tylen laughs out loud as he reads the local information  "Looks like the X-Boat tender is a weather station." he says over the crew comms channels.  "It says here that the locals used it as colonisation ship  and now they use it as a weather monitoring satellite." he can't help chuckling as he continues "Although it doesn't seem to give our much in the way of forecasts.  Still looking at its data, the weather is should be  warm and sunny day."

Without much ado, Tylen configures his display systems to alert him if any of the local sharks, or similar sized creatures, appear to be hanging around the Margin, then goes back onto the crew comms channel.  "Are we taking a monitor upstairs with us?  I am tweaking some of the sensors to act as a local sea-life warning system, I thought it might be interesting to know if we have sharks for company."

"And what do you reckon to 'fishing' with a laser carbine from an airaft?  Maybe we could get fresh fish or shark steaks"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:12, Mon 02 May 2011.

Yas chuckles as she listens to Jago while she searches for her bathing gear.  Which one to go with?  She makes a mental not to check with Sushi first regarding sunscreen, would not do to catch too much rays and mutate into something less dangerous than she is now.

"Fishing, with laser?  You planning to cook them in the water?  You can borrow one of my shotguns if you want, I know that works.  Or grenades, if you time it so they go off just below the surface," Yas comments over the crew channel as she settles on which bathing suit to wear.  On top of that goes a bathrobe, though, to start with.  Would not want to appear too friendly, ah, unprofessional in front of the passengers until that are all either out on top or locked away, i.e., opting to stay in their cabins.

Next, to find Sushi and some sunscreen.  She turns to her wrist and pokes at it, chuckling as she sends it.

With the ship settled in on the planet, Shui picks up her packed bag - complete with scads of sunscreen and bottles of water - and starts to head out the door.  She's ready, her suit on underneath her exercise clothing (stretch-tee and pants) with slippers on, but the word comes down that Saskia might very well have what she's looking for in terms of clothing for Keryn.  Immediately the doctor switches directions, heading for engineering.

Already she's going through her plans in her head.  The others will be relaxing, of course, with plenty of time to lounge.  This is, however, when a steward is most needed.  Shui knows she will have some time to do some sunning of her own, and swimming to boot, but she expects to be in and out of the ship.  Food.  Water.  Towels.  Anything else the crew or passengers need.

She doesn't mind.  Serving others soothes her spirit.  It makes up for...many things a long time gone by.

The dataglove - which will soon look very out of place on her wrist - chirps as she heads into engineering, and the doctor scans her messages.  Fingers flicker in a reply, moments later.  Then she continues into the ship's heart, raising her voice to call out for its everpresent guardian.

"Ms. Blake?  Are you here?  Jago informs me you might have clothing Keryn can use."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:57, Sun 01 May 2011.

Before he leaves to change his clothes, Ash nods to Jago.  "Right...." he intones as he reopens his console briefly and taps furiously for a moment, "Starting.  At half rate."  He relocks his console and glances at this HUD to make sure that he is still monitoring the status.  Then Ash configures his comm and headset for the proper alert levels and displays.  "Ms. Blake," he notes dutifully into his comm on the line to Engineering, "I've started the pumps at half rate.  I'll be monitoring their progress remotely, as I am sure you are already doing."

Then he walks to his cabin to change.  A few minutes later, the navigator emerges from his cabin in a basic off-white t-shirt and set of blue, asymmetrically patterned board shorts.  His old IN knife is still strapped to his leg; with all the talk of sharks and fishing, Ash figures that it might actually come in handy.  He still has his comm at his hip, as well as his HUD and display headband on his head.  Ash has no hat or sunglasses and his boots are untied - only loosely laced on his feet with no socks showing.  His skin is a fairly pasty white; the scars on his legs and arms are readily apparent.

Ash then makes his way to air-raft bay via the cargo area.  He notes to himself, Hmmm... Our steward and doctor will be too busy with other preparations to drive.  Mr. Orgesh wants to shoot and not drive.  And we have been warned that Ms. Crow is to be the last resort to drive ...  Tag.  I'm it.  Ash, honestly, figures that he if can drive a launch or a ship's boat that an air-raft can't be more complex.  He announces over the shipwide comm, "I'm getting ready to open the raft's dorsal hatch and move the vehicle out into the open."  He steps into the air-raft and moves to trigger the controls for the hatch.  "Anyone care for a short ride?" he notes with a slight, easy smile playing on his face.

Stopping briefly to consider what accessories would go best with her bathing suit Yas finally decided to pack it light and only bring the good old scattergun and the five-shooter peagun, be it big peas and all.  Would no do to go skinny-dipping, after all.

Then there is a bleeping beep and she turns to look at her wrist, chuckles and pokes at it a few times.  Another chuckle and she starts to walk towards the aft lounge, intent on taking that route to the bay to make sure everything else gets secured.

There is, of course, the small matter of shifting the air-raft out of its parking space.

Jago, however, ignores that for the moment, and goes, instead to Engineering, where he opens the equipment locker in the dorsal airlock.  He hauls out a half dozen coils of lightweight plastic-sheathed cord, hundred metre lengths, then drags them up the ladder to the external hatch, which he opens.

Quickly uncoiling each of the cords, he uses its attached clip to fasten it to one of the set of small eyelets fixed to the hull outside the airlock.  Finished, he gives a satisfied nod, before closing the hatch and descending the ladder.

He opens a channel to the crew, "I've fixed some EVA safety lines outside the dorsal airlock.  Anybody going into the water should tie themselves off, for safety, before they do.  Make sure the passengers are aware of this too."

Saskia is monitoring the startup of the pumps as Shui enters, and is surprised when she hears the purser's voice.  She steps out from behind the fuel purification systems, "Well, I have a few bits and pieces.  Not sure if I've got anything in her size, they're all different.  None of them have even been worn though.  I was given them a couple of years ago by a designer, who asked me to show them to people on different planets in the hopes of getting her some sales.

"If any of them fit Keryn, she's welcome to borrow one."

She pauses, nodding, as a rising hum from behind her suddenly changes pitch, "That's good, we can go take a look now.  The suits are in my quarters.  Let's see what we can find."

Satisfied that everything is as well sorted out as it is going to be, Tylen heads to his cabin to change into shorts and a tee shirt.  He drops a revolver into his bag, along with a towel and a hat and heads  up onto the deck, chuckling slightly at the thought of EVA safety lines for swimming.

Pleased, Shui bows to the engineer.  "Thank you, Ms. Blake.  That would be wonderful - I'm certain we can find something that will fit our guest.  You, as always, are a lifesaver." What a curious, interesting story behind the presence of the suits.  About to ask more, Shui feels her dataglove hum.  Another message...

"After you, Ms. Blake," she motions.  Her finger quickly pecks out a reply, then she moves up beside the engineer as they walk.  "Have you had much success, then?  With the suits?  Or is this some long-ago agreement, now fallen into dusty disuse?"  Given travel distances and times, if the designer is sectors and sectors away, it seems inefficient to continue to show the suits around.

One eyebrow rises.  "Are they any good?  Have you chosen one for yourself?"

"Let's just make sure no one ties a line around their neck or a leg, that rarely works out well when you try to pull someone out of something," Yas comments over the crew channel, leaving it unclear whether she is jesting or not.

Making her way towards engineering Yas stops now and then to make sure everything is up to snuff and secured.  Only once she is happy with it does she step through the door from the aft lounge into engineering, where she stops to look around.

"Hey, Sassy, Sushi.  So, not a doctor's order then, but a recommendation, got it," she calls out towards the other two women and grins, no doubt leaving the engineer wondering what she is talking about.

"Got the stuff with you or shall I tag along and pick it up before we herd the passangers?" she then asks the doctor/stewardess.

"Not really sure.  I've shown them to a few people in different places, and some of them took the designer's details so that they could get in touch with her." Saskia explains to Shui, "But that was all before we left the Imperium last year.  I have no idea if any of them ever tried to make contact with her."

The arrival of Yas, and her strange comment, brings a puzzled look and a shrug, "I have no idea what you're talking about.  Do you, Shui?  We're just going to find something for Keryn to wear for sunbathing, Yas."

She chuckles, and she leads the way to her quarters, "For all I know the woman who gave me them is now the biggest designer of swimsuits in the Marches." a gesture towards her coveralls, "As you can see, I'm not exactly a fashion expert."

They enter her cabin, and the engineer pulls open a drawer, "Here we are."

There are an even dozen suits, in various colors and patterns, all neatly folded and encased in transparent resealable polymer packaging, along with three stacks of plastic wafers, each of them embossed with the same logo and bearing an embedded chip.

"Take all of them to Keryn and tell her she can pick whichever one she likes."

"One can hope, Ms. Blake, that your friend has done well with her suits." It's a hard thing to deal with sometimes, the vast distances and travel times.  Shui sometimes wonders about checking a star-chart to see how far she is from 'home', but to get it all on the same screen at once would reduce the scale to 'meaningless'.

"As for Ms. Crow," she continues with the Security Chief's arrival, "she refers to a conversation we had via messaging...regarding men and suntan lotion."  Amusement dances in her eyes for a moment.  "I have the lotion here," the steward replies, tapping her bag as she obediently trundles along behind the engineer.

Once there, the suits are revealed.  Shui raises her eyebrows in interest.  "Quite a selection, Ms. Blake.  Have you chosen one for yourself from this designer's work?"  She begins gathering up the suits, preparing to take them to Keryn...of course, they have to fit, as well.

After loading a couple of extra EVA line coils onto the bed of the air-raft, Ash begins to raise the craft out the dorsal hatch.  He takes it slow and careful; he figures that the extra space in the bay should make moving around and egress easier.

Ash eases the air-raft up an out into the open, feeling the sunlight on his face and noting the play of the shadows and light.  He relishes the open horizon as the water stretches in all directions out to the horizon.  Ash keeps the vehicle hovering suspended for a couple of moments before moving the craft forward and attempting to land it just forward of the dorsal hatch on the Profit Margin's main spine.  "Easy does it, Tescali.  You break it, you bought it ..." he mutters quietly to himself as he nudges the controls, slowly moving the air-raft forward and lowering it.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:48, Wed 11 May 2011.

Ash drops the 'raft onto the top of the hull and applies a low negative thrust with the grav modules, so that the vehicle is pinned on the upper hull.  The batteries are fully charged, so the raft should have power to hold it in place for several hours.  As he walks back across the hull, he remembers that the local gravity is a little higher than standard, but easily tolerable.

Shui gathers up the swimsuits and heads across to speak to Keryn.  In the passenger lounge she meets Corlan and Eneris waiting to be taken where they need to go to get onto the top of the ship.  Corlan seems to have loaned the other man some clothes for the "mission".

Everybody else on the crew is getting ready to go topside...

"Ah yes, that one, the designer.  Feels like years ago.  Oh, wait, it is, isn't it?  Dang, feels like yesterday too, hmph...'

Yasmine muses as she follows the others, figuring she will not be doing much until it is time to get the sheep, ah, passengers out onto the ship.

"Indeed.  Lotion and men, a sticky combination at best," she grins at Sushi and then chortles with amusement before muttering, "I sure ain't going to let anyone help me with anything but my back either way..."

"Yeah, Sassy, which one's yours? Don't tell me you gone full body suit?" she then asks the engineer with a teasing smile.

Shaking her head and smiling at Yasmine's dire pronouncement (heaven itself will not help the one who tries for more...), Shui greets the two male passengers.  "Mr. DeSant, Mr. Armusezash - please follow Ms. Crow," she requests, with some relish.  "She will be more than happy to assist you with gaining the upper hull, as well as sunscreen."  The steward waits a beat, then hands several bottles to Yasmine.  "Getting you the necessary supplies, that is.  For the moment, I am occupied assisting Ms. Taylor, after which I would be pleased to entertain requests for refreshments and comfort - chairs, towels, the like.  When I arrive, if there is a need I can also apply sunscreen."   having done theraputic massages for people in the past, Shui isn't leery of slathering sunscreen on the hard-to-reach areas of someone's back.

She raises her hand, indicating her dataglove.  "Please feel free to have a member of the crew page me if I am not available."  The steward knows full-well she will be running back and forth for the next little while - enjoying the sun and water will be something she can do later in the day, when everyone's needs are met.

Including sunscreen.

"Ms. Blake, Ms. Crow - I look forward to seeing you and your choices of suits topside," she murmurs to the crewmembers.  Men's suits tend toward the utilitarian.  Womens' suits, on the other hand, especially with a choice of designer styles...that could be interesting.  Men really should put more thought or care into their clothing, she decides as she heads off to Keryn's cabin and chimes the door.

"Ms. Taylor?  I am here with a selection of swimsuits, also useable for sunbathing."

Eventually everything is organised, and everybody, crew and passengers alike, find themselves standing on the upper hull of the ship, surrounded by open ocean which stretches, unbroken by any landmass, to the horizon in all directions.  The air is filled with the smell of salt water, and a white sun stands high in the sky, with a small dwarf companion gleaming a sullen red close by (at least from this angle).

Keryn, wearing a borrowed swimsuit in black and fluorescent green, climbs up from the air-raft bay, with a little assistance required due to the heavier gravity.  "The air's thinner than I expected... " she starts to say, but whatever she was going to say trails off as she notices the view.  Then her head tilts back and she looks at the sky.  For a few seconds she appears panic-striken, but she finally manages a nervous smile, and a half-hearted joke, "That's a high ceiling.  How do they service the lighting units?"

Corlan and Eneris find themselves a comfortable place to sit near the dorsal turret, and after Corlan has spent a few minutes studying the weapon mount from various angles, the two older men settle down to play seven-man teron on an antique board with metal playing pieces.  Keryn, meanwhile, locates a spot beneath the main sensor array, where there is plenty of shade, and it's probably just coincidence  that the array obscures much of the open sky from her view.

When Jago comes up the ladder, wearing a pair of shorts and a loose-fitting shirt, he takes a quick look around, stretches, and gives a satisfied nod.  "This all looks very nice."

Assisting Keryn as she makes her way out, Yas grins and shields her eyes as she peers towards into the sky.

"Well, you need a really big step ladder - and someone to hold it," she explains with a deadpan expression.

She is still wearing her bathrobe over her bathing suit and is seeing to that everyone is at least somewhat safe where they are before she will even think about removing it to catch some rays, of the benign sort at least.

"So, first time outdoors, eh?  How does it feel?  I grew up under the sky, well, we did have a house, but still.  Must be something to take in, eh?" she asks the young woman, leaning against the sensor array, helping to temporarily block a portion of the sky.

She intends to get some time with the young woman, feeling responsible for her, as well as a sort of connection she cannot quite explain.  The week in J-space did not offer much time between them, so she hopes to make the most of the time here.

Tylen dumps his bag somewhere on the 'high ground' and walks down the beach towards the sea.  "Been a long time since I have been to the beach." he says with a grin.

When he gets to the edge of Profit Margin, he sits down and lets his bare feet dangle into the water.  Reaching out, he dips his hand into the water and then raises it to his lips.

Poor, overwhelmed Keryn has the more-than-capable Yasmine to watch over her for the moment, so Shui focuses on the other passengers and the crew.  First, she distributes the sunscreen - formulated to block the harmful UV wavelengths while allowing the beneficial, vitamin D-inducing kind through.  Verbal instructions come with every bottle.

"...and be sure to apply evenly, Mr. Tescali..."

"...do not miss your nose, Ms. Blake..."

"...back and shoulders as well, Mr. Orgesh..."

People, she knows, can be lax with such things, resulting in considerable pain for days to come.

Then the drinks - bottled water and juices for everyone, with more in a nearby cooler.  There is food as well, in another small, cooled box - sandwiches and wraps of various sorts.  Finally everyone appears comfortable, and even Jago approves.  Satisfied, Shui feels prepared to relax...somewhat.  She'll have to keep her eye out for people in need of refreshment or other attention, but....

Pleased, she removes her tan capris and shirt, revealing her simple black bikini.  A pair of thin-rimmed sunglasses replace her normal pair of lenses.  She doesn't bother with sandles, prefering to feel the sun-warmed hull of the ship against her soles.  Her dataglove remains on her hand, an oddly exotic match to her suit.  Then, following her own instructions, the steward removes a small tube of near-invisible sunblock and begins the lengthly process of application, starting with her arms.

Yasmine still appears content to chat with Keryn, though Shui keeps her eye out for when the security chief wishes assistence with the sunblock, herself - Saskia as well.  Tylen's action catches her eye, and she cocks a thin brow.  "Mr. Orgesh," she calls, "you might find the water a touch too salty for your taste."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:43, Mon 16 May 2011.

Tylen is a bit cavalier with the suncreen, but does rub it into his arms and legs where they are exposed by his shorts and tee shirt.  While the coverage is reasonable it certainly isn't even all over.  However, he does take time to do his feet, face and neck  as well.

When Shui comments on the taste of the sea water he grins.  "Just a taste of home.  I grew up on the beaches, looking for crabs in the rock pools, dodging the jelly fish and watching out for the seals.  If I hadn't got into space it would have been a life at sea." he concludes with a grin.  "Or in the processing plants." he adds even more sombrely.

Standing up he moves back to the high ground at the middle of the ship.  "Will you keep an eye on that for me?" he asks as he removes his dataglove and offers it to Shui.  "I'm going for a swim."  He takes a couple of paces towards the edge of the ship when he turns back to the doctor "It is slaved to report if any large creatures come close." with that he heads off towards the water's edge.fancy a s

Shui nods thoughtfully as Tylen explains his background - something she hadn't known about the man, something of interest.  "I myself never saw the sea until I left my home," she muses.  No playing in tidal pools for her, snatching opportunities to examine the wonder of a slow-crawling crab.  "It sounds...wonderful."

The processing plants, far less so.

Without question, she accepts the dataglove.  "Ah, so our sensors are programmed for such?  I was curious...of course, you and Ms. Crow would be most thorough."  She'll have to hold it, of course - she already has her own on her hand, and Tylen's would certainly not fit without extensive modification to the size.  "Certainly I will take a swim of my own, when time permits." A shame she can't join him, but for now she appears to be the guardian of Tylen's dataglove.

Tapping her lip with a fingertip, she considers his scarred back as he heads off to the water.  When Tylen returns, Shui decides, she should ask if he needs her to apply sunscreen on the hard-to-reach area.  Not at all a daunting task, and it will certainly prevent discomfort later.  Something to save for later, though; until he returns, she should check on the rest of her charges, and see if Yasmine, Saskia or Keryn require the application of sunscreen.

They might have already made arrangements of their own, of course.

"Well maybe Jago or Ash could watch the sensors?" Tylen suggests.  "The glove is acting as a relay to the sensor display in my turret, so they could equally pick those up on their personal computers." he continues with a shrug, "After all, swimming with company is always better than swimming alone." he concludes with a smile.

After parking the raft near the dorsal lock, Ash climbed out of the vehicle and settled down on a spot on the hull midway between the sensor array and the water line.  Has a towel laid out and is merely sitting with his knees bent up near his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs.  He is alert, but mostly just quietly watching the water disappear into the horizon line.

While the others reminisce about their upbringings, Ash quietly ponders his own experiences on Jewell.  His family had never been very rich; so, while Jewell was mostly covered with water, Ash's personal experience was with overcrowded public beaches and coastlines choked with sewage and pollution.  Jewell's precarious frontier location near the Zhodani border often affected that portion of the quality of life.  And near the shipyards, the technology and factories for military purposes generally took precedence over recreational needs of the populace.

While, Ash grew up with an open sky - the solitude of the open ocean is something that he cherishes.  Watching the light dance of on the glassy surface of the open water as the sea undulates with its huge underlying ocean currents is an invitation for a little bit of solitary reflection to him.  He loved doing such things on the infrequent boating trips as a boy and he hasn't had the chance to do so, for a number of years.

His quiet revelry is broken when the others start to clamber up onto the surface, though Ash remains quiet until Shui actually approaches him.  He accepts the suntan lotion from Shui with a slight smile and a nod for acknowledgement.  A simple "Yes, Ma'am." emanates from his lips along with a glance at the asian woman when she proffers her instructions for application.  He slowly and meticulously starts to apply the cream, making sure that he covers all of his exposed parts, which given the tank top requires some gyrations for his back, but he eventually gets it done on his own.  He replaces his slaved HUD headband, p-comm, and wrist computer back into their respective places once the sunscreen has been applied.

When Tylen suggests that Shui swim with him, Ash - who is once again seemingly staring out at the vanishing horizon once more - offers casually, "I am already monitoring the sensor displays, Doc."  He glances over at Shui a slight, crooked smile crossing his face, "Feel free to take Mr. Ogresh up on his offer.  I'll watch all of your items and make sure that nothing happens to them.  And I'll be able to warn you two of anything large that might interrupt your swim..."

"Everybody remember that if they're going to swim, they need to secure themselves with an EVA line." Jago instructs, "Yes, I know there aren't enough to go around, but that's to ensure that somebody stays on the ship to haul somebody out if they get in trouble.  You'll just have to take turns with them."

"No line, no swimming."


"Oh," he continues, "And don't do anything too strenuous.  The air is a little thinner than standard."

As if to demonstrate his commitment to this latter point, the captain finds himself a comfortable looking place to settle down, and sprawls out in the light of the two suns.  Then, suddenly remembering, he sits up, lights his cigar, and lays down flat again.

About to demure for the moment, Shui pauses when Ash speaks up.  Turning to face him, she raises both eyebrows behind her sunglasses, considering the offer.  Everything is settled into place now.  It's quite possible she'll need to be working later.  Saskia and Yasmine can apply sunscreen on each other, should they so desire, and none of the remaining crewmembers and passengers have exposed backs.

She sniffs the air, closing her eyes and feeling the wind crawl across her skin - the first real wind in...months?  No, less, but it's a rare thing for them.  Rarer still the opportunity to actually swim in the ocean.  And Ash was kind enough to offer openly without being asked; should she repay him by refusing?

No.  He has offered, which sets aside issues of selfishness - to spurn such an offer would be rude.

"Very well, Mr. Tescali.  You have me convinced, and you have my thanks."  She gives their new pilot a bow as she unclips her dataglove, sliding it off her wrist.  The skin beneath it is slightly paler than that of the rest of her arm, and it feels unbalanced to not have its weight on her wrist.  Clicking off the sunglasses, she kneels and places both gloves and the shades beside the seated Ash.  "I believe I owe you," Shui notes with an arched brow. "Hopefully that will prove incentive to not allowing us to be swallowed by local fauna."  A poor joke, lacking wit, but she cannot help it; her mood is good.

Turning back to the gunner, Shui angles her head slightly.  "Well then, Mr. Orgesh.  It appears I have the time."  Jago has an important - and wise - announcement, and the steward bows her head.  "Of course, Captain Lanza," she reassures the captain, hunting around for an EVA line.  It won't go well with her suit, but she shrugs into the harness with practiced ease, affixing it to a clip on the hull.

Amusement shines in her eyes as she scans the ship's edge, finding a likely point she paces in that direction.  "Do try to keep up," the doctor flings over her shoulder to the gunner.

A glance into the water from the drop-off reveals no metal outcroppings just beneath the surface; Shui's legs flex and then she's gone, splitting the water in a clean dive, the EVA line unspooling behind her.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Tue 17 May 2011.

"Something to take in, yes." Keryn replies to Yas, "I just need a little time to get used to it I think.  On Frenzie I went up to one of the external view towers one time.  I could see the sky from there, but it was just black, with lots of stars, and I always knew there was something between it and me."

"Here, it's not the same.  There's movement, all those clouds drifting about.  And nothing between me and the sky.  Just makes me a bit nervous, but this helps." reaching up and back, the young woman pats the support strut for the sensor array.

She stops talking for a moment, thinking, then continues, "How do people cope with it?  You're used to it, but do you ever feel... unsettled... in places where the sky is different?  Like red, for instance?  I saw a world in a holodrama once where the sky was red, not blue like this one."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:05, Tue 17 May 2011.

"Thanks Ash." Tylen grins across at his fellow scout as he strips off his tee shirt and drops it by his bag.  He is just about to head off to the side when Jago reminds them of the EVA lines, and scowls across at the captain as he grabs one of the lines and secures it around his waist.

Just about then Shui challenges him to keep up, but she is already a pace or two ahead of him.  But Tylen has the advantage.  He has already been to the edge of the vessel and examined the water, and he knows there are no underwater obstructions to get in  the way.

He might be confident, but he doesn't appear to have the same ability of the steward and instead of trying to dive cleanly, he runs straight towards the edge of the vessel and launches himself into the air, drawing his legs up to his chest he hits the water back-side first.

"Top Class Bombing" he thinks to himself as he disappears under the water amidst the biggest splash he has managed for years.

Saskia's swimsuit is a bit more conservative than the one that Keryn chose -- a one piece suit in cobalt blue and light grey.  The engineer has topped her outfit off with a sun hat, made of some sort of woven plant material and dark glasses.  When she comes up onto the top of the ship, effectively the roof of her world, she is carryng a blanket and a hand computer.

Spreading the blanket out on the warming metal of the hull, she sits, activates the computer and starts reading.  Maybe it's just coincidence, but her chosen location is aft of the sensor array, directly above Engineering.  After a few minutes she reaches out with her left hand, past the edge of the blanket, and lays it against the bare metal of the hull.

Only then does she start to look relaxed.

Ash merely smiles and gives Tylen a slight grin and a small salute as he watches his fellow Scout follow Shui into the water to take a swim.  He glances down at the item placed near him, counting them to make sure he knows what is there and mentally cataloging it just in case.  Then turns back to watching the water and the waves.

After a number of minutes, he leans back and begins to refocus on his HUD, merely using the ocean and distant as a back drop for his displays.  He rubs his knee idly, the increased moisture in the air causing it to ache slightly differently than normal.

Tylen hits the water like a bomb, ahead of Shui.  She has time for one amused shake of the head before splitting the water like a knife.  She's no professional swimmer, but she has a fair amount of experience with such things.  Holding her breath, she goes deep - twenty, thirty feet under - before stroking her way back to the surface, popping up with a gasp.

It's not unlike being in zero-gee, but the pressure is certainly different.

Treading water, she stares up at the sky, then along the waves, marvelling at how the sunlight sparkles on their tops.  Such a fine idea this was, coming here for 'fuel'.  She will have to inquire of Jago if that had been his primary concern...or the rest and relaxation the stop provides.  The doctor wouldn't put it past them - their captain is a cunning man.

"It appears you win, Mr. Ogresh," she calls out.

"Yeah, not quite the same as in a holovid, eh?" Yas says and looks at all the movements that indeed are going up in the sky.

She smiles at the young woman as the strut gets a pat for being there.  That is no doubt a first for it.

"Hmm, maybe the first alien sky I saw, but then, didn't really have time to think much about it.  Seen anything from blue to green, black to white, violet to red, skies on fire, rain so thick you could not see twenty yards and places with no sky at all, just empty space and low gravity, with risk of jumping into space.  But I do prefer the good old blue, probably because I grew up under one," she replies thoughtfully, losing herself in distant memories for a moment or two.

"I don't often get the time to sit down like this, though, not since I was a young girl, about your age, I guess.  Lived most of my days since then on a ship or on an alien world I knew next to nothing about, except I was there to do my mission and come out alive, preferably."  A chuckle and then she looks out over the ocean.

"Bet the seemingly endless ocean is new too, eh?  Want to try a bit of swimming later, after we catch some rays?"

Keryn listens to Yas talking about different places she has seen, but her eyes are drawn repeatedly to the people splashing about in the water, "I've never been out of the city.  Never," she repeats, "Everything is new to me."

"Like this place.  I've seen oceans in the 'vids... but they can't smell those, and you can't feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, or see the brightness of everything.  All new."

She looks at the people in the water again, at Saskia and Jago relaxing, at Corlan and Eneris playing their game, and at Ash, who seems to still be on duty.  "Everybody else seems to know what to do here.  I have no idea.  Given how inaccurate my understanding of the universe is because I based it on holovids, I'm not going to trust them to show me what to do.  And this is just the first place I've been to."

Yas' suggestion that they could try a bit of swimming brings a nervous reply, "I don't know how to swim.  But I suppose I could tie myself to one of those safety ropes and try it."

"Yes!" Eneris crows, clearly having won the first game.

"Those two do nothing but play that silly game all day."

Jago sits up when he hears the splashes.  It takes him a few moments, but he finally pinpoints the source and smiles.  After the problems on Frenzie, it's good to see the crew enjoying themselves.

"Well, stick with me, us, a while and you'll learn a few things about everything," Yas says and smiles at Keryn before looking over at Corlan and Enris.  "You'll learn.  Just do what you feel like, in places like this, anyway.  Among people you must of course follow the law, heh."

The head of security pats the young woman on the shoulder encouragingly.

"We'll take is slow and easy.  I'll show you, if you want.  The trick is to relax, do that and you'll actually float by default."

She chortles and looks over at Eneris, "As long as they enjoy it, right?"

Tylen pops back to the surface really quickly after his ‘Bomb’ and starts paddling around on his back – using a sort of backwards breast stroke he swims slowly through the water feet first.    As Shui  reaches the surface again and concedes his victory, he allows his mouth to fill with water and then shoots it skyward in imitation of a whale spouting.

”Don’t you think 'Mr Ogresh' is a bit formal for a man who is about to splash you?” he asks with a chuckle as he suddenly scoops a handful of water towards the Doctor.

”And Tylen is generally easier, anyway.” he adds, still chuckling softly
This message was last edited by the player at 21:26, Sat 21 May 2011.

Shui lets the water splash over her and shakes her head to clear her eyes.  The saltiness may sting...but it increases the water's density, making it much easier to tread water.  Swimming becomes less of a chore, more of a pleasure. "Ah, it is merely an affectation of mine, Mr. Orgesh."  She smiles at his antics, holding her place.  "Ms. Crow has inquired similarly, though she has indicated personal distress at my consistent use of her last name.  Hence, I have attempted to amend my habit with regards to her..."

Shui's smile fades, her lips momentarily twitching into a frown.  "With limited success.  I must work harder."

The smile returns.  "If it disturbs you excessively, I will of course use Tylen.  Does it?"

The water is cool around her in a way she could never experience in the ship's atmosphere.  Salt stings her lip.  A breeze rolls across the waves, chilling her hair as they both bob up and down upon the ocean.  Adrift, Shui thinks.  So much like them, vanished into an expanse so vast it beggars the imagination.

Suddenly it hits home in a way it could not before.  The Profit Margin is enclosed.  Buildings surrounded her on other planets.  Here, she is so far from her roots, the concept of their presence simply does not exist in this part of the galaxy.  Any light arriving here from her planet's star is eons shifted out of time - to that light, she, her parents, her entire family has never existed.  The space between herself and her past has grown impossibly huge.

So why does it still haunt her?

"Tell me about the Scouts, Mr Orgesh."  She needs to hear about him, to bury herself in the history of another.  It's not only that, of course - the doctor has wondered about the gunner's experiences, and the snippets she has received have only fired her curiousity further.  "Did you enjoy your time among them?"  Her dark mood passes, the sun bright again on the waves, its warmth heating her hair, and her smile returns.  "Ms. Crow has her own, less-than-complimentary stories about them, but surely you have one or two to amuse?"

Tylen flips over and swims side stroke for a bit before he grins and pushes himself upright and half out of the water and throws a salute.  "No ma'am." he quips as he goes down with his ship and sinks beneath the surface.

Once he has popped up again he skakes his head to clear the water out of his eyes and nose and then half floats half treads water  close to Shui.  "Offend me?  Not really.  It just makes me wonder, sometimes, if you think of me as client rather than a friend or a colleague." he says shrugging, raising an eyebrow, smiling and winking all at the same time. All of which means he misses his stroke and his head drops back under the water for a moment or two.  Surfacing again he splutters for a moment before regaining his composure.

"To be honest, the scouts were a means to an end.  Back home, most people worked either in the seal or fish canning business or, if you were lucky, you had a job at the star port.  The only ways out were getting a non-union job as a junior steward on a passenger ship, and most of those came home low passage, or joining the Darrian Army."  He says as he allows himself to turn over on his back to float easily alongside the doctor.

"I was on my way to the Army Base, when I realised that I could ask at the ISS base.  They didn't have all that much to do with us locals -  but just by chance, they had an opening that could be filled locally and I got the job.  The dice of fate rolled my point that day, or so it would seem." he finishes bluntly.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:06, Sun 22 May 2011.

She can't help but laugh at Tylen's deliberate silliness, making certain to keep her head above water all through her amusement.  Choking on seawater would certainly not be enjoyable.  "Take care, Mr. Orgesh," she cautions.  "If I have to lug you back to the ship, half-drowned, your reputation will never recover."  Then she shakes her head.  "Never merely a 'client', Mr. Orgesh.  Nor only a colleague."  She waves back toward the ship.  "You - and the others aboard the Profit Margin - are all I have.  I care most deeply for all of you, perhaps more than you know."  A sad tilt appears in her smile.  "I must apologize if my manner has caused you to question this.  It is merely...who I am."

She grows more serious when listening to his account.  "Ah yes, the fish canning plant.  I recall you mentioning your choices, now."  The doctor grimaces.  "Why is it that so many of us turn to spacefaring to escape our homes?  Is it the poor choice?  Or is it simply that out here there are so many choices?"

A rhetorical question; she settles back into her treading of water and listens to the gunner as he continues.

It sounds to her as if Tylen had a close shave - the Darrian army didn't entirely sound like a wonderful prospect, given the other options.  "Had you joined the army, you would likely at best have seen inter-system flight.  More likely stationed at a base," she muses.  One eyebrow cocks.  "Lucky for you, Mr. Orgesh.  And lucky for us."

Her eyes sparkle in the sunlight.  "We are far the better for your presence, in my opinion."

So formal, Shui realizes; Tylen is correct.  But it is her.

"And so you found the Scouts," she murmurs.  "And a hard life for a time."

"Back on "Hell" the only people who get called Mr are bosses or the passengers on the ships that pass through.  The more you butter them up, the bigger the tip." he says with a shrug, recognising that people do things in different ways. "And in the Scouts it was the same.  Little authority, first name terms with everyone. And the only people who called me Mr were in the ports looking for a good tip." he says wryly acknowledging that life often turns a complete circle.

"The Scouts was an easy life." he grinned back at her.  "No promotions to chase, a new assignment and project every so often.  It is easy to drift along comfortably.  It suited me down to the ground." he acknowledges his own tendencies to drift along through life the easy way, "Just so long as you could stay away from the desk jobs."

"But what about you, Doctor Tisei?" he asks imitating her preferred form of address, although the grin on his face and the twinkle in  his eye makes it clear there is no intent to offend.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:47, Mon 23 May 2011.

Ash continues his vigil.  He considers his time on the watch to be nothing more than his duty, especially as the newest member of the crew; it's a job that he finds a certain amount of satisfaction in, really.

If anything, his time as a member of the IISS taught him that while a certain level of automation is fine, alarms and monitors are only good for detecting the known.  When it comes to the unknown or the unexpected, your own senses (and especially your own pair of eyes) were often far more reliable and better at detecting any issues or things out of place or things that might be considered just plain strange.  And one's own brain was often much better at interpreting those events rather than the ship's computer.  The computer had a huge library backing it, but it sometimes missed the proverbial forest for the individual trees when tasked to recognize things.  It is perhaps only a bit of paranoiac schlock, but Ash's mind refuses to relegate such ideas and his associated past experiences on them to the bit bucket.

Ash does allow himself to relax a little, though.  With his displays currently clear, he allows himself to enjoy the view and partakes of the more natural sounds of the water lapping upon the surface of the Margin and wind as is passes his face as well as soaking up a couple of rays.  Of course, the slight rumble of the intake pumps can be heard, if one really listens for them, but the solitude offered here as lone desert island in a vast sea is both immediately familiar and analogous to a starship in the Deep Black, and yet refreshingly different with addition of the sunlight and salty sea spray.

Ultimately, one never really gets the chance to just sit in one's skivvies on the outside hull of spaceship in space and just take it all in.  Plus, there are no sounds in space.  He shakes his head in bemusement.  Planets, those shining jewels in vastness of space; they never cease to amaze Ash - especially, the habitable ones.  He's been to a fair few different planets of all different sizes and persuasions.  And the play of the sun on an ocean still takes his breath away, perhaps because he knows just how precious and rare it can be...

"Ah." Shui nods, a sage expression on her sharp features.  "I had not realized the implications - for you - were so grave.  Far be it from me to hint you might be a tourist."  Amusement softens her tone, but she grows a touch more grave after a moment.  "If it is a bother to you, Mr. Orgesh, I can attempt to use your first name.  With varying success, no doubt."

She cocks her eyebrow at the idea that the Scouts were 'easy'.  Anything but, from what Shui hears, but one person's difficult might be another person's simple.  It's possible that to Tylen, the idea of working with people would drive him batty.  Or paperwork, especially given his comment about the desk.  Slogging his way through hell-worlds and getting chewed upon by the local fauna might actually be, as he puts it, 'drifting'.

Perspective.  Shui knows all about that.

"Easy."  A corner of her mouth quirks.  "I learn more about you each time we speak, Mr. Orgesh, but every turn brings more questions."

Sadly, it also brings questions from him.  Shui turns in a circle in the water, swimming away, then shifting around to face the gunner again.  She breathes out a short laugh - 'snort' is definitely the wrong word for her.  "Doctor, is it?  Mr. Orgesh, consider carefully my position aboard the ship."  Stirring the water beneath her with strong kicks, she keeps afloat while raising both hands to tick off points.  "Laundry.  Meals.  Beverages.  Mandatory checkups.  Immunizations with large, blunt needles.  The potential for revenge is endless for me, whereas you..."  She offers a sad smile.  "...have only the option of not shooting at dangerous ships."

"How is it you military types put it?  'Threat potential'?"  Her smile brightens.  "I believe I come out ahead."

She leaves the jesting behind for her answer, though.  "As to your question...there is little to tell."  The doctor shrugs, lifting her shoulders above the water.  "I left both my world and the family trade behind.  I have booked passage upon..."  Shui bites her lip, considering.  "Many starships," she finally settles on.  "I have taken numerous different positions, learning my trade - cleaning clothing, cooking food, scrubbing toilets with a brush.  In time, I became what I am now and settled aboard the Profit Margin."

Her smile gleams like the sun upon the waves. "And am well pleased with my lot in life."

Very pleased, having used only a little verbal aikido in that explanation.

Apparently conceding defeat, Tylen takes a deep breath and goes through the pushing himself out of the water and saluting as he sinks display again - although this tme just as he in almost under the water he flip[s and pushes himself under water with a powerful flick of his feet, splashing madly as he does so.  Just as importantly, he grabs at Shui's foot and tries to pull her under as well.  Not too far, just about a foot or so - enough to pull her head under the water - then he lets go so that she can regain the surface again easily.


A quick stoke or so under water, allows him to breath the surface a couple of feet away, grinning broadly at his playmate. Where, He waits a moment or two, still chuckling, to make sure that she is not overly discomposed by the ducking then  continues.

"Not bad, but you missed a couple of things.  The immediate threat potential and probability of aggression. You don't shoot a kid with a hood up over his head just because he looks  threatening.  You wait until he draws his knife ...." he half jokes "Anyway, you wouldn't stick a blunt needle in me, you like me too much?" he winks across at her completing his own mini-threat analysis.  "Jago, maybe.  But not me.  Although you did seem to cope with Yasmin's training sessions better than the rest of us.  So maybe you could, if you choose." He says taking a slightly different tack.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:01, Tue 24 May 2011.

Tylen drops beneath the waves again, and Shui raises an eyebrow.  "Conceding -"  The question becomes a startled squeak as his fingers close around her ankle, yanking her under the water.

Her body reacts.  Poorly - the drag from the water is unfamiliar, and his fingers come off her ankle before her other foot drives home.  Regaining control of herself, Shui surfaces, spitting water; hardly the most elegant picture she has ever presented.

"Mr. Orgesh!"  Wiping furiously at her eyes, Shui searches for the gunner, finds him circling her.  Her eyes flick over his face, hunting, fear lurking in their depths.  Nothing.  Concern becomes relief, relief becomes exasperation.  "You..." she begins, then lets out a long, shuddering sigh.  The smile returns - a trifle shaky, but real.  "A gentleman does not surprise a lady," the doctor primly corrects.

Tactical analysis of her threat follows, and Shui's smile wobbles on her sharp face.  It's a military thing, she knows - they think in such terms, they're taught to do so.  They have to; it keeps them alive.  It might surprise people to discover, but Shui understands this.  Even so, the metaphor is discomfiting.
Finally regaining her poise - such as is possible while treading water, soaked hair hanging around her face - Shui sniffs at Tylen's theories about needles and their potential deployment.

"'Can' has little to do with it, Mr. Ogresh.  You have called my bluff rather neatly - I would never do such a thing.  Not to you."  She slants him a look from the corner of her eyes as he circles.  "...nor to Jago," she finishes, the smile returning to tug at her lips.

She lazily begins to swim, matching his own pattern, keeping them equidistant, always facing one another.  "And you place too much stock in what poor competence I demonstrated in Ms. Crow's class, when Ms. Blake and I were not falling all over each other.  I have very, very little experience with self-defense training."

The Steward hates to lie...so she doesn't.

"Certainly not so much as yourself."

Just like the girls back home Tylen thinks back to his youth on Lopiengeta as he watches Shui break the surface again, spluttering and being mad. we don’t change much he thinks half reflexively immediately afterwards.

”So we just proved that I am not a gentleman.” he winks as he continues to swim along with his clearly untutored side stroke.  ”Just an ex-scout having fun with a friend.” he says grinning then he sticks his tongue out and wiggles it at Shui.  Suspecting that the intimacy and directness of  his statement might prove difficult for the tightly controlled steward – he gives her something else to respond to.

Swimming slowly for a moment he continues ”But you might well be wrong about the self defence thing - that was the first formal class I have had.  My security experience was more about scaring kids away and shooting monsters that threatened an expedition camp - rather than the sort of aggression that Yas saw in the marines.  I suspect I have killed a lot less people than folks give me credit for. “ he concludes with disarming honesty.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:28, Tue 24 May 2011.

With a day almost 42 hours long, the suns don't move far across the sky in an hour.  Convenient for those like Keryn, who are trying to stay out of its direct glare, and even more convenient for those who are working on their tan.

Eneris and Corlan eventually decide that it's too warm for sitting about playing games, and decide to swim a little.  Both men turn out to be accomplished swimmers, and it isn't long before they have organised races - the course is simple, swim out to the limit of your safety line, then turn round and come back.  Jago acts as impartial judge, moving to sit where he can watch for the lines pulling taught.

Nobody seems to be keeping track of who wins and who loses, and the only prize in each case is bragging rights until the start of the next race, or for about five minutes, whichever comes first...

Tylen and Shui seem deep in conversation, between bursts of activity.  Ash basks in the light of the two suns, while keeping a close watch on the sensor feeds.  Saskia carries on reading...

Keryn eventually comes out of hiding, and goes as far as to sit on the edge of the hull with her feet dangling into the deep water.  Even then she uses a safety line.  She sniffs the air, and asks Yas, "Why does the water smell like that?  And it tastes horrible too." she adds, after tasting a few drops.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't recommend trying to drink it.  It'll dehydrate you," Yas says with a chuckle as Keryn tastes the salty water.  "It's salt water, and this one's salty even by ocean standards.  Makes it easy to float, though.  As for the smell, well, everything's got a smell, right?  Plenty of stuff in the water, of course, but that's water for you."

She leans back to catch some more rays, having shed the robe some time ago, but she never really leaves Keryn's side.  If the girl needs her she plans to be there, at least while she can.  Right next to her, on the robe, lays the scattergun while the revolver is actually still in a holster on her person.

"Brine.  That's the word.  What you can smell, that is.  Salty water.  Not like the purified stuff you get on ships, or where you lived."

"I suspect a gentleman lurks beneath the scuffed exterior," Shui tartly responds.  "Likely your time among the scouts wore off some of his polish, but I see hints."  Her affected stiffness fades. "You cannot hide it, Mr. Orgesh," she quietly states, "no matter how hard you try."

Even the tongue-display can't convince her otherwise.

"I am sadly willing to be the butt of a friend's japery," Shui mock-wearily agrees.  "You know very well you can get away with such without me responding in kind." Tylen, however, grows more serious and speaks with regards to his own self-defense training.  Such as it was.  And his last, musing statement puts a chill in Shui's arms and legs that has nothing to do with the cool water buoying her up.

Killed less people, she notes, the qualifier obvious.  The memory of an injured man shot through by a laser-carbine springs to her mind - the beam had not been aimed to wound.

Of course it wasn't, she angrily reminds herself.  Nobody trains for non-lethal attacks with a lethal weapon - foolishness, she knows.  If a weapon is to be used, it must be used for its purpose; to do any less risks the operator's safety, and the safety of those he protects (assuming he protects at all).  Logically, it made sense for Tylen to fire a deadly beam from ambush.  Efficient and safe, all wrapped up in a single package.

The thought, however, curdles her insides, hitting too close to home.

Rallying, she pushes the unpleasant memory behind her.  "It would seem, then, that we were equal in our training prior to Yasmine's class."  Not a lie - it is essentially the truth.  It's all in the wording, and she has become quite adept at specifics to avoid having to lie.  But perhaps a mistake to admit.

"Have you?" she inquires - more verbal aikido in play, though there is real interest in Shui for the answer.  "Shot monsters, that is?"

Ash stands up from his seated position near the air-raft bay doors, picking up both Shui's and Tylen's datagloves as he does so.  He tilts his head slightly and rubs his chin for a moment.  Then he trots over to where Yasmine and Keryn are chatting and stands next to Yasmine, waiting for her to finish her description of brine and its relationship to water for Keryn.  Then Ash leans over to confer with her briefly, whispering something in her ear.  He points off in a direction past where Saskia is laying out and reading on the hull above the engineering section.  Ash hands both Shui's and Tylen's datagloves that they left in his possession to Yasmine.

He looks at the security chief for a moment a light smile playing on his face for Keryn's sake, then leans in again to confer with Yas.  Having said his piece, Ash then turns to head back to the open air-raft bay doors.

Ash their latest addition to their merry little band of gamblers of the outer rims approaches her Yas leans in to listen as he starts to whisper to her.

She nods slowly and then glances in the direction he points, chortling as she leans in to whisper something back. 

A grin plays on her lips and then takes the datagloves.  She lets him whisper his parting and then laughs as she calls out after him, "You do that, Sir Tsk, you do that!"

The she gets up and calls out, authoritatively, "Oy!  Wrinkletoes, time to get out of the salty sea!  Others are waiting to have a go at it, so get back here!  Yeah, that mean the lot of ya!  I've got a gun here, you know!"

A movement catches Saskia's eye, and she darts a quick glance in that direction.  Just in time to see Yas and Ash apparently talking about her.  Then Yas calls everybody out of the water.

This doesn't look good.  They're frelling up to something, and it involves me. the engineer thinks, and carefully sets her "book" aside, so that it doesn't end up in the water should they be planning to throw somebody in.

If I end up in the ocean, certain showers are only ever going to run ice cold from now on.

Jago turns away from watching the lines as Yas calls out to the swimmers.  He has a feeling there is more to this than the security chief is mentioning.  The ocean is big enough that there is certainly room for the entire crew, and there is still an unused line available.

So, no, this is more than just a concern about crowding in the "pool".  Add to which the fact that Ash seems to be on his way back down to the ship.

There are, of course, a couple of possible reasons for Yas' announcement and Ash's decision to go below.  Jago chooses to go with the most obvious one...

"Everybody out of the water, now, please.  We're about to serve refreshments."

Tylen is just about to raise a question about offence when Yas calls. As he hears her words he shrugs his shoulders towards Shui and starts a lazy swim back towards the ship. However as Jago speaks of refreshments he throws a hard look toward the Steward and starts swimming more quickly towards the floating vessel

Something is wrong.

Shui doesn't know what, but the tension in the air ratchets higher and higher.  She knows Jago, and his voice carries an undercurrent of concern.  Tylen's glance holds worlds of meaning.  They might have an emergency on their hands, and the passengers will need her assistance.

Hoping it's nothing more than a misunderstanding and that Yasmine's joke about a gun is only that (and not some kind of coded reference to a serious problem), Shui begins a swim toward the ship, arms and legs moving smoothly against the water's drag.

Ash merely nods to Yasmine as he moves towards the ladder.  He makes good time, though he does not appear to be rushing.  He casts one last glance at Saskia's half of the hull, his expression enigmatic - a slight trace of crooked smile, but it is also a little bit distant, an iota of guarded tension in the eyes.

As the swimmers are summoned by Yas out of the water and begin to move back towards dry land... er ... the Profit Margin, Ash starts down the air-raft bay ladder, disappearing into the hold.

The swimmers start to exit the water, scrambling up onto the hull.  Corlan and Eneris are the first to arrive.  They sprawl out on the hull, breathing hard from their efforts, but Corlan eventually manages a chuckle, "I hope we have something to eat.  The exercise has given me quite the appetite."

He sits up and looks around, searching for the promised refreshments...  Meanwhile Shui and Tylen climb out of the ocean.

Keryn lays back, shading her eyes from the sun's glare, her feet still dangling in the water...

"Hey, Keryn, come over here, will you?" Yas says, moving towards the air-raft bay -- not quite out of reach of Keryn but enough to force Keryn to get up and further onto the hull of Profit Margin.  "Got something to show you, bet you haven't seen it before."  A grin dared the girl to turn down the challenge she just presented.

Tylen glances across at Shui and frowns slightly,  and jerking his head slightly to encourage her to take the high ground.  Then  he moves across to the bag that contains his hat and towel. Pulling both from the bag he replaces the bag back on the hull, and there is a dull but reassuring clunk as he lowers the bag to the hull plates.

Quickly he dries himself, and contemplates taking the steward up on her offer to help with the sun screen - but decided to forgo that pleasure in  light of Yas's strange behaviour.  Quickly donning his T-Shirt and cap, he replaces his data glove and casually checks the data it provides.

Water sluices off her as she pulls herself onto the warm metal.  Glancing at her swimming partner, Shui catches Tylen's non-verbal order and nods, pushing herself up and moving to assist the passengers.  "Ah, Mr. DeSant.  I see you have been keeping up the exercise program I developed for you.  Somewhat." Eyeing him critically, she helps him rise, motioning for their other passenger to follow.  "Mr. Eneris, if you would?  I believe we have refreshments above...assuming they have not all been consumed by the crew.  I would be most vexed."

The clunk from Tylen's bag does not go unnoticed, nor does Yasmine's care for Keryn, bless the chief's heart.  Shui's stomach ties itself in knots.  Something is most definitely wrong, with the security detail urging everyone up to the higher areas of the ship.  Her hand itches for her dataglove...but the Steward's first responsibility is to her passengers.  If the crew needs to be on high ground, so do they.

Keryn pushes herself upright, with a clearly audible groan, and makes her way, slowly and painfully, towards Yas.  Tylen, meanwhile, dons his dataglove and studies the feeds he is receiving from the turret's sensors. 

With Corlan and Eneris gazing at him, Jago smiles.  "Ash has gone below.  He should be back soon."  He carefully doesn't say why Ash has gone back inside the ship, but leaves the two passengers to reach their own conclusions.

Keryn finally stands alongside Yas, "What do you want to show me?"

And the answer, when it comes, is from a totally unexpected direction.  There is a high-pitched whistling from the ocean, and some sort of animal's head projecting above the waves.  Grey, with dark eyes, and a long snout full of  very sharp teeth.

And then there is a splash, and the thing is gone...
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:00, Sun 05 June 2011.

"Well now," Yas begins to say but falls silent as the creatures makes an appearance.  She does not seem very surprised to see it, though.

"That's wasn't it, but it sure beats what I had in mind," she chuckles but still moves to stand between the beast and Keryn, hands on a gun ready to use if needed, standing in a pose that offers maximum stability in the case of Profit Margin beginning to rock.

"Did you see that?  A collar with equipment on.  Wonder who its master is, doubt it could make those things itself," she comments to no one in particular and then adds, "I must say this is one thing I love about new world, seeing things I haven't before."

She stands ready to assist Keryn if need be, whether it be keeping her balance or entering the bay to get off the top of the hull.

Tylen frowns slightly as he looks at his readouts, but the nods grimly as he animal head breaks the surface not all that far away from the ship.  The time spent tweaking the sensors had served its purpose over all.

Tylen had been looking down at his dataglove when the creature broke surface and only got a brief glimpse of it as it was dipping under the water again.  Just enough to notice that it was animal and, presumably, an air breather rather than a water breathing fish.  "A Collar?" he asks rhetorically as he reaches into his bag for the revolver and then turns to cover the side of the ship that Yas can't see.

"I got the other side." he murmurs quietly, to let the security chief know her back is covered.  Even then a rogue thought flits through his mind,  maybe I'll let her rub the sun block in before we swim next time ...

Saskia shrieks as the creature breaks the surface.  "It's a shack!" she yells scrambling hurriedly towards the dorsal turret, which sits at the centre of the upper hull, and is, therefore, as far away from the water as it's possible to get.

"Frell!  Frell!  Frell!"

The security detail has their weapons readied as Shui stares at where the creature briefly occured.  She had seen the collar as well - orange, possibly to make it easy to see, and woven of strong fabric - but no equipment.  Saskia's outcry breaks her out of her shock, and she turns to the passengers.  "Please keep yourselves close to the bay."  It's not a request.

Then she heads in pursuit of the panicking engineer.

Whatever the reason for Saskia's sudden descent into terror - a 'shack'? - she must be stopped.  Panic can be infectuous, and the woman could injure herself in her fear.  While her current state of dress doesn't exactly lend itself to physical exertion, necessity has demands of its own, and Shui breaks into a run, trying as best she can to catch up to Saskia.  "Ms. Blake!" she shouts.  "Please stop!"

It's not really a request either, but she doubts Saskia will listen.

Ash's voice cracks out over the crew comm; knows that, at least, Shui and Tylen (or Yasmine, if she is still in possession of the other two crewmembers' datagloves), should be able to hear him.  "I got a brief visual of the bogie." he paused briefly to swallow and, perhaps, collect his thoughts, "Grey and white - not human.  It's wearing an orange... er... harness?!?"

He purses his lips, as the thing is heading towards the surface of the water.  It is possible, that the others know more already.  Ash sets to work, trying to activate the turret's visual feed; just in case whatever it is comes back into view.  He narrates his action over the crew channel, noting quietly as he starts to type while trying to open a session on the turret console, "I'm bringing the visual sensor feeds online for remote viewing..."   Ash knows that they are probably going to need to more data, especially visual, if they are going to be able to figure out what exactly their visitor might be.

Taking note of Sassy as she panics, as well as Sushi moving in there, Yas remains with Keryn and speaks over the crew channel to ensure Ash hears it too.

"I believe it to be a scout, if you will.  It was wearing equipment, on some form of collar.  There's no way it could put that on itself, or manufacture said equipment.  My guess is someone sent it, either being curious or cautious," and then, under her breath and off the comms, "hopefully."

Just to make sure she checks her own wrist to make sure nothing is sneaking up on them through the air as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Mon 06 June 2011.

Saskia reaches the turret, turns around and sits with her back against the cool metal of the shaded side.  Both hands are pressed flat against the hull surface and her knees are drawn up, almost to her chin.

Her eyes continue to scan the water for any sign of the creature, even as she explains to Shui, "It's a shack.  It's a sort of giant fish that used to live in the oceans on Earth.  I've read about them.  They would eat anything, and even sink boats to get at the people inside."

"Oh a shark."  Tylen responds  as he works out what the engineer is talking about.  We had them on Lopiengeta - they come in  all sorts of sizes." he says laconically, paying more attention to the water in front of him than the other crew members.  "We used to shoot 'em when they came too close ..." he adds with a grin.  "Now the big nessies, they are something to be scared of.  That's why I normally carry two revolvers." he adds still grinning out into the watery horizon "Just in case a nessie creeps up on me." he chuckles as if at some sort of private joke.

He is aware of the comments and data flying around the crew channel -  however his attention remains on the water that may, or may not, hide their visitor.

"All back down below?" he suggests to Yas.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:26, Mon 06 June 2011.

The creature remains out of sight for the moment, and for all anybody can tell, it might even have left the area after its one brief examination of the ship.  Or maybe the odd shrieking it had emitted had been a signal to more of its kind that it had located a source of food...

Jago nods slowly at Tylen's suggestion, "Might be a good plan.  We have no idea if it's capable of leaving the water."  He still looks worried though.  "I just hope that one wasn't a baby.  I'd hate to think there might be adults out there big enough to damage the ship."

Shui crouches down next to Saskia, studying the engineer.  Frightened, but not hysterical, watchful but not panicking.  Thank goodness.  She doesn't touch Saskia, merely remains beside her as the others deliberate.  She hasn't heard of these shacks ('sharks', if Tylen is correct) before herself, but suspects that if they were fish, they didn't wear harnesses.  Nor have fur.

Not something to argue at the moment, though.

Jago gives assent to Tylen's excellent suggestion, and tacks on a completely unnecessary qualifier regarding the creature.  Shui shoots him an irked look, motioning for silence on the matter, then returns her attention to Saskia.  "Mr. Orgesh has dealt with such in the past," she quietly reassures the engineer.  "And...it seems we are going below, into the Profit Margin." If there is one thing that can focus Saskia, it's her beloved ship.  "Ms. Blake?  Saskia?"  The doctor holds out her hand.  "Please.  May we go below?" 

"Can't hurt," Yas replies to Tylen and nods to Keryn to start climbing down, but not before she made sure someone is there to assist with the descent.

"But I'll stick to it being a scout.  It took a look at us, well, or whomever is behind that equipment.  Still, better safe than sorry, in most cases," she adds with a chuckle.  "Through I think shooting at it with anything less than our ship-board guns will just annoy it..."

Ash humms an old Solomani tune over the comm as taps away on the console.  He gives the crew status reports, "Our guest is stationed 250 metres out, slightly off to starboard." A little more humming and a "Hmmm..., before Ash notes quietly, "Still bringing all the visual sensor arrays online...  recalibrating for the dense aquatic medium... applying the four-fold lateral transform to cut down the signal noise..."  More humming musak.  "It's thinking..." he chirps referring to the ship's computer.

Then Ash switches gears, "Our guest is no longer circling - just... waiting, I guess."  He adds quite deadpan in a low mutter, "Just about the right distance to get a good show for a long-range bombardment...."  But then he adds with a smile that is apparent even over the comm, "However, sensors have not detecting any transmissions on any common frequency from the creature at this point."  He pauses for a moment, and then asks Jago directly, although it is over the common channel, "Boss, should I bring the mains back online, in case we want to move the Margin to another location?"

"Still thinking." Ash narrates as he waits for the external visual sensors to come fully online.

Filling time, he muses aloud over the comm, "If it's a scout, they are a long way from home."  He catches himself making a rather large assumption, and adds, "Assuming the main settlement is its home."

"Exactly, doubt it comes from the settlement.  Then again, might be someone's job, or even hobby, scouting the oceans.  Never know what's down there," Yas replies to Ash and then adds, "Sure didn't see anything looking like weapons.  Would be an awkward way to paint a target too, how many vessels do they get in these waters, I wonder?"

Speculating, but it was fun.  As long as she avoided making assumptions.

"No broadcasting?  Might suggest the oceanic explorer then.  Maybe some company having an operative here, wondering what we're doing.  Should that be the case, well, we ain't here for anything but a bit of water and some rays.  Maybe this, what you call it, shark?  Maybe it's intelligent too, nothing say anything either way there."

She remains on top of the Margin, but near the bay in case she needs to get to her turret control and out of harms way.

Tylen edges across to pick up his bag and ling it over his shoulder then he stands his ground, waiting until everyone else has left.

People start moving down into the air-raft bay, descending carefully.  Corlan and Eneris assist Keryn on the ladder.  None of the passengers seem particularly panicked about the situation.  In fact, Corlan even jokes about it, "You see?  This is why I chose Profit Margin for my retirement; even simply sitting in the sun is an adventure."

The crew, those that remain on top of the hull, keep one eye on the passengers, and one eye on the surrounding ocean.  For the moment, though, the creature is hidden beneath the surface.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:32, Sun 12 June 2011.

"Mr. Orgesh?" Shui inquires quietly as she assists Saskia (assuming the engineer still requires said assistance).  "Might you also bring my own bag?  And dataglove?"  She still hasn't had a chance to put the cursed thing on, and it's over by her small pack of provisions.

Pausing, she considers the situation.  "Apologies.  You have enough on your plate."  The security team needs to be coordinated and free of distractions. "A moment, Ms. Blake."  With quick, sure steps, Shui moves across the hull, ensuring to stay clear of the security's line of sight on the water, and snags her bag.  The dataglove goes on as a fancy accessory to her swimsuit, then she hurries back to the engineer's position, holoscreens flickering to life around her hand.

Tylen is just about confirm that he will collect the Shui's bag and dataglove when she decides that he has  enough to deal with already.  With a wry smile he flicks his eyes sideways to watch the bikini-clad steward as she moves across to collect her own belongings.

All of the information to-date implies that an immediate attack is unlikely, so he allows his eyes to linger on the young woman for a moment or two trusting his peripheral vision  to alert to any movement that might indicate an imminent attack.

Saskia gets to her feet, muttering under her breath as her face reddens, "Shack.  Shark.  Same frelling difference.  Suddenly everybody's an expert."  After a short detour to gather her belongings, she heads for the ladder back down into the ship.

"Bet he couldn't tell the difference between a frelling phased pulse regulator and an relay attenuation node though."

As information begins to scroll on the displays before him, Ash continues to narrate, "Ah, here is something.  A 94% probability on our guest..."   He pauses for a moment, possibly to read, possibly as a dramatic flourish, before he continues, "Tursiops Tursiops Galactis.  In common Solomani parlance, the bottlenose..." one can almost hear the tilt of the head as he mulls the name, "dolphin."

Ash is obviously scanning the library information, "Says they are cetaceans - a type of mammal.  Not a fish, or cartilaginous fish - which a 'shark' would be...  Oxygen breathing ... Native to Sol-Terra ... Some experimentation to modify and uplift in the past..."  While he reads and summarizes, he pushes image captures, the ship's computer summary, and the links to longer entries of the ship's library data to other crew members p-comms; the latter is just in case, you know, that the others are as curious as he is.

"Out of curiosity," Ash ventures, "did any of you actually see the thing in person?  Did it try to communicate or vocalize?"  He pauses again, apparently reading again, "Fascinating.  It says here that they communicate by clicks and whistles.  Using those same sounds for echolocation to detect things at various ranges underwater."

Jago stops with one foot on the top of the ladder as Ash's call comes through.

"A dolphin?  I've heard of them.  Supposed to be sentient aren't they?"  He turns his attention to Yas and Tylen, "Keep an eye open.  If it comes back, don't attack it.  See if you can find out if its friendly.  If it is, then it might just be curious about the ship.  Maybe wondering why we're on its territory."

"I  can probably set our systems to click and whistle." Tylen responds without dropping his guard.  "We might be able to get some sort of communications going." he adds softly.

"Another hint that it might actually be a scout.  I know the Navy, the floating kind, loves to train aquatic pets to do their dirty work for them, and this one do have some kind of equipment on it," Yas chuckles and adds, "Mind you, not saying it's the Navy, but someone's thinking along those lines."

"Yeah, I saw it.  That's how I know it got equipment on its collar, seemingly man-made.  It didn't say nothing, though," she replies to Ash.

Noting Saskia's flushed features, Shui paces behind her for the ladder, thinking furiously.  But what can she do?  Embarassment is a tricky emotion with which to deal.  Ash's words float to her as they reach the ladder.  "Not a predator?" Pausing to allow Saskia down first, she begins keying a search in her dataglove.  "Apologies, Mr. Tescali - while I received a good look at the creature, it did not attempt to communicate."

Then she's heading down the ladder, one eye on her glove's holoscreens as they scroll images past.  Dropping the last few feet, bare feet chilled by the cold metal floor, she hurries after the engineer.  "Ms. Blake?  A moment?"  Coming up beside her, she keys the glove for full view, projecting the holographic image above it - but slowly so as not to surprise, in case Saskia has an actual phobia.

A dull, grey form hangs in blue water, caught frozen in midsweep toward the camera, its greedy slash of a mouth open, always open.  One of its dead, empty eyes stares at the photographer with mindless hunger.  Carcharodon carcharias.  No other name is labelled on the image, dropping any possible confusion over r's and c's.

Shui offers a weak smile, lips thin.  "Not so far from what I saw, especially at a distance.  And..." She studies at the creature, its dark maw, its hollow-eyed menace.  "...not something with which I would like to share the ocean.  I understand your concern."  None of her nervous relief is feigned.

The creature looks like a tangible antithesis of her own beliefs.

Ash agrees with Jago's assessment of the level of intelligence associated with dolphin's.  He notes amiably over the crew channel, "Fully sentient.  The Library notes that a minority of Rule of Man Era Solomani scientists questioned the need for Uplift - citing many pre-manipulation behaviors as evidence of not nascent sentience, but actual full sentience."

He also agrees with Yasmine's assessment of the 'clothed' nature of their guest, "Well, from what I can see on the external cameras..." and he pushes the current set of images that he is seeing, which offer more refined resolution, to the rest of the crew's p-comms, "The dolphin has some sort of webbing or harness with multiple pouches or packages on it.  And it appears to be wearing some sort of p-comm or radio transmitter, as well.... not sure if it is in contact with anyone else - or just recording thiings for posterity."  He starts to fiddle on his console to see if there are any external microphones that he can bring online, "Let's see if we can find out..."

"It's avoiding the surface, but slowly approaching again...." he narrates to the crew, as he tries to keep an eye on the cetacean and its immediate actions, "But it will eventually have to come back to the surface, I believe - I don't see external oxygen tanks being carried or any easily recognizable artificial gills on it."

Saskia stops in the airraft bay and looks at the image being displayed by Shui's glove.

"That's it, a shack, er, shark." she corrects, colour flooding into her face again.  "Very dangerous.  Definitely don't want to frelling meet one of them.  Look at it, it's almost more mouth than anything else.  And what sort of animal needs multiply redundant teeth?"

Ash's words are coming from the intercom in the bay and, more quietly, from Shui's glove.

"But Ash says it isn't one of them.  Some sort of underwater sentient, from what he's describing."

There is a small, quiet splash, and the creature reappears about twenty metres out from the ship.  Only its head is visible - slick grey skin, long snout and lots of teeth.  It looks like it's grinning as it turns its head from side to side as if studying the few people who are still atop the hull.

The orange collar or harness, with a variety of streamlined black modules attached to it, is clearly visible this time.

It isn't making any hostile moves...  It's just watching.

"Indeed," Shui murmurs, her eyes on the screen, not Saskia's briefly returned embarassment.  "An unpleasant beast, at best.  At worst...were I in the water and this attacked, I would be food."  A disgusting, disturbing thought - one might never see the predator coming in the dark water of the ocean.  She glances up at the engineer, one eyebrow cocking.  "I now find myself nervous at the idea of swimming, even though Mr. Orgesh assures us what swims about the ship is a different beast entirely."

Her eyes narrow.  "Being closer, I saw a harness of some kind...and others said the same.  What do you make of that?"

The steward casts a guilty glance down the hall, but the passengers seem to be doing well enough on their own - she can take a little more time with Saskia.

"Let's see if it understands anything then," Yas says over the comm and steps up a little bit closer to the water beast, lifts up a hand and waves at it, leaving the revolver in its holster and the keeping the scattergun in the other hand.

"Greetings! Can you understand me?" she calls out, wondering if the thing have ear, speaks the language and even if it does, cares to give any kind of acknowledgement.  But without trying she would never find out.  She waves at it again after she finishes speaking.

In response to Yas' wave, the creature rolls lazily onto its side, raising what looks like an odd blend of a fin and a stubby-fingered hand into the air, and waves back at her.

It doesn't respond to her voice, not at first.  Then, after a second or two, it produces a series of sharp clicks and whistles, which are almost entirely drowned out a few moments later by a mechanical voice, "Well, I can now that you are actually speaking to me, yes.  And as long as you continue speaking in Anglic or Bilanidin, as those are the only two languages my translator's software can handle."

Then, as a belated afterthought, it adds, "Greetings."

"Ha!  You're the first naval creature I ever had the pleasure of talking with!  Most of them either swam away or tried to take a bite out of me," Yas laughs and makes a mental note of another unique experience in her life.  It makes her grin, although she is half hoping that is not interpreted as a threat or something.  Then she asks, "So, what brought you over to us then?  Came to say hello or just curious?  Nothing wrong with curious, mind, I am myself or I wouldn't be here, I suppose."

She leaves it at that for now, figuring it will be enough for the moment, even if she could ask a lot things, mostly just to satisfy her own curiosity.

Saskia considers the question of the harness.  "Could be a trained animal, I suppose.  If there aren't many people here, they might have trained animals to help out with whatever they do here.  Which is not much, if I remember the world data right."

She looks back up to the overhead door from the air-raft bay.  "Perhaps its gone?  It sounds very quiet up there."  And then Yas starts shouting something the Engineer can't quite hear, "Or maybe not."

The animal (though if it can speak and think, then "animal" is probably not the right word for it) submerges for a moment, then resurfaces to blow a blast of moist air and water droplets from an opening in the top of its head.

Again it produces a string of clicks, whistles, and other assorted noises, which is translated with only a slight delay.  "I saw/detected your machine/vehicle and was interested.  I do not get very many visitors out here.  There are only six humans on this world, and just two more dolphins.  The humans are not very interested in the ocean, having enough to do on land for the moment, and the other dolphins are exploring other areas of the ocean."

It pauses, then produces a noise which sounds almost like hysterical laughter, "My name is" (a rising squeal and two clicks, which the translator makes no attempt to render into Anglic) "by the way."

Jago, perhaps reassured by the fact that Yas hasn't been eaten yet, puts out an announcement over the intercom, "Attention everybody.  Our visitor seems friendly, so if you want to come up and take a closer look at him, you can."

The dolphin clearly has sharp hearing, even without obvious external ears, because it immediately responds, "Her.  I am a her."

About to reply to Saskia's suppositions, Shui twitches as Jago's voice echoes through the hold.  Eyebrows rise.  "Apparantly we can find out for ourselves, Ms. Blake."  She motions toward the exit.  "Shall we?"

The Steward raises her dataglove, patching in to the intercom herself.  + All passengers - if you wish to return, please contact me through the intercom system.  If you would rather stay within the vessel, please let me know if you wish lunch. +  She has quite a bit packed, and wouldn't want it to go to waste...and, as always, her responsibility is toward her passengers and crew before her own curiousity.

Once Saskia exits (or if she demures), Shui makes the climb back out onto the hull and looks around for their newest 'guest', wondering what exactly 'friendly' means in this case.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:08, Sun 26 June 2011.

From his limited view on the visual sensors with no audio relays (who says they are unnecessary in space?!?), Ash can see that the dolphin and Yas have struck up some sort of verbal interchange.  "M-Ms. Crow," Ash's enthusiasm is barely contained, as he chirps excitedly into the crew commline, "are you in communication with the cetacean?"  It is fairly obvious that there are too many questions that he wants to ask; so, some random one come bubbling out, "What is its name?  And where is it originally from?  How many of them are on SyStem 728-907? ..."  There is a pause as Ash catches his breath, but it is obvious that there are more questions, and that he is just trying to formulate them coherently...

"Heh, hope you don't expect me to get that name right - I've got trouble enough with human names," Yas chuckles and ponders briefly, long enough for Ash's call to come through.

"Yeah, Ash, if that's what our visitor is, I'm talking with her," she replies and then grins, "Marina."

She looks up at "Marina" and asks, off the comm, "Good enough for you?  I'm Yas.  Short for Yasmine.  Think it's some flower or something back on Terra, Earth.  Yasmine Crow.  Crow was some kind of flying creature, I think."

"As far as I've been told there's three of them here, haven't asked where she was born yet.  Want me to ask her sign for you?" she says over the comm, obviously teasing Ash a bit at the end.  Then, to Marina again, "We're visitors here.  Were you born here or brought here?  I assume someone put those things on you, right?  Do you just swim and explore or have you contact with someone, doing surveys of the oceans perhaps?"

Once more she was holding back questions, trying to give their visitor a chance to ask some in return.  At least as long as they did not get too suspicious.

Saskia hesitates for about the half life of Darmstadtium* before starting back up the ladder.  She appears to have gotten over her initial fear now that Jago has said the creature is friendly.  As she reaches the upper hull she looks across to see Yas talking to the thing, which does bear a slight resemblance to the pictures of a shack/shark that she's seen.

"Can't blame a girl for making an honest mistake." she mutters to Shui.

OOC: *Approximately 3x10^-6 seconds.

The newly-christened Marina hurls herself into the air, seeming to stand on the surface of the ocean for a couple of seconds, producing the same laughter like sound she had made previously, before toppling over with a loud splash and disappearing below the surface...

Moments later she is back with just the forward part of her body showing, and her translater producing the usual slightly time-lagged interpretation of her own speech, "That is adequate.  Marina.  Yes.  I am pleased to meet you Yasmine.  My people came from Earth too, long ago, but they called it Endless-Water."

"The three of us were brought here in a starship, two years ago, at the request of the humans who live here.  We were brought to help survey the planet.  We report in every few months at a station near the coast where we can upload our findings.  Some of the modules record data - water temperature, depth, salinity.  We are also to assess fish farming viability.  There are many fish species here.  The humans are interested in whether or not farming them for export could be profitable."

"The humans gave us the harnesses.  We have hands," again she rolls to show one flipper, complete with stubby digits, "but they are clumsy.  Still, if our ancestors had had such, we would be the ones with an Empire now, not you."  She laughs again, "That was a joke."

By this time Shui, Saskia, and all the passengers are back up on the hull watching.

Jago puts a call through to Ash, "You may as well come back up here, Ash.  Leave everything set as it is, and come and say hello to our new friend."

There is a brief, but measurable pause, as Ash internalizes Jago's orders.  Generally, he is a bit wary of leaving the bridge unmanned in heightened circumstances, but he is also not one to disobey direct orders either - even if they are merely strong recommendations.  "Yes, Cap-" he almost catches himself in time, "er... okay, boss.  On my way."  It only takes a moment to lock his main console, and Ash glances up at his reticule to make sure that the various data and sensory feeds are there.

Satisfied, he pushes back from the navigator's station.  He checks to make sure that he hasn't left anything behind and then Ash starts towards the air-raft bay, quite eager to met a live, Terran, cetacean sophont.

"Hm.  Dorsal fin, greyish cast to the skin, and quite a distance," Shui ponders, checking the files on 'Sharks' and 'Dolphins'. "An understandable bit of confusion, Ms. Blake." Her eyes widen.  "You...might wish to avoid discussing the other creature," she quietly advises. "Apparently the two species are mortal enemies."

Diplomatic faux pas averted, she offers a hand. "Shall we go meet our guest?"

Again, she calls up the image as they get closer to the dolphin...'Marina', from the sound of it.  Fascinated, Shui observes as the dolphin displays rudimentary digits.  "Not the same," she murmurs.  And from the sound of it, natural evolution at work.  Yasmine seems to have the situation well in-hand, so Shui stays back, listening with some curiousity.

The other passengers are here...Tylen has even put away his weapon...it seems things have calmed down completely.

Tylen allows himself to relax, and spreads out his towel to use as a seat.  Then sitting cross legged he listens to the exchange between Yas and her new friend.



OOC:  Sorry guys -  been a bit distracted

Saskia follows Shui, a little hesitant still, towards the edge of the ship.  "This one looks friendlier, close up.  She's even smiling."  The hands are interesting, especially when Marina hints that her ancestors never had them.  Then again, that might be fairly normal.  Saskia is no expert on biology, but she's fairly certain that her ancestors didn't have hands, if you go back far enough into the past.

But Shui's pictures aren't that old, at least not on an evolutionary timescale, and they don't show the slightest hint of hands, so they must be a relatively new feature.  Which means they wouldn't have had time to evolve to their current state naturally.

"They were geneered.  Her ancestors I mean.  Somebody gave them hands.  Probably to make them more useful as workers."

Ash's foot falls can be heard quite easily near the open bay doors.  They are rushed as he enters the air-raft bay, but slow and pause at he hits the ladder.  There is a pregnant moment between his arrival at the ladder and when he starts to climb it.  When his head pops out of the air-raft bay, he immediately casts about for the presence of their guest.  Ash hoists himself onto the hull of the Margin trying to be as quiet as possible.

He gently brushes past the other crew and passengers gathered on the hull, as he pads over towards Yasmine.  Ash gives the ex-Marine plenty of room, not wishing to crowd or startle her.  For the moment, he seems content to keep quiet, letting the Security Chief take the lead in the first contact; apparently, he merely wants front row seats.

Glancing back Yas takes note of where everyone is or is moving to, not wanting to make the risks bigger than needed.  Her attention appears to shift completely to Marina as she speaks anew.

"I see.  You are hired consultants, basically.  Hope they pay you well, in whatever you want," she calls out and chuckles, wondering what they indeed would want to get paid in.  Fish?  No, they are probably better at catching that than humans.

"Uh huh," she replies to the joke, trying to imagine these creatures using space ships and space suits.  It ends up looking weird enough in her mind that she decides to stop thinking about it while she still can.  "Ah, yes, this is my shipmates.  Jago, Saskia, Tylen, Sue... Shoe...  Sushi and Ash.  Plus our passengers, Corlan, Eneris and Keryn."  She points to them each in turn, figuring there is no harm in telling that before turning to their visitor with a shrug.  "Me and names.  I tend to give everyone nicknames.  Easier that way.  Hey, any of you got something to say, or ask?  I coudl stand here all day, but I suppose I should give you guys a chance too," she says to the others and glances back at them.

The dolphin studies the humans on top of the ship with obvious interest, before saying, "I am pleased to meet you all.  Between you, you have doubled the population of this world, including the dolphin contingent."  Another laugh, "It is becoming quite crowded now."

"We are paid in Imperial credits.  Direct transfer to a bank account held elsewhere, for the benefit of all dolphins.  Money from there is used to buy required supplies, equipment and transport."

The dolphin pauses for a moment as Yas asks if anybody else has any questions, then, "I have a question."

"We have heard that a war has started.  Is this so?  The humans say that they have moved their transport ship into orbit to act as a defence platform, and that they have programmed the computer to recognise known enemy ship configurations and automatically attack them."

"This gives me cause for concern.  With so little shipping coming here, especially if there is a war, we may have problems leaving if the transport ship is damaged."

Yas chuckles at the doubling of the population and then takes a deep breath to answer Marina's question.  "Ah, yes.  There is a war starting, yes, and it is spreading.  But this world has no resources worthy of military attention and with no strategic value either, so I would say this is quite a low-risk world.  If any hostile ship comes through this system I highly doubt they would approach any world, unless they wanted to scoop water.  In which case I suppose it would be better for the people here to not initiate an attack, I'd say.  That'd only draw attention.  We can try telling them as much, if you wish."

"But it would explain all that debris ..." Tylen mutters quietly.

Shui makes a small face at Saskia's revelation regarding the genetic manipulation.  "So?"  She's relatively certain the dolphins don't mind, but the idea of tampering with a species' genetic code disturbs her.  Any number of anomalies might creep in, and besides, it smacks of unethical behavior.

It's possible, she supposes, that the dolphins asked for hands.

"Interesting, Ms. Blake," she comments quietly.  "Yes, she seems friendly enough."  The steward edges forward without getting TOO far away from the engineer, hoping to shift her out from the back row into the front.

More revelations follow, and Shui frowns at Tylen's assessment - not at the gunner coming to the conclusion (which seems correct), but the conclusion itself.  An automatic assessment and attack system?  It seems excessive, to say the least.  Computers make errors, and just as often as humans.

"I think that shutting down the defensive systems would seem a good choice," she murmurs.  "One civilian ship?  Worthless against a military convoy, and it might be accidentally targeting civilians."

A long whistle from Marina, followed by a snorting sound, isn't interpreted.  The translation soon picks up though, "That is just what we said.  We warned them that we believed it would attract attention, and that the ship might be damaged, or even destroyed if it fired at military targets.  Especially if more than one such target presents itself.  We also suggested that even a single ship which does not return after visiting this system may encourage others to investigate."

"Perhaps they will listen if humans tell them the same thing.  We are, after all, only dolphins."

Keryn sidles closer to the edge of the ship, and Marina turns slightly to fix one eye on her.  "I do not bite.  Unless you are a fish, of course.  You do not look like a fish." The dolphin moves a little closer, and Keryn reaches out hand, only to pull it back almost immediately.

"Ok. I believe you." Tylen says standing up and stripping down to his swimming shorts again.

It is just a few steps and he jumps into the water a few feet away from the dolphin.  This time he does not curl up and hit the water like a bomb, but allows himself to enter feet first and  reasonably splash free.  In the excitement he conveniently 'forgot' too tie one of the EVA lines around his waist.

A couple of moments later, Tylen surfaces and, treading water, turns to face the dolphin.  "We must look clumsy to you."  he says to the dolphin.

Ash watches Tylen engage the dolphin.  He realizes that his fellow scout has not taken a safety line, "Mr. Ogr-"  But then he bites his tongue to remain silent; Tylen has shown that he can swim quite well - he is hardly in danger.  And a safety line will only hinder or tangle him, especially if there are actual malicious intent by any aggressor (and the dolphin is far more agile in the liquid medium than a human could ever be).

Not that the dolphin appears to have any violent or malicious intent - far from it; though Ash will be the first to admit that the perpetual smile on the cetacean does help that innocent impression.  Ash keeps an eye on both the sophonts in the water, but he also continues to glance at his HUD display for any additional proximity alerts.  While, it seems unlikely - so, did the fact that on this rather large planet, the presence of their ship was detected and in the proximity of one of the few inhabitants that could meet with them.  Still, given the (presumed) speed of a cetacean in water - even in the hours that it took to travel from the 100D limit, the creature wasn't hundreds of miles from their present position, if it travelled under its own power.  So, aAfairly large coincidence - large enough that part of Ash remains on guard.  Either they were detected early and the dolphin was dispatched to meet them, and is not telling the whole story.  Or there is no reason for alarm, in which case, no harm done.

Also, not having actually caught the creature's moniker - having been in transit at the time, Ash bides his time hoping that someone will use it; so, that he doesn't actually have to ask for himself.  Potential embarassment would not be the main reason that Ash checks his obvious enthusiasm.  No, that wouldn't be it at all.

Marina turns away from Keryn and slips beneath the surface as Tylen drops into the water, leaving the young woman with a desperate, disappointed expression.  The dolphin stays underwater much longer than Tylen, eventually surfacing close to the ex-Scout.  "You are clumsy, yes.  And noisy.  But I will never play a violin, or a piano.  While the bone structure for hands was always part of our genetic code, our manual dexterity is lacking, even after we were changed so that the hands are functional."

"A pity.  Music is interesting.  I have good hearing, in certain frequencies, and human speech and music fall easily into that range of frequencies."

Keryn looks over her shoulder at the various crew members still on the hull, her face serious, and points at Tylen, "I want to do what he's doing.  Is it safe for me to swim?"  The pleading tone in her voice makes it clear what answer she is hoping for.

"I can't play the piano either." the ex-scout says ruefully.  "Although I may be able to learn on day." he continues acknowledging Marina's point about ability.

Tylen's swimming is limited to an awkward side stoke at the best of times, apart from when he is playing about sculling on his back or treading water, but at least he is at home in the water.  "I am not even a good swimmer among my own type." Tylen adds with a grin "Although you could swim rings around our very best." he add, reminding the dolphin that she has abilities that humans don't.

Shui hurries forward.  "It seems safe enough, Ms. Taylor.  But unless you have epxerience with swimming, you will need a flotation device and a lifeline."  For a moment, her worried expression relaxes into a smile. "Mr. Orgesh does not qualify, sadly."

"But," she continues, "if we can find a suitable flotation device, most certainly you can join Mr. Orgesh and Marina in the water...assuming Ms. Crow acquiesces."  Final decision lies in the hands of the security chief, of course.  Standing straighter, she glances around the hull, seeking anything they might have brought aboard as something functional to keep Keryn afloat.  If not, certainly they will have some device on board that will suffice.

Of course, the young woman might actually be capable of swimming, Shui reminds herself.  She hasn't seen an ocean before, but it's quite possible she has seen a pool.

Ash leans over to confer with Yasmine.  He takes a step back and glances about in a couple of different directions, then back to Yasmine for a moment.  Naturally, one of the directions that Ash glances is just to the right of Saskia.

Eventually his gaze resettles on Tylen and Marina in the water; it is a bit distant, as it is quite obvious that Ash is splitting time between the displays on his reticule overlay and the proceedings in the water.  He does smile as Tylen and Marina exchange commiserations about their lack of training with the piano.  He knows from personal (if limited) experience all too well that music lessons don't guarantee musicality.  Not in this day and age - not like the past when music was much more coherent and prevalent and performance was an art.

Keryn smiles at Shui, nodding happily, "Yas said that there's so much salt in the water that I'd have to really try to not float.  But I can tie myself to one of the ropes."

"What about it Yas?  Can I try swimming?"

Marina disappears again, and reappears seconds later to describe a graceful arc above Tylen.  When she shows her head above the surface again she explains, "You can swim faster with machines, and I can travel on land with machines.  We are each better than the other in our own way."

Then she seems to notice Keryn, "Are others going to join us in the water?"

"I don't know." Tylen responds and then executes a clumsy duck-dives and pulls himself under the water, and swims under the dolphin.  "A couple of us were playing about in the water when we spotted you approaching.  On my world the sea is full of all sorts of dangerous creatures - so we thought we would get up on the ship, just in case." he says as he treads water of the other side of the dolphin.

"I bet though, that you could make good music just  by the way you speak." he continues referring to the whistles and clicks that the dolphin uses as speech.  "Sort of sing along with the music.  I bet it would sound really good." he adds as an after thought.

Yas turns to grin at Ash and then quickly slips out of her shoulder holster, leaving only the black, small-ish bikini -- in her own mind she is naked now that she is unarmed -- giving the holster to Ash along with the words, "I called her Marina, couldn't hope to pronounce her real name, but feel free to ask her!  Hold the fort, eh?"

"Sure thing, Ker, we'll be bobbin' like corks in this water," she then says to the young woman and moves over to help secure a line.  Once that is done Yas makes a near perfect dive and briefly vanishes under the water.

Once she resurfaces, closer to Marina and Tylen, her hair is for once less of a round ball and slicks her head more closely than most anyone have ever seen.  She shakes her head and sends water flying around, momentarily lifting a hand to wipe hair from her face.

"Woohoo!  Come on, Ker, let's go say hello!" she calls out, turning around to do slow backstrokes to make sure her young friend makes it safely.

"All right, then," Shui replies once Yasmine gives the go-ahead.  "By all means, but be careful!" Biting her lip, she watches with concern despite Yasmine's enthusiasm.  But it seems the security chief will take the woman in-hand, so to speak, so Shui settles back to watch.

It wouldn't do to have all of them in the water at once, after all, and she has had her turn.

"Ms. Blake," she calls out.  "Will you be joining in the festivities?"

Ash takes the holstered weapon from Yasmine with an nod, "Yes, Ms. Crow."  He rolls the straps around the holster carefully and cradles the bundle in his arms and takes a step back from the edge.

Then he moves to aid Keryn to get in the water.  He places the gun and holster on the hull next to him (uphill, of course - placing himself between the weapon and the water), so as to free up his hands to help secure an EVA line to their passenger.  "Ms. Taylor," Ash asks as he tugs on the line to the harness, "Is that snug enough?  But not too snug, right?"  Once satisfied with the knots and the comfort level for Keryn, he pulls on the other end to make sure it is well secured to the hull.

Then Ash sits down next to where the various lines are secured to the hull, placing Yasmine's gun in his lap.  He offering one to Shui as well.  "Ms. Tiesi?" he ventures, holding out the cable in her direction, "will you require one as well?"

"No, I don't think so." Saskia shakes her head at Shui, "Not just yet anyway.  I have some reading to do.  Plus I can swim, but I prefer to do it in places where there are handsome young lifeguards with large expanses of rippling muscle and smaller expanses of tight swimming shorts."

She blushes, and giggles, "Just in case I get into difficulties, of course."

Shui watches as Ash sets up Keryn for her swim; the man knows his business, she's pleased to see.  When he offers her a line, her eyebrows rise slightly, then she bows.  "I appreciate the offer, Mr. Tescali.  But I have already been in today, and someone should watch the deck."  She waves her dataglove.  "I am perfectly capable of monitoring the sensors myself - I have had some small experience with such things.  And I'm certain our new friend would have warned us by now if there were dangerous creatures lurking in the depths."

A sweep of her hand indicates the ocean.  "But you have not availed yourself - please, take the line and allow me to replace you on watch.  I have a decent amount of experience swimming; now that it has been judged safe, should I join the group afterward, I shouldn't need a line."

She nods her head.  "Please?"

Those eyebrows shoot up further at Saskia's explanation, and Shui blinks a few times, one corner of her mouth twitching.  "Of course, Ms. Blake.  Muscles are certainly of use in rescue operations - carrying you out of the water, your hands upon your saviour's broad, heaving chest..."  Shui trails off, tapping her chin with a fingertip.  "Apologies.  I briefly made an attempt at writing romance novels.

Saskia smirks at Shui's explanation, "Briefly?  Had to stop writing and go have a little lay down to cool off?"

"Ah..." Ash begins, though he waits for the rather humorous exchange between Shui and Saskia to die down.  Far be it for him to interrupt senior crewmembers.

Once he continues, Ash shrugs slightly while explaining, "I'd best not, Ms. Tiesi.  While, I am sure that you are more than able to monitor the displays..."  The navigator then hefts Yasmine's rather large pistol in its holster, "I suspect that this might not sit well with you.  And I would not wish to put you through such a distasteful circumstance."  He raises an eyebrow before continuing, "Unless, of course, you have have experience with such items and would not mind carrying, and possibly using, such an item."  Shui has shown herself to be remarkably coordinated, well-travelled, and able.  So, it is conceivable that the Good Doctor has used a gun in the past to good effect.  Though from what he knows of her, it seems unlikely.

Yas dives into the water, and Keryn makes a less-impressive and somewhat clumsier entry, resurfacing a moment later to clutch at a protrusion on the hull.  She coughs and splutters for a moment before using her free hand to wipe hair out of her eyes.  Then she lets go of the hull and bobs in the high salinity ocean before kicking herself a couple of metres away from the ship.  "Look!  I'm swimming."

Marina submerges and starts to circle the group, finally surfacing between Yas and Tylen.  "The other human is pregnant?"

Jago shakes his head at the conversation between Shui and Saskia, and turns to Corlan and Eneris, "You see what I have to deal with?  If anybody ever tells you that being a merchant captain is a glamorous, exciting job, just remember that conversation."

Then he pats Ash on the shoulder, "Go ahead if you want to, I can handle the gun and the sensor feeds for a bit, and I have no intention of going in for a while."

Shui cocks her head to the side for a moment, considering.  "I admit to doing research, Ms. Blake.  It is, after all, an imporant part of writing," she assures the other woman, corners of her mouth twitching.  "Extremely necessary."  She lets out a sigh.  "Sadly, there's a dearth of tall, muscular men with gentle fingers, soulful eyes, and windblown hair."

The humor fades as Ash explains the situation more clearly, and Shui stares at the pistol he proffers.  For several heartbeats, her face is blank, empty of expression.  Then she blinks, smile returning.  It doesn't reach her eyes.  "I fear I am years out of practice, Mr. Tescali.  Apologies."  Inside, Shui curses herself for a fool.  Of course weapons would be a necessity for the job, and her silly little snub pistol and its tranq rounds are down below...and ineffective for this situation.

Fortunately, Jago comes to the rescue, and the Steward's smile brightens as she relaxes.  "There, Mr. Tescali - Captain Lanza can handle the situation, allowing both of us to remove to the water, far away from his complaints." She turns a scathing glare toward her captain, though the amusement in her eyes belies her expression.  "Though you could do with a swim yourself, captain.  The exercise schedule has been a touch open of late, has it not?"

Then, unable to maintain her fierce facade, Shui begins to laugh, patting Jago on the arm.  "Dear Captain Lanza.  What would we do without you?"

"Research?  Uh-huh, sure.  But you're right, there's a definite shortage of lifeguard material around here." Saskia replies, giving Jago an openly scornful look.  "Enjoy your swim with our new friend."

The engineer moves away, looking for her technical manual.  When she finds it she goes back to her original position on the hull, directly above Engineering and settles down to carry on reading.  It takes a few moments to find where she was up to, but once she does she is soon completely absorbed in the technical minutiae of flux capacitors.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Tue 19 July 2011.

Grinning, but not maliciously, Yas swims over to assure that Keryn does not consume too much of this planets ocean, as it might leave Marina on dry land.

"So you are!  Don't overdo it, though, if you're not used to it you'll find out the next day that you're hurting in places you didn't know you had!" she chuckles and then turns to Marina.

"That she is.  How did you know?" she asks curiously as she reaches out, slowly, to touch Marina.  Somehow it feels like she ought to do it, but then, perhaps not, so best let their visitor decide.

Ash merely smiles at Shui and her answer nodding, there is a little sadness in his eyes, though for what no one can really say.   He appears about to say something, his mouth opening.  But then Jago relieves him of duty for the moment, and Ash closes his mouth and turns towards his Captain.

He nods again, but this time more curtly, more professionally.  "Aye, Captain." Ash notes dutifully.  He carefully hands the holstered pistol to Jago as he stands, noting "Thank you."  Then Ash folds up his reticule arm and strips off his integrated headband - setting the displays dim, but activating the audible alarms and he hands the rig to Jago as well.

"Shall we?" he gestures to the waters edge as he glances at Shui.  Ash follows her to the water's edge stopping to secure a line.  Ash ties the EVA line around his waist with a simple mariner's knot.  He clips the loops to ensure that it doesn't come inadvertently undone and slips simply and easily into the water.  There is very little splash and very little noise as he does so.  He frog paddles his way slowly, but assuredly, and fairly quietly towards the gaggle of swimmers and Marina, keeping his head above the water the entire time.  He seems to be listen to the chatter around him and particularly interested in Yasmine's query to Marina about how the cetacean knew of Keryn's 'delicate condition'.  As he approaches the other swimmers, he shades his position towards Keryn - carefully avoiding her line.  It is just in case the young lady needs any additional help, though Ash is certain that Yasmine can handle pretty much anything.

Tylen sort of half floats  while treading water -  kicking his legs gently and waving his arms slowly across the surface of the water to keep himself in a more or less upright position as he watched marina and the others interact.

For a moment he lets his body go ridged and stops kicking so that he slides under the water.  With a gentle kick he returns to the surface, snorting a little excess water from his nose and blinking hard to clear the extra salty water from his eyes.

Then just maintains his position as he watches the others gather around the Dolphin and it suddenly a thought occurs to him --- I wonder if she feels threatened.

The dolphin doesn't move as Yas reaches out to her.  Right up until the point where she suddenly turns slightly and grasps the former Marine's hand with one of her own genetically altered flippers.  "I am glad to meet you." she says, laughing and shaking Yas' hand.

Keryn laughs and moves closer, swimming clumsily but with increasing confidence.

"I can [untranslated squeal] the infant, inside her.  There is no human word for that sense?  I shall try to explain.  I can emit pulses of high frequency sound which let me move about safely in darkness.  They also allow me to detect the infant, for example, or the small piece of metal in your left leg." 

Ash and Shui move towards the group gathering around Marina, who doesn't seem in the the least bit concerned.

On the ship, Corlan and Eneris are busy attaching safety lines, while Jago goes to sit close to Saskia.  "You really ought to go swimming." he says, "I don't know when we'll get another chance to relax like this."

She can't help miss the look in Ash's eyes, and there's nothing she can do to fix it.  Not that she knows, at least.  So Shui simply gives Jago a grateful nod as Saskia moves off to read.  She watches the Engineer go, a little sad that the other woman won't be joining them in the water.  But...choices.

"Of course, Mr. Tescali," she answers Ash, putting on a smile and heading to the water's edge with him.  Ignoring the lifelines - for it seems their security team has judged it safe, and she is a good swimmer - Shui dives in as Ash slides into the water.  She goes deep, this time, suddenly wanting to be far away from the talk, the light, the uncomfortable tension.  Just for a moment; a small indulgence.

Underwater, she closes her eyes and lets the air bubble from between her lips.

Breaking through the gentle waves, Shui locates the others - Tylen at a slight distance from the group, Ash already joining them - and swims over to present herself to their gues.  "Ms. Taylor," she calls out as she does.  "Is all well?"

"Fascinating," Ash notes as he bobs near the group, "your sonic echolocation is sensitive enough and yet strong enough to penetrate intervening layers of soft tissue..."

He shakes his head slightly, and then after a pause notes quietly to no one in particular, "Incredible.  Positively incredible."

Using the name that Yasmine has supplied him, "Marina..." Ash ventures eagerly, "How far can you sense things with echolocation?  And is it true that you can actually stun fish with the pressure wave created by the sonic waves."  He's read about such actions by dolphins.  But, Ash has only seen (okay, well actually experienced on the receiving end) that kind of power with artificial sonic stunners.  Though that was slightly different, being in the less dense medium of air.  Generating a pressure wave in water is both easier and harder all at once.  It requires much more energy, but once that initial barrier energy is expended, the wave propogates much more easily in a denser medium.

"Ah, low frequency, ultrasound, yeah?  Know a little, not much, but some weapons...  I what?  Left leg?"  Yas chuckles as she shakes the hand, then attempts to lift her leg to look at it, naturally sinking below the surface in doing so, but not before displaying that she at least is still flexible.

Under the water she quickly examines her leg but finds nothing wrong with it so she resurfaces and chuckles again.  "I'll have the doc here check it up later, didn't even know I had another memento in there, ha!"

"Hey, Sassy, c'mon!  It's nice!" she calls out to the engineer, waving at her to join them all in the water.  "We're not crowding you, are we?" she asks, noticing that people start to gather around.

"I do not believe my ancestors could have done so quite so readily, but when humans gave us hands, they improved other things as well," Marina explains to Ash, "all with a view to making certain tasks easier for us.  I can detect echoes at least as far as humans can see in air, but as with human sight, accuracy and accuity diminish with range.  My ancestors' eyes were also altered, to give better visual capabilities out of water."

"Stunning fish is easy.  They already act as if they are half stunned anyway."  Another laugh from the dolphin, "I can stun fish yes.  And I can speak to other dolphins over distances of many kilometres, without using any kind of communication equipment."

Keryn smiles at Shui, "Yes, I'm" *gulp cough splutter* "fine."  She swims a little further, and adds, through clenched teeth and barely moving lips, "Just need to learn not to drink the water."

Marina turns her attention to Yas, "No.  If I felt crowded I could get away very easily.  It is not as if any of you could stop me."

Looking up as Yas calls to her, Saskia shakes her head and calls back, "Not just now, thanks!  I'm busy!"  She lifts her hand computer as if to illustrate her point.

"Maybe later." she adds, but it isn't clear if it's directed at Yas or Jago, both of whom are urging her to swim.

Then she settles down, laying flat as the computer tells her all about the latest developments in flux capacitors.  The lenses of her dark glasses polarize selectively, allowing only indirect light from the two suns to reach her eyes.

Interesting information from their guest...and Shui is pleased to see Marina isn't at all concerned about the gathering crowd.  In fact, the dolphin seems to enjoy the attention.  Pods.  They travel in pods, they are gregarious and friendly.  Information learned in her brief check on the dataglove.  An outgoing species then, even to beings nothing like themselves.

So much different from humans, then.

Treading water, she reaches out and assists Keryn for a moment.  "Not...too much seawater, no.  It's not the same at all as drinking water."  Keryn no doubt is aware of this by now, but she's probably not aware that injesting too much will bring it right back up, along with the rest of her stomach contents.  "One hopes you are enjoying yourself?"

Returning her attention to Marina, Shui nods her head politely - she can't exactly bow in the water.  "Shui Tiesi, ship's steward and doctor," she introduces herself.  "A pleasure to meet you."

Another "Fascinating." escapes from Ash lips, as Marina explains some of the nuances of her sonic abilities.  He is ready to ask her some additional questions, when Yas asks about crowding and Marina turns her attention to the Security Chief.  Ash bites his tongue and purses his lips, bobbing up and down as he treads water.  He realizes that he is one of the crowd and that he should likely curb his enthusiasm.  Ash is not sure if the schoolboy or the scout in him got the better of him.

When Shui introduces herself to the dolphin, Ash tacks on with a wave (which causes the rest of his body to dip lower in the water), "...and I'm Ash, the ship's navigator."  A crooked smile crosses his lips before he adds, "Communications and wave theory are just part of my hobbies..."

Tylen floats on his back, sculling gently as he listens to the others questioning Marina.

"That's good, that's good..."

Yas nods at Marina and looks around, making sure that Keryn is afloat, literally but not figuratively.  Seeing that she seems A-OK Yas heaves up and dives under the surface.

From below it looks kind of fun, all the legs and then the grey, sleek form of Marina.  Kicking out she dives a little deeper and over towards Tylen, wondering if the scout is asleep or not.  Maybe if she pulls at a leg he will awaken...

Then she reaches out to snap the back of his bathing shorts instead, trying to do so before he realises she is there.

The dolphin tilts her head to Shui and Ash, as if mimicking the medic's nod, "And I am pleased to meet you.  This is the first company I have had in several weeks."

Keryn finally gets close enough to grab hold of Ash's shoulder, coughing and spluttering more water.  Marina swivels her body to more precisely bring one eye to bear on the young woman.  "You are a poor swimmer, even for a human."

"This is true." Keryn replies.  Looking about, she asks, "Where did Yas go?"

At the ship, Eneris and Corlan are finally ready, and step off into the ocean, leaving Jago and Saskia alone.  Jago ponders for a moment, then says, "So there's only two of us here now, and I'm the Captain.  Go and fetch me a drink, something alcoholic, that tastes of fruit, and has a parasol in it."

Not even taking her eyes off the text, Saskia replies in a bored tone, "Go frell yourself, Jago."  Then, after a slight reconsideration, she does look away for a moment, "No, wait, you can fetch me one of those instead, with ice.  If you want the engines to lift us off this rock, that is."

She looks back at the document, "Please.  And be quick about it."

Tylen smiles to himself as the conversation meanders on and he enjoys both the sun and the water against his body.  Kerryn’s ‘Where did Yas go?’  makes him wonder. idly, if there could be something around that the Dolphin didn’t spot.  He is just starting to push himself upright just to make sure that everything is alright as he feels something get him from below.

With a huge kick of his legs  and a sudden pull with his arms, Tylen surges awake and pushes himself away from the spot where he was floating, turning in the water as he does so to try and see what it was.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:43, Thu 28 July 2011.

Shui watches Keryn with narrowed eyes, judging and assessing.  Not panicked, not yet...it's far, far too easy to panic in the water, the steward knows.  When Keryn reaches out for their pilot, she almost intervenes, but Ash knows his swimming, and the pregnant girl isn't hysterical, only looking for support.  In other words, not a drowning hazard.  Children have killed strong swimmers, their body unconciously treating their intended savior as a flotation device.

Fortunately, that doesn't look likely to happen here, but Shui stays close, with a thankful nod toward Ash.

"It sounds terribly lonely," Shui confesses to Marina.  "You do not have many visitors?  How long will you be staying?"

And Tylen moves.  Fast.  Hard.  Sudden.  It triggers warning bells in Shui, and she sweeps herself around in the water to face him.  "Mr. Ogresh?" the doctor exclaims, her tone tight with concern, her eyes sweeping what she can see of his body in a hunt for wounds.  Her left arm shoots out of the salty ocean, barring Keryn on one side with Ash on her other.

A hopeless gesture of protection when in an ocean, but an instinctive one.

Keryn's splashing and movement towards him, pulls Ash from his little revelry about Marina's aquatic abilities.  A tilt of the head and a crooked smile touch his lips as he pushes just a little harder with his legs, trying to maintain his position in the water.  Ash extends an arm to offer the young lady what support he can.  He is not the strongest person in the universe - far from it.  It is generally not an issue in this day and age.  But here, he knows he needs to work a little harder to maintain buoyancy.

Ash bobs up and down gently his hands moving to ensure that his and Keryn's EVA lines don't get tangled with either him, her, each other, or themselves.  Moving in water isn't quite like moving in vacuum, but many of the same safety precautions apply.  And with an inexpert swimmer like Keryn, that could be a problem - but, Ash tries his level best to ensure that there are no issue.  He passes the two lines of cord with slack to his far hand, offering some support for Keryn with the hand (and shoulder) closest to her.  "Take it easy, Ms. Taylor." he notes calmly, "Focus on a nearby object to remain oriented and centered ... and don't fight the water too much and try to relax ..."

When Tylen startles, moving quickly out of the water, Ash's eyes flick towards the sudden movement, and his body tenses slightly, but with Keryn using him for support and the doctor between him and the movement the same instincts that serve him in EVA: to stop and assess.  Plus he needs to follow his own advice here as well.  Panicking and flailing about in either the Deep Black or underwater only causes more problems.  Ash is more than well aware of that.

Either the scout was overly paranoid or he has actually noticed something, but he takes off, leaving Yas to only briefly grab hold of the lining.  Such a spoilsport.  Even as it snaps back she decides to dive down a bit deeper again and back towards the spot where she came from, momentarily concealed by the violent splashing Tylen produces, planning on resurfacing as if nothing had happened.

From below she can see people waving their legs about and is again amused at how clumsy they are in the water, compared to Marina.  No matter how good a swimmer and how skilled you think you are, in the water you are like a fish on land, almost.

At least it is fairly quiet and relaxing under here, not shouting like above.

Jago sighs, "We really need to clarify the chain of command on this ship.  You can't tell me what to do.  I thought we'd gone through this before."  After a moment or two pondering the situation, the Captain stands up, smiling.  He's reached a solution that should work out well.

"I'm going to fetch myself a drink.  Would you like anything, Saskia?"

In the water there is a certain amount of sudden movement.  Something has startled Tylen, and Yas is nowhere to be seen.  The unexpected excitement sends Marina darting away to observe from what she judges to be a safe distance.

"What's happening?" Keryn asks, more puzzled than worried at the moment...
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:22, Sat 30 July 2011.

Ash shakes his head slightly, "I... I don't know, Ms. Taylor."  He tries to keep his tone even and this body from making in any sudden moves, since Keryn is trying to use him for some support.  He is reasonably successful in the latter course of action, but only partly successful in the former; his tone has a slight edge to it, and a vague sense of urgency.

Seeing Marina delibarately move away to observe from a safe distance, Ash follows her cue and begins to slowly paddle back towards the Margin.  He tries to place as much distance between the commotion and himself (and Keryn).  Since, the young lady is relying on him for support and safety, he can't think of much reason to remain where they are - as vulnerable as they are.  You know, just in case.

"That's very kind of you, Jago.  I'll have a Mora sling, please, with crushed ice, a slice of lemon, and one of those little parasols.  Failing that, an iced tea would be very nice, thank you." Saskia responds.  Then the movement in the water catches her eye.

A hint of mild concern tinges her voice as she asks, "What do you suppose is going on out there?"

"I have no idea." Jago says, turning to study the activity in the water.  Ash and Keryn are coming back towards the ship, perhaps she's in some difficulty?  Corlan and Eneris are still heading away from the ship.  Tylen seems to be reacting to something.  Shui is with Ash and Keryn, coming towards him, but smimming backwards, as if watching for something...

The dolphin has moved further away from the ship.

That leaves only Yas unaccounted for.

Jago, for the first time in his life, finds himself drawing a handgun that he's fairly certain he could use, from here, to down a starship in low orbit.

Belatedly he recalls the sensor feed, and starts checking the display...

Feeling that she needs to surface soon Yas pushes a bit harder, especially seeing that Sushi and Ash begins to retreat with Keryn.  At least they are taking it easy, she thinks as she begins to resurface, aiming towards near the Margin, just in case something else is going on beyond her little stunt.

Tilting her head up the hair is pushes free of the face as she as gently as possible breaks the surface.  Inhaling deeply she begins to look around to assess the situation.

"There's Yas!" Saskia says, pointing at the Security Chief.  "I wonder how deep she managed to get with that high bouyancy.  I mean, she's strong and all, but the water's got a lot of salt in it."  Then she notices Jago with a gun in his hand.  Only one person on the ship owns a revolver of that size, "You do know she'll probably kill you if she finds you playing with her baby, right?"

Jago scowls at Saskia and then turns his attention back to the sensor feed.  Everything looks clear - there are no traces that he can't account for.  He jams the revolver back in the holster, acutely aware of the weight of the .50 calibre weapon as he slings the gun belt over one shoulder.  It is, after all, Yas' gun... the belt is unlikely to fit around his own waist, even if he has it on the last notch.

Shui and Ash arrive at the side of the ship, escorting Keryn between them.  "I'm just going below to grab Saskia and me some cold drinks.  Would you three like anything?"

Keryn pulls herself up until her arms are resting on the hull, so that her mouth is well clear of the water before she answers, "Some fruit juice would go down much better than all this water.  Thanks."

Away from the hull Corlan and Eneris  arrive in the general area of Yas and Tylen.  Corlan comments on the salinity of the water as he stops swimming, "It's nice to be able to simply float with so little effort.  Very relaxing."

And further out still, Marina starts back towards the group of humans.  For some reason, she seems interested in Tylen, and closes in on him.

Tylen spends a moment or two looking towards the place he had burst away from and pushes his head under the water to see if he can see anything there, but then surfaces and shakes the salty water out from his eyes.  Warily he paddles slowly, wondering if he had imagined the touch, when he sees Marina heading towards him.

Slowly he turns to face her.

Ash shakes his head in response to Jago's query, adding, "No, Thank you, Captain."  He casts a glance at Shui to see her reaction to the Captain doing the Steward's 'job'.  But, as Shui occupied with the other needs to the passengers; so, it makes some sense.

Once Keryn is situated and stable against the edge of the hull, Ash starts to pull himself from the water.  He motions to Jago for the items that the Captain has been gracious enough to hold for him.  "You were right, Captain." he notes apprciatively as he towels off, "The water is quite refreshing and the company beyond compare."  He casts a smile in the direction of Shui and Keryn and then glances out further towards Yas, Corlan, Eneris, Tylen and Marina.

"But duty calls." he states simply.  Then he casts a glance at Jago, "Unless you would prefer that I grab the drinks, Captain..."  It is the Captain's prerogative to delegate after all...

Jago returns the gear to Ash as he says, "No, thanks.  I promised Saskia I'd fetch her a drink.  It wouldn't do to make a promise, then order somebody else to fulfil it for me."

His voice drops slightly as he asks Shui and Ash, "What are your opinions on our guest?"

The guest in question moves to within arm's reach of Tylen and turns slightly so that one eye is staring directly at the man, "You do swim well, for a human.  Better than some of the others.  Are you all from different places?"

"I grew up by the sea." he grins "And we were always playing about in the water.  The others all come from different places, but I don't know if any of them lived by the sea." he says with a smile.  "Sorry I startled you just then, I thought I felt something touch me from below ...." he lets it hang there waiting to see if Marina, with her advanced senses understood it better than he did.

Shui pats Keryn on the shoulder.  "You have done well for your first time in the water.  I recall swallowing close to a gallon, though that might be memory playing tricks."

Knowing Jago as she does, Shui doesn't panic at the thought of him fetching drinks.  After all, it would take that much longer for her to get up, get dried, she'd leave salty, wet footprints on the deck (and guess who does the cleaning when everyone else is sleeping?)...  No, if Jago intends on gathering drinks, she'll let him.  "Thank you, Captain Lanza.  I believe another fruit juice would be fine for myself."  Alcohol and her are a poor idea.

It makes her talk.

Besides, Ash seems to be leaving them.  "I am certain everything is well, Mr. Tescali," she begins, before the captain asks his question, sotto vocce.  One eyebrow rises, and the steward lowers her own voice.  "She seems to be friendly and 'on the level' as the saying goes."  One corner of her mouth droops glumly for a moment.  "However...I admit to a lack of capacity to 'read' her; it is quite possible we are behaving in an overly arrogant manner, treating a 'talking animal' like a friendly child, rather than the intelligent, alien species it is." She doesn't like this line of thinking, but the captain did ask.

"It is certainly possible she has an agenda."  Frowning, Shui considers the situation.  "Did she not say there are humans on this world?  Six?  I wonder where."

"How you doing then, young lady?  Stopped drinking the local beverage, I hope?" Yas asks Keryn with a grin, staying close to her and making sure the girl is indeed staying above the water.

She leans in and whispers something, taking several seconds to do so, and ends up chuckling. 

"Hey, fetching drinks, Jago?  I'll have a Twin Star with a Gas Giant, thanks!  Failing that, some nice, cold pineapple juice!" she shouts at her captain with a big grin plastered over her whole face.  "Thank you," she adds, using her best mock seductive tone.

Ash nods to Jago regarding who will get drinks, "As you wish, Captain."  After he accepts the equipment back from the Captain, Ash cradles the large holstered pistol in one arm and he slips his wrist computer and headset back on.  Ash pauses for a moment as he stares through the reticule checking statuses and calibration of the unit.  Satisfied, his focus returns to the foreground and he turns his head slightly to encompass both Jago and Shui in his field of vision.

He shrugs slightly when the converstaion regarding Marina begins, Ash acknowledges readily, "She is fascinating to talk to."  His voice lowers a notch to match the Captain and the Doctor's level, "A bit of an enigma though."  Ash pauses for a moment, before venturing, "And I am puzzled by her actual presence.  We may have been scanned when we first precipitated - but even at her best presumed swimming speed of, say, 35 kilometers per hour ..."  A short mental calculation later, he continues, "Our transit time was not in days or weeks.  And the planet is still nearly 50,000 km in circumference and has over 50% of the surface covered by water."  He pauses for a moment, "Let's just say that I still find it highly coincidental that she is here when we are."  He leaves rather unspoken, but obviously implied - especially given Shui's direct question about the other inhabitants of the planet - that Marina could have had help getting here.  And thus, possibly that someone else is out there fairly nearby, currently undetected.

Ash's eyes dart instinctively back the sensor roll-up displays on his headbands reticule.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Tue 16 Aug 2011.

Noticing the quiet conversation between Jago, Ash and Shui, Saskia wonders what they might be talking about.  A second later the answer comes to her and it's pretty obvious.  That'll be talking about the dolphin of course, what else could they be talking about that would require any degree of secrecy?

With a sigh, she sets the tech data aside and gets up, interested in what's going on.  Of course she also has a good reason to go over there.  At the very least, she thinks, I might be able to keep Keryn busy so that she's not listening in on the private discussion.

Sitting cross-legged at the edge of the hull she smiles at the young woman, "How's the swimming going, Keryn?"

Marina turns, regarding Tylen with her other eye, "I do not think you were touched by anything dangerous."

"I find it odd that humans will often come from widely variant environments.  This is rare among dolphins.  Apart from the fact that we require aquatic environments for survival, our teams will usually come from the same world.  In fact, team members are often related."

Jago nods at Ash and Shui's assessment of the dolphin.  "It's a big ocean and, as I recall from the maps, the human settlement and starport, such as they are, are far enough away that they couldn't have been much help in getting her here to meat us."  He shrugs, "Maybe it really is just a coincidence."

"Still, we should be careful, I suppose, just in case."

Keryn laughs at something Yas whispers to her, then looks up as saskia sits nearby, "I'm doing quite well, I think." she replies to the questions from the two female crewmembers, "Better than Tylen anyway."

"Me neither." Tylen responds as he treads water.  "It is just the surprise of a contact I wasn't expecting.  A reaction I can't help." the ex-scout continues, then grins broadly "And I guess if it had been dangerous either you or someone on the ship would have been shouting by now.  The sensors are set to scan the area, and someone on board will be watching the tell-tales. And I expect you are doing the same sort of thing." he adds half alluding to the equipment strapped to the dolphin.

"Ahh.  With us, it is a sign that we are fully grown when we leave our families and make our way on our own.  Having said that though, most people don't travel this far from home.  In some ways, these people here, on the ship, have become a bit like a family to me.  We travel together,  live together and fight if we have too." he adds with a bit of a shrug.

"But you say that Dolphin teams are often from the same family?  Does that mean you are related to the other two you spoke of?" he asks as the thought strikes him  "Can you keep in contact with them?  Do you get any company out here?" he  suddenly realises quite how lonely a life this dolphin could have. "And I damned well hope they are paying you well for this work." he concludes as he lays back on the water.  A few sculls from his hands and he starts to move feet first, slowly, through the water.

Ash nods to Jago, "Of course, with the only settlement as far as it is - there are other coincidences required if she has been aided.  Even at top speed an air-raft or other grav vehicle would still be pressed for time.  As well as having the need to be specially fitted for a cetacean... "  He purses his lips, "However, it is quite possible that the Imperial census data may be stale as well."  The data was already dated since the presence of the dolphins was not noted yet.  But it could just be plain incorrect - the presence of another colony of people here legally or illegally has to be entertained, however briefly.

Another curt nod to the Captain when he concedes (rather belatedly) caution.  "Of course, sir." the navigator soothes, "I am monitoring the feeds now."

"Most of the equipment, apart from the translator, comprises assorted sensors for measuring water conditions.  Other modules allow me to record my observations.  Impressions regarding fish populations, odd phenomena, and the like.  There is also, I believe, an inertial tracker which records my movements for later analysis."

Marina seems quite happy to talk about her mission here, "Every so often I travel to one of the six collecting stations and all of the recorded information is transferred automatically to the station's databanks."

"The other two are related to me, yes.  One is a brother.  The other is, well, I believe the closest human equivalent would be a distant cousin.  We can use our natural abilities to communicate over distances of forty to fifty kilometres, depending on exact conditions, so we are alone for most of the time here.  One reason I was so pleased to have company."

"I am being compensated for my work here, though not quite in the way a human would." the dolphin continues, moving slowly to keep pace with Tylen, "We have little need for personal possessions, and no way to easily carry them.  Typically, if a dolphin is hired by humans to perform a task, all payments are made into an account which benefits the whole pod.  So my work here pays for purchase of medicines, specialised tools and equipment, transportation... for my whole family."

Jago sighs, "Typical.  I thought we'd get a nice rest out here, in the middle of nowhere.  No stress, no worries.  Instead we have a visitor who presents us with things to worry about.  And we're, literally, dead in the water for the time being."  He checks his watch, "We're going to be stuck here for a bit longer, until the tanks are full.  I suppose the best we can do is try to enjoy it.  The only good thing is that we're far enough out in the wilderness that we've got at least a few more hours before an air-raft or anything can come nosing around."

"I would personally be pleased to see other visitors," Shui notes.  "Corroboration is a good thing, though we have no reason to distrust Marina.  It is simply that..." She glances up.  "It is a serious thing for us to alter the signals.  If this were a human, would we be so quick to do so on their word alone?"  She holds up her hand.  "I am not saying we should not, but merely noting that we should be sure we are doing this for the correct reasons, and not simply because we have had an immediate reaction to Marina that could simply be based upon subconcious feelings of parental superiority.  We are most certainly not 'superior' to her."

"I like her," Shui confesses after a moment's further thought.  "I do not believe she intends us any harm at all, either.  I am merely advocating caution in precipitous action."

Ash notes with a slight smile to Jago, "You may relax, Captain.  I am monitoring the proximity feeds."  He adds soothingly, "I am sure that it is merely my own paranoia and that there is nothing out there."  But, true to form, Ash does not stop his vigil or splitting his time between scanning the horizon and watching the streaming displays in his small display glass.

He does think to add, "Of course, you can only relax after getting the others their drinks..." Another slight smile crossing his face.

As he keeps tabs on the conversation with Jago and Shui, Ash watches and listens to the the Profit Margin's steward carefully.  Her words are measured and tactful, something that he has come to expect from her.  Ash readily agrees with her, "We are hardly superior to the dolphin.  That is especially true, here in the middle of an ocean."  He purses his lips and pauses for a moment, debating whether to say more, but his paranoia wins out apparently.  "Unfortunately," the detached duty scout ventures, "in my experience, humans have not cornered the market on either ignorance..."  Another shadow crosses his face, "or deceit."  He falls silent as his eyes move back to scanning the displays and then the horizon again.

Saskia unfolds one leg and dangles it over the side, lowering her foot into the water next to Keryn.  "Oh!  It's not as cold as I thought it would be." she says, sounding genuinely surprised.  She looks up at the sky, "Then again, with two suns and such long days I don't suppose that's too much of a shock.

"I'm just waiting for Jago to fetch me a drink.  Once I've had that, I might risk a swim."

The long day of 728-907 continues, and the hours slip by without incident.  Saskia eventually gets her drink, and takes a swim afterwards.  Keryn enjoys some respite from the, for her, abnormally high gravity.  Even Jago spends some time with his feet in the water, though he doesn't take the opportunity to swim, but instead lays flat on his back with his legs, from the knee down, hanging over the edge of the hull.

What with it being a special occasion, and all, he even lights his cigar...

Marina stays nearby, apparently happy to answer personal questions, and equally happy to ask them.  She seems curious about the refuelling procedure, and is interested in Saskia's explanation of the extraction of fuel from sea water.  And she definitely enjoys swimming with the humans.

Eventually though there is a faint chime from Jago's comm.  The ship is telling him that it has full tanks, and can depart at his convenience.

The Captain sits up and looks about, then asks cheerfully, "Does anybody remember where we parked?"

Having spent her time in the water, Shui enjoys some sunbathing on a towel, taking her own pleasure from others' enjoyment of the waves.  Even Saskia.  The ship's hull warms in the light, lulling the doctor and leaving her dozy as the rays beat down on her.  Occasionally she makes forays out to speak to those in the water (including Marina) and find out if anyone needs food or drink...otherwise, the steward enjoys the peacefulness.

Not that their lives are hotbeds of violence by any stretch of the imagination, but 'peaceful'?  Does not fit.  Always something to do, something happening.

At Jago's amusing query, she pushes herself up onto her elbows, eyeing him with one brow cocked.  "Are we leaving then, Captain Lanza?  Has there been any decision regarding action to be taken?"  Slowly Shui looks around, taking stock of who sits on deck, who is in the water, and who has gone down below.

Ash remains top side patrolling the hull and monitoring the sensor feeds for the rest of the afternoon.  He does not reenter the water, though he gets close to edge, especially when Marina is nearby - and he is willing to continue to ask questions of her as long as the cetacean shows any interest in answering them.  He is also willing to answer most questions about himself or his training, though he is circumspect about answering anything dealing with weapons, martial training, or any sophonts that he may have injured or killed in the past.

When Jago makes his query, Ash, who was staring out in a direction towards aft portion of the Margin, turns and dutifully begins to report their exact geographic coordinates on the planet and starts to begin to give a summary of how far they have drifted from their original landing position before he realizes that the question was more rhetorical and playful.  His voice trails off with a quick "Er ... Nevermind." and he falls silent to listen to Jago's answer to Shui's question.

"Not right away, no." Jago says, looking out to the horizon, "But the tanks are full, so we can go whenever we want.  I was thinking of maybe a little more R and R, followed by leisurely preparations, then we get out of here."

"Just give the word, Jago.  Everything should start up with it's usual smoothness, as soon as your ready to go." Saskia assures the captain.  Then, noticing Keryn nearby, she adds in a loud voice, "We'll need to pump all water out of Keryn's cabin, of course, and make sure we get all the fish out this time, so that there isn't a big pile of them rotting under the bed."

As an afterthought she asks, "Any idea where we're heading yet, Jago?  I fancy somewhere with good ski slopes next."

After swimming and chatting to Marina, Tylen makes his way back onto the top of the ship again.  Once dried and properly dressed he recovers both his data glove and revolver.

"So does that mean a BBQ after all then?" he asks

"I'm looking at Denotam.  Two parsecs from here, half-way decent port, slightly lower than standard gravity.  Enclosed cities because of the thin atmosphere.  Oh, and it's inside the Imperium, with an IN base and a Marine garrison, so it'll probably be safe enough.  Keryn should be able to make herself comfortable there, if she wants to, or she can stay with us until we hit somewhere she likes better on the Main."  The captain stretches and yawns.

"Not sure about an actual barbecue, but I could do with something to eat.  Maybe grab some food, and then leave?"

"Cruel, Ms. Blake," Shui murmurs with an amused smile.  "Mr. Orgesh, Captain Lanza, I may be able to do something about that 'barbeque'," she considers, tapping her lip thoughtfully.  Abandoning her towel, Shui rises to her tip toes to shake out her stiffness - swimming has forced muscles to work in unfamiliar ways - and adjusts her hair.  "Please allow me to take orders.  We have a variety of spices and sauces aboard I have been saving for just this sort of occasion...I might be able to come up with something that simulates BBQ Chicken quite well."

It might do everyone a great deal of good, she considers, to have the time to sit outside and watch the sun set.  "Might we stay until nightfall, Captain Lanza?" she inquires.  "I can go prepare the food while everyone continues to relax."

As soon as Jago mentions Denotam, Ash's headband reticule begins to scroll information.  It corroborates pretty much what the Captain has stated.  "Hmmm..." he muses rather quietly, dictating to himself more than anything else, "90% liquid - surprising given the thin atmosphere."  Ash rubs his chin for a moment, before continuing to read from his display, "A balkanized frontier world."  He pauses again, and this time ventures an opinion not in the library, "Wasn't Denotam the site of a fairly recent uprising or disturbance of some sort, Captain?  Or am I mistaking it for somewhere else?"

When Shui asks for food orders, only then does Ash notice that his stomach is rumbling.  "I would love something to eat, Ms. Tiesi."  Ash ventures as his revelry about their next destination is broken and he resumes watch.  "I am sure that whatever you might prepare will be excellent."

"Do you need a hand?" he asks the steward, remembering the ladder they need to negotiate to get  in and out of the ship.  "I want to set up some music out here.  Marina said she liked music and, seeing as she has kept us amused for a while, it would be nice to return the favour."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:10, Fri 09 Sept 2011.

"Denotam?"

Saskia considers Jago's reasoning on the choice of destinations and adds her own opinions, "We should be good for any spares or supplies we need at least.  Should be able to pick up some news too."

Ash mentions something about trouble there, and Saskia tries to remember if she's heard anything similar, but comes up blank.  "I don't know anything about trouble there, but it wouldn't surprise me, with the tensions in the sector over the last few years.  Where did you hear that?"

Ash shrugs slightly and notes a bit sheepishly, "Well..."  He purses his lips and then continues, "The last freighter I was on, the Midnight Express, the Captain was from Denotam."

"Uh," Ash continued rather haltingly, "after our falling out, Jeb, the Captain, told me that I was far less reliable than his home country's standard invasion policy.  Well, with a lot more expletives and a more forceful delivery.  But in any case, he had previously noted that policy was like clockwork - every twelve years they invaded a neighbor.  Conscripts galore - and they were just about due..."

"Of course," the navigator perks up slightly and offers the others a crooked smile, "Jeb also claimed that their new navigator could navigate, too.  And as far as I could tell, the woman could only find her way into his pants - and even for that she required guidance and a very detailed map."  He shrugs again and then offers, "I may not be much to look at, but I am pretty sure that I can astrogate just fine."

Mr. Ogresh," Ash gestures to Tylen when the other scout mentions music, "you should be able to use the ship's speakers even while they are immersed, but remember that sound travels very differently underwater - it's a much denser medium.  So, watch the volume and the high tones."

Ash returns with some truly interesting planetary facts, and Shui pauses to consider the information.  Ninety percent water with a thin atmosphere?  How curious.  If it were frozen, that might make sense, but otherwise...

She cannot help but shake her head at Ash's further explanation to Saskia, with a small, aggreived sniff when he describes his former captain.  "It sounds to me you are well shy of that ship, Mr. Tescali.  Well shy."  She can't quite decide to be amused or irritated on his behalf, and settles for both.  "A fine summation of the situation, indeed."  The steward offers up a lopsided smile for the pilot, and touches his shoulder in commisuration.  "We are well-satisfied with both your looks and skill, Mr. Tescali," she assures him.  "I have always preferred an honest face to that of a vapid ladder-climber."

Pausing, Shui taps her lips as she considers Tylen's offer.  "Assistance would be appreciated, Mr. Orgesh, assuming it will take you some time to set up the music.  I do need to cook the food, unless we have a handy, portable grill?"  She shoots a glance at Saskia, not really expecting anything in the affirmative.  "I would hate to juggle all the food on my way up the ladders -" a near impossibility, though perhaps she could rig some kind of system to draw them up behind her...ridiculous, no "- and the company would certainly be welcome," she admits with a smile.

Jago nods as Ash explains his source - local information is sometimes reliable.  "We can always check for any sort of advisory when we get there, and pick where we land, if at all.  I expect there'll be an orbital station, the tech level and port quality are good enough to support one, and anything in orbit is definitely going to be protected by the Navy and Marines.  If it looks like there's trouble on the ground, we'll just dock in orbit."

"If Keryn decides to leave us at Denotam, it has the advantage that the tech level is similar to what she's used to on Frenzie, and the local gravity is a little lower than standard."

The captain looks up at the sky as the topic of conversation comes round to food, "I'm sure we could rig something up with a tray and a couple of lines, and somebody up here could haul the food up from below." he suggests.

Ash nods to Jago's 'wait and see' attitude; it is eminently pragmatic.  He shrugs slightly when discussing Denotam further, noting dismissively, "It is just heresay, for my part.  I have never been to Denotam myself."

He does purse his lips, when Jago mentions that Keryn may be leaving them at the next stop.  He lowers his voice, "Do you really think that Ms. Taylor will be leaving us so soon?"  His tone belies a level of geniune affection and a little regret, he has found the young lady to be a welcome dose of innocence and naivety.  He glances in the direction of Keryn with Yasmine crouched near her.  After a pause and a raised eyebrow, Ash also ventures " And does Ms. Crow know that Ms. Taylor might be leaving us?"

"Captain," Ash suggests to Jago when the discussion returns to the barbeque, "perhaps a tarp or umbrella for some shade is also in order.  Prolonged exposure to the sun for both the food and passengers may not be advisable; but, the view is worth keeping for as long as possible."  With some passengers still in the water, Ash knows that someone will have to stay topside with them (even if all of the crew has gone hullside to dry off).  However, with Yas keeping an eye out, Ash feels able to offer, "I can see what I can cobble together, if we don't have anything already."  He glances at Saskia, knowing that the ship's engineer might have her own ideas or devices already and he does not want to step on her toes in such matters.

He glances out over the water as he instinctively checks the sensor feeds momentarily, "And does our guest, Marina, have any requests or special dietary needs?  We are including her in our picnic, correct?"

Tylen follows Shui down to the galley area and lounges in the door as he uses his data gloves connection to the ship systems to search for an appropriate play list.  Once he finds a list of light music that contains a significant amount of piano, he channels it to the ships speakers, instructing the ships computer to regulate the volume so that the music is audible but becomes a part of the background - both in the air and the water.

"Maybe we should build a portable grill while we are en route to Denotam?" Tylen suggests, without looking up from his dataglove, as the gentle music starts to flow from the speakers inside the ship as well as outside.

Tarp or umbrella.  Pulley system.  It seems to be turning into quite a production.  "Perhaps it would be best if I saw what I had, first," she notes.  A wave of the dataglove follows as Shui shrugs into her shirt - the ship will be considerably cooler than the balmy outdoor air - and heads for the ladder.  "Thank you, Mr. Tescali, for reminding me; if someone could ask Marina regarding her own needs, I could scour the galley."

Down the ladder she goes, a woman on a mission...to find food for this group, and some means to cook it for a 'proper' (or improper) barbeque.

Fortunately, she has assistance; Ash and Jago seem to be well-prepared with ideas to work out, and Tylen has accompanied her.  "My thanks, Mr. Orgesh," she offers the gunner as they move through the halls toward the galley, her feet padding quietly on the steel floor.  She enjoys the gunnar's company, in fact; quiet, thoughtful, but not overbearing.  And with taste, she notes with interest as the music flows through the speakers.

"Build a grill..." Shui can't help but smile at that.  "Not entirely a poor idea, though if we construct every idea this crew comes up with on our travels," she murmurs, poking through the drawers and fridges in search of food, "poor Captain Lanza won't be able to turn any profit thanks to a lack of cargo space."  She shoots an amused smile over her shoulder at the former scout.

Jago raises a hand to shade his eyes as he gives Ash a noncommital grunt, "That would be up to her, of course." he says quietly, "If she asks me, I'd probably recommend that she stays aboard until we're on the Main itself, and in a well-defended system inside the Imperium.  But by the time we get to Denotam, she might be sick of us.  Sometimes I think the Margin doesn't match her expectations of starship travel."

"I expect Yas has some idea that she can't keep the girl as a pet." he adds with a smile.  "Or maybe I forgot to explain that to her... "

The captain thinks for a moment, "Should be a tarp in a storage bin in the back of the air-raft.  I'm sure we could lash some sort of shelter together using the sensor array as a support structure."

As Shui glances over her shoulder she catches Tylen admiring her legs, so neatly shown off by the shirt and bikini bottom she is wearing.  His eyes crinkle slightly perhaps in  embarrassment at being caught, perhaps at her humour as she suggests that Jago might fail to make a profit.

"Oh, I'm not worried about all things the rest of the crew dream up, just my ideas." he says with an easy grin.    "It would be good to go for a proper barbecue somewhere." he says wistfully.

Then he switches back to a a light hearted, jokey style as he continues "You know, on a deserted island somewhere, fresh caught fish on the barbecue, a cocktail or three, some soft music, the moon just peeking between the trees ...."

Saskia jumps up and goes to the 'raft.  The tarp is just where Jago said it would be.  She drags it out and starts spreading it out on the hull, close to the sensor cowling.

The cowling itself should be sturdy enough, and the sensors are protected by transparent (at least to the semsors) panels, intended to shield them when travelling in an atmosphere.  Some of the safety line they used while swimming should work to secure the sheet in place.

Just need to cut the line.  She reaches into a pocket for a tool capable of severing it, then remembers that she's not wearing her coverall.  "Need to fetch a fission cutter.  Be right back." the engineer explains, before popping the dorsal airlock and taking the direct route down to her tool storage.

It seems she's in luck; Shui locates some suitable ingredients for a BBQ.  Spices, or a reasonable facsimile, BBQ sauce, and some protein that resembles chicken.  Plus some frozen fish that will do well for Marina.  But during the hunt, she finds Tylen's gaze where some might consider it out of bounds.

Shui doesn't take it as such; it's not like the gunner is leering and drooling.  The man has far too much class for that, and she is a little short on clothing at the moment.  Part and parcel of the beach day.  One might even think it a compliment.

"A 'proper' barbeque," she notes, shifting back halfway into the freezer.  "What you describe, Mr. Orgesh, doesn't quite fit."  Amusement spices her tone.  "Cocktails and soft music?  A moon?  I would expect..."  Consideration follows, and another glance over her shoulder.  "A stringed instrument, much loud singing, and beer."

Gripping a box of fish, she drags it out; despite her lean frame, Shui handles it with surprising ease.  There's no question half of the crew out-muscles her, but she has never been weak.  "What you describe," she notes, facing the gunner and brushing back a lock of hair, one eyebrow slightly arched in interest, "is a dinner for two by the sea."

"Admittedly, I far prefer your idea myself.  But with whom would you share this?"  Out comes the mock-chicken, hitting the deck with a *thud*.  "Ms. Crow, perhaps?  You seem to get along quite well..."  Back in the freezer in search of the sauce, the Steward finds herself uncertain how to handle the situation with the gunner.  It has come up before on other ships, but never with someone she holds in quite the same regard as the gunner.  Of course, she might be reading things completely wrong; if that is the case, she should spare them embarassment...

"Or would this be entirely theoretical?" she offers as she collects the sauce.  A way out for him, should he desire one.

Ash nods to Jago on all counts.  He has not gotten the sense the Keryn has tired of the Profit Margin and its crew, but then Jago is likely a better judge of character than him.  He can't help but comment to the Captain with a slight shrug, "Yet, I don't think that she will find Denotam to be exactly up to her expectations either.  There never is any place quite like home.  Nor is anything quite like the vids."  He knows that from plenty of personal experience - he fell for propaganda promos twice with two different Imperial Services.  A slightly crooked smile crosses his face for a moment.

But then the navigator moves to the air-raft to help Saskia unload the tarp.  Ash helps to spread out it out, carefully avoiding the sensor arrays; he knows that some of the radiation beams from the various detection equipment can cause issues at very close ranges.  He continues to pull in the spare lines in from the water as the ship's engineer heads below to retrieve a fission cutter.  Ash works quickly securing various sections of the lines to the corners of the tarp, pausing every minute or so to scan the horizon and the various sensor display data from the very arrays next to him; data that is being routed to his headset via a rather circuitous route through the central core and his p-comm and wrist computer back to his headset.  The irony is not lost on him, but it is secondary to his monitoring duties.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:25, Fri 16 Sept 2011.

"I guess Yas would enjoy that type of barbecue?" Tylen says with a smile as Shui successfully describes the beach parties of his youth.  "They can be fun too.  They were one of the main  forms of entertainment for us youngsters back on Lopiengeta when I was growing up.  Except that real beer was generally too expensive.  There was always a goodly supply of some rot-gut or another, though.  And some of it we even called beer." he adds with a grin.

He pauses for a moment to watch Shui's reaction, before he continues with his story.

"I grew up  by the sea," Tylen explains "So I guess the setting comes to mind automatically." he grins.  "But after all the raucous drinking and singing, even a guitar can play soft into the the early hours of the morning when the moon rises." he half teases "And it is always good to gaze up at the stars with a friend." he adds with,  perhaps, a slight emphasis on the final word.

"Although I did add in the the trees and the cocktails.  Neither were to be found in great quantities on Lopiengeta.  Certainly not that I could afford as a teenager" He admits with a broad grin.

"And I would be more than pleased to introduce you to those pleasures, Doctor Tiesi, should the opportunity ever arise." he suggests as he  suddenly stands upright, clicks his heels together and executes a mock military bow in her direction.  Having thrown the ball back into her court, he lounges back against the door frame to continue watching her prepare the barbecue.

Keryn returns to the water for a little relief from the local gravity, and Yas takes up a position where she can keep an eye on the girl who currently seems to be playing some sort of game with Marina involving clenching a hand into a fist and suddenly opening up two or more fingers in a way which determines the winner.  Or not opening them, which seems to also determine the winner, sometimes.  There are occasional disputes, which seem mostly due to Marina's poor manual dexterity causing her to fail to adopt one of the sanctioned hand postures, but on the whole, the pair seem to be enjoying themselves.

Jago picks up Saskia's reading material, and sets it aside almost immediately, shaking his head in resignation...

Saskia herself fetches some tools and continues working with Ash to set up the tarp. 

Meanwhile, Shui and Tylen are sorting out food for the meal...

Ash grunts as he shifts sections of the tarp to place them in better positions to tie it down.  His thin frame is not very well suited to dealing with the manual labor, but he manages to get the job done.  Once the tarp is in place, Ash gives another grunt; this one a little less planned as the large plascloth shifts slightly on its own, twisting with the light breeze.  Ash grimaces slightly as the tarp moves unbidden and its effective weight increases substantially.  He slides slightly and as his feet get pulled a couple of inches before he finishes tying the line down properly.

"Avast" he mutters under his breath, "we be underway, Captain, to parts unknown..."  He glances at Saskia to see if the engineer has overheard him.  Then his eyes dart to the displays in his headband's HUD reticule.  The Margin has apparently become a seafaring craft - conquering yet another, more viscous, physical medium.  Ash begins to move from corner to corner of the tarp, pulling on the lines to see if they can actually alter the course by which they are (albeit slowly) drifting.  A slightly smile plays on his face as he does so.  "Fascinating." is all that escapes his lips in response to their makeshift sail; he's read about the Age of Sail in the Solomani history books, but it was only a passing reference.

Finished removing the sauce from the chiller, Shui casts about for a box to hold her discoveries.  "I am most certain they could be interesting," she muses.  "Such things were not the norm where I grew up.  Sadly," the doctor admits.  They do sound like a pleasure...except for the 'rot-gut'.  Crudely distilled alcohol occasionally comes with impurities, though Tylen seems to have escaped that issue.

The doctor mentally kicks herself out of her analysis; there are times she should set her medical training aside, and this is one of them.

"I recall your mention of your home planet, and its oceans.  Did you, by chance play guitar, Mr. Orgesh?" Shui inquires, one eyebrow cocked as she places the food into the storage boxes for easier transport.  But the doctor pauses in consideration of the emphasis Tylen puts on the word 'friend'; it isn't something she would miss.

How to read it?  A suggestion of friendship alone?  Or a metaphor for something more?

A small laugh escapes her as he finishes with a self-deprecatory comment on his youthful financial woes.  Packing completed, Shui turns to face the gunner, her head cocked to the side speculatively.  Many, many thoughts roll through her mind in that moment.  "I rather enjoy cocktails," she notes, tapping her lip with her index finger.  "And late nights."  The smile returns. "I would be...interested to see what you came up with, Mr. Orgesh."

"Quite interested, I think."

Tylen's Eyes and mouth open wide, for just a moment, in mock surprise as Shui admits to enjoying cocktails and late nights, but that quickly subsides into a smile as he holds his hands out to take the recently packed box.

"In which case, we had better build that grill just in case the opportunity arises." he grins, "Although maybe we could see what we can find for a trial run on the next half decent planet that comes along?" he suggests.

He pauses for a moment or two before he takes on a serious face "But I ought to admit now, that I can't play the guitar."

Then feeling, perhaps, that it is time to relieve the tension slightly, Tylen continues on a lighter note.  "So what was your equivalent of teenage beach parties then?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:57, Mon 19 Sept 2011.

His feigned astonishment makes her wonder about the face she puts forward; upon consideration the Steward can easily see how she might appear 'uptight' about certain things.  Shui passes over box #1 - the heavier one, she won't insult him by taking it herself - and purses her lips in a moue of consideration.  "Grill?  If it were a group barbeque you proposed, certainly.  As I said, it sounded more like a dinner for two - with cocktails - but..."  She turns away to pick up the other box.  "...perhaps I misunderstood."

Lifting, she again turns to face the gunner, a small smile playing about her mouth.  "And perhaps you might clarify the matter during the 'trial run'."  She cocks her head and the smile quirks a touch at his admission.  "No need for concern, Mr. Orgesh; I certainly won't hold you to playing the guitar."

But the conversation shifts, the gunner turning to another topic.  An easier, less-charged one, he likely believes.  For a moment, Shui's eyes are glassy mirrors as she stares through him.

The sixteen year old girl finishes shoving her single bag of luggage into the station disposal chute, where centripetal force will drag it to the conveyer leading to the incinerator.  There, her clothing, her ID, everything she carried will be torched, gone to gases to be expelled harmlessly into the void.

She slides her hands down her new coveralls, testing the feel, runs shaking fingers through her crudely-cut hair.  The digits are cold.  Tension, her mind clinically notes, squeezing the blood vessels, impeding flow to the extremities.  Psychological shock.  Fear.  Adrenaline.  She knows the signs, understands the effects; dealing with them is another matter entirely.

Her icy fingers find the small pouch at her belt and count out the currency she has taken from her account - hard cash, less-common in this day and age but required by certain darker aspects of society.  A short time ago, it counted out to four thousand, two hundred and thirty seven; sufficient for false ID from the forger she located, following protocols never meant for this specific purpose.  Insufficient for ID and passage, sadly; very little remains.

She will need to take work on a ship - anything she can find - to get off this station.  Fortunately the girl has superficial ability in a broad spectrum of skills, and as a result of that training learns and adapts extremely quickly.  And she has time, but no more than a week, and she needs many days between herself and those who will come in search.  They will first suspect an accident, or perhaps a critical failure on her part.  They will be concerned.  They will search the wrong places.  By the time they check her account, they will have begun to realize the impossible truth.

By then, she hopes to be out of reach.

Brushing back her shorn hair, the girl raises her ID, reading off the name to herself.  Her lips curl into a smile beneath her blank, glassy eyes, and Shui steps out of the alcove into the bustling crowd.

Shui blinks; a half-second of hesitation, no more, and the life returns to her gaze.  "Teen parties...well, my world was less permissive than some.  Social pressures.  But children," she notes, "can be willful, much to my parents' dismay.  I fear I disappointed them with my carrying-on."  Her arms shift the box around, seeking a better grip.  "As young teens, my brothers and I purloined our parents cars to drive about the back roads, went into town to see the nightlife - such as it was - and occasionally, foolishly, stole liquor from the cabinet."

She offers the gunner an ironic smile as she slips past him, her bare feet padding on the deck.  "Nothing quite so interesting as your beach parties, I fear.  It must seem rather tame."

"Oh, I thought a quiet evening  with the pair of us grilling fresh caught fish and mixing cocktails, while we wait for night to fall and the moon to rise would probably count as a quiet dinner for two." Tylen suggests in a mock-disappointed voice.  "But we could always start off with dinner next time we get somewhere civilised." he suggests "Although I have to admit I am not all that good in fancy restaurants."

Taking the box, he leads the way out through the cargo area as he listens to Shui's tale of borrowed cars and stealing liquor.  However,  he hadn't survived for years in the scouts without noticing short silences, but he had also learned that peoples' histories were their own, and there were right times and wrong times to push.  So he  settled for a slightly tongue in cheek jibe ...

"Stealing cars?  Tame?  You must have some interesting stories to tell." he says with a quiet grin.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:16, Fri 07 Oct 2011.

Jago smiles as he realises what's going on, before ordering Yas and Keryn out of the water, just in case.  "I hadn't thought of this, Ash." he confesses, "I'm used to the Margin being pretty much immobile once she's on the surface with the dives off.  Just don't mention to any Navy crew we meet that we have a ship that blows about in a slight breeze."

Shui and Tylen make their way back up onto the dorsal surface, using a makeshift harness of EVA tethers to haul supper up with them...

"Ah, here we are, and it definitely smells delicious." the captain greets them with a grin.

"Nonsense, Mr. Orgesh," Shui counters.  "I'm certain you would know your way around a decent restaurant.  But I would be fine with grilling and cocktails on a beach, frankly; it sounds far more interesting than a stuffy place with officious waiters."  Reaching the ladder, she stuffs the food she carries into the tethers.

"Of course the fish would be for you," she notes.

Up the ladder she goes, chasing the food.  "Stealing cars from our parents," she corrects over her shoulder.  "Which means taking the keys when they were out hemselves."  She glances back down at him, her smile flashing in the shadow of her face, silhouetted against the darkening sky.  "Not exactly auto theft in the eyes of the law."

Looking up, she cocks an eyebrow at Jago.  "Captain Lanza, my thanks for your pulley system.  In return, let me see about properly preparing the dish Mr. Orgesh and I have ferretted out, and you may be the first to test it." Up and out, and Shui turns to offer Tylen a hand out of the hatch.

"Ahh, Yes." Tylen  metaphorically kicks himself for having forgotten that the steward is a vegetarian, and then irreverently wonders about the planet Vegetaria , but shakes his  head to bring himself back to the problem in hand.  Deciding that this is not a good time to tease Shui further on the concept of car theft, he helps out getting the boxes up onto the  'deck' of the new ship.  "Hey!  I just carried." the gunner disclaims any part in preparing the meal "I don't go poking around in Shui's drawers looking for things to eat.  I've seen those clips of a steward chasing crewmen with a cleaver ..." he quips as he walks over to inspect Ash's makeshift sail.

The ship isn't exactly breaking any travel records, unless there is some sort of record for the slowest moving starship in history.  Marina is easily able to keep up, and demonstrates this by, literally, swimming rings around the makeshift windjammer which, due to drag and the position of the sail near the stern of the ship, is actually cruising tail first into the unknown.

Jago seems to find the whole thing highly amusing, all through the impromptu barbecue, and comments frequently about how much more restful sail is as a mode of transport than, for example fusion drives, HEPlaR, or even Profit Margin's own thruster plates.

Corlan comments at one point that it probably wouldn't take much work to attach a makeshift rudder to the ventral turret and use that to steer the ship.  Eneris follows this up with the suggestion that a proper mast could probably my lodged into the dorsal airlock.

Saskia frowns at all the comments about fitting rudders and masts onto Profit Margin.  The ship is designed to travel in space and, while she's capable of taking something over two gees of acceleration, her design specifically assumes that said thrust will be applied to very specific areas of her structure, and in equally specific directions.

Attaching a rudder to a turret will apply forces to a portion of the ship which was not constructed to handle those forces.  It would doubtless result in damaged bearings.  Wedging a mast in the airlock would probably buckle the hatch.

If they keep talking like this, she may have to ask Yas for a loan of her pistol.  There probably isn't a court in the sector that would convict her.

Shui wrinkles her nose at the implacation of herself and cleavers.  "I would never, Mr. Orgesh," she protests, her amusment plain. "And as Ms. Blake discovered, I would be more likely to harm myself than I would cause any damage to my quarry."

The boxes hit the deck and Shui begins to work as the massive ship drifts, its motion virtually imperceptible.  The fish is laid out to thaw, the BBQ food prepared, and futher drinks made ready for crew and passengers alike.  All the while the Steward considers her conversation with Tylen, wondering where it might lead.

It likely isn't a good idea, she muses.  Not for Tylen, certainly.  Unless he's simply looking for an enjoyable time.  Anything further might be...not a good idea, she repeats to herself, shying away from the possibilities.  Play it by ear, she decides, shooting the gunner a quick glance from the corner of her eye.  It's against her better judgement, but...what harm could it do to wait and see?

A great deal, an honest part of her notes, but she brushes that thought aside.

Ash gives Jago a tilt of the head and an equally crooked smile to match, "Aye Captain, but I prefer to think that we could brag that the Profit Margin and her crew have conquered a third travel medium..."

A raise of the eyebrow and he adds, "I mean she doesn't sail without us and it is good information to know.  You know," he adds with a shrug, "j-just in case."

Ash's rather boyish enthusiasm gets the better of him, if only for a moment.  He nods to Tylen as the other scout approaches the tarp.  Ash pulls on one line to show that the amount of wind captured fabric can be adjusted somewhat.  From what little experimentation that he has done, Ash does know that they can alter their course and (at least, theoretically) their orientation in the water with proper sail adjustment.  "Pretty slick, eh?" he ventures.

But then he notices Saskia's frown and Ash swallows hard and his voice trails off.  He purses his lips, hoping fervently that he has not gotten on the engineer's bad side with his comment.  Ash definitely does not want his fresher's input and output lines reversed; that would just be plain unpleasant.  His brow furrows at the thought.

The barbecue goes well, Marina particularly enjoying the fish, and apparently glad of the brief change of diet away from the local sea life, which she describes as a little too salty for her tastes, though her "cousin", she explains, thinks it's marvellous.

Shortly after midnight, ship's time, with the suns still fairly high in the sky, standing at about mid-afternoon in 728-907's near 42 hour day, Jago declares that they should take their leave soon.  People start finishing the last of their food and drink...

The sail/canopy is dismantled, cooking and serving equipment is lowered back into the air-raft bay, along with various towels and blankets.  The swimming tethers are detached.

Before too long, Profit Margin starts to look more like a starship again.

Marina watches the preparations for leaving with an air of sad interest...

Jago prepares to go below, but before he does so, he moves close to Yas and mutters, "Make sure nobody tries to bring the dolphin aboard as a pet."  He turns away, passing Tylen who assists him onto the ladder in the 'raft bay.  As Tylen releases his arm, the captain murmurs, "Make sure Yas doesn't try to smuggle the dolphin aboard as a pet."

Then he descends, leaving the crew to say their farewells and take one final look at what will probably be the last holiday spot they see for a while...

Ash spends much of the barbeque by himself, preoccupied with the mechanics of the makeshift sail and its effect on the course of the Profit Margin in the current.  He is more than willing (some might say overly eager) to discuss such things with anyone that will listen; his enthusiasm for that rather dry subject and its nuances is likely why he spends most of his time eating alone, monitoring sensor feeds and working some rather complex mathematical computations in his head as the ship's hull gently rocks on the ocean's surface.

And when Ash isn't discussing ancient naval navigation techniques, he appears to be thinking about wave dynamics.  Spurred on, obviously by the surrounding ocean.  He doesn't push his observations on anyone, but is quite eager to share them with anyone willing to listen.  He does seem to be quite knowledgeable about the subject - attributing his experience with the Imperial Naval and Scout services communications protocols for giving him both the theoretical and practical grounding in the subject.  He does try to engage Marina on the topic, interested in how her sonic abilities have influenced her perceptions on the matter.

As they pack up, Ash continues to monitor the sensor feeds as well - even if there is nothing of note to report.  He makes sure that the tarp is properly stowed back with the air/raft and all of the security lines are pulled back and properly wound for storage.  He bids Marina a farewell, noting to the cetacean, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Marina.  I wish you and your cousins happy explorations - here and abroad.  And I hope that our paths might cross again one day..."  Standing at the edge of the hull, he offers his hand out to Marina for a shake.

And then Ash waits until everyone else is done up top and is back inside the Margin before he makes ready to fly the air/raft back into the storage bay.

Shui spearheads the work in cleaning up, conscientiously avoiding any kind of marking of Saskia's beloved ship and ensuring all garbage is cleared away, rather than falling into the pristine ocean.  Finally finished, she pauses for a long moment to stare around herself, looking over the ocean and the sky.  Many interesting things have transpired today.

Many.

Moving to the edge of the deck, she crouches down to address their guest.  "Good day, Marina, and good bye.  I hope that we someday have the chance to meet again." It isn't likely - the universe being a vast place - but the universe is also mysterious, so who can say?  "All the best to you and your family; I hope they accomplish all they seek to carry out, and that this world treats you well during you stay upon it."

Then she moves to the ship's entrance, with only a final glance for the horizon.  There is work to be done, the detritus of their stay needing to be cleaned - dishes, cutlery, and other implements.  And she needs to ensure her more long-term guests are well emplaced in their temporary homes.

...and provide to the crew's needs.  Coffee, cocoa, the usual suspects.

The meal had been good and Saskia has to admit that it had been nice to eat something outside of the ship for a change.  She can't remember the last time she'd done that.  Surely it wasn't as long ago as the hotel fire and her first meeting with the aslan?

When Jago orders everybody back inside to prepare for departure, she goes instead to the edge of the ocean and crouches to speak quietly to the dolphin, "Thank you for having us, Marina, I've had a good time here.  I hope things go well for you.  Don't forget to warn the people at the settlement about how stupid it is to use their only transport out of here as a defence satellite.  Good luck to you and your family."

Only then does she descend into the ship.

Tylen helps with the clearing up, before stripping off again and taking a last swim in the salty water, using it as an opportunity to say goodbye to the dolphin and as one last reminder of the waters back home.  As he sculls gently on his back, ha catches sight of the steward saying her good byes to the dolphin and smiles slightly before he making his way back onto the ship.

Before making his way below though, he reminds Jago that Yas had told Marina that we would make contact the human contingent and suggest they withdraw their sentinel closer to home.