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.