The reply comes after an eight second lag.  "Welcome to Denotam, Profit Margin.  Clearance granted for Highport docking.  Transmitting navigational instructions now."

A second set of points and lines appear on the display.  Somwhat different from Ash's original plot, it is also a little more circuitous.  The new route seems calculated to give wide clearance to several clusters of dense traffic in synchronous orbit.

Jago ponders Tylen's remarks, "You might get a chance to ask her yourself in a bit.  And, yes, you and Yas can relax a little.  System's full of Navy ships, so there's probably not going to be much trouble."  He reaches for the intercom toggle, "Shui?  Can you bring Keryn over to the forward crew lounge?  I'd like a word with her."

The course plot is completed, and Port Authority is on line again, "Profit Margin.  Please commence your approach in sixty seconds from my mark.  Mark."

"Need M-Drive in just under a minute, Saskia.  Hope it's all in one piece?" Jago instructs the engineer with a chuckle, before looking at Ash, "Is it just me, or does that course look like it was plotted by a drunk?"

Preparing the drinks for the crew in the lounge, Shui glances up at Jago's request.  The tray goes down, the dataglove comes up.  + Certainly, Captain Lanza.  The crew's drinks are ready in the lounge - if nobody has claimed them by the time I return with Ms. Taylor, I shall pick them up on the way. +

With quick strides she makes her way to Keryn's quarters and pings the door.  "Ms. Taylor?  Captain Lanza would like to speak with you."

"You can have it when you like Jago."

Saskia's voice over the intercom is sweet as honey, even as she adds, "I thought I'd leave stripping it down until we're involved in a fight."  Then she sounds much more serious, "We've got a minor power fluctuation, nothing that will give us any problems, but I'm keeping an eye on it anyway."

Jago waits for the designated time, and drops Profit Margin onto the vector specified by the traffic controller.  Then he stands up and stretches, "Ash, Tylen... keep an eye on things while I'm talking to Keryn.  Yas, you're with me."

He exits the Bridge, with Yas following him, leaving the navigator and the second gunner in charge of the ship and its defences.

Taking a seat in the lounge, he motions for Yas to sit down, "I want you to sit in on my talk with Keryn.  You're responsible for her being aboard, so to my mind, you should hear what we've got to say, first hand.  She might also want advice about whether or not this is a good place to leave us, and her decision will have a direct impact on you, so I think it's good for you to be here."

Keryn follows Shui back through the passenger quarters.  Half way across the empty cargo hold she stops in her tracks.  "Do you know what he wants?" she asks nervously.

In Engineering, Saskia watches the infinitesimal wavering of several instruments on her control panels...

Pausing, Shui checks their time.  Well, better to arrive a little late with a calmer passenger than early with a distraught one.  Poor Keryn, she thinks.  It's easy to mislay how difficult the entire situation is for the woman, pregnant and off her planet, both for the first time.

Certainly out of her comfort zone.

"Ms. Taylor."  She puts a gentle hand on Keryn's forearm.  "I would hazard Captain Lanza has some reccomendations about your situation.  He is a good, decent man, who I am certain wants you to find somewhere you will be comfortable."  Pursing her lips, she slowly nods. "Beyond that, it could be any number of things, none of them unpleasant." She avoids the loaded phrase 'don't worry', knowing full-well that automatically puts peoples' defenses up.


"In any case, should you desire I can most certainly remain.  We are not so close to landing that I am late with my duties."

With a slight shrug, Ash acknowledges Jago assessment of their new assigned course.  "It is more circuitous.  I could have plotted that, but only if I wanted to tour the planet and its moons first.  I guess that we have the extra four hours to spare."  He mutters under his breath, "A rather poor attempt at trying to delay us without making it look too obvious."  Ash's displays flicker as he works on reoptimizing their course, keeping the time the same but making it much more interesting either in shape or in the coverage of local system objects.  It's just something to preoccupy him for the moment (or a couple of hours, as the case may be).

When Jago makes ready to leave the bridge and meet Keryn, Ash gives him a thumbs-up, "Aye, aye.  Captain."  He adds as an afterthought, "Ummm... good luck."

Tylen heads for the crew lounge to see about drinks for the bridge, only to discover that Shui has beaten him to it, and already set out  drinks for the crew.  He grins at her efficiency, then his lips purse slightly as he looks around for the steward. Then with a shrug he loads the drinks onto a tray and heads back to the bridge - only pausing to let Jago and Yas take their drinks from the tray as they pass in the corridor.

Back on the bridge he passes  a drink to Ash and puts the tray down out of the way, making a mental note to return it to the lounge later.  "They are sending us all around the houses." he comments as he sees the course that Profit Margin has been allocated.  He might not understand the complexities of navigation, his basic pilot training allows him to read a course well enough.

"Still, it will be good to spend some time somewhere where we aren't dodging riots.  While it was good to picnic with marina, there is some stuff I need to buy." he comments as he lounges against the bridge wall.

"Sure thing, Jago," Yas replies, "and if she decideds to hang out with us a bit longer, just dock my pay, all right?"

She was more than ready to take responsibility for the young woman and was going to do her best to make sure nothing bad happened, if it was at all possible.

"Unless you object, of course, Captain," she adds with a crooked grin on her face, "I mean, about docking my pay, of course."

Ash gives Tylen a slightly startled look for a moment, as he looks up, his revelry broken.  He smiles slightly crookedly and accepts the beverage from the tray, "Ummm... Oh, thank you, Mr. Ogresh."  He holds up the mug and toasts the other scout, "Cheers."

The navigator leans back in his chair and then shrugs slightly, holding the mug in both hands for a moment.  "With all the in-system traffic." he notes off-hand, "it is not surprsing and still the most effective way to ensure that we stay out of people's hair for the alloted amount of time."  He rubs his chin for a moment after another sip, "While I could probably manage to track and guide the hundreds of vessels in local space..."  And Ash glanced at the number of alternate plots that he was generating 'for fun', "but, I don't envy the Port Authority controllers.  A pretty thankless job."

He gives Tylen a slight, self-depricating smile, "I mean, people are always joking and complaining at their expense ... and second guessing them while plotting multiple, re-optimized, alternate routes."

Then he turns back to face the gunner more squarely.  "But at least, it seems here that we don't have to worry about pirates." Ash quips.

Jago shakes his head, "I don't have any objection.  It's not like she's caused us any trouble."  The hatch to the cargo hold opens, and Shui and Keryn step through.  Keryn looks worried.  Jago smiles and gestures for her to sit down near Yas, and barely raises an eyebrow when Shui also takes a seat.

"Good morning, Keryn.  How are you enjoying  the trip so far?"

Jago's opening gambit doesn't seem to do anything to relax the young woman, "It's... interesting.  The ship is... isn't anything like I imagined."  She sounds nervous, mumbling her words.  "I mean, it's nice and everything, but not like I thought it would be.  From seeing the holos and all.  If you see what I mean.  It's different.  Not bad-different, just not the same."

Jago chuckles, "Calm down.  I won't bite you.  And Yas will only bite you if I order her to."

"Look, I just wanted to talk to you to explain a bit about where we are.  We've reached Denotam.  It's a nice system, with decent tech and a port that sees a fair bit of traffic... "  "Yes.  I looked it up while we were Jumping.  Yas told me we were coming here."  "Good, good.  Anyway... I didn't want you to think you have to get off here.  "But you can, if you want to.  It would be a good place to wait for another ship.  Comfortable and safe as anywhere else."

"Whether or not you leave us here is entirely up to you."

"I don't know... I'm not sure how much money I've got left to pay my way.  I left it with Yas to put in the safe, and I don't know how much is left." again, Keryn sounds nervous, "Not that I think anybody stole any of it, you understand, but I know starship tickets are expensive."

As they travel in towards Denotam, Tylen keeps an eye on the screens as he chats to Ash.  “”Mind you.  It looks as if they are deliberately taking the long way round to keep us away from the Militgary.”  he pauses for a moment as he considers the implication s of that.  ”What do you reckon?  They gathering here to go somewhere else? Or are they expecting company?” he asks casually as he makes his way across to one of the  secondary control stations.  ”Lets see what sort of system news we can pick up.” he suggests as he starts playing around with comms settings and channels.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:53, Mon 31 Oct 2011.

Jago seems to be doing a fine job so far, so Shui keeps quiet.  It's his show, after all.  But...  "A ticket?"  Shui's eyebrows rise slightly.  "A starship ticket?  I was under the impression this was a rescue."  The steward shakes her head, a quick motion. "No.  No, no, no.  I am certain -" she shoots an assessing glance at Yasmine, then Jago "- that any expenses have been or will be covered."  Assuming Jago or Yasmine haven't done so, Shui has more than enough funds to manage herself.

Seeing as she keeps tabs on the provisions, she has already planned on handling that part of Keryn's expenses.

"One does not rescue a woman and child without taking on some kind of responsibility, Ms. Taylor."

"I'm not a beggar, and my baby won't be one either!" Keryn snaps angrily at Shui, "I chose to leave Frenzie, and I'll pay for my own tickets."

Jago raises his hands in a placating gesture, "It's all fine, Keryn.  You have enough money, with the favourable exchange rate between your own local currency and Imperial credits, that you can easily afford to travel with us for quite some time yet." 

Yas adds, "Yeah, never seen the credit so weak against the Frenzie dollar." 

On the Bridge, as the data continues to come in, it becomes increasingly apparent that all civilian traffic is being kept well away from any significant clusters of military shipping.

"No offense was intended, Ms. Taylor," Shui quietly replies, unflappable before Keryn's anger.  "Nor any offensive labels."  Still seated, she offers the woman a small bow.  "My apologies for my ill-considered words."

It seems that Jago and Yasmine have the situation well in hand, in any case.  She can sit back and let Keryn's annoyance dissipate while they handle the details - falsified exchange rates, for example.  If Keryn's pride is important, the Steward knows she should leave such things to people familiar with that situation.

Pride being something she, herself, abandoned years before.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:13, Wed 02 Nov 2011.

"Hmmmp." Tylen grunts as he searches through the various news sources.  "Most of them seem to think The Navy are here for supplies and personnel changes.  A few speculating on  building up for an offensive, a few speculating on an attack here."

Leaning back he picks at the arm of the chair for a moment with a thumb nail, "Ah well, I suppose we just have to run with it." he comments generally as he reaches for his coffee.

Saskia continues watching the panel, occasionally directing questions and comments to various items of equipment.  At the moment the power plant is giving her the most concern.  It's displaying a fluctuation in output which, while still within acceptable parameters as defined by Imperial shipping regs, is not within her acceptable parameters.

Add to which that the fuel pumps are running a little hot.

All of which tells her what the problem is.  The fuel treatment plant hasn't done cleared all the impurities out of the water they scooped last stop.

She reaches over and calls the bridge, planning to have a word with Jago.

Tylen looks up as he hears the comms centre indicate a message at the Captain's station.

Ash shrugs at Tylen's assessment noting noncommittally, "Yeah, that pretty much covers it.  An enlarged military presence could mean focused offensive or defensive maneuvers..."  He shrugs slightly, letting his mind wander slightly.  Despite having actually been an Imperial Naval officer in the past, Ash can even begin to speculate on which it might be.  Denotam is close enough to the frontier that either is a distinct possibility.

"The fact that they are re-routing all civilian traffic," Ash ventures with another shrug, "means that they are serious enough, but is really only standard protocol often enough.  They don't want anyone snooping.  Personally, I would suspect an offensive.  They aren't necessarily arrayed in defensive positions..." he pauses thoughtfully.  "But more clustered..."

His train of thought is broken by a two tone ping from the comms display on his console.  Ash taps the dynamic display and answers, "Engineering - This is Tescali on the Bridge.  What can I do for you Ms. Blake?"

"Hi Ash.  Is Jago not there?"

When it becomes clear that Jago is not on the bridge, Saskia says, "Oh, it's nothing important.  Just wanted to let him know that I'm going to start stripping down the deuterium separation module.  That last lot of fuel we refined still has a few impurities that got through to the tanks, so I want to replace the catalytic filtration arrays before we have to clean up any more.

"Given the sort of places we might be heading to soon, I thought it would be a good idea to do them now.  It just means that we won't be able to purify any fuel for a bit, but that shouldn't be any problem in this system."

Keryn nods, then looks down at the floor as she says, quietly, "In that case, if it's all the same to you, Captain Lanza, and to everybody else, I'd like to travel a little further.  As I understand it, we will soon be in the major trade lane through the sector?"

"That's right, the Spinward Main winds through most subsectors in the Marches.  Lots of traffic." Jago confirms.  "And yes, it's fine with me if you stay aboard.  As for everybody else... well, this is a starship, not a democracy."

"Then I'll travel with you, at least until the ship reaches the Spinward Main, and maybe a little longer.  But be sure to tell me when my money starts to run low."

"Keryn, if and when you start to run short of money, I'll let you know.  Do you have any further questions you need answering, while you're here, with the undivided attention of half the crew?  What about you, Shui?  Yas?  Do you have anything that needs clearing up while you're here?"

The bridge displays are filled with markers showing the locations of traffic in the system, colour coded to show velocity relative to Profit Margin and tagged with vector indicators.

Suddenly the main comms panel chirps and comes to life.  "Denotam Highport calling Profit Margin, please adjust course to three two four point seven fiver by two six point zero niner.  We have priority traffic requesting clearance for departure during your projected arrival window.  Please confirm course correction received and executed."

"Absolutely not, Captain Lanza.  I believe things have been cleared up quite nicely," Shui replies, her smile bright, her hands clasped in her lap.  It's a mask, lifelike and with a near-perfect veneer of good, relaxed humor, but inside she fumes.  Not angry with Keryn, oh no; angry with herself.

Stupid.  She should have seen that the girl wouldn't take the offer well.  She should have found a better way to couch it.  She should have left the girl's pride undisturbed.  But no, she charged right in without sufficient thought, and left Keryn upset.  She failed.

It leaves her hollow.

Stuipd, stupid, stupid, Shui.  You need to think before you act.

"Assuming Ms. Taylor has no further questions for me...?"  She leaves it hanging for a moment.  "If not, I should really continue preparations for docking."

"Hey, Sushi," Yas says with a soft smile, "thanks for the thought, and sorry for any confusion."  She could not be sure that the doctor would read it the right way but she did not want to see the woman get away with what she believed might be a bad state of mind, forcing Yas to hunt her down later.  And, if she was mistaken about that, then no harm done.  But years of looking for signs made her think she saw a mask, a good one to that.

"But yes, Tail, her new nickname for the girl, "I would be delighted to have you stay with us," she tells the younger woman, the eyes lingering until then on Sushi.  "If you want, I'll fit in some more time to help you polish some self-defence skills.  It won't make you invincible, but will boost your confidence and that is often what decides whether you need your skill or not.  The way people move and carry themselves can tell so much about them, you know?"  At the last few words her eyes briefly wanders back to Sushi again, this time with a slightly crooked but still soft smile on her face.  The tone gets lighter as the gaze returns to the girl.  "In fact, that is often how crooks, smugglers, get caught in the customs and all that stuff you see in holo-vids.  If you really watch people you'll know that much is true, even if it is all done by actors in those.  Which, of course, is also how you see who is a good actor and all that, eh?  An actor pretending to act, that's something not all of them can pull off, but now I digress...  Ahem, so, uh, anything to add, Jago?"

Ash shakes his head, though only Tylen and not Saskia can see it.  "No... I'm afraid that the Captain is conferring with Ms. Crow and Ms. Taylor at the moment.  I can relay a message if you wish..."

After her explanation, he nods once more in affirmation, "I see ... No fuel purifiers.  They'll be off-line for maintenance.  I will let him know when he returns."  Ash hopes that he has all the details straight, he has had some experience with general mechanical systems, but starship engineering is a bit more specialized.  Still, the purifiers are not the jump or maneuver drives.  Ash is thoughtful for a moment, then prompts, "Ms. Blake, do you have a more specific timeframe than 'a bit'?  So, I can inform the Captain when they should be back online."

When the Port Authority calls in, Ash looks at the comm, then says a quick "Excuse me for a moment, Ms. Blake."  A glance at Tylen with a 'When it rains it pours' half smile, half grimace comes from the navigator as he then taps the external comm line open. "Denotam Highport, this is the Profit Margin.  We read you.  Adjusting course to ... three two four point seven fiver by two six point zero niner.  Plotted."  The tactical display updates, the course quickly adjusting to the new vector.  "Executing now, Denotam Highport." he says, as the ship begins to match the new course.

He presses the mute button, "Fleet's on the move..."  He points to the many clustered blips on one of the screens.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:09, Tue 08 Nov 2011.

Tylen smiles gently as he listens to Ash  trying to get to grips with the engineers  concept of time, looks up as the navigator responds to Denotam high port.

"Yep.  Must be." Tylen agrees absent mindedly with Ash's assumptions about the fleet.  Still, his fingers fiddle with the console controls and various images flip across his screens as he checks through a number of displays in rapid succession.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:43, Tue 08 Nov 2011.