"Right everybody, we're off the ground and heading for our next drop at best speed.  Twenty minutes, tops.  As long as we don't run into traffic.  Yas, take over from Tylen, and make sure our friend is ready to leave as soon as I give the word.  I don't want him on the ship a second longer than he needs to be.  Tylen head back to your gunnery position, just in case the natives start to get unfriendlier again."  Jago relays a string of instructions over the comms, then nods to Ash as he returns to his Bridge station, "Good work with the Triumvirate rep.  Take over sensors from Saskia, as soon as you're ready."


Yas enters the galley area, where Edrin Othati-Fenn is just saying, "That should be more than enough, thank you." in response to something that Shui has offered.  Perhaps sandwiches and coffee, since the Steward/Medic seems to be in the process of preparing such a snack...

"Ready to step off this ship?  Or would you rather we land first?" Yas asks with as straight a face she can muster.  It seems Sushi is giving him something, and she briefly eyes the pair of them.

"Is he all set?" she asks the steward-medic without waiting for a reply from the man who took Corlan hostage under gunpoint.  Something she has not forgotten.  If he had asked for help her attitude would have been different, but he had chosen his path and thus so had she.  "You missed the live show, by the way, frozen waste makes for such an interesting display."  She glances briefly at the recent popsicle as she finishes the sentence.

"All yours." Tylen  acknowledges that Yas is the new keeper of the prisoner/passenger.  However, there is not hint of his normal smile or grin -  just  pursed lips as he contemplates Othai-Fenn for a moment, before he shrugs and heads back to his turret.

Once there, he checks the tell-tales and screens just to make sure he knows exactly how everything is set - taking great care to make sure the lasers are running on full power again.

"Thank you, Captain." the lanky navigator acknowledges Jago's compliment simply and quickly, as he finishes buckling his five-point harness.  "Ready on sensors." he then notes with glance as his session restores itself on his console moments after he unlocks it.  He gives a glance at Saskia to ensure that she is fine with the transfer and then gives Jago a thumbs-up.

He methodically surveys the summary displays for the non-visual spectrums, checking for anything that is not green and then starts to look over the tactical displays both on his console as well as on the main displays.  He also takes note of route of the Profit Margin, noting the deviations from the original flight plan.

Lastly, Ash chimes over the external feed to the Jockram and his crew, "Ore Hound, this is Profit Margin.  Thanks for the heads up on the communique.  Our long range sensors are clear of airborne traffic.  Are you seeing the same?"  He narrates slightly, "We have one last drop to complete."  He appears to have omitted the word 'off' on purpose, as he is unsure if it is warranted in this case.

He leans over towards Jago, while muting the external line, "Are we planning to rendezvous with the Ore Hound following the business with our last 'passenger'?"

Jockram responds to Ash's call, and confirms that from his perspective, there is no sign of anything that looks like it might be a threat of any kind, "Just some ground traffic, looks like a convoy of some sort, about a hundred klicks east of you.  That and a few small vehicles scattered across  a couple of hundred square kilometres centred on your current location.  Planet's deader than my love life."

"The one you just dropped off is heading directly for the port where you picked him up, and making good speed already."

Shui confirms that the prisoner is ready to leave, having been provided with a snack to aid in his recovery from the low berth.  She asks Yas to keep an eye on him for a moment, while she goes to collect a "care package" from Jago's office - some warm clothes and enough credits for him to survive a few days. 

Tylen's check of his weapons panel confirms Jockram's report - there don't seem to be any potential targets lining up to be shot at.

With little else to do, Tylen selects some music and settles back in his seat as he watches the monitors.  Idly, he taps his fingers on the arm of his chair, in time with the music.

With Jago's present for their passenger in tow and her own addition to it, Shui returns to where Othai-Fenn awaits.  Giving the man an appraising glance, she hands over the clothing and small parcel.  "I cannot say I am sorry to have missed the 'bombs away', Ms. Crow, but I imagine it made quite a sight."  This with a small smile for the security officer.

Facing their 'guest' again, she taps her foot on the ground for a moment, then nods. "By the good graces of our captain, who chose to take you aboard rather than place you in the hands of the authorities, you have been given a second chance.  Few people receive such.  I hope you do better with it." The words could be hard, but they aren't.  Instead, they're quiet, almost musing, as Shui considers her own past.

"I'll do my best to live the rest of my life to the very highest moral standards." the soon-to-be-ex-prisoner replies to Shui, with a shallow bow and a shallower smile, as he accepts the clothing and the parcel.  Knowing that Yas, and the Captain, won't tolerate any dawdling, he starts to pull the cold weather clothing on over the outfit that he'd been wearing in the controlled environment of Denotam Highport.

The small package disappears into a pocket - at least he has the good grace to not inspect the contents in front of his hosts.

As it happens, he's ready in plenty of time, and attempts to pass the remaining minutes in witty banter about his lack of winter boots.  He gives up soon enough though, and it is clear that even he does not find his comments that amusing.  He turns his attention to the sandwiches and coffee.

Profit Margin flies over the ice at an altitude of about fifty metres, while Jago continually adjusts her speed and flight path to suit the terrain...

Finally the Captain announces, "We're there.  Please help our guest to disembark safely."  The screech of tortured metal sounds through the ship, signifying that the ramp is operating...

Ignoring any references to anyone's love life, Ash glances at the medium range sensors at Jockram's prompting about the Triumvirate rep's progress.  "I see that, Ore Hound.  Thank you." he acknowledges, "Good for Mr. Haynes.  Godspeed."

Amd though he trusts Jago's piloting skills, which are definitely better than his own, the Profit Margin's navigator still dutifully monitors the ship's progress, continually revising the route and silencing any terrain warnings on the topological overlay on the main tactical display.

He also continues to monitor the external commlinks for any additional planet-side chatter for additional bulletins or other useful information.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 13:16, Wed 08 Jan 2014.

"One can always hope," Shui quietly replies.

She remains with the man as he continues to prepare.  It's unlikely he will change, she knows.  There's nothing pushing him to do so but his own conscience, and it hasn't done terribly well thus far.  He has no reason to change, in fact - consequences for his actions have been extremely light, and people generally don't change without a blow to somewhere sensitive, metaphorically speaking.  Or not.

But he could.

'Unlikely' isn't 'won't'.  'Generally don't' isn't 'never'.  People sometimes change when given an example, like Jago's generosity in moving Othai-Fenn here and providing for him.  She hopes he takes it to heart.

Finally his journey comes to an ending, punctuated by a metallic scream.  Wincing, Shui gives Yasmine a pained smile as she stands.  "Mr. Othai-Fenn, if you'd follow me?"  She doesn't bother pointing out that the Security Chief will be following him, nor is she concerned about having him behind her.  Yasmine is extremely good at her job.

With Ash once again handling the sensors, Saskia reconfigures her board to a pure engineering station again.  She notices the flickering readings from the section dedicated to Tylen's turret as the gunner performs his system checks, and she makes sure that the PDH is giving priority to meeting the turret's power requirements.

She contacts Tylen to inform him of this, "Tylen.  Turret capacitors are at full, and the set to auto-recharge as soon as you do something to change that."

Tytlen grins as Saskia tells him the lasers are as ready as they will ever be. and turns down the music so that he can hold a proper conversation.  "Thanks, Saskia." he replies after turning the music down "It is always good to be prepared, although there doesn't appear to be anything that will need my attention." there is an invisible shrug that the engineer can't see "Ore Hound is watching from orbit, I have all of my sensors running with heavy warning tell-tales built in.  just in case." he adds the last bit softly.

"However, I suspect that they will be  miffed off by the present we left at their base" and this time the grin is audible in his tone "So they may well throw everything they have at us, just on the off chance of getting a bit of 'face' back."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 09:18, Sat 11 Jan 2014.

"FRIENDLY ADVICE, DON'T LAY HAND OF ONE OF MY FRIENDS AGAIN OR I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET IT, FOR A FEW MINUTES," Yas voice comes brusquely from behind the face plate to their disembarking hostage taker, "AND EVEN IF YOU'LL NEVER MEET AGAIN, DO YOU BLOODY BEST TO NOT DISAPPOINT THE CAPTAIN AND MY FRIEND HERE.  KARMA MIGHT JUST BE REAL."

She makes a point of following the pair without getting Sushi in any potential line of fire, even though all she really needs to do is stretch out an arm with a fist on the end to discourage any foolish attempts, which she does not put beyond him at this point.

"AND DOC, YOU PROBABLY DON'T WANT TO STEP OUTSIDE, IT'S COLD OUT THERE, I'M TOLD."

With the merest hint of an jolt, Profit Margin's landing gear touches the icy surface at exact same instant that the ramp reaches its maximum drop.  There is a thin sheen of moisture on the metal surface, caused by warm air from the ship, its humidity precisely controlled, meeting the cold air outside the ship.

Guided and guarded by the two female crew, who hold position at the top of the ramp (where it seems quite chilly enough), Edrin Othati-Fenn says nothing as he pulls his clothing tighter about his ribs, though he nods to his escorts as he starts down towards the surface of the planet.  Stepping onto the ice, he looks about, taking in the vista of snow drifting across the frozen expanse, driven by a lazy wind - the sort that seems to cut straight through a body, instead of going around it.

He shakes himself, and starts to trudge towards a small dome a little over a hundred metres distant, his head bent into the biting wind and the hood of his jacket pulled down low across his face.

As soon as he's out from under the belly of the ship, the ramp starts to lift, screeching a farewell to him.  Perhaps one tinged with a hint of "and good riddance".  Through the narrowing aperture, Shui and Yas can hear the rising whine of the drives, preparing to send the ship starwards, while on the bridge, Saskia can feel it as a vibration through the soles of her feet.

"Attention Profit Margin," Jockram's voice comes from the bridge comm system, "There is a door opening about ninety degrees around the left side of the dome from your current position.  No sign of any other activity yet, just a sudden flow of warm air."

Profit Margin starts to lift, a little less gently than she had descended, while still doing her best to fly casually.

In the hold, the sound of the drives is cut off as the ramp closes fully, seating itself against the pressure gasket, and locks...

Tylen patches a visual feed through to a one of his screens that will allow him to  keep and eye on Othai-Fenn and whatever else may be moving in the region of the dome.

"Well that is rid of him." he says softly to himself.

"First the liquid septic tank dumped, now the solid waste dumped too.  Somehow the latter almost makes me feel bad for the people on the frozen ball," Yas says over the crew comm as she moves back to where she keep her suit stored.

"I'll be back in my turret soon, Jago."

"Thank you, Ms. Crow," Shui quietly states when the ramp fully closes. "I appreciate your support, both security-wise and moral."  She closes her eyes for a moment, hoping - but not praying - that Othati-Fenn finds some measure of harmony in his life.  And changes his ways.

It's really all she can do, now.

Then she shivers, once, from the cold, and moves back into the heat.  "If you require assistance with your suit, Ms. Crow, I can help.  I'm unfamiliar with that particular model, but I have some experience with similar ones."  A small nod of the head follows.  "Not wearing them of course, but assisting people enter and leave them, yes." Also a great deal of study of such things earlier in her life, but there's little sense in mentioning that.

Yas stops in her tracks and turns to the other woman, offering a small but happy smile.  Briefly she wonders why she always get the feeling there is so much more to Sushi than she lets on.  Perhaps once in J-space she can sit down and try to pry some secrets out, gently of course.

"You're welcome.  We're part of the same crew, we have to look after one another," she says and makes a grimace as she continues, "which is perhaps why he got to me, pulling that stunt on Corlan.  He's like, I don't know, the ship Uncle..."

She shakes free from her thoughts and chuckles, although a warm one.

"I appreciate the offer, but it's just a matter of a couple of button presses, military efficiency at its best.  Civilian models are different, though, so no need to feel embarrassed or anything.  Here, watch this..."  She moves over near her motorcycle, pushes a couple of buttons, just as she said, and more or less steps out of the suit.

"Ta da!"  She spreads her arms and the suits closes up behind her to assume a staunch pose as if standing guard and being fully capable of acting on its own.  "You could possible help with the awful helmet hair, though."  She pulls off the hood part of the undersuit and ruffles her hair to try to bring it back to its wild, uncontrollable natural state.

"Guess there's a reason for those military hairdo's after all..."

As the ship climbs towards orbit, Jockram is still keeping watch, and feeding information to Jago, Ash and Saskia on the bridge.  "Doesn't look like anybody's coming out to do a meet and greet or anything.  Perhaps they just opened the door when they spotted that somebody was coming towards the dome.  Might be the local equivalent of hanging out a 'welcome' sign."

In the hold, Yas shows Shui how the suit practically removes itself with the entry of a simple code on a wrist mounted datapad.  And how it shuts itself down for storage.

Tylen keeps an eye on Othati-Fenn as the ship climbs higher.  The marker on the display which represents the man moves around the dome, and then vanishes as it reaches the position of the opening in the structure.

"Hm.  More advanced and certainly more user-friendly than the ones with which I have some familiarity.  I admit to the ones I have actually seen being civilian models..."  During her travels, of course.  Studying the military models earlier in life was certainly not for the purpose of learning 'how to take off and on'.  She flashes a quick smile to Yasmine, fascinated by the tidy exit of the suit.  "Very efficient, that.  And no embarassment, no.  I am, as always, interested in learning."

She makes a quick look of disgust of her own.  "I was...unimpressed by his taking of a hostage.  Poor form.  Cowardly, even, though it bespeaks of his desperation to recover his brother.  Lack of care for another's life when weighed against his own interests.  I was not pleased - a poor first impression, to say the least."  She sighs.  "The expression, I believe, is 'nowhere to go but up.'  Still, one can always hope he takes this opportunity and learns from it."

With a critical eye, Shui studies Yasmine's mane of hair. "I might do something with it, assuming you aren't joking.  There are styles which might suit you - easy ones, not taking a great deal of effort, nor getting in the way.  Assuming you are looking for a change, of course; your own style well suits you at present.  Though I understand it being a problem 'under the hood', so to speak."

Ash chuckles slightly as he flips the switch over to unmute the external commlink and readily agrees with Jockram, "It sure beats freezing to death on the surface."  The lightness in his voice gives a hint at the relative levity of his statement, "I mean we know that there are some nice people on Rangent..."

The Profit Margin's navigator turns his attention back to the Captain, "Hmmm.... Would you prefer the direct route back to the rendezvous point with the Ore Hound, Boss?  Or do you want to take the scenic route?"  His expression is slightly distant, which means that Ash is already running some calculations in his head - presumably, starting both sets, just in case.

"Learning is what life is about.  Well, one of the things.  The day we stop learning though is the day we're dead.  Literally," Yas says with a chortle and let slip into oblivion their now departed criminal.

"What, cut my hair?  Never!" she exclaims with overacted indignation, "Thanks for the offer, but it was mostly in jest, although I haven't worn anything like this in a long time.  All I need is a proper brushing, even if it can get a bit tangled at time, if you can believe it."

"I just felt, once I was out of the corps, that I had to make some other change too.  Move on, if you will.  The hair was the easiest, just leave it be, mostly.  I do like to keep some habits, though, such as staying fit.  I try to do a bit extra in the hopes it will help Jago," she says, a teasing grin appearing at the last statement.

She starts walking, intent on heading back to her station.  "Got duties?  If not I thought I'd grab a cup of something hot.  It looked real cold out there!"

Too true, the words of the security chief.  Words to live by, in fact.  Shui wouldn't be where she is now had she not learned.  She'd be dead.

Not exactly what Yasmine meant, but close enough.

"I was thinking more of a stylistic change, if cutting were not an option, but should you wish to keep it as it is, I quite understand."  Shui smiles, nodding.  "Change is a terrible and frightening thing," she faux-whispers.

At the security chief's offer, she checks her dataglove.  There is some time before she needs to begin work on the food for tonight.  "I could stop for tea," Shui decides, "if you are still interested."

"Well, about the hair, there is something, seeing what is coming later..."

Yas smiles lopsidedly and motions for Sushi to go first.  "We can talk about it over tea, so to speak."

"Tea would be wonderful," Shui returns.  "My quarters, if you prefer privacy."  A finger-flick to a control on her dataglove, and her pot of hot water begins brewing, linked as it is to her quarters' computer.