"I too would be interested in hearing the story." Corlan chimes in, encouraging Yas to add her own tale to the evening.  "I'm afraid I don't have much to add, having led a somewhat sheltered life before retiring and booking passage aboard this fine vessel."

Jockram adds his own voice to the  calls for Yas to tell her story, "I'd like to hear it as well.  Most of my stories are about drilling through rock and finding more rock underneath it."

"Me too.  I'd never left my home city, or even walked on the surface of Frenzie, before Yas rescued me.  The best I could tell would be holovid plots.  Probably never will have an interesting story to tell." Keryn adds, a little glumly.

Chuckling, Jockram corrects the young woman's perception of her life, "Well, now... you have the makings of a good story right there.  You decided to leave your underground home on an airless ball of rock, were rescued by an Imperial Marine who, as I understand it, walked you unharmed through a virtual war zone, and brought you out into the stars."

"Stars which, by the way, do not shine as brightly as the ladies present this evening." Hegerich comments.

"Agreed." Corlan raises his glass in a toast, "To attractive company, and good friends."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:52, Tue 22 Apr 2014.

Ash nods approvingly at Saskia's 'story' and joins the common consensus.  "Wow.  I think that you have a knack for storytelling, Ms. Blake." he finally vocalizes, suitably impressed, "That must have been really unnerving when it was happening.  Perhaps a good story and funny now, but not so funny then..."  The lanky ex-scout seems thoughtful as he contemplates just how much this crew has experienced in what seems to be such a short time:  derelict, misjumped ships; errant psychic ghosts; interstellar wars; naval intelligence gathering; alien artifacts.  It boggles the mind.  Or at least, it boggles Ash's.

Turning to face the wonderfully dressed woman next to him, the thin navigator adds his own voice to the others, "I'd love to hear more about your adventures, Chief."  Like many at the table, Ash readily concedes, "I don't have anything comparable to tell in either substance or eloquence.  I mostly delivered Imperial mail.  Not much excitement in sitting alone for weeks on end in an x-Boat."  He smiles slightly ruefully and then shrugs, "You do get to read a lot though..."

He is stirred from his personal reverie by Corlan's toast.  "To beauty.  And friends." Ash agrees with a chuckle at Hegerich's blatant pandering.  He raises his water glass and takes a sip, the smile still playing on his face.

"Being a Marine means you usually take lives to save more, but on sometimes you end up lucky enough to only do saving and no taking.  Those are the best ones.  This is such one of those occasions for me.  And Keryn, you will have plenty of stories to tell soon enough.  Not all have to be larger than life, what matters is that you're there to tell them."  Yas says, giving Keryn a smile before giving Hegerich a dazzling smile, just because.

"Anyway, we were way out in the boondocks doing some fapping, er, that is, F A P, Fleet Assistance Program, helping out with various tasks that needed to be done to keep the Navy afloat.  Such as cleaning the vents, something only a Marine was fit for, girth-wise..." she tells, putting on a grin at the end.

"Peacetime, that moment when we prepare for when the shit to hit the fan again.  No downtime for us, but it makes for a change, at least."

"Either way, my squad was helping out fixing some systems on a forgotten end of a ship, under the watchful eyes of the regular service crew.  Something about conductors and needing their bi-decennial service, so we were tearing it all out.  Quite boring, really."

She takes a sip of her drink.

"Next thing you know, alarms go blurting all over the place.  The techs jump high in the air, screaming something abut fire.  Normally nothing to react to, but since we've been ripping out conduits there was no fire control working.  The ship was about to expose this section to space to suffocate the fire.  No worries, normally, except for Private Ngeru who I'd seen crawl into one of the access vents along with Private Walker.  Walker was out, Ngeru wasn't."

A scowl plays on her face as she pauses briefly.

"At this time the Marine was starting to form a gagglefrak, the techs already gone into the next section, about to seal the doors, so I naturally dove head first into the vent.  That's when the rush of air sucked me in.  I reached this vertical section and would have gone out in space if it hadn't been for my combat boots being able to stick to the frame of the access.  That's when I saw Private Ngeru falling towards me from above, but I managed to grab hold of her leg just as she came hurtling past.  Dislocated my shoulder, it did."

She moves her right shoulder in a circular fashion, grimacing at the memory.

"Of course, after a few seconds the fire was out, but it felt like a lot longer.  Never seen the stars first hand before, even if it was only a couple of them through a distant hole.  Either way, my squad got their act together and pulled us out of there.  The techs came back too, pretending to get busy with things straight up.  The corpsman yanked my arm and I was good as new, so we all went back to work too."

"Now, the story doesn't end there, as such, because that night when I was in my quarters, a glorified broom closet since I had made officer recently, I heard something at the door.  Opening it, what did I see if not Private Ngeru.  She just looked at me and, what the heck, I though, I let her in.  I must admit it was nice with some company in bed."

Another pause for a long sip from the drink, eyes watching the others.

"Then, the next morning, as I sat down in the chow hall with a meal for me and her, I heard this ruckus from the nearby and sure enough, there she came running full speed, soaking wet from the direction of the showers, chased by a few Marines in their birthday uniforms or towels.  She lept onto the table and skid to a halt in front of me, looking pleadingly at me for help.  So of course I had to help, again.  I yanked a towel of a pursuing Marine and threw it over Ngeru and then, well, that's when things took off on their own.  Everyone, dressed or otherwise, piled up around her and started rubbing her with the towel.  Mischief maker as she is, no one could resist her.  Oh boy did she squirm and shriek under there..."

A chuckle escapes her and she shakes her head.

"'CEASE AND DESIST, MARINES!  AND GET THAT OF THE TABLE!  NOW!'" she shouts abruptly and bangs a hand hard on the table for effect.

"Oh yes, Major Holler, yep, that's his actual name, had came walking in on the scene, and he's a bit of a stickler when it comes to these things.  So, the shower detachment retreated towards their hideout, minus a towel, and I picked up Private Ngeru, towel and all, placing her in my lap to make sure she got properly dry.  But since that day we were the best of friends, and whenever Holler wasn't around she'd eat on the table.  Best ship's cat I've ever known, mighty glad I saved her."

Yas sits there with a smile as content as the cat that got that elusive bird – in the form of food in a dish in front of her.  "The end."

Tylen offers to fill glasses around the table and then cracks another bottle of beer for himself as he sits back and listens to Saskia’s and then Yas’s tales.


The old fapping joke makes him smile, it has been around all the services for years, but it was always worth a chuckle or two.  There had to be a twist coming, especially once Ngeru  stayed for the night.  Yas certainly hadn’t had enough to drink to go along that line of conversation without, trying to set every one up.  Still it was clever enough end to the story when it finally came.

Then, with a grin, Tylen raises his glass and proposes a toast ”Private Ngeru, and those who came after her!”

Keryn listens to Yas' tale in rapt confusion, right through to the final denouement, with the revelation of Private Ngeru's species.  At which point she claps her hands together in glee.

"Bravo!  A story with two heroic rescues of the unfortunate cat." she comments, "You know, I don't believe I have ever, in my entire life, seen a cat.  Not in the flesh, anyway.  Not many animals on Frenzie because of the controlled environment, just a few little birds in the park."

"I have." Jockram comments, "It lived on a station in the Mora system.  Had a name, but I don't know what it was, everybody just called it Mister Bitey.  Thing had two moods, bad and worse.  Telling you Jago, if you ever want to get some real revenge on the locals here. you should fetch that cat from Mora and give it to them.  Even better if you can sell it to them."

Jago chuckles at the conclusion of Yas' story, and again at Jockram's comment.

"Ship's cats are kind of traditional, maybe we should get one for the Margin," he says thoughtfully, "though I must say, while touching wood, that we've not had much of a problem with vermin. Apart from that little critter setting up home in the air vents that time."

"You kept that, didn't you Saskia? or am I thinking of something else?"

Ash has very little to add other than a shake of the head and a chuckle; he does give a smile to Yasmine to let the security chief know that he appreciates the story.  And the punchline.

He holds up his mug silently to Tylen's toast, but doesn't bother to repeat the words.  The navigator does seem bemused that they are toasting a cat.

Having seen Shui's quarters (as they are also her medical office), Ash knows that she has some pets.  But his right eyebrow peeks upwards when the Captain mentions that Saskia might have a pet on-board as well.  He does look a bit puzzled - though he tries to hide that fact behind his mug which is conveniently placed in front of his face for a sip, as the lanky ex-Scout admittedly has some difficulty envisioning the engineer in that nurturing role (for a not mechanical item) ...

Saskia slaps her hand on the tabletop, fairly gently, in appreciation of the story told by Yas, and raises her glass for the subsequent toast.  At some point, she realises, most of her nervousness about the evening has evaporated and she started to enjoy it.

Jago's question brings a puzzled look, followed by a dawning realisation, "Oooooh!  Not me, no.  I think Shui took that one.  Probably planned to take it apart to see how it works, then accidentally started liking it.  You know how cruel and merciless she can be usually."

She fakes a shudder, or maybe fakes a fake shudder.  "I didn't like the thing, and I don't like how it looks at me when I'm having a medical.  Creepy looking bugs are one of the main reasons I left home.  The other being creepy looking boys."  And a laugh.

"Mr. Hegrich," Shui laughs.  "Mr. DeSant.  Let us be fair.  Certainly the ladies have enough distinguished company as well.  What a handsome set of rogues we find around us tonight."

"To Private Ngeru," she agrees with Tylen, amidst laughter.  Yasmine's tale had her on the edge of her seat.  There had been a punchline, somewhere, but the Marine had kept it well-hidden until the end.  "Well done, Ms. Crow."

Pursing her lips, she considers her own 'pets'.  "Ms. Blake is correct - I have both of our unexpected guests in my office.  Terrible scientific experiments planned, none of them carried out, despite my malicious nature."  Another raise of the glass, this time to Saskia.  "I hadn't known about your lack of appreciation for my more surly guest, Ms. Blake.  I shall cover its aquarium when you come in." She's quite serious, and there's no mockery in that comment. "The other is harmless.  It's a bit of a fascinating creature, in fact - empathic, and capable of broadcasting emotions."

The doctor sniffs a small laugh.  "I suppose it could be feeding on me at night when I sleep, and keeping me docile with its vast psionic powers, but if it is, I'm quite happy." This said with a bright, glassy-eyed smile which dissolves into another small laugh.  "It feels agar is a delicacy, so I imagine I'm quite safe."

"Perhaps you could set up a small zoo in here.  I'm sure that younger passengers would like it.  From what I've seen, Saskia doesn't come over to this side much, and she wouldn't have a medical here, so she wouldn't be embarrassed by this thing looking at her." Keryn suggests helpfully.

"We had a lot of crawlies on Frenzie, from different worlds.  They came in hiding on ships, and the sealed, regulated environment either suited them or didn't.  The ones that it didn't suit died, and the ones that it did suit found their way into ducts, where it's nice and dark.  I saw a documentary about it once."

She sips her drink again, and clears her throat.  "So I don't mind them.  I'm used to seeing crawlies that I've never seen before, and some are about the size of my palm.  Only time I got upset about them was after I saw one that was a shiny metallic red, and sang like a bird.  It was quite pretty, with delicate wings and a heart shaped body.  But I knew it would probably die soon, because they purge sections of the vents every so often to clear out the uninvited guests.  I think I was about ten, and I cried all night.  Even then I knew I probably couldn't save it because I had no idea what it ate.  For all I knew it sang its sad little song to lure in silly little girls, which it then poisoned and ate."

Corlan smiles, "There you are, you see.  That was an interesting story."

"I'll toast to that, but not mention in what way they followed," Yas says with a chuckle to Ty and raises her glass to finish the last of her drink.  "Yes, indeed, Keryn, each life is precious, and with a cat starting out with eleven...  Or was it seven?  Nine?  Or was that the number of tails they used to have?  Never mind..."

"Sounds like a beast, Jocky.  The cat, that is, the cat!" she grins.  She then settles back to refill her drink and enjoy the tale of Keryn, who had claimed to have no tales.  In the end, everyone has their tales, that much she knew, even if some did not share them as readily.

"Indeed it was," she chimes in along with Corlan.  "You can't live without having a few tales to tell.  So, how about it, Ash?  Surely something is lurking?"

Shui nods her head to Keryn's suggestion.  "Certainly the empathic creature could be brought out.  It is, by all accounts I have found, harmless, incapable of reproduction without another of its species, and quite friendly."  She makes a small face.  "I would rather not bring the other one out, even caged, but certainly you could visit for a look at it, Ms. Taylor."

She's not certain about cats, though.  Only seen one once, and nobody ever told her anything about multiple lives.

"And I will agree.  A fine tale, if bittersweet." She stares down at her plate for a moment, wishing she had found the creature herself, here and now.  Keryn couldn't deal with it, in her circumstances, but Shui certainly could have.  A sad fate for a beautiful creature.  A sad fate for any being, she considers.

She finishes her glass of wine and stands. "I shall brew some tea as Mr. Tescali ruminates on his story," Shui notes.  Better to stop drinking now, or she'll say something silly.  Or tell a story herself.

Saskia grimaces at Keryn's tale about the singing bug.  While she might personally dislike the idea of these things moving around in the ducts on an airless world, possibly damaging cable insulation and seals, or carrying disease and toxins, she has to admit that the story is a little sad.

Sadder still that it might have been the only one of its kind ever to reach Frenzie, where it was, of course, doomed.  Doomed to die alone, in an alien environment.

"That's too bad." she says and means it.

Ash holds up his hands, begging off on Yasmine's invitation.  "I'm afraid," the navigator notes, "that I don't have anything nearly that interesting."  Sure, he has been shot at and stabbed and all rest of that - and even has the scars to prove it, but that isn't really dinner conversation.  As the security chief has so aptly pointed out.

He muses simply, "I am just a poor kid from the docks at Jewell."  Ash gives the gathered a shrug, "Drummed out of the Imperial Navy.  And drummed out of the Imperial Scouts."  He shakes his head, offering the self-deprecating explanation for the latter, "Apparently, I wasn't very good at letting pretty a fully automated mail delivery system run itself.  They even let me go during wartime..."

He purses his thin lips, glossing over the fact that he has spent more than the last half-decade bounce around aimlessly with small independent trading crews - effectively drummed out of each of those enterprises as well.

Eneris considers the various stories that have been told so far, and nods at Ash's final comment.  "I think all the services can be like that sometimes.  Bureaucrats decide how many personnel they're going to need five years down the line, and have to try and take into account that the situation might change in the meantime.  Local offices have some discretion, but they have to justify their choices later, so they tend to err on the side of caution."

"Too much lag between Capital and the Marches for a quick response to anything - if Norris sends a message to Capital, it takes the best part of two years for the reply to reach him."

He shrugs, "I got lucky.  I applied for the Navy in '82, and a few days later word came in that we were at war with the Zhodani.  Navy recruiters called me at home and asked me to come back to the office straight away.  A week later I was shipped out to training.  War only lasted sixteen months, but I saw some action."  He taps at the medals on his chest.

"I was a fast learner, and got promoted quickly, so by the time they were looking for cutbacks after the war, my name was pretty far down the list of people who were dispensable."

Eneris' talk of his career brings a smile to Saskia's lips.  "I missed that.  I was, let's see, nearly thirteen when the Armistice was declared.  Not that it made much difference -- there was nothing in the system worth fighting over, and nothing to attract anybody to take leave there."

With a shake of her head she says, "Without a war to fight, most of my Service career was patrols, police actions and convoy escort.  Oh, and shows of strength on the Sword Worlds border.  Not much real action."

Tylen smiles as Saskia describes her home system and 'not worth fighting over' - just like Lopiengeta.  And so many of the other worlds that are out there.

But rather than tell another story of his own, he starts to fill glasses again.

"Nonsense, Ms. Blake."  Shui smiles, returning with her tea and giving Tylen a small touch on the shoulder.  "Your home system had you.  Certainly worth visiting." She glances to Ash.  "And we are the luckier to have you, Mr. Tescali.  Certainly your previous employers were foolish...but to our gain."

One eyebrow rises a touch as she sits.  "I seem to be in the minority here, without service in the armed forces...sadly lacking Mr. Armusezash's impressive chest of medals.  Have any others here served, than those who have already spoken up?"

Corlan shakes his head, "Not me.  I went straight from college to the family business.  I signed up for NOTC in college, with some thought about joining the Navy and travelling a little, the same idea that eventually bought me to Profit Margin.  But my father's ill health pulled me into the business at the first opportunity."

"A bit like me then.  I went straight into my family's mining operation at fourteen." Hegerich replies, then smiles, "Probably a little bit younger, in fact.  Dad always insisted that he wasn't running a passenger ship, so everybody who knew the difference between a hammer and a charge detonator qualified as crew."

Jockram nods, "That's fairly standard for belters.  They grow up around ships, so they learn the procedures almost before they can walk.  I used to know one captain would put her ten year old kid on sensor watch... "

"Dara Vispockzyn!" Banster and Hegerich chorus.

"Yes, Dara Vispockzyn.  Lovely woman, with a beautiful singing voice.  She'd crank the seat up as high as it'd go, and put some extra cushions on it so that he could see the panel.  Then she'd deactivate the controls and tell him to speak up if he spotted anything coming their way."

"But as I said, starting young is normal for belters.  I started late though.  Went through school, served four years on a freighter, then signed up for a mining crew."

"And that sounds a bit like me." adds Banster, "But in my case I finished school and then spent a spell as a construction engineer on orbital stations.  So, no.  No military experience for me either."

"Hey, as Doc points out, their loss, our gain.  I for one am glad to have you with us," Yas confides in Ash quietly and flashes him a quick smile.

"Ah, homes to forget all about, growing up and flying the coop, facing conflict and war..."

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.  Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.  I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.  All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.  Good riddance!  Time for dessert!"

"What are we having, Sushi?" Yas licks her lisp and watches Sushi expectantly.

As its is show and tell time, Tylen joins in again briefly.  "There weren't all that many options on 'Ell." he says using the local name for the planet he grew up on.  "Fisherman, gardener, cleaner - all self employed and mainly part time.  If you were really lucky you could get a job at the port waiting table, and perhaps talk your way into a job as a steward.  But that was  casual work, and there were too many that made their way back home in cold sleep  for that to be a good choice." he pauses for a moment as he considers that.  "There were some that didn't come home, but who knows how or where they finished up." and his expression turns sour for a moment, as he recalls long lost stories of spacefareing stewards on casual contracts ending up abandoned and destitute in a strange towns on different worlds.

"I was going down to see about joining the Darrian Army, that was generally seen as the best bet for getting started in a career, but something made me stop off at the ISS base first.  As chance would have it, they had an opening for a couple of local employees and I passed the tests." he grins again as he remembers his early days in the service.

"It was a fairly easy life, to be honest.  A lot of perimeter patrols and being the gofer for the service engineers.  But that left lots of time for working through the various manuals and books, and I was used to learning at the computer from my early days back on Darrian itself.  So I passed all the tests and qualified as pilot officer -  which meant I could finally get off world."

Telling that part of his story reminds him of home, and his face gives his feelings away.  Frustration at the lack of opportunity, but a respect and some minor pride in the people of Lopiengeta and (perhaps) some wistfully memories of a youth spent running around on a backwards water planet.

But then, like Yas, his attention turns to food.  "Yep.  What are we having?" he asks as he half stands, ready to help the stewardess with her duties.

"Yes, indeed.  All of these fascinating stories have quite driven all thoughts of food out of my head." Corlan adds, "Delicious though it has been so far, Miss Tiesi.  A little dessert would go down quite well I think."

Then, as they wait for the dessert to be served, Keryn, who has been watching the shifting images on the walls for a couple of minutes, suddenly says, "As you all know, this is my first time off my homeworld, and I have to say that I've already seen some places I could barely have imagined.  What about all of you, who have travelled much more than me?  What are the most interesting or amazing places you have visited?"

"Tell the truth, Keryn, after a few months stuck in the bowels of a starship on a long patrol, just about any ball of rock can seem pretty damned amazing." Eneris chuckles.

Then he smiles and continues, "Had shore leave once at a Naval base orbiting a world called Hessel, over in the Deneb sector.  Moon of a ringed gas giant, a little thin on the air, but beautiful blue oceans.  Spectacular sky, because of the giant and its rings.  Less than a hundred people live on the surface, all part of an archaeology team from some university, studying the ruins of a lost alien civilisation."

"The ruins are spectacular, stone tower that take advantage of Hessel's slightly low gravity, with doors high up because the species that used to live there were flyers.  The towers are covered with carvings and inlaid with strips of copper and slabs of quartz, and some sort of piezoelectric crystal that hums when sunlight hits it.  So you stand in this ruined city, at sunrise, with a huge orange and red planet overhead, and a string of gems glittering across the sky, and as the sun comes up the city sings."

Ash raises his mug and nods to Eneris' assertion about the experience on long patrols.  "Here, here." he quips, "Deep patrol is definitely not like the vids and can be taxing on the sanity."  He shakes his head and smiles ruefully, as if to clear some melancholy cobwebs from his mind.

In more direct response to Keryn's question and after Eneris has had his say, the lanky navigator chimes in.  "I can remember," Ash recalls, "that Adabicci's main world had a fairly thick atmosphere with just enough Argon and Chlorine in it to give it an opulent green sheen to it."  He closes his eyes for a moment before continuing, "I was on the X-Boat route through that system some years ago.  Nothing much to do while hooked to the tender for maintenance one time.  The planet rise with the red light from the star haloing the world there was absolutely stunning.  An emerald jewel in floating there majestically in the vastness of space."

"Dessert, yes." A tardy reply to Yasmine, and Shui hurries from the room, beckoning Tylen to join her.  She returns with yet another tray in-hand, Tylen the same (assuming he does indeed assist).  First the heavy, thick syrup goes on the table, then Shui begins setting out plates for everyone.  It has taxed her to the limit, this dinner, so the Steward has gone with something a little easier for dessert, yet flavourful.

"We have fruit crêpes with syrup," she explains.  The fruits are preserves, of course, but real enough and not freeze-dried, and the crêpes she cooked herself. "They will go well with the poetry of these descriptions.  Hessel sounds absolutely beautiful, Mr. Armusezash, and heavy with pathos.  I should love to visit and spend time in those ruins. - perhaps we can lobby the Captain.  And the vista you describe in the Adabicci system, Mr. Tescali?  Simply gorgeous."