Side arms.  Ugh.  She'll have to clean hers and prepare it, a distasteful task.  Maybe ask Tylen...no.  She can't; old habits die hard.

"Always clean and ready your own weapons," her older brother notes, examining a thin-beam, long-range laser.

"Of course, Captain Lanza," Shui replies, blinking away the memory. "Please, everyone - leave the dishes.  We all have duties."  Slipping past Tylen, she offers him a small smile as she snags his plate.  "Perhaps we shall have a chance to find a restaurant...though heaven knows what sort they have here."

Raising her voice slightly again, she continues. "If crew wishes to go ashore at particular times, I am free to stay aboard to cover those times." She's certain that - given the length of stay and amount of crew - she can find time to explore with Tylen, regardless.  "I am familiar, at least, with most ship's systems -" oh, better clarify "- though I would not touch the engineering systems, only monitor and page Ms. Blake if anything occurred."

Ash listens to briefing quietly from Jago, a slight frown on his face.  Despite separate invitations from both the ship's captain and doctor to sit, he'd begged off and remained standing.  The hem of his duster flapped slightly in the on-board ventilation and the lanky navigator continued to nurse his black coffee (his third this meal - if anyone is counting).

He nodded in agreement with to Jago's orders, then took another sip from his travel mug.  "Right-o.  Sounds like the standard duty watches." Ash noted off-hand to the Captain and the rest of the crew, "I can take the watch after we get back from our cargo search, if no one else wants it."

Having grabbed a sandwich earlier, Ash finishes off the last bite and washes it down with yet another sip of coffee.  Wiping his face with a napkin, he notes to Jago, "Ready to go whenever you are, boss."  He punctuates the statement by tossing the used napkin in the waste bin and dusting off his hands.  Only after, it seems, that he's finished off all of the coffee in his mug, which Ash puts down in the sink to be washed.

Tylen looks up from the list of attractions that Jago handed him earlier.  ""Well, there are art galleries and some sort of Opera on the station, with mines and submarine tours planet-side ..."  he says grabbing the last little sandwich from his plate before Shui clears it.

"And there has to be a restaurant or two on the station," he agrees with the doctor.  "If we get an some idea of what the passengers want to do, then we can plan our time around that." he suggests to the others.

Jago nods, "Good point Tylen.  Shui?  Can you talk to the passengers and find out what they want to do?  Don't mention anything to Keryn about the surface.  And make it clear to all three of them that we'll try to let them do the things they'd like to do, but we don't know how long we'll be here, and there just might not be time to fit everything in."

"Keep a list, and I'll look at it when I get back from the brokers'.  If Keryn mentions going to the surface, just note it down, and let Yas know."

The Captain stands and stretches, "Give me a minute to grab a jacket and a computer, and I'll be with you Ash."  Then he adds, as he notices a look from Yas, "A gun and a comm too, of course."

"A gun?" Yas sighs and shakes her head, "I could never walk around that naked, except in my cabin, of course."

"I'll do my regular rounds on the ship for now, check up on a few things on the local 'net and decide whether I want to get off the Margin or not."

She briefly wonders if there are anywhere else other than a gun shop that would interest her, but failing to see what and why she discards that notion, albeit perhaps not completely without a sting of melancholy.  Security of the ship and crew is her life now.

"I'll start now, in fact," she says abruptly and gets up, heading toward the cargo bay area.  Duty to death, the Corps in what matters.  Except now the Corps is far fewer and closer.  That's all there is to it.  Then why do I feel as if something is missing?  With a sigh she opens the hatch to the hold, avoiding to look back.

Saskia nods her agreement with Yas.  "I know I don't want to get off the ship here.  Most times when I go ashore something frelling bad happens.  To me, not because of me.  I'll check, but I don't think they have anything here that would be worth the risk of me setting foot on the dock."

Jago nods his head.  "Well, that's up to you two, but the offer will be open until we're preparing to leave."

He steps out of the lounge, into his cabin, and returns a few seconds later pulling on a shoulder holster.  He then slips his jacket on over it and drops a comm into his pocket, after checking the battery first.

"Come on Ash, I'll show you how to make us rich."

"Looks like we get first run ashore then."  Tylen grins across at Shui.  "Meet you at the airlock in five minutes?" he asks, raising his eyebrow slightly.

"Fifteen," Shui replies to Tylen with a wry smile.  "I must first speak with the passengers, and let them know their choices and options.  Give them a chance to mull over the possibilities, as it were."  She bows to the captain.  "I will begin immediately, Captain Lanza."

With the dishes cleaned, and a small nod to Tylen, Shui immediately heads to the passenger cabins, starting with Keryn's.  As she walks, she 'pens' a missive.

~ All Passengers - While we have a limited time at this spaceport, shore leave is available.  I will be coming to your cabin to discuss this, but keep in mind the temporal constraints and the fact that your leave will require the presence of a crew member.

We will, of course, attempt to accommodate your wishes if at all possible! ~
This message was last edited by the player at 12:31, Mon 07 Nov 2016.

Jago leads Ash out of the ship and across the docking bay.  "Still a bit chilly out here." he remarks, pulling his jacket closer around him.  As they exit the bay, Jago points out a cargo crawler making its way towards the bay.

"That's the name of the buyer I sold our cargo to.  I'll call it in."  Pulling the comm from his pocket, he calls the ship, "Yas?  Tylen?  Looks like we have somebody coming to offload our cargo now.  They already transferred the credits, just see that they offlad it, and get out of there as fast as possible."

That done, Jago begins his lesson.  "Now, the thing with cargo, Ash, is that most ports are full of people who have plenty of it to offer.  The trick is to find the good stuff - the stuff that will generate the most profit for a run.  A good place to start looking is any kind of government run warehouse, like that one over there, they're usually honest, at least.  But not always."

Yas starts her security rounds in the interior of the ship...

Shui arrives at Keryn's cabin, where the young passenger smiles at her, "I was mostly planning on doing some studying and maybe take a look around the local shops.  So not really planning to leave Profit Margin very much.  I looked at the world information, and unless I find out they have something nice to buy down there, I won't be going.  Looks too cold for me."

Ash rubs his hands together to warm them gently.  Then the lanky navigator breathes into his cupped fists, savoring the warmth on his skin - however fleeting that feeling might be.

He nods to Jago's instruction about cargoes and the finance of trade.  "My father always told me," the navyman-turned-merchant notes off-hand, "that the key to stocks was to buy low and sell high..."  The real trick was likely knowing which was which and when was when.  "Presumably," he posits semi-rhetorically, "that requires a fair bit of homework on sources and destinations."  That type of research he never really minded; he probably should have brushed up on planetary entries involved here.

Ash couldn't help smirking slightly, when the Captain offers his paradoxical advice.  "I guess," he ventures, while running his hand through his close cropped hair, "that knowing who to trust requires something more than can be simply read in a book..."  He'd never considered himself the best judge of character.  But, there was always a chance to learn.

"Boss," Ash prompts Jago, "how much do you let your gut instinct guide you in purchases?"

Tylen raises his eyebrows and scowls slightly, and puts on the jacket with the 'security' markings.  Then with his revolver in its semi-miltary holster and the shotgun  slung across his body he heads down to the hold to manage the cargo.

On the way he sends Shui a quick message explaining that he will be delayed.

Shui nods along with Keryn's plans, finding them solid...and pleasantly within Jago's own ideas.  "Very good, Ms. Taylor.  I'm certain we will find an escort for you to the local shops - I believe Chief Crow professed an interest.  Please let me know - or her - when and if you would like to leave, and I will arrange something."

Beep on her dataglove - a quick check reveals Tylen's message.  She doesn't need to answer it now, not in the middle of her discussion with Keryn.

"Now that I'm here, was there anything else?"  One eyebrow cocks slightly. "Perhaps we should arrange another examination, to make sure everything is proceeding well."

They're perfectly painless and effortless, after all.

Tylen and Yas step out to the base of the ramp as a cargo crawler takes up position nearby, it's rear end  (and loading door) close to the ramp.  The driver swings out of the control pod, and checks a hand computer as he walks a few steps nearer, alongside the vehicle.  "Is this... ah, there you are...  Is this the Profit Margin?  I've got orders to collect some cargo from you for Caradis Factors."

Reaching the back of the vehicle, he starts tapping a code into a control panel.  "Sorry I'm a bit late.  We were told the bay was off-limits while they unloaded another ship.  Suppose it was that one over there.  Something to do with temperature sensitive cargo."

Keryn thinks for a moment, "I feel pretty good today.  But it can't do any harm to have a check-up.  And it shouldn't take long, should it?"

She looks around the cabin.  Books spread over the low, fold-down table next to the bunk.  More on the bed itself, and on the floor.  Scattered papers covered with tiny, neat handwriting.  Two of the galley's coffee mugs, one on the floor, filled with water, and one laying on its side, unwashed, on a shelf.  Clothes strewn across the bed an the floor.

"Sorry about the mess.  I was studying and forgot everything else."

Jago walks with Ash towards a large window which provides a view into a busy office, where at least a hundred people are seated at deska and consoles, usually in groups of two or three.  A sign above the window glows bright green, "DINOMN TRADE BUREAU".

A door to one side of the window gives access to a reception area, where an Aslan female, speaking mildly accented Anglic notes down Jago's details, and instructs the two men to take a seat near the window.

Jago chuckles at Ash's question, and slaps his stomach.  "I always listen to my gut, it has me outnumbered."  Then he sobers, "Instinct is important.  If I see something that looks good on the screen, but my gut tells me it isn't, I'll usually go with my gut and look for something else.  Not every time, but a good eight or nine times out of ten.  Especially now, with a war going on."

Ash nods to Jago's advice, agreeing amiably, "Good instincts will keep you alive."  His right knee twinges for a moment sympathetically; forcing the lanky navigator to wonder silently if his instincts are all that good.   No doubt that he is alive, but he's left a couple of pieces of himself on various battlefields.  And a couple of pieces with some chinchillas...

When directed by the Aslan clerk, he plops down next to Jago.  "Do those same ratios and instincts hold for passengers?" then with a slight turn of the head and a raised eyebrow, the thin ex-Scout prompts his boss, "And crew?"  Even if he suspects he knows the answer; he's seen the way the crew of Profit Margin interacts and seems to work well together.  That type of camaraderie and loyalty doesn't come quickly or easily.

"And there is always other cargo to ply.  Better safe than sorry, I reckon." Ash ventures.  It may be a cliche, but it also doesn't mean that it isn't true.  He purses his lips for a moment, well aware that falling back on ham-handed truisms is probably not helpful, "This could be a long training session, I wager."  He gives his captain a slight, self-deprecating smile, "I'm not sure that I quite have the right instincts this portion of the job..."  Which may not bode well for his prospects for a career as a merchant, in general.  The gaunt features of his thin face darken for a moment, his expression troubled.  "Why choose me, Boss?" Ash asks of Jago, "I would think that there are others in the crew that might be better suited as your backup on the trade front.  Or has everyone else on the crew already been through this and it is simply my turn?"

"With passengers, another factor comes in.  Cargo doesn't have to make a good impression, but if the passenger annoys me, he'll have to find another ship.  Same with crew... one chance to impress me, without rubbing me up the wrong way.  If crew or passenger doesn't annoy me, then instinct comes in.  If he does, then he doesn't get as far as instinct."

Jago sighs, "Why choose you?  I give everybody a chance at other jobs, as I get the opportunity.  This time it was your turn.  Next time something comes up, I might bring Yas or Tylen or Shui along.  If other people can handle this part of things from time to time, then I have cover in case I'm sick, or have something else to deal with.  Did you know, for example, that Saskia knows how to plot a Jump course?  She never does, mostly because Navigation scares her half to death, but she can do it, in an emergency."

"That's why you're here today.  I won't expect you to do this all the time, but it'd be nice if you could, in an emergency."

"Not to worry about any messes, Ms. Taylor," Shui reassures Keryn. "It is, after all, your cabin for the duration of the trip."  A slow nod of the head follows.  "And yes, a check-up won't take long at all.  Merely a short walk to my quarters, a brief time under the examination of a few machines, and you are finished.  If that is acceptable?"

She offers a small bow and turns a touch toward the door.  "Shall we?"  Her eyes fall on the media spread about the room. "And perhaps you can inform me how things are proceeding with your studies - clearly you are taking them very seriously."

Tylen takes his accustomed position at the top of the ramp and watches the driver, Yas and the area around them, while Yas check the driver's papers, the same as at every other port.

Keryn looks around the room and sighs.  "I don't suppose it'll tidy itself up, so there'll be just as much mess when I get back.  As long as it doesn't reproduce or something.  So we might as well go get the check-up done."

She follows Shui out the door and closes it, laughing, "Maybe I should leave it open?  That way somebody might steal the mess while I'm gone."

The driver opens the rear of the transport to reveal a hulking, vaguely humanoid robot, coloured in yellow and black stripes.  He activates the machine, which commences a series of movements designed to function as diagnostic tests for its systems.  After a couple of minutes, it begins to emit a continuous series of monotonous tones, while red lights start flashing on each shoulder and each hip.

It waits at the back of the transport while the driver goes inside Profit Margin's hold to attach marker tags to the cargo.  Once he has a handful in place, he comes back out and says, very clearly, "Robot HS-351.  Cargo marked.  Commence transfer to home vehicle.  Protocol three-five."

The robot starts up the ramp, hesitantly, pausing every few steps to scan its environment.  "Don't worry.  It's just looking for obstacles and plotting a safe route.  It'll get faster once it knows what's around it."

Jago waits patiently with Ash, until their vigil is interrupted by a Vargr dressed in an outfit which could have been considered somewhat stylish, if not for the garish red, yellow and lime green colours.  Jago regards the alien, and remembers that Vargr colour vision is not as sensitive as that of humans.  The colours are probably muted and tasteful to a Vargr.

"Excuse please.  One of you is Captain Lanza Jago?  I am to help find a cargo for your ship.  I am Brozzk."

Jago rises, "I'm Jago Lanza.  This is my assistant, Ash Tescali.  We're interested in cargo for Regina."

"Come to this way with me, please, Captain Lanz... Captain Jago Lanza."  Brozzk leads the way across the open office, until they reach an empty desk, where he asks Jago and Ash to be seated, before settling down himself.

The Vargr consults a terminal on the desk, "Your ship to carry forty tons can, and you go next to Regina...  Do you have preference on cargo type?  Some Captains will not to carry certain cargoes - food-stuffs or strongly fragrant chemicals, for examples."

Jago shakes his head, "No.  Nothing like that.  Ash... why don't you deal with this, and I'll just sit here and keep an eye on you?"

The robot emerges from the hold, carrying a tagged shipping container.  Yas and Tylen watch as it lumbers down the ramp.  "Isn't is something?  They're the latest thing." the driver explains.  "A year ago I would have needed a handful of labourers to unload a ship.  Now just me and him can handle it all."

"Oh, I quite like the old ways." Tylen says with a grin.  "I grew up in a star port, my dad used to do the refuelling.  That's all been automated now, but not until after he retired, fortunately. Sometimes, its nice to have a chat with real people, rather than just a bot that does as you tell it." The ex-scout muses, before changing the subject.

"Anyway, I was thinking of going out for a meal later.  Any decent restaurants around?  Shui likes a decent meal, when we are in port. They have to do vegetarian stuff though."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:28, Sun 04 Dec 2016.

Shui laughs along with Keryn's joke.  As they walk, she grows more pensive. "If you like," the Steward notes, "I can help you with the tidying.  I AM the ship's Steward, so it is in part my job."  She's not the ship's MAID, so tidying up someone's quarters before they leave isn't normally part of her duties, but she's willing to bend the rules for long-time passengers, once in a while.

Her eyes narrow and she taps her lips.  "Perhaps I'll pick up a thing or two about what you're studying by helping you organize, as well.  So it won't be boring for me.  You can, if you would, tell me what you have learned." Her lips twitch into a smile. "In brief...for a layperson."

"Decent restaurants?"  The driver laughs, "You're asking the wrong man my friend.  I wouldn't know a decent restaurant if it jumped out in front of me and said, 'Hello, I'm a decent restaurant.'  I can point you to a couple of portside diners, if you want, but they're rated more on price and quantity than on quality.  And I know one of them would try to sell you fried groat as a vegetarian dish, based on the fact that groats are vegetarians."

Keryn nods thoughtfully.  "I'd appreciate a little help with the tidying.  Even if it's just somebody who sits there and makes sure I don't get distracted by an interesting text of logic matrix structure, or core memory architecture."

"I'm learning quite a lot.  This morning, when you arrived, for example, I'd been reading a comparative study of Dauchard cognitive modules and multi-parameter logic correlation nodes.  At lower technology levels the Dauchard modules are the more efficient component, but as processors get faster with better technology, the multi-parameter nodes slowly become better, until their performance far outstrips that of Dauchard modules.  Coupled with improvements in material conductivity and weight, this makes multi-parameter nodes the component of choice for massively parallel robot brains above a certain level of tech."

"Uh," Ash seems stunned for a moment when prompted to take the lead by Jago, though he eventually recovers, "yeah... yeah, that's right.  We have forty standard tons lading space.  And we're heading to Regina next."

"What do you have available within those parameters?" he asks, trying to keep his tone casual and even.  He makes a mental note to make sure there are no chinchillas on the list.

Even as he waits for the various information to be pulled up and collated, the lanky navigator leans over to the Captain and whispers quietly, "Do we want the entire bay filled with speculative cargo?  And, uh, are there budgetary constraints of some sort?"  It was unlikely that they'd see forty tons of radioactive isotopes on the market or anything of that sort, but it would be nice to know the parameters he was dealing with.

Jago closes his eyes and leans back, and replies just as quietly, "Good question.  The answer, unfortunately, depends on what he offers us.  Speculative cargo can be good, but it can, just as easily, be very bad.  Freight haulage pays a guaranteed flat rate, but you'll never get rich carrying it."

Brozzk looks away from the terminal, "I can to offer much choices, you have good luck.  There is three tons of zocci crystals, shipping as freight with ten percents premium for an armed transport.  The shipper wills to have it delivered to any Naval base at Regina.  Shipment can not be split."

"Also eighty tons of processed krill, frozen,  Again freight, at standard rate.  Shipper wills for it to move to Regina, but has not specific port.  This can to be split if needed."

"And thirty tons of construction equipment.  Also freight for Regina, with no specific port in the system."

The Vargr looks hopefully at Ash.  "Or will you to know list of speculative goods.?"

Keryn, encouraged by Shui's silence, starts into a long explanation of the parameters of robot logic and storage systems, full of terms like "gigabaud" and "teraquads" and "latent discrepancy correction"...

At the cargo ramp, the driver ducks inside to attach another batch of tags to the cargo...

There's quite a bit of information to process, and most of it is above Shui's head.  Some of it is HIGHLY above Shui's head.  She has...some knowledge of this kind of thing.  Very basics.  Enough to fumble through.  Enough to comprehend some of the meanings of some of the terms.  But not enough to understand their usage, how they synergize.

Not enough to grasp context.

"Well," Shui states in a momentary break, still continuing to assist with the tidying. "I am quite impressed.  Your library of knowledge - internal knowledge, Keryn - vastly surpasses my own.  I am but an operator; you, clearly, are entering the realm of technologist or even engineer." Her eyebrow cocks. "How long have you been studying this?  You could have quite a career before you."