Supe..Tucker   and Hodden get up... they are  feeling pretty good with pain killers on
top of  beer and whiskey.,.

 Tucker  takes  the 'lead mic'  with Supe and Hodden  adding the rest...

 Tucker   flicks  the ALL COMs  and  the Muisc  gets piped through the ship..

 ..THIS IS FOR THE ADMIRAL...THE HEREMES and THE DELTA FLEET!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCOsLpeV5pA

    as they get halfway through the  song..  lots for Folks Join in... they  even make them sing a second time through...

   Shadow  even stands  "....this  what we came for...we couldn't want it any more...could never turm back now,got to leave it all on the floor...dreaming of the payoff, through the struggles tradeoffs ...fighting tooth and nail on the way up..tell them the truth, but they think its   just made up..."

   Steele, Howe and Mussette  are swaying back and forth  holding up their  drinks as they sing along...

In reply to Zarina Striker (msg # 981):

Justin, collects a glass of spirit from those being dustributed handing it to Zarina. Explaining the meaning of both The Sendoff and the After Mission Party. Holding up his ice choc which tosses it back then hums along with the others as they sing.

  the   two kids (and Roy?) enter the  recdec, as the Toast is being   Made.. they Find their  seats. The Boy still has smudges from   the fight.. the   little  gril is  dirty from being tossed into the  transport.

 She holds her cookie  stuffed up  animal as she looks  around  and   hears the singing.

  One of the serves   come sever and the boy said,..yes , Ma'am..the LC and SGT MAj said we could come eat..since we were in the fighting? Mom and Dad are in Med tech.

  The server  nods,..ok dear?.. Now..first off have something good.. then you can order all the goodies you want..how's that?

 .... we  can have pasta  and meatballs?.... then he whispers, give some of mine to her..she really likes meatballs...

 Chocolate  Milk?.. how about you?

 Um.. a Soda?..if that's ok?

 Ok?.. Honey?  You were  down there in the fight.. the only reason i'm not letting you order pie and ice cream, is because i don't want you to get sick... be right back...

  It only takes Minutes for the pasta to be brought over..the cooks setting up a lot of their foods....

  Both bowls  had 10 meatballs on top, The waitress winked,..we had  extra meatballs....

 The Boy smiled thankfully..the little girl's eye opened  wide that the meatballs  and began to dig in....

Roy arrived shortly behind the kids, and noticed the server taking their order.  He gave her a smile and a nod, as she went to get the food for them, and walked up to the table where the two had chosen to sit.  "Mind if I join you?" he asked, waiting for a response before pulling out a seat.

  The  Boy Nods...Please do Sir. We wouldn't be here  if you hadn't told us about it... we didn't get out of the Civie section often... about once a month, Mom  or dad would bring us up to the Rec Dec.... they would go to the Pulse  for an hour or so, and let  us have Pizza or something here, and play on the field   when they had  'kids' time on the field.

 he wipes his hand on a napkin and offers it to Roy,..I am Cole Frine... this is My sister Winnie... My Dad's name is Ben and My Mom Anita... she's a Mom... Dad works on water  pumps  and piping ans stuff..

 he takes a bite of the  meatball and smiles, they talks around it,.... Mom said he was a good trooper..they were on board a Transport going to  Astra.... but they were  boarded by largrans? They say My dad   and two of his   buddies  held them  off from reaching the recdec there.. until  a trasnport base  cut through and wiped them out.. The transport had to   be serviced, and   my Mom and dad when back to Fuji...Dad  worked  in SEC there..then , when his tour was up?.. he went into  Water Sourcing.. he won't ever  tell me about his combat stuff  though.

 Winnie sat there  eating. pretending to give 'cookie' a bite then eating...

A new man no one has met before enters the rec dec and walks towards the cantina where he goes to the counter and talks in an almost emotionless voice sounding a bit cold "Could I have some soup please ?"

  The  fellow  at the stall says,..well, Son?... I got vegtable soupl and  cream Mushroom here... I think the guy at the Pasta stall has  Minestrone? and the  Burger  guy has Chicken?..   you can have a seat..all teh servers  work for all the stalls?  so you can pick what you want?..unless you know you want one of mine, you can take the  Bowl with you?

  The recDec is busy... servers   moving quickly..folks  laughing , drinking and eating..most of the pall has been lifted, but some folks  still feel the loss.

"I'd have some cream mushroom soup for dinner." Alex says and transferred the money once the soup was given to him. After that he would sit alone at a table and eat the soup by himself at his own table.

  The    Stall keeper    pours a generous  bowl, and offer  2 slices of bread, or a Cup of  crackers.


   when Alex sits, he can see the various folks.. troopers, sailors and marines,  some Folks aloso bear the mark of SEC.

 The Pilots  seem to be the loudest, except  for  the small band of Scottish Marines.

Alex would grab the soup together with the two pieces of bread and would raise an eyebrow and got a small internal smile at the band of scottish marines. He would then patiently eat his soup and bread sometimes dipping pieces of his bread into the soup

 An SEC  trooper still dressed in 'dress' armor and  slung rifle appeared on the Rec Dec..getting a drink and walking  towards  the  Middle tables...he stops. as he see the new fellow,  and  turns to great him.

  Hey.... you'er new..Right?... Capt Morris  said about a new trooper, most-like to be SEC... I'm Shoemaker? That fellow sitting with those kids?.. Thta's the SGT MAj... he's in charge of the SEC and the boarding teams...as well as fleet ground  folks.. Master Chief  is  still on the Hanger Dec  with the Admiral watching over a Roussian prisoner.... Beth is  down there too... he rgins  as he chews his  Gum, then takes a sip of his beer.

"Really, well the name is Alexander and yeah I am a new recruit, I guess I should talk with the SGT Major considering I am assigned to boarding parties and the away team, what do you do here on the Hermes ?." ALexander asks sounding mostly neutral but also curious and with a bit of a warmed edge to his voice than before.

  ..Me?... I work in SEC full time, every now and then i get to go on boarding  parties or away missions..things are pretty cut  and dried..go kill bad  guys...don't let the bad guys kill you...

 He grins as he chews his  Gum....Its Good to be in  Hermes SEC... get to work out of the office. until time comes for a jump off?...every now and then, deal with aliens who come on board that want to make trouble....and Humans who have turned their  back on thier  race.......there are other things..but  we'll let the SGT  Maj clue you into those.

  a  small robot looking  person with an odd Uniform, along with a little  girl who is only a tiny bit smaller,who wears a similar uniform, but lighter  Blue.

  The  Little  guy would wave at folks who waved at him..his eyes  shifting colors  from green to blue, to grey...his skin shifted  colors like  a  wave from  cream color  to  metal gray.

   They  were about  2/3s of the way across the  Rec dec and they ran to  the LC's   Table... calmmering up the  risers by one of the portholes and  setting in...the  little  robot waved its  hand about as the LC appeared to talk with  him and the little girl.

"Seems nice and simple the way you say it, get the bad guys, do some work out of office and simply enjoy your time, life sounds easy on here, though I guess there are some bad moments too." Alexander then takes a sip of his soup before asking further "Also out of curiosity who are the two children there ?"  Alex nods towards the two children with changing body parts like the eyes and hairs with curiosity in his voice.

In reply to Rec Dec (msg # 996):

Justin watches the children rush across to Shadow, giving them a friendly smile. Zarina, these are Ambassador Shade and Diplomatic Aid Orria. he informs. When there is an opportunity he introduces her to them.

 She listened to the Send Off with a sad face, remembering those who were lost during the battle. That took her to other losses and other friends and more who she'd also lost. She blinked back tears as she listened to the songs and thought of other songs sung at other times. She stayed quiet and brooded.

  Dana  came over   and  sat a plate of  raviolis in front of   Shoemaker  and another  mug of beer.

  she   smiles  and walks away to  get another order.

  ..That waotress?.. she  plays football  with the LC.. the two Best WRs in the   League.. we won last season's  title...


 He points with his beer to the LC's table..The  little  meatl-lookign guy?..Is the L:C's..um..kid?  I guess?..  His name is Shade...  and his HAlf  Verian.. the little girl is an orphan, some of our people saved from  one of the ...jobs... the SEC did. Her Mom now, is a med tech, who is part of our  boarding teams..somehow the  girl, Oriia?..can pick up one what Shade says... Shadow can understand him?... no oneelse can..unless they are Verian.

Looking from the Ambassador to his Aid, Zarina greeted each. Introducing herself as Protocol Dictates, politely Enquiring as to their wellbeing. She was surprised that someone so young looking were afforded such an Official roll for their Race. Zarina didn't know much about Verian's perhaps this is what the Species actually looked like.

 When she saw Shade and Orria she smiled and gave them both a Thumbs Up as they went by, and greeted Shade with a few clicks, whirls and beeps, a brief greeting that she has learned, including both Shade and Orria. [Private to GM: ("Hello Orria and Ambassador Shade. Well done today.")]

 She watched as they greeted Shadow and several other people to see how they are treated by the others.

Roy repeated the childrens' names back to them with a nod and a smile, and listened to Cole's story about his prents.  When the boy finished up, he nodded.  "I don't blame him.  I've seen things in battle I hope to never see again, and I could only ever talk about them with someone else who'd seen the same kinds of things."  He shrugged, explaining, "Explaining it to someone who hadn't seen it would make me have to think about it too much...like having a bad nightmare you don't want to talk about because you remember it too well when you do."  His expression grew troubled as he explained, until he fell silent for a moment.

He gave a minute shake of his head, forcing his mind away from those dark moments, and he reached into a pocket.  "One of the med-techs gave me these, for you two," he said, holding out the two suckers that Cookie had given him.  He added, leaning in conspiratorially, "If you really like them, she gave me one, too...but I don't do suckers, much.  One of you can have it..."

"Well thank you for the information, I'll be on my way Alex says to the man he was talking to before standing up after finishing his meal and walking over to the SGT Major and when he stands next to him inquires "Are you the sergeant major ?" With mostly a neutral tone

   Shoemaker  waves to Alex  as he  leans back in his chair. He winces a bit, but waits until he is  done  with his  food, then, he will report to Med tech

.......................

  Shade and Orria wave at  Cookie, though  Orria seems a bit subdued . Shadow is  Talking to her.. she nods her head  and smiles  once or twice.

.............................

 Alex stands  at Roy's table

..................

Roy looked up, his grin for the kids not fading.  "That's what the insignia on my uniform says," he answered, with a tired edge to his voice that was at odds with his grin.  "You're the new transfer..."   It was a statement, not a question...he hadn't had time to really go over any of them in detail, lately, but as Security Chief, he got a background file on each new crew-member...or, at least, those who came aboard through conventional channels.

"Varellion, right?  Pull up a chair, enjoy the downtime while it lasts..."

(( closing Thread..Pick up on new Rec Dec thread...))