Space.  Empty and cold.  Dark here, with only the faint, distant light of a solitary red sun to relieve the gloom...

And then there is a flare of blue-white, and Profit Margin is suddenly there.  Electronic senses reach out, searching, feeling space, and gradually the radio wavelengths give up their information.

Arkadia system.  Less than a million kilometres from the port beacon.

And something else, thin and faint, weaving through the static and finally finding its way to the bridge.  A voice...

"... ay Die under attack.  Location seven zero mark three degrees Right ascension, four six mark five degrees declination.  We need help.  Repeating.  This is freetrader Never say Die under attack.  Location seven zero mark three degrees Right ascension, four six mark five degrees declination.  We need help.  Main power has shut down, we are running on batteries.  Weapon systems are offline.  We have eight crew and fourteen passengers.  Help us, please."

"This is freetrader Never say Die under attack.  Location... "

The message continues to cycle...
This message was last updated by the GM at 10:45, Wed 07 June 2006.

"Hear that?  Sounds like we're about to try out these systems again.  We're near there, right?" Yas calls over the crew intercom and the chuckles dryly, as she tend to do when there is a battle coming up.  While she knows the danger of combat she also always switches to her old Marine mode and turns into the weapon they trained her to be, ready to do what it takes to win the day, or at least the battle at hand.  She begins to set up the weapon system even as she speaks.

"Profit Margin, old girl, looks like we get to kick some ass again," she mumbles, off the intercom, and smiles bleakly, patting her weapon concole gently.  "Hang in there folks, Yasmine Crow, ex marine captain, is here to deal with these vermin, deal with them real good," comes the by now nearly ritual phrase as her countenance turns hard and cold.

Pirate or warship makes no difference to her - if they pick on civvies they are legal prey in her book, and she never has hold back when dealing with that type before.  "Be rough with those rough", that is the way it works, and she can be rough all right when it matters.

Shui, in her quarters/laboratory, is in mid-feeding of her second guest - the voracious little beast eats quite a bit.  She keeps it on the other side of the room from her first, friendlier find.  No sense in mixing oil and water.

When Yasmine's voice comes over the intercom, she frowns.  Something is up.  Not having heard the com-signal to the bridge, the doctor activates her dataglove's interlink and pages the bridge.

++ Bridge?  This is Shui Tiesi.  Is there something requiring attention? ++

"We're pickin' up a distress call, Shui.  Faint one, so likely to be some way off.  I'm tryin' to get a fix on it now.  Stand by."  Conrad replies, working the comm panel with an expertise that rewards his hours of practice in Jump.

"Got it, Jago.  It's been runnin' for - damn!  Range is a touch under nine billion kay-emms. a bit more than eight light hours.  No, at best we're lookin' at - fifteen or sixteen days to get there, that's with max thrust.  Same to get back again."  His face drops as he checks the figures again.  "Close in time, but wrong end of the system.  They're way off the charts."

"Too far, Shui, much too far." he says quietly into the intercomm.

At the phrase 'distress call', Shui immediately stands and moves to her cabinets, leaving the intercom on.  She begins removing small cases - medical supplies - and piles some of them on the floor.  The rest are replaced.  All of the ones on the floor are of the kind used for immediate issues.  Her tension bleeds into the room as she hurries to another locker to pick out a carrying case large enough.

But Conrad's explanation stops her in her tracks.  She wavers, looking back at the supplies with a forlorn expression.  Keying the intercom, she responds, her tone hopeless.  "Is...there is no way we can expedite an intercept?"  The doctor closes her eyes.  You cannot jump blind within a system, Shui.

"By the Fiery Forek Nebula!  Damn!  Frikling slimescroters!  Shit!  Mestrakated kroll!!"

Yas is not using the intercom, but both those on the bridge as well as Tylen in the other gun position can easily hear her as she begins to curse, kick and slap stuff.

Clearly the lady is not happy about this at all.

Inside she feels helpless, angry and sad.  So much for coming to the rescue.  It is just like Dry Oceania again - all she can do is sit and listen while others suffer and die.

"I will get you, I swear," she mumbles a quiet oath to whatever ship is attacking Never say Die.  Then, louder, she says, "Please, tell me we are going to hunt those vermins down!  We've got that letter now!"

"Tanks are empty after the Jump, Shui." Conrad keeps his voice pitched low and gentle, understanding the woman's sorrow, "An' even if they warn't, it'd still take us a whole week to reach 'em."

"It's jus' bad luck.  This time we're in the wrong place at the right time, 'stead of the other way 'round."

Jago says nothing as the news comes in but growls in quiet frustration when Conrad announces the range.

“Give me the bearings range and for Arcadia please Conrad,” he says as he brings the Profit Margin round to the general direction, “and continue to monitor that signal, any information might be useful.”

“Yasmin, don’t get distracted, give me a local sweep please, lets make sure that there isn’t another one sneaking up behind us.”

Knowing fully well that Jago only asks her to do the sweep keep her busy as she always stays level headed even when cursing and kicking things she still complies and starts a local sweep.  It is after all in the back of her bones to do her duty, so automated that she would have to put effort into it not to do it.  But he means well and that is all that matters, and she can at times need someone to tug her down a notch or two.

"Roger that, boss," she replies over the com to him, her voice now completely void of any emotions.  Her usual way to surpress her emotions.