Tylen nodded.

"I think I get you Doc, you want to know how to justify an "Evil" action in a "Good" cause. Well to be honest Doc, I can't rightly answer that question,"

He scratched his head,

"You know, it's been a long time since I've had to think about stuff like that. I guess it comes down to what feels right you know? I mean, in the service you just do what you were told, you trust that the command structure will be acting in the interests of the people and you are like, their instrument or something, if you get me. Now in this here situation we got a mystery. People are dyin' and there ain't no-one who can do anythin' about it right now 'cept us. Sure we're gonna get paid for it, but that's not the only motive. Jago's a good man like you said, if'n we don't do something this little system's gonna whither and die and a lot of people, good and bad are gonna suffer or die because of that. Someone's gotta do somethin' and we're the best equipped for the job."

He paused again,

"I saw an old vid once, bunch a soldiers got stuck in the way of a whole load of savages back on old Earth. They're outnumbered like a hundred to one, but if thet don't hold on them savages is gonna roll all the way into the towns and forts behind 'em. One young soldier asks the Sergeant 'Why us?' The Sergeant says 'Because we're here lad, there's no-one else.' That's kind off how I look at it. Something needs doing, and there's no-one here that can do it. There's just us, no-one else."

Tylen sips his coffee and looks up at the Doc.

Saskia sighs.  People are always in a hurry - speed over quality.

She hits the intercom, replying to Jago's question, "Depends how you want to do it, Jago.  We can refine it as it comes aboard, which'll take a touch over eleven hours now.  Or we can fuel up quickly, then refine it, which we can do on the move.  We've got enough fuel in the secondary tanks to run the power plant for a couple of weeks, so we're really just looking at filling up for a Jump."

"If you go for the second option, we can have the main tanks filled in - " a brief pause, while she checks the figures, " - about two hours.  Then twenty for cleaning it up."

"It's up to you.  Refining it before it hits the tanks is quick, because I can be sure it's pure as it goes through.  Refining it while it's already in the tanks will take longer, because I need to run the process through a couple of times to make sure none was missed, but at least that way you can lift sooner."

Done with all checks, Yas gets up and walks out towards the crew longue.  Overhearing something about taking off she remembers that she had better remind the skipper about the cargo they are hauling.

Once she finds Jago she calls out, if need be, "Yo, skippy, just don't take of before the cargo unloaded, it might be bad for our rep," and then she chuckles.

"Yes."

Shui walks to the sink, looks down.  A dirty cup.  She blindly reaches out, and her hands run over it, going through the motions of cleaning.  Soap.  Water.  Scrub.

"I understand."

Soap.  Water.  Scrub.

"Because sometimes there is no one else."

Rinse.

Father.  Why do you echo in my ears, even now?

"You quote a movie from Old Earth," she says, after a long moment, her voice tired.  "How many years ago was that?  How many centuries?  Milennia?  We have technology that is magic to those savages, no doubt.  We have reached the stars themselves.  And yet, what has changed since that movie and now?"  Her fingers tighten around the mug.

"Those men stood against an army of savages...of their own race, come to slaughter the innocent.  Sometimes we are forced to choose between two, terrible alternatives - we find them, and kill them, before they continue to kill others.  But death and killing is still the answer - they come to kill their own kind, for their own reasons, and the soldiers must kill them to stop them.  And why?"

Her hands relax, and she carefully places the cup down, to allow it to dry.  Then the doctor turns to face Tylen, but she isn't looking at him.  She looks through him, over a great distance.  A distance measured in years, not astronomical units.  "Because over thousands of years, we, as a species, have never learned anything different."  Her eyes focus upon Tylen, now.  "And what does that say about us?"

Then she blinks, and her eyes are no longer hollow.  "Forgive me.  I am...discomfited by our upcoming situation."  With an effort, Shui manages a smile.  She thinks on good things - the small lamp she just bought, Yasmine's laughter, the smile on Saskia's face, Captain Lanza's compliments, Conrad's rolling accent, the conversation with Tylen in the hall.  The smile becomes real.  Chameleon.  Just as Yasmine said.  "As you say - something must be done.  And I am certain we will prove sufficient to the task."

Tylen is facsinated by the Doctors analysis of the situation, but relieved when she breaks into a smile.

"Don't take it too hard Doc, if we weren't here to help then more people would suffer. The guys committing the attacks are wrong. They kill and harm those who are unable to fight off their attacks. I'm sure Jago isn't just going out there to vapourise them. Despite our discussion of the power of our weapons it would be pretty hard to totally wipe out a ship and crew. I'm sure once they are disabled we will give the survivors chance to surrender, which is more than they would do to us."

He smiled,

"Which perhaps demonstrates one answer to your first question. We don't kill people out of hand, they do."

”Eleven hours is about what I figured Saski, that’s fine, thanks.”




A quiet, ‘crunch’, is followed by a series of spitting sounds as Jago tries to clear particles of dried tobacco leaf from his mouth. “Dam it Yas, I’ve been thinking on this so hard, I forgot about the cargo, now I’ve gone and ruined a good cigar.”

Jago displays the cigar in question with it’s bitten off end, while he wipes his mouth with the back of his other hand.

“It was almost ready for smoking,” he adds, inspecting it sadly before tossing it into trash disintegrator, “but thanks for the reminder, I’d better call them so they know where we are.”

"They kill people out of hand.  Yes."  Shui nods along with those sentiments, even if they ring hollow in her own spirit.  But 'they'...are still 'us'.  Too many issues, and now is not the time to consider them.  All she will do is forment irritation, exasperation, and lord knows what else.  Over a decade of thought on the matter has not resolved it for Shui - why should now be any different?

"I do hope the Captain will lift off soon," she continues, to change the subject.  "I am, of course, in no hurry to place the ship in harm's way, but I am certain Ms. Blake would rather us be off this planet as soon as possible."

Tylen nods,

"Yeah, I guess Jago's itching to lift as well, I'd best see if there's anything I can do to speed the process."

He stood and drained his cup and rinsed it in the sink.

"Y'know Doc, I appreciate these chats. It's been a while since anyone asked me a question that made me think. I guess they don't expect a burnt out Scout to be able to express an opinion, much less analyse and discuss an abstract concept. Thanks for talking to me rather than at me."

He turned and headed up to the bridge to see if Jago had a job for him.

Shui bows.  "It has been most interesting for me as well, Mr. Ogresh.  As I have noted, anyone who simply sees a 'burnt out scout' does not look terribly deeply."  She tilts her head slightly, considering.  She might be overstepping her boundaries.  "My opinion, of course."

Then he leaves, and she is alone in the lounge.  Save for the coffee cup she washed.  Picking it up, Shui runs her fingers over it for a moment, then replaces it in a locker.  You don't leave these things lying around when a ship might be under accel.

She should revisit this conversation with Tylen.  Certainly he doesn't assume she judges him - Shui has attempted to talk about these things in the past, and people have had quite the wrong impression.  And while she has heard his own views from others, from him they do not sound like rationalizations.  Interesting.

She should have told him more of what she thought.  The answers might have been illuminating.

Well.  He was gone, now, and she had work of her own to do.  There was a checklist for this sort of thing, and the first order of business was along the same lines as the coffee cup.  If high accel was expected, Shui needed to ensure everything aboard not in use was bolted, strapped, or put away.  Safely.

OOC - Shui commences going over the inside of the ship, looking for loose articles that could become missles in high acceleration.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:37, Sun 05 Nov 2006.

(NPC'd)

Jago looks at Yas, and recollection floods his features, "Of course.  Thanks Yas, it's a good thing one of us is awake."

Turning back, he mashes the intercom button with his thumb, "Saskia, take your time.  We can't go anywhere until the cargo's offloaded anyway."  Then, unsure exactly where everybody is right now, he hits the switch to broadcast to the whole Crew Section.

"Jago to all crew.  It is my intention to lift tomorrow, just as soon as we have the cargo hauled away.  Tylen and Yas, you've got until then to do any final gunnery checks.  Shui, first thing tomorrow I want you to make a final check on our two passengers.  Conrad, I'll need courses to the system's giants, and their Trojan point clusters.  Saskia, I'll be wanting all Engineering systems online, so try not to dismantle anything."

Having just completed a thorough check on the Turret systems Tylen was at pretty much a lose end. He tried to think of anything useful he could do. He opened a channel to Shui's com link.

"Hey Doc! Would it help if I did an inventory on consumables? I'd hate to get out there and find us short o' groceries."

"Hey, don't blame me for the cigar, skip," Yas says and holds her hands up with a crooked grin.  "You should cut down on those things anyway," she calls after him as he makes his little speech.

"Hey, Quadman," she says to Tylen as she meets him coming onto the bridge.

With the checks already done she decides to fiddle about with her bike, and passes through the lounge where she sees the Doc keeping busy on her own.

"Hey, Doc," she says as she makes her way through the lounge.

++ Of course, Captain Lanza, ++<blue> Shui replies over the comm.  She continues her work, wanting to get ahead.  Of course, she will have to go over everything again once they break atmosphere, but at least this way she can find all of the loose nuts and bolts first, and treat the second run-through as a double-check.

Her comm activates again, this time a direct link, just as she's picking up a spoon from behind the counter.  How did that get behind there?  <blue>++ Mr. Ogresh - that would be wonderful.  Thank you - I shall ensure that coffee is brought to you to facillitate. ++  Signing off, she straightens as Yasmine enters.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Crow.  I take it that preparations progress?"

Yasmine Crow stops, lifts a hand, extends a finger and waggles it as she turns to face Sushi with an omnious grin on her face.

"Sushi, Sushi, what will I do with you?  It's Yas, not 'Ms Crow'...  Keep that up and, ooh," she sucks in air through her lips, then tsk's, wagging the finger again, "I'll have to come up with some method that works.  Are you ticklish, Doc?"

She blinks innocently and smiles ever so sweetly.  Trouble is brewing, no doubt.

"I expect I shall find out in our training sessions, Ms. Crow," Shui states warily.  She doesn't actually look like the sort of person most people would consider tickling, so that's not surprising.  "One hopes you do not hold a grudge."

A long, suffering sigh follows.  "I suppose," she hazards, "I could attempt to use your given name, Yasmine.  My memory is not what it used to be, though, and I expect frequent lapses...."

Tylen sits down at an unused terminal on the bridge and checks the Ships current inventory against the reccomended supply level. As usual the Profit Margin is running within acceptable levels, but the low prices on locally produced food, especially frozen Groat steaks, makes a reasonable excuse to stock up.

Tylen puts a call through to Jago.

"Hey Boss, I'm running through the supplies inventory for the Doc and I can't help noticing this would be a good planet to stock up on a few luxuries, like frozen steaks. Should I pick us some up?"

(NPC'd)

Jago is a little slow answering the call, being a tad distracted. 

Finally he answers the call and listens to Tylen.  "Yes, that's a good idea.  Make sure they can get them here tomorrow morning, at the latest, though."

"A grude?  No, those tend to give you calluses," Yas chuckles and moves up closer a bit.  "You try, Doc, but it's Yas, not 'Yasmine'.  Unless you want to sound like my mom," she jibes and attempts to, inconspicuously, try to find out if the doctor is ticklish or not, at least where them love handles tend to show up sooner or later.

Shui sees Yasmine coming - it's not hard, considering she's keeping an eye on the Security Chief.  Something about the stance gives warning, and the doctor scoots around the table, putting it between the two of them...and keeping it there.

"Should you wish for me to call you Yas," she states quickly, moving to ensure the table remains in Yasmine's path, "I shall do so."  It's a quick capitulation, but better that than the alternative.  Shui knows when she's beaten, has known from the beginning that it would only be a matter of time.  It goes against her nature, but if Ms. Crow wishes her to use her first name in the diminutive....

"Shall we then call a truce, Yas?" she inquires.  She isn't going to run around the table like some secretary pursued by a lecherous boss; should Ms. Crow truly wish to catch her, she'll have to lose that battle as well.  Lose the battle, win the war - a bit of decorum gone with Yas' attempt at a tickle, but her own dignity kept by not fleeing from a set of fingers.

Not giving chase, Yas chuckles quielty and shakes her head.  The doctor was quite unintentionally fun at times.

"Seems I found how to get you to accept things I say, Doc."

She turns to walk out into the cargo hold again.  "Sure thing, if you want a truce.  Not sure what it is about, but it's yours if you want it."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Wed 08 Nov 2006.

Shui raises one eyebrow.  "About the assault you were preparing upon my person, of course.  I would rather not have to continue to dodge around furniture to avoid you."

Perhaps she said something to offend the woman.  Shui hopes not.

"Best I continue with the work," she finishes, half to herself, then goes back to the cleanup.

"'The assault'?"

Yas stops and looks back in surprise at Sushi.

"Well, if I offeneded you to such a degress, I apologise!  It won't happen again, doctor."

She sounded and look completely serious and then turned to leave again.

"Hardly offensive, Yas," Shui states with some discomfort, her head popping up from behind a chair.  There had been a small bolt lying on the ground, possibly carried in the treads of someone's boot....

It isn't easy, using her first name.  Especially in the diminutive.

"Perhaps a poor play on words.  I most certainly was not put out.  I would merely rather avoid such things, hence my capitulation."

"Call me what you will then, doc," Yas calls out without looking back as she walks out of the lounge and towards the cargo hold, raising a hand in a short wave.

Shui sighs, blowing a tuft of hair from her face.  Obviously she has bothered the woman.  She isn't certain how, but she has.  There doesn't seem to be a way around that fact.

You cannot expect even 50% of the people in the universe to like you 50% of the time, Shui.  Best to get over it.

At least she knows how strongly Yas wishes to be called by her personal name.  Shui makes a mental note to stick with that in the future, as she goes back to her work.  Perhaps it might help.