Jockram thinks for a moment, then, "Possibly.  The one I'm thinking of is rimward though.  In the Sword Worlds."

Eneris nods, "Four years is a long time on a ship like this."  Then he hurriedly adds, "Ah... I didn't mean anything bad by that.  Just that these small independent ships can have a high crew turnover."

Satisfied, Shui returns to the room.  Upon her arrival, she notes Tylen's shift in position, and ponders possible reasons.  The gunner has always seemed better in small groups; perhaps he's not an extrovert?  That would fit with his previous occupation, to be sure.  Moving up to him, she touches his shoulder, offering a quick smile.  "I could certainly use your assistance in a moment."

Then she moves out, not into the center of the room, but facing everyone.  "Excuse me?  Crew and guests both new and familiar?"  Shui waits until she garners everyone's attention before offering a small bow. "Dinner will be served momentarily; if you might all take your places at the table?"

She had thought about providing specific places for everyone, but she doesn't know some of them; better to allow them to settle themselves as they desire, for better conversation and comfort.

Ash merely gives Yasmine a crooked smile and shrug.  He nods slightly after taking a sip from his mug.  "Obvious." he agrees readily, before venturing, "But not unwarranted, I suspect."  As for being 'one of those guys that is easily impressed', the corners of his mouth merely curved down slightly and he gives the security chief another shrug.

"I wholeheartedly agree," the Profit Margin's navigator says amicably, "You should let your hair down more often, Ms. Crow."  Ash was definitely not arguing with the results.  He sips his black coffee from his mug again - unspiked, as considers himself wholly 'on duty' for the time being.  Plus, no one on the Margin has ever seen him imbibe any liquor at any point (despite having bought a fair bit of it at the Rangent downport); not that he has been with the crew that long.

"The only dress that I know any Marine to be familiar with is battledress..." Ash notes with a wry smile and a shrug, "But I much prefer you in this, Chief."  A touch of ruefulness creeps into the edges of the smile, "Probably less firepower.  And far less collateral damage."  His expression is distant for the briefest of moments, as if he's said too much and too little all at once; but then the focus returns and the lanky ex-squid adds matter-of-factly after the momentary pause, "Though no less devastating."  He simply nods for emphasis.

Worried that perhaps he has said too much, Ash clears his throat and asks his First Officer, "When was the last time you had seen the crew of the Ore Hound?"   It is possible that the last time she dressed up was then - which would mean that she is trying to impress one of them, potentially...

Despite being used to having a poker face, the confusion surfaces briefly at Ash's comment about not being unwarranted.  She goes over her words and then his in her head and wonders if things got misunderstood.

"Uh, just saying you'd probably look good even in a synth-weave sack," she says with a brief flash of a smile.  Yeah, this just took an awkward turn, she thinks.

She merely nods and listen as he mentions battledress and collateral damage, the other conversations fading into background noise.  Is he saying what she think he is, or is she misreading him now?  Before she can consciously think about an answer she hears herself speak, somewhat defensively.

"Well, you know, you don't know what you're getting into when you join the service, and when you do realise it, it's way too late.  No going back to who you were, that's probably why I'm here on the Margin instead back somewhere homeward playing house."

Woah, critical levels of awkwardness incoming!  Crash'n'burn imminent!  Need diversion, stat!  She is not even sure why she said all that.  The Corps might have been her family, but it was a somewhat dysfunctional one, shaping you into a cold killing machine with no people skills.  Thank goodness I didn't say that, at least.  He said nice things too, focus on that.  Maybe he simply is too innocent, in comparison, or maybe I'm just misunderstanding.  Argh, either way.  She forced herself to stop thinking before she ended up blushing.  That had not happened since the first few days in the Corps, when she still was guiltless and young.

His compliment about being devastating salvages a bit of her self and helps remove a bit of the pensive expression that she is not even aware of.  Then it softens further when he gives her an escape route about the same time as Sushi starts to call for attention.  "Oh, a couple of months, give or take a few days, never seen them in person before though.  Did we ever tell you about the ghost ship?"

"Ah, seems grub is waiting," she says with a slightly embarrassed smile, wondering if she will get through the part of eating without getting too Corps on everyone.  So hard to change, no matter how much you want it.  And grub?  Classy.  Then comes the seating.  A few moments ago she would have sat down next to Ash and hope to get to know the new navigator a bit, but now she was unsure whether he wanted that or not.  Wouldn't want to have Jago look for a replacement again so soon, I'm evidently far more rusty with these things than I though.  Maybe I should have stuck to my regular stuff, like Sassy.  I only fool myself, dressing up like a lady when I sure ain't one...  I mean, even my opening line when I got here, yeah!

A small sigh escapes her without her notice as she looks at the table.  If only they had been shooting at an enemy instead.  Perhaps it is a good thing they don't do this more often.

People start to make their way towards the table, gradually filtering their way into some semblance of a seating order.  Jago, as captain and host is, naturally enough, seated at the head of the table.

Other positions around the table are more flexible, and there is a certain amount of shuffling about and trading places before everybody is seated to their satisfaction.  In any case, the table is small enough that, even with twelve people seated, nobody is too far away from anybody else to be able to speak to them easily.

Only Shui and Tylen remain standing, for the moment...

"Sure." Tylen responds to Shui with a smile, happy to help out.  It wasn't that he felt particularly uncomfortable in this sort of gathering, just that he didn't really have a lot of small talk.

Once people were seated, Tylen was happy to fetch and carry whatever Shui needed before he took his own place at the table.

"Wonderful."

Moving to stand beside Jago, Shui gives the table a little bow.  "Thank you all for joining us today on this victorious occasion.  For those of us who travel, friends are a rare gift; your company and support are to be cherished."  Her hand falls upon Jago's shoulder.  "Captain Lanza may have a few words to say...or fewer than a few.  Then we will serve."

Another of her small bows, and Shui heads into the galley with a motion for Tylen to remain where he is.  "I will hand the dishes to you," she whispers in passing.

Ash watches Yasmine as she seems to want to say more about the service, but then seems to decide not to.  He ignores - if he even has noticed - her discomfort and merely nods amiably, "I would wager that all of the Imperial services leave their mark."  Then after a pause and a rueful smile, "I'm not sure that one can ever really seamlessly return to civilian life."  And now it is his turn to withhold, for it seems obvious that his statement - though stated as a generality - contains a much more personal set of experiences in it.

Thankfully, it seems that Yasmine uses the silence to respond to his question about the Ore Hound.  And the derelict ship they found together.  Forcing himself to refocus, Ash shakes his head to her question about the details, "You and Ms. Blake really only mentioned it in passing..."  At the time, he knew that there was more involved - and would have loved to have heard more.  "but, there wasn't much detail.  It sounded rather harrowing, and quite dangerous..." he prompts his First Officer to elaborate.  But only if she wants to.

With the summons for the meal to begin, he starts to slowly make his way towards the dinner table.

As the approached the table, Ash took Yasmine's pause before moving to sit as a cue for him.  He paused only long enough set down his mug at one place setting before pulling the chair next to where he had placed his coffee out away from the table.  The lanky navigator gestures for the dark-haired marine to sit, "Please.  I-If you would allow me the pleasure of your company, Ms. Crow..."  Obviously, he intends to sit next to the Profit Margin's First Officer.  But only if she wants him to.

Jago cocks an eyebrow at Shui when some sort of speech is suggested, fortunately she's already said all that is needed and he responds with a simple, "Yea, what she said", then shrugs, "speeches will only spoil it, lets eat."

Happy to move onto other subjects, such as the ghost ship, Yas knows that it is something she can talk about without getting into awkward subjects or stumbling.

"It's quite a story, for sure, I'd be happy to tell you more," she says as they move to sit down.  She can't help but smile when he offers her a seat.  Not sure the last time that happened either.  Maybe he is right, I should let my hair down more often.  I may be stuck in a rut, but I might be able to shake it up now and then.

With a gracious nod and a happy smile she sit down, perfectly content with not being the one responsible for things at the moment.  The security measures she set up should alert her if anything changes, so for now she can relax and enjoy a good meal with new and good friends alike.

It feels a bit off, sitting down in this outfit.  No shoulder holster, only bare shoulders, drawing a gun would take at least three seconds -- yes, she is indeed wearing two -- and the feel of the seat against her.  At the same time it feels good, including knowing she can still catch the men's attention.  This might be another good memory, courtesy of the Margin.  There's no place like home, they say, and I'd say this is mine now.  Nothing back where I came from, other than memories.  Here I make new ones.

"Good speech, bo...uh, Jago," she says, trying a bit harder to behave well, at least for the time being.

"And great job, Shu...  Er, Shui," she adds to make sure she appreciated the fact that Sushi made it all happen.  "If it tastes half as good as it smells I'll be spoiled for life."

"Well now." says Hegerich, who has managed to get a seat between Saskia and Keryn, "Everybody will have to forgive any slip in table manners on our part.  I can't remember the last time the three of us sat down for a meal at the same table.  We tend to live on instant meals, straight out of the package, usually eaten at our duty stations and whenever we get the chance.  Sometimes I'll be having breakfast while Jockram's eating lunch and Banster's making his dinner."

"Yeah, but that's only because you get out of bed later than anybody else." Banster quips, as food starts to appear on the table.  "This all looks very nice.  Hey, Jockram, did you know that you don't have to eat food straight out of the packet?"

The food, or at least the starter, does indeed look as good as it smells.

Jockram shakes his head at the banter between his crewmen, "It's not too late, you know.  I can still send them home and save the entire evening from their nonsense."

Hegerich starts a response, which is cut short as Keryn snags some food from his plate, "If you're not going to eat this, I'll have it."

Resplendent in his immaculate Naval uniform and polished medals, Eneris scowls, "Oh great.  Not content with taking all of our money, she's learned to steal food as well."

Pacing behind the chairs as she lays out the food, handing some off to Tylen, Shui leans over Yasmine's shoulder. "My thanks, Ms. Crow.  No need to dispense with the usual nicknames; I'm quite honored by them, as well as your appreciation of the dinner."

"Ah, but Mr. Jockram," she continues, sweeping down the table to add to others' plates. "The company is a breath of fresh air.  Send them away and you'll deprive the dinner of the compliments."  Her smile indicates she knows full-well he's only joking.  "And I'm the only one here who stands on ceremony; we tend to be an informal group, ourselves."

"Be nice," she murmurs to Eneris, stage whispering.  "Sour grapes aren't on the menu today, only the fine wine our guests have provided."  Her finger flicks an imaginary speck of dust from his epaulet.  "Though the stern look certainly suits you."

"Well, I'm all ears..." Ash notes with a touch of playfulness - especially given the actual prominence of his own auditory organs.  And after pushing in Yasmine's chair, the lanky navigator takes his own seat next to her in preparation for the meal.

He raises his mug high, echoing the toasting sentiment, "To victory.  And cherished company."  Ash moves to tap his cup with the others near him before taking a sip.  He nods in agreement with the his First Officer's assessment of the food, "Looks and smells delicious, Ms. Tiesi."  He has earned the right to give Shui a nickname at this point.  And though he is obviously salivating at the luxurious spread, Ash dutifully waits for everyone to be served and ready before entertaining the idea of digging in.

The meal can't be considered to have properly started until Tylen and Shui are seated.  Can it?

"See if you still think that after you've put up with them for more than a few minutes." Jockram answer's Shui, "And this does look good.  Smells good too.  Thank you."

Eneris gives Shui a smile, "There's no need for you to scold me, Miss.  The girl's quite capable of taking care of herself.  She'll probably own my uniform, medals and all, by this time tomorrow."

"She does, indeed, appear to have a knack for gambling." Corlan confirms sadly, "It's almost uncanny."

Keryn, unsurprisingly, denies that she has any unnatural ability with the cards, declaring it all just "beginner's luck".  For some reason, Banster and Hegerich find that highly amusing.

Before too long, everybody is served, and Shui and Tylen are able to take their places at the table...

Jago leans back in his seat, enjoying the banter around the table, seeing everyone relaxing a bit and appreciating the excellent food, he really couldn't think of anywhere he'd rather be.

"Top grub Shui," the Captain tucks in with gusto.

"I shall let you know my conclusions, Mr. Jockram." A nod of the head with a smile follows his compliment.  "And my thanks."  One eyebrow rises toward Eneris.  "Ah, but Mr. Armusezash, some men simply demand scolding," she jests.  "There are several about this table, I'm sure."

Jago and Ash both receive whispered thanks and a touch on the shoulder as Shui finishes her rounds.  Once Tylen is seated, she takes her own chair.  There isn't a lot of food on her own plate; Shui knows full-well she'll be busy throughout the meal, picking up plates, bringing out other food, ensuring there's sufficient wine and other spirits on the table, and so forth.  But it's neither onerous nor work for her, strictly speaking.

It's who she is, now, and that means it's a pleasure.

It's good to see the crew enjoying the food as well.  "I must say, the meal is much enhanced by the gifts of our guests," she notes, raising her glass toward Jockram, Hegerich, and Banster in turn.

She had missed things like this, having the chair pushed in all that, not much of that happening in or out of combat in the Corps.

"Sushi it is then," she says with a growing grin and takes to heart what both she and Ash say about the company.  A chuckle escapes her at the banter and she leans in to the navigator with a wink.  "Then I shall make sure to not shout, although I hope you got enough mouth left to enjoy the meal too."

Looking around the table she takes note of all the faces before lingering on Keryn.

"A toast," she calls before people are lost in the food, "to extended family.  To Keryn," she lifts her glass, "who I see as my younger and more well-behaved sister," and the daughter I never had.  "We shall find her the best place there is, where she can live with her kid."

At the peak of the lift realisation hits her like an earthquake, shaking her inside and out, and a small portion of the drink rises above the rim and begins to fall.

Keryn will leave.  Not yet, but some day.  Probably before the baby is born.  Yas herself will most likely never see it, or Keryn again.

The spilled drink hits the table.

"Frelling yotz!"  Even as she loses her footing, and the pain reaches her eyes, she regains it and veils the sorrow with a grimace.  "Sorry about that, Sushi, must be my old age, getting clumsy and all that."

Is this how it feels?  When the kids grow up and leave?  For parents who care, I mean.

"To extended family," she resumes, "who fills the empty void..."

...in my heart...

"...we call space, making it a warmer place to live in."  She looks around the table, not wanting Keryn or anyone else to catch onto her innermost thoughts.  Time to make some good memories.

"Cheers!"

"I stand corrected." Ash agrees amiably to Yasmine's rejoinder, "I am only mostly ears."  There is a bit of a wink and definitely a light, playful tone to his words.  He stabs a piece of food with his fork and puts in his mouth for emphasis.

He watches with some puzzlement as Yasmine stands to make her toast and then sloshes about a bit, and then almost seems tearful.  The lanky navigator suspects that he's missed something.  But, Ash also knows that this is probably not the venue to try and dig too deeply into the personal life of the Margin's First Officer.  There is no use in calling any more attention to the spill; it merely blends into the rest of the food on the crowded table, in any case.

So, he does what he can to support Yasmine.  Ash foregoes his mug and raises his water glass to toast along side the ex-Marine.  "Here, here." he notes with a slightly crooked smile.  "To Family." he repeats with his glass held high.  Then he takes a sip and also repeats, "And to Keryn.  And her baby."  He had almost forgotten that the young woman was pregnant.  Well, not really forgotten, just it had never really been at the forefront of any of their conversations - and he had just accepted it and moved on.  A sort of distant detachment since he was neither her physician nor the child's father.

Still, once reminded Ash nods the smile still playing on his lips;  He's happy that in some small way he might be party to helping them both.  Of course, that leads the lanky ex-Scout to also wonder if the baby will be as interested in (and as adept with) artificial intelligence architectures as its mother is...

Tylen passes plates, and fills glasses  before he takes his seat and starts on is own meal. After the first few mouthfuls he raises his glass, slightly, in salute towards Shui, "Nice meal." he says quietly, before he returns to listening to the banter flying around the table.

Tylen is used to Marines standing up, demanding a toast and then spilling their drink all over the place.  However, that is normally at the end of the night and after a skin full - rather than this early and before the drinking has really started.

As he joins in the toast, he looks across at Yas closely, to see if she had been pre-loading before she came out.  Always a possibility, even if he didn't think it was likely. After re-assuring himself that she really isn't falling down drunk this early in the meal, he pick up a bottle and reaches across to refill her glass.  "Top up, Yas?" he asks.

Of the passengers and guests, only Keryn seems to catch the meaning behind Yas' slip, and the spilled drink.  The smile on the young woman's face falters, just for a moment, before she forces it back into place.

The toast is completed as everybody raises their glasses.

"You do realise," Banster comments. grinning, as he returns his glass to the table, "that if we're all family, then that makes Hegerich the weird uncle that nobody mentions."

"Behave, you." Keryn replies, "He's being a perfect gentleman."

"See, I told you." Jockram pronounces darkly.  "Can't take them anywhere."

As the person who knows Yas better than just about anybody else on the ship (unless Jago has been having long, personal chats with the Security Chief about men, life and chocolate cake), Saskia can tell right away that there is something wrong.

Yas, of course, puts it down to old age.  But that doesn't ring true.

"Cheers!"  The Engineer raises her glass and joins the toast.  And well said it was.  Not sure what I'd do without the Margin.

Looking around the table, she tries to remember the last time she knew anybody as well as these people.  Even Keryn and Eneris, who've only been aboard for about five minutes, have been acquaintances for longer than most other people she's met.  It's sad really.

She turns her attention to her plate, and starts to eat.  But I'll try and have a word with Yas in private, later.

Good food, good company and passable alcohol, Jago basks in the warm glow of the occasion and the chance to repeat some of his more amusing tales to people who haven't already heard them more times than they can count.

He wonders, briefly, at Yasmin splashing her drink, the woman has the reflexes of a mongoose but perhaps they don't apply to a relaxed situation like this. He considers for a moment whether technically Jockram is an enemy in the current political situation, a thought that causes a little involuntary chuckle before  he continues telling the adventure of trying to by shoes for a Vargae in an exclusively human market place.

"Thank you, Mr. Orgesh," Shui responds with a small smile.  Official duties and all, despite the situation.  "I'm most pleased to share it with you," she continues, a touch more quietly.

Then comes the toast - certainly warrented, but not without its hiccups.

"Not to worry, Ms. Crow," Shui deftly responds, immediately on the scene with a napkin to sweep up the small splash.  It's almost uncanny, how quickly she arrives; not due to hasty measures, no, but rather smooth, unhesitating movement allowing her to clean up the tiny mess and sweep away.  But not having missed the shadow crossing the security officer's face, oh no.  Shui is a student of such things, after all; it's part of her duties as a doctor and a steward, as well as her earlier training in life.

She knows that look.  It is loss.

With that, it's not hard to put two and two together, given the topic.  This ship is Yasmine's family.  Keryn is part of that family.  And soon enough...

Well, Shui supposes one could raise a child on a freighter, but it would be lacking.  Not love, no, but socialization?  Most certainly.  No other children, to start with.  No peers.

Tylen steps in with a deft offer as Ash supports the toast, Saskia right behind him.  The banter begins again, thanks in part to Yasmine herself.  Shui, on her feet, collects a plate or three, bringing them to the back in preparation to the next course.

She really, really needs to speak to Yasmine, but obviously now is not the time.  Of course, for the closed-in Security Chief, never may be the right time, and if so, Shui must respect that.  Of course, that doesn't mean she cannot try.

Back into the room, and she settles herself beside Tylen, her gaze roving around the room, her small smile settled into place.

Happy that people focus on the toast and not the spill -- but it is family, after all -- Yas empties her drink in one swoop and takes her seat again to properly engage with the meal.  She suspects some of them noticed, however, and may want "a word" later.  Merely a twitch of the arm, though, so if they push it they might be pushing it...  But whatever, I suspect I'll notice soon enough.

"Of course, after a toast you ought to top up," she replies with a brief grin to Ty, holding out her glass for him to refill, without it as much as moving this time.  A nod to him before she replaces the glass next to her plate.  Not that she cannot hold her drink, she could probably drink anyone here under the table, but she has other things to focus on for now.

A chuckle escapes her as Jago relates the shoe shopping, and she tries not to miss the Vargr she called Dashing Fuel.  Instead she dons her best poker face, the one she uses when telling her dead-pan jokes, and then leans in to Ash and speaks quietly.

"So, about that ghost ship..."  The only change to the deadpan expression is an eyebrow slowly arching.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:51, Tue 04 Mar 2014.

All of the passengers and guests laugh at Jago's story about buying shoes for Vargr, including Keryn, once it is explained to her - the young woman has never seen a Vargr in the flesh, at least not at short range, and has to be reminded that they have digitigrade feet.

Corlan launches into a story about a time, when he was younger, when his father was running the business that Corlan now owns, while he himself had been a junior executive learning about the company.  On one occasion he had been required to negotiate a sales contract with a Virushi.  So he had spent some time researching their culture, and discovered that Virushi are friendly and pacifistic.

But he had neglected to do any research on their physique, believing that the Virushi were some offshoot of the Vilani... resulting in his inviting a thousand kilo three metre long armour plated quadruped to a meeting in his office.

"My head didn't quite reach her shoulder, then there was her head, and the horn on top of it.  And even if she ducked, she was too wide to fit through the door.  Luckily she had a good sense of humour, and found the whole business very amusing."

"We won the contract, and I learned to always check details."