Tylen grins as Shui sits back down beside him and, once he has seen to Yas’s glass, tops up any other glasses that are in need of a refill.   Tylen in more comfortable now the conversation has moved on to anecdotes rather than general chitter-chatter.  Years of working the x-boat service left him with plenty of time to try out his tales and stories.

When there is a pause, he chips in with a story about living on Lopiengeta, known to the locals as 'Ell.  He tells of a simple life where people either work in the old (and very quiet) Starport or they wrest a living from the sea itself.   The story is peppered with small jokes and amusing situations, normally at his own expense, and finishes up with him deciding to join the IIS instead of the Darrian Army.

Then he is happy to fill up wine glasses and smile along with the rest of the conversation.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Tue 04 Mar 2014.

Ash laughs at the various antics brought up by those around the table, but doesn't offer a story of his own.  Instead, he shows a preference to concentrate on Yasmine (and, seriously, with a dress like that who wouldn't) and her more detailed telling of the discovered derelict.

True to his word, Ash appears to be mostly, if not all, ears when it comes to Yasmine and the ghost ship.  "Do tell..." he prompts the security chief and shows that he is more than willing to listen to the story.  He's got a genuine interest in the derelict ship (seemingly a product of a misjump).  A mix of both personal and professional interests, of course.  He is an ex-Scout.  He is a navigator.  He knows that he is in the minority of this crowd that wasn't actually there - experiencing the situation first hand.  And mostly Ash just wants to know more about the crew he works with and what makes them tick.

He tries not to interrupt, but is only marginally successful.  He seems interested in any and all of the minutiae that Yasmine (or any of the others that were there) seem willing to offer up, but any details related (even remotely) to the misjump and its aftermath piques his interest.  Probably not surprising given Ash's profession and current role with the Profit Margin's crew.

He shakes his head slowly at one point, "Sounds to be an all-round harrowing experience.  For everyone involved."  The lanky navigator glances around the table, "Both the discoverers and the discoverees..."  A thin tight smile crosses his lips as he adds, "though obviously at different times for each."

"Details are important, for sure," Yas offers briefly to Corlan's story.

"You'd made a fine grunt, I'm certain thereof," she tells Ty with a grin.

"And tell I shall," Yas says to Ash and relates the tale as she recalls it, allowing him to ask questions when he wants.  "...and the sight of the misjump, phew, I defaulted back on my training where enemies aren't people, they're enemies.  Of course, in this case, they weren't enemies, just...  not people.  The Corps taught us to not think, after all, only follow orders.  If it hadn't been for that then the reason I left, no, the cause of the reason I left would never have been..."  She grows dark for a moment before throwing it aside.  "But that's a story for another time, as it's far darker than the misjump.  That, after all, was an accident..."

She sips her drink and clears her throat and mind alike.

"Now, that creature when we left, well, that made it all worth it.  All right, the money haul was part of it, but that thing?  Probably never seen before, perhaps never again.  Dumb animal or intelligent?  Who can say?  But it was a privilege.  After the Corps I started thinking, about all sort of things.  The size of this galaxy, for instance, and those beyond.  Mind-boggling, and makes our worries seem rather petty, reasons for war and all."

"So yeah, harrowing at first, but for us, in the end, it was rewarding beyond the salvage.  But what about you?  Surely you have seen something out there too?  Space is big, after all."  She leans in a bit, hoping he will do more than listen.

With everybody else telling amusing anecdotes of their past, Saskia feels compelled to tell the tale of her first duty assignment, aboard a destroyer, the commander of which believed that the ability to make good coffee was the most important asset that any Naval officer could bring with him.  Furthermore, the Captain had run classes for his crew in the fine art of making coffee good enough for a commanding officer to drink.

"The rumor mill had it that promotions and assignments mostly depended on how much he liked your coffee, with performance of duties a secondary factor."

The Engineer smiles as she recalls, "After they'd taken the class, everybody got to take coffee with him in his office, just you and him, and you had to bring the coffee.  He'd sip it while you chatted with him, and he'd make lots of notes -- on hand made paper, no less, with an old fashioned ink pen -- and your entire career in the service depended on that coffee."

"Sounds like my kind of commander," Jago says with a chuckle, "our Shui would soon make admiral on that ship." He raises his glass to the Doctor/Steward before drinking.

Pleased that Tylen has begun to relax, Shui picks at her food, occasionally hopping up to bring in further libations or victuals.  She listens along with his story - having heard a large portion of it before makes it no less interesting, and there is always something new - and shifts her attention as he does, upon its completion, to the other various anecdotes floating around.

"...I defaulted back on my training where enemies aren't people, they're enemies."

The Steward falters for a moment at Yasmine's words, her eyes going glassy as polished onyx.  Then she blinks, nodding along another comment.  The words have struck home, and hard, though not as one might expect.  Instead, they resonate a little too well with her, from start to end.

Set it aside, her mind whispers; and she does, hiding her sorrow for the Security Officer.

Something about Yasmine leaving the corps, there, and it not being an accident.  Shui files it away for another time, hopefully when it's just the two of them sitting and having tea.  Seems like a more private thing.  Things turn to Saskia, and her own stories of her past, and Shui raises an eyebrow at the Engineer's description of her work assignment. "How horrid," she murmurs.  "Despite Captain Lanza's compliment -" she raises her own glass to him in welcome of his words "- it sounds like a terribly inequitable method.  Might I ask how well you managed, Ms. Blake?"

Her gaze falls upon Jago.  "Sadly, your own comment has brought attention upon yourself, Captain Lanza.  Perhaps you might regale us with the story of how you began with the Profit Margin?"

"It's hardly a stirring tale Shui, I joined the service straight out of school, worked my way up, sat exams and, after twenty years or so, made Captain. It had been my ambition from the start to have my own ship so I'd saved hard all along and once I'd scraped enough together for a deposit, including a bit my mum left when she died, I looked around for a suitable ship. I got really lucky at that point because the Margin came up for sale, I got me a mortgage and I've been in debt ever since. It wasn't just finding this ship that was lucky, I just happened on a brilliant crew from the off."

Jago raises his glass yet again.

"To the crew, may they ever continue to make my life easy."

"I've heard of skippers like Saskia's." Eneris comments, between mouthfuls of food, "Never really understood them myself, which could be why I didn't get promoted any higher than I did.  One I heard of would invite junior officers to his ready room to talk about roses, of all things."

"Shouldn't they be getting taught about strategy and tactics?" Keryn queries, then, as an aside, "This is really good, Shui.  I hope there isn't much of it, or I'll end up getting fat."

"You'd think so.  But they learn that sort of thing at the Academy, where they take basic officer training, so they can enter the Navy with a commission.  Or they pick it up in advanced training after they enlist."

"This business with coffee and roses and... and... sports trivia... is something else.  I always thought that maybe they were looking for people who were interested in the same things they were.  A long patrol can go a lot easier if you have somebody to talk to about your hobbies."

Jago's toast brings raised glasses, and salutes to the crew.

"May they continue to make all of our lives easier." Corlan adds his own sentiment...

The Profit Margin's lanky navigator chuckles at the interchange between Keryn and Eneris.  He "here, here"'s to Eneris' assertion that the Deep Black can be made more hospitable with company and shared interests.

He also subtly pushes one of the serving dishes closer to Keryn.  Or maybe two.

"To the rest of the crew." Ash echoes Jago's sentiment.  Then he adds with a slightly crooked smile, "I only try to ensure that we know how to get to wherever we are supposed to be going..."  He knows that he neither sets the course nor ensures that the technology gets them there.  He doesn't keep the crew and ship safe (except in the most indirect way) or healthy (except, again, in the most indirect way).  No.  Mostly, Ash is just along for the ride, in many ways.

The meal continues, course following course in the time-honoured fashion...

The conversation also continues - serious and humourous by turns - jokes, current affairs, speculation on future developments, and personal anecdotes.  Including the tale of how Jockram met his two crew members, and spent a night in jail with them, all three accused of a crime that none of them had committed, and which (insofar as they had ever been able to determine) had never actually occurred, outside the imagination of an overzealous law enforcement official.

"As it turned out, it looks like there was a glitch in the system, and the credits didn't get transferred, which stopped the purchase.  So the clothes weren't stolen, they were just never delivered to the lady.  Of course, after the brawl with the Lawkeepers, we're no longer welcome on Hammermium."

"Which is no great loss." Hegerich confirms as Jockram concludes the tale.

"So they accused you of stealing the clothes because you were strangers?" Keryn asks, the dismay and disapproval obvious in her tone.

"Oh, it wasn't just us.  They questioned lots of people, but Hegerich there decided he objected and chose to make something of it." Jockram explains, "So they ended up arresting everybody in the bar who was involved in the ensuing riot.  And the theft accusation was added mostly on account of the way Hegerich objected to the questioning."

"They felt that only a man who had something to hide would deny it quite so... er... strenuously." Banster adds helpfully.

"There's a great deal more, Ms. Taylor - you should enjoy yourself."  And, true to her word, Shui continues to shuttle out the food, each small course a slightly different experience in spices and choices.

She's no gourmet chef, but over the years the steward has certainly amassed a fair amount of recipes.

Then comes Jockram's story, with its inevitable dénouement.  "Certainly a point against such forms of denial," Shui dryly notes, though not seriously (it's likely expected of her).  Brawls, dustups, and other such things...she deplores them, and people do suffer crippling, even lethal injuries on occasion, but better that than gunplay.

She's relatively certain Yasmine would agree with her, here.

"I fear I have no such amusing anecdote to mark my first steps aboard the Profit Margin," she continues, well-aware it would be rude of her to remain silent.  Bland is better. "I merely responded to a fortuitous advertisement; one of my better spots of luck - and better choices! - thus far."

"Well, we're glad to have you aboard, Shui."  Saskia raises her glass to the steward,  And smiles as she continues, "Don't worry, we'll have you being rude to Jago before you know it.  After that we can move on to the advanced lessons, like how to get yourself arrested properly and the five least indecent ways to get all the charges dropped.

"Only one of which involves the rest of us mounting an armed assault on the law enforcement offices."

Her grin suggests that she's joking about the latter part of all this.

Or is she?

Shui blinks.  "Well," she slowly begins, "I suppose I have a fine example to follow, Ms. Blake."  The steward offers a small, innocent smile to the engineer. "Perhaps I should assault a police officer," she muses, tapping her fingertip on her lips.  "That MIGHT gather everyone at the police station to affect a rescue.  Or at least pay the hundred and fifty or so monetary units necessary to deal with the fine."

She coughs once, delicately.  "Of course, I'm sure had the fine comes to much greater, we could graduate higher on the Five Least Indecent Ways to get the charges dropped.  Possibly including that armed assault." 

Nodding her head, she takes a small sip of her wine.  "THEN I could be rude to Captain Lanza."

Keryn stifles a laugh.  "Can't we start with the lessons on being arrested?  I think I can probably manage rude already.  Shui too, by the sound of it.  The being arrested lessons sound like they might be exciting, and I'm on a tight schedule."

"I'm afraid I can't really vouch for her rudeness." Corlan interjects, "I'd probably categorise it as more like simple cheek."

"I can be rude." asserts the young woman, "But I don't like being too rude to old people like you and Eneris, in case your heart stops."

"I take it all back.  She's definitely capable of being rude, I think."  Corlan takes a sip of his drink, then, "But this whole conversation, particularly Miss Blake's contribution, reminds me of my experiences when I first started travelling aboard Profit Margin.  Almost like Keryn, I was a little inexperienced with travelling away from my homeworld.  While most of my knowledge was not derived from the same sources as hers... "

"He means he never watched the same trashy holovids as I did."

"Exactly, yes.  Still I was surprised at how informal things are on a ship like this and, seemingly, on the Ore Hound too.  Keryn, at least for her first few days aboard, was somewhat shocked by the total lack of white uniforms and formality between crew members.  The same applied to me, albeit to a lesser extent."

"I must admit though, that it was a not altogether unpleasant discovery."

Jago chuckles quietly to himself as he seems to remember some one or other trying to encourage uniforms for the crew when he joined the ship.

"I think the level of formality aboard any ship is the prerogative of the Captain, or owner. In a large service, where you might be expected to work with people you've not met before, some sort of formal hierarchy is an asset but personally I've had a belly full of it and certainly wouldn't want to inflict it on any one else. Some Captains set them selves up as little despots and won't even talk to people they consider beneath them."

This message was last edited by the player at 10:14, Fri 21 Mar 2014.

Ash seems caught up in his conversation with Yasmine.  It is solely due to the topic of the Ghost Ship, naturally.  Surely, it has nothing to do with her dress neckline.  Nothing at all.  He's obviously more than a little distracted from the rest of the conversation happening around the table.

It is only by happenstance that when Jago chuckles slightly that Ash happens to be looking in that direction.  The Profit Margin's navigator glances about the table and listens to the captain's statement about formality on-board.  Ash's expression has a bit of the 'deer in the headlights' look as he tries to piece together whether the boss is referring to him.

"I, uh," he posits tentatively after a moment, "like informality as much as the next guy..."  Which is, of course, Eneris further down the table in his dress uniform; Ash reddens slightly.  Then stammers a bit, venturing a bit self-deprecatingly, "Ummm... probably not the best time to revisit the idea of the crew patches ... "  He gives the rest of those assembled at the table a slight crooked smile.

"Well, casual and informal both have their time and place, as do dressing up.  Or dressing down people, for that matter, ha!  Either way, I think they forgot to specify how to dress for this occasion.  I must say, though, I rather wear a bit more than just patches, Ash," Yas wisecracks as usual and only realises at that time that she indeed is no proper lady.  Ah, screw it, lady or not, at least I got to use the dress for once.  I'll probably be ten years older before the next.

"As for being rude and starting fights, I have no idea how to do either of those, but I know how to end them," she says with a rather cheeky predatory grin.  Nothing indicates her referring to Ash, even if she aware of his looks.  But that is sort of the whole idea of this kind of outfit, for people to look, she figures, or she might instead wear her battle armour.

"Trashy holovids, on the other hand, are a great source of information, be that information incorrect or otherwise, and they are entertaining as well!"  She laughs out loud, doing her best not to think about some of those trashy holovids, especially those her sister tend to like, ancient ones with space monsters from before space travel was common.  Even so, sci-fi holovids can be fun to watch, trashy or not.

Tylen sits quietly, letting the conversation ebb and flow, nodding and smiling along as  everyone else has their comment.  Indeed, he seems happy filling glasses,passing plates and dishes and letting his colleagues hold the floor.

Banster takes another mouthful of food, then comments, "I'd love the chance to watch a trashy holovid, but I just don't get the time, because my Fearless Leader is a slave driver who makes us work twenty hour shifts, then adjusts the chronometer so we think we've had four hour's sleep, when in fact we've only had two."

"Twenty hours?" Hegerich asks, "Jockram?  Why does he get to only work part-time?"

Jockram looks bored as he responds, "Moaning again?  You should count yourself lucky.  When I first started in this business, the 72 hour shift was standard.  And we didn't have ships.  I had to walk out to the Platinir Belt every shift and mine four tons of iridium, using only a spoon - the same one I ate with.  I was glad when I got promoted, and earned my certification to use a spork."

Which causes Keryn to inhale her drink, rather than imbibing it in a more traditional fashion, and start coughing.

Tylen chuckles as the conversation turns to shift lengths  ”Try working on the X-Boats" he says with a grin.  ”a shift is a Jump, and you are on duty all the way through.  Lots of time for reading and learning stuff though.  Although you had better make darn sure that you have a decent personal computer that is loaded chocka full of stuff to look at.  Otherwise you will go completely stir crazy …”

He pauses as he drinks some more of his beer , and tells a story about a legendary X-Boat pilot who had done a dozen jumps, one after the other.  Completely alone with just a four hour refuel at tenders to update his reading, for months on end.  After his marathon shift, his first few nights of R & R was spent talking about the ghost in his last X-Boat and how it had followed him ashore and was standing over in the corner watching him.  It took weeks of counselling to get him fit enough for duty again.

Shui laughs along with the jokes, continuing to shuttle in and out of the room as necessary to keep the food and drinks flowing.  She remains still for the stories, though, listening carefully to take in the details.  Herself, she's quite pleased with how Jago handles his ship; it leaves things comfortable, and gives her enough time to continue with her own pursuits - such as they are - while keeping her duties up to par.

Tylen's story garners a quirked eyebrow.  "A ghost?  An actual manifestation, Mr. Orgesh, or a psychotic break on the part of the pilot?"

"I am not sure Shui." The gunner responds with a grin.  "It is one of those stories that does the rounds, and I guess it grows with the telling." he adds with a shrug of his shoulders.

He starts to fiddles with his spoon as he admits  "To be honest, I am not really sure how accurate any of it is.  It is probably just one of those stories that was trotted out whenever someone was being pushed for that one extra jump that all X-Boat crew get pushed for occasionally."

Realising he is fiddling again, he puts the spoon back where it should be and folds his hands quietly in his lap.

Yas stops laughing and stands up abruptly, her chair evidently caught by surprise at it seems to leap back on its own, then fall over, no doubt in shock.

"Easy there, kid!"

Surprisingly fast, considering the outfit she wears, the security chief moves over to the coughing Keryn, leaving the poor chair unattended.  Once there she effortlessly pulls out the chair with pregnant woman still on and places a hand on her back and the other on the back of the head, gently pressing the younger woman down.

"Bend over, try to get your head between your knees," she softly instructs Keryn as she guides her to a semi-prone position.  "Head down now, keep coughing, it'll come out."

Keryn sits for a while longer, bent over with her head down.  Gradually the fit of coughing subsides, and she resumes a more upright posture, wiping tears from her eyes, her face crimson as she says, "Sorry.  Jockram made me laugh... and my drink... went down the wrong way."

A grateful smile to Yas, "Thank you, I feel better now."

In the mean time Corlan has also moved across to see if he can offer any assistance, "I have a little knowledge of first aid, should it be necessary?"

Jockram himself appears concerned, until Keryn seems to recover, at which point he glares at Banster and Hegerich, "There you go.  I told you my jokes are funny."

Seeing that Keryn actually has begun choking, Shui shifts in her chair, but Yasmine has it all under control.  The security chief has sufficient skill to handle this sort of thing and much more - the more distant Shui contents herself with moving around to put Yasmine's chair back in its proper place.

Corlan also feels the need to offer his own assistance; with both of them prepared to help, Shui figures it's better not to get into a bidding war.  Besides, if Keryn can talk and breathe normally, she doesn't need help any more.  Just observation, which she herself can manage from this side of the table.

There are enough people around the young woman already, and her embarassment is clear.

"Goodness, Ms Taylor," Shui cuts in. "There's no need to apologize.  It happens to everyone."  One eyebrow rises.  "Especially in this group."

Crisis averted thanks to Yasmine's quick thinking and movement, Shui turns back to Tylen.  "Such tales are common, are they not?"  She sighs.  "I'm always curious about how many of them are based in fact, and hoping for more information."