"The creature.  It appeared to have produced those noises with a membrane.  My guess would be a warning to not get too close, boss," Yas rephrases her statement, still perfectly calm.

"Thank you Yasmin, I thought it was something on the hull."

"Possibly an attempt at communication, as well," Shui puts forth.  She's noticeably paler than before; the tremendous sound came as a shock to her stressed system.  The creature itself, she finds fascinating...but the planet remains a horror for her.

"Definitely alive." Ash confirms Keryn's assertion.  Though, it is a bit obvious now.  He gaze has still not wandered from his displays, but the thin navigator of the Profit Margin does note over his shoulder, "The Library has at least a hundred entries on gas giant-based life forms...."

"They appear to have their own independent ecosystem..." Ash notes with an erudite eagerness, giving due consideration to both Yasmine's and Shui's suppositions as well as his own, "... with both predator and prey.  So, the call could be either an attempt to frighten, a territorial warning, or some sort of sensory location .... like sonar..."  He pauses thoughtfully for a moment then notes off-hand to Jago, "Cap'n, we may want to give the creature a slightly wider berth.  Perhaps the Margin's supra-dense hull structure is considered an exotic delicacy..."  In any case, a couple of alternate routes appear on the main tactical display.  You know, just to be safe.

"Or..." and his thin fingers fly over a subdisplay on his console, "...here is something interesting..."  Ash pauses and an archived article flashes onto one of the screen, "There is at least one documented indigenous gas-giant species that is both sentient and space-faring.  The Jgd-Il-Jagd."  He lets out a sight whistle in appreciation of the latter feat for a set of creatures without a fair number of heavier metals readily at their disposal.  "Their technology appears to be... crystalline lattice-based?!?" Ash summarizes from the article stream.  "Truly amazing.  It seems that silicon and carbon-based creatures haven't cornered the market on sapience or innovation..." he muses quietly.

Profit Margin continues to descend slowly, carried along by the same air currents which move the local grazers along and soon leave the majority of the wildlife behind.  A handful of the flying deltas follows the ship lower.

"Perhaps they're curious.  They don't seem to be aggressive." Corlan offers.

Some 25,000 km deep in the dark, stormy atmosphere,  with the Halfacre Blimp a couple kilometres above them, and the external pressure at a half standard atmosphere, a green telltale flashes on.

"Attention.  Attention." the computer warns, "Hydrogen partial pressure sufficient for fuel scooping operations.  Please reduce velocity and activate fuel intake scoop."

"Commence scooping operation, when ready."

"Well, some species may not mean to kill us when they say hello, but it can happen," Yas says with a chuckle, not really caring if it was a dumb space slug trying to have a snack or a space genius trying to say hello; it could still crush them unintentionally.

With the excitement mostly over she focuses her attention back on her duties, what little there is down here.  Better safe than bloody unable to be sorry because you're frelling dead, though, as the Corps taught.

"Thank you computer," Jago responds, then proceeds to do as the machine suggests, levelling out slightly and slowing, he provides a running commentary for the benefit of his guests, and a short count down for the benefit of his engineer as he deploys the scoops.

"All down to engineering now, we just bumble along, enjoying the scenery, until the tanks are full."

In his turret control, Tylen enjoys the scenery as much as anybody else.  Like Ash, his fingers flick across controls as he pulls up information fro the computer, but rather than Ash's general queries of gas giant life, Tylen concentrates on this particular system and its life forms.

As the deltas follow, Tylen sets a tracker to monitor them - it is probably just basic instinct or air currents, but there is no harm in hedging your bets.  As he does so, he  programs scanners for other life forms and  other craft that might happen to be in the  location.

There is a low thump, felt through the deck plates, rather than heard.  Followed by a rumbling sound which starts at the bottom end of the audible spectrum, and rises in pitch until it almost passes though the upper limit of the human ear's sensitivity.  Outside the ship, the delta shaped kites take an instant dislike to the noise, becoming more agitated, before veering away from the ship and starting to climb.

Keryn frowns, "Oh!  We scared them off."

They don't go far though, and the lightning still reveals their presence - fast moving shapes  observing the ship from what they probably consider to be a safe distance.

"Natural caution," Shui murmurs.  Their first instinct is to remove themselves from the odd sound and study it from a cautious distance.  Unlike humans, she considers, who would likely shoot it.

An unkind observation, perhaps, but not entirely inaccurate.

Profit Margin sweeps through the giant's atmosphere, scooping fuel.

In the belly of the ship, purification systems start processing the mix of methane, hydrogen and trace elements, extracting deuterium and pumping the rest back out.

Lightning flares around the probe at the stern of the ship as atmospheric charge builds up across her hull and discharges occasionally, when the difference between the ship and the surrounding atmosphere becomes dangerously pronounced.

Keryn has questions, which Jago and the others answer, to the best of their ability...

Wilderness refuelling takes time.  Or rather, the fuelling is quick, purification is what takes the time.  The lightning is very dangerous, but a ship fitted with a discharge probe is generally safe.

Deep in the atmosphere of a gas giant in a border system, with their manoeuvrability restricted, ships often find themselves ambushed by pirates or, in wartime, commerce raiders.

Fortunately Rangent has so little traffic that it isn't worth the effort of hunting victims in the system.

Corlan too has questions, but his mostly concern the economics of fuel scooping.  How much money does it save, compared to the duration of the operation.  How safe is the refined fuel when used for Jump...

Eneris is used to such operations, and quietly moves around the bridge, examining the instruments...

With the crew and passengers safely meshing, and no safety hazards rearing their ugly heads, Shui quickly loses herself in the minutae of her work - empty coffee cups are whisked away to be washed and refilled, small plates of sandwiches appear, said plates are immediately cleaned once lightened, etc.  She keeps away from the front viewport whenever possible, preferring the rear of the bridge.

But with dogged persistance and even a touch of stubborness, she continues about her duties.

"With vastly different physiologies, methods of communication and technology bases," Ash notes off-hand, "caution is likely best on both sides.  The chances for an accident or misinterpretation of actions grows exponentially..."

He pauses thoughtfully for a moment before continuing, "As I recall, it took the Solomani thousands of years to just realize that some of the other species on their own homeworld were able to communicate - either amoungst themselves or with humans.  Or both."  The thin ex-Navy navigator points to the gas giant inhabitants on screen, "And, unlike these guys, all of those species were oxygen-breathing, DNA-based life forms..."

His fingers return to the displays on the console in front of him as Ash continues to keep an eye on the external sensor feeds for any new blips or anomalies.  The presence of anything new may be unlikely, but being on the frontier and with the political situation (and rumours) as they were, there was plenty of reason to remain vigilant.

Jago is occupied with minor course and speed corrections necessary in a turbulent and turbid atmosphere, stuff that could easily be handled by the computer but, he derives a great deal of satisfaction from actually 'driving' the Profit Margin and likes to keep his hand in.

The passengers seem to be enjoying the occasion which is nice. Sadly there are no additional paying passengers at the moment, and half empty holds. Financially, this leg of the journey is turning into a bit of a disaster, but, you can't win them all and there's no way he'll be returning to the planet in search of on going profits.

Still, he wonders if he can still pick up planet side broadcasts from here, "Computer, scan for radio traffic and feed the clearest to my headphones please," he says quietly.

Watching the readouts on her panel in Engineering, Saskia smiles.  "Frelling nice!"  Then she turns to look at the Jump Drive, "This is good stuff.  I bet it tastes great."

She opens a channel to the Bridge again, "You seeing these numbers Jago?  Plenty of Deuterium, and very little in the way of impurities.  Refining it should be quick.  I'd say it looks to be about twenty percent there before it even hits the purifiers.  You don't get much better than that straight off the sky."

In response to Ash's comments, Tylen indicates the Blimps "Those big boys barely count as creatures, almost plant like." The gunner says laconically  "Along with the noises, they change colour and discharge lightning occasionally." he adds almost quoting the information on his screens.  "There are thousands of those smaller kites though ..." he adds conversationally.

As Shui comes around with more tea and sandwiches, he smiles slightly and reaches out to touch her hand lightly.  "All right?" he asks quietly.  It might just be a greeting, but perhaps he has noticed the stoic look on her face.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:05, Sun 27 July 2014.

Shui stares up at Tylen blankly for a long moment, her face locked in a mirrored smile.  The steward opens her mouth, canned response prepared.  Then she blinks, and the smile vanishes.  "No," Shui whispers. "This..."  She waves her hand at the dark, roiling madness outside the front viewport.  "I have never been good with this."

Resolutely, she doesn't glance over her shoulder when she speaks.  It's an effort; part of her reptile brain, that instinctual apex of the spine, gibbers at her to check behind her, to look and see if there could be something in the clouds.

Something coming out of the clouds.

"I will manage," she whispers, hooking her fingers around his little finger for a moment before releasing.

Saskia's report brings a smile to Jago's face.  Good quality gas - not pure, by any means, but close enough to make the refining process a little quicker.

He reaches out and activates his prepared computer program, and the voice of Profit Margin herself sounds from the speakers on the Bridge...

"Rangent III is primarily composed of hydrogen with a quarter of its mass being helium, although helium only comprises about a tenth of the number of molecules.  It also has a rocky core of heavier elements, but like the other gas giants, the planet lacks a well-defined solid surface.  Because of its rapid rotation, the planet's shape is that of an oblate spheroid (it possesses a slight but noticeable bulge around the equator).  The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in turbulence and storms along their interacting boundaries.  Surrounding Rangent III is a planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere."

"Rangent III is composed primarily of gaseous and liquid matter.  It is the largest of three gas giants in the Rangent system with a diameter of 254,000 km at its equator.  The density of Rangent III, 1.342 g/cm3, is the highest of the gas giants in the system, but lower than for any terrestrial planet."

"Rangent III's upper atmosphere is composed of about 88–92% hydrogen, including deuterium, and 8–12% helium by percent volume or fraction of gas molecules.  Since a helium atom has about four times as much mass as a hydrogen atom, the composition changes when described as the proportion of mass contributed by different atoms.  Thus, the atmosphere is approximately 75% hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, with the remaining one percent of the mass consisting of other elements.  The interior contains denser materials such that the distribution is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium and 5% other elements by mass.  The atmosphere contains trace amounts of methane, water vapor, ammonia, and silicon-based compounds.  There are also traces of carbon, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, and sulfur.  The outermost layer of the atmosphere contains crystals of frozen ammonia.  Trace amounts of benzene and other hydrocarbons have also been detected."


Keryn helps herself to more sandwiches, and gives Shui a nod of thanks and a sympathetic smile.

Knowing stress from her old line of work, Yas can sympathise with Sushi.  While it may not be combat, what the stewardess/doctor goes through currently is basically the same.  Time for a quick intervention.

"Boss, no ships on my screens.  Looks clear."

"Hey, Sushi, can I have another one of those delicious sandwich thingies?" she calls out.  If Sushi approaches she will follow up with her elaborate ambush.

"Time for you to have a cup of tea too.  Black is good for you.  Say, ever been to a so called garden world?  I mean, not just another habitable world, but so lush and green it almost hurts?  With long, rolling beaches that puts shame to most tourist world?"  No need to mention what took place on this unnamed world, indeed, best not even remembered.  "Or perhaps you got another 'perfect world' you prefer?"

Hoping to both have Sushi perhaps take a few deep breaths, drink some actual black tea and try to visualise a favourite spot was basic handling of stress, front-line military stuff.  Well, not the tea perhaps, but darn close enough.  Just ask some higher officers.  The things you pick up, she muses briefly.

Yas then slowly sips her own beverage, giving Sushi a chance to respond.

Ash doesn't look up from his console, but agrees with Yasmine's sensor assessment.  "No other ships detected in the vicinity." the thin navigator notes amiably enough.  But then he pauses for a moment, "But there is another group of floaters gathering starboard..."  One of the tactical displays lights up with a higher magnification on the grouping.

There is another pause as he taps away on his dynamic display for a moment; the light dances upon his face as data stream of a few thousand numbers scrolls past in a cascade of colors.  "Captain," Ash says rather haltingly, "I think that I am getting a touch of magnetic interference detected.  Possibly a storm about two thousand klicks to port..."  He highlights the questionable area on the main tactical display along with and overlay of the spectrographic analysis.

Tylen frowns slightly but just nods as Shui mentions her discomfort. However, he lets his fingers squeeze hers gently before allowing her to release.  "Later." he mouths knowing that he needs to let her maintain her composure and professionalism now.

After so many years spent in deep space vessels and innumerable re-fuelling, things just look normal to him.  But then it is a long time since he relied on his visual screens to tell him what was going on.   While there are visual images on his screens, most are enhanced and overlaid with extra data and information.  They come together to give him a clear understanding of their surroundings.  Much better than he would ever get from a visual inspection.

He watches the stewardess for a moment as she goes about her business.  Then  smiles slightly as he is distracted by the thought of spending time with her later.  But, even as his mind wanders, he knows his systems will warn him of any changes or risks in the surrounding area.

Scans continue to show nothing within range except groups of the local indigenous life forms, none of which seem to present any real danger to the ship.  Lightning continues to dance in the darkness beyond the hull, and there are occasional strikes, but the discharge probe at the stern, and the ship's insulated systems and hull prevent any damage.

Saskia continues to monitor the ship, just to be on the safe side.

Jago keeps the helm as steady as he can - internal gravity and inertial dampers would prevent serious injuries in the case of an uncontrolled roll, but Profit Margin's captain doesn't see any point in alarming the passengers unnecessarily.

Ash, Tylen and Yas keep an eye on their various boards, watching for anything that looks odd, but doesn't trigger the computer's threat dtection subroutines.  So fat, there doesn't appear to be any sort of unrecognised threat.

Then again, the biggest danger to a ship in an atmosphere, any atmosphere, is a hostile vessel that isn't as deep in the gravity well.  Luckily Rangent doesn't see enough traffic to provide any such hostile ship.

Shui continues to work, wvwn though she's less than happy in this situation.  Too much "unknown" below the ship, and too much mass trying to force the ship into that unknown.

The passengers, meanwhile, seem perfectly happy, though Keryn and Corlan take seats at Sakia and Shui's rarely used Bridge stations, both of which currently are deactivated.

Eneris prefers to stand, find a spot where he can observe both active stations and ask questions if he spots anything that interests him...  Questions like, "What's that?"

"That" appears to be a huge, writhing, serpentine form, far out on the long range sensors.  It stretches from deep in the atmosphere, and reaches up to a little higher altitude than Profit Margin... and it squirms and moves like some ancient sea dragon rising, from the depths of a primordial ocean to snatch down a wooden sailing ship...

Tylen doesn't know what that is either, but his fingers fly around his systems. However, if his systems haven’t picked it up yet,  then it probably isn't  animal, vegetable or mineral …

As he sets his systems to focus on the writhing serpentine shape, he recalibrates one of his screen to examine atmospheric conditions, half expecting that to be this world’s equivalent of a whirlwind or water spout.

At Yasmine's request, Shui certainly arrives with a sandwich.  It's not entirely difficult to understand the other woman's purpose, mind; it would be for one who doesn't know her, but Shui is well aware of the Security Chief's perspicacity.  She offers a wan smile in return, picking up a cup of tea as requested and sipping it without tasting.

Probably a good thing, given her pickiness with tea; this one has been sitting for a while, and has grown tepid.

"I have never been to a garden world, Ms. Crow," she replies in a subdued tone.  "Not as you describe, of course."  She rather likes Yasmine's method of use; it's better than the normal one.  "I...offhand, I cannot think of a better one to visit.  Perhaps a luxury resort station - clean, technological, and full of things to experience?  A different experience, though; I cannot compare the two."

The teacup clatters slightly when she puts it down.

"Do you...do you have a suggestion?" she inquires.  "As to a specific world to visit?"  The strain is wearing on her; there's a good reason Shui never comes up to watch during Aitch-two scooping, on this ship or any other.

She resolutely doesn't look at the screen when Eneris indicates something of note.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:34, Tue 05 Aug 2014.

The thing, whatever it is, is invisible beyond the viewports... several thousand kilometres away, in the black, lightning shattered atmosphere of the giant.

It does, however show up well on the sensor displays...