"If you want to name your weapon, who's to stop you?" Yas says with a shrug, then continues after a moment, "but remember, they are just tools.  Deadly tools.  The less used, the better.  Unfortunately, sometimes you are left with little choice, but even then you should try to use it as little as possible."

She chuckles at the name and dodges the question, "I'll say this -- if you are confident with your weapon you may be saved from using it.  But to get there, you need to know it."

When Ash mentions the Margin and the crew she looks over to him and catches his eye briefly.

"You're a good addition to the crew, Ash, we're lucky to have you," she tells him, a kind smile gracing her lips briefly.  She turns back to Keryn and eyes the younger woman briefly, looking torn, but with a clearing of her throat the impression is gone.

"Now, you should practise taking your weapon apart and putting it together until you can do it blind folded.  While you probably will never need it, it will familiarise you with the weapon and you will instinctually know if something is wrong, and what.  It is good to get familiar with things you want to keep around you."  Her eyes steals across the table and the navigator before returning to Keryn.  "After all, you never know when you the need will arise."

Keryn listens to Yas with rapt attention, nodding at each point as it is made.  "So how do I take it apart?  I can't put it back together unless I've taken it apart first."

Jago nods at Ash, then says quietly, "Yas hasn't shot you yet, and I usually take that as a sign that things are working out."

"There's no hard scientific evidence, of course, that Jump calculations affect the time spent in Jump, but I've always felt that a good Nav can shave an hour ot two of the Jump with... some regularity.  And the last few Jumps have been fast ones, with emergence averaging 97 minutes early.  Which is good."

Shui's voice suddenly shouts from every comm panel in the Crew Lounge.  "Medical Emergency, Passenger Lounge.  Medical Emergency, Passenger Lounge."

Corlan stirs, raising a hand to his wounded head.  He blinks, for the first time since Shui arrived.  Then he speaks.  At first his words are badly slurred, so that it's impossible to understand them, but then he stops, makes a visible effort to pull himself together, and then speaks clearly, if weakly.  For what it's worth...

"Fish motorcycle teacup."

Tylen enters the room with a folded stretcher.

"Nebula habitat?"  This time it definitely sounds like a question.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:02, Thu 25 Feb 2016.

"Corlan," Shui states, quiet but firm.  "Just relax, or try.  I have things under control."  It's a lie; he could be having a stroke, and she needs to get him to medbay (her quarters) as quickly as possible.  But she also needs him calm.  "We're going to carry you on a stretcher - it's a necessity, given the situation.  Mr. Orgesh!"  That called to Tylen as he enters.  "Lay it next to Corlan."

His first name is a necessity at the moment.

"Mr. Armusezash - barring one of the crew arriving first, you will go ahead of us and have people stand aside," she continues, motioning for Tylen to assist.  "Corlan, we're getting you on the stretcher.  Right now you just have a bump on the head, and I'm going to do something about that."

Lies, but they're all she has.

OOC - If Corlan acquiesces, Shui will help him onto the stretcher then she and Tylen will carry it to the med-bay; assuming nobody else shows up before this has begun, it looks like Eneris will be drafted to make sure they have a clear hallway.

"He was fine." Eneris explains, "We were playing cards and talking, and then he passed out."

With Tylen's help, Corlan is shifted on to the stretcher.  "Green vector." is his only comment at that, but then he touches his head again, and looks curiously at his blood-stained fingers.

"Cardinal.  Vargr ground car hurts.  What moon?"

Tylen bites back any comments and does as he is instructed silently.

"That's what we're here for, Ker," Yas says with a grin. She reaches for the gun when the call comes through the intercom.

"Frell, hope it's nothing too serious," she says, already out the entrance to the cargo bay before she finishes the sentence.  She half sprints as she makes her way across the cargo area and into the passenger lounge.

Her heart sinks as she sees the prone Corlan but she exhales when she sees he is still awake.

Looking up as she hears the announcement, Saskia frowns.  Why is Shui announcing a "medical emergency" to the whole ship?  Surely she's the medic, and the one best trained to cope with any medical situation.

Profit Margin's Engineer returns to her reading.

No sense her rushing over there -- Shui's the expert.  I'd probably just get in the frelling way Saskia decides.

Besides, there might be blood involved.

With Corlan on the stretcher, it's just a matter of moving him.  Which isn't too difficult, he's not exactly the biggest person in the Galaxy.

In Shui's quarters, which also serve as a medical bay, Corlan is transferred to the fold-down diagnostic table, where he seems to be becoming more aware of his surroundings.  His speech seems to be improving too.  "What happened stars me?  I was velocity cards, and dessert water Aslan keypad coffee, I was winter monitor sandwich floor."

In the doorway, Keryn, who has followed them from the lounge, starts to cry.  "What's wrong with him?  Why can't he speak properly?"

"You had a fall and struck your head, Corlan," Shui calmly states, "which I believe might be connected to your speech, rather than the other way around." Hearing Keryn's questions, she glances to Yasmine. "Please help Ms. Taylor," she requests of the security chief, though not unkindly.  Or remove her is the unspoken addendum - again, not unkind but necessary.

Tears might very well upset Corlan further, and Shui doesn't have the time to care for Keryn.

"Now, Mr. DeSant," she briskly continues, hoping to keep him placid. "It seems your speech has begun to return, but I'm going to do tests.  Immediately."  In fact, she's speaking as she works the equipment, one hand snagging some spray-seal and an electric razor for his head as the machines spring to life. "And you remember nothing?"

At least, that's what she gathers from his garbled speech.

Strange; he finds no difficulty in retrieving words, they're just the wrong ones.  And his face appears unaffected, his voice not slurred...Shui has begun to doubt a stroke is at fault.

Corlan lays still while Shui works, answering her questions as they are asked.  At least he seems to be answering them.  Many of his responses are jumbled, and contain words which do not seem appropriate as answers to the queries.

As the cleaning and dressing of the wound is completed, and Shui straightens, Corlan grabs her arm.  "The fall communicator cause this.  Nova didn't cause it either." and he releases her arm to point to his injured temple.  "Other way dust, I think."

"Absolutely, Mr. DeSant.  It is my current belief that whatever has afflicted your capacity for speech created some acute disorientation that began the fall.  More of a byproduct of the beginning of this - you do not feel disorientation now, do you not?  No dizziness, nausea, blurred vision?"

This while she checks readouts, takes a tiny quantity of blood for analysis, and yes, brushes away strands of shorn hair from the table.  She'll sweep them up later.

"I think it is time for us to leave Shui to her work."  Tylen, says he he walks towards the door, trying to shepherd the others out before him.  "I'll be in the lounge if you need any help." he says over his shoulder to the medic.

Assuming he can clear the sick bay of onlookers, he will allow the door to close quietly behind him.

With all of the onlookers outside, in the Crew Lounge, Corlan beckons Shui nearer.  "I'm fine now.  I foot what it is.  Have done for four years.  It's base syndrome."

He tuts angrily, then tries again, "Shiishumkekiid's Syndrome.  I was charcoal with it four years ago.  It's why I container... why I retired and booked passage on this ship.  I wanted to get some adventure out of my final years."

Shui studies the screen for a long moment as Corlan speaks.  Her eyes slowly close.  One breath, that's all, then they open again.  Moving to Corlan's side, she seats herself on the edge of the medical cot.  "Ah, Corlan.  I am sorry.  And while you should have told me, at the least, I completely understand your reasons for keeping this a secret."

Her lips purse.  "Is this the first episode you have had on board the ship?  I recall none, but that does not mean they have not happened.  How far along as the syndrome progressed?" Reaching out, she lays her hand atop his.  "If you wish to continue keeping this a secret, I  can do so.  I should tell Captain Lanza, but I can...hold on the report for a time, if you wish complete silence."  Her small smile appears, somewhat melancholy. "I myself will treat you no differently, but I am here for support.  I am certain others would like to do the same, but...the choice, of course, is yours."

Jago looks at the group standing outside the door of Shui's room, spares Ash an "I don't know" look, then stands up and walks towards the crowd.

"What's happened?  Was that Corlan being carried in there?"

Corlan shakes his head.  "Not the first time, no.  But it's the first module that I didn't have time to get to my room before it hit me.  Usually I start to feel light headed before it happens, but not today.  I suppose biscuit means it's worsening, slowly.  I've been suffering from it for almost five years, but it was diagnosed about four years ago."

Ash returns Jago's look with his own shrug of mild confusion.  He follows the captain to the gathering near Shui's quarters.  He can hear a number of voices already clamoring for attention; so, the thin navigator remains quiet, not wanting to contribute any further to the chaos.

The lanky ex-Scout purses his lips slightly as Corlan lays out his condition.  He doesn't know that the man that well, but the captain and the rest of the crew obviously care for him and consider him more than a simple passenger.  Always cordial, Ash would consider Mr. DeSant more a friend than a simple passenger; he glances at Shui to see what she thinks on the matter, assuming that she knows more about the condition than anyone else.  From Ash's layman's perspective, it doesn't sound very good.

To him, it really sounds like Corlan is living on borrowed time.  Perhaps it is best that they are returning to Regina post haste, Ash muses quietly to himself.  If Corlan really is from there and his family is there; a visit is likely in order.  Though hopefully it is not his last.  Ultimately, only Ifni really knows.

"Yes, Shui is in there with him now.  He seemed alright and Shui was talking to him as we carried him in. Although he didn't seem to be making much sense.  Looked like he passed out and hit his head." the ex-scout offers in response to Jago's question.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Tue 08 Mar 2016.

Shui shoots a glance at her door - there's a hubbub outside, and she can only guess what the crew is feeling.  But a glance is all; this is, at present, more important. "Well.  I know now, and that's the important thing."  Remaining seated on the bed - checking reports on the condition through her glove - she lays a hand on Corlan's shoulder.  "While the illness has a slow progression, it can at times leap forward in severity.  It then resumes its former pace.  This could be one of those times, Corlan.  I'll need to keep you under observation for a small period - nothing serious, and in short order we'll have you back in your quarters."

She raises one finger.  "But.  I ask that you request my presence if you feel another of these coming on.  Immediately.  As we discovered today, there can be secondary effects - falling and injuring yourself, for example."

Her fingers dance on the dataglove, calling up treatment methods - such as they are.  Likely symptomatic, as from what she has read thus far, there is no actual cure. "I want to help, Corlan, not be a bother.  Please let me help."

Jago frowns and looks at Yas comforting Keryn.  That doesn't strike him as a good sign.  "Right.  I see." he responds to Tylen's explanation, "Can everybody at least go and sit down, and keep the door clear so Shui and Corlan can get out if they want to.  Keryn, do you need to lay down?"

Keryn nods and starts sobbing again.

"Yas, can you take care of her please."  Then, as if to provide an example to the others, he turns and heads back to his own seat.

Corlan says nothing, he just nods in assent to Shui's request.

Still seated next to Corlan, Shui raises her glove and tabs in a message for Jago.

~~ Captain Lanza - Mr. DeSant is fine, just resting.  For the moment, I'm treating this as a bout of dizziness that gave him a nasty bump on the head.  It's possible the blow to the head is responsible for his aphasia, but I'll continue to run tests.  You can reassure everyone that Mr. DeSant has dramatically improved and everything is under control. ~~

That sent, she returns her gaze to Corlan.  "I will need to know if you want me to tell Captain Lanza - just Captain Lanza - or not.  Again, it runs against my better judgement, but this is something that will not affect the security of the ship, so it's well within your right to insist on privacy, Corlan.  I would understand."

"Outside of that..."  She breathes out - not quite a sigh, but a thoughtful sound. "I will continue my own investigations."

It's possible, after all, that one of these worlds they pass has discovered a treatment and it hasn't been disseminated.  Unlikely...but people do play lotteries.

Corlan shakes his head.  "No, thank you.  I hor... I can tell him.  When we go to Regina, my home, I can speak to him on the way there."

Jago looks around as the intercom whistles nearby.  He frowns as he reads the message on the screen, and rubs one hand over his head.  "Shui apparently has it all under control, and Corlan is feeling better."  Another glance at the monitor, and then he erases the message.

"All the same, I want people to keep an eye on him.  If need be we can have him visit a hospital on Extolay, but until we get there he can only get whatever medical treatment we have aboard Profit Margin.  And we aren't exactly a major clinic."

Shui nods.  She's pleased, but doesn't show it; it's really better for all concerned that Jago knows about the details of the problem.  "Very well, Corlan; if you wish me to be in the vicinity, let me know."  It doesn't matter to her, either way - there's no investment in her being there for that particular discussion, and if Jago has any questions he can ask her later.

But she would be happy to support Corlan, assuming he requires said support.

"Come on, Ker, my quarters are near, we can sit there for now," Yas offers, thinking it will perhaps be best for the young woman to have a bit of privacy, and gently leads her there unless she objects.

"I have a few things I want you to look at any way, and they're in my quarters."

Keryn goes with Yas, no longer sobbing loudly, but snuffling a little.  The door to Yas' quarters opens, and the two of them step inside.  And Keryn stops in the open doorway.  "You... you have a lot of stuff.  What's that for?" 

"I need to speak to Captain Lanza anyway.  I intend to clock at Regina." Corlan says, then bangs one fist on the bed.  "Disembark.  I intend to disembark at Regina.  It's time to return home."

Jago looks around the room, then back at the blanked monitor.  "How did he appear to all of you?  You know, as non-experts.  Keryn's reaction makes it seem as if it was something serious."

In Engineering, Saskia studies her notes, and compares them to a screen that's displaying the latest diagnostic readouts.  A pass of the hand over the console changes the display to a similar one from about a year ago...

Tylen shrugs  "He looked like he banged his head, and then he had a bit of trouble with his words." Tylen shrugs, trying to convey that his lack of medicinal skills preclude any sensible form of analysis.