Hack strighten up, his hands  still on his  hips, the smile grew just a bit wider....Shiney.... he nodded a bit. His eyes  swept over  everyone in the gathered group, as if taking inventory of them, then Turned back to  Shadow,...As an ESN Commanding officer, I must punish you for this...indiscretion. You will be confined to quarters when not on duty, for 30 days....

 Shadow  frowns,Aye, Sir..thank you , Sir...

  Looking over at Rivets, who is just now  wiping his eyes and controlling his laughter he asks,...how is  out  Power cell inventory?

  The CAptain stood  to, and says, still with a bit of  a smile,we had 13 extra  Commander...now we have  49....with the rechargers, and Solar panels, we could  keep the  whole  flock of birds in the air, around the clock...cept for  maintaince  and patchin' up...Sir...

  Hack's  lips twists a moment as he waves Shadow  away Get your Lady taken care off...

  Shadow  Salutes  and  pivots  as he smiles  slightly  at Hannah  and  begins to walk towards his craft

    Oh...Lt. Shadow?   Kray stops and  turns,..Aye , Sir?

  ..I have  just reviewed your punishment...you are credited with time served....You are out of lockdown... Lt Commander? You will note in the  Log, Lt. Shadow  was Punished and has complied  with said  Punishment...

 ..Already Logged, Commander... Si  said  as she  buttoned up her  laptop once more.

  Kray smiled  wide,..Aye  Sir, Thank you Sir...

   Hack winked at Shadow, then turned to the others, Carry on...during times of war..one was judge the crime, weighed against the survival of your people...Rivets? MAke certain those  cases  are sent to the foundry to be melted down. Put the New Cells in with ours...

 ..Way ahead of your Skipper....
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:17, Fri 18 Feb 2011.

  Kray Takes  Hannah over to the Fighter craft. His HAmmer  was Sky Blue , like most of the others. Howvere the Tail fin  and wings  had huge number 19s  stenciled on them. Under the cockpit  was a Circle  with a green T that had  a red slash through it...credit  for "taking out" and instructor duening  grad flight. On Each side of the Nose  was the face of  a Brunette Warrior  woman, in Chainmail..under her was the title " Shadow's Lady"

 ..Open up  LAdy...Ensign Killian is here to fix  you...

 The  Canope opened, the voice of  an English woman came  from the Ship,..Hello  Lt Shadow, I missed you. Good day to you Ensign Killian...My Comm 3 seems to be out of interface with the other ships.....

  Kray grinned  as he said to Hannah,..one of the Techs  on Moon Base, fitted the AI with the voice of my choosing..beats the heck out  of hearing  a robat voice allt he time.... He took off his Jacket, Like all the crew, the Jacket had a Big winged foot on the back, with ESN Hermes  above the  foot and  351 under it. on his left shoulder  was the ESN  flag...on his right shoulder the  American flag.Hop on up and see what you can do, I am going to check  her over  from here....

Hannah followed Kray over to his fighter and tipped her head back, taking in the ship. She grinned at the warrior woman and chuckled at the voice that responded to his greeting.

"I like it. The accent fits somehow. Kind of like a Moneypenny."

She grinned and climbed up into the ship. She ran through a quick checklist of easy fixes, making sure nothing was jammed or set to mute. It was sad how often a mute button turned out to be the issue. Everything checked out so she ran through the system calibrations and made sure everything was within parameters. She did a little tweaking and then leaned her head out the opening.

"How's the comm antenna? Any damage on that end?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:06, Fri 18 Feb 2011.

..I believe it may not extend the whole way, Ensign Killian. I also feel as though the coupler is not sitting right, at the base of the mount....if  that is of  any help.

   Kray Fussed over the landing  skids, using  an old fashion hand spanner to Tighten bolts, he thught were loose,..she always thinks  she knows everything, Ensigh Killian....

  ..Kray!...  The fighter sounded hurt,...if i do not know my own body...how  am i to explain to Ensign Killian what is wrong? And please...do not  tighten those  so tight!

  Hack  and Si bid the others to carry con  and left the  Landing Bay. Rivets  watched the Pallets being unload  and told  some of the  ground crew to get the new birds  and the shuttle  to the chargers, and look them over...already a team was  coming  with a mobil paint  tank to begin to make the new birds  look like thier brothers  and sisters  aboard the Hermes.

    Locad  and Montgomery..ye have anythin' ta report on those birds?

  Si mentioned to Xero that he would need to file a brief report of anyinteraction between the HAdes pilots  and  the Hermes crew.

"Yes sir. Would you like it written or verbal? Im fine with either."

  Lt. Commander  turns to Xero and smiles,Either way , Ensign...as long  as the  Is get dotted and the Ts  are crossed... I will be on the Bridge with the Commander...or..Touring the ship with him when he makes his rounds...Just contact me, should you need to...

"Alright. Ill file the report in a bit sir." He heads over to ee Kray and the other person. "Dang Kray. Maybe your real punishment was being whipped, eh?"

A laugh escaped her at the banter between pilot and ship. Being female, however, she showed sister solidarity.

"Thanks, Moneypenny. I'll start with the coupler. It may be blocking the extension."

She climbed out and moved to the antenna mount, removing the base to check the couplers. "Oh, darlin' you weren't kidding. This thing's close to flying on it's own."

Hannah set about reattaching the coupler, checking the connections to make sure nothing had frayed. "Tell me, sir. Do you always rib your ship?" Her voice carried her laughter as she began replacing the mount base.

Once it was in place she began carefully tightening it down. "Try the extension now," she said to the ship.

Roy was on his way out of the hangar deck when the latest broadcast came through.  This time, he didn't bother hiding his urge to shake his head.  "Damn...we just barely got back on board, and they already know about it..."

There was a sense of foreboding in his mind...it was probably nothing, and he likely had it blown out of proportion...but if the Demons were smart enough to monitor Earth broadcasting (and he was pretty certain they were), they now knew that the Hermes was just past Mars, and out-bound...gave them a definite location to start scanning for the ship, in order to track its progress.  While he valued a free press, Roy had little patience for their insistence on reporting every little detail, especially when those reports could put his own skin at risk.

There was little for him to do on the hangar deck, so he exited, returning to the quartermaster to turn in the weapons he'd checked out.  Maybe some target practice....that always made him feel better.

In reply to Hannah Killian (msg #37):

   Kray smiled Up at the Ensign,..no when  she agrues  with me,....she knows i  am almost always  right...

  The ship's body vibrated a bit, at what could be  a giggle,..they all think they know more then  they do...do they not, Ensign Killian?  The  antanne rose, and the lights  flicked on, Comm 1...worked...Comm 2..worked..Comm 3..worked......Thank you Ensign...it is about time they sent  someone , with a woman's touch...

  Kray shook his head  as  he places the  hand spanner  in the rack by his dock. Thank you Ensign Killian. If  we run into each other on the mess deck, I will stand you a drink...or at very least..a decent meal on the Olympus..

She began to chuckle at Kray's response, but it turned into outright laughter at Lady's comeback.

"They certainly do," she answered. Having a big brother she was well used to the all-knowing male. Satisfied with the comm check coming back positive she tucked her tools back into various pockets and grinned over at Kray.

"I never turn down free food. Thanks." She pulled a small rag from her pocket and began wiping her hands clean. They weren't dirty, per se, but it seemed to fit the feeling of accomplishment after finishing a repair. "Let me know if anything else goes wonky with that coupler, Lady, and I'll replace it."

She went silent when the overhead comm sounded. At the end of the announcement her eyes were wide. So soon. Wow.

Many years later, two corvettes approach mars, a new chapter in the story opens.

Garrat gazed out the static field at the Martian highlands.  Despite another half a decade of ice being directed into the atmosphere the only plants growing in this wasteland was an obscure alien sage.  It dotted the landscape between the two Corvettes and the settlement: a series of smaller grounded ships gathered around a larger cargo hull that had been the core of a scientific expedition nearly two centuries ago.  (Will edit if my timeline is off).

 Mars was slowly being defeated. The  Delta Planets  Mellow  trees  hand been seeded, and try  to their  form, as they did in the Sahara, took root.  But, Both the rees, and the mellons were smaller, and the hybrid grasses from, around The Balck, we spreading...oh so slowly..from the  trunks The area was littered with  'house sized' domes that served   the purpose of   venting O2  and  capturing CO-2 as various  Plants grew.

  Earth and Astra   Cactuses  grew bigger then on  either planet, they became harvesting  plants  for  any colony  that grew them, addign  water from  thier stores, and  new ways to   'ook' them for  food, even if it was just  used to feed  livestock.

  Settlers took tips from Astra and Zolth. Zolth was  , indeed more  green, then Astra, Though the feeling was, that would change  as  Crestians  were being hunted into extinction on Astra.

 On the  same  idea  as 'smudge pots' machine s  protected  by Metaglass,  'manufactured' smoke and  mist, every now and then there  was the reward of a  5 or 10 minute shower, in the area, which was a happy by-product. But the main purpose  was  shielding   settlements from the sun.

 Elsewhere of  the   red  planet, buildings  pumped larger  clouds into the air.. covering  more and More Miles, causing  bigger   showers, and shading  more area.

 The  scientists  in this particular  outpost were independent , they  had to get their parts on thier own, and once a month ,a Sol System transport  would stop by , dropping off   supplies, parts  and people who wanted to transfer there. It wasn't the most thriving Colony, but is one of the few colonies  that  raised  Lizards. the  creatures thrived here.  they were  hunting  rodents and insects  that had  piggybacked to Mars. And the  Colony was in debate, on if they should try importing Largs.

     The ragtag group of ships that had joined Garrat in the sol system had been busy here.  One old military transport had settled on the rise adding one more permanent ship to the settlement and a small landing field cleared in the landscape.  Stacks of cargo containers partially buried in the dry sand made hidden hangers for small ships and shuttles and living and storage spaces for the new part of the community.

    What the casual observer didn’t know is that the hangers and the ship on the hill above them were connected by tunnels made by simply dropping extra cargo units in trenches and covering them over with the red sand.  The occasional cluster of make shift buildings hid a much larger, if simple complex beneath the sands, the most sensitive parts closed off giving the illusion of a simple smuggling base.

As Garrat is suiting up for work in the in the IS main bay, Joseph drops by “Got word from Earth.  Stoly is in route with some shuttles for the Hermes.”

    Garrat was giving his screw-servos a final test before closing his cockpit, excellent, the second array is finally linked into the power grid so we can charge them up.  The Sky Hag and the Pegasus’ Wing are headed for Fuji space so they can carry them if need be but I think they might want to chase the fleet under their own power.  What’s their ETA?”

“A couple of hours at most.  I’m going to head on over to the cantina.  A couple of prospective captains are coming in from Tortuga so we need to make their crew drunk and happy to sweeten the deal.”

“Whew, that doesn’t give me much time to do final touch ups.  I’ll leave you to that business, I’ve heard “Space Shanty” a couple dozen too many times already so I’ll go get the hangers prepped.”

  There  was a crackle on the   base COMs..Vocie only...

  Captain Stolyarev here, Got  some  aricfat here with Broken Lightbulbs, I hear you might be able to fix them?

The retired merc captain handling the smugglers base had no idea what Stoly was talking about so he patched the communication to Garrat who responded “Well sir, your in luck, repairing light bulbs is our specialty.  Popping flares in front of hangar two and four so you can get those bulbs into the dark where we can see how bright they are still burning.”

  Coming in, be advised  we ahve little ones here They were invited to dinner, but leftbefore the main course. need  food  and space worthly clothing  to get them out of ssystem

Garrett happened trotting outside in his Mech to meet them suddenly stopped cold.  “Oh no, I hope you were able to get to all of them in time.  We can certainly feed them in bed them.  Getting them clothing that’s their size will be more difficult. There aren’t a lot of children in this settlement.  If they don’t mind Oversized clothing that is warm and clean, we should be able to make do for now and send runners to other settlements for later.”
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Sun 18 Dec 2022.

  Stoly have a dark chuckle.......we brought them in!..then took them out.  and there's  about  200 less texas  empire sniffers that won't  hold office  again, along  with their  trophy wives and   a few Empire  rats   as garnish...

 If you can't  find  shoes or even stockings?  we'll make due..food and rest is what they need, then get them off system in the Morning..Bura is always lookign for kids.. and  Fuji isnat a bad palce..