The Diner/nightclub aboard the  ESN 351  Hermes. "hottest"  spot  on the  ship for  parties  and  unwinding. To meet friends, make  deals, have  parties................

   The  Commander secured the Nightclub  for a  private party ( though many of the crew  would be allowed in at any rate)..a  chance for celebration over the Military  and Diplomatic Victories...and perhaps..news of Upcoming events?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:21, Fri 01 July 2011.

 The Commander and the LC are already in  The Pulse, nightclub section. there are a handful of bridge personeel there, as well as  some other Crew that were invited ( the tropedo pilots  and the Torpedo battery crews  that  fired on the  Largran)  there  are  a handful of  mercs there  as well, they all came in a group with  Capt Roles  and Raven. One  Corner of the room has been adjusted  with a huge table set with all kinds of Foods  and deserts for people to munch on the Move.

  The BAr  is open and its  free. ( the Commander  is picking up the tab)

  The Music is  being piped in  from the sound system, and is  mostly High energy dance  mUisc, with  two slow slongs  tossed in, now and again...........

Hannah entered the club hesitantly after noticing Raven was already inside. The last thing she wanted was another confrontation with the female pilot, especially as there was only so long Hannah would sit by and watch Raven flirt with Kray. She looked around to see if Angela or Beth had arrived yet as she hovered just inside the doorway.

  Beth was by the table  sipping on  some  bright red  drink that had a little  umbrella in it, Miller  was next to her  with a  Mug of  beer. Both were dressed Nicely, Beth in a Knee high Dark blue  dress, Miller had on  black slacks  and   red Tee that said 'Hermes' Honey" on it.

  Roles  was  laughing  and  talking to some of the  Hermes' pilots, telling the  of  dogfights  years ago..Stevens  stood there  taking it  all in.

  Raven Sat  near the door, she  wore her  Harvestor Flight  Jacket, over  a thigh high Black dress, and 3 inch heels. She Caught   Hannah's  eye and  Just nodded to her, then looked to the door.

  As  Kray  Followed  Hannah in, Rivets  took him aside,...if ya  want Lass? Go get yerself a drink, i have  sumpthin to tell Kray....It'll only be a minute..then  you can  have  'em back...

 The Pilot smiled  at Hannah, Go...have  fun, I find you in a bit....

  As  Rivets  took Kray off to the side, he pulled  a smudged  hankerchief From his  Pocket, he said  something to Kray who took a step back and shook his head...then the Captain brought  out  something from his other pocket  and held it up for  Kray to see...the look on  the Pilot's  face started  out  as shock, but faded to anger. Rivets patted his shoulder and  said  something, the Pilot Nodded  a few  times, but one  could tell he was not very happy.

 LC Si met  Hannah as she  took some steps into the room, Hello Hannah, I am Glad to see you here....  Her  eyes  roamed  room as settled on Raven  who was  watching   Kray with Rivets...Let me give you some tips... she leaned a bit closer  to Hannah as they walked towards  Beth  and Miller.

  The  Commander  was  talking to  the Torpedo men  of the hermes  who fired the ship's  Torpedos, he watched   the LC and Hannah walk by and winked  at them both.

  Frans  entered the Room in a Burgandy  Knee high dress and  small heels,  Raven nodded to her  as well, but Frans  just gave a fraction of a notice, as she walked towards the  Table of  drinks  and eats.

  5 minutes later Eckles  came in with   a Pair of black slacks and  a Pink blouse on, Raven didn't  even acknowldge her. not the Eckles  cared as she  surveyed the room and  moved to get a drink.

Angela entered slowly wearing the same outfit she wore at the game. She would look at everyone with a nod and smile to any who would greet her. She even managed to find and hire the same hairdresser who did her hair and makeup the last time.

Oria came in soon after Angela wearing a dress that looked suitable for only a Princess of of her Angel home world, an elegant piece of clothing in nature, being a darker tone of gold then her own skin. the upper portion fits tightly to her body then frills gently down from her hips which held a thin band of turquoise gold as a belt with very few segments in it. There are eight bands of the same material. four place on each of her sides also segmented as they lay close to her body, starting just under her breasts down to just above the belt. the bands would ring around each of her sides into a spine guard. Her hair is put up with many loose braids done along the top of her head, the rest is pulled back and braided as well in multiple braids in a ponytail. she needed little makeup though she had chosen to wear a light purple eyeshadow that lined back softly to her hair line. She also smelt of the most favored scents of on of royalty would wear.
She would walk around slowly looks to everyone as they did what they did.

  The Commander  gives the torpedomen a slap on the shoulder  as they move  towards the food  and drink. He walks  around the room , Letting   Si  and Hannah go off to thier  friends. He stops  as he watches  Kray with Rivets. The Captain  seems to be trying to settle the Pilot  down, while  Kray, is doing  a slow  burn as they talk.


  Raven watches Angela  enter  the  nightclub, she seems  to size her  up  then go back to her  drink, when Oria come in, she frowns  a bit, her eyes  going over towards   The LC, then back to Oria.

  Cindy  enters  the Club, dressed in  black slacks  and a white blouse, She seems  uncomfortable with the growing  crowd, but  moves around the room looking tosee all who is there.

Hannah had to smile at the advice, and it certainly calmed her nerves. She was a little dismayed to see she was underdressed compared to most of the other women here tonight. She'd had a limited number of civvies to start with and most of them were covered in grease or far too fancy for a club night. She was wearing the flex-weave top the LC had given her with a simple gray skirt and flats. Her hair was hanging loose down her back but hadn't been styled beyond a simple clip to keep it off her face.

"Thanks, ma'am... Oh! There's Angela!" Hannah waved to her friend and grinned. Then she caught sight of Kray, who looked mad enough to hit someone, and she bit her lip as she watched Rivets trying to calm him down. She hoped everything was okay but turned to order a soft drink as she waited for Angela to come over. Oria had just entered and Hannah wished more than ever that she'd at least put on some makeup or done something with her hair.

  LC  Si  smile d at Hannah,as she waved to Angela. The  LC  looked at her  a bit the quirkly little  'Angel' smile she had,Don't  worry  about the clothes..unless you are on the Hunt?...remember lesson one...

  She gave  Hannah a little Hug  and moved off towards  The Commnader as  a slower  song  came on.

  Beth smiled,..Hiya  Hannah...gonna  be  a good night! no work for most of us tomorrow...we can let loose!

  For you letting loose, mean finishing one of those  fruit drinks!  The other New  LT  smiled, her jest taken as it was meant  By Beth.


  Raven  stepped out onto the Dance  floor, followed  by one of the Harvestor Pilots and they began to dance the slow  dance,

  Rivets said something to Kray  and he nodded his head  as he loked  away, Rivets  reached up and Pulled on Krays  shirt, to make him look at him and said something again..this time Kray looked at the CAptain  and nodded his head... Rivets  smiled and nodded  and gave   kray a whack on the shoulder that nearly toppled him, Rivets  then, made a bee line for the drinks.

  Roles had  moved away from the hermes  Piltos  and  was hitting on a hermes  bridge  ensign.

  frans was nearing the  table where  Hannah and the  Other  girls  were, Eckles wasmoving   along the far side of the  club as if  lookig for someone.

Angela smiles and waves back to Hannah and the LC before turning as Oria came in ans chuckled to herself shaking her head as she walked up to the Angel. "I said to dress casual." She looks the woman over and grinned. "Well at least you will be able to knock some of the guys out if they paid attention to you."

  There  was much going on. The doormen only left  crewfolk in, and the  few civies that were consider   Military, like the Doc  and  Cindy.

  Pete, the Merc, was following En Marra, a Pilotfrom C  flight. She looked  harrassed  as Kray  was walking across the room, he passed Raven and her partner, she  said  something to him, if he  heard, you could not tell. Marra stopped  By Kray , and so did Pete. The  Merc looked up at the Pilot, saying something. Kray's eyes narrowed, as Marra moved  behind him and Pete...the Merc  was puling something  from the back of his belt  as he  spoke to Kray, the  Music  far too loud  for  words to be heard, except by those   right next to them

  Cindy sipped  some wine  and  lad  a tiny  plate with some odd finger foods  on., she seemed  comfortable, and lost,all at the same time.

  Miller shook her head, a grin creeping  across her face,  going to be  a good  night..it  sure  won't be boring....

Roy really didn't have anything that he considered flashy enough for a place like The Pulse, so he settled for what he did have...some semi-fashionable jeans, a casual dress shirt, and a lightweight leather jacket cut in the style of a motorcycling jacket (though far too light to be practical for motorcycling).

He walked in, a little ill at ease.  He managed to hide it most of the time, when it was a 'military' situation, but being in crowded spaces gave him jitters.  He'd never felt comfortable in large crowds.  He made a mental note to himself to invest in some more fashionable stuff, if events like this were going to be commonplace.  All this went through his mind as he scanned the room, nodding as a few people waved to him.  He was unsure of what, really, to do, as out of his element here as he'd been any time since he boarded the Hermes.

For lack of anything better to do, he walked over to the bar and ordered a soft drink.  He expected it would be a long evening...he'd want to pace himself with any alcohol.

Oria just smiled to Angela and nodded to her. "Where I am from this is formal." She would spot the LC then looked back to Angela with a bow. "Please excuse me, there is someone who I must meet." She bows again and walks, no glides over to the LC "Greetings."

 Stopping she turned to greet Oria, Hello, You must have been Hole up down in the maintaince office..I have not seen you since you boarded. How are youo adjusting to  deep space flight?

Angela's Eye brow raises at how Oria was acting in this situation, it was way to formal for her own liking, but the girl was nice to be around. Angela shrugs and watches roy enter and smiles, though he didn't seem to notice her. men. she makes her way to him, but making sure she was behind him before tapping his shoulder. "Is this seat taking?" She asks trying not to chuckle, or giggle like a school girl.

Oria nods with a delicate smile. "Yes, It has been hectic trying to fill all those orders within a short time span, but I managed. I was also able to repare quite a few ships afterwards which was easy enough for me. Although the ship named Lady does have a likeable personality." She pauses for a while before glancing over to Kray. "I am how ever a little upset that your Pilot right there has been taken by another female. I had traveled far from home to be with him."

Hannah had been watching Kray's progress through the room waiting for him when she saw him stopped by Pete. Worried this time about the situation she crossed the room as quickly as possible to get to his side. Few men would start swinging when a woman was standing between them. It wasn't her smartest idea ever, but it had kept her brother out of trouble more than once.

It felt like it was taking forever to get to him.

  as Hannah grew  nearer she was picking up....

  ..Look flyboy, this  ain't none of your business.... his hand was on the grip of a Creen pistol, tucked behind his  back.

  ..when one of  my pilots  feel harrassed? It becomes  my business... his eyes  note the Movement  of the man's hand  and adds,..the last person that pulled  a weapon  on me is lying in  the Mull manor...you best be scratching your back...

 Mara  see Lt. Killian coming over, her eyes look at her in appeal, but for  a fighter  pilot, the  girls  looked damn scared.

  Frans was closing  in as well...Raven  Pushed  away the Pilot  she was dancing with and Moved to Pete's side.

 Kray Picked up Hannah as  she came into view, it  was not lost on him the  En Mara moved towards her,  and frans  was coming up the other side.

 Raven Put her  hand  on her hips  and leaned towards kray ( trying to use the effect of the lowcut on her  dress?)..you bothering  My Flight crew? Damn Shadow, you don't have  anything better to do?

 Fran's  speaks up..the pervert  has  a  small blaster tucked behind his belt, Raven....

 Hannah can see Kray's left sleeve throwing  dagger has  already slipped into the palm of his hand.

Mara  speaks up,..he ..he  tried to get  me to leave  with him....he wasn't taking  no for an answer...he threatened me...

  Roles and  HAck were on they  way over, neither of them looked very happy .

  The LC looked..which pilot.... as she  turned  her  eyes  widened,..Shadow? Kray?  she  smiled  as she placed  a gentle hand on  Oria's  shoulder,..aye, You are just a few weeks too late.

  Si's  smile was gentle,...he   is , indeed a  likeable fellow...I think they make  a good pair. You will beworking with  Lt Killian...Hannah...alot, she is the  LT of the Comm-techs  now. Between you two? Out guys  and gals in those fighters  might live to see the end of this war...or at least, the end of thier enlistment.

  she noticed the gathering   of people, few others  did, which was good.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Sat 02 July 2011.

Hannah finally reached the small group and stepped right between Kray and Pete, providing an obstacle to both men. Not the smartest place she'd ever put herself, but probably the distraction necessary to diffuse the situation... she hoped.

"Hey, Mara, I think the LC had a question for you. Why don't you head that way?" She smiled to the other woman and then leaned back against Kray and looked up at merc crew members. "Hello Raven. Pete. Are you two enjoying the party the commander arranged?" When in doubt be excessively polite. With any luck Pete would be less likely to strike out or say anything that would push Kray too far. "It'll be a while before we get to have such a fun night off duty for a while, don't you think? It'd be a shame for anyone to get banned from these events over a misunderstanding..."

Her voice was soft, but her expression made it clear that she had a full grasp of the situation. She merely wanted to give Pete and Raven a chance to back down gracefully before either Hack or Roles got involved.

  She  could  feel his tension drop quickly as she  leaned  back agauinst him, the  dager, did  not leave his  left hand and he slips, just  a half  step to his left, incase he needed to strike out.

 Mara put  a thanful hand on Hannh's  arm as she nodded, I will see  to that right  away..thank you Lt....

 Frans  glowered at Raven then  smiles at Hannah,..I'll go with You Helen, and  she  walked on the inside of  Mara  closest to Pete, both there backs  turned  with full trust in thier  crewmates  that Nothing was going to harm them.

 Raven  was chewing nails as she  glared  at Hannah,  her eyes  went  to Kray  as she  said, in   a soft, what she thought  was enticing, voice,  what do you say  , Shadow?  Bygones  and all that?

 Pulling himself a bit  straighter, the   throwing  dagger being clutched  for  a strike, his  eyes never  left Pete's...who..to his  credit, only seems  a little intimadated,..He gives that weapon to me..he can stay..if he bothers another Hermes Female...he'll go back to the HArvestor on a med-tray...

 Pete snarled  , but  Raven put  an arm out, trying to  be like Hannah  and stepp between them  give it to him, pete...if you want to stay....

  Just  as HAck and Roles appeared,  Pete  handed the  weapon over  with  a red face. Kray took the  weapon, letting  Pete see the  dagger slide back up his sleeve.

  Hack  says to  Roles,..it  appears  our people  are having  a bit of talk  as to which crew is better?


 Roles nodded, that would be  my guess...good thing it didn't get out of hand, be a damn shame for anyone to spend the rest of thier time off in the Brig....

 With a flick of his  arm  he Motioned Pete  and Raven to Disperse, Pete said something like,..you were almost short a pilot...

 Roles  Grabbed the man by the back of the shirt and  "escorted him" away,..don't be  a fool Lad...he's killed more folks in New York  then you 'll see killed in space...

  Hack turned to Hannah, I might have to make you Morale  officer...now..its over...go have  fun....

   Sheepishly Kray  Nodded Tossing the  weapon to one of the doormen who  had  come over after seeing the Commnaders  approach.

Roy looked first, then turned at the tap on his shoulder.  "Nah, help yourself," he said with a chuckle.  He sipped his soda, noting the unusual cluster of people out on the floor--unusual, because nobody was dancing or trying to move anywhere.  Somehow, it didn't surprise him to see Shadow in the middle of it--really didn't surprise him, either, to see Pete and Raven facing off against Shadow.

It was probably for the best that he hadn't heard what was behind the whole situation...still worried about Lyri, he might have said something regrettable.  As it was, he still kept an eye on the situation...especially on Pete with his hand behind his back.

"Yes, sir," she said to Hack, unsure what else she should say. Hannah set her drink down at a nearby table and took Kray's hand after the commander walked away and dragged him toward the dance floor.

"Dance with me until you calm down," she said in his ear.

Over her shoulder she could see Raven still steaming at the loss of both the argument and Kray, and a small part of Hannah just wanted to smirk. She hadn't really done anything herself but she couldn't help grinning at how oblivious Kray seemed about the other woman. Rather than crowing like a bad sport she wrapped her arms around Kray's neck and smiled up at him as she spoke. "What happened with Rivets?"

   Kray Gave   a nod to The Commander  as  the  Commander gave a quick  stern look to  Shadow  as Hannah  lead him off.

   Another slow dance  came up,perhaps at the signal of the Commander? At  any rate, Kray  put his arm around Hannah   and smiled  a bit more  easily. Sorry ,'bout that. Just  too many  wrong  things  at the  wrong  time....Once this dance is over, You can go over to the girls  if you want, spend  some time  with them, I'll be handy when you want me... he winks.

  When she mentioned Rivets, she  felt a short surge of anger flow through him, but it didn't last long,..This is between us..right now...I'm going to have to talk with  Spens..the  slug that almost took out  Lady? It was  a Hammer  Cannon round...a dud. Had it  gone off, it  would have blown the whole front half of Lady off....Not sure  were it  came from though...since it was a dud..it  could not be  a Hermes round. Unless  Rivets  slipped  on his choices  from the ordinace folks... The Mull fighters had what amounted to old  earth machineguns  and  Nose  cannons...without seeing the rounds from the cannons? I cannot tell if it  was one of thiers  or not...but Rivets  showed me a fresh  Hammer  round...They looked like twins... Rivets  thinks...it  came  from another Hammer.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:26, Sat 02 July 2011.

  Raven was angry, as well as embarrassed. she  was a fighter pilot, when she picked her target, it was going down...she started to walk around the Flowered stage in the middle of the fllor that was  set up for  what annoucnements  might be made later, she was coming in from behind, a sneer on her face as she was going to 'cut in' and dance with  Shadow.

  Eckles stepped in front of her and shook her head, Pointing to a group of  Hermes Crewmen who were, very much 'into' Raven's looks. Go pick some of them..hell..all of them...I'm thinking  they need  some time  alone..don't you....

  The Blackhaired  Pilot looked at Eckles  with a  frown, then pivoted on her heels  and head back towards  the Table she came  from...in a huff.
.................................................................

  Coming  nearer  to Spencer  and Angela Roles  , still holding  a handfull of  Pete's flowered  shirt,..now Lad?  You stay away from Shadow, and that Lady...next time? I'll let him carve you up....

 The  Cap[tain  turned, tries to remember  where his  new found  fans  were, and headed of to try to rekindle the chat up.

 Pete  sat down a table  away from Spencer, this  time, he was doing   the slow  burn.
...............................................................

 The LC  and Oria  stood together as Frans  brought En Mara to them,..en...I  mean LT  Killian said you  have  a question for En Mara, and suggested  she  come over  right  away...I though i might come with her, and say hellow  to Lt Lzaedanon. Capt Rivets  said  she   is focusing on  working on the Hammers now...I am Lt Frans, Carole...if you wish.

 Mara  smiled  sheepishly, it  was clear  she was shaken, which is  saying alot  , for a HAmmer pilot.
..........................................................

Roy shifted in his seat, so that he could keep one eye on Pete unobtrusively.  He'd seen his share of hotheads...they were bad enough when they were just infantrymen that banded together.  Infantry that got buddy-buddy with pilots made for mercurial situations.

He'd allowed himself a small grin as he saw Eckles cut Raven off at the edge of the dancing, and decided he just might have to revise his opinion of Frans and her cronies.  Before the whole situation down on the planet, he wouldn't have trusted any of them further than he could spit...but they seemed to be shaping up, and sticking with their own when the chips were down and it really counted.  If that was the case, he'd tolerate them getting snooty when things were relatively peaceful...he'd still do his best to see them put in their place, if they went that far, but it would be a good-natured gesture, rather than the veiled hostility that had been the case previously.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, the suspicious part of him noted that this could all still be an act--and rather than dismissing the thought as paranoia, he just shrugged and decided he'd sit back and watch.  He still doubts about several people in the crew...Hell, I'm not even sure how certain I am about Hack, he told himself.  Taking nothing for granted had kept him alive and mostly healthy, to this point...he saw no reason to change that now.

  Capt Morris  came in. He smiled   at some greetings, chuckled  as some of the younger pilots gave him both   respect, and  a wide berth, Rivets  waved him over to the eats and  drinks  table.

  Manfred Barron, the pilot with the shakes  came in. he looked over the groups, he smiled  slightly when  someone would greet him. The story around the ship is, after his 10th kill, he landed on the hanger  deck, and  the portside   wing  broke off, it had been shot through  by a demon...one more  move, one more shot...and he would have been part of Mar's Landscape...Hack brought  him along  for teching, and to keep his wages  at full. Thus  far, the 30 year old "grandfather" of the pilots, had not done  much. Though he seemed to  pay a lot of attention to Shadow.
..............................................

  Cindy talked  with some of the other  Crew that were there, Stefi had  come up, and they were comparing notes over thier new "bosses"
.........................................................

 Lt. Stevens  was reliving his victory of   'the  red baron' and  telling the  tale of the lizard he torched, for all those   who would listen..some of the Yonger  women seemed entranced....
..............................................

  Pete waved off  a couple ofhis Harvestor buddies  as  he  stared at  Shadow  and  Hannah, Grabbing  a drink of  the  waitress, without even asking , and almost causing her to dump the tray..it  appears..his fun was done  for the night.

.......................

 Raven sat  at the table  a few tables  away from Roy, on the other side of the door, Two Hermes Crew ( none  pilots)  came over to chat her up...they were summarily dismissed, something  about  '..come back when you got wings...'
.........................................................

She smiles and sits down beside Spencer and leans back against the bar using her elbows  to prop herself up. Though she was all dolled up, she felt more comfortable just sitting like one of the guys. "How is your night going?"

Roy grinned, despite his misgivings and musings.  "I've never been a big fan of night clubs, in general...being in a crowded place with lots of people and no sense of structure to any of it?  Never quite clicked for me."

He took a sip of his soda, and added, "But I'm surviving, thanks for asking.  Nobody's made me crazy yet, so I can't complain too much."  His smile had a self-deprecating twist to it, as though he realized just how ridiculous his fears were...but he showed little indication of trying to do anything about it.

She smiles lightly to him and nods as he talk. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Although I'm not used to people in general. I was locked away in a hospital for five whole years and didn't get much human interaction." She turns long enough to order a beer. Then turns back to him. "But since I came here, it seems like I have suddenly grown used to the idea of having friends." she would be silent for a while before grabbing the offered beer.

 The  Music was playing   while the Commander  made his rounds, He was seeing most of the folks settle into the party feeling, or at very least,not posturing. Turningto Roles, he waved him up  the the Center stage, and they both climbed the  set of stairs. Roles gave   Hack a fresh mug of beer, holding one  for himself.

 They waited  for the song to Finish, then signaled the Sound Master to hold the next song. One of the server  girls brought up a Mic on a  stand  and turned it on, then  left the  platform  to the  two Commnaders.

Roy chuckled, distractedly, and nodded at the statement about getting used to having friends.  He was just about to add a comment when the Commander took his place with the microphone, obviously about to speak.  Roy remained silent, focused on Hack and Roles, curious to hear what they had to say.

  The  Music  stopped and Hack  called out into the mircophone  for attention, tilting it  to Roles who called to his  folks  as well. The  Room became  quiet, with just a splatter of  words here and there.

  Waiters  and waitresses, Please  make certain that everyone has  the drink of thier choice.... The commanders waited  for  a few moments, Looking down from the stand  as Kray  and Hannah recived a mug of softdrinks, and  HAck nodded,

  First, a Toast to the  Grand Victories here..in the Delta Sector. The treaty was signed Moments before I arrived here. The Delta Planets are now part of the AP, with Delta Prime, being  Under Earth's flag. It is the first Planet, outside our solar system, to be ...'ours' All of you here, Both Hermes  and Harvestor have made that possible..so?  Raise your gallsses  for the first toast!  The two Commanders  held up thier  Mugs  , turning so  all those  around them  were acknowledged, and drank.

  Second...I have  the Pleasure of annoucing the Promotion of  En  Miller , to Lt Miller. Navigator and... he turns  again, holding up his  free hand to emphasize  and , under whose command, tha Largran Ship was destroyed.  Once more the glasses  were raised, admist the cheers and whisltes, of most of those there.

  En  Killian, for  quick thinking  down  on the planet, more then likely, saved the Ground forces of ours, and, enabled us  to remain in contact, when it  seems  the Lizards had  all, but cut off our comms,I have no doubt, that we  would be short a few  folks  right now, had it not been  for  her  quick thinking  and quick actions....Raise your  glasses to...Lt  Killian...

 People cheered  again, Beth Nudged  Hannah  as  Kray placed his  hand on her back  while raising his Mug...

 ..Now. My  Comrades, and Crewmates, I could point out many more awards...all here, from both ships, have recieved  the  ESN  Bronze  Star, with  an ESN silver star going to those  the High Command  felt had  earnt them , Master  Sgt Spenser, has  been Given the added rank Of Chief of Security, En Stoly, has been given the  postion of  Unarmed, and person to person combat trainer he leans towards the Mic,..and yes  fellas, there is a bump in pay for that.

  People laughed  and   clapped as  the Commander went on, Along  with  the  Bronze star for the Harvestor  and her  crew, Lt Raven and her  Fighters  also recieved  the ESN  silver star, as they were under  my command as a supporting  Ship... To our  friends on the Harvestor!

  Though the  Hermes  folks were  a bit slower to raise thier  glasses most of them did, as the merriment continued. Here..Hack stepped back and Roles stepped forward,

  Right you are   Commnader HAck, and, while the Subject has been brought  up, I will announce this, since your  Commander...our Commander..Might be  a bit  bashful in the saying of it. As of the Moment the treaty was signed, Commander Hack has been given over all Command of what is going to be known as The Delta  Fleet.  The ESN Hermes is to be the Flagship The ESN Artemis, The ESN Athena along  with the destroyers ESN Flint, and ESN Granite..Our sistership, the EMS Prowler is , as i speak, steaming her  way here as well. The Prowler, Like the  Harvestor have signed Letters  or Marque..to Commander HAck...not the ESN... and we will stay within the Delta  Fleet, for as long  as Commander  HAck, and the Hermes  are in charge. The Fuji with her  Cruiser  the Hera and the Destroyers  Tin  and Shale..are also consider  part of the Delta Fleet. The only exception here, is the Fuji will remain  under the Command of Admiral Hai Moto. Here is to  Delta Fleet!  Roles  raises his  glass as  all around the room, folks  begin to realize what is happening. They will no longer be alone in space, But have now become... a force.......

Roy had gotten another soft drink, when the Commander announced the need for them--it was bad luck to fake a toast with an empty glass, even worse luck than toasting with plain water.  Not knowing just how many toasts were going to be made, he kept his consumption low, taking just a sip with each drink.

Until his changed status was announced,  He almost missed the drink for that one.  Part of him wanted to jump up and denounce the assignment--he was a sniper, after all, not a security specialist.  But he also thought about the different operations he'd been part of since boarding the Hermes...he realized that he was, in many ways, going the opposite route that many went.  They learned their firearms and eventually specialized as snipers--he'd gone in already specialized, and was learning more general techniques as he went.

Realizing that he was about to miss a toast to himself, he got himself back in motion and kept pace with everyone through the rest of the proceedings.  He was again surprised, though not as sharply, when Roles announced that the merc ships had letters of marque to the Commander...it wasn't unprecedented, but the practice hadn't been common since the earliest days of the 19th Century, as far as he could recall.

Still, it was like he'd told Storm, back before the Delta Omega mission...they were fighting an unprecedented war, now.  Tactics would have to be adjusted--including who made the front-line decisions.  He sure as hell trusted Hack to make better judgment calls that some bureaucrat back on Earth who had probably never even been under fire.  He raised a glass to the new fleet, taking a casual glance around to gauge reactions to all the news.

  The Commander signaled the  Sound Master  to begin to play again, Once more, he started  with a slow song, so he could build  back up to the party frenzy.

  Commander Hack  and the LC Joined up to Dance, as Roles moved  about  the floor, talking to  some  folks who have questions  for him, and some who just wished to give him congradualtions  on the fight.

  En, Mara was a bit  better  , but  still a bit shaken, frans and Oria  standing  near her, Frans  said,now?  You don't  let that refugee from a sewage Tender  ruin your night...enjoy yourself....when it  comes time to leave, if you don't  have anyone  one to leave with, ask any of us, heck..ask Shadow..that will keep that pile  of  Lizard  crap away from you..."

  Mara  smile d a bit  and Nodded.

.........................................................

  other  folks  worked thier  way through the room, looking  for  dance partners, drinking  friends, or just some one to talk to.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:26, Wed 06 July 2011.

Hannah was trying to understand, but her brain refused to make the connection. All she could think of was too scary to really think about for long. The only thing she knew was this was bad... very bad if Shadow's reaction was anything to judge by. Before she could ask, though, Commander Hack stepped up to make his announcements and she simply fell quiet. In one hand she held her soda and the other took Kray's hand for comfort, both giving and receiving.

When it was all over she turned to Kray. "Explain this to me," she said after stepping back into his arms to dance. "Because if you're saying this means what I think you mean... what are we going to do?" She lay her head on Kray's shoulder as they danced and stepped a little closer to him.

  His right hand   slipped up her back resting on her shoulders, the left  hand held her waist,..I dunno...Maybe  get Beth to pull up the  Gun cannon camara  shots  from all the Hammers on the planet..we should even be able to get the HArvestor's views  as well. Lady took alot of  rounds  from the ground folks, but i didn't  see anything that would  be firing   Hammer Cannon rounds....Those Jets? I don't  think any of them touched  her, I could be wrong, But  i am fiarly certain  we would have  felt  a cannon round  hit us...Unless...it was in there before we ever left the Hermes....
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:39, Thu 07 July 2011.

  Rivets gleefully hit the scotch and rum, taking a  small sandwitch now  and again as he looked over the crowd.

  tHe  LC  and   The Commander danced, the slow  song  about half over.

  Beth  was  standing  with Miller, not  far from Fran's , Mara  and Oria

  Pete  was  sitting at the table  slugging down beers.

 Raven was talking to  a hermes pilot  who sat by her.

She sat there with a grin as the Commander was making his speech, raising her beer and trying to yell the loudest when everyone else was cheering or what not. When Roy was announced to have a promotion, she nudged him with her elbow and winked to him, though looked a bit preoccupied at the moment. "Hey handsome, what happened to you guys down there? You didn't call or right." she mocked a pout to him not knowing the gravity of the situation with him.

Roy smiled wanly.  "Well, everything was going to plan, until right after we shot.  The woods were crawling with Largrans, just a few minutes after our shots were fired."  He paused, sipping his soda and looking, for just a moment, like he wishes it was something a lot stronger.

"By the time Stoly got in there to pick us up, I had about five rounds left...Storm was out, and Lyri was in serious danger of bleeding to death.  She's still not out of the woods...took a round in the thigh, and if there hadn't been three of us down there, she wouldn't have made it back.  If Shadow hadn't come down to treetop level and done some truly suicidal close air support, NONE of us would have made it back."

Despite the harrowing circumstances he was describing, his tone was matter-of-fact.  While he didn't ever look forward to such experiences, this was hardly his first time in a 'meat grinder'.

Mal arrived at the party late. He had been deep in studies on the specimens and hadn't even remembered the party until it was well under way.

He headed over to Commander Hack and said, "Sorry for the late arrival sir. Since the mission I've been busy in the lab..." then stood around kind of awkwardly.

  The Commander, smiled a Bit,..good to know you had  some  to work on. If I am not mistaken, there is  a Mull Prisoner waiting to be brought to your lab. We want  full workups   on every species  we can get our hands on. friends or foes. You never know which  way some of these species  will turn, when the going gets  tough.

  He points to the  Tables where the food  and drink are,..The Ship is  on stand down  for another  .... he pulls out his comm and checks the time,another  43 hours, so enjoy yourself...

Mal's mouth dropped open and no words came out for a moment. Then his jaw went back where it belonged and he said, "You tell me there's a new species to examine, that you want full workups   on every species, and that I have 43 hours to do it.... Then you say enjoy myself?

Which do you want Commander?

I'll be stretched to get you the basics on the Mull in that time. I'm still doing tests on the other specimens and I've only begun to process the one I got yesterday.

I got lots on the primary, some on the new ones, and the computer hasn't even finished associative processing of the data I got on planet.

Honestly?

I gave my bonus away but I didn't design the damn devices. I even went out of my way to try and get them for the team and only managed to get them pissed off at me for it.

Then I spent the last night working until exhaustion on the specimen I got in and contacted you with my findings.

Now this?

I'm not sure I'm up to that sir...
Really..." and he looked very overwhelmed.

  The Commnader's eyebrows  furrowed,..You have  from now, until the  day  some  one Blows the Hermes up...I was just telling you that there is  one waiting for you....I am thinking you need  a drink.."

  The LC smiled,..I  think maybe  more then one...

Mal looked lost and confused. He'd been working harder in the last few days than he ever had... even on explorations.

He looked down and didn't seem to know what to do. He couldn't even guess at what they expected...

So he found the nearest empty seat and looked at the floor.

Mal thought to himself..
"He didn't even know how to ask what his duty was at this point...

He was a scientist...
not a soldier...
certainly not a diplomat...
How was he going to..." then just looked at the floor.

She had been walking around seeming bored after she spoke to the LC. She was silent throughout the speech looking at everyone as they cheered, then looking back top Angela clearly being the loudest of their crew. She then started to clap as the speech went on before wandering around again. Something came to her mind about a project she was working on that she wanted to tell the Commander about. It took her a while before she found him, the LC and Mal standing together talking. She would nod to them as she waited for the two males to finish before speaking. "Excuse me commander, I know this is no time for work talk but may I speak with you a moment?"

Of Course Lt Lzaedanon, you can talk  about  hwat you like, but  work  waits for  another  40 + hours...now..what's on your mind?. The Commander smiled. The LC  stepped  away a bit to let the  talk, tuning to  Lt Miller , who was  walking about.
\

"At my home world I was given a task to learn how the cloaking of the demons worked after my people had captured one of their ships. well I had brought the device back in order to continue my research on the object." She would look to Mal with a light shy smile before continuing. "I have found how it works and have made a working duplicate easier to merge into a human or angel system framework. I also have invented a device that will be able to see their cloaked ships. If you wish for me to demonstrate it for you later, it would be an honor."

   with a smile, he asks,..I happen to have  two battle ready Demon fighters on board this  ship, as well as one  LArgran fighter..you could play with them if you wish, once you get the bugs out?  we'll see about  working on a Hammer.


  so? how are you getting on here? Meet any good peole...then his  eyes narrow,..or bad  people?

"I have met almost the entire Pilot population last night as I began my first duty to them. the only one I might have had a problem with were those I worked with. the Crew men lacked the ability to obey an order from me." She shrugs ever so slightly and delicately with a soft sigh. "I have also met a ship, if you can believe it, She was a delight to work on." She smiles enough to radiate her cheer from the thought of Lady.

  The Commander nodded with a soft Smile,..Lady..Shadow's  fighter..I must admit, they told me not to let him stick that Sanri AI in her...but I have seen no problems, and  Shadow  is still alive, so? I think he did  a good thing. Her Opinion matters to  Shadow  as well....odd  if you think  about it..

"Not to me sir. If we had more ships like her, we could find problems much faster, and maybe the pilots will take as much care as Kray does with Miss Lady." She grins wider. "Yes, that would help us out allot. But the down side of that would be the Pilots getting attached to their ships so much that when something happens to their bird, there could be some chaos started." Her smile fades but she turns her head as to be lost in thought.

That?, My Good  Lt.  Is  an Undertstatement. There is  still a fellow  in  the Moon base Med-lab for trying to take out  the AI from LAdy..and that was  a year ago....

She pulled back in shock and shook her head, she was far to busy with her work that she hadn't heard of the situation. "What was the reason for such treachery? was it because the man was jealous over Kray's ability to own the ship?" there was a slight anger in her tone now. She didn't know Lady all that well and she didn't know anything of Kray except she had a crush on him.

  Kray won a princely sum, in a bet with the  fellow  on who could fly thier fighter the best...he said Kray cheated  by having  Lady in there, so he was going to pull it out..very...very  bad move. His arms  were broken before he even hit the deck, The  Guards had to  Pull  Kray  off the  man...they say  his  face should be  back to normal in another 6 months or so..But...between you and I?..I wouldn't mess with that ship..not unless i killed him first...

She shook her head lightly and laughed just as softly. "I can tell by the sots taken from all the ships sir, that no one should ever challenge Kray...or Miss Lady. the only next best to fly is a toss up on Miss Morsan and Miss Frans, though they were pretty bad looking hits, they both took minimal Damage."

Mal snapped out of it a bit and headed over to the goodies. He took some food, a glass, and a bottle of booze, then headed to a table in a corner away from the big fuss that had no one sitting at it.

He hit the food with a fierce appetite and poured himself a tall drink of the booze. He'd hit that next.

  The Commander  and the LC  slpit  up for a bit ,,as the dances became faster. they mingled  with folks  from both ships, talking toany who seemed like thay  might  wish to speak, and  nodded a hello  and continuing on when they thought the people might not wish bothered.


 Beth, Miller  and Eckles  were on the  floor Dancing to  some  new Music that came  from Fuji, high energy Dance.

  Pete watched  a bit   from his table, and  asked  for another  bottle of beer.

 Raven took off her flight  jacket  and  moved out onto the Floor  daninc  close to  Beth and the others, to  try  and show them up.

  Rivets, Monroe  and Morris  all stood  by the table  sipping on  drinks  and nibbling as they watched  some of the Younger folks   have fun.

Hannah shivered and moved cleser, hugging Kray now more than dancing with him. "Who would do something like that? I mean, how could they do it without Lady noticing?"

Hannah was genuinely worried. If Gray had been flying around, in ammo no less, with a Hammer round a gnat's ass from incapacitating Lady... she didn't even want to think about it.

Once he'd ate he looked at the drink. He really wasn't a drinker. He took the bottle back to the table he got it from and left the glass of it on the table.

Then he left to go for a walk.

To Off Duty

 he held her tighter  as they danced..I have  an Idea. If  I am right , we have to check all the  Hammers  except  for Angela's, and the  new ones  we got from  OLympus....If  I am wrong, then...someone  tried to shoot me down.

 when the Music stopped, Kray took the Comm of his belt  and pressed a few buttons. HAck, Rivets, the LC, and Spencer all got the same  Message "  all Hammers  are Locked  down Until cleared for take off by Wing Commander...enigine issues need dealt  with...any questions, seek  out  the WC..."

 he smiled  at Hannah,Now then...everything  will be  fine, one  way or the other, By this time tomorrow. Let's  enjoy the  night andMingle, until you're  ready to  head back home.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:10, Mon 11 July 2011.

She smiled to Roy after they both were quiet for the longest time watching everyone. She would wait until there was another slow song before she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the dance floor, with a bit of a tipsiness to her walk. After all, it had been a few drinks since the announcements. "Come on Mr. head of security. lets dance."

Roy was not tipsy...he'd been sticking to soft drinks.  But he didn't resist the tug at his arm, and followed Angela out to the dance floor, thankful that she'd stuck to a slow song to ask him to dance.  He didn't mind dancing slow, but he'd never gotten comfortable with faster tempos.  The only thing he did quickly was shoot, and even then he was really selective about it, and what generally passed for 'dance' to faster songs was far too uncontrolled for his tastes.

He was just getting ready to take her in his arms and start dancing when his comm unit chimed.  Out of habit, he swore (almost under his breath) and grabbed the comm.  He stiffened slightly as he read the message...and then reminded himself that Hack had essentially given them all the night off.  He pushed his suspicions to the back of his mind, as best he could, and settled in for the dance.

She looks to his comm as it went off then looked up to him. Normally she had a hard, don't mess with me look about her but at this particular time she had a more innocence about her. She smiled lightly as he put it away and leaned into his chest with her head. One couldn't tell if it was from the alcohol or if it was from her own awareness but it would look from her point of view that they were together...yeah had to be the alcohol,

  The   Music had  switch  to a  bit  faster beat now, more of the  crew  and Civies  who were invited  were dancing.

  The HArvestor Crew, for the most part, were enjoying themselves, Though Raven was still trying to show  Up Frans, Eckles, Miller and Beth.

  Pete got up and was moving  slowly   on the outside of the Danc e floor  as if loking  for someone, another  drink in his hand.

 A Yong Ensign enter  the  Club with a Brown Haired  woman  Going Directly to The Commander. He handed   him a dic and Introduced The  woman  as LT Denise Desiree Deveraux....then sharply  truned on his heel and headed back to  his  duty station.

  Welocme  aboard the Hermes   Lt Deveraux. Your Lab is  down on the deck below the Hanger  deck.  Mingle  about, you will be working  with  alot of these people , most of the  time, one way  ot the other. This  is  Lt Commnader Nil Si, she  handles  alot of the Tasks involved  with why you are here...

  his eyes  move   about the  Room, Please  follow me, I will get you started  on the Intos...

   Hack  and  The LC  take  her over  to a Couple who just ended thier slow dance,  This  is  LT  Hannah Killian, and Lt.  Kray Shadow. Hannah is  now incharge of the Comm-tech  for our  Fighters, and certain other  areas  of our Mission, Kray  is  the acting Wing  Commnader  and one of  my best pilots...

  Kray's eyebrow  raised  a bit  as the  LC broke in,...he is our best  pilot,  The Commnader likes to keep Kray's head down to size  when possible...Though  i think Hannah has a hand in that as well.  she smiles at  Kray then  to  Dee Dee.

     Dee Dee paused before entering the party, smoothing the imaginary wrinkles out of her dark blue business suit.  She had expected to meet the Commander to whom she owed a great deal at his office, formally and during duty hours.  Still, a warship captain was probably never really off duty.

     The brown haired xeno-tech followed the Ensign and listened to the brief introduction.  She didn't feel like a lieutenant, but she understood why she had the rank.  It was why she was here.  It was why they were all here.  She replied to the Commander, "I will do my part to help you all that I am able, Sir."

     Dee Dee followed the Commander as he made the introductions.  She hoped there wouldn't be a quiz afterward.

 Kray  smiled as his left  armstayed on Hannah's  back  after the slower  song  was over. Once  the LC 'corrected' the  Commnader on  his status  as  a Pilot, KrayBowed his  head  a bit to Dee Deed, Welcome  aboard. we have  collected  alot of alien tech, we'll try to get some more goodies  at Fuji, when  dock there  for shore leave,  The Commander  is fully intersted in getting as  much help from the labs  , to win this  war, as he expects out  of the Military, Hannah's been tweaking the Comms  for our ships  as well as out..um..groundwork, so any aid there  should  help...Mal..well..he's  an odd sort, but he's been working on the aliens from a Bio-tech slant..hope you can enjoy yourself ion this cruise...

As they were dancing, Roy noticed Pete was up, and apparently on the prowl.  He stiffened slightly, and changed up his dancing enough to be able to keep an unobtrusive eye on the merc.  He hadn't heard what all the chaos was, earlier, but any time something happened that put Frans jumping into a situation on the same side as Shadow, odds were good that it was a definite 'us versus them' situation, and 'them' included Pete.

Roy wasn't completely sure that the situation was resolved, as yet...and even if he hadn't just been tapped out as the new Security Chief, he would have been suspicious of Pete.  He tried, as best he could, to make no obvious shift in how he was moving...but anyone paying close attention to him would notice the subtle changes in his behavior.

Grateful for Kray's support and finding it impossible to stay worried in the face of his self-assurance, Hannah could only smile. When Hack and Si approached to introduce the newest crew member she laughed. "I try, but I don't know how much good I do. It's nice to meet you. Welcome aboard."

Hannah held out her hand to shake and smiled warmly.

     Dee Dee listened to everyone around her and smiled.  "Thank you for both the welcome and the heads up Mr. Shadow.  Both are appreciated."  As the new crew member, she wasn't sure what to expect at first.  These people...  make that her people she corrected herself, were out here to save their their homes and families.

     The newbie took the offered hand and shook it.  "Thank you, Hannah, is it?  Maybe I can help you with the communication system once I get myself oriented."

   The Commander smiled  at Kray and Hannah,..the Night's getting shorter, we  do not get to  do this too often, So  the LC and I are going to  see to others, You all have  my Comm signal. And  Shadow? We'll see about  that message you sent me, No Hammers  will be leaving the decks Unttil you clear it....you flks  are on "leave"  Until 1600 hours..understood?

   Kray Nods, Aye  Sir.

   A few women  dressed in differnat styles came  closing in on the three  as they stood  there,Well, Hot Shot?  You going to Introduce her? or let her  try to  find her own way?


  The Pilot   looke d  taken aback  a and tried to stumble  for  words  But the  Woman waved him off, Never  Mind him, I'm his  Quarterback, and  Bridge LT..Names  Linda Miller,  This  Young ensign here is the Bridge  Comms  officer...Brtyh Morrow

  Hi...the smiling  cheerleaderesque woman  said.

   Then two more Voice   came in,..and  I am  Lt  Carole  Frans, regardless of  what Shadow's been telling you? I'm  the best Pilot on the ship...

  This is  My Wingman Gail Eckles...on a good Day, Shadow  might  be  able to  out fly her..

 Eckles  Smiled a bit,don't know  how to take that?, But  welcome  aboard.

     Dee Dee wondered just how many people were at this party.  "It is a pleasure to meet you all.  And don't worry about me finding my way around.  I'm pretty good at figuring out how things are supposed to work."  She was glad that active duty people wore their names on their uniforms.  It made recognizing them a lot easier.  "There is a bar around here someplace, right?"

 The Pilot Pointed towards the  Table at the far end of the room that had food  and drinks. some of the older  officers stood there nibbling and talking, a laugh now  and  again as  some of the younger  folks  would stop  by and say something.

  Beth  gave her  a nudge  towrds the Table,..I take you over, once you'er there though?  You have to fight the crewmen off by yourself!

    As they  cross the floor, she  Waves at Oria, the LT in charge of the  Hammer  insides Hey  Oria!  This  is..um..Dee Dee!

  well, new  folks have been taken care of... he looks at Hannah,..You want to  dance?  or catch up on girl talk with your buddies?  he grins.

  The  Older pilot  moved slowly around the room. looking  from one to the other, he  would stop  and  say something to another Pilot who would look at him as if he was crazed.

  If he took offesne, none could tell as he  walked through the   nightclub, a small plate of  nibbling  foods and  a glass of  half-drunk  wine.

 As He passed Shadow, Hannah, franz  and  Eckles, he said  in  an odd  voice, hardly  any of the german accent he normaly has, Beware, those  who reach too far, for the gods will knock them down..witness those who have fallen ...

  he nods  as he goes on his way as Franz looks at Shadow  who simply shrugs.

Angela moves as if she was part of Roy, not noticing his own changes, she seemed to involved with just being with him, though the though crossed her mind if he was enjoying her company with the way he looked distracted.

Hannah fought the urge to laugh as the girls scooped up DeeDee and whisked her away to mingle. She'd get with DeeDee another time about possibly playing with technology but for now she was content to be left behind.

She laughed at Kray's question and shook her head. "I'll arrange a girl talk session another time. More booze, fewer guys and possibly multiple options of chocolate." Hannah turned and wrapped her arms around Kray's neck once more to slow dance, ignoring the tempo of the current tune. "I'd rather dance a little more before we head out if it's okay. I'm going to have a ton of work to do checking the comms on all the fighters before y'all head out the next time."

  Smiling  as his  arms  went  around her  waist,well?  Just so you know. If you want to hang  with your  Buddies, just  let me know. If You have a girsl  Night, but don't  want  to hit the Rec Dec, Just let me know, you can use our Place  and   I'll Just Hang Out with Lady.

  We  can  dface the rest of the night  if you want, hang out, talk to  folks  when we are not getting shot  at for a change..the Night is yours...

  Nodding in the direction  of  Dee Dee, Tommorrow  night   You, Dee Dee,  Oria  and  Rivets  are  going to be going over the Hammers, and all the pilots  are going to help, I want to see if  any other ships   have that homemade bomb in them...but...that is for tomorrow...

  Looking around he  mock whispers,the  song is  a bit  fast...now...are  you slow  danicng 'casue you like to...or  because you don't  want me  to embarrass you, since you saw me dance at that Clum in Olympus lowers?, then he grins  and winks.

  The Door s Open once more. the Music is blasting , almost all folks in the Nightclub  are Hermes crew, though a few  Civies  are sprinkled in.

 A Woman dressed in the colors  of  an orderly, takes Anthony towards  Sgt  Spencer, she  frowns  as  she has to interupt the dance,The ensign says,..excuse  me  Master  Sgt. Commnader Hack  said to introduce youo to Sgt  Souza, as soon as he boarded...he will be ..er.. under your  command...Sorry  for the  interuption.

  she smiles  weakly at  Angela, then turns on her heel leaving   Souza with  Spencer  and  En  Morsan

Anthony looked toward the Master Sergeant for a moment before he saluted for a moment, "Sergeant Anthony James Souza, Sniper." Anthony said with a slight, nervous smile as he was not used to such an environment. He was not much of a people person anymore and tended to prefer a small area with a few friends, but here.... he had nothing familiar. He shifted his weight nervously for a moment as he looked about once more before returning his gaze to the Master Sergeant.

Spencer peeled his gaze away from Pete as he noticed the approach of the ensign and sergeant.  When it became apparent that the new arrival was being brought to him, he grinned apologetically down at Angela and extricated himself from the dance.

He gave Souza a level gaze as the sergeant introduced himself.  "At ease, Sergeant...as best you can manage.  Things tend to run a bit outside conventional here, but you get used to it.  Or you don't, and transfer out.  Good to have another sniper on board...right now, it's just you and me.  Chief Mullins is in Medical and will hopefully be rejoining the ranks, but..."  He sighed, and shook his head.

"There's no way of knowing, yet, if that's going to happen.  Sergeant Storm transferred down to Delta Omega...I think he wasn't comfortable with the amount of latitude Commander Hack takes in achieving objectives.  It's too bad...he's a good man, and they're lucky to be getting him, down there."

He paused, shooting another look in Pete's direction, before covering it by inclining his head to his dance partner.  "This is Ensign Angela Morsan--combat pilot."  His expression twisted into something between a smile and a grimace, and he added, "Just when you think you've got her figured out, she'll do something to surprise you."  Then he chuckled, and added, "But, then again, the same can be said for most of the crew of this boat."

Anthony relaxed his tensed muscles, he looked like a wild animal backed into a corner for a moment before he relaxed, he was used to such chains of command so this would be like a second home to him once he got comfortable, "Thank you Master Sergeant. And a pleasure to meet you Miss Morsan." Anthony said softly, almost inaudible over the sounds of the music, he was plainly uncomfortable but he seemed to handle it well, standing there calmly listening to the Master Sergeant speak, "As I have seen thus far I believe you're right Master Sergeant, a lot of unexpected things can occur, especially in a unit under the command of one such as Commander Hanks. Which is why all of you have done so much. As I have heard while in Sniper School." Anthony said with a small smile and a soft chuckle. He spoke softly yet his voice seemed to carry, a thing passed down by his family. His inside voice for some people would be a bit too loud, so he saved it for war time.

 as they  stood there speaking.Sgt Souza noticed that most folks  were not in uniform, only here  or there some one  who had just  got off duty, came in to celebrate.

 Near the Center Piller of the room, where  a small stage for anouncements , a dark haired fellow danced with a  darkhaired woman, who was  a bit shorter then he...they slow danced, even though the Music  was a bit High enegry.

  There was   black hair woman dancing near  some of  the Hermes crew, as  the men watched with smiles on their  faces, there  were also Mercs there, they had a mishmosh of  civie clothes   and  thier  Khaki uniforms.

 at the far end of the room, a bigger stage  held the soundmaster, who was playing the Music, and below that was  a table with  food  and drink.

  some  older officers were there, a group of Younger women  led another woman ( in a suit) towards those  tables.  Two  Blonde  women stood  by the Pillar talking , watching both the Blackhaired woman, and the couple who was slow dancing.

  The Commander, the LC  and the Merc Captain were moving through  the room talking  and entertaining.

Roy nodded.  "How much field action have you seen?" he asked, upon hearing mention of Sniper School in what was, apparently, a recent context.  He slipped his arm around Angela's, in a non-verbal invitation for her to come along, and turned toward where Shadow and Killian were dancing.

"Walk with me...let's get you introduced to the major players in our operations here."  He started off, slowly,

Anthony smiled, "Just a few minor engagements here and there. Just got used to my old unit when they transfered me to this one, apparently they need better marksman on your side of the engagement than they did on mine." Anthony said softly as he followed the Master Sergeant, sticking to his left flank as he followed. "No Major engagements befitting a celebration and definitely not one of great measures. Sniper school was about a month ago, engagements a week ago, transfer to your unit two days ago, and here I am." Anthony said simply with a slight shrug, his voice still soft yet carrying easily across the room.

Roy nodded.  "If you'd come straight from School, we'd have had you to work in that last engagement.  As it is, I'm not sure how soon we're moving out, or what our next assignment will be."  His tone was matching Souza's...just loud enough to be audible over the music, nearby, but it would be lost to anyone more than a few feet away.

"How are you with standard small arms...assault rifles, SMGs, sidearms?  About half our action involves using us more like a SEAL team than a sniper team...if you're not comfortable with that, we'll have to schedule you some extra range time and get you up to speed."  There was no accusation, nothing derogatory in his tone.  The question was purely in search of information, and the suggested range training was purely practical.

Anthony thought for a moment and then shrugged a bit before he spoke, "I am qualified for everything except light machine guns and anti vehicle weaponry. My main focus is far marksmanship but I am flexible enough to handle myself in close quarters. A little extra range time would not hurt Master Sergeant." Anthony said honestly with another of his slight shrugs as he continued to observe the room, noting all things from before and the type of music being played with a slight smile. He was beginning to get used to the noise but he was still longing for a quiet spot to sit down.

Roy nodded.  "We'll get something set up.  We've also got an upcoming hand-to-hand training session...one of our assault shuttle pilots is a Russian Marine, we're going to kind of hybridize their hand-to-hand with some of our own, and a few elements of Krav Maga.  We were recently made aware of some lack in hand-to-hand training in our pilots, so the Commander put me and Ensign Stolyarev in charge of bringing them all up to speed.  As we started comparing notes, we realized it would probably help to include most of our primary personnel."

He walked up near Shadow, and paused, respectfully.  They were all officially off-duty, so it could be argued that there was no need to worry about rank...but Shadow had earned a respect with Spencer that had nothing to do with rank.  The Marine was willing to wait for the pilot to decide he was ready to talk.

Anthony nodded, it was definitely a good idea to be ready for any sort of combat especially ones involving the pilots that would soon save them from one hell of a long fortnight in enemy territory, "Will I be participating in the training of the men or would you like me to simply watch for this one Master Sergeant?" Anthony asked with a slight raise of an eyebrow at the waiting but he understood the bonds gained in battle so he made no further comment and instead grew silent, waiting behind the Master Sergeant as his eyes began to wander once more.

  As  Shadow and Hannah danced  and  talked, he became aware of the three folks  who had  stopped by them. He stopped and nodded to the three, for Hannah to see as well. His  eyes going  quickly to the  new  fellow as he half  truned to face them, his left  arm on HAnnah's hip, Howdy Spence', enjoying the night? then his eyes   went to the  new  fellow  once more.

Roy grinned, a little self-consciously, and shrugged.  "Been pleasant enough, so far...a little crowded and noisy for my tastes, but I'm adjusting."  He chuckled, and turned slightly to indicate Souza.

"I wanted to introduce Sergeant Anthony Souza.  Just transferred in, taking Storm's empty slot."  He turned more, facing Souza, and continued, "This is Lieutenant Kray Shadow, the Hermes' Wing Commander--and one of the best close-air-support pilots I've ever had cover my tail out of a bad situation.  I suspect we'll be working with him quite a bit."  He grinned, and nodded to Shadow.

"And our newly-minted Lieutenant Hannah Killian, Comm Chief for the Hermes, and an apparently unending source of clever solutions to critical problems, from what I've heard."

It dawned on him that his introductions to these two were rather effusive, by contrast to the intro he'd given for Angela...but he also wasn't sure just what to say about Angela.  He was still processing what she'd done on the ground on Delta Omega, and realizing that he didn't know her all that well, really.

"Sgt. Souza will also be helping me and Stoly with the hand-to-hand training, once we get the specifics worked out."  It had just dawned on him, having a trio of instructors would be very helpful...during the more intensive program that had originally been suggested, two could demonstrate a move while the third talked the class through it, and when they threw it open to the more general course for the crew, it meant that they could rotate shifts.  That assumed, of course, that Souza was comfortable and competent with teaching...but Spencer was willing to assume he was until proven otherwise.

The open bar drew Stoly with the inexorability of gravity.  He was a connoisseur of free booze.  He began with a top shelf vodka.  It wasn't Streletskaya, but that was for special occasions.  One started with the good stuff and worked one's way down as the tongue began to lose sense.

Anthony nodded toward Kray and had to stop himself from saluting seeing as they were off duty, "Nice to meet you Sir," Anthony said while facing Kray before he turned to Hannah at Kray's side, "And you too as well Ma'am." Anthony said softly so that only the three near him could hear and then he relaxed a little bit. Unsure of what to say and he was really not used to this many people since his first deployment after sniper school was only with his spotter watching a certain choke point.

He kept silent after the introductions and only nodded as the Master Sergeant explained the hand to hand training, he felt that he could teach well enough but one could never be to sure of the teaching level until one saw the competence level of the students. And adults were so much more stubborn than kids sometimes, pride and all. "I believe it will be a good idea to make sure all of our men and women know how to properly defend themselves so we may all come home." Anthony said simply, speaking honestly and quietly, again.

 Shadow's  Grin grew  a bit, Spense is  just being  nice. I was worried he would be mad that  i shot up  so many bad  guys. You know how  MArines  are, They want all the ground  targets for themselves."

  with a Nod to Hannah, and  turning once more to Anthonywhat she cannot  do with   guns, she  more then  makes up for  with  smarts. Things  could have gone a  whole lot  differant, had she  not come up with those Poppers

  Pointing to the  gaggle of Hermes  Ladies  he says,New Civie  LT. Xeno-tech her  name  is...um...her name is...long...Just call her Dee Dee Until on duty...

  Oh?  Roy? 1700 tomrrow,all the Pilots  and techs  are ging to be in the hanger bay, we are going to open up the number 17 plate on ever Hammer down there.. Seems  there is something  a miss, I am thinking you want want to have a group of armed folks around when we do this.

Roy nodded.  "We'll have a team on hand...and shipboard security on alert, just in case."  While he knew nothing about why they'd be looking at the Hammers, he remembered apprehending the Chief that had been found trying to sabotage Shadow's fighter, several weeks ago.

He grinned over at Souza, and added, "Sounds like we'll have to get you to the Quartermaster before 1700 hours tomorrow, and get you a secondary weapon issued...unless you brought one of your own."  He knew that such a thing had been the last thing on his mind, when he first boarded the Hermes.  He said nothing about having effectively developed his own private arsenal...with a little help.  "Since you just got aboard, you'll be one of the few people who will be under no suspicion for anything that would happen there, so I'm going to want you on hand.  And a long rifle won't be much good to you there."

He glanced around...searching the room, he had his own priorities on who needed introductions and he wasn't necessarily prepared to run the gauntlet of Frans and her sidekicks to meet a new egg-head scientist.  He still had a bit of a bad taste from the last mission...if they crossed paths, he'd be civil enough but he didn't intend to search her out.

He did, however, spot someone else that he was sure Souza should meet...they'd likely wind up working together a lot.  "See you in the hangar, Sir," he said to Shadow, nodding his farewell.  He gestured with his head and free hand in the direction of the bar, steering Angela that direction as well.  "Since his name's already come up in conversation, you really do need to meet Stoly--Ensign Stolyarev.  If you're in a scrape on the ground, there aren't many on board who would be better to have on your side.  That's high praise for a pilot."  He glanced down at Angela and smiled apologetically.  "No offense..."

  See you then, Glad  to meet you Anthony. Oh...and Roy? Should you see Pete harrassing  any of the hermes  women, feel free to shoot him. Capt Roles  owes  me  a favor, I will count his death as  paid in full...should be a minor clean up, after that... though his eyes  twinkled  as he said  this. There  was enough iron in his voice  to show, he  would not be upset if  the  words  were taken to heart.

Roy paused at the words, and turned back to Kray.  "Oh, I can think of far more appropriate methods of dealing with him, than shooting him.  But I've been keeping an eye on him.  If he makes any trouble, his first port of call back aboard the Harvestor is going to be Medical...how many broken bones will need treatment will all depend on how much trouble he makes."

Pete's behavior suddenly made sense, and Roy glanced around again, making sure he had a fix on where the merc was in the room.  He nodded again to Shadow, a grin of ferocity on his features, and continued toward the bar.  As he walked, he realized that he had a few resources at his disposal than he'd had when he entered the club.  He keyed his comm, requesting the Security officer on duty.  "Sgt. Spencer here...I want a full security team on standby outside the Pulse, and any male mercenaries that exit are to be kept under close surveillance.  Any of them that cause any problems with Hermes personnel are to be handled with whatever means prove most expedient at the time."  His voice was low, and filled with an urgency that was at odds with the pleasant expression on his face.  That provided a safety net, in case Pete slipped out while Roy was busy making the rounds with Souza, and Roy nodded to himself with satisfaction.  They continued toward the bar, and Roy grinned when he saw that Stoly was working on a bottle of vodka--although he didn't know enough about the stuff to know how good or bad a grade of the stuff it might be.

"Stoly!  Got someone here you should meet..."  While his demeanor with Shadow had indicated a relaxed sense of respect, there was a casual familiarity with Ensign Stolyarev...the kind of familiarity shared by men who'd been under fire together, and lived to tell the tale.

Anthony smiled slightly and nodded toward the two lieutenants as he turned to follow the Master Sergeant toward the next person he would need to meet, "I will make sure to stop off, my side arm is with my but I don't think a pistol will do me any good either. Maybe a secondary rifle would be good for such a thing." Curiosity was a light in his eye but he knew that if an armed team was needed the question he wanted to ask could wait till he saw what happened tomorrow. He chuckled softly at the pilot comment but he simply shrugged, it would seem the camaraderie here is much stronger than anywhere else. And that was reassuring, at least he knew his back was covered, even if he was the new guy.

Anthony followed silently afterwards, he didn't talk much but he was enjoying himself thus far, his mind had memorized the voices and faces of the people he had met thus far. He found everyone to be pretty settled in and that was comforting knowing that everyone could trust and understand each other... hopefully.

Stoly heard his name and looked to see who was calling him.  ”Ah, Spencer,”  he said.  ”You have to try some of this vodka.  Is Russian vodka, like God intended.  Not that Finnish ditch water.”  He looked at the man with Spencer.  ”Who is your new friend?”  he  asked.  To Souza he said,  ”You must try it as well, second most wicked drink on Earth, right after that thing they do with cobra venom in Bangkok.  And better for you.”

     Dee Dee allowed herself to be swept along like driftwood in the social current.  One bit of information excited her, probably more than it should have.  She was going to get a chance to look "under the hood" of a Hammer.  She floated about the room meeting new people she would have to trust with her life.  Somehow, a brandy and ginger ale materialized in her hand somewhere along her journey.  She sipped at it sparingly.

Roy laughed.  "That 'Finnish Ditch Water' kicked me in the teeth...not sure what this stuff will do, but I'll try a shot."  He stepped up to the bar, stopping far enough back to include Angela and Souza in the group.

"Stoly, I want you to meet Sergeant Anthony Souza.  He's rotating into Storm's slot on the crew, so you'll be seeing a lot of him, more than likely.  Souza, this is Ensign Antonin Stolyarev...call him Stoly, he's more likely to answer.  And be careful how much vodka he talks you into drinking, unless you've got a really good tolerance for booze."  He laughed, and added, to Stoly, "I'm thinking we can use Souza as a third to help us with the hand-to-hand classes, so we've got two people to demonstrate a move while a third talks people through it."

Anthony nodded toward Stoly with a sort of smile, he was never quite a fan of alcohol but he drank it, "A pleasure to meet you Stoly, although I must admit a good shot now and then doesn't hurt. I will have to take you up on your advice for the drink, at a later date of course." Anthony said softly so that his voice only stayed with the group he traveled with. He looked toward the Ensign with a grin and knew the effects of alcohol all too well but he figured this one could handle his liquor far better than Anthony ever could.

Mal headed over to Commander Hack. He seemed in a much better mood. He waited until it was okay to speak then said, "May I have a quick discrete word with you Commander?
An interesting development has come up. One that may be greatly to our advantage..." then waited for the answer.

  The  LC  was next to Dee Dee, she looked  about the room as if searching  for  others,  I hope the Girls  do not make you too unsteady this  night, There are alot of people to meet...and this is One of them... her  slender  arm reached out  and  Grabbed  a tall man, still in the Orange  Jumpsuit  of the Grounds crew, his  Captain Bars winking in the Light from the   Soundmaster's  machines,This is Captain 'Rivets'  O'reilly. He is in Overall charge of the Grouds  crew  and the Hammers, and other craft, as it stands  now,  Lt  Killian  will be  in charge of   Comm operations for   the  ships and away personall, Lt Lazaedanon is in charge of  the Insides..so-to-speak. And You , As Xeno-tech  will be in charge of getting   the Hammers new and better  weapons  and Performance..

  there is  a wink  in her oval shaped  eyes  as she adds,Depending  on how things  work out, you might get some  working alien tech to play with.

  Rivets puts the beer he was drinking on the plate of  finger foods he  has  and offers his  hand,Welcome aboard Lass, Hopin'  ya can do what they hope ya can do....but watch out  fer that Number 19 Hammer. The Pilot's a Good   Lad, damn good  lad, but he is nuttier then acron tree , when it comes  ta his ship...and his  ship.."lady"  she'll give   ya a 'what's  for'  if she thinks yer doin'  somethin ya  shouldn't be doin'

 The Commander  smiled and  excused himself  from the  folks he was talking to.  they stpped off to the side  and henodded to Mal,alright Mal?  what have you got...and..you do know you are supposed to be enjoying time off..rght?

Mal said,
"For that I'll need instruction.
For now I've made a deal with NnnSan the leader of trader clan you met earlier.

He's got technology that's beyond their abilities to use or analyze. So he gave me a Hobson's choice... Buy it all for 1000 creds and figure it out. If we share the technology then he'll refund half.

Thing is they are pretty sharp with most tech, even the Demon stuff. So this must be4 something really interesting and most likely in my field. That means Biotechnology on our side. I heard earlier that a xenotech was now on staff.

This stuff could be as big as a duffel bag or as large as a truckload. Most likely closer to the truckload. I could maybe move it with my suit, but it would kinda stand out. So I could use an armed transport team when I pick it up at our next stop.

What do you think?

Oh and once again about the fun...
Never had the chance to learn that skill. I'm an applied xenobiologist and xenogeologist. For me fun is finding a new bug on an interesting mineral.

So..." then Mal shrugged.

 At  first the Commander looked very happy, but a cloud  came over his  face as he said,well, we can't  afford  to pass up a chance for items we can use...but? where is this fellow's stuff  now? If he is on Fuji,we will be able to  set up transport and even make it look normal. If  he is on board now with it? we are going to have to bag him, because  we can't   be having  folks  bringing  stuff  we don' know  about, on boards..we..without us...knowing  it...

Mal said, "It's in a storage lockup on Fuji.
Guarded by a favourite nephew of NnnSan.
He wouldn't bring it here and and traps have been removed.
It's safe but they don't understand it.
Mught even know how to work some of it but not why it works, then stood lost in thought.

Alright then, when  we  di=ock at Fuji, after this next  mission. Come  see me and  I will give you a credit Chip for what you need. Shadow's  dealings  with Occui have always  gone  well. This  will test the waters  for  others of that race as well. if there is....problems? I'll send Shadow  to take  care of it...  his smile is  at once, both easy going, yet holds the  promise ofnot beng  messed with.

     Dee Dee shook the offered hand.  She was excited.  "I've examined the Hammer's design specifications and gone over the technical manuals, but I've never had the opportunity to get my hands dirty with one."  She took a sip of her drink and smiled.  The bartender didn't appear to be one who used a lot of mixer in drinks.  "I'm really looking forward to working with your pilots and their fighters."

Mal nodded and said,
"How about that new xenotech coming along too?
Don't want to mess with stuff I can't figure out. What happens if something drops?"

 The Commnader  smiled  abit  and  looked towards the Gaggle of girls, Seems to me? It would do little harn for you to ask?

  pete has slipped into the crowd, none  are  really looking  for him, if they were, they would have  a hard time finding him as more folks   comeinto the party.

  Raven  and Tow of her  Pilot Buddies  from the Harvestor are Dancing with any Hermes Pilto they can get thier hands one.Raven keeps looking in the direction of Shadow  and Hannah.

  Cindy has  sat down  at a far table with some food  and drink  and seems  to be enjoying the ime in the club

Hannah fought to stifle a yawn as they danced a little more. She wasn't tired, necessarily, but moving - no matter how little one actually had to move - was always tiring. She stopped dancing altogether and looked around. "Have we been horribly anti-social? Should we mingle a bit?"

There were pockets of people here and there and the two newest crew members seemed to have found people to chat with, so sh wasn't so worried about them, but she didn't want to seem unwilling to mingle with her friends.

”My friend, we are occupying a tin can in an environment harsher than even a Russian winter.  In a million ways there might not be a “later”.”  Stoly laughed.  ”So you are interested in the close combat classes?  We can always use more knowledgeable people.  It's appalling what they teach these pilots today.  I am thinking that their hand-to-hand training is designed to make it unnecessary to send someone to rescue them.”
This message was last edited by the player at 15:21, Sun 17 July 2011.

Anthony nodded with sad agreement, "They focus to much on the flying and tend not to care what else is around them, in punching distance. We only have so many soldiers, we can't send them all on rescue missions on a lost cause cause some flyboy didn't pay attention in class. We need to give them what they need so they can come home." Anthony smiled a bit and looked toward the alcohol, his stomach turned but he tried not to show it, "Yes, but for some things, later is always better." Anthony said with a small grin as he had just got off the worst ride of his life and alcohol would only make it worse.

Roy grinned, and then paused for a moment.  "Wait...if they've got the good vodka here, and that stuff we got before was cheap crap, that means I got shot just to get you a bottle of lousy vodka.  You sure you want to tell me that?"  For all the potential annoyance in the question, Roy's tone was jovial, almost teasing.

He glanced around again, and realized that he'd somehow lost Pete in the crowd.  And that thought perturbed him.  "Now where did that rat-bastard wander off to?" he mused aloud, distracted from the topic at hand.

Anthony looked toward Roy with a grin, "I am guessing there are not man rat bastards in this unit or you would have specified the name, do you need some help with tracking?" Anthony asked as he pulled his sunglasses down enough to look toward Spencer, his eyes were almost black in the lighting, in fact anyone could have sworn they were black, a gift from his father. Anthony lifted the shades with the same smile, "Or maybe you needed some help with a very aggressive interrogation? Those have their uses too, I suppose." Anthony said with a simple shrug, his voice never above a whisper yet it still carried to the people around him to hear.

Roy was still searching the crowd.  "He's a ground-pounder with the Harvestor...one of those guys that gives mercenaries a bad reputation.  He was on the verge of making some trouble with Shadow, earlier, and every time there's been some kind of trouble between the Hermes crew and the Harvestor boys, he's been right in the middle of it.  Got a bad feeling about the guy..."

He started 'sector-searching' the room, scanning an area about 30 degrees or so wide from near to far, before turning to the next section and starting again.  There was a chance that Pete could conveniently move just as he was shifting his gaze, or stay just ahead of the search pattern...but it was the fastest way for Roy to thoroughly search the room.

"Keep your eyes open for a tall guy in a Harvestor uniform...I can tell you at a glance if it's him or not."

Anthony removed his shades for better vision and soon began to scan the club, moving for a tall man in a Harvester with the look of a troublemaker, couldn't be too many, even in a club like this. He looked about for a moment, a stoic expression on his face as he looked from uniform to face of everyone in a certain spot before continuing on, he was hoping to find this man and to see if he could 'fix' his attitude problem.

Mal headed over to the lady that Commander Hack had pointed out and said, "Pardon me.
Are you the new Xenotechnologist?" then waited for an answer.

 He nodded a bit  as she  said  aboutn the others,Aye, we should  talk to some folks, at very least. Let's move to the  Tables, I forgot  i have to Give  Spense something as well.... then walked with her towards  Spencer, Souza, Stoly and Angela.

  Moving across the room, he noted  Spencer scouring the  room, once he reached them he  said,Alight  Roy. I said  keep an eye  out, not waste your  party looking for him. He screws up?  we'll get him.

  Reaching  behind him, he pulled out a long manila envolpe and handed it to Spencer, The Largran Aide I killed...he grinned and looked at Anthoney,..the idiot  brought a gun to a knife  fight...Anyway... he turned back to  Spencer, Turns  out  The LC and I missed  a Credit account  when  we were splitting up the shares  for the mission. Seem the Lizard had a Mistress he was keeping. Anyway, any windfall like that, HAck shoves at me to split up. The LC was getting tired and  so was i so  we split it up for some folks  we thought could use it. This is a  5000 Credit recipt that went into  to Chief Lyri's  account. Don't  think  anyone will have a problem  with that..if they do, tell them  to come see me. he smiles  a bit saddly

  Looking up at Stoly he  says , with a smile, With Fuji out here on the Rim. They have  more relaxed athmosphere then   the Olympus, there are two..oceans, on at each end, beaches, the whole 9 yards...and? If you they don;t  have   the drink you are looking for?  They just don't make it.

     Dee Dee replied, "Why yes, yes I am.  I'm Denise Deveraux.  I usually go by Dee Dee to make it easier."  She smiled as she offered her hand.  "Ummm... I think I was supposed to throw a Lieutenant in there somewhere.  And you are..."

”No, Streletskaya is not cheap crap.  Streletskaya is special.  And anyway, beating down criminal street thugs is it's own reward.”  Stoly laughed.  ”Besides, this is open bar, and open bars are a moral imperative.  God created spirits because it was unjust that Russians should be so much better at everything.”

Mal shook hands and said,
"Malcolm Roberts also a new Lt. and a scientist. I'm a xenobiologist and xenogeologist.

Since there's no one around listening I'll just talk here. I'm a good friend with NnnSan a colony leader of the Occui.
I've made a deal for technology beyond their understanding. I'll be picking it up on Fuji with a warrior by the name of Shadow. Since they offered me the deal it should have some biotech in it.

I'd feel better with a specialist in alien technology on the mission. I'm pretty good with most but It's not my speciality

Would you be interested in coming along?"

Oria was sitting at an occupied table watching everyone, thankfully no one aboard could tell who she was. This was the first party she had ever been to when there wasn't a hole crowd surrounding her asking her question, and commenting on how well she looked. Yes she was starting to like this crew already. She would spot Mal again though and ponder to herself if she should go say hello to him or not. She mentally shook her head. "No, he is quite busy."

In reply to Malcolm Francis Roberts aka Mal (msg #125):

     Dee Dee didn't have to think twice about a run to get some new tech.  "I'm in, Mister Roberts.  When do we do this?"

Mal said,
"The Commander will let us know the details once he works them out with Shadow. I'll let him know you're tomorrow. He's a bit busy now," then he noticed and Angel standing alone. That was sort of unusual...

Angela Leans on Spencer lightly wrapping her arms around his. she was a bit dizzy now and a little lost but it still didn't stop her from showing any affection towards the man.

 Giving Roy a   pat on the shoulder, he Motions  for Hannah and he  to go see Oria, hwho seems to  be just sitting there, taking in the whole  party atmposhere

Hannah giggled at Angela's tipsy smile and hugs then slipped her arm around Kray's waist as she leaned against him. She listened to the conversation about various alcohols and couldn't help laughing along now and then. She waved a farewell as Shadow led her away and tossed a wink to Angela before she fully turned away.

At Oria's table Hannah smiled and held out her hand to shake. "Hello again."

Oria looks up as if from a daze and smiles lightly to Hannah and Kray, slowly standing and bowing. It was still a bit hard to break her old habits. She straightens up and takes Hannah's  hand gently. "Greeting again...Hannah wasn't it?" She looks them both over and nods to Hannah. "Congratulations on your Promotion Lt."

"That's right. Thank you," Hannah said with a smile. "It'll take some getting used to - being called a lieutenant I mean. I think you already met Shadow, but just in case, Shadow this is Oria - did I say that correctly? - and Oria, this is Shadow."

Hannah was getting tired and her brain was getting tired as well. She honestly couldn't recall if they had met before, thoguh they must have because Oria had been working on Lady. Oh well, Shadow could laugh at her if he wanted... she already was laughing at herself.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:30, Tue 19 July 2011.

 Offering his  hand to Oria, I think  we might have met on the hanger  deck? Oh...Tomoorow  we are having  an inspection of the Hammers, they are all locked  down  now, If  I am right, we are going to make interesting  discoveries..

 So?  You meeting  folks yet? There  are Pilots  splastered all over the Place, oh..and  Frans too!

   Very  funny, Honstely Hannah, I don't  know  how you  can keep from laughing  all night long... he  smile was a bit  wry as  she Nodded to Oria,Our Fearless leader here wants play with the Hammers tomorrow....guess the down  time is making him stir crazy?

Oria releases Hannahs hand and takes Kray's. "Yes We met in the hanger, while I was working on lady." She smile to the pilots and nods do Frans. "I will have to go just as crazy because i was unable to repair the damage to your ship last night. that crewmen apparently didn't know what he was doing."

  Kray's  smile  drops  for a moment. He looks at Frans, then to Hannah, then back to Oria,  There was a problem with Lady, I am thinking the  same Problem cost us  two pilots  and aircraft when the flew  against the lizard ship....If I am wrong, then  all the Pilots  and ground  crew wil have a grand  time  looking at thier ships. If i am right..well...there  will be a few more dead people...

  Frans' smile  drops  as well,gods  Shadow! You need to get some sleep or something.... she  grins  at Hannah after  saying this...wouldn't  it be nice  for  us to know..er...right now..


  Kray shakes his head, Oria, Hannah, and Dee Dee will be there, and Roy  and some of his special friends  , will make certain, no one misses out on the lessons.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Wed 20 July 2011.

Roy shook his head in annoyance...still couldn't spot Pete.  If anything happened, if Pete made any trouble for anyone, he'd be kicking himself tomorrow for losing the guy in the first place.

He grinned at Stoly's description of why spirits had been invented..."Funny, I'd always heard it was to keep the Scottish from taking over the world...but then again, that was specific to whisky, so..."  He shrugged.

"Well, pour me a shot of this stuff, let's see if it knocks me off my feet or just eats my teeth, instead."  He grinned, good-naturedly.  He had no illusions about trying to drink Stoly under the table...he'd never been much of a drinker, himself, and the Russian had grown up on the stuff, there'd be no contest between them.  He contented himself with sampling whatever Stoly claimed was good.

Stoly laughed,  ”I stole it from the Irish.”  He poured a shot and said,  “Drinking is good training too.  Being drunk is not so different from lack of sleep, or exhaustion, or being ill or in shock or any number of things that can disorient.  If you can function while drunk, you can function with a concussion.  And it is much more fun than having concussion.  Here, this will not eat your teeth, but it will kill infections.  That Finnish ditch water will eat your teeth and give you an infection.”

Angela looks up to Roy as Stoly poured the shot but before it could reach Spencer, She had it already downed and handing the glass back as she coughed lightly. "That's some good stuff." She pulls back a bit looking allot more awake now and less dizzy. Even as if she were ready for a challenge, after all the only one to ever drink her under the table was the commander back when he was a Lieutenant. "You...up for a...game?"

Roy looked a bit annoyed, and indicated to Stoly that he'd still like a shot of the vodka.  Angela cutting in on the drink-sharing was an uncomfortable reminder of her confession about what had happened down on D-Omega...nowhere near as serious, but it showed an unfortunate tendency to go off half-cocked.  Roy filed it away, for future reference...that was something that was going to have to be addressed during the hand-to-hand classes, or she was going to get herself, or someone else, killed at some point.

For now, however, as long as he got his shot of the vodka, he was willing to wait and see who fared better in the challenge that Angela was apparently formulating.  His money was on the Russian...

”A game?”  Stoly looked at her.  ”What kind of game did you have in mind?”  Stoly poured a shot for Roy, who was looking annoyed.  He hoped it was having his drink hijacked.

Anthony stood next to Roy with a raised eyebrow, "I do not know about you Roy, but I believe this is not going to end well with the lady." Anthony said with a chuckle as he pulled out fifty creds and laid it on the table, "I put this on the Russian." Anthony said with a small smile as he waited, "And for tomorrow, do you want me to be there?"

Her smile was weak as she tried to chuckle at Frans's joke. She frowned a little at Oria's comment about Lady. "Most of the crew are nervous around Lady - they're not incompetent, not really. It doesn't help that Kray's sense of humor rubbed off on her, though." Her smile became genuine and a mischievous twinkle flashed in her eye. "I think having a few ladies around to work on her might help soften her tongue and her temper and make her... well... less like her pilot."

She laughed and slipped her arm around Shadow's waist, leaning against him in a small hug to soften her teasing.

  he smiled  a bit  as his arm  went  around her  shoulder,how do you know, that it wasn't her, that turned me  into what i am?

  Frans  shakes her head, You were  a whack job in the acadamy...Lady wsn't  even  born...er..made...or whatever..then.

Stoly held up a hand.  ”Let us hear the game before we start putting money down”  he said.  ”I will take a fair challenge, but I am no thief.  And I think we have both had a head start tonight.”

Roy took the shot from Stoly with a nod and a grin, and tossed it down.  He hadn't been quite sure what to expect, and the vodka didn't have the direct kick that he'd anticipated...but the slow burn that followed up left him grimacing.

"I never bet against Stoly, if vodka's involved...don't care who's issuing the challenge.  I'd bet on a bull elephant passing out first, if vodka's the drink on the table.  Don't know how well he handles other booze, but I can't imagine it'd be that much different."  He chuckled, and cocked an eyebrow at Angela, waiting to see what kind of game she had in mind.

"Just shots." She looked up to Roy with a bit of a grin and a wink Then back to stoly putting her hands on her hips. "So what do you think? You game?"

Mal was burned out from all the work so headed back to his place to get some rest.

To Robert's Lab

”Shots?  Are you sure you want to match shots with me?  Russians invented one of the oldest alcoholic drinks on Earth.  King Vladimir I rejected Islam saying ”Strong drink is the joy of the Rus.”  The very word 'vodka' comes from 'voda' which means 'water'.  It is term of endearment.”  Stoly looked the pilot over.  ”And I out-mass you by at least half.  ”

  The Pulse  always tried to lure  folks away from the Rec dec. First drink on the house, or Free drinks  for Ladies  with an escort...free drinks  for  Fighter Pilots...Freedrinks  for  Marines..ect ect.

 Today it was , First 2 drinks free for anyone who was on Elba...

From Rec Deck
Irina surveyed the Pulse as she step inside, grunting in approval as she stepped up to the bar. "Bartender!" She said beckoning the man over "Flaming B-52." She turned to Koos, "So what's your posion?"

   as they came in they saw alot of Civies, but more and more   Military type s were  drifting in..Steele and some of his  buddlies were holdign Court with some of the  locals.

  The raised Stage in the Middle of the dance floor head the   Vid-jock was  playing  everything, from as  far back as the earth's  80s all the way through the Angel tunes, and Techno-bass thumping dance stuff...no sad  stuff tonight...

   Lyri, Miller, Eckles  and  Frans  walked in, and a few  men began to slow towards them, Though Lyri just broke through the rush like an Icebreaker, and  looked for a Table near the floor.

In reply to Irina Tatyana (msg # 151):

From Rec Deck

Koos gave her a smile. "Castle Draft if they have it. If not, then any beer except liac beer. I'm easy." He waited for the drinks, then jerked his head toward the dance floor. "You dance?"

   Finally comingof the far elevator, on the town level, Kray walked up the street. Some Military types giving him casuel salutes, some of the  Civies  nodding  ...a couple kids  with  Hermes football Jerseys asked him for  an autograph , and he would sign.

   The Guards  at the Door Nodded to him. The SGT of the guard  said,evening LC, We're not gonna have any problems to night ...are we?

 Shadow looked  up at the sign that was Blinking  with the backround ssound of a heartbeat,..don't think so..why?

 The SGT  smiled   a bit, The Commander's Sister is in there  with a Pair  of Bodyguards...just wondering....

  he shooks his head and , for a moment  , thought  about  going back to his quarters, the shrugged,..No...things should be fine...maybe she won't even know  i'm here... he   started  into the  entrance and the Sgt Looked at her  team and mimbled,yea..good luck with that, Sir...

Irina gave a little chuckle. "Dancing is one of those things I only do once I'm properly smashed. Sadly I'm still mostly sober so I'm afraid I'll have to say no to dancing," She replied. "I have rock steady hands when I'm dealing with explosives. I go anyway near the dance floor, and I'm all left feet. Hardly seems fair."

The bartender finally arrived with Irina's shot, setting it down in front of her before setting the drink ablaze. Irina smiled holding her hand above the towering flame. After a moment she produced a straw, and sucked the drink down in one quick go. She smiled a little at the empty shot glass. "Now that is the way alcohol should be served," She sighed contently.

Koos chuckled. "Oh well, at that rate it won't take you long to be ready to dance." He settled onto the bar stool, and took a good drag on his beer. "So where are you from actually? How did you end up in the handsoppers?"

   With one last look around  Kray sighed  and  gave the SEC man a pat on the  shoulder  and entered the Club. Music was Playing and Many of the Military folks were already on the floor as well as  Civies.

  He walked to the far end of the Bar and said, Rootbeer..or Birchbeer...

 The BArtender  scoffed, Mo Sir, Sorry Sir, But this is a celebration..You'll have to drink  real drinks tonight, or not drink.... The Civie bae keep grinned.

  Shadow looked at Him and  tapped the BAr, Right then...then i guess i don't  drink...  He   moved away from the bar as the stunned  BAr keep looked at one of the others who where workign the  counter.

  Steele was already in rare form. He and a few other  Pilots were on the  floor dancing, his voice and Laughter  could be heard. Eckles was dancing  with a Civie in a suit, Frans was sitting by herself  drinking  some mixed drink.

 taking a seat next to her, he asked,...don't  feel like dancing?

  she snickered and nodded to his empty table,don't feel like  drinking?

Roy arrived, checking with the Security guards on duty and learning that, thus far, the situation was well in hand and, yes, Shadow had already arrived.  He suppressed a muttered curse, and nodded to the sergeant on duty.  "Carry on..."

He made his way into the club, looking around for faces that were more than familiar.  He'd been on the ship long enough, and looked over enough personnel files, that every direction he looked had familiar faces...he was looking for people that he was actually happy to see.

He made his way to the bar and got the bartender's attention.  "Did you see Lieutenant--" he remembered the promotions again at that moment, and added, by way of correction, "Commander...Shadow come by, did you?"

  The Civie  Tender  laughed....yea..the fly boy tried to get a soda! I told him it was real stuff or nothing..so he left..he's on the farside of the Dance floor..that-a-way..sitting by some flychicks... then he grinned,what about you? you want a drink or two?

Roy smiled humorlessly.  "I was gonna ask for a soda, but since you don't serve those here..."  He turned around and walked off in the direction the bartender had indicated without further mention.  He'd have been fine with a sangria, but there'd always been something about the smugness of 'if you don't drink alcohol, you're not part of the party' that had annoyed him.  While he did drink, occasionally, it was never to excess, and he had little use for those who felt it was a necessary part of their celebration.  If you couldn't relax and have fun without having to get liquored up...well, as far as he could figure, that meant there was something wrong with you.

He spotted Shadow and Frans having their exchange, but wasn't close enough to hear anything over the music.  He walked up to the table.  "They'll let anyone in this place..." he commented, in mock disgust, having to push to make his voice heard over the music.  A grin burst through the sour expression and he pulled out a chair and took a seat.

"Sorry I'm late...you did say 'take your time'..." he said, to Shadow.

 Kray looked up and laughed,..I did...but you know us  pilots..taking our time, is slower the  mach 4....   Awaitress saw the  growing gathering and  came up, Can i get you anything?

  Frans held up her  drink,..another one  of these,,,,Please... she said  from the next table,

 ..Rootbeer?  Beirthchbeer? it was more a question then  an order,

 ..You bet, Sir!.... she smiled  and looked at Roy.

  Out on the floor  about 20 yards  away  a ring of people  were watching Stevens  and a MArine LT palying some kind of dance game..and  cheers or hoots were heard depending on what group was rooting for who.

  Lyri came  up to the table   she asked the Girl for a mixed  drink, with out the  damn umbrella...and sat down next to roy, closer to Frans' table.so? MAster SGT...how many drinks does it take for you to ask a MAster Chief to dance?

Angela came from the circle shaking her head with a smile and a half drank Bacardi bottle in her hand. "Stevens need to learn how to dance." She said as she reached the table that Kray was sitting at. "Hey anyone ever play darts?"

  Kray looked up at Angela  with a grin,..to be honest..never  saw Stevens do somthing like this before..he is either loosened up...or.... then his eyes  focuses on Stevens,..or somthing esle....


  Stevens  was still taking on  Marines... a woman Corpral by the   pin on her  dress, took off her heels and  was daning against  the  Pilot...the numbers on her side of the board were climbing twice as fast as Stevens'

   Have a seat Angie...i'll take you on in a game of darts...after..if?..I ever get my drink.

Angela nodded and took a seat. After getting settled in she looked back at Stevens. "Looks like to sticks fighting, and neither of them are winning." She said with a brow raised. She looks back to Kray. "Yeah I would have challenged someone to shots but one, we aren't quite off duty and two There is hardly anyone aboard that would except."

  he pointed to the bar where Koos and Irina were,seen them on the Rec Dec..she looks like  a Stoly-type  girl...she might  try and match you...

   Frans smiled and shook her head no thanks  as a Civie asked her to Dance, the fellow  frowned, but his smile returned as she smiled  back, as he went away.

 Kray turned to her,well well,,, Carole Frans dusting off a Civie ..with manners!

 she blushed a bit,shut up Shadow..just trying to be nice for the people who throw parties for us...is all...

Angela looked to the woman Kray pointed at. "Maybe after the dart game. I have to see if you can fly a dart like you can lady." She took a swig of her drink, and nearly choked as Kray and Frans talked. "Frans hun, You being nice at all is a shocker." She said with a smile as she put the bottle to her lips.

 Frans  Looked at her,been a long  war  , En Morsan....i have learned  abit through it all..so far.... she glances at Kray as she drinks  form her galss, then looks out onto the floor,..maybe..its just good leadership?

  Kray's mouth opened in surprise, and looked around the table,..gods  Roy?..I should not have had that shot!...I think i heard a compliment!

Angela nodded. "I agree with the leadership part but you actually started to change your attitude after the Mull planet, when I... err.. You know, showed you and Eckles that you really weren't better then anyone except by title." She said looking around the table seriously. "But I guess having to live with us, I think it would change anyone."

"Well I'm trying to be polite, and not keep you waiting too long. Speaking of which," Irina said motioning for the bartender, "Long island ice tea, and a shot of vodka if you please."
"handsoppers?" Irina echoed giving Koo's a mildly confused look. "What is that Boer for marine? Well if you must know I grew up in St. Petersburg. You know the one in Russia," she said letting her accent grow thicker while she fixed Koos with patronizing gaze. "As for why I joined the service," She continued shrugging a little. "Woke up one day, and realized I was probably going to wind up in jail, or an early grave. Made me start thinking about some things, like what my legacy would be. I decided that if I was going to wind up in six feet under I might as well do it was a Marine. Give myself a chance to make a honest go of things. I didn't bother with the national army, and went straight to the ESN. I mean it's way more fun to go to another planet before you start killing people."

As the waitress looked at him, he grinned and said, "I'll have what he's having..."  He'd never had birchbeer, so he hoped it was a rootbeer that she brought...or that birchbeer tasted better than the regular beers he'd been exposed to through the years.  But even if he ended up drinking (Heaven forbid!) water, he'd be more satisfied than giving an illusion that the bartender had scored a winning declaration.

At Lyri's question, his grin broadened.  "Well, I'm not altogether certain I recall my ranks correctly, between the different branches...but it'd be something of a breach of protocol for a Master Sergeant to ask a Master Chief to dance...she outranks him.  Luckily, a Sergeant Major doesn't have that problem...and I've got a wait before my drink gets here, so there's a little time to kill.  Let's kill it out on the floor, shall we?"  He stood up and winked at her as he gestured toward the floor.

Shadow's comment came just as they were leaving the table.  "Don't blame it on the vodka, LC," he replied.  "Do that, you may not hear another one for a while to come.  Give credit where credit is due."  He turned to Frans and gave her a nod, raising his right hand to give a small, extremely informal salute to her as he stepped away from the table with Lyri.

  Lyri smiled  as they went  out onto the floor, Unseen by most, Kray signaled the  Vid-master to select a slower song.

  with that, there was almost a changing of the guard. most of the peopleon the  floor left to get "refueled' and others hurried to teh dance floor to enjoy the change of pace..Hack and Si were amoung them.. As was the   Monroe, with his arm in a sling , and his wife.

 as the floor  filled up with civie couples  and a few  eeeeeESN types, Lyri  chuckled,..well..that was timley..i had hoped to see if you can move as fast on the floor, as you do on the ground...

 The waitress came by with the Drinks, Kray offered his wrist and the  woman shook her head,...First few are Free LC...our  way of saying thanks...

  he held  up a hand   and waved he closer, then a turn og his wrist, and a flick of his fingers,  a5 credit coin flew into her apron pocket,..and that?..is  your tip then...our way of saying..thank you...

 The woman smiled  and shook her head as she moved on.

 ..Sheesh Shadow....you always do this? frans shook her head.

 now  what did i do?

  All this...niceness..i swear by the 9 hells.you'er  worse then Stevens sometime...

  Kray drank deep from the birch beer and  smiled,wow..this tastes just like back home...  with a frown he turned to Frans,..Stevens?..no...don't think so...Stevens would never have thought about..half the things i have  done..so...no...

Roy grinned as he began to move in time with the music, first his steps slowing and then turning once he got on the floor, to take Lyri in a dance pose suited to the slower tempo of the music playing.  "I'm nowhere near as coordinated on the dance floor...take that weapon out of my hands and it's like half the nerves to my legs stop listening or something.  So the timing is great, from my standpoint.  I can dance to that faster stuff, if I have to...but I'd a million times rather dance to this."  He grinned and leaned in a little closer, and added, "I hope you appreciate, it's not just any old groundpounder or swabbie in the fleet that could get me out here, even with this music playing..."

He smiled and nodded to Hack as they briefly faced each other with their respective partners, and then focused on enjoying the music and the moment...and the fact that, unlike last time he was in the Pulse, he didn't have a nagging sense of impending doom that proved to be warranted.

Not yet, anyway, a pessimistic voice in his mind seemed to say.  For the moment, he willed the voice to silence.

Angela looked between Frans and Kray. "The difference between them is Kray is a naturally liked person where Stevens tries to hard." she says out loud but still to herself

"It's Boer, or Afrikaans if you are being polite, for ESN. It's one of those words that changes it's meaning. In the First Boer War it meant those South Africans who fought for the British. More of them than rebelled to tell the truth."

"I figured you meant the Russian one. Isn't that Stalingrad now or something?" Koos shrugged. "Guess it doesn't matter. As long as those who stay there know where to find it." He looked at her empty glass with a certain dismay, then downed his own.

  Lyri  tried to match her stpe with Roy's. It was plain she had some training , or  at least, alot of practice at dancing. It's  funny..not  so  many hours  ago we were on a planet with lizards and Demons   running about , shooting  at us.

  Across the  way there were  clumps of people listening to whomever  was the  "featured speaker"  Steele had his  folks...Stevens  had his group..and  ..UnLi had her group, she was talking, a drink in one hand, as she  scanned the room once  and  awhile.

  Supe and his buddies were tossing a football at the arcade area, playing for Drinks.

"The communists called it Leningrad, but as soon as they where ousted it went right back to St Petersburg," Irina explained as she set aside her empty shot glass, and began in on her Long Island. "Just another item on the long list of things the communists screwed up. What about you, any ties left on Earth? You know family, old friends?"

From behind Koos Irina could see the football sail through the air. "Now there is a way to spend the night. Don't suppose your any good at football?" She asked as she leaned forward.

   Kray stands  and points to the  arcade,well Angie? Lets have a shot  at those  darts? I see the guys  throwing  footballs too..but...i don't thing it would be fair for me to take a shot..

Roy shrugged.  "A day ago we were getting ready to go down there and wondering which of us would be coming back...things change quickly around here."  He grinned at her, as they moved to the music.

"Father, sisters, a brother, cousins, aunts and uncles, whole extended clan I am afraid. And then there is my Commando. Some I love, some I hate, but all of them I would die for, if that makes any sense."

He looked over at the football. "That's gridiron, isn't it. Hear it's a bit of a sissy game compared to Rugby."

Angela smiled and stood up after Kray. "Your on." She started walking to the arcade with a bit of a drunken sway. "I have been thinking of learning how to play football."

  Miller came  in , along with and a few of the other  Girls they had  short Dresses on  and Heels, they spied  Kray and Angela headed to the arcade.

 ..Hey! Hotshot..You throwing? she came over  holding  up her hands  for a football.


  Supe  and  His  buddies  Grinned, tossed a ball to Miller...Me and YOu , Hotshot...You can make me look good again...

 Kray chuckled,..I don't know Miller? You are throwing to me and Dana  now..your throwing at those  flashing holes...they don't reach out to pull them in...

  Yea! Shadow! with out  #1  and #2? its a bit  harder! Dana  sat  on a stool

 Don't Know Shadow...She's the QB on this ship.....

 ..I have  20 Credits  say I can hit more targets in 30 seconds  then Kray...

  the  folks at the acrade ooooooohhhed and Bets  were flying, Kray reached ino his  pocket and Pulled out a 20 Credit note  and  put itn on the machine...Miller  Pulled one out of her  dainty Little purse.

 ..OK Supe  Tuirn it on Full Field... the  back of the   foorball toss  light up there  were 6 differant football player images..each with a hole where the hands were..  lights were Falshing  inside and would stay on for a second, then another one would randomly flash.....You first hotshot...Computer score is final..aye?


  Kray griined,..Aye.... he took off his  caket and laid it on  the table,  only  a few folks  had come over, as they were more interested in dancing  or Food...Steele...however..made certain to come over when he saw DAna in a  short red dress...

   the machine fed  the Balls into a basket, by the thrower's  side... the belt would run unbtil the 30 seconds  were up...

   He picked  up a  back Moved his throwing arm around a bit, then Pushed the  start button....and the  lights began to flash... Kray's  first 5  passes  hit the  hole and  went through. the next two caught the top of the opening  and fells back..he was  picking up a back  setting his feet and firing   as soon as a light  blinked...whenit was over  he had  19 targets in 30 seconds...

 Milelr   took off her  heels  and  smiled,well?...Looks  like  being my reciever , and my back up has  helped you out...

  Get 'em  Miller! Dana giggled.

 ..hey! whose  side you on?

 Hey! she throws me the passes!, You'er just the other reciever!
  lots of folks  Laughed  as Miller took a deep breath, she eyed the targets , then hit start...she fired off  passes  Just as  fast, maybe a bit faster then Kray, but she took less time to turn her shoulder to let the ball go...in the end..she hit 22 targets in 30 seconds..

  everyone Cheered   or  good naturedly jeered Kray, Miller took the  Credits and  grinned,  then  gave  Kray a Hug,..YOu guys  are still the Best recievers in the league...

  Kray shook his  head  as he  patted her back   , Dana's  smile, was fading as Steele kept trying to force his  companionship on her..

  Shadow Motioned to the Darts,Lets  see about those  DArts now....
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:27, Mon 03 Dec 2012.

Irina gave a little snort at Koos comment about the commando's. "You've just described every combat unit that has ever existed. Believe me I get it," She replied as she took another swig from her glass. Irina leaned back as she watched excitment build over in the arcade. "Well if you really feel that way about grid iron, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" Irina asked with a smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:55, Sun 02 Dec 2012.

Koos smiled. "I'd rather dance. You drunk yet?"

Irina burst out laughing. "That's a hell of a question to asking a girl. Okay I'll dance with you, but you have to share a drink with me first. Deal?" She asked the pilot.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:39, Mon 03 Dec 2012.

"You may be a girl, but you are also a marine and appreciate straight-talk. Given that you said that dancing waited in you being drunk, it was fair, I think."

"Okay, dig out this drink."

"Well I was unaware being a marine invalidated me being a girl. Besides as a marine I should be offended you would think it would take so little to get me drunk. Your just lucky you agreed to that drink," Irina fired back, face full of mock contempt. "Bartender two Irish car bombs, if you please."

She waited quietly with a mischievous grin while she waited for the bartender to arrive with two mugs, and two shot glass. "Okay it's pretty simple," Irina began as she proffered up her wrist to the bartender. "The mug is Guinness, while the shot glass has Bailey, and Jameson. You take the shot glass, and put it in the mug," She explained as she picked up her two glass. There was a little splash as she dropped the shot into the beer. In a flash she chugged the entire concoction down. "Then you just have to down it all before the milk in the Baileys curdles." She said pausing for a moment before adding, "Now I'm ready to dance."

Koos dropped his shot into the glass and slugged it back, shaking his head. "Whoo, that bites!' He set the glasses on the counter, smiling at Irina. "Great." He gave a graceful, formal bow, extending one arm to Irina. "My Lady, may I have the honor of this dance."

  the  people milled  around, there was a constrant  stream of  Military types coming and going  as they partied  , or ate, then left  with someone, or ehad to  the recdec, movies, whathave yuou.

  Dana Moved to Follow Shadow and Angela, with Steele  in tow, he was still trying to get her to Leave  with him.

 Miller was taking bets  can beating   any who challenged her to the football throw.

 Lyri  laughed  softly as  she danced with Roy,..If Miller is the Starter, why would Kray have even taken the bet?  then she looked around the room,..perhaps?  when they move to  the fast stuff, we can get something small to eat, to go with our drinks?


  Hack and  Si Danced across the way from Roy and Lyri., now and then a slight  smile from either one  acknowledging them, as they enjoyed the dance.

  Unli had  just broken away from the push of men, and was making her  way to the arcade area.

Roy grinned at Lyri's questions.  "Don't know...maybe he was feeling lucky?  Or else he just wanted to prove to everyone that he is not, in fact, superhuman and does still occasionally lose...just not when it counts."  He chuckled at the observation, and nodded as she suggested food.

"I've had dinner already, but desert would go down nicely at this point.  And I have no desire to be out here when the tempo picks back up...I feel like I've done enough hustling and jumping around for a while, down on the planet.  Trying to do it in time to the music just doesn't sound appealing..."

He smiled as he pulled Lyri closer for a spin, as a couple, and then lowered her back into a melodramatic dip, grinning as he pulled her back up to resume dancing again.

  Lyri  laughed a bit  , at the Dip. Then ran her haid through her  hair as the  slow music  stopped. Already they could hear the rgowing beat of a techno type, lights began flashing and the  Amps  were gettingbrighter.

 Let's  see what they have here for that then....</

Roy nodded, gesturing for her to proceed as he set one hand on the small of her back and pushed, gently.  "Cheesecake actually sounds really good right now...blueberry..."  His face twitched in annoyance with the heavy thud of the techno beat, but he quickly replaced the expression with a grin and a wink to Lyri.

"If it means getting off the floor to not have to dance to this stuff, I'd settle for week-old oatmeal-raisin cookies, though..."

  The waitress came over as they seated themslves  , asking if they wanted  drinks or  anything.

  she  cleared away some of the empties and Looked at Shadow's  Half Empty Birch Beer,should i take that? Or is he  comign  Back.

  The Doors  Opened  and  Captain Morris  hobbled in with some papers, he looked  around until he found HAck, then made a Hobbly bee-line to teh Adamiral.

"Yeah you can tell if it was an honor after you actually have it," Irina commented as she got up from the table, and began to worked her way through the crowd towards the dance floor. For a brief moment the corporeal found herself passing by Spencer, and Lyri. Irina gave a polite nod to her superior, and hurried past. Irina smiled at the DJ's change in pace as she finally arrived on the dance floor. After an aborted attempt, or two she finally began to copy the motions of the other dancers around her.

Roy shrugged.  "Leave it, for now...he might be back, he might not, but if he doesn't come back before we leave, it'll be easy enough to clear it with our dishes."  He looked over at Lyri.

"Any idea what you want?  Or do you want me to scrap being a gentleman and go ahead and order, instead of waiting for you?"  He grinned, and added, "That's one of the benefits of being an NCO...since you're not an officer, you don't necessarily have to be a gentleman..."  It was thin humor, he knew, but most jokes weren't meant to be shouted over the thumping bass of the techno-whatever the DJ was playing...

  The  waitress nodded with a  smile, her  eyes  taking a quick look at the arcade area, then back to them  as she had her pen ready for the order.

 ..well...I thgink i will go for that Cheescake...gods...been  over a year since i had a cheesecake!...and...some coffee? the waitress smiled  and nodded, then Looked to Roy.

...................................

 Koos and Irina were almost swallowed up by the people on the dance floor...it was hard to tell if they were celebrating, or ...just glad to be a live,.


..........................................

 The Adamiral  and Captain Morris  moved  towards the  BAndstnad, they whispered  someto the  the Vid MAster, who nodded , and they waited    and talked  amoung themselves.

............

 Dana, swirled  around  and Hit Steele with a Round House that sent the man crashing into  Supe  and his  Buddies, who, picked him up by the scruff of his  collar and  sent  him flying out the doors, into the steps, leading to the  Alcove..

 A large  Cheer when up my most of the folks  who saw this..( most were women!)

Roy nodded.  "Make that two for the cheesecake...blueberry topping on mine.  And can I get a hot cocoa with a little coffee added in?"  Straight coffee, even with the creamers and such added in, had always been too bitter for him...but the bitterness of the coffee actually accentuated the flavor of the cocoa, for him.

 The  waitress nods  and smiles  and takes off through the Mingling Crowd...

  The Musicv  stops  for a Moment, HAck takes the Mike from the Vid MAster,..Attention, for a Moment...Lt Frans? Please Come to the fore? CApt. Morris has an annoucement.

  Frans Looks  Up  , Kray  Moves to  the  space  of the arcade, so he can see what is going on.

 CAptain Morris takes the  Mic and announces,..After  checking the  confirmations Lt Frans  has  reached, and passed the 20 kill mark, Thus..... He waves her forward, a bit closer  and  HAck opens a box, pulling out a Blue MAx,..she has  been Awarded the Blue Max. Making our ship, the only ship that has 3 living , Blue Max  winners.

  HAck puts the Blue MAx over her  head, Frans Looks  shocked  and a bit happy,..congrates Lt. Frans....  he turns and  calls into the Mic...For the next hour, Drinks  will be on the ESN Hermes!

  everyone cheers  , many folks  clapping  Frans on the  back as she makes her  way back to the  table.

Roy raised an eyebrow as the announcement.  "Well...that's a helluva thing," he said, with a wry grin.  He glanced over at Lyri, and added, "If you'd told me a year ago this would happen, I would have laughed at you."  He chuckled and shook his head in mild disbelief.

"Guess you never can tell about some people, huh?"  He grinned again, watching Frans take her medal and walk through the crowd with a hero's acclaim.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:48, Mon 10 Dec 2012.

The Techno beat suited Koos just fine, and he launched whooping into what was not so much a dance as a joyous celebration of life that tried to sweep Irina along with it. Fortunately for his dignity he had the natural grace to get away with it, both fond of and good at this kind wild improviso. Although it was also equally obvious that he couldn't have cared less if he had looked like a fool, he was enjoying himself far to much to worry about pride.

He did stop long enough to cheer Franz's milestone, then went straight back again.

"FUCK YEAH!" Irina bellowed, adding her voice to uproar congratulating Franz. Then the beat picked up, and the dance floor was once again the pulsing mass that swallowed her whole. It was impossible not to bump against someone with so many in such close quarters. Still Irina found herself lingering when she against Koos, on occasion even seeking out contact. She laughed as the music soared, and bumped her hip playfully into his. Time seemed to drag out, as if minutes had become hours. As she swayed about Irina realized the DJ had transitioned to another song. She reached up, and pulled Koos head down to her. "I'm going to grab a drink before this crowd drains the tankards," She barked into his ear, trying to rise above the music.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:52, Mon 10 Dec 2012.

  Kray and Angela made thier  way back to the table, He grinned at  Frans who was holding the Blue  MAx  looking at it,..Hey, Frans? Do you know, if  we go to the academy and walk around with the Blue Max on?..everyone who sees us has to salute?....

  Frans looked up,..I knew  i was close...wasn't  sure how close...

  Kray   Gave her a  nudge,count your decals  for crying out  loud...

  She  chuckled  and shook her head.

 Shadow  sat down and Grinned at Lyri and Roy,...so...the door busting  Assault team, can dance?

  Lyri  shook her head  with a  smile,stow it flyboy...

........................................................

Roy laughed.  "We're full of surprises...You've gotta have a diverse skill-set when you're working on the ground, after all..."  Shadow probably knew that better than most of the people in the place, but it wouldn't stop Roy from harrassing him back the way he would any other pilot.

He jerked his head in the direction of the dance floor, and added, "This kinda stuff reminds me too much of someone trying to carry a live mine through a cross-fire zone, though...only time I wanna move like that is when I'm trying to make sure nobody shoots me and I've gotta cross open space.  Not something I'm gonna do for fun, that's for certain."  He grinned, broadly.

..I dunno some of the songs  like this, reminds me of the  Turbines thumping  when you level out for  a strafe run...  Shadow grinned,


  Frans  shakes her  head,..only you would think of sosmething like that....


  a Musical voice  broke in,..well..Shadow why do you not  show your  friends  how one  dances to this  music? Un Li stood there  with a fashionable dress , and  a Tall wineglass in her hand.

 Kray's eyebrow  rises  just a bit,Well...Ambassador..I never  said i could dance to it..just sort like the thumping part...

  Lyri Looks  at Un Li's  dress, then looks at the way she is dressed..and sort of  shrinks back in her chair..

  Fran's  caught  Lyri's  eye and shook her head  as she  turned to  Un Li, Nice  dress, Madam Ambassador...a bit ...overdressed..no?

 Un Li's  silver-blue eyes looked at  Frans  and smiled, then looked at Shadow,Depends on what you are dressing for, Lt Frans...

Roy covered Lyri's hand on the table with his own, giving it a subtle squeeze.  "Well...the rest of us dressed for a party...not a cirque performance."

He glanced over at Frans, and said, "No joke...on one of my deployments over in Europe, I saw a high-wire act...I'd swear that lady bought her dress from the same place as this one..."  His delivery was in total earnest, entirely straight-faced.  Only a faint flicker of a twitch at the corner of one eye betrayed the smile that was trying to break through as he spoke.

"But, I'll tell ya...it was a helluva show.  If you can do half of what she did there, every eye in the place will be locked on you, I'm sure."  And then, as if the Ambassador was even less noteworthy than one of the serving staff, he turned to Lyri, and asked, "Do you suppose they do the cheesecake New York style?  I'm not much of a specialist when it comes to the stuff, but I've heard the New York-style cheesecake is much richer and smoother than the regular stuff..."

He gave an encouraging grin and another squeeze of her hand, and slipped in a sly wink, with the eye that was turned away from Un Li.

..I like the Cheesecake without the Graham Crackers crust...if i want crackers..I'll order  crackers!.. the waitress brought the  drinks  and Cheescake, Kray ordered the  same for himself  and Frans..

 Grinning at Frans ,..Comon..you don't get the Blue Max everyday...you'll work out the calories  in the cockpit...

 she eyesd the cheesecake  and bit her lip, then nodded to the waitress....Kray added,..Somehting  For you ...Ambassador?

  She looked around  at the Table, then  smiled,..oh yes...but..I will collect it later... she moved off into the crowd, more then one   fellow  trailing her  to her next stop.

 Shadow frowns,..I hope she gets a posting soon!

Roy nodded, a scowl flickering across his face.  He released Lyri's hand, but left his laying on top of it.  "I realize she's the Admiral's sister-in-law, and all...but that woman makes me want to shove her out an airlock like very few people I have ever met..."  He shook his head, and picked up his cocoa with his free hand.

"Damn...why do they always serve this stuff so hot?  I'm sure there's folks out there who have enough scar tissue built up that it doesn't hurt 'em, but if I drank this right now, I wouldn't taste anything for three days.  If I was lucky!"

Koos definitely noticed Irina's lingering hip, her warmth and closeness reminding him that there was more than one dance to celebrate life. It seemed she was interested in horizontal as well as vertical dancing. Well why the hell not? If he was going to be celibate for his tour it would be a very long five years. They were both young, both interested, both wise enough in war to take their chances when they got them, she was actually a good match for him. As a marine she wasn't going to complain about sorties, okay he would probably worry while she was in the mud but that was true of nearly anybody on this ship, and she certainly made a change from the normal girl dared to try The Troll by her friends. All her cyber made her no fragile flower, he wouldn't have to worry about breaking her, other way around if anything.

His smile transformed his face for the second time that day, and he returned her interest with interest, managing something like a hi-energy close dance. An armful of warm willing woman was nearly too much for him, and he was actually relieved when the music changed and she broke off, adjusting his trousers before following her to the bar, admiring the sway of her hips.

Irina glanced back at Koos over her shoulder as she sauntered up the bar. Her eyebrows raised with mock condemnation of his staring. She let a small grin slip as she turned around, her hips swaying just a tiny bit more. Koos attention brought a warm glow that rivaled the buzz the alcohol had brought. She let out a heady sigh as she perched herself on stool. "Between all this dancing, and running planetside my legs are going to kill me in the morning," Irina remarked as she lit up. "Oh now what will I have," She said in a tone of feigned uncertainty. Irina turned to look right at Koo, "Bartender can I get one sex on the beach." She paused to take a long drag off her cigarette. "you want one too?" Irina asked Koos with a grin that practically reached her ears.

   Taking a bite  of the Cheesecake.  He smiled and said,..no graham Crackers...gods..it's  good to be a pilot.... he pointed at base of the cheesecake, it was scraped clean of Graham crackers.

  .............

 at the end of the bar two MArines  got in a tussel with a Sailor  and his friend...vefore  too much could have 4 SEC men came and dragged them outside, and sent them off to thier   quarters with a SEC timer on each of them.

.....................

After leaving the med lab Aldin headed back to his quarters for a bit. He took a shower, as he contemplated everything. It felt like the more he thought about things, the worse off he was. He thought back to his statement about the Nazis. It's strange to think that maybe not all Nazis were evil and hated Jews. History books never mention those people though. History really is written by the victors, huh? He thought to himself. Just seeing how things were ran, he knew he wasn't in a position to do much. He sighed at the thought, as it wasn't the easiest thing for him to accept. He wasn't completely useless though. He still had his job as a pilot, and to protect those he flew with. As long as he did his part keeping his wingmates safe, then perhaps that'd be enough."Man I need to just enjoy myself, I'm over-thinking things too much." He said, deciding to head to the Pulse to enjoy the party he was missing.

He walked into the club passing the two marines and sailor that were being escorted out by security. He smiled at all the activity going on. His first stop was the bar, as he ordered himself a drink. "Dos Equis" He said trying to be heard over the loud techno music playing. Not to far down from him was the new pilot in his flight talking up some marine chick, further away he saw Shadow and his usual gang. The whole crew appeared to be crammed in this place tonight.

Koos grinned back. "Sure, why not?" He leant in. "I have some oil in my pack, works wonders for G-force bruising. Figure I can do something to help those... legs of yours." He leant in even closer, lips brushing her ear, and nearly whispered his next words.. "No roommate assigned yet. What say we strike while the iron is hot?"

Irina nuzzled her head against Koo's neck, and breathed his scent in deep. She put a finger against his chest, and began making little patterns on his shirt. "Now why do I think what you have in mind isn't really going to help my legs?" She teased, "Besides we'll be passing up free drinks. I don't think my reputation would survive." She pulled back, and took another drag off her cigarette. She was enjoying toying with Koos the same way a cat probably enjoyed toying with it's food. The finger on Koos chest stopped its ministrations, and instead pushed firmly enough to open a foot, or two between them. "Hey bartender, you can forget those drinks," She said as she stubbed out her cigarette. Well the cat did eventual eat its meal, and Irina had worked up an appetite of her own. She hopped off the stool, and pushed Koos along in front of her all the way to the door. Making no effort to hide that she was taking the time to enjoy her view of him the entire way.

  The Admiral approached the  Stage once more. The  Vid MAster handed him the Mic, and HAck began to speak after the  music was done.

 ..Alright  folks..All hear this....I want byou all to have  a good time...a good night..Tomorrow  Moring at 0800..all Pilots and Away team people  will  meet on the HAnger  dec for   both..a Debrief, and a Briefing of our  up coming mission..it will be Vid Casted to all the ships of the  Fleet, Including the  Transport Bases, so all we  be on the same PAge....The ESN Board will be with us  through Vids as well....Enjoy yourselves....but...be responsible...

 He handed the mic  back to the Vid MAster,offered his hand to  Commander SI  and they headed out the door, followed  By Major Monroe and his wife.

Koos glanced back, amused. "So much for your reputation" he teased, then led the way to his quarters. Producing a bottle of massage oil from his pack, he held it up. "Best close the door."

And we can fade to black here, I think.

To -> hanger deck the next morning

Roy was just preparing to take a bite of the cheesecake when Hack stepped to the mic.  He paused, listening to the announcement, and nodded.  He made a mental note to stop by Security on his way back to his quarters and make sure that everyone on the night shift understood that they needed as much of the intel processed as possible before the briefing, another mental note to stop by Security in the morning and collect what was available (or collect someone who had it all in mind so questions could be asked), and grunted, barely audibly.

"Responsible?  Most of us always are, and the ones who aren't, wouldn't take the directive, anyway."  He grinned, though...it was a CO kind of thing to say, obligatory, the warning to avoid excess because this was still a warzone and everyone needed to be operational.  It was even worse, because this was the flagship, everyone would look to the Hermes crew to set the standard for operational readiness and esprit de corps.

It wouldn't change anything about how he intended to carry out his evening, however.  He bit into the cheesecake, enjoying the thrill that ran through his body.  "This is good cheesecake!" he observed, unnecessarily, after sitting for a moment to let the morsel dissolve in his mouth.  He took another bite, a thoughtful look on his face as he savored the taste.

"The topping isn't bad...it's just not the same when it's not fresh blueberry, though..."  He shrugged, and added, "Of course, you can't have everything.  Especially way out here..."  To punctuate his point, he took a third bite.

  Angela  wandered off to the arcade area, earning some credits with darts.

   Eckles left with a Lt from the Life Support Systems... Frans was getting mor e attention then she cared for.

  Stevens was getting ready to leave, he stopped by the Table...LC?..Got  a Minute?

  Kray Looked up and nodded,..have a seat..what's up?

 Stevens took a seat on the other side of Frans, who had moved over to thier  table. well..there is a Demon  Pilot out there..he has a Demon Skull on his tail fins and   Fuseluage...don't know what they call him..but he  called me on Comm 1 and challenged me to a One on one duel, before we hit Bura... I am to meet him..alone...

  Swallowing another Bite of his chesse cake..the last of it..he pushed the plate aside   as he eyed up Stevens,..If i have my say?..You can go..but  not alone.....if the deal is, for you to go alone?..Its not happening...I read about Aces  getting ambushed in the old wars...WW1...Albert Ball was shot down as he flew past a church steele, that he always checked the  time on....that same  war..a Turkish  Fighter Piilot, who had a gift for destroying  Ballons...was Blown up, with a Ballon that had a dummy in  its basket, and the basket was flull of TNT...there are more..but i won't bore you..they see you name, they know your ship...they will try to take  you out to use as a  morale thing...

 ..but..isn't there some  kind of code?...won't it look like  i am a coward, if i take some one? or don';t go at all

 ..it  will look like you are not stupid...and..You are outranked, so it will be clear that your officers  won't let you go alone....besides...Earth folks always had Seconds, and a Retinue of followers  watch , to make sure everything is done on the up and up..in duels.


  Frans Piped in,..Listen to him Stevens..if anyone know2s  Stupid..its  Kray...

 Kray looked at Frans  and shook his head,..Stevens  chuckled  for the first time this evening.....they contact you again....or ig they contact us...we will make it clear, that at least 2 fighters have to come with you..and the  duel area will have to be between our ship and thiers.....you'er not  gonna get taken out  by a missle from the planet, or a hidden fighter...

 ..YOu mean..You think i should go?he was half surprised..half  shocked.

 ..what i said..the ...stupid part... Frans  frowned.

 No..this is good...if they do it..in the open...with no tricks...Stevens torches the Skull guy..and these lose one of thier big guns...

  Kray Finishes his  snack and  downs his  soda,..Well...I'm Gonna  go check on LAdy, then try and get some sleep..the Debrief in the moring should be...interesting...

  Frans Stands ,..I amy as  well go  too, see how many of  my Flight's  ships  are still holding  together...

 Kray   Half  Salutes  the others  at the Table  and  heads  towards the Door, Frans slightly behind, looking  ,once more, at her Blue Max......

Roy shook his head as the conversation wrapped up and the pilots walked away.  "Well, chalk that up as another reason I'm glad to be a ground-pounder.  I'd be just as thankful to have nobody know my name, at all...at least I don't have someone counting kills and publicizing the body count.  That's dangerous territory for a sniper to get into..."  He shook his head, thinking back through the history he'd been taught as he'd gone through sniper training...Zaitsev and Hathcock were both names that had become publicized enough for enemy commanders to call in specialists to eliminate them...luckily, both men had been good enough that they got the hunters before they were, themselves, taken out.  Somewhere along the line, it had been decided that, for the good of the snipers themselves, not much should be said about what they did while they were in the field.

Far better, Roy agreed, to make heroes out of the pilots...it was a lot harder to box in a fighter, isolate it and ambush it, than it was to surround and eliminate a pair of gunmen on the ground.

"I wish him luck...the only way I'd wanna be involved in that would be if they managed to get me out on the hull with the gauss rifle and an EV suit, so I could put a round through the Demon's cockpit before anyone realized I was there."  He finished up the last bite of his cheesecake to punctuate his statement.

  Lyri shook her  head,..I think i had  enough spacewalking for a bit.There is alot of Black out there..hard to find one little body out there...

 The Countdown clocks  all over the ship ( and the fleet) Blew thier horns....it was now 2 days  and counting before the next invasion.....

Roy grinned, crookedly.  "I wouldn't be crazy about the notion, either.  There are only a few thousand things that could go wrong with the scenario, about ninety percent of which would be almost instantly fatal...I'm not averse to a little risk, but I like the reward to balance it out."

  ..it seems  Alot of  our people  don't mind taking  chances.... Lyri grinned as she though about the actions  on the  planet

Roy shrugged.  "What would life be without some element of risk involved?  Besides, if we were worried about being safe, not one of us here would have chosen the career we did...we'd be back home doing something boring and innocuous and hoping that someone else would protect us."

He glanced around the room and grinned.  "I think I could safely say that, when you get right down to it, everyone here is a 'take my fate in my own hands' kinda person...might be okay with relying on someone else to watch our backs for a while, but none of us would be content with relying on someone else to protect us.  Reminds me of a saying I read, a long time ago...something about 'society sleeps at night because grim-faced men stand prepared to do violence to protect it.'"  He shrugged, and added, "Right now isn't the best time to judge it...but come zero-hour on the latest countdown, I think we'll see a whole lotta grim faces on this tub."

  well...Master Sgt of  Space Operations..Delta  Fleet....would you like to escort a frail young  woman to her  quarters?  he  smiles  as she pushes   her plate to the senter of the table and stands.


  Un-Li comes by, stopping  at the table and asks,..Shadow left?....I did not even see him go?..do you know where he went?

Roy leveled a steely gaze at the Angel princess.  "If he wanted you to know where he was going, he would have made sure you saw him leave.  Since he didn't, I can only assume he intended that you leave him be...and I intend to honor his wishes on the matter."  The brusque manner was definitely a breach of protocol, considering the position that Un-Li held...but Roy had gotten beyond the point of respecting a position, when the person holding it had done so much that was unworthy of respect.

Without bothering to even indicate a dismissal of Un-Li, Roy turned to Lyri.  "It would be my pleasure to escort a frail young lady...but I don't see anyone here that I'd consider frail."  He grinned at her, and added, "I'll give you two out of three on that one, though...and offer the escort, just the same."

  Well then...Master  Sgt of the Delta Fleet...let us be on our  way... Lyri stands, still abit  taken aback at the  way Un-li looks  comepared to her clothing.

  Un-li Frowned a bit at Roy's  words,..well then...I will just have to find him.... she  struts off, more then one  fellow moving after her.

  Lyri looks at Roy and shakes her head,..I dunno..Shadow  and Her?..they would be on every talk show and  tabloid there is..they might even make a few new ones  for that!

Roy grimaced.  "I just don't see it.  I think Shadow'd end up wringing her neck or something.  And I'm relatively sure she's just after him because of a status thing...she gets the notoriety of pairing off with a roguish human who happens to be the hottest ace in the pilot pool and a star athlete.  I don't think there's anything deeper to it that would make it last.  And with all the meddling she's been doing in his life in the past few months, she'll be lucky if he doesn't shove her out an airlock."  He shook his head.

"People like her are the worst kind of parasite on society.  I don't think she'll ever have anything constructive to donate..."  He rested one hand on the small of Lyri's back, and gestured with the other for her to proceed.

From the Rec Deck --->

Irina stood in front of the pulse smoking as music blared from inside. As she stood she pulled out her pistol, and removed the power cell. She tucked the power cell deep into a pocket, and checked the pistol to make sure it's charge was fully depleted. Satisfied it would take an obvious effort to ready the weapon to fire Irina returned it to it's holster in the small of her back.

Hunter follows Irina out and along to the Pulse, As he walks Irina will see that he has a shoulder holster with a pistol in the rig. And a blade rides on his hip that is curved similar to a kukri
This message was last edited by the player at 22:35, Thu 25 Apr 2013.

  people going in in out are  about half Civies, about  half- crew. Most folks  are dressed nice, but not  Formal. Though they did  see Un-Li and two Angel Elite, finely Dressed, heading in.

-----> From Non Com Quarters

Before walking inside Xyran cleared his weapons of all charges. Taking in a deep breath he made his way inside, he was pretty well dressed which was something he wasn't fully familiar with but it was better then wearing his armored battle suit.

Xyran's eyes scanned the area and the people enjoying themselves taking note of any people of interest before making his way up to the bar to meet up with his crew, "My apologies for keeping you both waiting so lets get some drinks"

In reply to Xyran (msg # 230):

Hunter turns at the voice, looks his new friend up and down " better, much better" he says

"okay I think it's my round first are we starting ith beers or straight spirits"

"No problem Comrade," Irina said as she gave Xyran a slap on the back. With that Irina turned, and strutted right up to the bar. If she felt out of place being underdressed compared to the like of Un-Li it certainly didn't show. She turned to Hunter at his question on the nights drinking. "Beer?" She repeated disgust almost dripping off the word. "Neyt. We start the same way we would in the motherland. Vodka. Shots. You can decide what we'll drink after."

  As the Bar Keep set up the Vodka. the 3  companions noticed more and more  offciers  coming in, The LAdies had dresses, the  Officers  wore off Duty Tunics and such.

  some of the  enlisted and  Non-coms were dressed up, most wore thier  utilities.

  Snatchs  of conversation...

 ..Prison ship docking with us  in the Moring...gonna be offering  them service on the Hermes, or send them to the Penal Colony, on the Delta  Planets..

 ..Fuji is  sure gonna look good..those beaches  and  resterants..beat the 9 hells out of the Olympus...

<quote pulse>

Hunter walks up beside her, "Vodca Nyet, whisky if they have it", catches the bar mans eye.
"Yea have whisky 'uisge beatha', in the language of its home land."
Hunter eyes go wide at the sight of a produced bottle of 15 year old Highland Park
"By all thats holy, my evening is made", Hunter hands over the 50 credit asking price.
"3 glasses if you would" and pours a measure into each shot glass.

Raises his glass ""SLAHN-chə" translating as "health"
And downs it in one

And waits for his comrades to join him

Xyran joined with them as they downed there shots of whiskey, but due his size he needed to limit himself on how much he drank as it was possible to get drunk faster then humans, "Whats next?" he asked calmly.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:16, Sun 28 Apr 2013.

"Slahncha," Irina echoes as she downs her shot. She lets out a happy sigh as the liquor goes down. At Stitches request she lets out a light laugh. "I can tell we are going to get along well my little friend. I'm going get us something special," Irina says. Irina leans in close to make her request, and at first is refused. However after a few moments of negotiating, and a friendly tip the bartender finally turns away to fix whatever concoction Irina requested. While they wait Irina lights up another cigarette, and turns to Stitch. "So how does one get nickname of Stitch?" She asks while toying with her lighter. Before to long the bartender delivers three tall glasses, and three shot glass. One pair of glasses are placed by Stitch, and not filled to the same height. "This is called Dr. Pepper after old Earth drink. Okay watch me," Irina explains as she sets one of the shot ablaze with a flick from her lighter. Irina smiles as she picks up the burning shot, and slowly moves it into the tall glass. In one swift motion she drops the shot glass, thus extinguishes the flame, and then downs the entire drink. "Who is next?" She asks as she holds out her lighter.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:40, Tue 05 Nov 2013.

Hunter now that is a trick I last saw done year ago.
Oh shiteee, its got to be done right or you are in trouble.
Okay here goes nothing and copies Irina's tactics exactly and shudders as it goes down, "Irina" he gasps "your people are nuts friend"
"Stitch be careful get this wrong and you will be sore for a week"

Xyran starred at the drink for a moment before going for it doing it just as they did and to his surprise he didn't manage to hurt himself as he downed the drink, 'These humans are crazy' he thought to himself as he regained his composure.

"Ok my turn" he said with a somewhat sadistic tone of voice as he turned to the bartender and just asked for 3 fresh glasses and 3 cherry's, Xyran then produced a vial from his outfit and poured it into the cups then added the cherry's... turning to the two others he handed them there drinks, "This folks is *Red Death* a very infamous Occui drink, absolutely do not drink more then one of these in any 24 hour period"

The drink was a dark crimson red with a smooth texture and a cherry floating in it. The drink smells strongly like strawberries and tastes somewhat like milk but the after effects have been known to cause blindness and deafness for a few seconds along with a very painful burning sensation like napalm in your throat, but the best part was after the horrible sensation (not more then 5 seconds) was over every muscle in your body just feels amazingly relaxed and the senses for a few minutes feel bolstered.

Xyran then drank it quickly he stumbled back as his throat began to burn and his vision went blurry for a brief moment, "That... is some hardcore stuff..." he said taking a seat on one of the bar stools.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:53, Sun 28 Apr 2013.

<quote Xyran>
Xyran then drank it quickly he stumbled back as his throat began to burn and his vision went blurry for a brief moment, <Goldenrod

Hunter watches and wonders, okay he places the bottle he has bought on the counter careful then takes the small glass and looks at it.
"One wonders what happens if you were to take two in the given period" he asks politely.
And sits before drinking, then following his new friends lead drink it and suffers the consequences
"Oh godfathers" he gasps and then sits there riding the effects

Irina snatches up the shot as Xyran issues his warning. By the time her rational thinking mind has had time to for doubt, and fear, muscle memory has already committed the act. Irina slams a fist into the bar as her throat erupts into fire. Her eyes water, and she lets out a cough. As her throat begins to relax she unleashs long tirade of Russian expletives involving prison rape, extended family, and a unicycle. Then finally Irina leans back, and just signs. It takes almost a minute before she says anything else. "If ever a drink needed a chaser, this red death needs one. I don't know who among your species invented that, but officially, they are insane. Well one bad turn deserves another. Barkeep! Do me a favor see if you have a bottle absinthe lying around." Irina said as she reached for her cigarette. "So you never answered my question. How did you get the nick name stitch. For that matter what made enlist with the ESN. I wasn't even aware we were excepting alien races in. Well outside the occasional angel 'advisor' that is."

Xyran sat there and thought about the question taking several moments before responding, "Well I got the codename due to the many times Ive had to 'stitch' myself up in the field on long term missions in the outer rim, deep in demon territory."

Xyran ran a hand across the scar near his heart then looked back to the other two, "I was transferred here by request by my best friends father who is a 'nudel tomolur' also known by your people is a major general, at any rate five years ago me and his son Xar were betrayed by my former squad mates that defected believing how we were all destined to be slaves of the angels or some bullshit like that once this war was over with, story summed up they killed my friend and left me for dead and I joined the ESN for a chance of getting my revenge" ending the story there, Xyran waited for another drink to wash the thought from his mind.

I joined the ESN for a chance of getting my revenge"</Goldenrod> ending the story there, Xyran waited for another drink to wash the thought from his mind.
</quote>

Hunter, "sorry friend, this my oath on it you fight with me and you will find me right there with you."
"Above one know I have never had any one in my unit turn like that but I have seen trained troops turn."
hearing the call for absinthe
"Irania sorry I draw the line at that one, I freely admit I can not stand the taste"

"You're a spoil sport John," Irina commented as she waved the bartender off the bottle of absinthe. She then listened carefully to Stitches story. For a long while she just sits in silence, before finally motioning the bartender for more shots. "I can't imagine how hard that was," Irina begins, "Hell the EDT piss me the fuck off, but they're just my countrymen. To have squad mates turn on you." Irina shakes her head, and sighs in exasperation. "Tell you what you ever find those traitors you let me know. I'll hold them down for you, or help if you prefer." She pauses as the bartender delivers more shots of vodka. "To absent comrades," Irina says as she holds her glass up for a toast.

  Two   Troopers, a Marine guy and   NAvy  women, wearing their  uniforms  came in. They stop at the Bar, ordering a drink each and some  Nachos.

  One of the other  people, dressed in Civies  asked the  Guy how it was going,The Guy took a drink of his  beer and shook his head with a LAugh, Me and Connie..we got off duty just in time...The HAnger  Dec loks like an interplanetary  airport!....we are sending  down Civies  who want to help colonize Bura...and  we just got 50 of those  Green Borials who  are being sworn in as ESN troops!..I here tell , every cruiser is getting a detachment of them....There is also a Prison Shuttle from earth  standing off..waiting to get in...there are bringing in people...they get a chance to Join up, or get sent down to the colonies..i guess they will split up those who don't sign up, and  spread them around the new  palents we just secured...

 The woman nodded,people from earth who cause problems....guess the Angels shipped them out here..must be boarder line  nut jobs...bad enough , that they bmay cause trouble..but  not bad enough to space....

Xyran raises his glass for the toast and drinks it down, "Talon company was the best of the best in the Occui federation's special operations division, if we encounter them in our missions it will be one hell of a fight I assure you... don't under estimate them" Xyran said with a stern warning, he was starting to get tired and most likely he was gonna be stuck working all day tomorrow in the tech labs.

In reply to Xyran (msg # 245):

Hunter "the lady has it right friend when we get the chance to help you kick back we will be there swinging along side".

Hunter shudders overhearing the comments about convicts being allowed to serve.
'Serve as what'? he wonders out loud.
he pours his two friends another measure of malt as they occupy their space

"I'm not trying to down play the risk Stitch," Irina explained as she picks up her glass. "I'm saying that shit wont happen around here, and if, if mind you, an opportunity comes up. I'll do my damnedest to make sure you get a shot to level the score."

"Don't like the idea of a con watching your six John?" Irina asks with a raised eyebrow, and the slightest hint of anger. Absent mindedly she begins to flick her lighter as she speaks, "I wouldn't worry to much. I very much doubt the Admiral, or Sergeant Spencer for that matter, would give someone they don't trust a gun. Besides on the combat teams I guarantee we can take care of any issues on the combat team. One way, or another." For a fleeting moment the jovial marine disappears as her smile gains a predator edge, and her voice grows colder. Then without missing a beat their jolly drinking companion is back, "I doubt it will be a problem though. Most of them will probably wind up working supply, or something like that. To serve around here is a privilege you have to earn. It's not just handed out. You can trust me on that."

Xyran couldn't help but smile it felt good to be in a team again and to know that these humans had his back, "I thank you both for your support and for that you have both earned my friendship... something that is not easily given by any Occui" He said as he turned to his drink and set it down not ready to do the deed yet.

Xyran sighed as he checked the time, "Its getting about that time... should be getting some rest before working in the tech labs tomorrow, stop in and ill fix you two up a flamethrower or something" he laughed as he downed his last drink of the night, "Ill catch you both later" with that said he made his way out of the pulse and back to his quarters to sleep off the booze and rest his sore body.

-----> To Non Com Quarters
This message was last edited by the player at 04:48, Thu 02 May 2013.

Hunter considers the question. "I am not sure what I think Irina, I have always served with a volunteer force before trained and ready to kick ass".

"What is happening with the Prisoners  is different and I need to get my head around the fact."
"What you say is correct, it is just me and my ways, I must adapt my thinking to fit the situation here, not the other way around."

Hunter nods "one thing is for sure you two I trust"
He signals to the bartender "Bar tender 3 Large Armagnac's"
When they are served he raises his glass "to the three of us"

"And the code of Bushido"
"Duty is the weight of all things, as heavy as a burden can become, while death is nothing, lighter than air."

In reply to Xyran (msg # 248):

Hunter
"Night Stitch, Turns to Iriana "well fell like showing me the ship that is going to be my home for a while"

"See you later Stitch," Irina says as she waves goodbye to the Occiu.

"Well if they're choosing between being colonists, and joining the fleet their still volunteering. Aren't they? So I guess your conscious is clear," Irina says to Hunter with the smell of alcohol heavy on her breath, and her words slightly slurred. The fresh drink draws her attention away from the discussion. "Well sure, what do you want to see John?"

In reply to Irina Tatyana (msg # 251):

Hunter replies in a calm voice
"Not sure I get your point, and my conscious is clear any way friend.
"As I said  I must adjust my thinking not the other way around"

"Well at the moment I know four areas of this ship hanger quarters rec deck and here."
"To be of use to people I need to know the rest, so I guess that leave plenty of room for you to start in"

   There were some  Calls  and  Shoutsouts, as Kray and  He-La  walked into the Pulse.. Many of the women  were checking  out He-la, to gauge what this  angel's reaction would be   to Humans.

  The Green-skinned  Angel  smiled a bit, she looked shy, though her eyes showed plenty of Confidence.

 ..Hey Shadow?  what'll it be? the bar keep shouted.

  Rootbeer Foe Me..and?......

  He-la Looked from Kray to the Barkeep.do you have Solar Brandy? I have not had that in years!

 ..Sure...um...Miss?..Kinda light  drink though?

 She smiled,..I have a big day tomorrow...

  Kray Looked around at the Crowd, almost as if  counting heads  then Said,..One Drink for  everyone On me....

  The BAr keep grinned  and shook his head,..Alright Folks..you heard the LC! what will you have?

 people started  shouting out  what they wanted  as Kray Motioned towards a table near the dance floor...their Path was blocked  By Un-Li who glided over   with her....guards.

 ..Shadow..I see you found a New Friend?...seems she has been  in the woods too long? Solar Brandy..really?

 He-la looked a bit  embarrassed as she looked at Un-li's Dress, then to her attire ..I like Solar Brandy....

 ...isn't there  some one  you should be bothering?...maybe Visit some of the EDT prisoners?

 Un-li shook her head,there was no prisoners...you killed them  all when you shot up that APV.... her voice was a bit angry

Yea...well...you know? If they didn't  play for the wrong side? they might be breathing yet....

 ..I sent  my father a report..i told him  we need to bring war Crimes charges  against you for that!

..Good Luck with that...didn't you hear..this is total war..they eat our  people..so we blow thiers to little tiny bits...Humna, Demon, Lizard....or Angel..you play for the wrong side? you'er getting hurt...

 He-La tilted her head, looked from Kray to Un-li,..You and   your sister  are both daughters of the Circle? yet....you are angered by the death of traitors? I do not Understand?....Commander  Si  even commented to me, that....'Kray takes  care of things? But sometiems uses  a Sledgehammer  to kill a flea? I am thinking, that means...he makes sure his  foes are dead..no matter the cost?  She Looked at Kray

 Shadow Grinned,well..no matter the cost ...to them...  he  Brushed  Un-li aside  with his Shoulder,giving a warning look to one of the guards, who took a step back,..Now?... Allow me to finsh showing   the Good Captain  a relaxing  night..aye?

 The moved past Un-li...He-la  Gave her  a 'sweet smile' as they  sat at the TAble, a waitress bringing their  drinks.

In reply to Kray Shadow (msg # 253):

Hunter hears the commotion and turns placing his back to the bar
   Hearing the fighter jock he grimaces all he needs this evening

   looking at the angel he purses his lips interesting, john has just about enough Alcohol in him to be brave and still be in partial control.

"You could learn to drink decent Terran Malt Whisky" he observes.
looking at He-La he says <Blue>"lady may I offer you a drink of Malt Whisky"

   </Blue>

  He-la looked  at Hunter, trying to focus on the voice  from all the other  folks, she motioned towards the table they were headed to,..if you wish to bring it there?

 Un-Li crossed her arms  as she looked about, her  normal . pale face, reddened.

In reply to john (msg # 255):

Hunter smiles turns to his friend "excuse me a moment"
takes two clean glasses off the counter and walks to the table.

"I apologise for my manors he says as he arrives".
"In the words of one Earth religion"
"Peace be upon us"
he then places the two glasses and the bottle on the table gently

"I am John Hunter Ex UK armed forces, and tonight seems to be my night for learning things."

"So I ask pardon for embarrassment caused to either of you please enjoy the drink,


He pours two measures, and raises his own glass, "to those gone before, lest we forget"

  Shadow Smiled,..Thank you Mr. Hunter..but  i'll pass on the  Drink, and Use  my own..i try to ....steer clear..of the  the harder stuff...

     I am LC Shadow. this is CAptain He-La..she will have over all charge of the Borial Troops on board the  Hermes, she aided our people  at the powerhouse and the  rundown of the escaping  EDT...Have a seat if you wish, Call your friend over? he motions to the chairs.

  After  Hunter Makes his toast Shadow adds  before drinking  from his rootbeer,and....don't wait for us....

 He-La looked at the drink, sniffed it, but shrugged as she  nodded to the  toast and drank, she coughed a bit, the green of her face getting a bit darker,...that...is  an Unpleasnat drink!....I shall stick to Solar Brandy!... she  laughed between coughs.

In reply to Kray Shadow (msg # 257):

Call your friend over? he motions to the chairs.

   After  Hunter Makes his toast Shadow adds  before drinking  from his rootbeer,and....don't wait for us....

  He-La looked at the drink, sniffed it, but shrugged as she  nodded to the  toast and drank, she coughed a bit, the green of her face getting a bit darker,...that...is  an Unpleasnat drink!....I shall stick to Solar Brandy!... she  laughed between coughs.

Hunter shrugs people react differently, to drinks they are not used to.
At least he-la tried it, Hunter waves Iriana to join them if she wished to.

Hunter temples his fingers, looking thoughtful, "It sounds like we are going hunting" he observes quietly.
"Can this Sgt know where and when and come to that how soon"

   With a shake of his Head, Shadow  shrugged,well? we're headed to Fuji  for a refit... it will take  2 weeks for all the  ships to get refitted,and that's if the Modular designs work like they were supposed to....Not sure  where for sure?..But if i was in charge? we would be hitting that Demon world on thier side of the frontier...let thier  civies  know what total war is like....


  He-La nodded her head,...indeed Mr  Shadow, it would be nice to  see cities burning  on the vids, that did not have dead or  dying humans in...

<quote Kray Shadow>

Hunter sighs "I hoped you two would have more knowledge of what was happening".

Hunter gets lightly to his feet
"Well enjoy your drinks both, I hope we will met again some time".

Hunter gets back to bar "shall we do the quick tour, while you can still stand friend"

  Kray  shrugged  as Hunter   walked away.....do you Dance Capt?

  He-La  shrugged  a  bit,  I can  try, it has been alot of years...

 They went to the Floor,  and  began to Dance. Neither warrior was good  at it, but  no one seemed to mind.

   A sailor came in  and called to one of the two who walked in  with the scuttlebutt, hey..guys!..the Priosn ship  is  off loading now!

"You don't get my point?" Irina says echoing Hunter as she glares at him. She opens her mouth to speak, and then closes it without so much as a word. "I'm drunk aren't I?" Irina says stating the obvious. Her features soften as she leans back. "I get a chip on my shoulder some times. Especially when I'm drunk. Sorry," She explains as she traces the letters tattooed across her knuckles. "I... ahh... I kinda spent a few years in juvie," Irina says with a shrug of her shoulders. "Yebat," Irina curses in Russian as she grabs her drink and takes a big gulp. "I really must be drunk to be telling you this. I think I'm going to hit the head." With that she stood, and wandered over to the bathroom. She took her time as she walked past Kray's table to listen to the exchange with Un-Li.

By the time she returned Hunter was moving away from Kray's table. "Drinking with the flight wing commander. I can't leave you alone for a minute can I?" Irina said as she gave Hunter an exasperated look. "Alright we'll settle our tab, and get out of here. It's a pretty big ship, we could be at this a while. You've already seen the rec deck, so why don't we go to the firing range?" As she moved back towards the bar Irina bumped her shoulder against Un-Li. Whether it was intentional, or not Irina kept walking without acknowledging the incident.

Hunter chuckles "information friend comes from many quarters"
"some good, some not so good, a wise soldier uses all means and opportunities to gather Intelligence on what is happening around him."
"Also time may come when I want to put a personnel call to top cover if we are on the ground".

"As to being drunk I would say you are going to know about it in the morning".
"Unless you want to be sober in about 10 minutes".

hunter waits for the answer

Irina stops, and turns to look at Hunter. "I'm not giving you shit about drinking with a pilot. Well I might, but it won't serious. No I'm giving you flak for sharing a drink with one of the higher ranking officers on board, and a god damn star of the ESN public affairs office to boot. Mostly though I'm still just fucking with you," Irina explained said as she gave the Englishman a hard slap on the back. "So are ready to get out of here?"

In reply to Irina Tatyana (msg # 264):

Hunter staggers slightly
"One day I will figure you out friend". "Okay do you wish to be sober or drunk was the question you did not answer"

"Well drunk of course, why do you think we came here?" Irina replied "Why, you know some miricale way to sober up that quick?"

Hunter grins
"We called it all clear, some thing the medics in our unit brewed by years ago."

Hunter considers as they walk, with the facts he knows about it then adds.

"Due to the covert nature of the work we had to be drunk then sober quickly some times".
"Small pill draws all the alcohol out of your body quickly and violently, but you better be near the toilet when you take it because believe me you is going to be sick".
"I was given a small bottle of them when I left seeing as I did so on short notice."
"The party was thrown quickly and at short notice".

"Checked them in when I got here and was told nothing illegal in them so I still have the ten left."

  Admiral HAck and  Commander Si took to the floor, they moved  close to  Shadow and  He-La, when the song stopped   they stood there  and chatted  while the Vid Master set up his next barrage of  songs.

 Un-li walked over  and Began to speak with   Si, who looked more then a Little angry with her sister. He-La had a slightly amused  smile on her  face. Kray was  Rubbing his  temples, HAck was out right  laughing.

"Well I think that sounds like the definition of a buzz kill. If you ever offer them to me again I had better be on the clock, or suffer alcohol poisoning," Irina remarked as she light up. "You ready to split?"

Hunter "ayeap, lead on and find the way"

 The  Night  wound down, and Kray escorted  He-la to  Commander Si's  Quarters.

 While he walked down the passage way to the elevators, Un-lI and one  of her Guards came off the  Elevator.Why?  Lt Commander. Are you not....a bit lost?

  Kray  shook his head  as he hit the  Button,..Nope, Not at  all..been here many times...

  The  Door Hissed open  and  he stepped onto the elevator, and headed  down to the HAnger Dec.

flexed to the night before....

  A black vest took him from pirate to bartender...well not quite but it as closer. What's the hotest place on board? The Pule looks promisin, multiple bartenders and they'll all wanna disappear durin station side.
   Joseph asks a bouncer who to talk to about a Job.

 The Bouncer    jerked his head to the back of the  'building'..Nick Porta...ex ESN  Chief...he wanted to stay in the ESN, but  ran out of years, so he runs this place....his office is behind the BAr, shouldn't be too hard to find...not  many folks in there  right now...

In reply to Joe MAc (msg # 273):

Joe enters where he is told.

   Nick was sitting behind a desk Going over order sheets, He looked up  and then back down at his Vid boards,..watcha need?

In reply to Joe Mac (msg # 275):

"Employment, was wonderin if you could use a fill in bartender, an maybe a live musician on occasion."

  The Fellow Looks up from the desk, he  has a scar on the left side of his  face,we could use  an extra  BArkeep...be   pay-per -job, until we think you can fit in the  rotation....what Musics you do..cause..this is a class ship...don't want no minstrals  or anything  like that.

He shrugs off his backpack, "Name it and I'll demonstrate it, I can also play with a band, but would need some time to find other players and learn their style."

  Nick Looks  at the fellow, the stylus in his hand  beating  on the Desk as  he speaks...we like to have  Dance  Music...also some Mood stuff...yonger folks  Like  that techno stuff that  keeps popping up every 30 years or so...we have  lot of Vids   we pop up when the BAnd  isn't booked to play.

In reply to Joe MAc (msg # 279):

"Technno  is no problem, it takes little talent. As for the rest"  He pulls out what looks to be a bulky old computer and a didgital relay cable with a universal jack and points to the mans vid screen.  "May I boot up a quick little play list so ya can see my abilities for yourself?"

  He Looks at the  thing then a Joe MAc...he wars within himself   whether to toss him out now..or..perhaps ..shoot him?..alright..something quick, but i have work to do...

In reply to Joe MAc (msg # 281):

   Joe pops up a series of performances with the option of fast fowarding.  Through everything from classic rock, soft rock, hard rock, hip hop, traditional, even a little preclassical. [to a critical eye/ear] They show him able play keyboard on a professional level, guitar and most flutes at a master level, reed instruments at a lower professional level but he hides it well in the acompaniment[he can play the bag an elen pipes but he wisely left them off screen] but the only drums he plays are traditional.  Nuthin that requires sticks.   Of course his traditional music was nearly perfect and he showed a talent for adapting it to other genres.

   He seems a master at sampling, and setting up arrangements to compensate.  In fact while the manager was clickin through the vids he was typing furiously on his keyboard knowing Nick would only spend a few seconds on each.

   By the time Nick was done he'd cued up the instrumentals for something like a B52's song and played a couple of  replacing The Love Shack for The Pulse Bar so it worked like a jingle for a casting off party, then showed him the first part of a arrangement for a BeastyBoy type rip off, "No Sleep Till Astra." If you were looking for it you could here the scott in all his music, but it isn't obvious.

   After everything, He says with a straight face. "That an I don't take up much room on stage."

  Though he doesn't seem to hate the  stuff, he also  seems less  then pleased, perhaps , a bit distracted by his work...Alright.....lets see...from what i here, our  people are supposed to be giving those EVOLs  an ass kicking before  we hit  Astra..., That means tomorrow night   thereis gonna be alot for folks looking for a good time...show up at 6:00 dark time....you can start at the bar, and we'll throw  you in during BAnd Breaks...

   Joseph knows better than o push it. He nods "Thank you sir,"  He packs his things up, while his hands were in motion he makes a passive bid to find out what the man was lookin for "Did ya have any requests Sir.?"

  The MAn puts  his stylus down and Leans  BAck in his chair. He looks at the new  fellow, right in the  eyes. His  face is stern, but his words are steady, if not  friendly,...you know?...Joe is it..right? We're  on a Cap ship...not  just any Cap ship...THE Cap ship....in the whole of the ESN, There is no Ship that comes to mind first..whether it be people back 'home'....

 he waves his hand  at a star chart on the wall that has pins in it, indicating  ESN/AP holdings, and Black ones indicating Demon Holdings


 ..Mercs and Pirates on the Run...or Demons.  The whole of the  Delta Fleet has made some names for themselves....go to a toy store...you'll see models of  every ship in the Fleet...you'll be  hard pressed to find  the HAdes or some of the  Others Floating around out there..


  I served on the Vish..it was one of the first Destroyers sent  after the Demons who had entered  Sol space...we were  cut to ribbons..some Hot shot  Pilot...by the NAme of Hack..saved our asses by turning away the Demon fighters....Lots of us were killed, lots of us were hurt....Now....My way of helping  pay  That Pilot back, Is giving the folks on this boat a place to unwind  and enjoy themselves..cause there is a damn good chance they might not be here in a month or so...That...joe...is what I want.

In reply to Joe Mac (msg # 285):

  Joseph stood with his pack on one shoulder while Nick made his statement. He stood for a moment, then.."Twice did I apply to be part of ESN, twice was I turned down.  Music ha been my mistress since my teens but the stars have called to me since I've laid eyes on'em.  I shipped out with mercs as entertainment.  It was all I had but I learned the pistol and the blade.  Last camgeign my ship was hired to watch over a colony, an the Demons attacked.  Every ship, every fighter, every Soldier, was planet side.  We were boarded.  I've faught demon before, got me share of bounties, but this was nuts.  We repelled the attack but there wasn't enough of us left to run the ship.  No one came back from the colony."
   "I was to ship out with mercs again but the bastards cut out early so I'm here as a civilian.  I thank you fer the job, an I do value the task of makin the soldiers happy."  he doesn't mention those who he has performed for who have not returned. He took several steps back. "Now if you'll excuse me some of the Hermes Sec said they wanted to meet me on the Rec deck." he gives a half bow and goes to leave,

  The COM  Buzzed, Nick held  up a finger.what?..when?...gods be damned..Ok...make sure the   Pizzas are being Made, and   rack up the   bottles..going to be  a long Night...

 Nick looked up a Joe Mac,..short Notice..I know... But it seems out Fighter Jocks  kicked the EVOLs  asses...Shadow is throwing a party here in ...... he looks  at the clock, 1 hour 10 minutes..you want to get a Jump start on the Barkeep thing?

In reply to Joe Mac (msg # 287):

Joseph turns with a grin "Are ye kiddin? I live for it!"

  get yourself ready..be back in in 45 minutes..you'll have a tunic to wear..bring your  Music  things, just in case.

In reply to Joe Mac (msg # 289):

   "I was goin ta play in the food court so I'm ready now, so long as ye will let me keep me harness on."  He opens his vest to show his side arms.  He thinks a moment "But I do need a tour of the bar an local drinks an ta look over the footage ta know for sure what happened out there.  Ya got a place I can check that?"

  footage?..what footage ya talkin about? he looks concerned  as if the questions makes Joe look...suspect?

In reply to Joe Mac (msg # 291):

  Joseph is confused "Ya kiddin? With the Esn pilots goin head to head with the evols today, I live over a toy store an was listenin to kids havin a shoutin match over who would win down stairs.  With all the braggig, tis is to loaded to keep out of the media. It's gotta be all over squak by now an if their havin a pizza party it looks really  good for the Hermes."

  Nick looks  relieved,...all you have ta do isplug into the feed, I'm sure you can call up anything your searching for...there's a good bet  the Vids from the first engagements  are there..and the Avians ship?...Hack made sure, the people back home knew what was going on...he  wanted to make sure, the Anti-angels understood...

In reply to Joe  Mac (msg # 293):

   Joseph thanks him and goes and checks out the Battle...or lack thereof shakes his head in disgust and sets to familiarizin himself with the bars layout.

>>>>>>>>>from HAnger Dec


  Frans  Took Zob's  hand, almost Gingerly, Shadow was  trying hard, not  to grin.You know?  Carole? I don't tthink yuou'll hurt him...


 The door opened  and the  walked  across the  Rec Dec, taking the Ramp down to the Field, theu up the other side to the "street". As the walked down the street, folks were buzzing  about  the  "wargames"...and  how EVOLs   really suck...More then One Person saw Shadow  and Frans, and knew who they were...it didn't hurt, they still had  Flight jackets on.

  Getting to the Pulse, they walked  In. The smell of Pizza and Burgers and steak where in the  air.

  Eddie , the other  BArkeep, called out.LC SHadow!...LT  Frans!..and...

 ..Zob..is good  Eddie..he's one of the  Alien assets..

 ..Right you are...Mr..Zob?...ok..well..we got  another  30 minutes or so before the   party starts....um..is this a closed party?

 Shadow thought for a Momnet , then said,..no..Piltos   get first dibbs on anything, this is thier  celebration, but any one  esle who wishes to come in ..is welcome...

 ..Geez Sjadow, How deep are your pockets?

 He looked at Frans, his  face didn't show  any emotion,...your  Father , was not the only idiot to bet against the Hermes those last 2  games....and the Largran Ambassador i killed  on Delta  Omega...lets  just say he left a nice  bundle of creds...

 ..So? Zob?...Carole?..what do you want to drink, while we wait?

Zob thought it over in his head before deciding on something sweet, "Ill take a lemonade... which brings me to my next question... what games are you talking about?" he asked curiously.

In reply to Zobaich (msg # 296):

 Is really short man behind the bar slides him  a lemonade

  The Football Games...ESN League. Each  ship has a tyeam..Carrier stations normnally have 2..colonies  have one or two depending on size....small ship don't have any, but they'll play us for fun when we have  shore leave.... he shrugged,We managed to win the  Fleet Championship  last season...the new  season started  already, but we haven't played   any games...need some down time for that.

Zob was intrigued, "Is this football game hard to learn?" he asked taking a sip of the lemonade, "I would like to give it a try sometime"

  Kray gives  a doubl;e take  at the  smallish man behind the counter,..you'er new?...You some Mull halfbreed?

 As he waits  for   the barkeep to answer, His eyebrow went up and a slight Grin came to his face,..the skills?..Are  a bit hard to learn..at first..but like any training, the more  Reps, the better you get..Like to see the Olympus Teams and HAdes Team if they Got a look at you behind a Face mask..they have no problem using Sanri, with those damn extra arms....

The Short man manages to look affended and amused at the same time,  "I beg your pardon, I'm a self respectin Scottsman, 100% human."

  Kray looks back,ahhhh..sorry....we don't have  many folks under  5'10..Angel Food  and all..... he looks a bit  embarrassed, but  manages  to let it  side off his back.

In reply to Kray Shadow (msg # 302):

"It's No problem. I ain't exactly ESN"

  Shadow  smiled,well...yeah...I would have guesses that...you from a colony?

In reply to Kray Shadow (msg # 304):

   He laughs, "Um no, scottsmen are generally from Scotland.  That's on earth. Was there somthin I can get you?"

 ...Just a Cola  right now..and  get these two whatever they are having....should be  more pilots   and such coming soon.

 Frans  shrugged,Glass of Red Wine  would be  Nice..

In reply to Kray Shadow (msg # 306):

"Comin righ up."  His hands aren't big enough to do the spins but he sets up the drinks with the flare of someone who knows his way around.  "Watched the Vids on the action, there may be some good pilots gettin their arses toasted if they don't come up to speed."

Zob took a drink of his lemonade before responding to Shadow, "You would be surprised how fast i learn when i set my mind to something... So how can i get in on this *Football* action?" Zob asked not knowing the teams captain was sitting right next to him.

  well?..next practice..you can try out...Let the  Chief deciede where he can use you....Do see us practicing  for a week or so...right after Astra, we move onto the real thing....there might be  alot of openings on the team, after that...

 he smiled halfhearted ly as he said the  last few words.

 Frans   shook her  head,..You know  something the rest of us don't?

 He  Shrugs,..not really, but  if i did?..I couldn't tell you anyway...right?

In reply to Kray Shadow (msg # 309):

   Joseph listens and curses to himself.  "I'm going ta have ta get  me dirks saber an body armor from the mercs when we come out of fold."

 The  Pilots  started to  come into the Club. Kat entered, making her  way to the  BAr, Nodding  a hello to Shadow, Frans  and Zob.  She looked  over the counter and asked for  a cola  as well.

 Well , Here is   the Lady who Downed the  Great Jonny Blu...I don't even think he had safety harrness on yet, who you tagged him!

 Frans   Chuckled,Wish i could have saw his  face.

 Steele, Stevens and Howe had  ordered their  drinks, catching what Frans  was saying.

Me?...I would like to have  seen the face of all those folks back Home who thinks he's a Hero...  Steele Grinned,..Only room for  one Guy out Here who think's He's  the gods' gift to flying!


 Stevens frowned a bit,...you guys are too hard  on him..he's a really good  guy...

 Foster and His Flight  entered the Pulse..Right Behind him as He-la  and her  'green Angels'. I should think , he will make a very good target... He-la said  as she Motioned towards the wines, For Joe  Mac to get for her and her flight.

 ..I am to be thinking, that his flying, is  only good, for how  far his monry is spent? Kat commented.

   Kray turned to Zob as he nodded  at the comments made ( except for Stevens  , he just sorta frowned at that one)..Zob?..did you fight  with..or against  any  EDT folks  while you worked for the Demons?