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.