As Kray makes his way to the barracks for some much needed rest, he is called at in the hallway. Its a familiar voice, one that has been snarling at him before today.
"You! Why you at Yuri's pod?"
Tech sergeant Kong-We comes pacing at him, long strides intent on intercepting him before he reaches the barracks.
"I do not know why or how you wake up first, but Yuri number 1. When he wake, you will shut big mouth! I remember you! Wargames, india 2040. You good pilot. Hotshot. Yuri calm, calculated. You lucky you win. Yuri had off day. You leave him be!"
She waves her little finger in front of Kray's face, her gaze cold.
"My hangar, my rule!"

 Shadow looks at Wung We,  normally jovial self was not anywhere near.Well...SGT!... That..will change. Your Job... Your resposiblities...are to keep our   planes  in the air.... so..Your  rules don't matter much...any more.... SGT!

 ..Yuri has  always had help.... best aircraft..new parts....and  when he does beat me..its  by shavings...so...SGT..... i suggest you go back to your Job...SGT... IS THAT  BLOODLY CLEAR?

 Then Continues on.....

As Shadow reaches the barracks doors, he is once again startled by a voice. A more friendly one this time, more calculated too. Inquisitive.

"My my... you must have really pissed Lu off..." Jan Vanderbeek grins as he steps from a side hallway. He chuckles. "She's usually so... charming."

"Jan VanderBeek," he says as he extends his hand. "Morale officer."

"I hate to see our people argue amongst themselves. I know you pilots are usually hotheads, but I'd like to state, for the record, that pissing off your techie isn't all that smart. So whats going on?"

    Kray stops , as he rounds on the voice, the tone of the voice  manages to  revive his normal state of being,..well.. its a bit of  story, don't ya know. But since you asked... I'll bloody well tell it.

  Collecting himself, he begins,Now?..I'm a right blue  collar person..everythin' i have , i had  to earn twice over..whether it was a spot on the Geelong Cats... of gettin' my bloody ticket  to  fly for the RAN.......he holds up a hand,

 anyway.. after wrestlin' with the bloody batteries and   running about the ship... I wannda to  get my  Lady into the air... I won't be lyin' I wanted to get out there and Fly...but? sicne  there's stuff  wrong, and folks wonderin' why... i figured I could   Get same damn good  Gun cam  film fer the folks who do the  fixin'...And? Its a damn good thing i got out here?.. the bloody 3rd  engine is all bent like... so.. we've been getting pushed to the  bloody port, the whole time the engine was  fired up....

 Now..the bleedin' yelling? Well.. on the Adelaile.. we  treated   our ground  folks  the ebst we bloody knew how... cause we know they have a hard  job..me?.. i can fix most stuff in my cockpit... but  not the engines... never  studied that deep....

 His  jaws  work a bit  as he looks  down the  hall, then back,..so?.. when i get disrepected, by a non-com...when part of the reason i'm going out there, is  ta make sure we all don't die..well ... I ain't letting no bloody Drongo treat me like an bloody alf!

  reaching inside his jacket it  and pulls out his notepad  and pen and  Writes Hanschel's name down,This  Bloke?.. He got me out the doors  so I could  do the Bloody Job I wanted to do....

 ..But...the main reason  i got so bloody agro, was she was gonna  work on Yuri's machine..even after i told her what i wanna do?.. I mean.. for right now..i am the flight leader until Yuri wakes up..and she was  what?..gonna  work on his  casue of his rank?... becasue his   #1...my Bloody number is 19 because that's  what I wore  for the Bloody Cats!...there's a  bleedin popscile  getting his  ride  worked on?..when i need ta get my Lady out in the bloody Black?...I don't pull rank..  I don't like to...but  when ya  run into drongo's like that?..ya have ta....

 The  he  motioned with an arm down  the way Kong=we went  and let it drop.....Then.... his voice  is softer now,..she jumps me in the   bloody hallwaay asking me questions about   Yuri's Pod, and   tries to ttell me about her  rules?..... that  about  one too many  'roo's in the  garden..

 ...didn't bloody help that  Maxwell thinks  i'm a bleedin'  drongo meslef now.. after wanting to check  to see if the guy in yuri's Pod...is...Yuir?


 He starts  to put his  pad into his pocket and feels the disc.......how much ya know about the ship?

"I know her pretty well. I helped develop her. That is, I advised on the civilian parts of it. Come, walk with me," he turns and leads Shadow through the hallway a couple doors down, entering a larger appartment. There he drops on a chair and offers Shadow one. Its a nice appartment, easily fitting a family in size.

"I advised on CS-6 and CS-7 too, but wasn't interested back when they left in joining them." He opens the cabinet above the table he is sitting at, removing two glasses and a bottle of scotch. The aroma as he opens it betrays its strength. Not too strange, as its nearly 140 years old.

"When my wife died in 2033 I decided I had no reason to stay on earth, so I opted to join the Polo. They made me morale officer just to get me a rank."
As he fills the two glasses he sighs. After a pause and a sip he continues.

"Now, I'm no soldier, and I don't claim to know everything, but I think when Timochev wakes up, you and him, you need to have a sit down. I'll let you in on a little secret. Kong-We, the techie... She's about as brilliant as they come. She's probably the one on this ship that knows her best of all, and she didn't even help build her. The girl is just a miracle when it comes to technical stuff... but... she is also very much damaged goods. 115 years of cryo still don't fix heartache you know..."
He stands up, walking around his appartment a bit.

"That number 19 you are flying... It wasn't meant for you when the squadron was put together. It was Steffan Pirrinen's jet. Or at least it was supposed to be. He has 18 now. The original pilot for 18 died four weeks before departure. You might have heard of him. Thomas Yuen. Chinese fighter pilot."
The name did indeed ring a bell. Even in australia the pilots talked about the guy. He was supposed to be a real prodigy. Untill he crashed into the pacific and was declared dead. Heck, Shadow had even been part of a search party looking for the wreckage.

"Yuen was Kong-We's fiancé. You are here in his place."

Jan emptied his glass, waiting for Shadow to soak up his words.

 Shadow  hooked at his drink.. took a  bit of a taste, the  shrugged, and took a bit more.

 Ya.... The captain on the Adelaide ha d tried to get me  on Marco early on?..he said  something along the lines of.... ' you don't have the standing, Mate'    he shrugged,wasn't bloody surprised, nothin; i hadn't had to work through before....This was  different... ya didn't get to go? there was no 'next time'. Then the call came?

  swirling the glass around,she might  be  crushed? But there's too dman many folks on this ship, for what she  did.... the damage   isn't great..but it needs  fixed... an' me goin' out there? saved  the    repair folks hours..maybe days of   checking things out...and? who knows.. Vibrations get too  bad?.. the  ship does an impression  of the bloody Hindenburg...

 he stares  at the glass  as he watches the  fluid  swirl,...what's in hanger  4? he looks at Jan  as soon as he asks the question.

"What hangar 4? We have a hangar 4?" Vanderbeek looks genuinly baffled. "Nah, no way. There's no hangar 4. Not to my knowledge. But like I said, I was a part of the design for the civilian sections. You should ask the captain, or maybe Timochev once he wakes up. Once you find out, let me know. "
He fills his glass again.
"Or ask Kong-we. I'm sure she'll know."

"Anyway, as I was saying. You took the place of her fiancé. Or at least thats how most will see it. I'm sure thats how she sees it. I remember her being fully against haviing Yuen replaced. Those pilots had been training together for four months. She was afraid having a new pilot in the team would screw with the status quo. Timochev pulled Lu through the darkness. Maybe thats why she started on his jet first. I think she doesn't even know it was him that selected you as a replacement."

  ..i  have my Gun Cam disc, since we  don't  have adjutant...I'm gonna   look it over  better in my   rooms.   taking a deeper  drink he smack his lips.

 ..lots of us lost stuff... Kong-We.. You... he points  with his glass to him.

  ..everyone.... so? what i expect  is folks to be willing to  do what it takes  to get thing s done.. i bloody have  since 1st bloody grade... so...ya...

   Finishing his glass, setting  his  Glass  down, he nods to Jan,..thank you for the drink...an' the talk. But there is something not  right, when you have a pilot ready to do recon, and your chief ...wizard..wants to   work on the ice cube's  craft  first..I don't care if she don't like me... it not her job ta like me, nor mine to make her..when Yuri wakes up, they can get all warm an d fuzzy..but?.. ya cross the wrong  line, when you try and stop me from doin' my job.

 ..and that.. is   all i  have... M' Plane, and m' job... left  football behind.. a girl behind..and what tiny part of m' familyso?... I'm thinkin' were all even...

 he  gives him a   knuckle salute... before he leaves he says,On the inside of the ship..we have Hnager   doores  1...2..and 3...and bays to match them.... but Hanger  4... doesn't  show up   inside the ship..be real inetrestin' to see what's in there...

When Lee returns she finds the diagnostics still running. Despite knowing that there is a hacker active, M4RC0 seems unable to pinpoint the location of the hack. Whoever is inside his sytems is good. Very good.
Diagnostics do tell her that said hacker is not changing or deleting programs though. Rather, the person inside M4RC0's coding is trying to find lost data. Recover it.

Blake asks Marco where Sgt Musashi is, knocks on the door to his(/her) apartment. "Hello. I hear you've spotted me trying to find out what happened to the system. I can confirm that it *is* me that you're reading, so we've not found the source of the problem yet. Do you fancy a bit of pair programming on the problem?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:05, Sat 18 Mar 2017.

He   enters  his apartment, taking off his  jacket, and  hanging it  up.... Moving to the chair, he takes the  flight  disc out, slides it into  computer  and watches the   film...he runs it slow.. and looks over the topside of the Marco... he is looking for  thruster burns from a shuttle  or  another aircraft, taking off...

 Getting up to lock his Door, he sits  Back down,..Marco?.. LT  Shadow here...can ya  tell me what's in Hanger bay 4...? And why is it not connceted to  the other three Hanger Bays...an'..don't  tell me we don't have one, case the  door is marked... the ship has it odd looking   are that doesn't quite  conform..so..Ya..its there..what is it?

  Putting his  feet up on the small desk he watches the  vid.. running  back over   more then a few  spots...almost like, breaking down game film.

  His eyes get  heavy and he  drifts off..waiting for Marco's answer.

I am sorry Kray Shadow. Your security clearance does not allow me to give you that information.

  Shadow nods  a bit sleeply.....Understood... MArco..Thank you.

 he   slipsoff for a pilot's power nap, used on some  deep recon. They had trained them to  do this as the orbited  the earth  , to give them confidence in their aircraft, and to cut down on stress.

 there was a faint  chuckle...ya... no bleedin; stress here.

  After  an Hour or so of a Power Nap, Shadow  wakes.. takes out the disc  and slip  in into his   uniform shrit pocket.

   moving to the bathroomish area  he  takes  care of cleaning himself up ,Drinking some water, he asks  MArco,..Marco?  Lt Shadow ...  what places to eat..have food  right now?

 he waits  for   Marco's reply,  slipping on his flight jacket.

Hello Kray, at the moment the only place that serves fresh food is the barracks mess hall. There are also food machines at numerous places throughout the ship, and nutrient bars in your cooling unit.

In reply to Blake Germaine (msg # 30):

Checking her database validation progress Lee shifts through different areas that have been assessed finding they haven't been accessed or altered. When she hears a knock on the door. Flicking up the door cam and mini screen she answers giving the bloke a hessitang smile. Listening to his statement she wonders why security hasn't looked into this yet, also she hasn't received confirmation from M4RC0-P010 about this situation especially since there's a bloke standing outside her door, who's spouting off about having being tumbled sniffing around in the Database, the whole thing is a little suspicious. Tapping out a com to M4RC0-P010 she needs some clarification before she'll can decide what to do.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:50, Mon 20 Mar 2017.

  Thank You , Marco.. I think i'll save the bars  for when i'm just relaxing...  Opening the door, getting his bearings, He locks  , moving to the mess Hall.


.....

 Once he arrives, he looks for something that  might resemble a meal, with Coffee and sugar and what ever they have for cream.

 Feeling  a bit better  after the scotch and the Power nap. He begins to enjoy  the meal, eating slowly

 unwinding a bit.

"Time for chow eh Lieutenant?"

Major Ascott, carrying a tray of indistuingishable food, sat down opposite Kray. He quickly indicated there was no need for formalities as he saw Shadow standing up to salute.
"You can do that when we things get official. I hope chow time isn't one of those things."
For a moment the major sat staring at the tray. He shrugged.
"You'd say food preparation should have come a long way in 115 years... But this looks like shite. I don't believe we have formally met have we? Ascott, Tom Ascott. Things on me shoulder say I'm a major, for what it's worth I don't feel all that majorly."
Putting a spoon full of mash in his mouth he studies Kray's insignia.
"Weren't you Roo boys in Singapore, 2029. For Red Flag? Probably not yourself, you'd have been too young, but I met a Captain Jones there, great pilot. Great tolerance for beer too. Last I heared they gave him a squadron. How's he doing these days?"
Then, realising that was a stupid question after 115 years of cryo, he sighed.
"Never mind that... I guess its in the past now. We left all that behind eh?"

  Shadow eased back into his  Chair , that he was  half  rising out of. There was his halfsmile as he nodded,  G'day Major..LT Kray Shadow, LAte of 809 Squadron..Aye, Major... I din't feel like a Bloody pilot  , 'til a few hours  ago.  It took some bloke  to step outside his normal, ta  let me go outside  and have a looksee at the Marco.

  He shook his head   as  he took a  spoon full,himself, when he swallowed,Naw..wasn't about then,  make a splash   in 38...39 and 40

 He points his spoon at Ascott,..I watched   films of  Captain Jones... tweaked some of me own style to add some of his..., Don't know how true it is... But  M' Captain on the  Adelaide Said he put in a word  with him ta get me the survival Thing in Brazil?  17 of us went in...10 of us   graduated 4 cashed out 3...well..they never  found those  3?

 as he sips some of his coffee, he says..far as  past goes? I dunno.. next time i take a bit of rest, I'm gonna see if i have any old e-mails and such  that might have reached  us before we  lost contact.... I mentioned to someone else? If there is any thing left on Earth..we  are just  " the Lost MArco'..in history books.

    As they sat, Shadow said,..After   I get done here.. I'm gonna check  on a mate down in Med tech?    He was there  helpin' us   shift and move the  bleedin' batteries around,  heard  he was a bit sick..want to give him a check....

 ..After that, Gonna check on me  fighter again...She's the only one that went out so far... Might see if  they'll let me take the others out  fer a spin?.. see what needs  tightened up?

"Yeah... checking the mail..." Ascott sighs aloud again. "Just did that meself. Was terrible."
He absently turns around his spork in his meal, drifting his gaze out into the adjoining hallway for a second.
"Seems we lost contact with earth in 2061. At least thats when the mails stop. We are indeed the lost Marco Polo as you said. My daughter kept mailing me every week at first, then every month... Said she had the feeling I was still with her when she did. Earth saw us pass by Alpha Centauri, tried waking the crew remotely. It failed. We were written off and declared dead in 2052, ten years after we got lost.
But hey, she graduated that year. Became a children's doctor."
There's an infinite sadness in the Major's voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Mon 20 Mar 2017.

 Watching the Major as he spoke, He swallows and gives his head  a slight shake, Jabbing the utensil into his  food a few times,..Bloody 'ells... he said  softly.

 We should still be able to pick up old broadcasts....Least ways   Find out what happens?

 ...Good On Her, Mate.... Have Ta check  mine..good or bad..if any?...Blokes  said they would  send me  updates of Geelong...let me know if they got a flag or somethin'...Looks like we had a shot, the year i left..Navy was lettin' me play.. i just hadda make  up work  in the off season...

 ..be nice..ya know.. just to see somthin' from Earth... he took another rmouthful, one could tell he was forcing the food down now.

 ...In the  end?..Guess in doesn't matter  much now... we ain't going back...an' even if we  could, ain't no one there who knows us...

After conversing with Germain, Lee heads to the Barracks gym for a workout. Passing through she pauses glancing from the Major to the Pilot as they chat about their situation.

  Shadow watches the Non-com pass by, Gives her a nod, and wave with his   spork  as he listens to the Major.

In reply to Kray Shadow (msg # 44):

Lee returns the Pilots wave one of her own extending thumb and pointer while adding G'dye cobber.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:33, Mon 20 Mar 2017.