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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1203454" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter IDate: 109-993Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven, in orbit around Sentry. Martha wakes up from her first proper sleep in nearly two weeks. Sleeping in a vacc suit had been horribly uncomfortable, particularly the low–tech monstrosity that she used. The vacc suit is lying on the floor of her cabin and she can hear sounds of activity within the ship. She can vaguely remember letting some naval people onboard before she collapsed from exhaustion. Out in the passageway she staggers to a halt confronted by the back of some enourmous beast. An "Eeek!" of terror escapes her. "Oh, I'm sorry good lady. I was just doing a little work on the door to this turret. The iris valve seems to be stuck permanently open. It's so much fun to be shipboard again, I hope you didn't mind, but I've been going over the ship looking at all the little things that need work, there is so much to do, it just fills my heart with joy." The Virushi's voice booms out and rocks her back on her heels. How could she have slept while the great thing was wandering arround her ship? In Truespeech Martha interrupts. "I hate to ask silly questions, but do I know you and what are you doing on the Keaven? No, first what's happening?" She is thankful for the year she spent working on a Virushi trader which left her without the fear that their dominating bulk normally engendered and a reasonably solid grasp of the language. "Oh you speak so well. Reminds me of home a little to hear Truespeech again. I kind of miss the old place, but there's so much to see first . . . Sorry. I'm Darishun and we're all going off to rescue people from a plague that has swept the spaceways killing all that it comes in contact with. Ooo it's so exciting. So far you are the only one that's survived to bring us warning, I'm so looking forward to working with a genuine hero. Did you hear that the Traveller's Aid Society has awarded you a membership in recognition? We haven't really worked out who is doing what yet, the rest of the crew is still familiarizing themselves with the ship before we jump out, but I thought I would just jump right in." "I'll just go and call into the bridge and see what's happening," Martha says. She steps through into the cargo hold, closes the door behind her and draws a sigh of relief. Virushii, they needed an off switch, she thinks. When she opens her eyes again, she realizes the cargo bay is full. Stacked from floor to ceiling are standard shipping containers. Near the middle, one of the container doors is folded back and someone is inside. "Hello," she calls. A tall, slightly portly man turns around. He gives her a big smile of welcome and she feels herself relax. So far both of the people she has met have seemed nice; nobody has explained anything yet, but they seem to know what they were doing. "It's good to see you up and about," the man says. "There was some concerns when you slept for so long, but it was just exhaustion. I examined you and you were just very tired. No need to look like that, I'm a doctor. Dr. Saro Talbek, there's a bunch of letters after the name, but it doesn't really matter. I'm in charge of the medical aspects of this trip." "Maybe I'm just tired, but I'm not sure what trip I'm on." "I’ve had times like that. The Marquis Hallenstein has declared an emergency and everything that could fly is on its way to Alief to help with the plague. I suppose I shouldn't say, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the crew. I don't know where they were collected from, but they're a very mixed bag. I'm very happy with the Captain — apparently Lieutenant Argent has served with both Navy and Scouts, and he seems very switched on, but I don't know where they found the rest of them. Anyway, you don't really care about that. First thing is, get some food into you, a couple more days of light duties and you should be right as rain. Try to stay out of trouble." Martha nods goodbye as she heads towards the crew lounge. On the way past she notices a small, locked container. The tag on the front says Hellinic, but it isn't clear whether it contains hellinic, is bound for Hellinic or belongs to Hellinic. If the supplies are emergency medical ones, they should all be unlocked for immediate access. She enters the crew lounge to the scene of an arguement. "I don't care Swann, I'm not having any high–powered weaponary live on the ship. I didn't think you should have brought them up in the first place, but by the time I found out, it was too late. If you need them, I can open the container. Until then they are under lock and key." The speaker is a small man, dressed in leather jacket, covered in patches. The name badge on the jacket says "Argent." This must be the captain that the Marquis had assigned, Martha thinks. Seems to have his head screwed on right, guns shouldn’t be allowed onboard ship at all. Then Martha notices the high–powered pistol at his side. "But if I need them, you might not be around to open the box," the other man says. "Guns are the sorts of things that you need in a hurry, you can't be spending your time looking for someone to help you." "There is no conceiveable emergency onboard the ship for the next week that needs that sort of firepower." "But you carry a pistol. How is that different? You can't have one set of rules for you and a different one for everyone else." "I was presented this pistol by the people of Ileria after fighting pirates. If I didn't wear it they would be offended, and I trust myself not to fire the pistol where it can do any harm to the ship. I don't trust your knowledge of the ship yet. Anyway, the Captain does have a different set of rules to everyone else. That's just the way things are." Swann turns and storms out past Martha. He gives the lock on the container a thoughtful look as he goes past. Martha greets the captain. "Hello. Just so you know, there isn't anywhere that you can fire that overpowered monster on this ship where it won't do any damage. The walls are just heavy enough to break your line of sight." "Yes I know, but I won't be parted from my pistol. I won't fire it, but with a scratch crew, I much prefer having the only real gun." Argent doesn't seem apologetic. "Do you mind if I eat, I'm starving," Martha says. "Go ahead, it's time I had something as well. Afterwards I'll introduce you round to the crew. While we eat, tell me more about the trip." </blockquote>

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