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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1226002" data-attributes="member: 515">The crew quietly assembles in the lounge. Argent observes each as they enter. The first to arrive is the only non-human on board, a Virushi. The sophont takes up a large part of the lounge. The other crew members enter in ones and twos, including Swann Hellenic, the man he just had a confrontation with. He takes a last sip of his beverage and stands up. "Thank you for coming. Some of you I've met already. The others I am meeting for the first time. Welcome aboard. "My name is Marcus Argent, and I have been assigned as Captain for this mission. No, I am not a merchant; my background is in the Navy and, more recently, the Scouts. "You all know, to some degree, why we're here. The local Marquis has recruited us to assist in bringing badly needed supplies to Alief. Due to the urgency of the mission, he has commandeered every ship he can get his hands on and is staffing the vessels with every able-bodied sophont he can, which means a majority of the ships have crews who do not know each other. We have the distinct 'honor' to be on the last ship out of Alief before the plague quarantine went up.' "In the next several weeks, we have to depend upon each other. You don't have to like me or the person you are working with, but you DO have to work with them. We have a job to do, let's get it done. We'll also hopefully save a few thousand lives in the process. "I know, it's not much of a speech. If I was adept at speaking, I'd be off in the Moot. "One of the reasons I called us in together was to pool our information on what is going on at Alief. At this point we don't have a lot on that and we launch with the rest of the fleet in less than 24 standard hours. I'd first like to have our engineer give us an idea about the status of the ship, then ask if our medical officer has any information on this plague. We’ll then open the floor for further discussion." Argent looks at Martha. "Engineer Atkins, the floor is yours." Martha looks up from where she is hunched over her drink. "What sort of thing do you want?" Argent sighed. The people he had to work with. "What is the status of the drives? How are the ancillary systems?" "Oh, well, normally after each jump I take the powerplant down to a trickle for four days and work it over. The J drive is well past maintenance, but it's fairly reliable. In the last two months I've had to abort a jump twice ’cause the drives weren’t up to it. First time we developed an irregular field, second time one of the hydrogen lines burst. I figure the problem’s prob’ly in the pumps, but a complete strip would take two weeks and Cap’n refused to do it. Apparently he had a maintenance in the cards in about a month’s time. As long as we keep taking standard jumps and using good juice, it should be okay till then." She sits for a while in thought. "Well engineer, what else?" Argent's voice was flat -- this was not good news. " ’Kay, the life support’s pretty good, we don't normally carry this many people so it hasn't been stressed this much for a while, but it's been pretty good. The air raft is absolutely beautiful, Cap’n said it made a big impression on customers. The Brain is also pretty good. He sold out the original sensor rig but the one I patched together from the piece of junk he replaced it with is pretty good. It doesn’t quite meet the specs from the book, but it's not bad." Martha continues, "You said something about 24 hours. There's no way we’ll be jumping by then. I'm still knackered from the last stretch and the jump from Alief, it takes four days to work over the drive, that's just the way it goes, I can only go as fast as I can go." Martha doesn’t seem particularly upset by the comment. Argent takes a deep breath. Darishun inclines his head briefly to the side in sort of a measuring look at the engineer and then at Argent. Then, with a slight smile, he says "Perhaps then, we shall not be jumping with the fleet as planned. It would seem that there will be a bit of a delay unless we can either get engineering help or hurry things along ourselves." He continues, "A bit of delay would let us look at some other systems which seem to be in a bit of disrepair. Martha, is there something that we could do to help in engineering? I understand that you are very tired and there are many things to do, and there may be some skills that we have that could assist you in your work. It would be beneficial to many people on Alief if we could arrive as soon as safely possible." Ian joins the conversation. "I’ve got to agree with our friend here -- there are a lot of people counting on the supplies that we're carrying. We'll all pitch in to get this tu . . . I mean ship, jump ready. "Argent, or Dr. Talbek, are there any indications with what we’ll be dealing with when we get there? Presumably we'll need protective gear -- has that been taken care of?" "Perhaps I can best answer one of your questions, sir," Vasilii quickly responds. He stands up, nods and continues, "I am Vasilii Kugiikiishshi, a merchantman by trade. My assignment on this particular mission, I am in charge of all cargo and supplies. Sir, your question regarding protective gear, I can answer. We have 6 Dtons of emergency vacc suits and a 8 Dton prefab building along with other assorted medical supplies. Unfortunately, the cargo was loaded with extreme haste and I have yet to inspect the crates to ensure we have those specified items in our cargo bay. "If there are any supplies which any of you require before our departure please advise me and, with the Captain’s permission," Vasilii looks to the Captain and nods, "I will attempt to obtain it for you. I have not had an opportunity to meet all the crewmen but judging from what I see I am in good company." As Vasilii says this he smiles and looks over the ship’s crew. His gaze comes to a rest on the Virushi. Vasilii has a brief look of surprise on his face; he quickly forces a broader smile and nods to the Virushi. Darishun nods in return and says, in his soft voice, "Perhaps then, one of the more important things some of us should do is an inventory of what we currently have available to us in case Vasilii may be able to procure missing items for us." Continuing, he says, "Something that comes to mind is some sort of decontamination shower." Addressing Dr. Talbek, "Good doctor, would we need such a device, even with our vacc suits?" Glancing at the refrigerator, he comments, "Do we have food stores aboard? The contents of the refrigerator look like they may not last until jump with our expanded crew and my humble self." Darishun smiles sheepishly and shrugs.</blockquote>

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