[Exalted] Above the Flame

[Sunstar]

Sophia drinks her drink.

"Don't beat him up too much Karren."

The Waxing Moon Caste said with a Cheshire cat grin on her face.

"I wanna have a go at him later."

Gotta make sure to tell Karren these things. Otherwise every person strong enough to put a enjoyable fight would be too badly beaten up and she'd just get newbs and weaklings. And that's no fun.

[Rubio OOC]

Bar

"The name is Tyran Rockfist if you must know, you've peaked my interest, if you want a challenge, I can certainly provide, but not without making it worth my while, set some stakes, something other then money too.. that's boring." The earth aspect terrestial stood to his feet, and it was clear he was just as huge as Karren was, a massive mountain of a man who fit into some of the stereotypes about earth aspects, at least in terms of physicality.

Tyran Rockfist? Never heard of 'im. But maybe someone in this bar has and maybe they know some stuff.

One of the benefits to having a face only a mother could love was how much people ignored him. Slouching off to another side of the crowd, confident that he wouldn't be remembered in half a minute, he whispered conspiratorially to a patron that looked to be south of sober "Rockfist? THE Tyran Rockfist? Man, that guy fought off a dozen bandits with beamlances at once on Porter's World, I heard."

Quickly scurrying off through the crowd without waiting for a response, he stopped in the middle of the mob and started cursing to himself. "Dammit all.. where's that ticket? Hey, did you see a bet ticket?" He waved vaguely. "That guy over there was giving me four-to-one on the Earth Aspect with the hammer. Dammit, it'll be around here somewhere..."

Moving through the crowd, he smiled and looked up at the confrontation between the Dragon-blood and the Amazon. This was shaping up to be a fun night after all.

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel strolled along, letting Dyna take the lead. While she was busily prattling, Kestrel's eyes roved the ship itself. Like anything made by sentient hands, ships had patterns to them. A flow and measure that spoke volumes of what their spirit was.

Tight, cramped corridors spoke of ships where space was premium; ships that were made to be brutally efficient at the cost of comfort. Military ships were like that a lot. Merchant ships could be too, especially ones operated by consortiums, since every cubic foot was a sliver of profit lost. In short, ships owned by someone who didn't have to LIVE in them. Conversely, large spaces and wide corridors meant the ship wasn't just functional, it was a home. Ships like that had other touches too, usually. Artwork on some of the walls. Carpet. Little touches from people who wanted to make it their own like a wall of pictures.

From what she saw, Voidswimmer occupied territory in between, with its lift and corridors large enough for two or three people to stand comfortably abreast, but few of those personal touches evident, and its crew almost entirely in uniform. A crew, Kestrel noted, that at least as far as she saw, was entirely women.

Unfortunately, it was a fairly short walk from the airlock to the officer's quarters, and Voidswimmer was not a small ship. She hadn't seen it from outside, but guessing from the general contour of the bulkheads to the outer hull, she thought it was probably a heavy frigate or light cruiser...again occupying a kind of middle ground where it would be large enough to threaten small pirate groups and assault bases and outposts that weren't heavily fortified...but not so big as to make system lords or local authorities too nervous.

The Marshals were surrounded by mutters about sovereignity, as any authority that transcended local authority would be. They had to tread a line in their shows of force.

When the door to her cabin swished open, Kestrel walked in and looked around. The room was nice enough. Spartan. She wondered if anyone had been assigned to it before.

"You know," she said to Dyna as she explored the room, "you seem like a pretty smart person to me. But the whole 'silly clothes convention' is a surprise. I mean...surely you've recognized by now that clothes aren't really about modesty?"

Kestrel looked back at the Vara. "I mean, I'm the least modest person I know...and I know some very immodest people. But I love clothes. Clothes aren't about covering the body. They're an important part of how people communicate. Going around naked all the time is like...wearing a gag. Or, imagine you were living with Nixians. They use pheremones to convey almost all their emotions. Imagine not having a scent-box when you tried to talk to them."

She nodded. "Or maybe you just enjoy the challenge?"

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Kestrel & Dyna

"The answer to your question is yes, I do understand the way humans see and use clothing, it's not really about that, I'm not human, never have been, never will be, I'm not going to cater to human customs, my people don't think the same way yours do, we don't see things in the same manner. Second, a good portion of human clothing is made from the skins of dead animals, with the exception of wool, cotton, silk and various synthetic materials, which I find a bit disturbing and for a species that doesn't eat or drink, like mine, its wasteful. Besides, I like teasing humans about it now and again, it's amusing to watch your species reaction."

Bar

Tyran laughed when he heard Sophia's interjection. "Two of you, eh? Tell you what, I'll call my squad and one of them can fight you on the same terms as your friend." He paused a moment as Althea stirred slightly. "or we can do a series of challenges if you like. Does that suit you, girls?"

Even as Tyran responded to Karren and Sophia's gathering, people were responding to Zed's bets and a crowd was gathering to watch this upcoming battle.

Dan and Dren

"We think this is the best solution all around, and she can help you as well." Dren had been about to continue when suddenly a spirit appeared at his side. "High Marshal Ayesha has a communication for you, sir." Dren blinked at Dan a moment, then back at the material intelligence. "Put her though."

The spirit became a sort of ghostly projection of Ayesha "Lady Salvai has requested a non-mobile assignment, she does not wish to drag her daughters across the galaxy, we have a different medical science officer to assign to Marshal Hawkin's crew. Janos Tem possesses the capabilities to cover both the science and medical officer aboard the ship."

Dren blinked. "Another Warlock, Ma'am? Are you sure that's a good idea, I was going to seek a more conventional exalt to cover the lack."

"We have very few renegades among us, but when going against the Lintha, a renegade warlock is invaluable."

Dren looked back at Dan "I don't think Captain Hawkins is going to be very happy with that, but I suppose your point is a good one.. Captain?" He turned to hear what Dan had to say himself.

[Dan Hawkins]

"A Warlock? A Sworn servant of entities that plague all reality? You want me, to accept one of those, as my chief medical officer; The person responsible for the health, recovery, and recuperation of my crew?"

He sighed. "With respect, I'll go as I have until now, without one. I simply cannot entrust the lives of my crew to someone who gave themselves over to the enemies of all."

"Of course, you're going to order me to accept it, and my own Oaths will force me to accept this course of action I deem most unwise. You've already saddled me with a known and accomplished criminal, now you're telling me I have to accept an Infernal on my ship."

"Do you really believe that these two Exalts have the means to enable one ship to wipe out the Lintha in this sector?"

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel nodded, accepting each of Dyna's reasons without comment.

"It's not fair how they expect you to conform," she agreed. "I mean, it's clear they're not meeting you halfway. Why should you stick out your neck if they're not going to stick out theirs? Maybe the problem isn't that you're not wearing too few clothes, but that they're wearing too many."

[Karren Gaunt]

Bar

Tyran laughed when he heard Sophia's interjection. "Two of you, eh? Tell you what, I'll call my squad and one of them can fight you on the same terms as your friend." He paused a moment as Althea stirred slightly. "or we can do a series of challenges if you like. Does that suit you, girls?"

Even as Tyran responded to Karren and Sophia's gathering, people were responding to Zed's bets and a crowd was gathering to watch this upcoming battle.

"Not her," warned Karren with a sidelong glance at Althea and a warning growl that seemed to come from something much, much larger than even a 7'2 warrior woman, "My Captain would never forgive me if I brought her home over my shoulder unconsius. Not the way to get him to loosen up, much as I'd like to get him to."

The scowl left her eyes as a quicksilver grin crossed her lips again, "But her aside, anyone else who wants to volunteer, sure. How about your number two and my number two work up a pairing order while we two show them how it's done first? The best leaders go first anyway."

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Dren & Dan

Dren studied the projection of Ayesha a moment "I think I can make it easier, Marshal Kai is presently without a ship, a water aspect, a sort of a trouble shooter, he's been an investigator the last year or so, he's due for a starship assignment, I'll assign him to you as backup. As to Janos Tem, he is at odds with his former masters, that much we are aware, but it's hard to Warlocks to be entirely sure, but Ayesha wouldn't assign him to you if she didn't believe he would be a asset."

Bar

Tyran "Your on, this is Scarlet, my partner." He pointed to a shadowed corner of the room beside him, and the woman who rose from the corner was exquisite in her own way. Most exalted were above average in appearance, though there were exceptions, but Saber certainly wasn't one of them. "She's the fire aspect of our small brotherhood." The woman bowed, but said nothing. "Don't bother asking her questions, she's mute, a accident of sorts when she was young, she uses other methods when she needs to make a detailed statement."

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He looked at Karren again. "Me against you, Scarlet against your partner, winner of each battle to be owed a favor by the loser, terms acceptable to everyone?"

Deeper In the Station

"As you can see, Janos, he's going to accept, though not without reservations, here is the ship docking location, head that way and make yourself known to your new Captain.

Training Ground

Comm activation. "Sun Kai, you assignment has been sent, please report to the Captain of the Voidswimmer immediately, the Docking location has been sent to your wrist comm."

[Rubio OOC]

Va. Va. Voom!

Zed was suddenly aware that he had been staring, slack-jawed at the woman who had emerged from the shadows for several seconds. Quickly closing his mouth and wiping away a bit of drool that had threatened to escape. He scuttled to another portion of the crowd.

"Dude," he hissed excitedly to a patron who was just now starting to look up from his drink, "Check out the pit! Chick fight!"

Moving off before the confused patron could identify the source of the encouragement, Zed continued to work the crowd up. Hopefully he could get some good bets going. Now he just had to figure out which side was going to win.

[Sun Kai]

Sun Kai finished his kata as the wrist comm beeped with the communication, and he paused to bow in spiritual reflection before noting his destination coordinates. So a new assignment. Good, he needed a change from his current string of solo Marshal missions.

Gathering up his equipment, of which there was little, Kai started off with a steady pace to the dock of the Voidswimmer.

[Janos Tem]

Janos watched dispassionately as the exchange took place between officers. 143. This was the one hundred and forty-third individual who had heard of his Green Sun status and had automatically assumed that he was some sort of 'Sworn servant of entities that plague all reality' (82), or had 'given himself over to the enemies of all' (43).

The ignorant buffoon was, like so many before him, confusing him in some manner with the agents of the Tomb-Stars and their Death Avatar servants. At least he had not been accused even indirectly of wanting to drag all of reality off into Oblivion (18). That would have cemented his opinion of this new captain as an uneducated wretch.

"As you can see, Janos, he's going to accept, though not without reservations, here is the ship docking location, head that way and make yourself known to your new Captain."

None of this was to say that there was no hope for this one. The Captain had a working understanding of hierarchy and how to follow orders. It was a start and something to work with. Perhaps their mutual affiliation with this law enforcement agency would aid with that.

"At once, High Marshal"

Janos moved down the hallways with purpose and form. Every move crisp and sharp, his steps precisely measured for maximum exertion-to-movement efficiency. The epitome of self control, it was rumored by those who knew him (who did not worship him as some sort of deity) that he could put even the Crafted of the Machine God to the test.

Accentuated by his carefully executed maneuvers was his chosen raiment, selected to inspire awe and reverence in the masses, it was a finely crafted outfit of dark crimson, gold, and brilliant red. Extravagant and plainly worth more than some entire planets contributions to polite society, it inspired envy and desire in those who saw it and at the same time, when mixed with the man who wore it, demonstrated with unquestionable certainty that any would-be highwaymen or thieves would be sorely punished for their impropriety.

Emerging from a parting sea of humanity, Janos arrived at Voidswimmer's docking station, none too subtle in his arrival. He stopped just out of weapon's reach of the Captain and put his arms to the side, palms out, holding them there for a time before clasping them together behind him with precision beyond that even of the military. One of the side effects of being imbued with the essence of the very being that invented precision.

His expression was one of professionalism. Just warm enough to still seem relatively happy to be here, but otherwise inscrutable.

"Captain Hawkins, I am Janos Tem, and I am at your service"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan looked at Dren, and nodded. "You've not steered me wrong before, Marshall, I'll trust you now as well." The additional dragonblooded would help as well, as he had heard of just such a Water aspect Marshall he had a good idea who he'd be getting.

He watched the spectacle of Janos' approach, and nodded. Clad in his brilliant shining armor from a previous age, he was every bit a spectacle as his new crew member.

"The higher-up's trust you, Janos Tem. They have seen fit to deploy you to my vessel, to work with myself, and my crew. Things will not be easy for you at first. The other Exalted are not so bound by duty as I am. Do not expect acceptance, now, or in the near future. For many, including myself, you will need to prove command's faith in you, their trust, to earn ours."

He nodded. "I will not say I will not watch you, but nor will I violate your privacy, unless you endanger everyone aboard the ship. I hope to show you that we are a crew worthy of the trust of our superiors, that they deploy you to my ship, but I do not expect this to come easily for you as well."

He nodded. "Despite my misgivings I will obey my orders, Welcome to the Voidswimmer, Janus Tem. With any luck we will all benefit your being added to the crew." As was customary, he extended his hand in welcom, clad in an orichalchum gauntlet, such as it was.

[Janos Tem]

Janos extended his hand, decidedly not gloved in orichalcum or any other sort of metal and shook the hand of the Solar in front of him.

"If you or any of your crew were to trust me implicitly or if it were overly simple to integrate myself with the other Exalted, I would say you were all fools. Such caution bodes well for our collective life expectancies. I only hope that you and your crew can look past such trivial things as aesthetics as my craft can be a bit disconcerting at times. Nonetheless, it is also highly effective and I have no doubt that you will find it every bit the boon that I intend it to be"

"Similarly, as you obey the orders of your superior officers, I have been placed on your ship under your command. I am your medical officer, you are my commanding officer, and as such I am yours to command. Where is my assigned containment space? I trust that it will be at least enough space to set up the base amenities."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded. "You have quarters set in the officer section, each room is single occupancy, but not cramped, for a starship. They are no palace, but they suffice well. None of my other officers or crew complain regarding their living quarters. Our Medbay is well stocked, I keep it so since we have generally lacked a dedicated doctor, sufficing with medics. We have been lucky to need nothing more thus far."

He nodded. "if you have other equipment needs, there are forms to fill out protocol to follow, and I will do my part, so long as the benefits to my crew's health are justifiable."

He nodded. "We will wait for our new Dragon Blooded, and then I will show you to your quarters where you may store your gear, before a short tour of the ship."

[Janos Tem]

"Understood, Captain.

Are there any unused storage areas or crew berthings? Some of the equipment that allows me to perform my greater works can be quite large"

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Kestral & Dyna

The ships engineer smiled slightly. "And what sort of compromise would you suggest, anyway, Kestrel?" She was clearly curious even as she checked the ship's manifest on a internal link, and reading the assignments that had been added to the ship, the science officer was someone she would have to speak with sooner rather then later.

[Dan Hawkins]

"I have one of the Cargo bays that isn't being used at the moment. Your equipment can be stowed there, as it's also a fairly secure hold." He nodded, now waiting for the other crew member to arrive. It was turning out to be an extremely interesting day.

"Must say this was not what I expected when I got orders to return."

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel shrugged. "Hey, I'm not in command here. Just commiserating. Are you going to show me around, or do I get to check the place out on my own?"

[Sun Kai]

Sun Kai came within view of the Voidswimmer now, and approached the two at the docking station. He recognized both, one from personnel files, the other he'd read up on as a 'person of interest.' Kai himself, a monastic looking figure in nondescript average clothing and highly cropped hair - only drew attention out of looks and the hook swords clearly strapped to his back - drew up before them and gave them both a brief solemn nod, hands folded behind his back.

"Captain Hawkins, Marshal Sun Kai, reporting for assignment. And Janos Tem I presume?" His expression was calm and passive like a still pond, though his precision of movement could not compare to Janos'.

[Karren Gaunt]

One fight clean-up and some paperwork later...

The mighty earth aspect moves to the center of the ring and goes to one knee, touching his head to the ground.. and as he stands, he stands a full foot taller, as stone plates ripe from the earth to increase his strength and stamina.

Karen smirks, "All right. If you want to take it there right away." Her voice warps as she speaks, her flesh swelling and shifting into a hulking demi-human monster, clothing vanishing into elsewhere as chitonous armor plate covered all but her face and her body below the torso became a six-legged insectoid. Fist slaps into palm, and the 10'2 lunar grins down at her foe.

"Lovely, monster vs. stone.. let's see what we can do about that, girl." With that, the powerful earth aspect charges, enhancing his blows with essence, but otherwise not attempting anything more dramatic then smashing her with his hammer, his anima begins to manifest in glittering diamonds around him.

Miss. Miss. Miss.

The Lunar dances back away from th blows like an oversized-spider and comaes back in a simple downward roundhouse punch.

Miss.

"Nice try, girl.. or should I say insect?" He responded, then spun the hamer in a full 360 spin then brought it down upon her as hard as he could, enhancing that one blow to the maximun possible.. as of yet his anima was not fully active, but it was growing

Miss.

"You haven't seen the 'bugs' on my homeworld, Tyran, so you have no idea how much of compliment that is." she cast right back, grinning a shark's maw grin and going for a two-handed smash to his shoulder now.

Miss.

"Your barely trying, girl." He responded with an upswing, bringing the grand gormaul around in yet another spinning attack, using momentum to increase the force of the already powerful weapon.

Miss.

Karen steps back and out of the path of the swing, cockily gesturing at her yet to be touched form, "Not doing much better yourself. You want me to try and kill you over a friendly bet, just say so." And in she went with another punch, clearly having a good time.

Miss.

The earth aspect laughs in response "Oh, I think we can both pass on increasing things to that level.. of course, I enjoy a good gamble, shall we make a bet on who lands the first blow? And, just for the fun of it, how about a bit of a flash." He tossed the grand gormaul in the air, sending it up spinning in the air, making the crowd watching them gasp a moment, then went in for a dual attack, one punch then another, then moving back to catch his hammer as it came down in a single smooth motion.

Miss. Miss.

"Nice," she confessed, skittering back out of the strikes, "But how about loser buy's winner and their crew a round of drinks? Nothing fancy." The 'nothing fancy’ was marked by the lunar running part way up the pit's wall before turning it into a body slam beneath her armored belly.

Miss.

"Oh, besides the bet we are running with, I could go for that." He responds even as he slides out of the way and brings his hammer spinning around, attempting to knock her back into the walls, enhancing his blow slightly as he did so, the diamonds of his anima gleaming as he did.

Hit.

"Drink's to you, then," Karen chuckled, charging in and aiming a chop at his skull.

Miss.

'Nice one, girl.. I must confess, your doing better then I expected, a few more decades on you, and you'll be incredibly dangerous. Not that you’re not dangerous now." He spun the hammer around to smash her between it add the wall of the arena.

Miss. Although the Arena wall would say otherwise.

"Why thank you. I had the best teachers in the 'verse to thank for it," volleyed back Karen even as she reared back on four legs and brought the first two spearing down at him.

Hit.

"And second blow to you, girl.. clearly this is going to take a while... let's try and speed it up." He spun the hammer around, one blow, then figure eight followed by a second blow, then around again, for a third... his anima glittering around him in spinning diamonds as he did.

Hit. Hit. Hit.

Armor cracked in places and flesh bruised, Karren skittered back from the hail of blows. "Oh, I can see where this is going. I yield. *Next time* I bring an oversized jade nutcracker to a fist fight," she called out, shedding mass and armor to be revealed in glorious nakedness before clothing returned from Elsewhere to clad the slightly worse for wear Lunar.

"Well.. if you wanted the fight to be a bare nuckles fist fight, no magic, I could accomidate you.. but that would be another battle, wouldn't it?"

Karen smiled at the crack, unbent by her lack of foresight or beating. You took you lumps and shrugged em’ off. Be luckier or better next time. “Yeah, next time. For now, let’s drink and swap stories.”

Whew, lots of dice thrown and Karen down 10 motes of personal and 5 levels of bashing damage

[Janos Tem]

Sun Kai came within view of the Voidswimmer now, and approached the two at the docking station. He recognized both, one from personnel files, the other he'd read up on as a 'person of interest.' Kai himself, a monastic looking figure in nondescript average clothing and highly cropped hair - only drew attention out of looks and the hook swords clearly strapped to his back - drew up before them and gave them both a brief solemn nod, hands folded behind his back."Captain Hawkins, Marshal Sun Kai, reporting for assignment. And Janos Tem I presume?" His expression was calm and passive like a still pond, though his precision of movement could not compare to Janos'.

A monk. Interesting.

Marshal Sun Kai carried himself like someone who likely knew more than a few things about how to handle themselves and would likely challenge most who stood against him.Judging by the hookswords, Kai could likely be armed within 1.5 seconds, most likely faster if particular training or Essence was involved.

The position of the hands did not go unnoticed either, Reaching for armament when the hands were already behind the back was significantly more efficient and preserving of energy than from most other positions.He wondered briefly if the weapons were artifacts of some kind and then it occurred to him that he didn't care.

Artifacts or not, this was ostensibly an ally of the Captain and thus an ally of his. Unless the monk were to turn on the crew and betray them all. Not terribly likely given the monastic background, but he did not get to be where he was by throwing caution to the wind.

Marshal Sun Kai's introduction required a response of some kind but not such a response as to overshadow the Captain's welcome, introduction, and following that the end of the ongoing waste of time that made up their current plan to apparently stand around. Perhaps when it was over they would be able to board the ship and he could inspect this work space that the Captain had granted him.

"You presume correctly, Marshal Sun Kai"

Short, simple, accurate.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded as the Warrior Monk among the Marshals walked up introducing himself. "Marshal Sun Kai. I've read your file. I admit I have not prepared quarters for you just yet, but I will have it taken care of at once." He looked to Dren. "Is there anything else you would have of me at the moment, Marshal? Otherwise, I will see to my new crew members, and get them situated."

He knew orders would likely come later, and he could only imagine what trouble Karen was getting up to already.

[Sunstar]

Sophia claps from the fight

"Excellent fight, Karen. Don't worry about the drinks. I've got us covered"

She said getting up and preparing for her bout.

"Alrighty. Ready when you are, Scarlet"

She said Sizing up the fire aspect.

[Rubio OOC]

No lie, that... kinda killed my stiffy a bit

Zed shrugged. Although beautiful and statuesque, the amazon hadn't really been his type, so seeing her undergo a transformation into a hideous beast to fight hadn't really ruined his evening. To the contrary, seeing two chosen duke it out in that fashion had certainly got people excited. And now the gorgeous fire aspect (ah, there it is again) dragon-blood was about to take to the pit. And facing her was... a girl in the same crew outfit as the amazon Lunar had been.

Soooo what are the chances that there are two chosen in the same crew coming to the same dive?

He frowned. The chances were relatively low. But then he looked closer and saw a pair of ears that belonged on a cat peeking out from beneath the girl's hair.

A spirit..? Or another Lunar?

That slight fluttering that came into his stomach whenever someone with the legal authority to arrest him entered his zone of perception made his equilibrium do a brief dance.

Two lunars. Long Warriors? Here?

His trepidation while trying to remember whether there were any outstanding warrants on his person was such that he almost missed someone coming up and asking for the odds. Almost.

"Hey! Three to one payoff if one of them loses an article of clothing!" Just a coincidence. The evening was certainly going to be a memorable one.

[Krul]

Sophia and Scarlet's fight, written up from the chat log, posted by me as requested

Arena

Stepping onto the field of battle, scarlet makes a gesture or two to Tyran who nods then turns to Sophia as she joins the battle field. "Scarlet is not a hand to hand opponent, she'll be using her blade, but sheathed and blunted... have fun you too." As he spoke, the dragon blooded unhooked her sword and waited.

Sophia stuck to hand to hand, however, simply falling into a martial arts stance and She bows to her opponent and then flips over and drop kicks at her

Scarlet blocked the kick by bringing her sheathed blade in the way, stopping Sophia's kick then making a reposite attack, swift and deadly, realizing how powerful it was, the fire aspect pulled back slightly, doing a light blow to her opponent.

The young Lunar hops back onto her feet and delivers a series of fast upcuts to the fire aspect's face, but Scarlet only smiled, as her sheathed blade blocked every one of the three attacks, and she had a sense of mischief in her eyes as she launched her next attack. She didn't want to end the battle too soon, and she had heard the bets being made by the rather, well, the kindest word was ugly, dragon blooded working the crowd... so she made three lightning fast attacks, but rather then attempting to land a blow on Sophia, she moved to slice her clothing, unsheathing and resheathing the blade at a speed that left one uncertain what happened... (flurry 3)

http://www.youtube.c...=ofmBgLEsthU...

Pretty much exactly as Zorro sliced off her top at the end here.

The surprised and topless lunar seems a bit startled for a moment, and the crowd cheered, clearly enjoying the view as the lunar suddenly shifted to her mixed form, a white tiger woman now in the view of all.. giving Sophia some degree of modesty.

Then as the tiger woman attacked again, Scarlet smiled that same smile as she did before, as she shifted to the right turning the blow aside to her left with the blade then returning with another swift riposte, she was enjoying herself, playing with her opponent at least now, the battle looked a little bit more even...

Sophia made yet another attack, that came to nothing, Scarlet was clearly incredibly capable with her weapon, as she turned it aside, then one and again, a strike to either side of Sophia’s torso, bypassing her defenses with ease...

At the clear hits, Sophia lifted her hands in a stop motion. “I yield.” The tiger woman spoke up, as the crowd cheered.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Cabins

Dyna responded to Kestel with a chuckle and a slightly teasing reply. "Well, you could always meet me half way, remove what your wearing and we could go on a tour. Of course, you can explore on your own, or I can escort you anyway, don't have to undress for me to offer you that courtesy." The Vara engineer waited for Kestrel's response.

Docking Bay

Dren glanced at Janos and Kai, then nodded. "Well, Captain, I think things are well under way here, you have two weeks to get to know and shake down your new crew, take the time to get to know each other, to insure repair is complete and you have the supplies you need, then your mission will begin." With that, the battles caste Marshal took off, leaving the Captain with his new crew members, a thief, a renegade infernal, and a dragon blooded marshal.. at least the last one didn't have anything questionable about him, and was reliable, the other two.. well, who knew how it would go.

[Dan Hawkins]

Once Dren left, Dan nodded. "Very well, come with me then, I'll show you to the officer's deck." He made a stop at a terminal first, to issue an order to one of the crew to prepare one of the last rooms for officers.

By the time the three of them arrived on the officer's deck, The room was ready. He came first to Janos' room. "Here you are Janos, you have the room at this end of this side, Sophia is in the room next to you. She is one of the two Lunars aboard this ship."

The room was spartan, but possessed significant space for a starship. It was uncramped with some room, equivalent to a single bedroom apartment, without a kitchen. "This is one of the larger ones, reserved for chief Medical officers traditonally, one of only 3 with a separate bedroom."

He moved down further, and across the hall to the recently prepared room for Sun Kai. "You have perhaps the most quiet neighbors, My Daughter Althea, and Exquisite Dynamic Synergy, Our Chief engineer. I am sorry it is still somewhat spartan, simply ask and What needs to be furnished will be."

It was a small two room berth, but still not cramped, even with a bed in the main room. The second room through the open door, revealed itself to be a bathroom."

"The officers quarters on these ships have private single occupancy bathrooms. We have a galley three decks below, with a recreational facilty adjoining it."

"Janos, if you wish we can discuss getting your equipment loaded into the empty cargo hold."

[Janos Tem]

"Janos, if you wish we can discuss getting your equipment loaded into the empty cargo hold."

Janos was again slightly confused by the offer of a course of action rather than instruction. Was this not the Captain? Was this not the Captain's ship? Quite an unorthodox leader, this one. Given his knowledge of the Captain and his own history, he would expect to have instructions given rather than offers made. None of the 'if you wish', more of the 'you are doing this now'.

Similarly, the phrase 'if you wish' is a very dangerous thing to say in the presence of a Malefactor, but he doubted that Captain Hawkins was aware of the significance of his word choice.

Perhaps an experiment was in order.

"Thank you, Captain Hawkins, but no conversation is necessary beyond the location of this cargo area and possibly the crew berthings. Both of which I am certain I will be able to find myself if your ship is similar in design to others of its class. If I may I would like to return to my quarters so that I may become situated before I explore the ship any further."

There was no exploration required, the Indomitable-class was built with function in mind over form and unless the ship was drastically modified from its core chassis, he could go to any point on the ship blindfolded if he had to. He was, however, quite interested in meeting the crew.

[Karren Gaunt]

Back at her seat enjoying a 'post defeat' drink, Karren couldn't help but smirk. There was a reason she fought shapeshifted whenever she had a chance, and it wasn't just the extenstive bruising she saved herself by armoring up head to toe in chiton.

"Oye, Sophia! Get human and get yourself back up here! I have a vest with your name on it if you promise to not tear it up, too," she called down into the pit with a chuckle not *completely* at her crewmate's expense. Oh, this was gonna be fun when those favors became due, an adventure waiting to happen. So much better than winning and blowing the favor on a drink order for the sheer amusement of it like she was planning.

The looming red-head shifted her gaze to the runty, dragon-blooded if she didn't miss her guess, man collecting money over her and Sophia's defeat. Hmmm. "Someone go tell *That Guy* I'd like a word with him," she pronounced with a definite gesture Zed's way, "There's no shame in losing, but if someone profits at your expense there's every reason in the world to try and get a round of drinks out of it. Now... Who wants to go next?"

[Rubio OOC]

There were times when suppressing the shit-eating grin on his face just wasn't worth the effort. This was one of those times.

He pulled a ticket out of the automated wager machine and headed over to redeem it for some obols that had a more favorable exchange value than the credchips that he'd initially fronted on a credit from his most recent sale of swampland to some uppity merchant that had been in Frontier Denarii which, naturally, didn't spend so well and was legally obligated to be convertable to a different currency standard as well as securing such rights against contracts negotiated with it.

Many thanks to my distant cousins in the Merchant Clans for making interstellar exchange so headspinningly difficult to understand and delightfully easy to take advantage of. May they stay very distant.

He occasionally wondered if he might not actually be the son of some influential banker in the mercantile house of Mnemon or the CEO of one of Peleps' many front corporations. These thoughts lasted usually less than a second each, and he felt it much more likely that, whoever had fathered him back on Aden III had simply had a low-level dragon-blood as a distant ancestor. Hell with 'em all.

A few minutes later, he was collecting the last of the winnings that he was owed from the dizzying array of contradictory bets that he had convinced others to make.

"Okay, that's three to two and the standard multiplier payout brings it to, ah, lessee here, four hundred and two creds." The burly spacer glowered at Zed but, surrounded by crewmates that had urged him not to bet, he had no choice but to fork over the cash to the jeers and 'told-ya-so's' of the others. The man's expression brightened somewhat when Zed took fifteen of the newly-acquired creds and bought a round of drinks for the crew. "Here's to chick fights," he toasted, to the applause of the marks.

A short while later, he was walking away with another beer that one of the marks had magnanimously bought him just to show that there were no hard feelings when he felt a tap on the shoulder. The person on the other end of the hand was clad in the same crew outfit that, if the insignia was to be believed, marked its owner as a member of the Voidswimmer.

"Our boss, Karren, would like a word with you."

He grinned outwardly and projected as much surprised happiness into his expression as he could while the pit fell out from under his stomach and his bowels struggled to keep control amidst the terrified panic that filled him.

"Right! Sure! I'll be right over!"

Taking a quick glance to the exit, he saw that there were entirely too many drunken patrons between it and him for a hasty getaway. Besides, the woman was a Lunar Exalt. If the stories were to be believed, they could track you across the void of space if they had a need to.

Okay. I take it back, extra distant cousins who may or may not exist. Need a little help.

Letting the blood of the dragons flow sluggishly through his veins, he turned to Karren and started walking toward their table, wondering if the evening was about to grow too exciting to handle.

[SalmonMax]

Dyna responded to Kestel with a chuckle and a slightly teasing reply. "Well, you could always meet me half way, remove what your wearing and we could go on a tour. Of course, you can explore on your own, or I can escort you anyway, don't have to undress for me to offer you that courtesy." The Vara engineer waited for Kestrel's response.

Oh ho! The silver girl had some spirit after all. Kestrel knew a dare when she heard it. There was only one proper response, as well.

She stood up, a devlish grin spreading over her face, and grabbed the front of her top, ready to tear it away.

...and then the door opened. A uniformed crewman...well, crewwoman...pushed the small footlocker containing Kestrel's worldly possessions into the cabin, floating on the purple mist of a repulsor field. She paused, taken aback by the sight of the two already there.

"Uh...sorry," she said, backing away.

Kestrel laughed and shook her head. "No, it's fine. Thanks for bringing my stuff." She looked at Dyna and shrugged. "Looks like the tour'll have to wait. Thanks for the offer though."

She sat down at the foot of her bed as the box of her life settled to the floor before her and the crewmember withdrew from the room. Inside it was the gleam of orichalcum amidst folded clothes. A handful of artifacts and a few changes of attire. Kestrel traveled often, and she traveled light. Anything else she needed or wanted, she simply 'acquired' wherever she went, then disposed of when she was done with it.

It was with a sigh of relief that she started plucking out her modest panoply and putting it on. The slim, essence-fueled wrist razors. The elegant gold-highlighted charcoal bands of her bracers. The hours-of-fun-for-the-whole-family bladed pinwheel of her throwing disc. About as big around as two spread hands, it was a mysterious gunmetal grey disk with holes spaced around the center axis, and golden orichalcum blades around the circumference; normally retracted, but that would spring out when the device was armed. A relatively recent acquisition, she was still learning its intricities.

Finally Kestrel looked back at Dyna and asked, "Is there a place on this ship where I can do a little practicing?"

[Sun Kai]

"No need. Please excuse me for a moment." Kai assured the Captain with a polite bow. He did not have much need or interest in lavish furnishings or services or goods in the accommodations, so he simply stepped inside and went to work unpacking what little he had within the room.

Once satisfied with the arrangements, a suitable mat for meditation in place and all and sundry. Having removed his harness and left the hook swords secured in his room, Sun Kai exited and returned, hands clasped behind his back again, to rejoin Captain Hawkins and Janos Tem.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Cabins

Exquisite Dynamic Synergy, called Dyna by the captain and crew raised her eyebrow slight as Kestrel seemed about to take up her challenge, then was stopped by one of the other crew members arriving with Kestrel's gear. "There is a location on the ship devoted to the dojo, it's attached to the recreation facility, there are several martial artists among the command crew, myself included, and the a number of the siren's aboard also practice, and both of the lunars are brawlers for the most part, but they practice too on occation. I believe the captain intends to further train his crew when he has the time, inclination and some essence based training methods. Come, I'll show you the way, maybe we can practice against each other, test ourselves, hmm?"

Bar

As the tiger girl returned from the arena, the rest of the girls with the crew surrounded her to give her some privacy as Karren gave her a shirt to wear, soon enough Sophia was dressed.. in a oversized shirt, considering how massive the lunar was, all of her shirts went down to the knees on Sophia.

Meanwhile, Althea and another crew member put a hand on either shoulder of the water aspect roaming the crowd, and from the looks of things, Tyran and Scarlet were paying close attention to that one as well, and they stepped up behind him just as the other's brought him over, manner not telling him if they were supporting him, or supporting the lunars.

Inside the Voidswimmer

Soon enough it would be time to gather the crew and introduce the new officers, likely in about 24 hours, but at the moment, the captain had a download to his command visor, that updated him on rank and status of his crew...

Voidswimmer Command Crew Rank and Assignments

- Commanding Officer: Captain Dan Hawkins

- 2nd Officer: Senior Marshal Sun Kai

- Security Officer: Commander Karren Gaunt

- Moral Officer: Commander Sophia Ashcroft

- Medical & Science Officer: Commander Janos Tem

- Engineering Officer: Commander Exquisite Dynamic Synergy

- Communications Officer: Ensign Althea Hawkins

- Scout Commander: Kestrel

Notes: Althea is now confirmed as Communications Officer, no longer acting, as her initial training is complete..

Private, Captains Eyes Only: Kestrel is assigned as a scout commander, but as of yet no rank as she prefers to remain unaffiliated, but her skill set makes her invaluable with regards to getting things done in no other way, you have her file, and your memories of the night caste, nothing more with regards to this will be on record.

As the information was sent to him, the Captain was just showing Janos the inner dock location as Sun Kai found them and rejoined them.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan read the command verification, including the "eyes only" portion and nodded. "That is the fastest I have ever seen the beuracracy here move." He looked to Sun Kai. "They have already confirmed all the transfers, including your own. Someone much higher up is obviously paying very close attention to us."

He nodded. "Since Janos is making himself at home, It is just you and I, though I should introduce you to the rest of our crew, and give you a tour of the ship."

"Would you like to begin at the bridge, or another location?"

(leaving this open, so we can get more people together Kes, and Dyna if you two want to come out and meet up, we can head on to the rec area..)

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel sighed. Did she want to get sweaty with the gorgeous, exotic alien babe? Sure. Did she want to fight her? Not...particularly. And really, her devil-may-care nature aside, she didn't even want to just jump into bed with everyone right after the handshake either. It was one thing to live fast and loose when you knew you could hop the next tramp freighter outta there. But this was going to be her home for an extended period of time...and she had a rule about shitting where she ate.

The rule was not to do it, in case there was any doubt.

Well, maybe it would be good to work some steam off.

"Sure," she replied. "Lead the way. Lets keep it friendly though, alright? Fact is, I'm not a towering warrior of puissant arts or anything. My specialty is getting in and out without anyone knowing any better, or being able to do anything about it. If I get in a fight, I messed up."

Of course, the first thing any card shark worth her salt did before a game was soften up the mark. 'Take it easy on me, I just learned to do this.'

Heh.

[Karren Gaunt]

Bar

As the tiger girl returned from the arena, the rest of the girls with the crew surrounded her to give her some privacy as Karren gave her a shirt to wear, soon enough Sophia was dressed.. in a oversized shirt, considering how massive the lunar was, all of her shirts went down to the knees on Sophia.

Meanwhile, Althea and another crew member put a hand on either shoulder of the water aspect roaming the crowd, and from the looks of things, Tyran and Scarlet were paying close attention to that one as well, and they stepped up behind him just as the other's brought him over, manner not telling him if they were supporting him, or supporting the lunars.

Karren looks over Zed's head to the other Dragon Blooded, grinning an amiable grin filled far more pointed teeth than was normal or reassuring, "Heh. If you're worried about me eating him, don't be. People who make unwise comments while profiting at my expense get asked to share the the wealth if they want to. Nothing worse."

She then turned her golden-eyed gaze on Zed, a smirk dancing into place on her bruised face, "Didn't catch your name over your crowing about 'chick fights'. Care to share it?"

[Rubio OOC]

Karren looks over Zed's head to the other Dragon Blooded, grinning an amiable grin filled far more pointed teeth than was normal or reassuring, "Heh. If you're worried about me eating him, don't be. People who make unwise comments while profiting at my expense get asked to share the the wealth if they want to. Nothing worse."

The terrestrial essence that flowed through him did so sluggishly, almost begrudgingly, as though it was simply an obligation he had somehow conned out of the elemental dragons. Nonetheless, flow it did.

Charm use

Using Auspicious First Meeting Attitude

"Well shucks, ya beat me to the punch. No lie, that was a longshot bet, but somehow it happened, eh? So here I was about to ask if you guys wanted to join me for a toast!"

She then turned her golden-eyed gaze on Zed, a smirk dancing into place on her bruised face, "Didn't catch your name over your crowing about 'chick fights'. Care to share it?"

Hey, Zed. Yeah, other Zed? You know that hole in your face that you put pie into? You mean my pie hole? Yeah, Zed, it gets you into trouble, so shut it. No way, other Zed. Your funeral, Zed. Send flowers.

"Ah, just shootin' the breeze. Little macho talk helps take the sting outta losing to that fuggo Copper Palm Zed in the corner, eh? So how's about I raise an actual toast to you ladies?"

The misshapen lump of a dragon-blood reaches out and grabs a bottle of bourbon and several glasses from a nearby bar while the bartender isn't looking. Hastily filling the glasses, he raises one.

"Here's to the Voidswimmer and her fine-lookin' and hard-fightin' crew! And to Tyran Rockfist and Scarlet and resplendently resplendent battle prowess!"

Having spoken, he waits for the others to respond and downs the shot when they do.

[Karren Gaunt]

"Good recovery," snarked the looming red-head as she knocked back her shot, feeling the alcohol burn pleasantly down her throat. Good stuff, and enough to start salving her kniting bruises with whatever embers of territorial protectiveness she felt about Sophia's treatment.

"So what business has one of Gaia's Chosen skiming the foolish aboard a Marshal's starbase? I'm not going to judge, but it seems beneath you however 'Fuggo' you are, Zed," she inquired, geniunely curious as she accepted a fresh bottle from one of her crewmates, a preadtor in repose.

[Rubio OOC]

Zed's features lit with mock alarm. "This is a Marshal's starport? That would explain the heavily-armed people at regular intervals."

He refilled his glass and sipped it. When he smiled, it was probably meant to be endearing and friendly but really just made him look like a frog.

"Thing is, most big egos around here figure that they're too smart for the small fry and let me get away with it as an expression of scorn. And the sting to the pride of getting, uh, stung by the small fry generally keeps em from trying to get money back in too heinous a fashion."

Emptying his glass, Zed reached for a refill, dimly aware that maybe getting sloshed in front of a pair of lunars that could pop his head like a zit might not be the best idea and doing so anyway.

"As to the existential question of 'why am I here', well, I was on my way back to Aden III and one thing led to another and the deal kinda went sour and I got dumped here. Tried something legit for awhile, that turned up zilch, so I went back to my roots and now I'm halfway to a ticket off this station. Assuming you'll let me keep most of the winnings I've just made and settle for a round of drinks."

[Heaven's Reach ST]

As the discussion between Karren and Zed continued, a woman dressed in armor took a seat at the table, she clearly hadn't been there a moment before, now she was, and the purple eyes suggested that she one of the endings caste. "Until now, Zed, you've managed to stay off the radar of those who would do something about your actions, and generally, we didn't care, but the strands of FATE suggest that you could tip the balance in the favor of the Voidswimmer's next mission.. so, now certain members of the Fellowship involved in the Marshals have taken interest. Marshal Iris Shay at your service, ladies and gentlemen, and it is our desire that you, Copper Palm Zed of Aden III, find a place in the crew of the Voidswimmer."