Alpha Panda, Serenity RPG IC

[Adlan]

Amiri
Alpha Panda's Galley

Amiri just hung his head and didn't respond when his stutter was brought up. I wasn't much a problem once he got to knew a person, unless he'd been at his home made engine brew.

"I once got caught in a cosmic wave..." He perked up when Lei brought forth the Field Generator. "Knocked out Nav, and Cortex, nearly roasted the whole crew, and spoiled our cargo. 100 Tehtehteh tons of nuts, lucky they didn't explode."

"One of my old professors used to design field generators, knowing the way they use that old heap of Feh Wu*, they probably burned out the cutoff not shutting it down properly."


*Junk

[Sunfall]

Grace
Alpha Panda, Mess Hall

Grace just nods at Sia's response concerning the prisoners and finally sits down herself. She smiles at Jack's description of his crew. She seems a bit touched that he already sees her as part of the family.

She perks right up at Amiri's mention of Higgins' Moon, shooting Sia a puzzled look. She vividly remembers the hardened face of the Alliance officer. "Talk o' a curse on Higgins' Moon? Say, I heard somethin' like tha', too, durin' my time... When was that?"

[Shadow_Elf]

Greg
Alpha Panda Mess
The tactician raises an eyebrown at Amiri's mention of the moon. Slavery ain't no laughin' matter, podnah. That there mayor sounds crooked t'me. Wouldn't be surprised if bein' such a 混帳 made him a target a' some unsavoury types... he interjects between mouthfuls.

[Adlan]

Amiri
Alpha Panda Mess

"It was about 2 months ago, unless I've lost count somewhere. I reckon I scascascared him, he wanted rid of me"

Amiri realised how ridiculous this sounded.

"I tried to contact a friend of mine, She was who scared him."

His old sansei was indeed, a scary name in the right circles. Either with the Yakuza or with the sort of publicity only a Blue Sun celebrity could bring.

"He just wanted rid of me, the way I hear it, getting indentured to him any which way is same as ssssssslavery, he gets people for six months and they don't ever get out. Alliance don't care none."

Amiri glanced down at his plate and the delicious food. 2 months of nothing but the Mary Celestia and it's badly mistreated engine for company meant he was finding it a lot easier to talk to this group than he normally would. He was hungry for his meal and hungry for human company.

"I did hear tell, the town has a Hero, name of Jayne Cobb. He don't sound real, showing up to give the workers money and then coming back to remind them to work to their freedom. Don't make no sense, but was a catchy song.

[Shadow_Elf]

Greg
Alpha Panda Mess
At the mention of Jayne, Greg practically spits out the food in his mouth. Luckily for whoever is across the table, he manages to restrain himself. He quickly chews and swallows. Sorry, Miss Grace, ain't nothin t'do with the food. S'just been a while since I done heard that name. He looks at Amiri. Y'sure y'got that name right, son? Way I remember him, Cobb was a greedy, amoral 狗娘養的.

[Lentrax]

"Song, eh? Sounds an interesting fellow."

Sia eats some more and then continues, "He probably ain't real, though."

[Space Lawyer]

Lei
Alpha Panda Mess

"Don't need to pinch toys; I've got the best one 'cause I get to fly the ship." Lei dimly remembers Higgin's Moon. "I think my family went there once. Never went back again though. Only so much money you can make from hauling mud bricks. Whole place smelled." Lei's tiny pile of food is quickly being shovelled into her mouth. "Any requests on where I put this thing?", gesturing to the field generator.

[Adlan]

Amiri
Alpha Panda Mess

Amiri had consumed enough for any normal man, and was showing no signs of finishing. He hadn't been kept on bad enough rations long enough for it to affect his appetite, and he was making up for those times he had been on bad enough rations. He wasn't wolfing it, but solid steady bites demolished any plateful.

"I wouldn't know what the real man is like, whichever way the song goes."

He finished another forkful.

"I can play the song, and I ain't likely to forget the words, but I can't do both at the same time."

In response to Lei, Amiri studied the Field Generator. With a deft and experienced hand, he popped open what looked like a solid side but was infact a panel.

"Most ships I know mount them on the Bridge, this model has an effective range of about 200m" He indicated a set of labels on the grimey inside.

He blushed again.

"Ssssorry, Always was a family rule no business at the dinner table"

[Lentrax]

Sia
Alpha Panda Mess

Sia smiled warmly at the engineer. "We're a different kind of family. Got our own rules, and way of doin' things."

Sia leaned back in her chair, eyes rolling up as she thought.

"Seems to me I recall something else 'bout this curse thing. I was s'pposed to warn another man about it. What was his name? Sam... Something. Can't rightly think of it now."

[Erasmas]

Cole
Alpha Panda Mess

Cole looked up from his food at the mention of the name, casting a sideways glance at Sam Hawkes. The soldier didn't say anything, but it was clear that he was attempting the judge the man's reaction to the information Sia had now laid out.

[Adlan]

Alpha Panda's Mess

"Thanks for the help loading the ice up; while watching Tap try and use that old grappler of yours was good for a laugh, I was a touch worried about him punching a hole in my ship with it," Jack jokes with Sam, also watching for any change of expression.

"Hey-" Tap starts before being interrupted by Sam's laugh. He begins to grin too.

"She's a temperamental beast right enough. What are you and your crew planning on doing with the vermin you've got locked away? Hope you ain't planning on leaving them here," Sam adds, with a shrewd look. Ryan looks up from his plate. "Corone can't find them... that's for sure. We'd loose our licence."

Jack shakes his head. "We'll be taking them and their ship away with us if you don't mind. Not quite worked out what to do with them after we get clear of here; by the sounds of it, Regina'll be a bumpy insert and I don't want to be towing luggage when we hit there. 'Specially not that old clunker,"

Tap spoke up.
"That Old Clunker has still got a solid frame. Once the ugly's been dry docked out of here, she'll fly"

"No problem here, can't do anything with her other than set her adrift, and I don't know a thing about ships; just something for me to run out of before I had to shoot someone. Seeing your ship come in, didn't half bring back memories, I'll tell you. Number of times a Mantis pulled my ass out of a hotspot..." he trails off shaking his head ruefully.

"You're a vet?" Jack asks with a grin. "Tell me you fought the good fight,"

"Hah. Yeah. 15th Infantry, First Looey. You?"

"Pilot and captain, made it up to Lieutenant; turned down Captain. They would have put me on a frigate, and I liked the blockie work. Honours?"

"New Stanford and Second Battle of Athens. Lost some good people there. You?"

Jack isn't listening any more, instead he's staring - hard - at Sam Hawkes, and murmuring "...Athens..." under his breath. Suddenly, he slaps his hand down on the table.

"Athens! I though you looked familiar. You were with that huen dahn who left us stranded in the middle of a battlefield! That rutting colonel never did call evac for us! We had to do our own exfil with a ruptured fuel line - added a new layer of meaning to 'hot exit',"

Jack glowers at Sam, who looks back with Recognition in his eyes.

"Bù xíng!*" There's a smile on his face, encountering old comrades is usually a good time, and Sam loves to reminisce. "We got dumped, whole crew mutinied, killed old Colonel Bufford. Two days out, they stuck Captain Josephs, the Newbury's mechanic, Me and Lieutenant Kombe and The Colonel's woman in an escape pod"

"Me and my old Lt Kombe were detailed to help load those crates aboard the Lucius Newberry, I recall them being mighty heavy for their size, but we never got a look inside.

[Erasmas]

Cole
Alpha Panda Mess

At the mention of the Battle of Athens, Cole goes stone cold. The color rises in his face and the muscles in his jaw visibly clench. After several moments, he releases his white-knuckle grip on his napkin and slowly finishes chewing the bite he still had in his mouth. Even if it wasn't direct... the soldier had a hard time forgiving betrayal. Those mu jong bastards that left them stranded had put them in a tough scrape, and he didn't much appreciate that the man that was part of the doing of the thing was making so light of it all now.

[Shadow_Elf]

Greg
Alpha Panda Mess
Seeing the rising tensions that Sam Hawkes doesn't, Greg interjects. Y'all mentioned New Stanford? I think I was in orbit fer a week're so a that scrap... lotta the fightin' took place in some nasty bogs, if my memory serves. Tough, coordinatin' troop movements through that muck...

@ Adlan (Minor Spoilers):

Spoiler

Show

Acting: (1d12)[1] + (1d12)[11] to lie out my ass about New Stanford and diffuse the tension at the table.

[Adlan]

Alpha Panda Mess
Sam Hawkes is still oblivious to the tension, but he's not obtuse to the fix he left his comrades in. Still, during the war, he'd been in a fix or too himself, and didn't hold grudges, not with fellow browncoats.

"I swear I saw the Col. Order support for you, he said we was on some special mission. What ever it was, the crew mutinied and made off with the cargo..."

He notices his story dosn't seem to be gripping his audience.

"War's past though, we're all just folk now I suppose. Look at y'all, got a mighty fine ship. Me and Ryan got a mine, and we're still living Independent like ain't we."

[Narmoth]

Adrian Starr doesn't say a word, but tries to pretend not to listen, or to care for that matter, when Sam and Jack start discussing. He's not to good, and a really careful observer might notice that he feels uneasy about the war being brought up, especially when "independence" is mentioned

[Space Lawyer]

Lei
Mess of Alpha Panda

Lei calmly sips an enormous steaming mug of tea. Not caring so much for all this arguing, she picks up the field generator and inspects it. "I think most of the tools we need to fix it should be upstairs. Feel like helping, Amiri?"

[Lentrax]

Sia
Alpha Panda Mess.

Sia places a reassuring hand on Cole's leg."Well. I am sure you are sorry, Sam, and you weren't really in a position to do nothin' bout what a Colonel does. So hows about we move on to something else?"

[Adlan]

Amiri

With a clatter of cutlery Amiri was finished.
"Kěndìng de shì*"

He bowed politely to Grace and nodded to the captain as he left.

*Sure Thing

[Aneurin]

Jack
Alpha Panda's mess

He continues to glare at Sam.

"Well, I suppose it wasn't your fault. But we never got any support, never heard about any being sent or even asked for, so you can't blame us for being a little unhappy about the whole thing," he says grudgingly.

"But what'd he do to upset the whole crew like that? I mean, I didn't like him, but it takes something serious to get them to kick off; mutiny's not something you do over small change. Couldn't've been leaving us, a couple of lies and they'd never know,"

He glances at Sam, his eyes suddenly full of suspicion. What had happened on that ship? Mutiny is a sign of something going really wrong. How far in was Sam to be dumped with the officers? How much of a threat is he, here and now?

Jack leans back in his seat, and trades a glance with Cole and Sia. His eyes flicker to Sam, and below the table he makes a gun shape with his fingers pressed against his leg.

[Lentrax]

"哦，媽的我是個白痴。I got a message for you. I was on Higgin's Moon a couple years back, when I came across a gunfight in the street. The man as did the dyin' was one of us. As I tried to save 'im, he tells me, "Tell Sam Hawkes he's the last and the curse is comin' for him next."

Spoiler

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Silly me. I am dumb.

[Erasmas]

Cole
Alpha Panda Mess

The soldier jerked slightly at Sia's touch on his leg, the contact bringing his mind out of the past and causing him to realize that he may have been staring. After several minutes, he let the whole thing go, content with forgiving the man. He would try and not let it bother him... at least until they left this daong shii mang rock.

[Adlan]

Sam
After a Long silence, which seemed to build with tension between the noise of those still eating.

"This man, the only man I know who died on Higgin's moon was he Tall, Black?"

This, without the sign of harsh drinking and hard living, matched Sia's patient, and she nodded.

"Then I'm the last one...."

Before the silence could build again, Sam finished his drink with a gulp and continued.

"...That was my L.t."

"He was a good man, but turns out what the Col. messed us up in wasn't. Or at least, everyone thinks it was something, some cursed treasure. Last I saw him was when I picked his body up and saw him interred on Athens. Alliance even had some medals that finally caught up to him...

This was an old brown coat joke. Funny because it was true.

...Maybe now they've finished sending out citations they'll send the Ammo."

Ryan piped up.
"I got you the Co-Ordinates you wanted. Frisco Town.

He slid a small data drive over to the Captain.

"When you hit planet side, they've got a beacon you can't miss. Just slip this load of ice past the blockade, contact Balley Sacket, the city engineer. Believe me, he’ll be glad to see you.” Sam Hawkes backed up his partner.

"If we can report the Claim Jumpers to the Alliance, and keep them out of Corone's hands, we'll be able to supply you with even more ice... If you've got the cargo capacity to manage it."

[Narmoth]

"Not that it is my business in anyway, but why did the Alliance want him?" Adrian asks Sam with a polite but somewhat distant smile "Your lieutenant, that is...."

[Lentrax]

Sia
Alpha Panda Mess

"Alliance wants us all, Adrian. We've all got medals from the Alliance coming to us. I just hope I don't see too many of 'em pinned to young boys' chests."

Sia took a drink from her glass and turned back to Sam.

"He was a good man, Sam. And like everyone else, he didn't deserve what fate had dealt him."

[Erasmas]

Cole
Alpha Panda Mess

Cole, having finished with his meal, stood up and wiped his mouth with his napkin before haphazardly folding it and tossing it onto the table at his setting.

"Then again, some get exactly what they deserve..."

The soldier cast a casually knowing glance the way of Sam Hawkes before slowly walking out of the room.

[Narmoth]

Adrian
Alpha Panda Mess
"I believe I differ from the rest of you in that aspect as well then..." Adrian smiles
"I was informed in written form that as far as the Alliance was concerned, I was dead and should remain so. And would be awarded a certain amount annually for keeping that status quo"

[Creed]

Morgan
Alpha Panda Medbay

Morgan grabbed the two claim-jumpers, and, pointing his pistol at them, ushers them out into the hall and towards the dining room. His boots resound heavily on the floor, his presence being announced to the rest of the crew as he forces the captives into the dining room.
Pistol in hand, Morgan looks at Jack and then gestures to the captives, running a finger across his throat questioningly.

[Aneurin]

Jack
Alpha Panda's mess

He's just opened his mouth to ask Adrian what he's talking about when Morgan enters with the prisoners.

"What? No," he says, realising what Morgan's implying. "No. They're going to the Feds first chance we get. Until then they're going to be locked up and kept under guard. Won't take us too long to get to Regina, and ideally we'll be shot of them before that,"

Jack stands up and walks slowly over to the men, taking a good long look at them.

"So. You boys want to tell me what you were up to here? Why you thought it was a good idea to shoot at my crew?" There's no trace of his usual, easy-going nature now. Just cold anger at the scum who tried to kill his crew - who hurt Greg. "Telling me now, right now, will make a world of difference to you. Can't say I'm too happy with you, but if you play nice I'll return the favour. Dohn ma?"

[Lentrax]

Sia
Alpha Panda Mess

Sia looks at Addian a he makes his outrageous claim of being a walking ghost.

But any kind of remark she wanted to make is cut off by Morgan bringing the other two claim jumpers.

"Well, well. If it ain't my pretty little lab assistants. Your brother says hello. Or would, anyway, were he still counted among the living."

[Space Lawyer]

Lei
Bridge of Alpha Panda

Blissfully unaware of the drama occuring in the rest of the ship, Lei proceeds with the installation of the field generator with Amiri's help. After Amiri tinkers with the device for a while, the LEDs previously glowing red change to green. After some creative rewiring, the device is successfully integrated into the ship like it had always been there. With a few taps on the keyboard, Lei modulates the output and field harmonics so the other systems are not interfered with, and tunrs the thing on. Static immediately disappears from the screens as CMB is blocked, along with the more harmful sorts of rays blasting around the Black.