Errands for the Hearst (Serenity)

[Odin the Ignoble]

(I'm sorry I was waiting for the arrival of the new pilot, I also wasn't sure if the crew was staying with the ship or joining Ernie. )

After cleaning up and finding Ernie already has a line on a new pilot, Burt returns to his bunk and begins to unpack. When he finishes he joins Gerard on his inspection of the ship. "Boat looks fine to me, but I've never been much of a gear head. I like the looks of the crew though. Even the Doc knows his way around a gun. "

[Yawielas]

After she's done unpackin', Robyn heads for the engine room to check out her new workin' facilities.

[King Tius]

Ernie makes his way into the back room and finds a man dressed in an extravagant purple suit lounging in a den of hanging smoke, scantily clad women, and opulent furniture. Half a dozen well armed men are scattered about, all watching Ernie warily. The man takes a drag from his large cigar and slaps the rump of the nearest girl walking by. “I’ll set you up good, Doc, so long as you do me a service in return. This Hearst fellow is about as rich as they come and probably has his pudgy little fingers in all manners of interesting pies. You see an angle to fit me into his businesses and you make it happen.” He nods to one of the armed men and twirls his finger at him a bit. The man moves to a data terminal and prints out a sheet of paper. The doctor takes it and finds an address and a name. Heading out, he picks up Faith and they go to find this new pilot.

Robyn finds that the engine room is in pristine condition.

FAST FORWARD

After traveling to the given address and banging on a door, Ernie and Faith manage to scrounge up your new pilot. they hop a train with the man and bring him back to the Barchetta, bringing him up to speed on what has occurred so far.

As they walk onto the ship Anders is looking quite flustered and gives the man a quick once over. Turning to Ernie, he asks “This our man? Good. Our first stop is on Hera. Let’s get this bird in the air.”

OOG: Sorry everybody, I thought you would go as a group and we could have some fun in the bar. I didn’t realize everyone was just waiting for the new guy.

[Ridai]

While on the trip with Ernie, Faith is trying to get used to Ernie's crude behaviour, calmly listening to his inevitable comments and treating him with some respect in hopes of him warming up to her as a person, not as a piece of meat. Failing that, to avoid future problems.

Back on the Barchetta, Faith figures she'll share a room with Robyn, so she asks the others which cabin she picked, putting her shoulder bag and her field jacket into a corner of the room. She types a message into her old Multiband (I'll sleep on the ground. Faith) and lays it on the bed before she leaves with the Blue Sun Multiband to explore the ship, especially looking for a place to train (probably the hangar) and memorizing the locations as well as who is staying where.

I like this ship so far, clean and practical is her answer if Gerard asks her if they meet on their way.

Spoiler

Show

I assume that most cabins only have one bed, large or small. So, how is the layout like compared to a Firefly-class ship? Rough schematics would be nice if possible, but some pointers are just fine, too.

[Odin the Ignoble]

"You heard the man. Throttle jockey, get to the cockpit, I want us off the ground in twenty. You can plot a course once were airborne.

Faith, garb the new guys stuff and stow it.

Robyn, get back to the engine room. It may have looked fine before, but I don't want anything going 球.

Gerard give the cargo manifest a a quick once over. I want to know if anythings missing before we break orbit.

Ernie, head to the mess and..."

Burt winces as if remembering something unpleasant. He turns to Anders.

"Er... I mean... Orders Cap'n?"

[RandomLunatic]

((OOC: Hello everybody! Glad to be playing with y'all.))

The new pilot is a middle-aged man, short and slight of build-5 foot seven and no more than 130 soaking wet. He wears faded blue jeans, an equally faded shirt, and a head of curly blonde hair. A duffel bag is slung over his left shoulder, so as not to block the pistol holstered on the right hip-there are too many wierdos running around with guns not to be packing. A hevily-beaten, dusty grey Stetson hangs off the back of his neck. His eyes are blue, and directing a dirty glare at Burt.

The name's 'John', not 'Throttle Jockey'. And I can handle my own bag, sir, putting as much sarcasm into the last word as possible. Turning back to Anders, he says John Tanner, sir. And forget the freakshow-if you're all loaded, I can have her breakin' atmo in 15. Now, if you excuse me, I got a bird to get flyin'.

John takes his leave and bolts for the cockpit, donning the hat as he goes. His Lucky Flyin' Hat had seen him through the War, and everything since. Reaching the cockpit, he starts the pre-flight while carrying on a one-sided conversation. Hi there! I'm the new pilot. My name's John-what's yours? He knew the answer already, of course; it was only stenciled on the side in big block letters. It still made a good ice breaker. Barchetta, huh? Nice name, but a bit long. You got a nickname? Hydraulics, check. Fuel pumps, check. No? Well, that's OK-we'll think of one. ECM, not present: the War is still over, genius. OMS, check. Well, you know what? I've never flown a Peregrine-class before. So its going to be a first for both of us. And there's no need to be scared-I'll be right here with you. We're all good here.

Grabbing the mike for the ship's god-comm, he says, Get ready for lift-off, y'all. Starting the engines, he laughs at some joke only he hears. Nothing would thrill me more. But the Cap seems the sort that prefers his flight smooth as silk, and I want to make a good first impression. Ready?

Still, John is as good as his word. Inside a quarter hour, the Barchetta is in the black, and the only sign she has left the groundd is the pitch of the engines and the slant of the deck.

[Loquacius]

OOG: Glad to have you aboard, Lunatic! Oh, and Tius: For future reference, what is this crime boss's name? We should probably work in what it is before I have to drop it somewhere.

Back at the den of iniquity, Doc Ernie grins. This mob kingpin is his kind of scum. (OOG: "Fearless and inventive!") "Consider it done, boss. Guess I'm going off-world for a while. Been a real treat doing business, one brigand to another. Thanks." He rises. "That said, as a doctor I have to recommend you quit with the stogies. They're gonna kill you someday, y'know." His business thus concluded, Ernie chugs the rest of his beer, tosses the empty bottle to one of the serving girls, winks at her, belches loudly, and is gone.

During the walk from the bar to Tanner's place, Ernie doesn't give Faith a second's rest. Her silence just gives him more room to talk! This girl's got a real fire in her, even if she's tryin' her damnedest to hide it, and he is going to bring it out if it's the last thing he does. It's a real shame that his main method of interacting with the opposite sex tends to drive so many of them off, or (as seems half likely here) get him stabbed by angry security specialists, but cursed as he is with an incurably dirty mind and horrifically ugly face, it's all he's got. The good ones all learn not to take him seriously, and it gets fun from there.

During the walk from Tanner's place to the ship, Ernie kills time talking with the only crew member he hasn't traded witticisms with yet. "Doc Ernie O'Toole. Pleased to meet you. Seems we have a mutual acquaintance--how would a man like that get the name of a man like you? And by what circumstances are you stuck in North Ridge?"

Back at the ship. "I tell ya Crunchy, you're glad you didn't finish that sentence." Shooting Burt a quick wink to let him know he was kidding, Ernie gets all his stuff stowed in his cabin and spends the next short while unpacking so as to be ready to take a seat and hold on to something when liftoff time comes. Time to leave Persephone behind for now--at most, this was a transitional phase in his life anyway. Hopefully the freedom of the Black will be better for him than hospital life, to say nothing of what he'd been doing since then. Don't know why I didn't think of this myself.

[RandomLunatic]

On the Walk

John Tanner. Nice to meet you.

As to how? Well, I was told that if anybody could set me up with a ship headed off this rock that needed a warm body at the stick, he was the one. And whaddaya know? It worked!

Turning to look at Faith, he asks, And what's your name? Go on, speak up-I don't bite. Usually. He grins and chuckles.

[Ridai]

I'm Faith is what John reads on the Mutliband's display she holds towards him.

After the take-off and familiarizing herself with the ship's layout, she takes her bag down to the cargo bay and starts to disassemble her pistol and bullpup assault rifle on a mat she brought with her with practiced speed and efficiency, thoroughly checking and cleaning every part before reassembling them again with the same speed. She proceeds to check her sword, stolen like her other weapons, for even miniscule flaws and performs some "easy" exercises and drills with it (by her standards) in the process, constantly improvising. Content with the state of her equipment, she stuffs all of it back into her shoulder bag and puts it back into her corner of the room she shares with Robyn, heading to the galley to get something to drink and finally relax for a moment.

[Yawielas]

After checkin' the machine rom again, Robyn looks up as she hears the new pilot over the intercom. She prepares for lift off, grabbin' on to a seat and bucklin' up.

[Odin the Ignoble]

Burt returns to Ernie's comment, with a smile. "What? I was going to say break out the good stuff."

After take off. Burt joins Faith in the cargo bay. With loving hands he disassembles and cleans Lolita, his faithful shot gun.

When Faith begins practicing he quickly gets out of the way. Burt's not a swordsman, but he offers to spar a couple of rounds, if shes up to it.

[Ridai]

Faith makes sure she keeps a safety distance to Burt during her training to avoid any injuries. She is obviously surprised by the offer, unsure for a moment how to respond (no one she worked with in the past ever offered a sparring match). I would like too, although I'm not that good unarmed. She assumes Burt meant unarmed sparring or at least she hopes he did, as the only way she knows to fight is full force and even though Burt is a lot sturdier built than Faith, she worries about causing too drastic injuries with a weapon in her hands.

[Zoobity]

Gerard laughs at Burt when he barks his orders, "Listen, old man, I'm just going to go ahead and listen to what the captain tells me. Consider this my nod to an orderly ship, eh?"

Upon meeting John, Gerard makes his greeting and then plops back down in a lounge seat. "I like that guy. All business."

After taking a short nap, he finds himself in the cargo bay where Burt and Faith are speaking (and maybe sparring!). "You know, I was a professional boxer for a few years. I'd love to spar with either of you, introduce you to my weapons." He lifts his left fist, "Hansel," and his right, "Gretel."

[MaximusMeridius]

(OOG: Sorry bout the lack of posting. Being with an almost complete lack of internet for 2 weeks while out of the country wasn’t what I had anticipated. School starts soon, so I’ll have more regular posts from here on.)

Marshall makes his formal introduction to John and thinks to himself to talk later to him, when he isn’t as driven by the job.

Marshall goes around the ship and tries to find his bunk, taking his time to learn the corridors as best he can. When he finally does arrive at his room, he slowly unpacks his things. Taking a hinged double picture frame out of his backpack, he opens it and places it down on the desk. He then leans over, with his arms on his knees, and stares at the two faces in the photos; one of a cute blonde girl sitting under a tree reading something, and the other of a little girl trying to walk. “Well, I guess this is home,” he says after a while. Upon hearing John’s PA address, he then winces a bit to get his mind off the pictures, before standing and continuing to unpack a few things. When he has unpacked a fair amount, he decides to head to the kitchen and scope out the grub that is available on the ship, perusing the options for the time being but eventually grabbing a small amount and a knife. After he has made his selection, he heads back to the main hold, figuring to find some of his fellow crew members are likely to be there. Upon entering, he makes his way down to the bottom level to watch Burt’s, Gerard’s and Faith’s sparing match.

[Odin the Ignoble]

When Faith accepts his offer Burt's homely face splits in a welcoming grin.

"S'not a problem. I'm not that good either, but we all have to start somewhere. Maybe some day you can return the favor and show me around a sword. 'Sides, how could I pass up an opportunity to spar with the legendary 'Crimson'."

After being introduced to 'Hansel' and 'Gretel' Burt's smile grows wider. "I didn't know that we had a pro on board." Crunch makes a short bow. "Sir, it would be an honor to have you beat the crap out of me. Hold on a sec." Burt heads back to his bunk and returns with a long strip of cloth. He begins padding his prosthetic hand. He chuckles to himself. "It's like the old movies. 'Fists of Steel'"

[Yawielas]

Once out in the black, Robyn heads for the kitchen to see if there's anything to eat besides proteins. She looks through the cupboards, puttin' together a small meal and a cup of coffee. Sittin' down by a table, she blows on her hot coffee while considerin' this new job and her new crewmates. Shakin' her head a little to herself, she smiles. Perhaps it would be better to actually get to know them then to just sit and speculate. After all, it would be nice to know just what kind of person this strange, silent Crimson is. From what she's heard, she isn't someone you'd wanna to share a cabin with...However, since everyone are now stuck in the black together, maybe she'd better give the girl a chance. She's hardly the only shady character aboard. Robyn quickly finishes her food and brings her mug of coffee down to the cargo hold where it sounds like most of the others have gathered. Seein' the sparrin', she sits down on the stairs to watch, occasionally takin' a sip of her hot brew.

[Ridai]

Faith sighs and shakes her head when Crimson is mentioned as she walks to the side, taking off her sweater and putting it on top of her bag. Mostly shallow scars caused by cuts and burns can be seen on her arms, chest and upper back, hinting at how much more is hidden beneath her black top and the rest of her clothing. The edge of a tattoo can be seen on her upper back, the rest disappearing under the black cloth. Faith takes off her boots, puts them next to her bag and turns around.

Her other scars pale in comparison to the massive scar on her neck, covering the whole front and left side, which has the effect of letting the most onlookers ask themselves how a wound like that could be survived. Faith starts to warm up, stretching and bending so far down that her head is barely above her feet, forwards as well as backwards. Built like a dancer, thin but athletic, she assumes a stable stance and gestures to Burt to come and get her.

During the fight, she relies mostly on her speed, as she her technique is limited to the basics: put your weight into the punches and kicks, keep a stable footing. As Burt is a bear of a man, she keeps moving, trying to dodge his attacks, something she is considerably better at, aiming her punches and kicks at the weak spots of the human anatomy (thanks to her practical/first-hand experience in the matter). Still, she avoids attacks on the most critical spots (as well as the crotch, as kicking there during combat has next to no effect on the target, contrary to popular belief).

Spoiler

Show

Do you want to run this like "actual" combat or via roleplaying? I assume the latter, but I'm fine either way. Here are the relevant stats, so you can estimate how (well) Faith fights, so as kind of a RP aid.
Agility d12 (uses that for attacks if possible), Strength d8, Unarmed Combat d2, Dodge d10

[RandomLunatic]

Cockpit, Barchetta

Once free of atmo, John lays in a course for Hera and turns the ship over to the mechancial precision of the autopilot. That done, he looks to make sure nobody is coming before fishing through his bag for a half-full bottle of whisky-folks tended to get almighty jumpy if they learned the pilot was hitting the bottle. People made flying no fun at all. Passengers complained if the landing was anything but smooth. Captains complained if the cargo shifted during barrel rolls. And the Feds complained loudly if you deviated from your assigned course and speed. He heard more bitching after the typical hard landing than he had during the entire War.

Uncorking the bottle, he says to the empty cockpit Here's to many successful flights, clinking the base on the edge of the console before taking a long pull. He recorks it, puts it away, picks up his bag, and sets off to see what exactly he has gotten himself into.

Cargo Bay, Barchetta

His intial search fruitless, John is drawn by the sounds of fighting from the cargo bay. His apprehension is quickly settled when he figures out it is just friendly sparring going on. Pulling up behind where Robyn sits on the stairs, he asks This seat taken? Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, miss...

[Yawielas]

Robyn did actually startle a little as John comes up behind her, since she was sittin' with her deaf ear in his direction. She looks up, and smiles a little. "Oh, hi, you must be the new pilot, yeah? I'm Robyn. The mechanic." She holds out her hand to him, scootin' over to make room.

[RandomLunatic]

John smiles back and shakes hands. Guilty as charged, ma'am. Name's John Tanner. He takes a seat and drops the bag on the stairs below him. Noticing a lull in the sparring below, he calls down Before y'all go beat each other up again, anybody mind if I take the cabin closest to the cockpit?

[Odin the Ignoble]

Burt removes his coat and over shirt before stepping into the 'ring.' His own scars cover more of his chest and arms than his actual skin. Hundreds of thousands of suture scars cover his body, marking where large portions of his skin was crudely reattached. Portions seem to have an entirely different skin tone, as if multiple donors where used to cover up spots where they couldn't find enough of Burt's own skin. The scars combined with Burt's massive frame give him the appearance of monster from a B-rated slasher flick.

Burt's style couldn't be more different than his Faith's. Burt's never been a particularly agile man. With the addition of a crude prosthetic leg, Burt knows that he has no chance of competing with Faiths agility. Instead, Burt weathers Faith's strikes and waits for an opening. If at all possible Burt will try to grapple where he can use his superior size and strength to his advantage.

Later in his match against Gerard, Burt tries to use his size to his advantage once more. Burt tries to use his longer reach to his advantage. If his opponent tries to close, Burt will try to grapple like he did with Faith.

[Ridai]

Faith has no problems outmaneuvering Burt and gets a few hits in during the course of the sparring, but her lacking technique and his tough body make Faith think that her attacks only have little effect on him (although they should still hurt). Even though she manages to dodge a remarkable amount of Burt, ducking, spinning, stepping and sliding out of the way, the big man still is able to get a hold on her a few times and to great effect. Clenching her teeth when caught in his crushing grip, she is able to break free quickly most of the time, but the pain lasts for a while.

After a few minutes she stops the sparring, still able to fight, but any more would be unnecessary in her opinion. She bows deeply once, her way of saying "Thank you for the match" and makes room in the imaginary ring for Gerard. She passes on the opportunity to spar with the boxer, as she doesn't think she has a chance to put up a good fight, so she studies Burt's and Gerard's movements and fighting styles from a swordwoman's point of view instead, looking for openings and attacks to look out for in case she has to fight someone with a way of fighting.

[Yawielas]

Robyn finishes her coffee while watchin' the fight. She shrugs at John. "If it's not taken already, go right ahead. You might have to share, though."

(I'll be away this weeked, with no internet.)

[Loquacius]

Once Ernie's cabin is in order--clothes unpacked, garden given water and proper light source and stowed under bunk, doctor's bag stowed carefully next to bunk just in case, encyclopedia set up on desk, gun disassembled, cleaned, and laid out next to it, various explosives and poisons hidden away where they won't scare anyone, tiny jars of rare spices hidden even better so no one is tempted by them (MINE ALL MINE)--Ernie pays a visit to his new clinic and spends a while familiarizing himself with it, making small adjustments to things, etc. He then visits the kitchen, taking along his packs of more common spices, and treats it with the exact same level of professionalism.

If he runs into Robyn there, he gasps in mock shock and shoos her out of the kitchen ("If you was hungry, girl, y'should've told ME! Leave this one to the local health professional. It'd be bad for our missions and for my visual satisfaction if you got out of shape!"), but lets her handle the coffee--he used to work in a hospital, after all; he's not used to making coffee himself. This done, he cracks his knuckles, examines his supplies, and sets about making a meal sized for everyone--going by North Ridge time, it's around dinnertime anyway. The content of this meal will vary based on the supplies he finds, of course. If there is nothing but proteins, he does what he can with his spices to make a sort of meatloaf with them. If there are vegetables and oil, he makes a fresh salad. If there is meat or some soy equivalent, he cooks it--quick and simple, on a pan, adding just the right spices.

OOG: I'm not sure what attribute to use for a Craft roll, so for now I'm going to use Intelligence. If I have to reroll, let me know. Of course, if I mess this up I might have to do that anyway. Craft(cooking): (1d10)[8] (INT) + (1d8)[7](Skill) More post to come after I see how the roll turns out.

[Loquacius]

OOG: Potatoes! That's what I forgot! I'd like to retroactively append a side-dish of baked potato, easy on the salt and butter, to my dinner. Hearty but healthy!

Having finished preparing his meal of meat, salad, and potatoes as available (which based on my roll results will be delicious), Ernie steps back and looks on it with pride, then covers it to keep it warm while he assembles his audience. Deciding to heed Burt's order after all, he pulls a flask from his white doctor's jacket (yes, that is point of fact how he rolls), takes a pull, and goes looking for everyone else. Most of them are currently in the cargo bay, though, so he doesn't find them immediately--instead of conducting a thorough search, he wanders up to the cockpit and makes an announcement over the intercom: "Goooood evening, ladies and gentlemen. I must note that I'm speaking primarily to the ladies, but the gentlemen may wish to perk up an ear as well. This is your friendly, talented, and devilishly handsome Doctor Ernest Tiberius O'Toole speaking to request that y'all please emerge from whatever dark corner of the ship you've disappeared to, to partake in the delicious supper I have thoughtfully prepared for you. Tips gratefully accepted. I look forward to your company."

This done, Ernie goes back to the mess and amuses himself while waiting for the others by mixing himself a drink. If he can find alcohol in the kitchen, he uses it; otherwise he samples liberally from his flask and makes a mental note to pick up some liquor next time they hit a planet. Can't BELIEVE I forgot to stock up.

[King Tius]

OOG: I’ll have some ship schematics up soon
OOG2: I’ve been watching too much star wars lately, so we’ll name the crime lord Hutt.

Anders looks at Burt with the faintest of smiles on his face. “This clearly isn’t your first time.” He chuckles at his own joke. “Maybe we’ll make you first mate. Alright people, let’s get moving.”

Tanner quickly makes his way to the cockpit and finds that the Barchetta is a gorram flying palace compared to what he’s used to. The ship’s navigational system is state of the art and all but flies itself. Still, he flips it to manual and brings her up and out of the North Ridge docks nice and smooth.

Robyn’s scrounging in the mess turns up some surprising results. The ship is fully stocked with the usual proteins and food packets. However, there are several crates in the pantry (labeled with the Blue Sun logo, like all the other food) that contain fresh fruit and vegetables. A smaller one in the frozen storage compartment (or “freezer”) even has a few hunks of real meat! She fixes her coffee and heads down to the cargo area where a sparring match is about to take place.

(we’ll just RP it for now, I guess) The sparring match goes down and gathers a small crowd of the crew. Even Anders comes out of his bunk and leans up against a cargo crate, watching as Faith ducks and dodges around Burt. When Gerard gets his go at the cyborg, the two have a fairly evenly matched bout of it. Just as the friendly competition ends Ernie announces that dinner is being served. Everyone gathers in the mess for some roasted strips of beef, cooked potatoes, and a nice salad. For the first time the entire crew is assembled in one room around the table. Anders gives everyone a look and nods. “I’m feeling good about this crew. Let’s eat.”

During the delicious dinner Anders displays passable table manners, though clearly he’s not used to fine company. Over the course of the meal he tells you a little more about the next assignment. “It’ll be 3 or 4 days till we reach Hera, so we’ve got some time to kill. We’ll be making two stops on the ground. The first, in our official capacity as Blue Sun Couriers, will be a cargo dump and pick up at a small depot. Our real assignment involves acquiring a certain piece of furniture from this fellow named Kevin Bailey. It is apparently some kind of antique and Mr. Hearst must get his hands on it. I’ve yet to contact Bailey so I don’t know if he’s even willing to part with it. One way or another, we’re getting that desk.”

[Ridai]

The announcement comes as Faith asks Burt and Gerard for pointers how she could improve her technique after the sparring. She puts her sweater back on and her weapons in her shoulder bag, placing the latter back in her room, and heads to the mess. The food's smell is incredible to her as is the taste after a very long time of eating mostly protein meals ("Champ's breakfast"). Faith doesn't get the typical mercenary vibe from the others and very much enjoys just having a meal with them at the same table, listening to them chatting with each other. She displays surprisingly good table manners, although not to the point of showing off.

After dinner, she thanks Ernie for the meal, helps clearing the table and does the dishes if there is no kitchen equipment that takes care of that. She rests for a while in the mess or what else is closest to a living room on a starship.

[RandomLunatic]

Damn Ernie, John observes between bites, If you doctor half as well as you cook, it's good to have you aboard. Would somebody pass the spuds?

I hope we learn a bit more about this assignment when we get there, he says in repsonse to Anders. His table manners are hardly high-class, but at least he was not raised in a barn either.

[Odin the Ignoble]

"Gorram, Ernie. I can't remember the last time I ate this well." Burt pauses between bites, brow foroughed. "Come to think of it I don't know if I've ever eaten this well. Keep this up and I'll loose my girlish figure."

During the meal he makes sure to sit next to Faith to help her with her question. "The most important part of any fight is to make sure to fight dirty. Take any advantage you can get, only fight on even terms if you have to. Don't be afraid to kick a man when he's down, he'd probably do the same to you. For example, if you were fighting me for real I would suggest trying to break or disable my prosthetic leg. Failing that I'd run away and find a gun or a sword to use." From there Burt, goes into actual advice on how to improve form and technique.

After dinner is cleared away, Burt returns to his bunk for some shut eye. A good fight, a fantastic meal, and interesting company. A man could get used to this sort of thing.

[Loquacius]

OOG: I've been watching a LOT of Scrubs lately; in case you can't tell, Ernie's personality is somewhere between Dr. Kelso and The Todd.

Ernie eats like someone who simply and thoroughly enjoys good food: he doesn't attack it like a starved animal, but he does eat eagerly and savor each bite, without paying too much attention to decorum. In response to people's praise of his cooking: "Shucks, folks, weren't nothing. I just threw it together and used some spices in the right place. Important to keep things spicy." He winks at Faith.

To Anders: "Hope you don't mind I dipped into the meats so fast. Wanted to make the first meal something special. I'll take it slow from here on out." He pauses for a good long time to chew a bite of beef. "So, Mr. Hearst went to all of this"--here he indicates the ship and everyone present in one sweeping motion--"to get himself a desk? Huh. Well, it's his money. At least it won't take up much space in the bay. What's so great about this particular desk, anyway? Hate to think we'll be going in blind again."

At some point, to Marshall and Gerard: "So, you gentlemen don't exactly look like the spacer type to me. I appreciate being able to be among professionals--reassures an insecure old fart like myself that he's not throwing away what's left of his life--but I gotta ask, what brought you to the Black?"