A Sedentary Sustainment

[Morse]

City of Gōng Qi
September 20, 2517 – Sihnon
8:54 A.M Local Time

The sound of ships flying over the Chainless was constant. It was unmistakable that the vessel was sitting on at a large port. Marcus had left nearly thirty minutes earlier, leaving the rest crew on the ship by themselves.

[Ray Hudson]

It was a struggle to find anything smaller than a desk whenever Ray moved somewhere. There are some things that will never be found but that realization is never easy to reach. Ray was standing in the cargo bay, hovering over two open boxes and staring at their contents, his hands unhappily on his hips. The gunmetal grey boxes were both half empty, most it's inhabitants now strewn across the floor around it. There were several black wires that looked exactly the same now coiling around each other on the floor. A few of these wires were halfway across the room, tossed over Ray's shoulder in a burst of frustration. Two miniature wooden boxes that resembled old, weathered shipping crates lay on the floor. The spare change that rested inside the tiny wooden boxes rattled as they were tossed hastily onto the floor. There were five broken microtransmitters in one of the large grey boxes but Ray would later claim that there was 'probably a hundred' of them.

Months earlier, when Ray first moved onto the Chainless, he had a few of Longstreet's men move his things onto the new ship. Ray had packed lazily and his organization skill where lacking so he had an avoidably difficult time settling in.

Ray was now back to shoving his arms into the boxes, searching for something that he'd never see again. His breath stopped and his hopes shot up when he thought he'd found what he was looking for. Sadly, it was the same black cord that he had grabbed several times before. As he dropped the useless cord to the side, Ray wondered what he had used the cords for and why he had so many of them. The same thought crossed his mind when he first packed them but Ray didn't want to risk throwing them away.

The search would probably end in resignation but Ray continued to remove everything from the grey boxes one by one. He had gone through this process before. He would remove everything from a box or a closet, look over everything, put it all back and then he'd repeat the process once or twice. Ray was incredibly thorough when it came to lost causes of insignifiant scale.

Ray looked at one of the now empty boxes and then looked at all of it's contents that were now on the floor. What he was looking for wasn't going to be found anytime soon and Ray was beginning to come to terms with that. He stood there, quite for a moment before kneeling down to clean up the mess he made. He grabbed the first discarded wire and glanced over at the other box and paused. Ray thought 'Well...I haven't finished with that one...' and he stopped cleaning before he started, continuing his search.

The first thing Ray grabbed in the second box was an anonymous black wire and he grumbled to himself.

[Olson]

A beeping sound could be heard at the main door to the cargo bay. It was short and only came twice. It was the sound that came when it was unlocked, and was followed quickly by the sound of hydraulics working and metal being moved. The double doors slid open and suddenly Olson could see inside of the vessel he was looking at.

He wore a uniform that could only be described as tactical gear. He looked as though he was in the army, but the color of the uniform was very distinct from that of the standard. It has purple portions of it, but was mostly black. He had numerous pockets that were filled with tools and equipment, but they were for the most part hidden. He was not unarmed, as at his side there was a high tech Alliance manufactured pistol.

Olson stepped inside, without a word, and looked the ship over. His eyes scanned the ceiling and then to the catwalk. He could see that the vessel was built on a ‘four corner – central’ axis. He wasn’t familiar with that type of ship, but he would become more familiar shortly. He could see boxes around, a vehicle parked at the back. And then he noticed a man over near some of the boxes. ”Hi” Olson greeted, with a smug look on his face, but not in a very welcoming tone.

He began to step further into the ship and look over things inside it. He walked a bit forward and began to stomp his heel down on the floor panels hard, and it made a lot of noise as he did.

[Ilana Logan]

Ilana stood in the Engine room staring at the CAD board she'd mounted to the wall furthest from the engine itself. She had her wireless adapter plugged into her databook, and her databook was plugged into the CAD board. She was playing around with the schematics, trying to figure a way to make their boat a bit faster, maybe a bit more fuel efficient. So far, it wasn't doing any good. Nothing she came up with on the CAD board had worked so far. She hadn't actually taken to rearranging the parts on the engine. It was all technically theory and AI determination, but still.

It was bothering her a bit that she'd been working for so long and she still wasn't able to figure anything out. Of course, given the shear size of the leviathan they flew around the 'verse, it could be there was really no way to make it any faster without it falling apart around them. She rejected the idea immediately, thinking to herself that everything always has room for improvement.

"For a while, I'm gonna walk away," she said aloud to herself. She was happy. Working on things always made her happy, and while she wasn't pulling parts off and putting them back on, using the CAD board counted as work to her. She saved her work, unplugged her databook, and shoved it into her knapsack. She slung the knapsack over her shoulder by one strap and walked out of the engine room.

She made her way through the ship into the cargo bay. Just as she got there, she saw a man, looking like he was dressed for battle, that she didn't recognize and he was saying 'hi' to Ray. He was dressed for battle for sure, but it looked like police tactical gear upon further inspection. Ilana's nerves wound a little tight at this, but as far as she knew, they hadn't done anything wrong, so they should have no reason to worry. We haven't done anything wrong recently, anyway, she thought. Besides, she didn't much care for alliance types, but she knew that something had led him to this ship, and she wanted to know what it was.

Ilana looked the man over for a moment. In a very calm, albeit curious, tone of voice, she asked, "Who the hell are you?"

[Ray Hudson]

Hearing two beeps, Ray turned towards the opening doors to the cargo bay. Ray turned back to the box and rifled through it some more before looking back at the doors. He had expected it to be Marcus since he was the only one who left but he wasn't sure why he would be back so soon. When he saw the uniformed man Ray froze. Immediately he wondered how he got in since the doors were locked and only crew members could open them. Ray looked back over the man and stared at the purple portions of the mans uniform and he now had an idea as to how he walked onto the ship like it was his own.

The uniformed man looked around the ship without a word and Ray stood up straight, waiting for the man to say something. The man seemed to notice Ray after most of the things scattered around the cargo bay and he greeted Ray smugly. A simple 'hi' and the man continued into the ship, looking around like someone walking in the park. He stomped his foot on the ground loudly and Ray started to wonder if a greeting was all he was going to get.

"You need somethin'?" Ray asked, obviously confused. Soon after, Ilana was in the cargo bay asking her own question. She asked who the man was and Ray clearly wanted some answers as well. Ray tensed up and he wondered if this was normal. The Logan had always used the codes to get out of any mandatory inspections and a trip to the core was rare so Ray didn't know what to expect.

Ray was happy that he wasn't alone to deal with this but he thought about how efficient Ilana was at dealing with people. He then wondered who would handle this better on his own and he placed his faith in himself.

[Olson]

When Olson hit the floor nothing came loose. He liked to check the simple things first. He knew how to listen for movement and shifting in the metal, and when he didn’t hear any he stopped. He could hear some clunking up above him, and then he heard a woman’s voice ask, in a not so polite, way who he was. ”That is an excellent question.” Olson replied, not looking at her and moving back to way he’d come from. He got to the door control panel, and he activated the control. The double door began to close in a process opposite of what it had done before.

He then heard the man at the other end of the cargo bay ask him another question, but this one was about what he was doing, rather then who he was. ”That is another excellent question.” He said as he began to bang on the now closed cargo bay doors. Once again he didn’t hear anything that stood out in his mind, and he turned around facing the man.

Olson looked straight up and began to walk slowly to his right. He began to mouth words, and held his finger up and tapped an imaginary button. He was counting the lights. After he was done he looked back over at the door he’d come through, and then back over at the man was in front of him.

”That’s a pretty heavy duty lock you got on that door.” Olson observed. He began to walk deeper into the cargo bay, towards the starboard side. As he walked forward he looked over at the man. He walked in a very confident way, like an officer in the military. There was no real air of caution about him, he just moved like he had a purpose with every shift of his weight. ”You guys must be hauling some pretty serious stuff to have a lock like that.” Olson mused with a smile as he found some boxes and began to open one. They held some wiring and mechanical equipment, but he kept sifting through it.

[Ilana Logan]

The man was stomping around the cargo bay, banging on the walls as if he had every right in the world to be there, and maybe he did, but so far, he hadn't shown them proof that he had the right to be there. Maybe the ship was due for an inspection, but he could say so. He didn't have to be an asshole.

To Ilana's question he said, "That is an excellent question." That is all he said, which shed no illumination on it whatsoever and she lofted a brow at him. Really? Of all the alliance officers in the world, we have to get stuck with one of the cocky ones?

To Ray's question if the man needed something, he said, "That is another good question."

He turned to the cargo bay doors then and started to bang on them. After a moment, he seemed to be satisfied with something and turned to face Ray. He looked up and walked to his right, all the while Ilana was thinking the man was stark raving mad. he was mouthing words that she couldn't quite make out because of her stature and his face being pointed at the ceiling. He was a very strange man.

He looked at the cargo bay doors again, then back at Ray. "That's a pretty heavy duty lock you got on that door," the man said, and started walking deeper into the cargo bay, towards the starboard side. As he walked, he looked at Ray. He was there for a reason; Ilana could tell that from the way he moved, she just didn't know what that purpose was. ”You guys must be hauling some pretty serious stuff to have a lock like that,” he said with a smile. He opened a box and began sifting through it.

"That's not necessarily true you know. About the lock I mean. Having a heavy lock could mean many things. For one thing, we don't come through the core very often, and the black out on the border and the rim isn't always as civil as it is here. It's better to 'err on the side of caution, I think," Ilana said carefully, sounding as though she were explaining something to a child. He was making assumptions when he had no idea what he was actually talking about. Thinking of that, Ilana wondered why they hadn't been informed of this inspection. She'd been through several while she traveled with Roman, but she'd never been through one where they walked aboard without announcing themselves before.

Something is wrong here, Ilana thought.

[Olson]

When the woman started explaining, though in his mind it was lying, about why someone would have a door lock as heavy duty as theirs was Olson rolled his eyes. He continued to look through the box that was in front of him. It was nothing but cheap, yet potentially useful materials for a ship to have. Nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing he needed to keep digging through. He closed the box, and moved it to the side and began to go through the next one.

”See I’d believe you.” Olson mentioned as he took the top off the next box. ”But the locking mechanism on that door is about the same grade as a Federal frigate.” Olson continued. He dug through the box a bit more and found nothing, and closed it off.

He didn’t really understand why the woman was bothering trying to fight with him. He probably knew more about the construction of space fairing vessels then the entire crew knew combined. Olson didn’t know this vessel specifically, but he knew that no standard ship builder would have it put in with a mechanism that was that heavy duty. And even still there was no practical use for it.

He began to walk over to the yellow vehicle that was centered with the cargo bay. He got beside it and began to feel along the sides. Olson’s head went underneath the vehicles hover pads, and he began to look around. ”Really big truck.” he said to himself as he felt around underneath the vehicle.

[Ilana Logan]

The man was still going through the boxes in the cargo bay, which pissed her off to no end. Not because he was going through them, but because he had provided no explanation as to why he was going through them. She was irritated because he had a smug look on his face, and a haughty tone to his voice. Being from the core didn't make him better than them in Ilana's opinion, and she always got irritated when people acted like money made them a better person.

Last time she'd had to listen to someone talking to her like that she'd ended up in a fight. No one had really won that one. They both got some pretty good hits in on each other. She'd walked away with a split eyebrow and a busted lip, and the other woman had walked away with a broken nose and a busted lip of her own. Ilana didn't take insult well, and she wasn't afraid of a fight. She wasn't the best fighter in the world, not by a long shot, but she could hold her own when it was someone relatively close to her weight. Height didn't matter a whole lot most of the time. You get them on the ground and they're just as short as you are, she remembered her brother saying once.

”See I’d believe you,” the man said as he took the top off the next box. His words brought her out of her inner machinations for the moment. ”But the locking mechanism on that door is about the same grade as a Federal frigate.” He dug through the box a bit more and found nothing, and closed it off.

He walked over to the mule in the middle of the cargo bay and felt along the sides of it. Then he leaned down and looked under it. ”Really big truck,” he said, seemingly to no one in particular.

"That's the thing though, I don't really care if you believe me. That lock isn't illegal, and neither is anything else on here. As far as I know, that lock has been there since we bought this ship, and as the mechanic, I would have been the one to install something like that, and I know I didn't. Your opinion doesn't really matter here. The facts do, and the fact is you can look all you want, you're not gonna find anything," Ilana said, more than a little irritated at his tone, and her irritation made her sound annoyed when she spoke.

It wasn't anger yet, but she knew it could get there easily the way he was acting. He was in her home, pawing through their belongings when they'd done nothing wrong - recently - and yet he had the audacity to act superior. Yeah, that makes sense, she thought.

[Olson]

The woman kept talking. That was weird to Olson. She just seemed to jabber on about things that really didn’t matter to anyone. He took her for the prideful rim type, which wasn’t much of a surprise. She probably hated him just from seeing the color purple. It was like red to a bull, she was reacting to it. He wasn’t going to respond to it, he didn’t have to. He missed the war in some ways for that reason. Olson could get her to quiet down very quickly, and it was something he’d used before. It was a shame that times changed.

His fingers moved along underneath the hover pads, and in between them. It seemed as though it was just a regular vehicle. He stood up and moved over towards a battery port on the vehicle and opened it. Olson looked it over, and flicked some of the wires. He closed it up and continued to move along the vehicles.

The woman mentioned his opinion not mattering, and Olson gave a short laugh as she did. Keep telling yourself that. He thought to himself. He didn’t say a word until she finished, he just kept checking it over. He reached a pull out seat on the side, and pulled it out. He checked it over and looked at the hole where it was drawn from. He kept his eyes on the vehicle still looking it over but his mouth opened. ”You know who usually gets in port authority officers faces and tells them they’re not gonna find anything?” Olson asked openly and as he slid the flat piece of metal back into the vehicle.

He looked over at the woman and with the same smug expression. ”People that have stuff to find.” Olson answered his own question, showing his teeth a moment. He walked over towards the port side wall and banged his fist against it. He did the same process just lower, and repeated it. ”I’m not familiar with a lot of ship’s mechanics that are experts in primary hatch modification and alteration.” Olson mentioned. ”That seems like something you have to special order from a manufacturer.” he continued, striking a piece of the support skeleton. ”Mainly because it would take some serious tools and a team of people to do it.”

Olson didn’t look at either of the other two people in the cargo bay when he was speaking. He just kept moving along the cargo bay wall. ”Where does a ship’s mechanic learn to do a job for that many people?” Olson was making more small talk at this point, but it came with an accusatory sound, even though the accusation didn’t seem to be much more then she probably didn’t have any idea how do what she was suggesting.

[Lulah Hayes]

Suffice to say, Lulah was feeling pretty good about herself once the Chainless had landed. 'Yup. Pretty darn good flying if I do say so myself.' It was always nice to be able to put her money where her mouth was, and fulfilling her promise of navigating a path to Sihnon that would take less than the calculated eleven days was definitely worth a few credits. If only she'd made an actual bet. The engines sang nicely enough, but maybe with a few mods here and there, her mappings could save even more time. Maybe something to ask Ilana about later, if the mood felt right. For now though, she'd waved off Marcus and retreated down the corridor to the Galley with sporadic yet solemn whistles to her steps. As though she was trying to be chirpy and positive, but the tune kept giving away her actual feelings. Nothing put her in a better mood more than being in the pilot's chair, even if the thought of ever having to land the giant ship solo left her feeling just a little bit too apprehensive. But not quite as apprehensive as she was about being on a core planet though. The sight of all the polished, federal buildings from the equally, organised and moderated landing strip, was enough to curdle the protein and whiskey contortion lining her stomach.

“Ugh.” Having searched the cupboards, she grimaced out loud with a turned up nose at the varied flavour protein mixes. “More gorram protein shit. And UGH! No chocolate? Cryin' out loud!” Of course, she'd probably already eaten her share of 'chocolate' flavour. Food was one of the only real downsides of living a spacer's life, but as much as she wanted to get some fresher supplies from outside, the thought of stepping foot off the ship didn't sit well with her either. Probably cost an arm and a leg for fresh fruit anyway. 'Pro'ly worth it though,' she sighed, resigning herself with slumping shoulders to the tin can that needed opening. A boring task that, naturally, required some form of laboured mumbling. “Darn alliance an' their gorram money grabbin' so-called would-be Lords who jus' got lucky. Bastards. Heck. Wouldn't last five minutes off their fancy rocks an' sure as hell like to.... see 'em.... try!”

Finally bending the severed tin lid back, Lulah grabbed a fork, and started eating straight out of the can. Without her grumbles, it was actually very silent. Too silent. Another very unnerving part of being grounded was having the engine turned off. Teeth bit against the fork. 'The heck is everyone 'round here?' With tin can and fork still in hand, a miniature hunt for an actual conversation ensured. There was only so much she could take of talking to her own self, especially when she was feeling anxious like this. She only had to walk out onto the main deck walkway junctions though, to hear chatter from down below.

“I’m not familiar with a lot of ship’s mechanics that are experts in primary hatch modification and alteration.” A male voice said.

'Huh?' Leaning over the railings slightly, Lulah could see Ilana down there already, and a quiet, observant Ray. 'No surprise there.' What bothered her though, was the stranger currently banging his fist against the cargo bay walls. A purple stranger.

“That seems like something you have to special order from a manufacturer. Mainly because it would take some serious tools and a team of people to do it.”

Inhaling a deep breath as though she was puffing herself out defensively after a personal violation, the scowling red-head dug her fork more aggressively into the can of mush. 'What's this Hwen Dan doin' here?' The purple official was directing his questioning to Ilana though, which was just as well because his very presence in the cargo bay was really getting to be unnerving quickly. Regardless of her nerves though, her feet didn't seem to want to move. It was of course, silly to feel trapped on board a vessel capable of high-tailing it out into the black, but trapped was exactly how Lulah was starting to feel with him on board. Best to not draw her attention to herself, but eavesdropping in never usually hurt anyone.

[Ray Hudson]

The uniformed man just said that Ray's question was excellent but he didn't seem to have any plans on answering it. He claimed that they had a very strong lock which probably meant they were transporting some very sensitive goods. Ray took a deep breath but kept it silent and he told himself to just cooperate with the man and everything would be fine. When Ilana told the man that what he said wasn't necessarily true, Ray closed his eyes and let out a light groan. This wasn't the time for an argument or debate.

Expressing his disbelief, the man made his way towards the hover mule that Morse had purchased a few months back. He told them that the lock was similar to the ones found on federal frigates. Ilana told him that she didn't care what the man believed and that facts were what mattered. Ilana told the man that the lock wasn't illegal and it was probably installed before they bought the ship. She said that as the ships mechanic, she would be the one to install it. When she mentioned purchasing the ship, images of Ilana and Marcus holding automatic weapons flashed in his mind. Ray still wondered if they had replaced the beds. Ilana told the man that the fact was that he wasn't going to find anything illegal on the ship and Ray looked at the ground.

This guy probably writes the facts. Ray thought to himself. They were on Sihnon, which meant that anyone wearing a specific shade of purple was immediately above them. Ray and the rest of the group had no authority here and fighting it was a waste of time.

Ray started to make his way towards Ilana while the uniformed man told her that she sounded a lot like the guilty. When Ray reached her the uniformed man told them about primary hatch modification and Ray learned something.

"Were playin' this cool, right?" Ray whispered to Ilana. He sounded like he was getting a hold of a plan they had already made but really it was his way of teling Ilana to stay calm. She was probably losing her patience for the man from the sound of it. "Just doin' what he says."

[Jay Fuller]

Jay turned off his music at the sound of thumping. His music wasn't very loud, but it drowned out most noises on the ship. If the ship were running, he would probably not hear the music at all. But this thumping was just enough to catch his ear. He held his hand on the player's volume control for a second and listened. He figured it was Ray trying to be intimidating again, that or Ilana was tossing things around the cargo bay. He turned his music back on.

He always figured that one of the best things about being the medic is that he often wasn't busy. Usually it was just checking the medical supplies, making sure nothing would expire soon, and the occasional cut on one of the crew members. Otherwise, he would cook, help clean, and generally just hang out.

As the banging continued, Jay simply turned off his music and stood up. Figured he might as well see what was going on. He walked from his room and walked out onto the catwalk over the cargo bay. He looked down and saw there was a stranger in a black and purple suit. He saw Ray and Ilana standing together down below. The man was talking about the lock on their door. Something about being guilty.

Who the hell is this guy and how did he get in here? Jay thought. He watched as he traversed the catwalk. The man was checking various things on the ship. He was the one thumping around, it seemed. Jay got to the four-way intersection of the catwalk. He leaned on the rails where they met and looked down. "Hey, who's the new guy?" he asked jokingly. He motioned with his thumb to the guy snooping around.

[Ilana Logan]

The man was still walking around the vehicles, looking them over, poking at things. "You know who usually gets in port authority officers faces and tells them they’re not gonna find anything?” the man asked as he pushed something back inside the mule.

He looked at the Ilana with the same smug expression. ”People that have stuff to find," he said, answering his own question, showing his teeth a moment. He walked over towards the port side wall and banged his fist against it. He did the same process just lower, and repeated it. ”I’m not familiar with a lot of ship’s mechanics that are experts in primary hatch modification and alteration," the man said. ”That seems like something you have to special order from a manufacturer,” he continued, striking a piece of the support skeleton. ”Mainly because it would take some serious tools and a team of people to do it.”

He didn't look at either of them as he continued to make his way around the cargo bay, he just kept moving along the wall. ”Where does a ship’s mechanic learn to do a job for that many people?” He was making small talk, and sounding like he was making accusations the entire time. Which made no sense, as they reall had done nothing wrong.

Ray came to stand near Ilana, which made her tense up. Not because she had anything to hide, but ever since their fight in the bar, Ray had made her very nervous.

"Were playin' this cool, right?" Ray whispered to her and she rolled her eyes without looking at him. He made it sound like he was getting a hold of a plan they had already made but she felt like he was warning her, which only served to add to her irritation. "Just doin' what he says."

She didn't answer Ray, instead she decided to systematically answer everything the purple belly had said. "Again I say, I really don't care what you think. You can think we have something to hide all you want. I. Don't. Care. And just to clarify, I don't recall getting in your face. I recall asking simple questions that you don't seem capable of answering. As far as primary hatch modification goes, like I told you, there haven't been any kind of modifications to that hatch since we bought the ship."

"Hey," she heard. It was Jay's voice. he sounded like he was on the catwalk somewhere outside of her field of vision. "Who's the new guy?"

She chose not to answer him for the moment, as she didn't have any more of an idea that Jay did. Instead, she focused on bringing her level of irritation down. It wouldn't do any good for her to get angry at this guy, though he was the sort of person who seemed to take pleasure in making people angry. There wasn't much she could do about it.

[Olson]

The woman kept talking, and Olson stopped listening. She was blathering on about nothing and she was as incomprehensive as everyone that came from the Rim, so he didn’t particularly care what she had to say. He just kept hitting the walls in a slow motion. He walked forward and would hit high and low. Sometimes he would kick with his boot. Hearing the woman speak though meant nothing to him. He’d seen hundreds of people swear there was nothing they had on the lives of their parents and children, but it always turned out they were carrying caches of weapons or illegal parts that “weren’t theirs”.

Most people that came from the Central Planets knew what the game plan was. There were plenty that would fight, but they would fight him because he was a cop, not so much because he was native to the Core. But that was the funny thing about winning the war. These people were already bowing to the Parliament, and their pride just forced them to close their eyes and tell themselves it wasn’t happening.

That idea put a smile on his face. He heard then a new person. He looked up to the cat walk and saw two people he hadn’t seen before. They didn’t matter to him, he guessed that they were just there because they heard someone talking that they didn’t recognize. It wasn’t as though the echo in the cargo bay didn’t pierce through the rest of the ship. It was the same with all freighters.

”Just a tourist.” Olson replied to the question, walking over towards the boxes that the man had been looking through earlier. Now that he’d moved over to the other side of the cargo bay, it was easier to handle that sort of thing. He didn’t know if he was going to be as belligerent as the woman, but he guessed he probably would. ”Taking in the sights.” He then began to take the top off of a box and look through it, like he did with the others.

[Lulah Hayes]

Lulah saw Jay approaching from the other end of the catwalk, and stupidly placed her faith in him to keep quiet and listen. That was a move she instantly regretted as he called down in what was, in her opinion, a dumb question. Not only that but, a signal that would naturally alert the officer to both her and Jay's position. 'Ugh! Wong Ba Duhn!' She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. If the doctor had been any closer, she probably would've clubbed him around the ear too. But of course, right on cue, the officer looked up. There was no doubt about it; he'd seen both of them.

As the purple-belly moved to start mooching through some other boxes, Lulah strolled down the catwalk towards Jay. No point in hiding or even creeping around any more and yet, she still felt safer suspended above the cargo bay. Safe enough to whistle an old folk tune as she walked, and then leaned forwards over the railing again as she stopped next to Jay. The officer's almost patronising answer had irked her even more than the colour he was wearing. But two can play that 'I'm so stupid' game, and she was about to have some fun proving it. Turning to Jay so that her back leaned against the railing instead, she twirled her red hair around one finger, and spread her arms across the rail. Then, her voice rung out loud enough to be a 'private' conversation that just oh-so-happened to be loud enough for those down in the cargo bay to hear too.

“Now... I know I'm just a buhn dahn rim gal who don't know an awful lot an' don't make an awful lot of sense either but... now you go on an' correct me if I'm wrong here but.... ain't them Alliance folk got rules an' all to be followin'? Least he could do is show us some I.D and tell us what the darn problem is. Oh! I ain't seen alliance I.D up real close before. You reckon he'll let me see it? Awww... else.... he really is a tourist. An' we should go on an' report him for stealin' onto our ship. 'Cause I sure as hell didn't invite him. Did you?”

Playing up to the notion of being 'just a stupid rim girl', she kept her voice high-pitched and her pronunciation thick. Or rather, lack of. And, just to make an extra point, she hocked and spat to the side. It would've made her a lot happier to spit over the edge and try to aim it to land on the stranger's head but, she wasn't that brave, or suicidal. The Alliance gun strapped to his side hadn't gone amiss, neither had all the pockets on his unmistakable uniform. Tourist? Yeah right! Not unless he'd manage to steal it, which on a core planet was unlikely. Being new to the crew though, Lulah of course had no idea what mischief they might have gotten up to before. For all she knew, this officer had been tracking the Chainless for days now, and had a whole record of law offending events to read off. Or, he was just rolling around in his own, self-proclaimed power like a true, purple-pot-bellied pig in the mud. As amusing as that image was, at least a pig could be shot.

[Olson]

Olson shot out some air from his nose, and a short laugh came out of his throat. It was as though he was sitting there with the cast of ”Rimshine Rumble” a cortex show that showed the lives of a certain group of people living out on the rim, and how stupid they all were. It really showed no part of them that was in a good light. They did everything in the worst way possible, and they backed it up with the dumbest logic that they could. Olson didn’t watch it much, but he’d seen it a few times, and he practically felt like this was it, especially with the additional woman on the catwalk who he could hardly understand.

He continued to dig through the box and found nothing, and so moved onto the one next to it. It was larger then the last one. He opened up the lid, and inside he found something that he knew was probably off the books.

”What are these?” He asked openly. They were large metallic disks. They were a bit heavy and there were a bunch of them. ”G-6V Mining Charges?” He stood back up straight and looked over the group. None of them looked like miners, the vessel didn’t look like a mining vessel, and there was no sign that they had miners on board since there was no mining equipment. And the amount of charges wasn’t even enough for a full crew. ”I’m sure you’ve got a permit for those.” Olson said leaving the box open, unlike the others he’d been to as he moved to another one.

Mining charges were not illegal, but it was illegal to have them without a permit. Mining operations all over the place ignored this, but Olson was on the Core. And in a place where it could be as simple as having them walk off the ship with them, and drop them off somewhere for a few easy credits, there was no way he was letting them walk away with them. The ownership of high explosive devices was illegal everywhere and negligence to that fact was just playing stupid, and not in a way that was at all believable.

He started going through a box with a lot of wires in them, and the words You’re not going to find anything flashed straight through his mind, as he continued to look through the box and it made his smile widen a bit.

[Ray Hudson]

It was disheartening to see Ilana take Ray's advice and burn it in front of him. She continued to tell the man that she didn't care what he thought, especially his opinions about the type of cargo they carried. It was obvious Ilana didn't have a lot of experience dealing with cops. Typically when someone gives a cop attitude and claims that they aren't guilty over and over again, that person is probably guilty. Backtalk was also very frowned upon when talking to the police. Ray didn't know what she hoped to accomplish by giving the uniformed man a hard time. Maybe she was just letting her anger take her for a ride, which he could understand but not here, not now.

When Ray heard Jay ask who the uniformed man was, Ray turned up towards the catwalk and saw him and Lulah up there. The man claimed to be a tourist and continued to look through some boxes. Lulah then leaned onto the railing and positioned herself in a very cocky fashion. She started talking about Alliance men and the rules that they followed, then mentioned the man's lack of I.D. and if he'd let her see it. She said that if he really was a tourist than they should report him for barging into the ship like he did.

Ray's eyes widened a bit when she said all this. He really didn't need them giving this guy attitude and he didn't understand why they were doing it. He thought about Lulah's situation, since she was knew she probably had no idea what they did on this ship or how they even got it in the first place. When she turned her head at spat to the side Ray's eyebrow cocked and he brought his hands up, then let them fall down like he was saying 'really?'. Ray was no stranger to spitting but this was where they lived and he never spat in his own house. They also walked there and even though the cleaning robot would clean it up that didn't matter, the pont was she did it seemingly on impulse. Lulah's thick rim accent and just spitting where she stood were just the things Ray tried to avoid becoming. He never wanted to look like some impoverished little rim kid who's face was covered in the birthmark of dirt and mud. He didn't want to grow up to be a great whistler thanks to losing most of his teeth. He didn't want to talk like Lulah or act like her, he made a great deal of effort to avoid that.

When the uniformed man asked what he had found, Ray turned to face him and when the man said the words mining charges his stomach sank. The man turned to the rest of them and Ray kept his breath in his chest. The uniformed man said that he was sure that they had a permit for them and Ray wasn't sure what to say. The charges where his which meant that the only illegal the man found so far belonged to him. Ray looked at Ilana, his mouth slightly open, unsure of what to say or if he should say anything at all. He looked back at the man who was now looking through another box.

"Those?" Ray said, pointing at the box full of mining charges. "Yeah, I don't actually have a permit...for those." Ray admitted, scratching his eyebrow with his thumb and his tone a little shaky. He knew full well that the man already knew the truth. Ray just gave him the truth flat out, trying not to cause any problems but still wanting to help himself out. "But that's probably just worth like... a warning." Ray said, sounding a little desperate, his voice getting quieter as he spoke. "Like if I was jaywalkin' or somethin'." Ray said, now sounding like he was speaking to himself. A flash of sticking a mining charge on a wall, then blowing up everyone on the other side came to mind. They only needed one that day. He gave up his weak attempt at helping himself and just let the man keep going.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus pressed his fingers against the 'enter' button on the console to open up the access door. It unlocked and he pushed it open, closing it behind him. The airlock on The Chainless always seemed unusually sturdy to him. He didn't mind, it meant he had something to rely on if things got rough.

Everyone was in the cargo bay as he looked it over. Everyone and a Fed. He stood the way the typical core man was wont to. Superior in that, I take a shit in a more civilized manner than you do The sort of purple belly Marcus actually hated.

Still, assumptions got him shot; he'd try and ride this out. He looked at the man, who was standing near a box of mining charges. They REALLY should fine a place to tuck some of that stuff away.

Sooner or later.

"Good Morning, everyone." Marcus said, quickly giving his crew a glance over. No one seemed hurt, and Ray looked like he was shitting himself, while Ilana had a sort of steady level look. They'd probably tread on each other's toes dealing with the Fed.

The lone fed. Not unusual since he had an entire planet of back up outside. The other thing Marcus resented during the war. The Alliance could almost always throw their numbers at a problem.

He walked up to Ray, calm. Things would play out. "Ray. What's going on?" His tone was calm, he was genuinely hopeful this would all roll off the deck. He didn't want to assume shit right now. Ray wouldn't mince words about this.

[Olson]

Olson finished looking through the next box as he got the answer to the unspoken question posed to the group. He didn’t even need anyone to answer since he knew that there was no reason why they had mining charges on board, at least not a legal one. Such being the case he continued on his search.

To his surprise the man actually admitted to ownership without a permit. He was half expecting more jabber about how it wasn’t illegal and he couldn’t do anything about it. The fortunate circumstance was that they were on Sihnon, thus under his jurisdiction. But since they were still on their ship, and not carrying any of it off, or having showed signs of intent to carry them off, they did hold certain immunity. But they didn’t need to know that. Just because he wasn’t going to fine them, didn’t mean he wouldn’t be taking them. Of course that only worked assuming the mining charges were the only thing they had. But since they had them, Olson knew that they had other things.

”Yeah.” Olson replied quickly, starting to walk towards the center in regards to the crime being a very small one. Taking a short cut across the street, and transporting high explosive devices. Olson thought. What’s the difference? The look on Olson’s face practically asked the same question, even though his mouth never moved.

He saw another man appear in the cargo bay. He recognized him as the owner from the picture that had appeared on the terminal when he ran a scan of the crew listing from port. Olson at least liked the fact that he was cheery, and didn’t seem like a mangy cat that was looking for a fight. That alone wasn’t going to keep him from following his usual vessel search procedure, but he found it easier to deal with.

Olson moved to be center with the cargo bay. He was a few feet away from the elevator at the center on the side closest to the cargo bay door, but was beneath the cat walk. He reached towards his belt, and grabbed a device that was like a small rectangular box. It was about a foot long, half a foot wide, and was black. It had a screen, and some buttons on top, but was thicker then the average data pad. Olson tapped on the screen a bit, and hit some of the buttons.

Now we’ll see what they’re really hiding Olson thought to himself and with a final tap, a diagram of the ship was being built before his eyes, almost like an instant blue print of the ship, and the words “Scanning” running at the top of the screen.