STEAM LONDON: Realms of Aether Game Thread

[Nigel Wetherby]

"I'm sorry you had to see that." He said as he reached for another shirt from his wardrobe, revealing four perfectly circular scars on his back. The wounds had already healed.
"My cold one nature leaves me growing those ghastly things every month or so. Though they've become more recent as of late."
He slipped a red button-up shirt on rather casually, as if the grisly affair had never happened. The black ichor seemed to have evaporated, and all that was left of the tentacles was a pile of black dust.
"Whenever those damnable things grow, someone always gets hurt."

[Stella Gaslight]

"I know this may sound creepy but you should try taking a sample of them for the boys in the bio lab sometime.  They may be able to help you."  She felt the ship lowering to land.  "Do you want to help me get Emma's room set up?  Right now it is half full of lab equipment and the bed has paper all over it.  Not exactly the restful place that she needs now."

"Cain we should go back and fly with the kitties sometime.  I want to see what little Verona and Roman look like all grown up."  She had a sneaking suspicion that they had found their twins in those two.   Angel waved at the people on the dock who were welcoming them home.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss gathered up his white and white-and-stripe shirts, his smallclothes, and his socks, and put them in a large wicker basket that he took from inside of his wardrobe. HE went to the Sqawk box, and pushed the Ahips Sddress button, adn announced, Laundry Call in the Enlisteds Galley when we land. I'll be boiling up my whites, so bring yours, but make sure they're marked. If not marked, you'll haveto boil your own. Repeat. Laundry Call in the Enlisteds Galley when we land. Chief, open the Engines & Enlisteds' hatchway, please. Dreyfuss out."

He walked out of his cabin, locked it, walked through the Forecastle foyer, out the double doors to the "Down" spiral stairs to the Main Deck (the one outside, between the fore and aft castles) opened teh hatch to teh stairs, got in, closedt the hatch, and descended teh stairs to the Main Deck, and opened the Main Deck Hatch-door, strepped  out, closed and latched it, noted the thick drizzle coming down, out beyond the curved edges of teh envelope and prayed there'd be no lightning to distract Elisha, then down the aft spiral to the gun deck, wlked over to the hatchway, and descended the stairladder to the general cheers of teh Marines, waving their soiled whites like flags.

All right! everybody, pile yer whites! Ladies on this table, men on that one! HE looked around, saw neither Madame or Nadya, but before he could forebear to siturb them, the Leiutenant sent Tolchoc to fetch their whites."Leiutenant?"
"Yes sir?"
"You ever meet up with any female, military or not, who'd let one of the men crewfolk handle her skivvies?"
"Well, that is, um..."
"Go and fetch 'im back, man! BUT!" The Leiutenant stopped
"Sir?"
"If the damage is aready done, then put 'em in this wicker here, and apologize profusely."
"Aye, sir."

Dreyfuss shook his head slowly, chuckling with a certain poignant note of despair as the Leiutenant took off at a run.
------------------------------------------------------
Tolchoc had just raised a loose fist and knocked on the door as quietly as he could; he had seen the commodore's look of dismayed surprise -- not that he hadn't already remembered, himself, about the protocol of laundry aboard mixed-gender ships; five years on multitudes of boats and airships and groundpounder posts had left their mark. He breathed a sigh of relief as teh leiutenant came running up, out of breath from running all the way from the enlisted mess. "Sergeant!"
"with all due respect, Leftenant, keep yer voice down," the elder sergeant half-scolded, half whispered to, the young Myers. I just knocked once, very low, so they can't have 'eard me."
"They?"
"Yes, sir. Herself and Leftenant Zarate. NOW," the sergeant rounded on the leiutenant imposingly. "I've been in this miliatry thing longer than you or teh rest o' the lads, sir, beggin the lerftenant's pardon, sir. suffice it ter say, them sorts o' 'liaisons' (he emphasized the word carefully) happens all the time, especially in small crews in tight quarters on small boats. The saint Elmo ain't small, exactly, but she is more're less skeleton-crewed. Don't say this in front o' them, and especially not in front o' teh commodore; he's a long 'istory of nigh killin' a man for slightin' any woman(though I persnally don't see it as a slight)-- but its no mystery what both of 'em are or were, the Lady Arachne and Leftenant Zarate," he lowered his voice a little more, "so it be no wonder they've banded tergither, as it were,Sir."
"
I see, sergeant. Thank you for your insight and timely advice," Myers said seriously and thankfully, "and your discrete action. The two headed back to the galley to help with Laundry Call...

[Duellist]

Leyton looked up briefly at the sound, but returned quickly to his book.  He still could not explain why he would read the works of Mr Dickens, but quite often found himself doing so.  The gentleman was quite disagreeable with his constant exaggerations and plots more reminiscent of a penny-dreadful than literature, yet Leyton found himself shunning even Shakespeare for the 'novelist' from Portsmouth.

A sound of military boots came to disturb him, stopping altogether too close to his door, which forced him to put down his book and call out to the unseen irritation.

"I have no need of communal laundry at this time," he shouted, quietly adding, "nor hopefully ever."

[Nigel Wetherby]

Sigmund pondered the idea for a good three seconds before scooping up a pile of the black powder that had once been a writhing tendril and placing it within a humble teacup.
"It's not precisely a sterile test beaker, but I suppose you could make out which bits were once me and which bits are tea."
When Helena asked him to clear out Emma's room, he decided it would be a good idea. He placed the teacup on his desk and followed Helena to Emma's room.
The captain's room was a terrifying jungle of papers, bits of various half-constructed mechanics, and a box of stale chocolate biscuits. Sigmund had to take this mess in for a moment.
"Well...it's not that bad."
A brown blob of what had once been a tomato rolled from atop Emma's dresser and hit the ground with a sickening squelch.
Sigmund had faced terrible enemies, monsterous constructs, and the visage of his own queen, and yet this madness of eclectic filth caused his entire body to run cold.

"Of course we can. With Miss Emma's D-hopper, it's all a matter of when Miss Emma wishes to return." Cain couldn't help but recall the image that Angel had drawn, perhaps this was the world Angel fantasized of. A world where kittys flew and buildings talked back. Bright flowers lined the streets and the air had a song in it.

[MWBailey]

"Not to worry, Mr. Leyton sir! Wouldn't dream o' botherin' ye! " Private Aubrey said, having fetched the lye soap and bleach from the Officer's country storeroom.

[Stella Gaslight]

Helena looked at Sigmund's disgust and sighed.  "I often feel the same way but she doesn't mean to make such a disgusting mess, she just gets so tangled up in science she forgets the rest of the word exists.  You would not believe how often I have to remind her to eat and sleep and if I am not around she will just keep going until she collapses.   I swear it is more like Emma thinks she is a construct than anything else."  Helena was picking up tools and putting them back in the outlines on labeled pegs.  "Thank you for helping me, I know this is rather gross but it goes a lot quicker with an extra set of hands."

"We should ask when Emma lady is all better."  She looked out at the sprawling lab complex thoughtfully. "I wonder why we can't make the houses as big here."

[Nigel Wetherby]

"Oh, I can understand. My world's Emma is much like that except just alot more malevolent." He scooped up the brown lump that looked as if it had been edible once and placed it in the trash-bin with the flat end of his polearm.
"And instead of making dimension-crossing ships, she makes terrifyingly massive war constructs based off Cordelia's designs."

"Perhaps it's a matter of advancement. The bright ones had to be able to cross dimensions and augment complex machinery into a human brain before they were able to make thinking structures like the temple." Cain pondered the idea as they headed To the sick bay, where Emma lay. Cain greatly hoped her hallucinations were over, as the last time he entered her room, she flung a jar of preserves at him while screaming something about seagulls stealing her feet.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss watched the boiling pots of clothing carefully. The stink of lye soap and bleach filled the air, and the ventilation fans, like most aboard ships that were not originally designed for them, were not moving the soapy steam out very fast. "Private, Dreyfuss asked Morrissey, would you please go and open all the portholes on this deck? But don't do sickbay unless the door's open and Madame Arachne says its alright to come in."

"Right, then, lets cool off teh first batch, lads." Jock turned off teh elements under the relevant pot, and he and Taggart, all patched up now, and able to work, slid a plank throiugh the oversized handles, lifted it off, and poured the soap water into the drain in the floor, which connected to a filtering array, and then fed the cleaned water into the Boiler reservoir. They then cranked teh water pump and filled the pot with cold water, and stirred the contents.

They did this three times, and finally all of the suds disappeared. Then they poured out the last bit of water, and squeezed each article ove rthe drain, and put them into and even larger wicker basket than Dreyfuss', adn handed it off to Myers and Tolchoc, who took it up to teh Maindeck, to hang ity on clotheslines rigged all over that deck, set up so that the breeze could blow freely through the entire laundry from that day.

They did this for the second pot as well, and finally finished the whites laundry.

"Is that all then? " Dreyfuss asked. "Right. lets get the galley cleaned up for supper, then. Darks Laundry Call will be day after tomorrow.

What's the dish for tonite, Jock?

[MWBailey]

Thinking back to Trip adn his stunt with the coat, Dreyfuss decided that he would work on that flying thing that he tried back at St. Petersburgh; a little more, a little higher, a little farther everyday, and he should be able to become relatively proficient in a couple of weeks, he reasoned... Well, maybe a month, say...

[Stella Gaslight]

"I wonder where she got that copy of Angel.  That girl is far too sweet to have that monster for a mother. It is so strange that we can know the same person yet have them be so different. My Emma refuses most lethal weapon assignments in favor of prevention and non lethal weaponry.  Do you know she managed to adapt the heat cannon technology for heating food?  She says when we have the bugs worked out it should be a revelation in cooking."  With his help the work seemed effortless and Helena enjoyed her self very much.

No shouting that was good and she didn't seem to be getting ready to throw anything so he crept closer.  Emma opened her eyes and blinked up at him.   "Cain, where are my glasses? Everything is all fuzzy and I ache all over." 

[Nigel Wetherby]

"You know what I find odd?" Sigmund pondered, scrubbing a layer of sticky brown goop on the walls that sigmund preferred not to speculate over.
"The fact that i've been to two different realities, and I've never found an alternate me." He pondered as he scrubbed.
"Maybe I'm just one of a kind." He preferred to think of that instead of the other idea that he was some universal fluke.

Cain couldnt help but pity this weakened Emma. He handed her the round, wire-framed glasses as if he were handing King arthur his crown, or Ceaser his laurels.

[Stella Gaslight]

"Well you certanly are unique.  I suppose we can both be thankful that our doubles have not turned out to be people like that other Emma but I must admit I can't help but wonder how everyone will change from world to world."  Helena was putting fresh sheets on the bed and clearing out the random debris that had accumulated under the bed.

"Thank you." Emma looked around and noticed that his was not the room she remembered.  "So I take it we made it back all right." 

"Yup and the kitty people gave us stuff to make you all better." Angel said peeking over Cain's shoulder.

"I had a good sleep but now I should get up and check on the drive."  And Emma tried to do just that but ended up falling over instead. 

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss and his crew (well, the male contingent, at any rate)let Jock fix the eveniong meal (It was his turn). Next on the roster was Dreyfuss, unless somebody complained tonight, which meant that the complainer wiould have to cook for the next three days. Dreyfuss worried what wou dhappwn ikf Nadya and Madame joined them, and one of them complained, noty knowing about the complaining cook rule.He had decided to go and see if they would be coming for dinner, adn warn them, but his crew had other ideas. Jock had fixed his special lemon cream pie, which they all knew Dreyfuss had developed a taste for, and while he was enjoying a slice, Ishmael crept up to Dreyfuss' room and took down his banjo, and brought it down to the mess, while Lt. Myers rosined his bow and  Sgt Tolchoc tuned his guitar.

Dreyfuss had just finished his pie when Ishmael came in across the egineering bridge ove rthe driveshaft to the port fan housing, holding his C.O.'s banjo over his head, amid cheers and loud clapping, and Dreyfuss turned to see Ishmael and his face split into a wide grin.

"Well, now, boys, whats teh occasion?" he asked.
"That we all be back taegether agin, sar! Tolchoc said, "minus that blightin' capn and his stickinnamud farst mate, its the whole bleedin crew o' the One-Eyed Jill!"
"well, so it is," Dreyfuss said. Thge One-Eyed Jill was not a real ship; she was the band that Dreyfuss had been a part of back in the academy; they had played nearly every cotillion and ball the Maraudders held from late 1846 to 1850, which wa steh year Dreyfuss left to be a Lt. J.G. on an air frigate over Matagorda Bay.

Dreyfuss tuned up his banjo and called for requests. the first one was Greasy Coat, which the trio launched into with perhaps more gusto than polish...
"I don't drink nor eat that smoke,
An' I don't wear no greasy ol' coat..."

The raucously-melodious sound of the trio echoed all around the dock, since all of the portholes were open, letting the smell of lye soap and bleach boiled together out of teh ship, adn woke emma up even as Cain and Angel tucked her in lovingly with a sheet.

For his part, Dreyfuss wondered why Madame and Nadya didnt at least come out and complain about the noise, as they moved on and started Johnson Boys...
Tell me, Have you heard teh Story
Tellin' about ol' Youngman's Joy,
All about the many deeds of daring
that were don eby the Johnson Boys
Hop up Pretty girl, don't be 'fraid, Hop up Pretty girl, don't be 'fraid,...

Then they played a medley of Jine the Cavalry, Apple Blossom, and The Forty-Two, and began to climb the stairs to teh Maindeck to serenade the dock, and Dreyfuss looked back, and there was Nadya and Madame following behind, and they seemed to be dancing, or trying to...

[Nigel Wetherby]

"You know, no matter how much we change as we go from world to world, I hope I never change into something that would want to hurt you." He blushed upon the realization of his words as his grip tightened on the handle of the scrub brush.
"Er..or anyone else aboard the ship."

"you need your rest." Cain insisted. "Elisha will Pilot the ship, you just relax." He tucked Emma in, wrapping her in the embrace of her bed's soft sheets.

[Stella Gaslight]

"I wouldn't want to hurt you either." Helena blushed a deep red at what she was going to do next but ever since she heard him sing she knew she just had to give it a try. She took his hand and turned him to face her then she kissed him once on the cheek.  "I like you too."

"But there is so much work to do." Emma protested.

"Hush, it is time for bed now."  Angel started to hum and Emma found herself too tired to do much more than listen.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss waved them all to silence; "People, we really ought to do one to lull miss ella to sleep. I call South Calloway Waltz, and a dance with a certain J.G." He handed his banjo to Pvt. Aubrey , whom he remembered the Lt. as saying was a dab hand with one, told Myers, "no, myers, I'm sorry, it isn't you," and went and bowed to Miss Nadya as the first notes began to drift across the deck. Nadya, apparently charmed, curtsied in return, and he asked her," buenas tardes, senorita Nadya, may I have the honor of this dance? Nadya's eyes seemed to shine with laughter, and she said, "of course Senor Comodoro Dreyfuss," and she slipped into his arms for the dance so smoothly and danced so well, that for Dreyfuss it was like a beautiful dream, the lovely face of Miss Nadya, not angry with him and enjoying his company. He hoped she was enjoying the dance as much as was he.

Then, when the dance ended, she shocked him and several others by planting a very quick kiss on his lips, the rapport occurring again with a crackling of white fire. He grabbed the opportunity, and sent across the sudden link all of his affection for her, and trust of her. It felt as though she had sent the same of hers to him. HE hoped it was true, and as she left with Madame, he looked at her and saw her smile as well, and realized she did not feel any animosity toward him, amazingly enough. He fervently hoped it was true.

[Nigel Wetherby]

Sigmund's cool cheek immediately warmed up to the touch of her lips, causing his body to practically liquify. At the moment, the young man had become little else but a figurative quivvering mass.
After a minute or so, he re-solidified and inherited a smile that one could not remove from him without the aid of the death of a major relative or a terminal illness. All this occured while he held tightly to her hand.
"Er...sorry...It's just...i've never had that happen before!"

Cain couldnt help but imagine all the times Angel had put sweets to bed. Angel certainly had a talent with putting unwilling entity's into a peaceful sleep. He only hoped such a thing was possible with Miss Emma.

[Stella Gaslight]

Helena smiled so wide she thought her face would split.  "I haven't either but I would like it if it did more often." The room was finally spotless and she felt a bit giddy.

"Well maybe I will just close my eyes for a little bit."  Angel just nodded and puttered around the room humming.  "but then I want to give the d hopper a looking over and set the new coordinates.  Gotta save George..."  Emma drifted off mumbling and Angel led Cain out in to the hall.

"I am hungry Cain. I want dinner."  Something smelled very nice out side.  "I want to eat whatever is making that smell."

Cain sniffed the air but all he could smell was soap.  "I think you are smelling laundry."

"Oh." Angel looked disappointed.

[Genevieve Ozuna]

Nadya never turned down the opportunity to dance. Having done so since the time she could walk, dance of all kinds was her forte. The motion was intoxicating, far more deadly to her than any hard liquor, and before long, she was weaving throughout the crew, dancing and laughing, losing herself. This trait of hers was what had once drawn the attention of Madame Hyacinth. Her carefree whimsy, the way she allowed herself to enter another world when she danced, letting her inhibitions fall away while she played and enjoyed herself— was incredibly alluring. Any night that Nadya danced, Madame Hyacinth was sure to rake in a fortune.

Her dance with the crew was no different. Exchanging partners amongst those who were not playing instruments— and occasionally even with those who were— Nadya made her way around the room and finally back to Madame Arachne. The tempo of the music shifted to a heavier beat and Nadya improvised her own gypsy belly dance, emphasized by the gauzy blouse resting on her shoulders, and the light skirt she had changed in to for easy of movement on the ship. As the pace changed the a different song, Nadya finished her dance with a flourish and sealed it with a kiss upon Arachne's supple lips. She then grabbed the woman's hands and drew her out to dance, it was then that she spotted Dreyfuss, exactly when he noticed her.

She flashed a dazzling smile and twirled about, reveling in the music, and easily accepted his offer to dance. The more reserved form was just as intoxicating as the others, and the smooth turns soon had her dizzy and giggling. The music came to a close and she heard Arachne calling for her so they could return to their chambers, and she gave Drey a last minute kiss with abandon. When she left, she turned one last time to wave and smile, and while the men cheered, Drey smiled back.

Her head still giddy, she allowed Arachne to lead her back to her chambers, and once there pulled the older woman within. She flopped down on her bed and giggled madly some more, then rolled over on to her stomach to watch the cyborg, who was still standing by the door. Nadya beckoned her closer, and said simply, "Tell me a secret, and I'll tell you one."

[Nigel Wetherby]

Sigmund kissed her cheek in reply, showing her his affection in return, His lips were cool but sweet, reminding Helena of fruit sorbet, sending chills down her spine.
"Heh, you're right. That is fun!"

Cain wrapped his arms around Angel, kissing her cheek to cheer her up.
"Well don't worry, I bet we could cook it! You and I are good at cooking I suppose." He smirked confidently. "We can handle something as simple as meat! It can't be harder than pancakes!"

"Well..." Madame Arachne placed a finger on her cherry lips. "How about I give you two, and you give me two in exchange? I always love receiving extra information. My first name is Hyacinth, and I have never entirely been interested in men. My persuasion usually leans towards women, specifically spirited, beautiful women with plenty of strength beneath that beauty."

[Stella Gaslight]

The galley was set up very much the same way Angel remembered it.  Cain took a package from the cold storage unit and read the words written on it out loud. "It says it is sausage."

"That is the meat stuff we have at breakfast sometimes right."  Cain nodded.  "Let's eat that, we can make sandwiches."  Angel smiled she loved sausage sandwiches.  "Emma lady used the big black pan on the stove thing and the metal flippy thing."

Cain gathered up the pan and turner while Angel opened the package and stared at the rather large hunk of meat.  "It is pink Cain and too big for the pan what do we do?"

[T.Taylor the Third]

Trip snuck into the room emma was, as far as he knew he wasnt suppost to be there.

"hey em , how you felling?" he aske the still awake emma.

"Oh, trip im all achey and hungry, and i had an idea for a aetheric apple peeler."

"really? id like one of those, nothing so good as a fresh granny smith. hehe.....OH, yoou missed me flying! it was so awesome you have to come and try it some time!"

 

[MWBailey]

In the shadows of the close that connected Tinker's Row with the street, Two Scientific Instruments reps walked home for the day from their research office in the Dock. their conversation would have been interesting to certain parties if overheard.

"Hey, Chalky, y'know what I read in teh Times 'is Mornin?"
"wossat, Andy, yer wife is th' social Diva of all London?
"Har, you rogue, you. Nay, Dreyf's woulda-been duchess's duke done kicked der bucket, and she said tae th' reparters it were all for queen an' country, that she's comin' 'ome to London to win back a sartin hero o'th'realm!"
"sounds Loik Dreyf'd better drop that off worlder lassie then, maybe let 'er go to bein just his JG special."
"Aye. Did y' know she's as much a dab 'and with a sword as dreyfie?"
"mind yer tongue, or he'll 'ear you callin' 'im that. You're NOT a dab hand, as I recall!
"aye, well, we're not even in th' close now, no way he kin 'ear us out 'ere.
"ye don' know tha'! I hear he's got der white flame all figgered out nowe..."

As the voices fade into the distance, a darkly-clothed figure in  dark leather and black woolens steps quickly around the pools of light on the streetside, adn into the close. pausing a moment to loosen a set of throwing daggers, the figure speaks in a higher-timbered voice than one would have expected: "Hmf! 'offworlder lassie?' Looks like the letter was entirely too effective. I hope he hasn't set his heart completely... the figure chuckles and slips into the dock completely unseen; as it passes under the commissary window, light reflected off teh hull of the Boheme, further down the dock, reveals the face of teh skulker, or what parts of that face is not obscured by a scarf and goggles. it is obvious by its complection and perfection that it is the face of a highborn Lady, if one looks closely.

Slipping up to the stern of the Boheme, the Intrepid Lady climbs the ship from the dock, shinnying up the corner of the sternlike a monkey, stopping just shy of a window, more of a porthole, that looks in upon what appears to be a bedroom cabin. In that cabin two women can be seen; one young and lithe , supple as a cat, laying stomach-down on the bed. the other, Older, but no less beautiful. "Tell me a secret, and I'll tell you one," the one on the bed says to the older woman. "How about I give you two, and you give me two in exchange?" the elder one says, laying a finger on her lips.

The Lady barely stops a chortle, and it comes out as an odd, throat-clearing "hmp!" no louder than a squirrel on a slate roof. Teh two in the cabin do not notice, so lost in one another are they. Still, she suddenly climbs onward, up the side and out onto the envelope, hanging upside down now, with the aid of iron claws on her wrists. She knows where Dreyfuss is, and she goes there, adn climbs the reverse of theway she climbed up, slipping down to his open prthole, soundlessly, and in through it, into his cabin, where he sits with his back to the porthole, and her, mending a rip in an old vest.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss gave no sign that he had heard the intruder; in fact, he seemed so completely oblivious to the fact that she was there that she could just reach out and tap him on the --

"Hello, Mariana love."
"dammit, Jaisen! can't you at least pretend?!
Dreyfuss laughed. "do you really want me to let you win?
"no, I suppose not. I know all of it, Jaisen. She's not devoted to you; Iam."
"Really? You seemed to be nearly as sure you despised me in that letter."
"Oh stop it, you rogue, surely you saw how utterly false it was. I never use language like that, I'd laugh myself to death before I uttered three words!
He looked up at her with love in his eyes. "That would be a pity, because I'd be all alone for real,then."
"what about your little kitten?"
"oh, you've seen the adorable miss Nadya, then. I do hold great affection for her, Mari, I was not enbtirely sure you were only working, and she was there to comfort me when I was extremely stupid; you know she world-walks?"
"Iknow all about the incident you speak of."
"We were chaste the whole time, dammit, and it was hell keeping myself babbling so I couldnt make a move. I believe she thinks I'm a --"
"Ninny?"
"well, hell, Mari, if you know that much then you know we were fully clothed."
"I also know she kissed you a while ago... No, I'm not goingto do this anymore! Dammit, Jaisen, take me back! I Love only you! I-I want to marry you. Please, Jaisen, I'm so sorr--"
Sshhh, sshhh. It's alright, Mari, our separation did last but while that blasted duke lived." I accept you, Mariana Grounde-mizste, as my wife and my Fiancee. May I kiss the Bride?
"You'd better, adn that was a horrible takeoff on Shakesp--mmf! mmm..."
" I both love it and hate it when you do that, you wonderful, horrible man."

The sound of a brazen klaxon blew their making-up completely out of the water (or the air, as the case might have been), the seemingly never-ending cacophony soon punctuated by the sounds of running feet and very-ticked-off marines pounding up the spiral stairway, accompnied by the *POP* of someone dislocating somewhere very close by. Mariana turned for the porthole, but Dreyfuss gently pulled her back.
I'll be damned if I'll let anybody kill you, love, stay with me. Why not go with us on a mission or three, they're a hell of a ride!"

Together they walked to the door of the cabin, and opened it.
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The Hallway outside Forecastle Cabin #1 was like a tableaux designed to imitate the painting known as Bunker Hill -- which was ironic, considering it was composed of a large number of British and Texian citizens.

Suddenly the doorknob of the door rattled as someone unlocked it from inside.

Right! Hold your fire," Ishmael said urgently, but quietly, "we don't want to kill the Commodore!"

The door opened. Framed by it stood Jaisen Santiago Dreyfuss, his left arm around the waist of a very beautiful and supple-limbed red-haired woman of the same height and apparently the same age as himself, Dressed in the snug leathers and dark woolens of an acrobatic assassin, who had her right arm around his Dreyfuss' waist, and held a particularly-wicked-looking blunderbuss pistol in her left hand like she knew its use and had applied such many times. Jock, Ishmael, and Arachne all relaxed; Ishmael gave the "Stand Down"  command. The marines looked confused, Nadya looked

 I realize this must seem very cruel to you...Nadya, isn't it? but it was necessary in order for me to complete my mission in Germany, and to protect my fiancee from assassins who woul duse him to get to me. My fiancee says that he loves you, Nadya, and I can see why; You are a very beautiful young woman, and, I hear, a very loyal and conscientious officer-- and you strike me as probably a very stanch friend. You have my gratitude, in any case, for keeping my daredevil fiancee alive."

Dreyfuss said, "Madame, The need for a ship's surgeon is real, you're still needed.  I am sure that both you and your new found love have found a place here, among our merry crew. I will, of course, understand -- reluctantly --if you do not wish to stay on."

"Nadyalita, please, don't hate me too much. I ask you to please stay, if you will, but  I won't hold you back if you wish to leave. I never meant to hurt you on purpose, and I apologize for having to do so. believe me, it was unwillingly." He tried not to let the tears show, knowing they woud seem false. They weren't, but that didn't change anything.