RPlog:Playing for Time

Cargo Area -- Darklighter

This area serves as Cargo Area and makeshift passenger lounge of the Darklighter. Several acceleration couches are built into the walls, along with a number of equipment lockers. The Darklighter was designed for many purposes, including use as an Assault Transport, a Troop Carrier, Cargo Hauler, and Diplomatic Shuttle. This room is a testimony to the versatility of the Lambda Class Shuttle in all of these areas.

-=-=-=-=-=-=<>=-=-=-=-=-=- => Cargo Computer: Excalibur

Paul can be seen pacing back and forth in the cargo hold, his expression grim. He looks at his chrono and growls unpleasantly, and then continues to pace. The cargo hold is not big enough for decent pacing, and his long strides eat up the floor in seconds, so he is constantly spinning around to head back in the opposite direction.

Eventually, the shuttle's hatch hisses open, and a breathless Shenner hastens into the craft, after glancing over her shoulder one last time to ensure that she wasn't followed. She pauses there for a moment, regaining her wind, before turning towards the interior of the shuttle.

Paul stops his pacing about three steps after Shenner enters, due partially to her presence and partially to the fact that he has run out of room again. His face lightens noticeably and he walks over to her in two quick strides. "Any trouble? Anyone follow you?" he asks her in a soft and concerned murmur.

"Nah, don't think so," she tells you, grinning lopsidedly, at least in response to your last question. "Sorry it took so long, I kinda hadda scout for Luke and the others, and once I found 'em, hadda figure out how to get their attention without _lookin'_ like I was gonna get their attention, see? Got your message to Luke, though...!"

Paul's expression eases even further, and despite her words he finds his eyes scanning over her to make sure that she is alright. He sits down heavily and pats the spot next to him. "Just so long that you're back safe," he murmurs. "Good work," he adds in a lighter stronger voice. "So what happened, what did Luke have to say?"

Perhaps unconsciously, Shenner's face brightens in a wide grin as you praise her. She plops down beside you and reports, "Well, he's glad we're keepin' low, but he's worried..." Her eyes darken, then, the grin slipping away. "He says he found out Grath's with some kinda group called the V'ez-tcha and he's startin' to think he might even have General Solo." This, for some reason, visibly annoys the girl. "He wants to talk to us here. He says he can get in here without nobody seein' him."

Paul nods as he assimilates the information curiously, but doesn't seem overly alarmed personally. "V'ez-tcha, huh? Well that was unexpected," he murmurs under his breath. "Alright, I assume that means before I go to see Grathix, huh?"

Shenner blows out a sigh. "Yeah, I guess -- especially if he thinks Grath's got Solo." The girl scowls, crooking up one leg and folding her arms over it. "He better _not_ have Solo."

Paul stares at the kid curiously. "I know that Solo is a big hero and all, and a good friend of Luke, but do you have some kind of personal stake in this?" He seems puzzled at her vehemence.

Shenner shrugs, not looking at you, and mutters, "Grath said he didn't want Solo for nothin' bad, but seems like stealin' a man ain't exactly friendly."

Paul shrugs and nods. "Yeah, well it certainly isn't very good manners." He frowns then. "Course it doesn't change anything, I hope Luke is aware of that."

Shenner looks over at you. "But if Grath can't be trusted..."

Paul stares at the bulkhead idly. "Doesn't matter ... in fact, then it's all the more important that I somehow win his trust and find the artifacts ... because if he can't be trusted, then these artifacts cannot fall into his possession." He frowns then, considering the possibilities, none of which look too pretty.

Shenner scowls again, then sighs. "So, well. Whaddya want me to do?"

Paul doesn't respond right away, lost in his own thoughts. After a moment he turns back to Shenner and blinks distractedly. "Do? Well I guess we don't do anything until Luke shows up .... after that, well, it depends. If it looks like things are going to be dicey, then I'll go talk to Grathix and see what I can learn ... " He then considers Shen with a thoughtful and serious gaze and adds, "and you should probably stick with Luke or something."

"What?!" Shenner straightens, dismayed. "Why?"

Paul frowns and replies earnestly, "Look, if Grathix isn't to be trusted, and I'm going to Mandalore to boot, well, this could get really dangerous," he notes somberly. "I can't endanger you like that," he adds firmly.

Her eyebrows drawing together, Shenner demands, "What, you think I can't handle myself in danger or somethin'?"

Shenner thrusts a finger out, pointing out the shuttle's now-closed hatchway. "I lived _out there_ for a whole karkin' year, pal," she goes on, voice hardening. "Don't you gimme no mookla dung line about just sittin' and hidin' when somebody I l... a friend o' mine might be doin' somethin' dangerous, okay?"

Paul opens his mouth and then shuts it. He shakes his head and turns to face Shenner directly. "That isn't what I'm saying at all, I'm saying that I have no right to put you in harms way ... I don't want to be responsible for endangering you Shen. What if something bad were to happen? Shen, I already failed you once, I can't do that again," he stresses.

"I'd say we're both responsible," Shen tells you, her face falling a little as though she's not taking the idea of being separated from you again very well but trying not to show it. Her voice relaxes a little, but this only serves to make her sound a trifle plaintive as she continues, "You asked me what I wanted to do... and I said I wanted to come with you." Her annoyed expression wavers a bit more and she finishes, "I still wanna come with you."

Struck by her words, Paul sits still for a moment, considering them carefully before asking her a serious question. "Why would you walk willingly into danger with me?"

Shenner swallows a little, but meets your gaze steadily enough. Looking as though she can't decide whether to look casual or serious -- and winding up looking simply straightforwardly earnest -- the girl answers, "You're my friend..."

Paul smiles gently at that, his eyes still curious though. "And being your friend as well, how can I let you come with me?" he asks softly.

"W-well, if it's gonna be dangerous, you need somebody you can trust, right?" Shenner argues, though all at once she seems to be having a bit of trouble looking directly at you. "I can guard your back, and I-I know I ain't exactly schooled or nothin', but I can help out, I know I can, I pick up stuff _real_ fast!"

Her words rush through Paul and the more she talks, the larger his smile grows. "Well then," he murmurs softly, "if you're going to be my assistant, then I guess I better train you, huh?" He places a hand on Shen's shoulder, looking at her closely. "I am really honored that you want to come ... worried, but honored," he adds softly.

Shenner manages to meet your gaze again, and her expression begins to blossom with happiness. "Your _assistant_?" she echoes, sounding amazed.

Paul nods, his smile growing into a grin at her expression. "Well, yeah, I mean if you're going to come along we need both a good reason and cover story ... and to make it stick, well you'll have to learn a few things I'm afraid. Do you like the title of assistant? I think it sounds better than lackey myself, but feel free to pick a title of your own." His voice contains a hint of laughter in it, and his eyes sparkle with humor at the same time as being shadowed with concern.

Shenner bursts into unsteady laughter. "Lackey? Well, uh, nah, 'assistant' is fine...!" Her eyes shine at you, though, as she demands eagerly, "What do I need to know?"

Paul chuckles at her amusement. "Well, I should teach you some basic survival techniques for being in different environments ... some first aid would be wise, and then I guess we can talk about different cultures and some of the basics of archaeology." He chuckles again. "Actually, that will be quite a lot."

Shenner promises again, "I pick up stuff real fast!" She turns slightly towards you, face brightening, hopeful, as though she wants you to start her instruction this very instant.

"I know you do, you are a most apt pupil," Paul notes fondly. Rising up from the bench, Paul wanders over to his stuff and rummages through it till he brings out two things, a medical kit and his datapad. He comes back over with these things and sits himself back down next to Shenner. "Okay, well since I'm concerned for our physical well being, let's make sure we can handle ourselves in a medical emergency. He flips open the datapad and calls up information on Mandalore.

Shenner sits up a bit, watching with bright-eyed interest, though she might possibly be noticed to be spending as much of her attention on your motions as she does the datapad you've retrieved. "You mean other 'n' if somebody shoots us?"

Paul grimaces slightly at the idea of being shot. "Well, we'll try to cover a bit of everything, including getting shot and stabbed and all of those gruesome things, but first, let's look at a few of the basics." Pointing to the datapad he replies, "Now where we are going on Mandalore is a rather hot jungle area ... not like Tatooine where it is hot and dry, but hot and very steamy and moist. This makes for a number of problems. First of all, keeping your water levels high will be crucial ... you don't want to dehydrate while you're there. You also need to stay relatively cool, as you won't be able to cool off quite as readily due to the humidity."

Shenner considers all this, listening with intently furrowed brow, and she asks you, "So this means, what, we gotta drink a lotta water? And wear... light clothes?" She peers down at herself. "This do?"

Paul_Nighman looks at you for a moment.

Paul considers the girl's clothes carefully. "White is good for keeping cool, but you might want to get something green, to blend in better with the foliage. I would lose the tunic, or at least get a light weight one, and you definitely will not want to wear the jacket - too hot and it will catch on things. You don't want a lot of loose clothing." He hmmms at her breeches and nods and then reaches down and takes one of her feet in his hands to peer at the boot more closely, inspecting the tread.

Shenner blinks at this unexpected inspection of her clothing, but doesn't protest it. Her boots, old but serviceable, can be seen to have scuffed soles, but with a lot of good tread still left to them.

Paul releases her foot and nods. "Yeah, your boots will do just fine for the most part." He then straightens and looks her in the eye. "Okay, not sure if I'm going to be too terribly clear, never taught anyone first aid before. In terms of the water, you want to drink as much as you can, but don't drink any water on the planet unless you're sure it's from a pure source or you can purify it ... cause every planet as a whole new set of germs that are just waiting to get their hands on you," he warns. "If you're thirsty, chances are you're already dehydrating." He opens up the med kit and stares at it for a second.

"Oh," mutters Shenner at the concept of germs. Her brow crinkles again, but she nods attentively, her eyes flicking between you and the med kit; for a moment or two her gaze sweeps across its contents, but it then returns to you. The girl seems utterly absorbed in what you're relaying to her, taking in the gestures of your hands, your expressions, your tone of voice.

"Okay, well where to begin. I guess you can understand the basics of patching someone up - if there is bleeding you want to staunch it and bandage it, making sure that it is cleaned out first and protected with an antibiotic to help prevent infection." He pulls out a few objects from the medkit. "Now, I carry this kit at all times and you're welcome to use it. However, you may find that it doesn't contain what you need, or enough of what you need, so you may find that you need to be creative. For instance, when Jessalyn's arms were badly cut in that barroom brawl, I took my shirt and ripped it into strips to bind her arms so she wouldn't lose too much blood, since there weren't any bandages or gauze readily available." His hands move in small gestures as he speaks, pointing at the box, touching on different objects as he mentions them, and mimicking a ripping gesture when he talks about the bandages. His expressions are facile, changing as he thinks of how to best express himself.

Shenner's gaze flicks involuntarily to the shirt you're wearing now as you speak of the brawl, and with an effort, she yanks her gaze away from your collarbone. Your face is only slightly less safe to look at, and finally, she settles on your hands, as they're actually helping to direct her attention to the objects and substances in the kit about which she needs to learn. "Got it, I can do that," she mutters lowly.

Paul nods and reaches into the kit again, pulling out a tube. "This is bacitracin, smear liberally on anything that you think might potentially get infected, and chances are it won't." He smiles at that. "Now, in case of serious injuries, the first thing that you need to watch out for is shock. When someone falls into shock, it's their bodies way of shutting off all but the most essential life processes, but it can have disastrous results. When I got stabbed, you might recall that I started to fall into shock. The symptoms of shock are pretty easy to recognize ... their pupils will dilate or they will be of different sizes, they will feel cold and clammy to the touch, they may suffer from dizziness, possibly nausea, and their pulse will be weak and thready." He then thinks of something and asks, "Ah, do you know how to check someone's pulse?"

The girl stifles a wince at the memory of your being wounded, and she says a bit gruffly, "I remember... you kept actin' like it was cold, and you wanted me to keep you awake. That was shock?" At your final question, though, she shakes her head.

Paul shakes his head. "Well yes, I was going into shock, but I wasn't actually being very clear. Keeping me awake wasn't really all that necessary ... although is probably advisable, just so you can keep tabs on how the person is feeling. The time you really want to keep someone awake is if they are suffering from any kind of major head trauma. Head wounds or blows will not necessarily show signs of shock, but you will get the same pupil dilation or difference in sizes. The problem with head wounds is sometimes if the patient falls asleep, they will slip into a coma, and without a medical facility nearby, that's bad."

Shenner purses her lips and nods gravely, leaning against the wall behind her, listening.

Paul thinks for a moment and then reminds himself, "Right, pulse points." He leans forward, bringing himself a little closer to Shen. "Now there are several pulse points that you can check, but the two easiest to reach are the wrist and the neck. The first thing you never want to do is try to find someone's pulse with your thumb, because your thumb as a pulse that might confuse you." He reaches out and taking on of her hands in his, he arranges her finger so that they lie across the pulse point on his wrist. "Now press here and you should be able to feel my pulse ... can you feel it?"

Shenner's expression remains carefully studious as you set her slender fingers into place. You can feel her press, not hard, though definitely firmly; after a moment, she bobs her head at you. "Yeah. A little beat there. Slow."

Paul nods. "Good. Now sometimes you'll find that hard to find, or if the pulse is very weak, you might not feel anything. In that case, the easiest and most direct way to find the pulse is at the neck," and taking her hand again, he presses two of her fingers against his neck, "right here. Personally, I never can find the wrist pulse easily, so I always just go for the neck ... although there is also a point on the ankle as well." He waits for her to confirm that she feels his pulse before he releases her hand.

With her eyes drawn back towards Paul as he moves her hand again, Shenner swallows again, then nods in plaintive earnestness. "Got it," she affirms.

Paul nods again. "Now, if someone is seriously injured you don't necessarily want to move them right away unless you know what has happened to them. If the individual is conscious, find out what is hurt that they know about. If they are unconscious, the best thing to do it to keep them warn, check for obvious injuries, but move them as little as possible in case their is any kind of spinal or neck injury. The old rule is, if the face is red, lift the head, if the face is pale, lift the tail." He smiles a bit at that childish mnemonic device. "It sounds silly, but it's true. Now, for really serious injuries, if blood is gushing out of the body at a furious rate, then chances are a major artery was hit, which is bad. This, " he notes, lifting out a tool, "is a compressor, and when you apply it to the wound point, it will compress the specific artery that has been damaged. However, should you not have one of these, what you'll need to do is apply a tourniquet to stop the bleeding and the tourniquet points are up at the top of the arm and where the leg joins the torso. Any other bleeding, the best you can do is apply pressure and lots of it. If it is a very bad bleeder, you may find that torching it closed is your best option ... essentially get a piece of metal, heat it till it's red hot, and then sear the wound closed. It will hurt like hell, but it may save the persons life."

Shenner's hands flit quickly down to her lap as you go on. The kid's momentarily troubled expression settles back into studious attentiveness, and she fastens her regard on your hands again, nodding at the indicated compressor.

He pulls out another tool and waves it in front of you. "This is an extractor, and it has settings here for object size .... so it can extract objects as large as small projectile devices like darts, bullets, small spearheads ... but it can also remove thorns and splinters. At it's lowest setting it removes chemical anomalies like poisons. You place it at the point of entry and just turn it on ... it will keep drawing until it no longer finds any trace of the foreign substance." He places it back into the kit. "If you don't have it, removing objects can be tricky and dangerous, and I think I'll leave that for another time ... suffice it to say that if the object is large enough, sometimes it is better to leave it in ... if you remove some projectile weapons, you actually open the wound up deeper and remove the major clotting agent in the wound, which is the weapon itself. With poisons, the most you can usually do is to cut at the entry point immediately and suck out the poison and spit it out, repeatedly. However, never do this if you have any cuts or sores in your mouth, or you'll just poison yourself in the process." Paul leans back with a sigh, thinking. "Well, there's more but lets pause. Do you have any questions? Is there something that I didn't talk about that you want to know about?"

Shenner grins crookedly. "I, uh, think I got it all so far... ain't got no questions, no."

Paul gives her a wry smile. "Okay, good. I'm sure that I'm going to forget something, but I think I've touched on the main basics ... lemme know if you think of anything else though ... hmmmm, should talk about broken bones at some point ... and more on head trauma's." He casts his gaze to the ceiling as he runs through different types of injuries in his mind.

The girl slides you a sidelong glance, and it stays on you as you look towards the roof of the shuttle. Her gaze softens a little, brightens, and at least in that moment, it might seem as if waiting for you to continue is the most important thing in her personal universe. "How come more about head stuff?" she pipes up.

Paul's head drops to catch Shenner's gaze again. "Huh? Oh, well because head injuries can be serious. First of all they bleed like crazy, so they can be distressing, just because they look so bad. In addition, if the person has a concussion, they can go into shock or even into a coma, and you might not even notice ... that's why you want to keep them awake. The symptoms for a concussion are similar to shock, but are more likely to be the dilated pupils, dizziness, and severe nausea. If the injury is very serious, they might suffer from a fractured skull ... but there's not a whole lot you can do in that case." As he talks, his gaze becomes more and more unfocused, as his mind works through the various permutations, but then abruptly focuses on Shen again. "In fact, the most important thing you have to remember about any injury is not to panic. Most fatalities and injuries are due to the victim or the person delivering the first aid panicking. You'll make hasty decisions and mistakes if you panic. You need to remember to work quickly, but to work smart and remain calm at all times. I hope you don't have to figure this out, but if you do, I think you'll be surprised at how calm you'll be in an emergency ... and then you'll panic after it's over."

Shenner half-smiles. "I think I already know what that's like," she murmurs, glancing off for a moment, away from you.

Stretching out for a moment, Paul nods. "Yeah, I figured you might." He stands up and stretches again, the confines of the small ship beginning to wear on him. He idly starts to pace again, not in the obsessive way that he was before, but as a lion who has tired of his cage and hopes for an opening might - slow and easy, but ready to spring if given the opportunity.

"I ain't borin' yah, am I?" Shen asks after a moment.

Paul stops in surprise looking back at Shen. A funny little smile cracks his lips. "Shen, I don't think that option even exists in the realm of possibilities." He then begins to slowly pace again, but it is keyed down. "No, I just hate waiting when we're this close to getting started ... I mean I want to be on Mandalore -now-, not stuck on this tiny ship waiting for Luke to come and grace us with his presence." Although the words might seem harsh, the tone is merely frustrated, but not angry.

"The ship's soundproofed, ain't it...? Play your guitar...?"

Paul stops again and considers that option. Feeling edgy, he's not sure if he can just sit and play. Still, he realizes that perhaps it would help settle his nerves a bit, and perhaps Shen would like him to play for her. He smiles a little at thought, since he rarely ever played for anyone but himself. He leans over and opens the case and then sits down on the floor of the cargo hold, in front of Shen and begins to tune the guitar, trying to decide what he should play.

Pleased, Shenner sits back again, just smiling a little, and fiddling with one hand at the ocarina pendant she's _still_ wearing. "Jammin' always, uh, settles me down," she offers.

Paul shrugs a little as he finishes his tuning. "I used to play for fun, then for spite, then for solace, then for love, then for pain, and then for skill ... it's been a long time since I've played for pleasure," he murmurs softly, almost to himself. Then, looking up he asks, "Any requests?"

Shenner chuckles softly. "Play me somethin' I don't know," she suggests. "Bet you know a lotta songs I don't..."

Paul cocks his head to one side. "Well, yeah, I know a lot of songs ... what kind of music would you like? I'm afraid I don't know much contemporary music ... most of what I know is classical, a little folk, and my own stuff."

"Uhm... anything I could play this thing to?" Shen holds up the ocarina, half-smiling, shyly.

Paul nods and then thinking for a moment, he picks a lilting folk tune, with a earthy quality to it. The pace is moderate, but the light air of it makes it seem faster than it really is. It is a playful piece, something that sounds like it would be played for a party or a celebration of some kind.

Shenner's eyes begin to brighten again, and after seven or eight measures, she lifts the delicate little shell and begins to pipe through it, simply sticking in short, sweet little notes here and there in the melody.

Paul nods in response to her interspersing notes, and keeps the pattern of the music repeating over and over again, allowing her to test out the little instrument and get a feel for exactly how it works. His hands move flawlessly, easily over the strings, and he begins to tilt from side to side along with the catchy rhythm.

The girl catches on quickly, and after a time, the contribution she's providing to the music grows more confident, more complex. Her face grows steadily more lit from within, and she watches you as she plays, looking for your cues in the tune... and perhaps just watching your hands on the guitar's strings. Her green eyes veritably glow.

Paul watches Shen closely now, as she grows more and more in tune with the little ocarina, making it create complex patterns and sounds. He smiles warmly as once again she somehow manages to pick up an instrument and make it hers in mere minutes. His eyes grow more intense on Shenner's face, taking in her obvious pleasure and feeling a responsive chord deep within himself.

Shenner plays, and as she plays, watches you in return. When her gaze meets yours it stays there, and her face pinkens a little, only adding to that radiance suffusing it as she makes the ocarina pipe and twitter its way through the song. You can see her smile a little around it, as much as she can while sending enough air through the fragile shell for it to make music.

Holding her gaze steadily, Paul begins to draw back on the guitar, letting Shen take the lead and following her instead. Paul's smile lingers on the corner of his lips, and his eyes burn into the young woman's, as he watches and waits for her commands in the subtle nuances of her face.

The ocarina, carrying the melody now, skirrls and chitters almost like a pair of small birds on a sunny spring day.... an incongruous thing for this girl of tempestuous, mercurial moods to be playing, but play it she does. Every so often she draws out notes, making the song change time signatures, but keeping up the fluttering tempo. Only after many minutes of this does she begin to slow, the notes begin to soften, as she seems to decide to draw the music to a breaking point; when she does, it's to lower the ocarina and explain, gaze still bright and lingering on your face as she does, "Don't wanna cramp my fingers..."

Paul follows her along on her twists and turns and then gently lets the guitar fade out as she draws to her conclusion, letting her end the piece on her own, with just the last chord of the guitar ringing out gently for accompaniment. At her words, Paul merely nods, the smile on his face just a sweet reflection of his thoughts. "Sounds wise," he replies, his fingers already touching the strings again and playing a random rambling melody.

Shenner stretches each of her hands, just watching you now as you play. She continues to watch you as she rises to settle onto one of the acceleration couches; there, she lies down on her belly, pillowing her chin and keeping that bright, half-shy, half-bold gaze fixed upon you. Her rapt expression is a silent request for you to keep playing... but after some time, she begins to drowse -- perhaps her little jaunt out into Mos Eisley was more tiring than she'd told you. Eventually, her eyes drop closed.

Paul obeys the demands of Shen's eyes, relishing in this small token that he can give her in thanks for a gift she probably never knew she gave him. His hands move on the strings in a soothing soft melody. As her eyes drift, he keeps playing, watching her tenderly and feeling a strong surge of protectiveness rise in him. He waits until her eyes close and stay that way for a long time. He keeps playing, guiding her subconscious along until she starts to dream, and then he let's his hands ease up softly. He puts the guitar away and finding a blanket, covers the girl. He touches her hair lightly for a moment, and then finds some bedding of his own, pulling Dr. Canto's blanket from his luggage and wrapping himself in it, he lies down on the acceleration couch across from hers and finds that he is indeed quite relaxed after playing. A small smile touches his lips as he looks at Shen again. "Okay kid, another point for you," he murmurs and then easily drifts off to sleep himself.