[ OPEN ]

[dendarii]

Who: Miles Naismith (dendarii), the Dendarii, and YOU!
When: Forward-dated to late Day 4
Where: The Boneyard
What: ICly prepping for adventures, Dendarii recruitment, and poking at trilobites for fun and/or food??

[ Somehow, despite everything, Miles has gotten quite bored very quickly. Being unable to do much with shelter or searching thus far - curse his fragile body - Miles finds himself wanting to do absolutely anything except sit still another day. He's already paced himself a visible trough in the sand next to his corner of that massive skull.

When the trilobites start showing up in greater numbers, Miles is pretty much ecstatic. Finally, he can do something that involves staying still while also getting to do something moderately dangerous. Low against the sand as he is, he finds it a worthy pastime to belly crawl after some of the solo critters. Trying to ply them with a bit of rations or coral meat - or a scrap of his suit ...

When not doing that, in the interests of making himself useful, Miles turns to planning. When anyone gets near his spot, he brightens and turns to them regardless of their interest level. (He also may or may not be continuing to try taming one of these little wiggly bastards.) He grins brightly and draws himself up to his full (if short) height. ]

For all that we've made a lovely home for ourselves here, I'm getting antsy. Wouldn't it be worthwhile to see where all these things are coming from? I personally intend taking my mercenaries to investigate, but ...

[ A coy pause.]

Well. The more the merrier. The Dendarii Mercenaries are always looking for new recruits.

Comments

[shipmaster]

There's a pity. We'd have to edit it down to keep it from scaring the civilians anyway.

[dendarii]

And no materials to copy it with for that matter. Not even pen and paper.

[ A pause, though, and a grin. ]

Of course, what you saw was edited too.

[shipmaster]

Good God, there's better things to do with wood than mulch it and write on it.

[They are outright ruffled at the suggestion... but curiosity peaks them back out.]

Really? They didn't seem anything like what Admiral Oser had clipped together.

[dendarii]

If one has enough wood ...

[ Speaking of which, he grasps awkwardly at another fragment. That's a trickier question to answer. ]

Based on something else, I think. The home fleet's. I remember working late to pare it down.

[shipmaster]

Hm. [It's a thoughtful hum.] Yes. That sounds about right.

Anyway, I assume you've got a plan for this.

[dendarii]

[ Miles nods at that. It's not much, really, but ... ]

Rally all we can. Strike off in the direction it looks like they're coming from, and look to see if we see more rather than less.

... What do you think, Captain?

[shipmaster]

If there's a nest or a hive it might be a decent food source... Provided they are edible.

[They were getting hungry enough to try.]

Might be worth seeing where they're going to as well. Unless we start seeing them develop a taste for explosive bones.

[dendarii]

[ Even Miles needing less than most can only nod his head in agreement, glancing over towards Taura. ]

The opposite direction, then. Well - depending on our success with one, we may very well have to try both.

[shipmaster]

Makes sense. I agree, though. We should keep our efforts in one direction. The other if we need to. No use splitting resources.

[They look over Miles with clear concern. As easy as it was to fall back into old roles...]

It might be quite a walk.

[dendarii]

Just so. Take a Betan vote if need be, but ...

[ He meets Bel's gaze head on. ]

I'll be fine. I've been feeling much better since we started this whole adventure.

[ Marginally. ]

[shipmaster]

[They hold it a second long... but. They're not in the habit of arguing, and Sargent Taura will be with them.]

Just stay behind us as usual.

[dendarii]

[ Miles frowns more deeply at that. ]

That's just it. I'm not sure I actually did that much.

[shipmaster]

[This is the one and only lie that Bel Thorne has absolutely zero guilt. Negative guilt.]

How strange.

[dendarii]

[ Miles, at least, is hardly aware he's been lied too. He sounds more curious than anything. ]

Right? But it's rather distinctive. I always seem to end up in the middle of mess. And then ... er, I think I passed out for at least one incident.

[shipmaster]

[Well, THIS one was easy enough.]

I think that's assuming any mess we got into actually was small enough that there was a behind by the end of it.

[dendarii]

What do you mean by that? We had larger?

[shipmaster]

Than this? No. Than you remember... oh, very possibly.

[dendarii]

... So that's a yes. Essentially.

[shipmaster]

You never brought us boring jobs.

[dendarii]

No, I imagine not. Being a mercenary admiral and all.

... What was the most interesting one I brought back?

[shipmaster]

From the outset, rather than by complication? That would be the second one.

From everything we put together... you were flitting around as an arms dealer, turned up with a dreary faced man who was Emperor of one of the most hawkish empires out there, lost him, took over your own outfit a second time, actually sweet talked Tung and Auson into making nice [They drop into an aside here.] Which by the way was most unreal part of anything. I'd have paid half a year's stipend to have been in THAT room. [And right back into the story.] All to talk us into blockading a wormhole from a goddamn Cetagandan invasion.

[dendarii]

[ A dreary faced man ... His mind produces a somber fellow with a large nose. Tall, dark haired ... yes, he thinks he remembers some of that. ]

And it all came from out of nowhere? Did I ever tell you why I'd turned up with an Emperor?

[shipmaster]

You hadn't told me about the Emperor at all. That came out later when I was ferrying him out to Vervain station. [A little earlier, actually. The Inner Circle had their secrets, but those just out of it were very discretely trading notes.] Just that you had an employer who wanted the conflict in the hub watched and preferably stopped.

[dendarii]

[ Miles abandons his trilobite tempting for a moment to pace. Their employer, eh ... Who in the world would that be? ]

The Cetagandans were invading, you said. And the Barrayaran Imperium is notoriously bloodthirsty.

[shipmaster]

Oh yes. As soon as the first Cetagandan ship nosed through, the Barrayarans came charging through Pol's wormhole with an amazing warship. Nothing should have moved that fast and been that big. [They sigh.] Now THAT would have been one to add to the Fleet.