Snippet #2411804

Martellus made a point of shaking each person's hand, starting with Captain Marcus. Each of the Marines would find their hands taken by his at one point or another. Even Clarke, whose hand was hovering on his weapon, had said hand gripped and firmly shaken.

The Engineer stopped at last on Cor, and did not take her hand. Instead, the grizzled old man simply looked her up and down briefly, sizing her up. "Don't want anything to do with us, eh? And you assume I'd want something to do with you, first?" He looked at Sliver. The man seemed uncomfortable, judging by his posture.
"Where the hell'd you pick this joker up, Solid? She looks more like she'd be climbing out of a dumpster than a power core." Martellus laughed. "I'll get back to you on your 'request,' but for now just take a seat over there while I check out the real crew." He gestured to a half-disassembled radiator unit resting on its side near the ship. Its guts were strewn about all over the place. Sliver, saying nothing, followed close to Cor.

"So I've got a properly respectful Pilot, a bunch of Marines, a Captain, and a fresh torpedo-slash-Mechanic. Better'n sending me sticks and sludge, at least!" Martellus laughed grimly, then nodded to Clarke. "I'd be lying if I told you I can't defend myself, but I'm a better fixer than I am a fixer, if you follow."

"And as for you, Captain," Martellus said, finally returning the man's salute, albeit lazily. "I got a run of ships for you and your Pilot to choose from." He nodded towards Deirdre, assuming she was part of the package.
"For now though, I'll give you all a bit of a briefing. Even the unwilling ones," he said, still deciding to give Cor a hard time.
"We've got a Pirate ship coming through here, loaded with prisoners, according to the intelligence our good friends the Solid family have given us." He gave Sliver a nod.
"Mostly seem to be Civilians taken for hope of a ransom, they've got a few more useful types as well- captures Marines, Pilots, Captains, the whole gamut. We're expecting at least a few would be willing to sign on with their saviors, as it were."
"Now, we're also expecting it to be a pretty heavily guarded ship. I expect we'll have a good fight on our hands, but nothing the fleet can't handle... any questions?"