<div align="center"><strong>-= Griffin Kingston, Captain -  Leading the “shore party” off ship to transfer cargo =-</strong></div><br/>With the crew assembled in the cargo hold, save for Mae who was still manning her post on the flight deck, Griff gave each of his crew one last quick and dirty run down on the job duties at hand as well as checking that each of them were armed. He had hoped to have some extra muscle along in the form of Steve McPherson, but that didn’t pan out when Steve didn’t show up for dust-off from Persephone. He was also surprised to learn that Lex, the companion whom they’d just recently met up with again on Persephone had opted to stay behind after receiving a rather lucrative offer from a highly respectable stateswoman. Lex had accepted the offer in favor of her company, the money, and a life of comfort which left him minus another set of eyes and a great negotiator.<br/><br/>Satisfied that they were as ready as they could be, Griff moved over to the cargo bay door and punched the button. There was a great hiss followed by a gush of fresh air as the seal was broken allowing a gust of fresh air to spill into the ship. The mechanical clinking of the gears and hydraulics filled the cargo bay as the doors slowly lowered open, flooding the ship with sunlight and the heat from the desert outside. “Okay, let’s get this done,” he said simply before leading his crew down the ramp to meet the crew of the Shāyú.<br/><br/>A tall woman with short, dark hair met him at the bottom of the ramp. She was covered in a thick sheen of sweat and her shirt was stained with perspiration. “Sharon McGill,” she said as she stepped forward. “I’m the captain of this… ship. You’re a sight for sore eyes.” She said with almost a chuckle that was laced with relief. “Though I’d be a might bit happier to see you if’n you’d brought me a new compression coil.” She paused, a hint of a hopefully optimistic smile flirted at the edges of her lips. “You ain’t got one of them, do ya?”<br/><br/>Griff kept his conversation short and professional as he replied to McGill’s question. “Can’t say as we do, captain McGill… sorry. I hate to be short and to the point but I’m a tight schedule so, if you don’t mind I’d like to get that cargo loaded up right away. Still gotta make the original deadline if we aim to get paid… and I aim to get paid.” McGill half smiled and nodded, gesturing Griff towards her cargo, already stacked on the desert sand and rock outside of her ship. “Of course, captain.” There was a noticeable tension in the air as Griff and his men moved down the ramp. Vince piloted the small skiff with the loader down the ramp and the men set about loading the skiff. Even with the skiff and the loader it would take several trips to transfer the full compliment of cargo that was listed on the manifest.