[Nyneve and friends meet the Adamant]

Ysolde stood outside the bustling station canteen, idly rubbing her shoulder as she glanced around at the throngs of students. She was right on time, as usual, and Nyneve was late, as always. She'd noticed the awed looks she was receiving from one or two of the first year capsule pilots, figuring they must have correctly identified her capsule interface plugs, and smiled back a little in encouragement.
Sharp hearing picked out the familiar footfalls of her younger cousin running along the corridors accompanied by two others. Turning to face them, Ysolde was surprised to see Nyneve flanked by an older Vherokior in his travelling garb and a Brutor girl pointing directly ahead at her. Ysolde felt rather self-conscious at that.
"Hey Ys! This is Tarq and that's Vash," the excitable Sebiestor gestured first to the Vherokior who flashed a grin and then the Brutor who waved, perhaps looking a little embarrassed at having been caught pointing. "I told them you were coming to visit me and that you'd bring a capsule ship. We want to see it!"
For a moment, a bemused Ysolde found it hard to believe that Nyneve was only 3 years younger than her but was acting like an over-excitable teenager. "Sure. It's in the hangars. We can see it from the observation corridor if we got he long way, then you can come down and meet her up close."
Remembering her time here visiting friends at the Republic Military School when she was studying at Pator Tech School, Ysolde led the way and did her best to answer the barrage of questions about what being a capsule pilot was really like, what the money was like, what it felt like to die and wake up again (she couldn’t speak from experience) and every minor detail about the ship she'd brought.

The glittering lights of the hangar arrays reflected off the myriad ships entering and leaving the docking ramps. As the group meandered along the corridor peering through the vast windows at the scene below, Ysolde indicated the direction of the hangar she had been temporarily allocated upon arrival. In it the lone vessel hovered over the holding pad, landing signal lights flashing in a holding pattern sequence. This was the Adamant: the Jaguar-class assault frigate that Captain Ysolde Xen of the Liberal Trading Co. had made her name with.
"It's way bigger than I thought it'd be!" Vash gaped at the vessel, taking it all in.
"It's almost twice a Reaper..." Tarq agreed.
"The guns alone are huge!" Nyneve pointed at one of the aft-mounted advanced 280mm Howitzer artillery pieces. Ysolde smiled with a devilish curl of her lip, "You should see the size of the ammunition it fires." She indicated a distance of about a foot with her hands. "This big. And that's just around the middle..."
"No way!" The Brutor girl goggled. "You’d better believe it if you’re going to be flying one someday. And this is a small ship with small guns, just a frigate. Tempest Battleships mounting artillery cannon will fire shells that are almost as wide as you are tall, Ny..."
"I call bullshit." Tarq's flat tone was clearly disbelieving.
"Really?" Ysolde looked him right in the eye with a little deviousness leaking through in her voice. She said nothing further and just walked towards the rear of the vessel where the cargo bay doors were open, robotic arms moving items out, indicated that they should follow, and then pointed up inside. "You can't miss them."
In amongst the large boxes and canisters already removed from the cargo bay, with markings such as 'Enriched Uranium' and 'Phased Muon Caster', there was a full clip of Fusion ammo designed for battleship turrets. Even the big, hulking form of Tarq was overshadowed by a single bullet as he strode over to one. "Well... fuck me!"
Vash just shrugged with a laugh.

"So, you still have the afternoon off?" Ysolde let Tarq and Vash ride the elevator up into the cargo bay to poke around as she took Nyneve by the elbow off to one side. Her cousin nodded excitedly, "Oh yes, I do - but they don't though."
Ysolde did a magnificent job of pretending to look a little disappointed that the loud, constant questions and inane remarks wouldn't be remaining with her for the rest of the day.
"I have a couple of deliveries to make in the constellation so we can take the scenic route. Then, if you think you can handle it, we can go hunting for pirates..."
Nyneve's eyes widened at the last part, as Ysolde had calculated. "You'll have to hold on tight if we do though." Ysolde flashed an almost wicked smile, plans forming. Nyneve grinned back, visibly excited.