"Sir," Sabatine responded in a neutral tone before turning slightly away.

"Ship," she began triggering the ship wide communications link, "Port and Starboard watches are release for liberty." The last syllables of the message were drowned out by the roar of happy spacers as they rushed down the gangway in their colorful liberty suits, chatting and boasting of how they were going to fuck all the whores and drink all the booze this town had to offer. Realistically Port Benjamin was no different to hundreds of ports they had seen and the bars and brothels would be of a piece but after days in the matrix blowing of steam was a necessary activity no matter how many times you had done in.

Captain Micha and Chief Higgs entered the loading bay and the captain made a dismissive guesture with his hand. Higgs strode down the gangway joining a lewd song his fellows were already bellowing.

"Here we come, full of rum, looking for girls who peddle their bums."

Spacers were not by and large what Cinnabar society would consider sophisticated and their needs basically began and ended with booze and entertainment. That didn't mean they were stupid, it just meant they needed to remind themselves that they were human in the most basic possible terms as often as possible.

"Ah very good Lieutenant," Micha said approvingly as he joined the two officers, casting a distasteful look at the crowd of livered servants on the quay. They resembled butterflies scattering as a flock of birds appeared as the spacers bulled through them. Sabatine didn't think any of the spacers would deliberately shove the locals into the water, but neither would they care very much if it happened. She didn't care very much if it came to that. If these yokels had any sophistication whatever they would know better than to throng the gangway of a debarking starship.

"Anything to report Hickoring?" Micha asked with an arched eyebrow as he stopped beside them. Kaiden had been in the BDC when the ship landed and Micha had been controlling the ship from the bridge which had left her free to asses Port Benjamin as they descended.

"Six ships in harbor sir, all small freighters less than a thousand tons displacement, pretty much the standard for the carrying trade here," she explained. Small starships landed regularly in Port Benjamin, selling manufactured goods and industrial supplies that couldn't be manufactured on planet and loading their holds with sugar and rum before departing. Five out of the six ships were in the files the squadron had compiled on the place, the sixth obviously didn't make the run that frequently.

"No Alliance activity?" Micha asked. What exactly he meant by that was hard to say, Sabatine would hardly have waited till now to mention it if an Alliance warship had been in harbor and he would have seen it on the sensors himself in orbit. Cinnabar and the Alliance were at peace at the moment so their wouldn't have been anything technically wrong with finding a ship here, but it still would have been cause for comment and concern.

"According to the harbor masters office, nothing with an Alliance merchant registry has touched down within the last week," she expanded. The Captain nodded looking relieved.

"Very good Hickoring, be about your duties," Micha told her with a nod. She clicked her heels together and trotted down the ramp to begin her liberty, as pleased as the spacers to have some time ashore, though less transparent in demonstrating the fact. Micha turned to Kaiden with a wan smile.

"Well Lieutenant, I see you have a crowd of locals wishing to make your acquaintance. I will take the first watch so that you don't keep them waiting. Might be a good chance to gather some intelligence from the local nobs eh?"