NationStates Jolt Archive

Lauralin stood on Nancia’s command deck, looking out of the windows at the new interstellar passenger starship. ‘The Swan’, as it was dubbed, was given it’s name because the flight deck was in the ‘head’ of the ship. The long ‘neck’, which contained crew quarters, extended down to the main ‘body’ where the passengers where housed and the ‘tail’, which extended up in the back, held the probability drives.

Three drives would carry the ship through probability, cutting time and distance to almost nothing as it dove through dimensional probability, rather than traveling through normal space. The drives were Central world design, as was most of the rest of the vessel.

The ship, itself, could carry up to 1,000 passengers in luxury. The first interstellar vehicle for Dragonsreach and High Port , it would be the luxury liner for the world’s two primary nations. Other ships, assuming all went well, would follow. Ones that would be less luxurious, but more affordable.

The maiden voyage was booked with 984 passengers, over 200 families, all eager, excited and somewhat frightened by the prospect of leaving their world to visit something that, to them, had only been points of light until about 2 decades ago.

Laura was proud of both her people and her fathers. The illusion that they had existed alone had been quickly shattered and then utterly destroyed, yet they persevered and were willingly, if slowly, moving forward.

Her father had been working with Central world’s tactical, specifically the officer they called ‘Frost’, based on his last name of Forrister, on setting up defenses against the third primary nation, Skullkingdoms, and was still in the field, going over the defense perimeters. The nation had acquired, through black market deals, a vast array of modern weaponry. Since Central monitored space in the area, they felt a certain personal responsibility for the Skullkingdoms acquisitions and agreed to assist them with their defenses as well as doing the best they could to track down the dealers.

Lauralin had managed to ‘clean up’ the ancient space station that had orbited her world and between Indoan tech teams and Central worlds they managed to get it online and operational, a testimony to the builders of the station was that it was still capable of functioning after so long. It had been dubbed simply, ‘The Moon’, or ‘Moon station’, since it had been mistaken as such for so long by the populous of the planet.

General Quester-Benn had been reassigned to a conflict along the border of an area of space called the ‘Vermin Stars’. This area was beyond Central Worlds influence and was a refuge for criminals and a hopeful prospect for settlers and miners. Recently, border pirates had set up base within Central space and Micaya had been sent to clean the bases out.

Admiral Quester-Benn had been recalled, to upgrade the weapons on the newly commissioned Victorious and to repair battle damage. The new anti-mat cannons were a conception of the recalcitrant daughter of Simeon Space Station and had brought her a tidy sum of money. She still had other things up her sleeves, and figured that her small vessel wouldn’t be able to power the cannons anyway. Her most recent endeavor was to try to duplicate the hull hugging shielding that the Indoan’s possessed, rather than the shield bubble that Central World’s ships now used. The hull hugging shield would prevent small combat ships, like the wraiths, from using thier alternating shield harmonics system and slipping through shielding, since the shields would be too close to hull for the fighters to get through.

General Booly was assigned to clear out a recent overtaking, by the mutant system, of a relatively peaceful system within Central Worlds control. It was a campaign that was getting bloodier by the day, but the Legion’s Borgs, thus far, were giving far more than they got and the mutants were on the verge of breaking away and retreating to their system once again.

“To where shall we go?” Laura asked once again.

“Simeon Space Station”, Nancia replied. “Simey will be able to accommodate the families and let them have a look around the station. We'll jump approximately twenty minutes before The Swan so that we can be there when she comes out of probability."

Lauralin turned to look at Nancia’s column. Though Nancia could see the Queen from anywhere on the ship, Laura thought it polite to face the shell person’s location anyway. What Nancia found amusing was the fact that the Queen picked up naturally what brawns, or mobile partners to shell people, were taught.

“All precautions have been taken, yes?” Lauralin asked, also again.

“As much as we possibly can”, Nancia confirmed.

Tailchaser, most powerful leader of the Vastnear nation, twitched her tail nervously. She had never gotten used to a disembodied voice and couldn’t grasp the concept of shell people, even though several people had tried to explain it to her. She had come along for sole purpose of seeing this new deviltry in order to see what impact it might have on her own people. Being cramped in the ship, though Nancia was rather large in actuality, didn’t improve her mood any. She already yearned for the open spaces and vast forests of her home.

“Done soon?” she asked, in a slightly hissing voice.

Lauralin looked at the Baroness, “They are still loading the passengers on”, she replied. Once again she eyed the catfolk woman. She had a nice figure in human terms, if one overlooked the tail, claws and catlike face with sharp teeth. Not exactly Laura’s type. What she studied was the woman’s movements. The Baroness was all lethal grace; smooth, flowing movements that created an orchestra of balance, speed and deadly skill. In the time that Laura had gotten to know the woman she realized, too, that this woman was far from stupid, regardless of what she liked others to believe. The woman was Baroness of one castle, overlady of another and the fighter's guild leader, as well as it's primary instructor. She had forged alliances with five of the other 6 main castles and created a protection pact for the healer's guild. She was also personal friends with the leader of the mages guild, which gave her a great deal of support in many campaigns.

Tailchaser turned away, pacing down the corridor. She didn’t go anywhere in particular, but just wanted to be able to move, to at least create the illusion that she could walk where she wanted.

Laura turned back to the window and gazed out. “Any sign of the Indoan’s as yet?” she asked.

“Not yet”, Nancia replied, “I’ll be sure to let you know if I see them, however.”

Lauralin nodded, “And your sure that they received the invitation for the maiden launch?”

“Quite sure, Lady.”

“Am I asking to many questions?” Lauralin asked and then grinned over her shoulder toward Nancia as the question caught her off guard. “A rhetorical question”, the Queen told her and Nancia chuckled appreciatively. One thing that Nancia liked about this particular leader was her ability to laugh at herself.

Indoan Alliance Orbital Shipyard #3 (Ramuh), above Todera

In the time since returning from it’s last assignment, the INV Faded Fortunes had spent less than a week out of the shipyards. Nearly a month had been repairing the considerable damage suffered by the vessel during the assignment, during which time recently implemented fleet-wide system upgrades had also been installed. Then had come the short period out of the shipyard, before it was recalled to undergo a major class-specific overhaul.

And since there wasn’t much the vessel’s crew could do while it was in the shipyards, they had been lucky enough to have an almost unprecedented amount of leave, interspersed with crew bonding exercises, which usually ended with a considerable percentage of the crew highly intoxicated. But now, they were back on active duty, ready for their next mission.

However, there was a problem. Sod’s law dictated that something had to go wrong, and this time it was something major. One of the vessel’s two sets of atmosphere processors had failed after less than half it’s intended service life, and had to be replaced before they could leave. Unfortunately, it had failed rather spectacularly, and taken out a significant part of the ventilation system with it. So the Faded Fortunes sat in the shipyard still, overdue for departure, as technicians hurried to replace the damaged components.

“How much longer?” asked the senior Matrai officer resignedly.

“A couple more hours, Nikki,” replied the Mind, expressing an equally bored tone.

“We’ll be late,” pointed out Col. Nicola Valero, newly appointed joint-CO of the vessel. The previous commander had been moved up to bigger and better things following his promotion.

“True, but there’s not a lot we can do about it,” countered the Mind, “Assuming it all goes to plan, we should only be about half an hour or so behind schedule. It’s not even really worth notifying them. They know we’re coming, and delays aren’t unusually with any kind of travel. Admittedly this is kind of an extreme case, but the point stands.”

Valero nodded and lifted the book resting in her lap again, flicking the page with her thumb and resumed reading. She found the book hard to concentrate on, resulting in frequent inquiries to the Mind, on varying subjects. It wasn’t really the kind of thing she normally read, but one of her friends had recommended it very highly, so she was determined to finish it.
****

Three hours later, the repairs were finally complete. The docking clamps holding the corvette’s body in place retracted, and the Mind gently guided the vessel clear of the huge platform. As soon as it was able, the corvette accelerated away, heading for the nearest patch of space large enough to safely activate a wormhole. As the vessel glided effortlessly past a Wusan-II Defence Platform, the Mind Displaced the two technicians that had been finishing up the repair back to the shipyard, something that would have been impossible only a few months earlier.

Once it was clear, the Fortunes activated the wormhole actuator, causing space to rupture some distance ahead of the corvette. The vessel coasted straight into the portal, which collapsed back on itself only seconds later. The transition would take approximately five hours, which meant the Faded Fortunes would arrive approximately forty-five minutes after the new vessel was scheduled to depart.

Captain Avery sat in the command throne and watched as Nancia moved away. Once she reached a safe distance, space seemed to erupt and she dove into it in a graceful dive as she headed for the SSS-900C. He glanced back at the Lieutenant from Central Worlds who had been placed aboard in case of emergency.

“Soon”, he told him and the Lieutenant nodded.

Avery turned the throne back toward the command deck before him. “Give me checks”, he ordered, and one by one everything was ticked off, indicating that it was in the green. He nodded at each one and once completed he waited a moment, “Let’s run them again”, he ordered.

“Something wrong, Captain?” the Lieutenant asked.

“I’m superstitious”, he stated flatly, “every new ship has some bugs, even the ocean going vessels I’m used to. Besides, this ship doesn’t have a good history to start with.”

“What do you mean?” Lieutenant Denovan asked.

“Thirteen people died building her. Accidents every one. And the christening bottle didn’t break.”

Denovan grinned but lost it quickly as the Captain glanced at him. “Sorry, Captain.”

“Don’t be”, he replied, “let’s just hope that my superstitions have no foundations.”

Again the list was ran through and everything came out in the Green.

“Alright, lets break out the oars”, the Captain stated finally. “Thrusters ahead, one-half. Warm up the subspace drives. Let’s give these people a good show.”

‘The Swan’ began moving slowly away from the moon station and the Captain allowed the station to slide slowly past the viewports, giving his guests the show he promised. Once he was clear he opened the log and set the screens in the cabins to the retreating view of the ship from the station’s monitors.

“We’re beginning the maiden voyage of the DRN Swan. For posterity, I’m including a shot from the monitors on the moon to document this historical journey. We’ve cleared the station and are now engaging the sublight drives.” At his he pointed to the engineering officer who nodded and gave a thumbs up to the navigation officer.

On the moon station screens the Swan suddenly seemed to become smaller as the sublight engines engaged.

“We’re moving away, now, at sublight and preparing for probability. That’s all for now, Ladies and Gentlemen. We’ll see you on the other side.” Then he closed down the log and looked toward the engineering station.

The Swan dove into probability only seventeen minutes later than scheduled.

****

Nancia emerged from probability and immediately picked up the signal from the SSS-900C. She took a station at a safe distance from the point at which ‘The Swan would arrive and contacted Simeon.

“Hey, beautiful”, came Simeon’s cheerful voice.

“Well someone woke up in a rich nutrient feed”, Nancia replied.

“Yeah. Channa has a new boyfriend and she’s been shopping for some lingerie.”

“SIMEON! Your not supposed to snoop on her connections”, Nancia chastised him.

“Yeah I know, but you should see some of the outfits.”

“You’re a cad Simeon.”

“Yeah, but I’m a happy cad. So is everything going as planned?”

“They’re running ungodly late, but they should be here soon”, she replied.

“To soft shells time flows differently. A second is an eternity to us, but not to them.”

“True”, Nancia assented, “how are things going with you?”

“We have several events set up for them. They should have a good time based on what information I have for entertainment.”

“Good. The Queen is nervous. At least it’s just a matter of time now.”

The arrival of the INV Faded Fortunes was announced by the flare of a wormhole, and the small corvette made the transition back to real space. To the casual eye, it appeared to drift leisurely to a halt, but in reality the Mind had pulled off some very exact braking, leaving the black-hulled vessel 300 kilometres from the moon-like station orbiting Midgaard 3. The frigate hailed the station, and declared it’s identity.

They had arrived exactly forty-one minutes after the Swan’s scheduled departure time, the vagaries of wormhole travel having been kind to them this time. As expected, the passenger vessel was nowhere to be seen in the system, so the Faded Fortunes began to slowly approach the station. Even though they were late, the differing methods in the two drives meant that the Indoan vessel could probably still beat the passenger vessel to it’s destination.

But the Mind wanted to get an update from the station before it left, just to make sure everything had gone according to plan. The corvette began slowly moving towards the station, for no real reason, since the minute changes in the small distance between them would have no effect on comm strength, and it didn’t matter where the vessel was to make the next wormhole transition, as long as it wasn’t close to any other object of sizable mass.

{I apologise for our late arrival, we were delayed by unforeseen events. Did everything go to plan for the launch of the vessel?} transmitted the Mind to the station.

On the bridge of the Faded Fortunes, deep within the ship, Captain Jann Ferrante felt a shiver run down his spine. He was watching the image of the station on one of the huge wall screens, and remembering what had happened last time they were here. He hadn’t personally been on the station, but he had heard the account of events from the Forgaies. The events of their last visit had been unpleasant enough anyway, and memories resurfaced unbidden.

{I apologise for our late arrival, we were delayed by unforeseen events. Did everything go to plan for the launch of the vessel?} transmitted the Mind to the station.

“INV Faded Fortunes, this is Commander Ivanova”, came the stern woman’s response. “They left Seventeen minutes behind schedule, but otherwise everything fell within acceptable parameters. We detected a slight variation in the ship as it entered probability and forwarded the information to Nancia and Simeon for possible review. You should be able to reach SSS-900C around the same time as ‘The Swan’ from what I understand about your drive systems, if you so choose. Otherwise you may certainly feel free to dock and rest your crew after your unforeseen events.

Oh, and next time, please don’t cut it so close to the station, you damn near gave me heart failure.

Ivanova out.”

With that she closed her line but transmitted the information about the launch of ‘The Swan’ to the allied vessel and then began reviewing the odd readings again for herself.

{Oh relax. I’ve jumped into lower orbits than the distance between us,} taunted the Fortunes lightly, as the corvette rolled lazily over onto it’s back. {I can get to full power and back down to a dead stop before I’ve covered two-thirds of that distance. Now minimum safe distance, that’s close enough for concern.} In this case, with an object of the station’s mass, the minimum safe distance for a wormhole was a little over 60 kilometres. And the station wasn’t likely to move anywhere unexpected, since it was an orbital platform, so there was little danger of collision. Of course, the Mind appreciated that most vessels liked to have a sizable amount of breathing space; the Fortunes had come within mere metres of a vessel last time it was in Central space, through no fault of it’s own.

The Mind quickly reviewed the data received from the station, as it readied the vessel for the next jump.
~ Hmm, so they left late too. I wonder; was there was any technical reason for that? And an anomaly is never good, even though they are to be expected, mused the Mind. ~ And if they left late, we’ll definitely beat them there. That journey only took minutes, and we’ve upgraded the wormhole drives since I was last here.

{We’ll head over and see if we can’t catch the Swan’s arrival,} the Mind transmitted, {Catch you later.}

With that, the Faded Fortunes vanished into a new wormhole conjured only seconds earlier, leaving the space around the station as peaceful as it had been when it arrived. It reappeared, exactly four minutes and nine seconds later, 1300 kilometres away from SSS-900-C, in deference to the station’s more regimented traffic control regulations, several hundred kilometres above the plane of the station.

{INV Faded Fortunes, Indoan Alliance Navy, arriving. Will hold at 800 klicks until instructed otherwise.} The message flashed at the station was intentionally formal; the Mind wanted to know whether or not the shell person would recognise the corvette from it’s previous visit. The Indoan Navy had not specified which vessel they were sending, just that they would send one, so there was no way that the shell person could have known it was the Faded Fortunes. It was almost certain that Simeon would easily recall them, but Indoan Minds had to have their little games.

In the front of a dark, humid room, a lone man stood in a circle of light.
"R-r-r-re-reports indicate a new c-c-c-co-country coming in-i-i-into space, sirs."
A rich baritone voice came from nowhere.
"Good. We need to forge more alliances if our power is to grow."
The man pulled nervously at the collar of his uniform.
"Reports also in-in-indicate the pre-pr-precense of magic in the area."
Leave us. A slithering voice creeped into the man's brain. He jumped and said "Yes, sir." He almost ran out of the room, relieved to be out of the precense of some of the most powerful beings in the Mutliverse.

The rich, baritone voice spoke again.
"What did you do that for?"
Isn't it obvious? We need to make contact. The slithering telepathic voice penetrated the entire room.
"Well, does anyone have any objections?" Asked a beautiful female voice.
The only sound was a polite cough.
"It is settled. We send a delegate."

*******24 minutes later*************
A message hurtled through WarpSpace faster than any human could ever imagine.
Hello. This is the Imperial Council of GAE. We have been informed of a FTL opening in a region that gets very few to none every 10 years. So, we are just wondering, what would be going on? If you wish we could help with any expiraments. Our knowledge of the FTL systems is quite extensive. We hope you recieve our message.

Johnathan Planeswalker, Head of the GAE Imperial Council.

{INV Faded Fortunes, Indoan Alliance Navy, arriving. Will hold at 800 klicks until instructed otherwise.}

"Welcome back", replied Simeon. Remembering Faded Fortunes was easy for shellperson, since, aside from excellent memory, they had access to any and all systems which they controlled. "Nice timing, it's just a matter of minutes until the arrival of 'The Swan'. Forgive my rude manners but I have alot of traffic at the moment and I'm trying to keep the area clear for the arrival of 'The Swan', but nice to see you again."

****

"I just picked up an Indoan vessel", Nancia told Lauralin and after a moment, "and you'll be happy to know, it's the Faded Fortunes."

Lauralin smiled, "I am glad they were able to come themselves. It will be nice to see them again."

After a few minutes Nancia made another anouncement as space seemed to explode, but not one that Lauralin expected.

"BRACE FOR MANUEVERS!! POSSIBLE IMPACT!!"

The Swan hadn't come out where they had expected her to and Nancia was in the path of the exiting ship. Probability waves crashed against her and the unexpected assault ravaged her systems. Pain inhibators kicked in as systems burnt out.

Shell people, in order to protect thier 'ship bodies', had sensors installed that acted like nerves in 'soft shells'. Damage to thier ship bodies registered as pain stimuli, however, in an emergency, pain inhibitors prevented the signals from becoming overwhelming.

"PRIMARIES OFFLINE, SECONDARIES FAILING", Nancia anounced, even as she made a full maneuver burn. She then kicked in auxiliary power and barely moved out of the way of the incoming vessel.

Just as The Swan had emerged, however, Lauralin screamed, holding her head, and slumped to the floor.

Tailchaser, in the corridor at the moment of the arrival, was thrown about, but was able to keep her balance, her tail flicking maddely to help her keep her feet.

Simeon and Nancia registered the vessel at the same time and scanned it.

"Fardlin A", Simeon muttered even as he activated the emergency klaxon. "ALERT, ALERT. DAMAGED VESSEL INBOUND. ALL EMERGENCY PERSONNEL TO STATIONS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS .. IS .. NOT .. A .. DRILL."

"Simeon?" Channa asked, looking up from her board.

Simeon zoomed in on The Swan, or what was left of her. The hulk drifted toward the station, heading directly toward ship lanes that Simeon had just established to keep them out of the projected path of the inbound ship.

The SSS-900-C suddenly looked like an angry behive as lifeboats, tugs and other emergency ships launched from various points moving toward the drifting ship.

"Nancia to all vessels, clear the way, I'm inbound. The Queen is unconscious. Coming in fast for possible medical assistance. Repeat ...

Nancia to all vessels, clear the way, I'm inbound. The Queen is unconscious. Coming in fast for possible medical assistance. Repeat ..."

And her message continued as she moved quickly toward the station.

Simeon began redirecting traffic, taking control of the ships rather than shouting orders to the captains, his own responses faster than any soft shell could manage.

"Fortunes, set 275 by 193", Simeon told him, unable to take over the allied, but alien vessel, "repeat, set 275 by 193."

The battered and drifting hulk was silent as she moved toward the SSS-900-C and Channa, looking at the screen that Simeon provided only muttered, "Great Ghu."

*********************

(OOC - GruntsandElites - I'm making the assumption that your message was sent to origin point of the jump, therefore moon station and Ivonova rather than Simeon. For future reference, Central doesn't use FTL per se. FTL - Faster Than Light is more along the lines of a warp or hyperspace drive. Central uses a dimensional drive system, though I think this would interest your people even more than an FTL from what I understand of them.)

"Commander, we have an incoming transmission", Lieutenant Valenst announced.

"On my board", she replied.

Hello. This is the Imperial Council of GAE. We have been informed of a FTL opening in a region that gets very few to none every 10 years. So, we are just wondering, what would be going on? If you wish we could help with any expiraments. Our knowledge of the FTL systems is quite extensive. We hope you recieve our message.

Johnathan Planeswalker, Head of the GAE Imperial Council.

Ivanova was bit taken aback, but covered it well.

"This is Commander Ivanova, Second in command of Moon Station, nation of High Port. We appreciate your offer and would be more than willing to open negotiations for possible assistance. The jump you registered was a test flight for a new starship, our first that was made by our own nations, that of High Port and Dragonsreach. I am fully authorized for first contact protocols and would be more than willing to meet with you."

Ivanova was bit taken aback, but covered it well.

"This is Commander Ivanova, Second in command of Moon Station, nation of High Port. We appreciate your offer and would be more than willing to open negotiations for possible assistance. The jump you registered was a test flight for a new starship, our first that was made by our own nations, that of High Port and Dragonsreach. I am fully authorized for first contact protocols and would be more than willing to meet with you."

A second message raced through in a few minutes.

Alright then. We have a ship standing by, the Haknil, waiting for permission to enter High Port and Dragonsreach space. With your permisssion, we will come in. Can we have escort ships accompany our diplomatic ship?

{Good to see you too, Simeon. I’ve spent almost every day since we last saw each other in docks; they’ve only just let me out again. I did get some shiny new toys out of it, though,} the Fortunes sent back. {Here’s hoping things are a little quieter than last time.}

When the Swan arrived a few minutes later, the Indoan warship immediately knew something was wrong. The fact that it had nearly collided with Nancia was reason enough, but the vessel was clearly severely damaged. The powerful sensors powered up and focused on the Swan, taking in every detail of the vessel.

Both the Mind and the crew member on the sensor station studied the sensor feeds as closely as they could, looking for any signs as to the cause of the damage. Had the Swan suffered a catastrophic failure in one of it’s primary systems? Or had it been attacked by pirates? No answer jumped immediately, but they would find something fairly quickly.

A small meter-long dart was ejected from the corvette and accelerated towards the stricken vessel. The remote sensor drone was far less powerful than the sensors on the warship itself, but they could get in far closer, and pick up fainter traces. The drone was also far more manoeuvrable, so it was much easier to avoid getting in the way of emergency vessels, and would do far less damage in the unlikely event of it colliding with the vessel.

At the request from Simeon, the corvette began moving towards the indicated location, still scanning the Swan as it went. However, the Mind was concerned for the people that were on board the passenger ship.
{Anything we can do to help?} it asked Simeon.

Alright then. We have a ship standing by, the Haknil, waiting for permission to enter High Port and Dragonsreach space. With your permisssion, we will come in. Can we have escort ships accompany our diplomatic ship?

Ivanova sent a message to Highport central and within minutes a ship was lifting off the planet. Once it reached high orbit it was met by a squadron of Star Furies and moved toward the Diplomatic vessel.

"We have sent our security chief and a flight of fighters to escort you in", Ivonava sent, "and we welcome you to Midgaard III. The vessels will escort you to Moon Station. Is there any atmospheric or gravitational requirements that we should be aware of before bringing you aboard?"

The Star Furies were archaic. Standard thrust space fighters that, unlike the modified versions that had finally been completed too late for the previous engagements, weren't capable of atmospheric flight. If the ships themselves were terribly outdated, the pilots were obviously experts, handling the vessels with the ease of veteran pilots.

The other vessel was a different matter entirely, completely out of the scope of any typical ship. In fact it didn't read like a ship at all, but rather as a life form. Even it's thrust didn't read as anything typical in a sublight drive system.

********

The sensor drone had no trouble reaching the stricken vessel, and in fact would reach it first. Most of the rescue vessels had standard chemical thrust drives for easier maneuvering among wrecking. Only the tugs had pulsed ion drives, but even they were geared for heavy hauling rather than speed.

Simeon did his best to clear the way for Nancia as her new distress call came through and downloaded the scans that she had taken and compared them to his own. He adjusted his nutrient feeds as the information came through, detailing the complete, if inexplicable, catastrophe.

Both his and Nancia's scans showed no life forms whatsoever. Furthermore it showed that the vessel had suffered from a catastrophic collision. Something which seemed impossible considering the fact that, one: Dimensional drives didn't share the same dimensional space as other ships, and even if they did, the likelihood that both would have jumped at the exact same moment was highly unlikely, and two: The wreckage mass was only enough for one ship the size of the swan, so if it had impact with another vessel, then where was the rest of the wreckage?

{Anything we can do to help?}

Simeon considered the question and then sent the information he and Nancia had attained.

"Can you scan the area and tell me if you come up with anything else? Something else would wonderful at this point", Simeon asked with a sick tone to his voice. He had the passenger manifest and tried not to think about the sudden loss of over 200 families.

Although Simeon already knew the answer, the Drone did pick up something that both Simeon and Nancia had missed, probably because they were scanning for things that SHOULD have shown up, rather than anything at all. A faint energy trail led away from the point of the probability jump point. One that didn't register as Indoan or Central worlds. It had to have been produced by a tiny vessel, one or two man, based on the size of the trail and most likely escaped detection initially because of the jump point interference.

Ivanova sent a message to Highport central and within minutes a ship was lifting off the planet. Once it reached high orbit it was met by a squadron of Star Furies and moved toward the Diplomatic vessel.

"We have sent our security chief and a flight of fighters to escort you in", Ivonava sent, "and we welcome you to Midgaard III. The vessels will escort you to Moon Station. Is there any atmospheric or gravitational requirements that we should be aware of before bringing you aboard?"

The Star Furies were archaic. Standard thrust space fighters that, unlike the modified versions that had finally been completed too late for the previous engagements, weren't capable of atmospheric flight. If the ships themselves were terribly outdated, the pilots were obviously experts, handling the vessels with the ease of veteran pilots.

The other vessel was a different matter entirely, completely out of the scope of any typical ship. In fact it didn't read like a ship at all, but rather as a life form. Even it's thrust didn't read as anything typical in a sublight drive system.


****Three and one half seconds later*****

A huge, gaping maw opened in the dark of space. A single ship speed out. The Hoknil. The mouth in space closed with a crash that, for some reason, could be felt by the ships. The pride of the diplomatic fleet, the Hoknil was a corvette, but only had to be run by one man. Most of the work was taken up by Positronic brains. On the outside, it seemed a smooth, bulbous, organic shape, painted with only a blue stripe down the side. Otherwise, the Hoknil was a shimmering red, glowing with fury. Once the Hoknil arrived it sent out a message. The message seemed to flow aboard the minds of those aboard the ships.

Hello. This is the Nascent Planeswalker Salazan, of the DS-856 Hoknil. I am told I am to be escorted by a squadron of fighters to your, uh, Moon Base. Also, atmosphere and gravity are no problem for me.
Salazan's mind flowed out into space. He eagerly began probing the mind of the people aboard the ships. When he find the ship that housed the security chief, he became even more interested. Hmmm. Seems to be an organic ship. I shall have to find out more. In the meantime, I shall want to be on my guard for anything.

The mouth in space closed with a crash that, for some reason, could be felt by the ships.

"Captain? Did you feel that?" came the voice of one of the pilots.

Captain Nathaniel Armastin had flown Star Furies for 25 years. He had seen alot and been through alot, yet even he hadn't felt anything like that. He saw a couple of the Furies begin to move out of formation at they felt the odd shockwave.

"Alright people. Lets keep it tight. We have a job to do, so lets get it done", he told them in a calm and firm voice.

Hello. This is the Nascent Planeswalker Salazan, of the DS-856 Hoknil. I am told I am to be escorted by a squadron of fighters to your, uh, Moon Base. Also, atmosphere and gravity are no problem for me.

"Confirmed, Mr. Salazan. Please follow the escort vessels into the primary docking bay. I'll be happy to meet you there, Commander Ivanova out."

********

"Michael", came Eve's voice, "did you feel that? Or just me?"

Eve's voice was soft and alluring, something that Michael found to be a bane sometimes when he really needed to concentrate on something, but he wouldn't trade it for anything in the universe.

"Yeah", came his reply, "Eve. What's the threat factor of that ship?"

"Very high Michael."

"Nuts", the security chief muttered. "I hate crap like this. Why does it always have to be high risk? Why not moderate risk? Or better yet, low risk?"

"Michael, my love", came the ships reply, "if it wasn't high risk you wouldn't enjoy it."

"Eve", Michael replied, and then stopped. She was right. He knew it and so did she. He thrived on dangerous situations. "Never mind."

She giggled, "Exactly. We're in range."

"Okay, open a channel", he replied.

"DS-856 Hoknil, this is Security Chief Michael Gassington. Please fall in behind me and follow me into Moon Station."

The sensor drone confirmed what the Mind had suspected from the long range scans; there were no heat signs on board the vessel, which meant there were almost certainly no survivors. As for the cause, like the Central shells, the Fortunes’ first conclusion was that the vessel had collided with something. While the Indoan Mind didn’t know as much about the Central probability drive as the shell-people, it knew that the chances of two ships occupying the same space in any form of interstellar drive system were incredibly high. Most drives created a unique space for each vessel.

As the Mind continued to study the data, the data from Simeon and Nancia came in. The Mind started looking at their data too, comparing the four stream-clusters of data against each other, looking for anything out of place. It acknowledged the transmission, and made a request. It wanted to get a closer look at what was left, to see if there was anything the scans had missed.

{Already doing so, though I have nothing yet,} it sent forlornly, {I have a request if I may: I’d like to put a team on board the wreck, see if there’s anything on board that might give a clue as to what happened.}

After it sent the message, the Mind sent out a series of alerts, ordering certain personnel to the port hangar bay, where it had ordered a team of maintenance engineers to ready a shuttle for launch. The sensor streams continued to reveal their data to the Mind at a rate no organic being could even begin to comprehend, let alone actually understand any of it.

~ Hey, what’s that? Thought the Mind suddenly, jarring the search to a halt. It amplified the readings as best it could, and simultaneously focused the scanning equipment from both the corvette and the tiny drone on the object of it’s interest, in an effort to get more detail. ~ Is that… No, it couldn’t be. But it is! Now the question is; whose? Certainly not mine, and it doesn’t match the profile of the Central vessels either. And that’s the Swan’s trace there. This leads in another direction, away from the Swan.

While the Fortunes continued to search the sensor data for anything else useful, it did two things. It began tracking the path of the thin trail of energy, hoping desperately to find something useful before it dissipated entirely, and it contacted Simeon again.

{I may have found something. As crazy as it may sound, I think there was a second vessel in the transition with the Swan. Not anything large enough to have caused the damage that we can see, but it is an anomaly in itself. Here, take a look at these feeds. [data stream attached]} sent the Mind, {It must have been a very small vessel, but I’m sure it was there. Look how the trail diverges from the path of the Swan.}

Nancia raced the Queen to the dock and the medical personal came aboard to check on the woman.

"I .... I think she's dead", the tech announced, frightened about the fact that a leader of another was dead onboard the station.

"Wait", came Simeon's interruption and he scanned the dataslate remotely. "No. She's alive. At least for her. Her physiology is vastly altered. Just get her to the med lab for now, and keep an eye on her. There really isn't much we can do. OH. And have a store of blood standing by. Not the synth, the real stuff. She may need it when she awakens."

Nancia checked the state of her systems and would have cried if she could.

The techs came running in, moving into and about her. One entered the main cabin and looked toward her. He was an older man with a kindly face who smiled toward her. "Now don't you fret, Lady. We'll have you good as new in no time", he told her with an equally kindly voice. He would turn out to be as good as his word. It would be later that Nancia would find out that he and his family, as well as many other families, had been saved in the Bertinus system when the sun went nova. Thier saviors had been Helva and Moira as well as a few other soft shell ships. He had never forgotten the risk the brain ships had taken to save lives in that system and it had helped to guide his career.

********
{I have a request if I may: I’d like to put a team on board the wreck, see if there’s anything on board that might give a clue as to what happened.}

"Anything would help. Your fully authorized for free movement. Most of the area is clear, I'm sure you wont' have any trouble manuevering around the personel, and thank you. If you can, we'll be focusing on stopping the drift and searching for survivors, maybe you can get to the bridge and find the black box. That should help tell us what happened."

The tugs were already moving into position and launching magnetic grapples in order to stop the wreckage from drifting into the station. Life boats and other rescue ships were moving toward the passenger section of the shattered ship and began disembarking to search for survivors.

{I may have found something. As crazy as it may sound, I think there was a second vessel in the transition with the Swan. Not anything large enough to have caused the damage that we can see, but it is an anomaly in itself. Here, take a look at these feeds. [data stream attached]} sent the Mind, {It must have been a very small vessel, but I’m sure it was there. Look how the trail diverges from the path of the Swan.}

Simeon knew there couldn't have been another vessel in the transition, but he also knew the efficiency of the mind of the Fortunes. He scanned it quickly and then sent the information to Channa, who agreed with Simeon.
"Send it on to the wunderkint", Simeon told Channa, "let her play with it. Ghu knows what she may come up with."

Channa nodded and sent the information to J.O.A.T. and Rand aboard the W.Y.A.L.

"There's no way another ship could have been in transition", Simeon told the mind. "My first guess was a life boat. They can launch just as they leave transition. But the energy signature of the drive is all wrong." Simeon scanned the information again. The trail led off for some kilometers and then simply vanished with no wreckage to reveal that it might have suffered a catastrophic failure. "I don't know, to be honest. It's not Central. It's not yours, based on the ships that I've seen to date."

"Confirmed, Mr. Salazan. Please follow the escort vessels into the primary docking bay. I'll be happy to meet you there, Commander Ivanova out."
Salazan's mind went back toward the Moon Base. He founnd the mind that had spoke. A woman's mind. He mused. Quite strong.
Alright. See you in a minute.

"DS-856 Hoknil, this is Security Chief Michael Gassington. Please fall in behind me and follow me into Moon Station."

Salazan's mind raced back to his body. He opened the radio channel. "Alright. let's go." His ship raced past them. He slowed as he felt the rift where the Swan had went through. He stopped, waiting for the fighters to catch up. Something bad has happened here. Hmmm. Should really be on my guard now. When the fighters had caught up, he waited for them to take the lead, and slowly followed after them.

{I know, the chances of it happening are astronomical, if it’s even possible; but I’m sure that there was a second ship in the transition. If it was a lifeboat, where is it? And it’s certainly not ours, whatever it was. If it was, you would have seen it, unless it was trying to be hidden, in which case you wouldn’t,} replied the Fortunes, {Oh, and the team is on it’s way. Your comment about the flight recorder is duly noted.}

One of the corvette’s two Condor shuttles slid gracefully out of the port hangar bay and headed for the wreckage. In the interest of safety, the shuttle travelled the distance between the two vessels on conventional propulsion, without circumventing the distance with a wormhole, as the Indoans generally did for any remotely meaningful distance.

Though it was still studying the sensor feeds from the Swan, the Mind now had more interesting matters to attend to. The team on the shuttle would be the main source of new data concerning the Swan, and the Mind could devote the focus of it’s attention elsewhere without missing a single thing. With the shuttle clear, a second dart-shaped sensor drone was released and accelerated towards the volume where the anomalous energy trail terminated, which began scanning immediately. The Mind could have redirected the first drone, but the drones came from a stock of nearly one hundred identical units and were generally considered expendable, even if they were recovered ninety-five percent of the time.
****

The sleek Condor swiftly made it’s way through the maze of other ships heading for the wreck and came to a relative stop by a point the Mind had identified as suitable for boarding. It wasn’t sure exactly what this area was, since it wasn’t intimately familiar with the design of the passenger vessel, but it knew where the bridge was, and the team would be in for quite a trek to get there.

The team itself had been chosen with great care. It was composed of people who knew and trusted each other exceptionally well, and who had also had experience dealing with these people in the past, so they stood less chance of being startled or upset by anything they might come across. There were six of them, and two SK-4 synthetics for support. Even in a situation as disastrous as this, the Indoans took no chances.

The rear hatch of the shuttle opened, allowing the first members of the team to exit the airlock. If Simeon was watching, he would recognise the pair of dark blue suits as Indoan Rangers, the elite infantry forces stationed on all Indoan Naval vessels. The pair had their pulse rifles slung over their shoulders as they manipulated their AG to cross the gap between the shuttle and the Swan.

They landed on the hull of the Swan and one turned to face the shuttle, while the other moved towards the large hole in the hull that would allow them easy access. The reason they had opted for this boarding method was that it didn’t compromise any remaining hull integrity the vessel had; and so avoided accidentally venting air that might be keeping survivors alive, even though they were almost certain there were none.

“We’re across, Jann. Your turn,” said a male voice over the comm net.

The airlock on the shuttle cycled again, this time releasing four figures into the void. All four wore standard exposure suits, which still incorporated Grade 2 reactive armour, though one of them was far smaller than the others. These suits were also dark blue in colour, though it was a noticeably lighter shade than the midnight blue the Ranger battlesuits defaulted to.

After the four figures had joined the others on the exterior of the Swan’s hull, the shuttle airlock cycled once more, and the two synthetics crossed between the two vessels, far faster than any of the others had, since they had pushed hard away from the hull of the shuttle. As soon as they had also touched down on the Swan, the shuttle moved away under control of the Faded Fortunes, to return when it was needed.

The group of eight made their way into the hull of the Swan, to begin their search. This team had done this before too; in fact, their first contact with Central Worlds had followed a similar search of a derelict vessel. All of them were hoping that that incident would not repeat itself.

Ivanova made her way to the landing bay, having to stop a few times to check directions. The station had only recently been renovated and it was the size of a moon. She knew how to reach the fighter bays, but had only been on the landing deck once. She finally arrived as the ships entered the bay, and waited until they had landed before moving forward to meet with new arrival. Typically an honor guard was called for, but since they were still strengthening thier border against the skullkingdoms, they didn't have troops to spare.

Michael followed along with the fighters, watching the ship which had accelerated past them. "Fall in, isn't that what I said?", he asked.

"Perhaps thier ways are different, Michael", Eve replied.

"Yeah, alright." Once they moved past the ship he guided it to the massive landing bay and into it. The fighters stopped just outside, holding position until they were inside. Once inside they flew to their own landing bays.

Eve set down gently, and looked about. "There's Ivanova", she said.

"Alright join me once I'm out."

"Alright", she replied, happily.

{I know, the chances of it happening are astronomical, if it’s even possible; but I’m sure that there was a second ship in the transition. If it was a lifeboat, where is it? And it’s certainly not ours, whatever it was. If it was, you would have seen it, unless it was trying to be hidden, in which case you wouldn’t,} replied the Fortunes, {Oh, and the team is on it’s way. Your comment about the flight recorder is duly noted.}

"Thank you", Simeon replied. "Seems you have a habit of catching us a bad times, I guess were out as a vacation spot", Simeon joked.

The vessel was a mess. To the Indoan crew aboard it, it looked less and less like an impact, yet what had happened was a mystery. The interior seemed as torn apart as the exterior, making it seem that the ship had torn itself apart. Though the bridge was easy enough to note, being at the top front of the vessel, and with Simeon remembering to download the schematics to the Mind to forward it to the team, getting there was harder than they might have expected.

The schematics just didn't fit the interior, even though they were dated only a few days ago, and therefore having been sent to Simeon well after the ship was done. The interior had been drastically changed or the ship had been built by a madman and the schematics a complete fraud. Corridors led nowhere. Stairs ended in roofs. Some hallways lay side by side or cross corridors that just didn't make sense as far as placement. Rooms seemed completely randomly placed, with hallways, sometimes, leading straight through a room. Doors seemed randomly placed as well.

If that was bad, the dead crew and passengers were even worse of a sight. Some had multiple limbs, or eyes, or ears, even noses and mouths. Sometimes they were so bloated with extra organs that the body had simply ruptured. Many had, simply, too many bones. Many looked like siamese twins that should never have survived into adulthood. In general, and for lack of a better term, they were just ... wrong. Finally, however, the team would be reach the bridge. The Captain, to his credit, had never left his position. Apparently, he had ordered the rest of his bridge crew to evacuate, as no one else was inside. But he, too, was grossly wrong. It looked like two heads had been crushed together with a third thrusting from his chest. He couldn't have lived the way he looked.

The black box was secured beneath the Captain's chair, and had to be cut from its place, but it seemed intact.

********

The trail led to a point were the probe found a strange energy signature and nothing more. Whatever happened, the energy signature had changed and then simply vanished.

“Alright, Kane, you and Three-Alpha take point,” instructed Jann, before hesitating a moment, hoping that the right person took the command. When the correct ID tag on his PHUD moved away, he issued the second half of the instruction. “Reid, you watch our backs with Zero-Eight.”

The reason for his confusion was simple; despite what he had just said, both Rangers were called Kane these days: Lieutenant Nikolai Kane and his newly-wed partner, 2nd Lieutenant Evelyn Kane née Reid. Fortunately for everyone on board the Faded Fortunes, she still went by her maiden name, since both Rangers were more commonly known by their surnames.

Kane led off, with the dark-green shape of the SK-4 a step behind him. The Rangers had their rifles in their hands now, ready for immediate action. Their past experience had taught them that they could never be too careful. The group of four naval officers followed a few steps behind, with Reid and the other SK-4 a few steps behind them.

What they saw around them was not pleasant, even though they had at least partly expected it. The random mutations of what they knew had been a mostly human population were more than a little disturbing, and the visual feeds being transmitted back to the Mind from their PHUDs were forwarded to Simeon too, so that he could see what had happened. It took them less than a minute to realise that the schematics were completely useless, when the door they were heading for wasn’t there. With a locator beacon marking the bridge on the PHUDs though, it didn’t take the resourceful Rangers long to figure out a way through the unreal maze.

When they eventually got to the bridge, they set about their assigned task immediately. The ship’s avatar Anderaleigh used the laser cutter from the survival kit they had brought to free the flight recorder from it’s place, while the others looked around uneasily. The dead ship reminded them too much of the other one, and they were eager to be back on the Fortunes.

“Come on, hurry this up,” chittered Nav. Sgt. Dex Achevarria, the diminutive Douran engineer. “I want to get back to the Fortunes, where it’s warm.”

“I’m working as fast as I can,” chided the avatar. The Douran wasn’t cold; the suit had a fully functional internal climate control system, but the construct knew what he meant. There was a chill here, that settled on your mind and made you feel uneasy. Even the avatar felt it.

Jann and the other officer, Chief Sergeant Kate Riesco, were searching the bridge for anything else that might be useful, or might give some clue as to what had really happened here. The two Rangers waited uneasily by the door, as eager to leave as any of the others, despite their tough persona. Only the non-sentient SK-4s seemed completely untroubled by the setting, their optic sensors continuously scanning for any sign of a threat.
****

{Oh, I don’t know. One generally looks for interesting things to happen in their lives, and you can’t deny that our visits here have certainly been interesting,} replied the Fortunes lightly.

~ Hmm, that’s odd. The energy trail just disappears, though there is a different trace just before it does, thought the Mind after seeing the sensor feed from the second drone. ~ Evidence of another type of jump drive, perhaps? It sent the data to Simeon for his opinion.

{The trail just disappears here [locator tag]. There is something else there, it could be a trace signature from some form of jump drive, but it doesn’t match anything I’ve ever seen before. I don’t know what else I can do.}

Several times as they moved through the stricken vessel Simeon asked them to stop to get a good look at some of the structures or people. He had a sickening feeling that the knew WHAT happened to the ship, but he sent a tight beam request to Rigel. Moira was the oldest living shell person in Central and currently she was unassigned. Meaning she didn't have a brawn. Having bought out of her contract she worked for Central exploration on a voluntary basis and was being particularly picky on a new brawn.

Akivar was particularly shcoked at what Simeon was suggesting. "It's impossible", he told Simeon, "that hasn't happened in .... hell I don't know, before YOU were born."

"Yeah, but Moira has seen it, one of the few who has. Helva would be my other choice, but she and Forrister are on assignment at Midgaard III."

"Well I can check with her, but she has the right to refuse, you know. She's free lance now."

"I know. Tell her I'm calling in a favor", Simeon replied.

"Oh HELL no", Akivar replied, "hold on, I'll switch you over. No way in hell I'm telling her that."

Simeon suddenly felt odd as the switch occured and checked his nutrient level, which was perfectly normal. He noticed Channa suddenly put a hand to her mouth as a particularly disturbing human image came accross the screen and shut down her display as he routed a newly arrived vessel on a circuilar route to the station.

"Simeon?" Came Moira's voice at the same time Channa looked up saying, "Simeon what happened?"

He sent four messages at once:

"Captain Moravin, reroute to following route, we have a derelict vessel that we're dealing with and I don't want your ship damaged."

"Sorry, Channa, checking now .... Ahh, we'll have to have Joat replace the coupler, seems to have failed. Sorry about that."

"Moira, I need to pull in a favor, can you come here? I know your brawnless at the moment, but I really need this."

"Sorry", he sent to the mind, as it was obvious that he had cut the feed to Channa's station, "her heart rate leapt and her breathing isn't right. I know your people aren't in a good position either, but Channa is just a brawn, not a battle hardened ranger like your people are. I wouldn't trade her for the universe in a tight spot, but she's just not exploration material."

{Oh, I don’t know. One generally looks for interesting things to happen in their lives, and you can’t deny that our visits here have certainly been interesting,} replied the Fortunes lightly.

~ Hmm, that’s odd. The energy trail just disappears, though there is a different trace just before it does, thought the Mind after seeing the sensor feed from the second drone. ~ Evidence of another type of jump drive, perhaps? It sent the data to Simeon for his opinion.

{The trail just disappears here [locator tag]. There is something else there, it could be a trace signature from some form of jump drive, but it doesn’t match anything I’ve ever seen before. I don’t know what else I can do.}

Simeon scanned the information quickly and agreed. "Definitely some kind of jump from what I can tell, but I don't know it either. I think I know what happened to the ship, but I'm requesting someone to come by and have a look. If I'm right, then it's just a matter of how rather than what.""

"Simeon. Are you bribing me into coming to your station?" Moira asked, sending the visual of what she would have looked like had her mutation not taken affect. The raven haired, blue eyed beauty loved teasing Simeon, though there was a bit of annoyance in her voice. She hated going anywhere without a brawn, it turned into long, lonely trips, though SSS-900-C was only a minute or two away by probability.

"I'm sorry, but yes. I mean it Moira, I need you to look at this and I'd rather not send a feed."

Moira sighed but assented and lifted off from Rigel a moment later. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes Simeon. This had better be worth it."

Simeon neglected to tell her that it wasn't 'worth' anything except to the Queen of Dragonsreach, who was beginning to stir now. Not only that but Moira was a mother figure to all the shell people and soft shells alike. This would break her heart if he was right.

"Fortunes, I don't think theres anything else you can do. Why don't you get your people out of there, I'm sure it isn't pleasant for them. We can meet here to review the box and what I suspect happened. The Queen is awakening as well', this he also told Channa who went to see her, "and she'll want to know what is happening. I don't want to keep her waiting, she kind of gives me the creeps. That's between you and me okay?"

Ivanova made her way to the landing bay, having to stop a few times to check directions. The station had only recently been renovated and it was the size of a moon. She knew how to reach the fighter bays, but had only been on the landing deck once. She finally arrived as the ships entered the bay, and waited until they had landed before moving forward to meet with new arrival. Typically an honor guard was called for, but since they were still strengthening thier border against the skullkingdoms, they didn't have troops to spare.

Michael followed along with the fighters, watching the ship which had accelerated past them. "Fall in, isn't that what I said?", he asked.

"Perhaps thier ways are different, Michael", Eve replied.

"Yeah, alright." Once they moved past the ship he guided it to the massive landing bay and into it. The fighters stopped just outside, holding position until they were inside. Once inside they flew to their own landing bays.

Eve set down gently, and looked about. "There's Ivanova", she said.

"Alright join me once I'm out."

"Alright", she replied, happily.

A series of odd whistling noises came from inside the Hoknil. After a few seconds, A door opened and a ladder extended down to the floor. Climbing down was a young man, brown hair, with a sweeping black cape. He was wearing a bright blueish-cyan colored armor, inlaid with stones of different colors.

He would have had a handsome face, were it not for two scars running down his right cheeck. He had a sharp nose, a hard set mouth, seeming like he never smiled. But, when he did, he smiled broadly. He had impecabbly white teeth. He had high cheekbones. On his back his an axe, a perticulerly large one, also inlaid with brightly glowing stones. The axe itself seemed to radiate power, but, these were not his most striking features. His eyes were a pure, blank white. When one peered into them, the person could feel the eyes, almost physically boring into their soul, shedding all secrets to him. These eyes, in fact, gave him the ability to stretch his eyes outside his body.

His eyes however, were nothing, NOTHING, compared to the pure, eminent, raw, power that radiated from him. Those who came close to him would feel in awe. They could feel his power being contained, the raw will keeping that power in check must be enourmous, one would think. But, closer still, one would feel, immense, enourmous, horrible, terror. One could tell that the terrifying power came from a pair of black gauntlets, and the thick, furry cape. The two seemed conected, by a dark invisble, force.

He stepped in front of the soldiers. "How's everybody doing?" He called in a rich, deep, booming voice. He smiled broader still, then frowned. He unclasped the cape and took off the gauntlets. He pulled the axe out of the storage case and laid it on the ground. "I shall take these to the armory as soon as possible. But first, down to business." He said. "How'd the expirament go?"

Ivanova walked forward, her step crisp in a military fashion. It was a no nonsense walk. At least until she got closer and felt a terrible wave of terror. Then her step faltered, but after a moment she clamped down her feelings and stepped in front of him. On her forhead a sheen of sweat as she fought against terror that radiated from him, and the terrible boring eyes. But her will and pride wouldn't allow her to back down.

"Wel", she started and then stopped, gathering herself and proceeded on with determination. "Welcome to Moon Station." She stopped there, having forgotten the man's name in the terrible fear, but still continuted on. "So far we haven't gotten a report. Which is odd. I must assume that the ship has reached Simeon Space Station by now."

Behind him Michael walked down the ramp of his ship and stepped forward, away from the bottom of the ramp. Once he was down and clear the ship shimmered, then stretched and contracted into a bright light before resolving into the shape of lovely young woman, who stepped forward and took Michaels arm. Once she did they stepped forward. Michael seemed as affected as Ivanova by the new arrival, Eve, however, simply smiled pleasantly.

Ivanova walked forward, her step crisp in a military fashion. It was a no nonsense walk. At least until she got closer and felt a terrible wave of terror. Then her step faltered, but after a moment she clamped down her feelings and stepped in front of him. On her forhead a sheen of sweat as she fought against terror that radiated from him, and the terrible boring eyes. But her will and pride wouldn't allow her to back down.

"Wel", she started and then stopped, gathering herself and proceeded on with determination. "Welcome to Moon Station." She stopped there, having forgotten the man's name in the terrible fear, but still continuted on. "So far we haven't gotten a report. Which is odd. I must assume that the ship has reached Simeon Space Station by now."

Behind him Michael walked down the ramp of his ship and stepped forward, away from the bottom of the ramp. Once he was down and clear the ship shimmered, then stretched and contracted into a bright light before resolving into the shape of lovely young woman, who stepped forward and took Michaels arm. Once she did they stepped forward. Michael seemed as affected as Ivanova by the new arrival, Eve, however, simply smiled pleasantly.

Salazan frowned. "Hmm. That is surprising to me. But we shall talk of this later." He turned toward the ship as it took the form of the woman. He smiled pleasently at her. "Hello. I am Salazan, Nascent Planeswalker of the Imperial Planeswalkers of GruntsandElites. How do you do?" He then looked at the two humans, and, with a wave of his hand, the cape, gauntlets and axe dissapered. He turned back toward Eve. "Am I to assume you are inorganic?"

"Am I to assume you are inorganic?"

"Inorganic", Eve replied and tilted her head slightly. "Involving neither organic life nor the products of organic life, and therefore you would be incorrect. Not composed of organic matter Chemistry. In this too your assumption would in error. Of or relating to compounds not containing hydrocarbon groups. That would be incorrect as well. Not arising in normal growth; artificial. Lacking system or structure. Also incorrect. Not arising in normal growth; artificial." Eve stopped there, pondering a moment and then looked at Salazan, "If children are conceived out of love, then you would be incorrect. For Michael built me out of love. Therefore, the answer to your question, based on all grounds of the definition would have to be no."

Ivanova had shuddered when the question was asked, knowing the long winded response she was going to give. Eve had a habit of tackling a question from ever possible definition of it.

Ic:Salazan sighed. "That is not a response. I shall find out myself." He reached out his hand and touched her. Everything she was made of instantly rushed into his mind in a coalescing pattern of knowledge.

OOc:What would Salazan find?

Ic:After doing this, Salazan rummaged thorugh his armor to find something. "Aha! Here it is!" Hr held up a silver disk. "Johnathan wanted me to give this to you." He said. "Press the button on the bottom to make it play." He said, referring to a button on the bottom side of the disk.

{Huh? What are you talking about?} The Indoan Mind was just transmitting the feeds to Simeon; it didn’t know or care what the shell-person did with them once they were received. Indeed, it was still transmitting, regardless of whether anyone wanted to see it, because it might be wanted later, and if the shell-person had a record of the feeds then it wouldn’t need to get them from the Mind.

There was nothing more that the two remote drones could do, they had scanned and transmitted every tiny piece of data they could collect, so the Mind recovered them, opening tiny wormholes just in front of each of the drones. Both drones reappeared just off the starboard side of the corvette, and were swiftly drawn into the hangar bay by AG fields for maintenance.
****

“Alright, I’ve got it. Let’s get out of here,” announced the avatar as it pulled the flight recorder free of its severed mountings. Both the laser cutter and the flight recorder went into the pack over it’s shoulder. The Mind had already told them they should leave as soon as they had it, without wasting time looking for anything else.

“Finally,” declared Achevarria, “Took your time, Andie.”

“I did not,” countered the avatar, “I took the minimum amount of time necessary to ensure that the flight recorder was not damaged in the process of removal. You know that.” It spoke in a severe tone, but there was an underlying humour in the voice. “Lead the way, Nikolai.”

The Ranger raised his left hand in acknowledgement and headed out of the bridge, with Three-Alpha right behind him again. It took far less time to get back to the hole in the hull where they had entered than it had taken them to reach the bridge; both because they weren’t having to trailblaze a path and getting stuck in dead ends, and because they were being slightly less cautious, but only slightly.

The shuttle flew back in close to the hull of the Swan as the Indoans reached the hull breach, and they swiftly boarded it in the same manner they had left. After that, it was only minutes before they were back in the hangar of the Faded Fortunes and stripping off their exposure suits.

(OOC - GruntsandElites - Who is he giving the disk too, Michael, Eve or Ivanova? And as for what he gets I'm not sure what he can read from her so I'll just give you the history and you can pick and choose)

(Eve - is a unique creation. Michael had been married once and his wife had been killed. After a period of mourning, and a brief bout of alcoholism, he threw himself into work and hobbies. One being the restoration of older vessels. The SSF-21D Cutlass is an old military vessel that did extremely well for it's time, and in fact can still be seen on police routes today. Michael had painstakingly reconstructed one from original parts that he had gotten piece meal. He had added a primitive form of A.I. programmed with all his memories of his deceased wife. In another thread the ship was given sentience by another vessel that had merged with an arcane being by accident. He dubbed her Eve. He was going to use her to reproduce, but he had failed to take into account the fact that memories in the ships archives were Michael's memories of his wife, and Eve turned against him. In the end they stood before a god, and the god imbued Eve with the spirit of Michael's lost wife. Now she can shift from her form from ship to human at will, though she has to spend at least 8 hours out of every 24 in her ship form.)

********

{Huh? What are you talking about?}

"Channa, she really started to get affected by the images", Simeon replied, though he, himself, scanned them as they came in. "Your cleared at bay 27", Simeon told the mind, "it's small, as I'm assuming your sending a shuttle. We'll meet in conference room 9, I'm sending a tightbeam to Moon Station to let them know about the incident and the investigation."

Simeon sent a detail to escort the Queen and the Baronness to the conference room while Channa went to prepare things. Then he sent J.O.A.T. a message to meet everyone there and continued to monitor the ongoing work onboard the Swan.

{I’d be disappointed if you thought otherwise, friend. You of all people should know that Indoan vessels aren’t supposed to dock with another, or allow another to take over command. The Salaquin will be departing shortly,} replied the Mind lightly.

The Condor shuttle had settled to the hangar deck, but had not powered down. The avatar knew they were likely to be dispatched to the station to deliver the flight recorder, and to be the Indoan presence in any council that followed. Jann and his comrades suspected the same thing, which was why he hadn’t shut down the shuttle, instead leaving the twin engines running while he and the other officers removed their suits.

The Rangers, remembering the strict rules that Simeon had on board his station, spent the time removing munitions from their ammunition pouches, leaving them with only their pulse rifles, the single magazine in the weapon, their sidearm and extra power packs for their battlesuits, though they expected to have to leave the rifles on the shuttle as well.

Five minutes after it had returned to the Faded Fortunes, the shuttle left the hangar again and made a microjump towards the station. Then Jann allowed Simeon to direct them to their assigned hangar, though the avatar remained in direct control of the shuttle, treating Simeon’s instructions as guidance only, subject to refusal at any time.

As the shuttle settled on to it’s landing gear, the engines shut down, and the rear hatch opened. All eight of the occupants disembarked, but went no further. The two SK-4s took up guard positions on either side of the hatch; since they couldn’t leave the hangar on account of Simeon’s rules, they might as well guard the shuttle. Jann spoke to the shell-person, knowing it would hear him.

“Simeon, are Lieutenants Kane and Kane allowed to retain their pulse rifles? They have no other armaments and no spare ammunition for it on them,” he asked clearly. He didn’t mention the sidearms that all six of them carried, because they had been allowed to keep those before, and regulations didn’t let them give them up. As they were waiting for an answer, the two Rangers removed their helmets and stowed them in their pouches, out of courtesy to the other people on the station.

(OOC - GruntsandElites - Who is he giving the disk too, Michael, Eve or Ivanova? And as for what he gets I'm not sure what he can read from her so I'll just give you the history and you can pick and choose)


OOc:Ivanova.

Ic: Salazan smiled. "Ahh. I see. Now I understand." He turned to Micheal. "If you would like to know about it, my people know of a way to regain a persons soul. But not as good as yours appearently." Salazan laughed, then handed the disk to Ivanova. "Shall we get going then?"

“Simeon, are Lieutenants Kane and Kane allowed to retain their pulse rifles? They have no other armaments and no spare ammunition for it on them,”

"That's pity", Simeon replied, "because right now we only have standard station security. The Queen was never supposed to board, so what we had would be enough. And it gives me the screaming willys not knowing where that ship went. I'm sending one of ..."

"No need, pops", came a voice from the other side of the shuttle, "I got'em."

J.O.A.T. came around to the other side of the shuttle, with her typical alluring gait. It wasn't something practiced, at least not anymore, it just came naturally to her now.

"Hey, guys, good ta see ya's", she said cheerfully.

Simeon muttered something about pops and spoke clearly, "Okay. Joat will bring you to the conference room. Any questions, though, just feel free to ask."

Joat flashed a smile and tossed her honey gold her over a shoulder and then pointed toward a door, "This way", she said, and then began to lead the way.

**********

"If you would like to know about it, my people know of a way to regain a persons soul. But not as good as yours appearently." Salazan laughed, then handed the disk to Ivanova. "Shall we get going then?"

"The people of this world are quite adept at it", Michael replied, as Ivanova answered her beeping link. Her face darkened and she gave back a quick, "Acknowledged", and then looked at them both.

"If you'll follow me", she said, her thoughts running over the disaster she had just been told about.

Salazan turned back toward Ivanova. "Let's get going then." As they were walking, Salazan looked toward Micheal. "So, would you like to hear the method that we use? It's quite simple, really."

Michael looked to Salazan. "You can tell me, but I hope it's really simple because I don't know jack about it. That's the domain of the priests. I just kill people. Or stop people from killing others, or track down them down."

Eve nudged Michael slightly, "Be nice, darling. You don't have to play soldier all the time." Then she looked at Salazar, "Please", please, she said, "do go on."

Meanwhile Ivanova led them to a lift that ran deeper into the huge station and then through various cross corridors, hoping she was remembering the way. Finally they arrived at a beautifully appointed conference room.

"Here we are", she said. "We'll start with brief introductions and backgrounds, and then, if you like, I'll take you on a tour of the station, though it is quite large. First I have something that I have to check on, so I beg your pardon for just a few moments."

Then she turned and once clear of the door, ran to the main operations to find out what happened, leaving Michael and Eve with Salazar.

Before Salazar could begin his explanation they arrived. After Ivanova left, Salazar frowned. "Hmm. The chairs aren't to my taste." He stared at one, and it morhped into a big, orange, bean bag chair.

Salazar sat down in it. he turned toward Eve. "As it seems you're more interested in the method, I'll tell you. The brain is stored in the soul, correct? Well, souls linger around their dead body for a while, unable to sever the connection to the brain until the Grim Reaper, and trust me, is he always late. This one time, he was supposed to show at...at a party..." At this point, Micheal was laughing very hard. "Never mind, I'm getting off track. Ok, so, before the Grim Reaper comes, we reconstruct the brain using synthetic material. The soul is stored in neural pathways, so, on the synthetic brain material, we carve out the neural pathways to match exactly the person's real brain. This is why it can fail, when people don't carve it out exactly. Anyway, we perform a spell sequence laid out exactly as it was invented 14,000 years ago. I was on the council to research the spell." Salazar sighed and continued on. " The soul is called back to the artificial brain and, if the process works, they are usually inserted into warships. If not, well, then... the soul is.... banished."

Michael sat down after a minute and then thought about what he was saying. "Then how do you explain ghosts, haunts and poltergeists? They're the souls of the dead who didn't pass beyond the veil."

"Ivanova to Lt. Dalamis. Download mission operations and have them at my control board, I'll want to review them immedietly", she told the acting man in charge while running to ops, trying to conserve as much time as possible.

Michael sat down after a minute and then thought about what he was saying. "Then how do you explain ghosts, haunts and poltergeists? They're the souls of the dead who didn't pass beyond the veil."


Salazan snorted. "They're the idiots who wanted immortality, so they made a deal with Death. Fools. They got immortality, but sure as hell not in the form they wanted. We banish them whenever we find them. We don't like the bastards. Always whining and complaining." Salazan launched into a high, mocking voice. "'Oh, I didn't want to be immortal like this! It's so dreary, and cold. Nobody ever likes me.'" Salazan laughed a short, bitter laugh. "They wonder why nobody likes them."

Michael sat back, pondering a few more minutes before he looked back up at Salazan.

"And what about vampires? They're souls are partially here, partially in the negative material plane, from which they gain thier powers. What about them?"

Salazan thought for a minute.

He spoke. "They bond part of their souls to the negative plane. I thought you could figure that one out."

"That ain't what I meant", Michael replied. "I mean I know that, but you said that ghosts and such were idiots. What is your opinion of Vampires?"

****
Ivanova downloaded the report to her wrist term and then began heading back before stopping and contacting the kitchens.

"Send some food to the conference room that I referenced earlier."

"What kind?"

"How the HELL should I know? I've never met their kind before. Just send ... sampler platters of everything. We'll send what's left to the mess hall."

"Aye, Sir."

Then she made her way back toward the conference room, reviewing the data as she went.

“They can keep them if you wish, Simeon. All their gear is on the shuttle. We just remembered your regulations from last time,” pointed out Jann. “Kane, Reid; get your gear, you can supplement Simeon’s security while we’re here,” he instructed the Rangers.

Kane grinned like a child told who had just been told he could have whatever he liked in a toy shop and bounded back into the shuttle. Reid shook her head in mock exasperation and followed him. They re-emerged within a minute, Kane still shoving extra magazines into his pouch as he did so.

“Joat,” greeted Andie dubiously, “I would say it is good to see you too, but I’m not sure it ever is with you.” A sly smile emerged on the avatar’s face. “And try not to steal any of our stuff while we’re here,” it added.

A smirk crossed Kane’s face as the Indoans began following Joat out of the hangar, and Riesco stifled a giggle. They remembered Joat’s affinity for advanced technology, particularly that which was beyond Central Worlds, and they had heard the rumours that she was trying to replicate some of the systems demonstrated by the Indoan fleet during the battle over Midgaard 3.

Joat slowed with a pained look on her face until she came even with Andie. Then she gave her a sly sideways grin and hip bumped her leg. "Better be careful Lady, I might grab you next", she replied and winked. "Anyways, this coulda been better, that's for fardlin sure. That ship bothers me, but others, seems an accident from what I can see."

"What do you mean?" Simeon asked her.

She held up a data crystal, "I was scannin anomolies when the ship came through. I ain't sure, but I think the drives was screwey."

"Yeah, I think that may have been the case", Simeon replied. "What anomolies were scanning for exactly?"

"Oh you know, this and that, the usual", she repllied cryptically.

"Joat Simeonhapp. You know I pulled alot of favors to keep you out of jail last time. You weren't scanning for cargo again were you?"

"Aww, come on pops, like I would do that again?" She replied.

"Yes", he answered her simply.

"Well anyway, I think this might match whatever you have then", she told him, changing the subject.

After a short trip down a corridor, up a lift and along a grav sled rail then down another corridor they arrived at the conference room. After a couple of minutes Channa arrived with Lauralin. She looked shaken, but otherwise okay."

“I’d like to see you try,” stated the avatar, a wicked glint in her eyes, “You wouldn’t last five minutes.”

“Yeah, you try and capture Andie and your positions would be reversed before you could blink,” added Kane. “Plus, there ain’t a soul on the Fortunes, including the ship itself, who wouldn’t hunt you down to get her back. We’re really very fond of her.”

A blush reddened the avatar’s blue skin as she looked at the Ranger. “Ahh, Nik. I didn’t know you cared,” she teased him.

“Of course I care,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders. He then brought a hand up to one side of his mouth and added conspiratorially, “But don’t tell Eve… Ow.” Reid’s gloved hand clipped him round the back of the head. He turned to her, his hands held up in surrender as she glowered at him in mock outrage. They maintained their charade for a few seconds, before she smiled and punched him playfully in the arm.

The Indoans made no visible reaction to the exchange between Joat and Simeon; they already knew she was basically a smuggler and a thief. However, she had evidently been given a reprieve by Simeon, if not the rest of the Central legal system, so they were content to work with her. If she did cross them, however, they would indeed hunt her to the ends of the universe to even the score.

When they reached the conference room, the six Indoans seated themselves in various chairs; the two Rangers leaning gently against each other and the others scattered around them. None stood when Lauralin entered, but they all gave a physical greeting; a raised hand or a nod.

Joat hadn't responded to the veiled threat. It wasn't like she would harm Andie anyway. If anyone had tried to harm Rand she'd sluice them fast. Synths and Brains just didn't have the terrible side that humans did and she liked thier company alot more.

Two security personal arrived and stood to either side of the door outside, and two others stepped in with Channa and Lauralin. Simeon had carefully chosen an all female deatail. Although men and women alike were affected by the strange natural charming ability of the Queen, women, at least, tried to pretend not to be interested, though Simeon could detect that even Channa's heartrate had risen.

The two security women looked worryingly at the heavy armed Indoans, having only needlers themselves. Needlers, after all, didn't rupture station hulls. They weren't aware of the advanced ammunition that allowed the Indoans to set the weapons to detonate thier shots after a certain distance, not to mention how heavily outgunned they were.

"It's okay", Simeon said, appearing on a screen and sending his voice out from there, so as to give everyone a point of focus. It was more for the Queen's benefit than anyone else. Although she seemed to be adapting well, she still seemed to need a place to look when she spoke to someone.

Simeon had chosen his persona of a young man with brown, somewhat mussed hair, though he kept the dueling scar on the left cheek. He still carried a baseball bat, however, and a huge red dog, his A.I. AntiVirus program, sat panting by his side.

"The Indoans are friends, and have permission to come aboard armed", he continued, looking at the security personel. "Lady Silverlief", he said, bowing respectfully and then gestured to a seat.

The security team relaxed and took positions by the door. Lauralin nodded to Simeon and took a seat. "I much preferred the reactions of the Indoans. I am not thier sovereign, not yours." She sank down into the seat gratefully and brought her hands up, placing her fingertips together and her forefingers to her lips as she thought, and concentrated on what was happening.

"Channa, they have the black box from the Swan, if you could hook it up, I'll extract the records. Queen Silverlief .... what ... exactly happened to you anyway?"

"It was a psionic overload", Lauralin replied, dropping her hands a bit so she could speak. "I had my mind open to those aboard the Swan. So I could feel, again, all the wonderment and amazement that I had felt when I first reached a place distant from my own world. Instead I felt fear, panic, pain and then .... nothing." The last word was almost a whisper. After a moment she looked up, blood tears sliding down her cheeks, "Did anyone survive? Anyone at all?"

“I much preferred the reaction of the Indoans. I am not their sovereign, nor yours.”

“Hell, I was just being lazy,” muttered Kane indifferently. Reid hurriedly brought a hand up to her mouth to hide her silent laughter, and Andie glanced exasperatedly at the Ranger.

“In Simeon’s defence, in most cultures it is customary to show at least some degree of respect to a foreign leader,” she interjected quickly, hoping that Lauralin had not heard the comment, but knowing that her highly sensitive hearing would almost certainly have caught it.

The avatar then pulled the flight recorder from one of the pockets on her uniform and handed it to Channa. Since it was mostly a Central design, she figured that Simeon would have little difficulty connecting with the data storage device, whereas an Indoan attempt to read it would have started with having to shape a connector. Not that it would have taken long, but it still took time.

“Did anyone survive? Anyone at all?”

“No,” reported Jann, “And from what we saw, I’d consider that fortunate.” He knew it sounded extremely harsh, but it was the truth. Riesco shuddered involuntarily as she recalled the scenes on board the Swan, and the avatar reached out and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Lauralin nodded, "Yes, I know it is custom. But I was an adventurer before I became Queen. I suppose it is still in my blood." She smiled at Kane as she spoke, having heard the comment, and, obviously not offended.

At Jann's report she sighed and nodded saddely. Channa offered a hand kerchief to Laura as she took the black box and moved over to a sliding panel, putting it inside.

"Joat", Simeon said, "why don't you explain our suspicions about what happened while I look over the log."

"You know what happened?" Lauralin asked.

"We suspect", Joat replied, "we think it's not WHAT happened but WHY. You see the Swan, like most ships, have more than one drive. They have to work in synch or ...."

"Moira's arrived", Simeon stated as she dove out of probability near the station. Unlike most Simeon didn't complain about how close she got, since she had never had an accident and was older than anyone else. He explained the situation to her and sent the feed from the Indoan's exploration as Joat continued.

"Yeah, in sync or it has rather sever repurcussions. Normally a brain or A.I. handles all the drives. In Dragonreaches case, however, they didn't have that capability, so all the drives were manned, though they were slaved to the computer of the lead technician. We think that something went wrong and the drives weren't in sync."

Simeon piped Moira to the room, "How did this happen?" she was asking, more of Simeon than anyone else.

"Was it an out of sync drive failure?" Simeon asked her so everyone could hear.

"Yes, it was", Moira replied.

"That ain't what I meant", Michael replied. "I mean I know that, but you said that ghosts and such were idiots. What is your opinion of Vampires?"


Salazan looked surprised. "Oh. They're okay. Most of them at least. I've met a few nasty ones."

Michael's com beeped and he answered it.

"I'm on my way back, Michael", came Ivanova's voice.

"And?" he replied.

"It's not good. Not good at all. I'll tell you when I get there, not on an open channel."

"Confirmed", was his immediate response.

"Ivanova out."

Michael sat back and glanced at Eve, who looked worried. There was only one reason Ivanova wouldn't put it on an open channel and that was that it was so bad that she didn't want news groups getting a hold of it before they could prepare a statement.

"Something wrong?" Salazan asked, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Apparently so", Michael answered, "though what will have to wait until the Commander returns. She's on her way back now."

“So, this was just the result of a technical failure?” asked Jann. The pilot was one of only two Indoans to have travelled on a Central vessel, and he had found the method disagreeable. He also wasn’t fond of the fact that it was probability based, since probability had a nasty habit of ending up precisely where you didn’t want it to. You couldn’t beat the odds forever.

“In that case, I hate to say it, but there’s not a lot more we can do,” stated Andie reluctantly. “We don’t know enough about your technology to be of any use in figuring out exactly what went wrong, or how to prevent it from happening again.” She paused for a few seconds, “We can still help with trying to identify that anomalous contact though.”

“Are you absolutely sure it was a drive failure?” asked Dex. “The unknown vessel couldn’t have caused this to happen?” The Douran engineer wasn’t trying to claim that Moira was wrong, he was just making sure all the possibilities had been thought of. “Surely it would have affected it in some way, and from what little I know of your drives, probably adversely.”

The other Indoans remained silent, they had little more useful material to contribute to the discussion; the technically-adept pilot and engineer and the all-knowing avatar were the only ones who had anything relevant to say. They had just been there is case they had found survivors or a problem.

"Well we'll need to look at the drives systems themselves, but .." simeon began.

"I don't know about failure", Moira cut in, "but it was definitely out of sync drives, I can tell you that."

"Two problems", Joat piped in, and everyone else got silent. "One the system was slaved to one computer, so if the equations were wrong they might pop up somewhere else, but the drives should have operated together to get them there. Moira is correct, though, from what I understand of out of syncs drives."

Joat tapped the conference table and exposed a hidden panel that each seat had before it, then began typing at an impressive spead. On the wall a simulation appeared showing the Swan.

"Two, if they were out of sync, the unknown vessel almost certainly couldn't have caused it. You see, it was under an unknown but standard drive when it pulled away. Standard drives don't work in probability. Therefore the out of sync error had to have occured as it entered. The fact that it was an out of sync failure attests to a problem in the Swan itself."

She pressed a button on the panel in front of her and the simulation began to move slowly forward.

"See. When a ship dives into probability, the engines create the reality around the ship that it needs. That's why it's vital that they work in sync."

On the screen the Swan seemed to split into three ships as Joat went on.

"When they aren't in sync, and the reason why they're typically handled by a brain or A.I., or in the Swan's case, a central computer, a reality is created by each drive, so, essentially THREE swans began the probability travel once it cleared the event horizan of the access point. Since the only thing that's common is the exit point, the drives move the different ships toward each other, each one being as real as the other two. A collision occurs just prior to the exit. In the transition to normal space, the three vessels are merged into one."

The simulation ran through, showing the three Swans moving toward each other, impacting and the merging as they exited.

"The other vessel would have had to have launched right at the point of merging, which would be a risk since it could have been destroyed in the collision, unless the ship was near the engine pods. They're protected so as not to become damaged in probability."

"There's a third problem", she continued. "Pops, can you display the wave guide of that anomolous reading?"

The scan of the unknown energy trail appeared, showing the unfamiliar pattern that occured just before it vanished.

"Okay, now put up the the wave guide that I had Rand send you and superimpose them."

Simeon did so, and it was an almost perfect match.

"The wave guide shows, what I believe to be, a slipstream drive", Joat stated.

"I've never heard of that", Channa said leaning forward to look at the wave guides, "what is that?"

"Probability is uncomfortable to many and normal space takes to long. The slipstream drive rides between the two, not quite reaching into probability, but rather just riding the crest of it. It's alot more comfortable and alot more predictable."

"Joat", Simeon cut in, "that's all well and good, but nothing like that has been made."

"Yeah, and that's the third problem. This one", she said, thickening the one that Simeon had put up, "is the one you detected and is apparently functional. The other one', and the other became bolder, "is one that doesn't work. The problem lies in the fact that I'm sure it's a slipstream drive, but that can't be possible because I haven't perfected it yet, I'm still working on it. NOW I know why mine doesn't work, the wave guide is slightly off."

Channa and Simeon stared at Joat. "You're telling us that this is YOUR engine?"

"No", Joat replied, "my test engine is still aboard the W.Y.A.L. But it is based on the testing that I was doing. See, that's the problem. This is the signature of a drive that hasn't been perfected yet."

"We have another problem", Simeon stated. "I'm still going through the logs in the black box, but I started with the bridge. I'll display this, but it's still going to be blurred. The problem is that the box was reintergrated as Joat said and, though the bridge personel were reacting to a similar emergency, each ship was in a slightly different place, therefore the crew reacted just a bit differently."

The image he played showed the personel of the Swan in the disturbingly distorted images in which they were found by the Indoan crew, seeming to support Joat's theory of reintegration. After a moment Simeon froze the image, "There", he stated, and zoomed in on the entrance to the bridge as the spoke. "This was moments before the collision and reintegration that we propose. Let me just clean up the image a bit."

Once he did, Lauralin stood slowly, staring at the picture. The person looking back at her, and everyone else in the room, from the picture, was Lauralin herself.

"But that cannot be, I was with Nancia."

"Yes", Simeon replied, "I confirmed that. But the flight recorder seems to say otherwise."

OOc:This definitly has something to do with alternate realities.

Ivanova finally returned, striding into the room with a grim look. Michael simply looked at her, without having to ask what was wrong.

"The Swan is destroyed. All hands lost."

Michael stood up, his eyes never leaving her.

"They're investigating now. So far nothing concrete. I would expect it'll take a few days. We need something to say to the press."

"I'll go look into it", Michael stated.

"The hell you will", Ivanova replied, "people are going to be going space happy wanting answers and we'll need you for security. You'll need to go inform the king."

"Ahhh, NUTS. Why do I get the crap duties?" he asked.

"Because your his security chief", Ivanova said simply. She looked at Salazan, "I'm sorry, this meeting certainly could have gone better. We can provide you quarters here at the station or down below, if you'd like to wait for things to die down a bit. We would still love to open a dialogue with your people."

((OOC: Well, you did get involved with an RP headed by CW.))

The Indoans remained mostly silent through Joat’s analysis; despite how irritating and unorthodox she was, she did have a good technical head on her. If anyone had something useful to add to an investigation into a problem with Central technology, it was likely to be her.

“So that’s why it’s so crazy in a probability jump?” asked Jann when she explained the process behind the probability drive. “Because there’s three of you? You’re never getting me to do that again,” he declared emphatically.

“You might not have constructed one yet, but slipstream drives do exist. We have encountered them in the past,” interjected the avatar. “They are usually controlled by AI which makes them very easy to use, but we have seen examples which are piloted by humans. It takes great skill for a human to pilot a ship through slipstream, and those who can are worthy of great respect.”

Riesco and Reid both gasped when the picture of Lauralin appeared on the screen, while Jann and Dex both stared open-mouthed, though the only reaction it provoked from Kane was a raised eyebrow. There was silence for a few seconds, then the avatar spoke again.

“I may not be able to shed any light on that, though I suspect you have a few theories, but I do have a question,” she stated. “Joat, if this wave pattern is so similar to yours, is it possible that someone stole the designs from you and perfected them, and then happened to test it here?”

“Now, I may just be a plain ol’ dumb Ranger, but I’ve got a thing or two to say about this,” spoke up Kane, drawing surprised looks from the other Indoans. “As you showed us that, I’m sitting here recalling the events that passed last time we were here. Events which including fending off a warship from another dimension.” He was deliberately affecting a mode of speech that was not his own. “Now, what I know of our science says that this isn’t possible, but is it possible that somehow you’ve got parallel dimensions interacting here? And in one of these parallel dimensions, you, miss Lauralin, chose to travel on board the Swan instead of with Nancia.”

(OOC: Yeah when it comes to CW you never know what that idiot will do .... wait a minute .... I think I just insulted myself...

ANNNNYway, not wanting to give away plot lines or anything so, I'll just say this. The basis of this is along those lines .... but completely different. *grin*)

“So that’s why it’s so crazy in a probability jump? Because there’s three of you? You’re never getting me to do that again,” Jann declared emphatically.

"Well", Joat replied, "it depends on the ship. Most have three drives. Some have two, but they tend to be private craft. Something like the Victorious has four massive ones. For some reason, more than four makes everything unstable, we haven't quite figured out why."

“You might not have constructed one yet, but slipstream drives do exist. We have encountered them in the past,” interjected the avatar.

Joat's head snapped to the avatar, her eyes gleaming. "Really? Where?"

“I may not be able to shed any light on that, though I suspect you have a few theories, but I do have a question,” she stated. “Joat, if this wave pattern is so similar to yours, is it possible that someone stole the designs from you and perfected them, and then happened to test it here?”

"Well I'm with the Queen on this one", she said, remembering a statement that Lauralin had made before. "Anything is possible, it's a matter of probability. In order to do that, since I don't have any hard copies, someone would have had to have broken into the W.Y.A.L., which would be unlikely since either Alvec or I are there 90% of the time and then hacked into the system. That would be damn near impossible since the system is, basically, Rand and he wouldn't give in easily."

“Now, I may just be a plain ol’ dumb Ranger, but I’ve got a thing or two to say about this,” spoke up Kane, drawing surprised looks from the other Indoans. “As you showed us that, I’m sitting here recalling the events that passed last time we were here. Events which including fending off a warship from another dimension.” He was deliberately affecting a mode of speech that was not his own. “Now, what I know of our science says that this isn’t possible, but is it possible that somehow you’ve got parallel dimensions interacting here? And in one of these parallel dimensions, you, miss Lauralin, chose to travel on board the Swan instead of with Nancia.”

As the question seemed addressed to Lauralin she looked over at Kane.

"You may hold pretense to idiocy, Mr. Kane, however, you do not fool me. You are far from it. The technology that created that, however, was old. Lost to our world. Magic can do what you propose, but there was no magic involved here."

She stopped for a moment, her brow furrowed in thought and then looked to Joat.

"What about parallel timelines?" she asked her.

"You mean the theory that every decision has multiple consequences and that breaks in timelines are thus created, thereby creating parallel timelines?" Joat answered and continued when Lauralin nodded. "Not with these drives. They don't affect time in any way, and they protect you from the dimensional pathways. Besides", she said, and sat down, running the image on the screen through her own programs on W.Y.A.L. and sharpening the image. "You can see three faces if you look closely. Therefore she", she said, nodding toward the picture, had to be from our reality. How she managed to hold herself together is the real question, you can see what the others were going through at the same time. She seems more .... cognizant of herself in all three places." She then looked at Laura, "Can you do that?"

"Perhaps, in time. My ability with dimensional magic is limited at the moment, but I am studying it."

“You may hold pretence to idiocy, Mr Kane, however, you do not fool me. You are far from it. The technology that created that, however, was old. Lost to our world. Magic can do what you propose, but there was no magic involved here.”

A lopsided grin appeared on Kane’s face. “I never said I was an idiot,” he countered, “I just don’t know much about this kind of thing. But the logic of the thing just worked it’s way through my thick skull.”

“Enough about your resistance to head injuries, Nikolai,” interrupted Andie, a hint of a playful tone in her voice. “We have more important things to be discussing.”

“You say the technology was lost,” piped up Riesco. “But that technology isn’t relevant here. Kane’s point was that those events showed us that other dimensions exist, and that we could have parallel ones interacting here.” She suddenly looked uncertain. “That was what you meant, right?” she asked the Ranger, who nodded.

After Joat finished speaking, Kane frowned. “That’s what I said, just she made it sound more scientific.” He looked sideways at Reid. “Isn’t that what I said, Eve?”

“Sounded like it to me, Nik,” agreed Reid. “Although I can’t claim to know much on this subject either.”

“So what is going on?” asked Jann. “Do we have any idea yet?”

"Actually", Joat replied to Kane and Eve, "you referenced alternate dimensions, we were talking about same dimensional alternate timelines. The first we've proven, as yet we've been unable to verify or deny alternate timelines."

"They exist", lauralin spoke up, "I know, I've seen them." She looked at Jann, "Nothing firm as yet, from I can gather. I suspect that vessel that escaped might hold our answers."

"Well I've found a few more things", Simeon piped up just as Tailchaser was escorted into the room. Only a catfolks nose was as sensitive as thier tail, and she cradled her tail in her arms as she made her way in, the bandage indicating that it was damaged but as yet unhealed, and she looked warily about, hugging her tail closer to her as though afraid someone might try to harm it. The damage, of course, had been the result of Nancia's mad dash to get out of the path of the oncoming wreck.

"Firstly", Simeon continued, "the Queen's duplicate seems to have arrived on the ship just minutes before it went into probability, of course she could have been in hiding.

Secondly. They engine inbalance was no accident."

The screen cleared showing the three engine compartments. "The master engineer I recognize. He's the one who was running the main console. The other two I don't, but as you can see here", and he slowed the video and zoomed in on the other two consoles, "they were trying to do something with the engines. Either they were trying to take the control computer out of the loop, or they were inputting thier own destinations, hoping that if two of three engines went where they wanted then the third would lose ground and they would get thier way. This is happening just after the Captain checked with the bridge engineer and all was in the green. Whatever they were trying to do caused the imbalance just before they dove into probability."

"So it was sabotage", Lauralin stated.

"Maybe, but not as such. I think they wanted to steal the ship, that would be my guess anyway, otherwise they couldn't have gotten off and would have sabotaged it knowing they would die."

"Such would not be beyond the tenacity of some", Lauralin replied.

"Well", Joat cut in, "your double having been there blows the alternate timeline theory, and the possibility of dimensional arrival. She was there before the ship left normal space."

He turned toward Ivanova. "I don't need quarters. I'll stay in my ship." He rubbed his eyes. "Press the button on that disc I gave you. It'll probably be the Imperial Council."

Ok. I'm just really confused. It's kinda hard to understand what is where, because you said the one lady talked to Eve, who is on Moon Station.

(OOC - GruntsandElites - I see your confusion now. Free Eagles has a character that is named Eve. So here's a breakdown:

Simeon Space station:
Jann
Eve (not the one your talking to)
Kate
Kane
Anderleigh (or Andie for short)
Lauralin
Channa
Simeon
Joat

Moon station (where you are):
Ivanova
Michael
Eve (the one you were talking to)

Sorry about that, I hadn't even thought about it. I hope this clears things up.)

Ivanova nodded and pressed the button then looked at salazan, "You know, if you know about drives, maybe you could help? Something happened to the Swan, something about an engine imbalance. That is, if wouldn't be asking to much."

((OOC: Hehe, yeah, I guess that could be confusing. Fortunately for you, my Eve (Evelyn actually) normally goes by Reid (or Kane, just to confuse things further.) CW just gave you a list of characters, but I'll give you another list of mine, with full names, since I have a habit of randomly switching between them as I see fit.

Jann Ferrante, Kate Riesco, Nikolai Kane, Evelyn Kane née Reid, Dex Achevarria and avatar Anderaleigh, usually known as Andie.))

Kane grumbled under his breath as Tailchaser entered, whose appearance drew glances from the Indoans, but no comments. They had stopped caring what they saw here, since so little of it made sense to them, they had adopted the policy of ‘just accept it, get the job done and we can go home, where everything makes sense’.

“So, this was an attempted theft,” stated Andie. “A simple technology theft? Or a ransom situation? A thousand hostages would provide a heavy incentive to submit to any demands they made. And your population’s opinion of interstellar travel would take a serious hit. Though I suspect this will cause even more damage.”

I still don’t know why they allowed passengers on the maiden flight, thought Jann after Andie’s comment. Maiden flights should risk as few people as possible. You never know what can go wrong with a new ship. He brushed the thought aside. It was too late for that, and making the comment would only make things worse.

“If it was an attempted hostage taking, who might be responsible?” asked Jann. “I mean, how many people or groups that are familiar with your planet would both know about the launch, and be capable of trying to pull this off?”

“If it was an attempted hostage taking, who might be responsible?” asked Jann. “I mean, how many people or groups that are familiar with your planet would both know about the launch, and be capable of trying to pull this off?”

Lauralin shook her head. "I do not know. I was a member of the interstellar united nations for awhile, so I am sure that many heard of our world at least. But most if not all were more advanced. It was only through another nation that I was introduced. Of my own world I can think of none with the capabilities required to do this."

"Well", Joat said, "I think we should ask the ones responsible."

Lauralin looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

Joat was looking at the two drive waves. "I have a prototype drive. It's output is off, but if I warm it up and connect it to the sensors on the W.Y.A.L. then I can adjust the frequency on the sensors to match the output we're looking for. The engine will allow us to punch through real space and track the signal. It'll be tricky, but I think I can pull it off."

Ivanova nodded and pressed the button then looked at salazan, "You know, if you know about drives, maybe you could help? Something happened to the Swan, something about an engine imbalance. That is, if wouldn't be asking to much."

OOc:Thanks. That does clear things up.

Ic: Salazan nodded and said "Well, I can take a look, but I'm only familiar with the engines my nation uses. They work on two very different principles. I have a spell that might work, but I am not the Artificer."

Suddenly, a man appeared in the chamber near Ivanova. He looked around. He was about 6'7, had brown hair, and striking golden eyes. The most interesting thing about the eyes though, were the way the pupils were shaped. Like hourglasses. His eyes seemed to draw you into them, to lock your gaze into his forever. He wore a long purple cape with extravagent clothes and several swords, daggers, and what appeared to be a pistol on his belt. "Nice place ya got here. My name's Cooper, and I am the Imperial Timemaster. If Salazan gives you any trouble, ring anyone on the Imperial Council, they'll deal with him.

If you want, the Imperial Artificer, master of our technology, could help you out. He knows many more spells than Salazan does." Cooper said condescendingly. "I will help, not the REST OF YOU!" Salazan shouted. "REMEMBER YOUR PLACE, SALAZAN!" Cooper shouted back, his face turning red. Heat started to fill the room. Salazan stood from his chair. The two Planeswalkers looked into each other's eyes. Mana started to swirl around the room, causing bolts to pop out of the metal, electricity to crackle and spark. Cooper broke his gaze, and the room slowly returned to normal. Cooper turned toward Ivanova.

"I am extremely sorry for this. If it has any way inconveinienced you, I apologise. We will pay for whatever damages may have happened." He turned back toward Salazan, now sweating, fists curled and at his side. Cooper sighed and looked down. He looked back up and said "Salazan, just do what they tell you to as long as it doesn't interfere with the Five Great Laws. I apologise to you also. I should not treat you like a child. You were right." Salazan's feature's softened, and he whispered "Apology accepted."

He and Cooper bowed to each other. Cooper turned and bowed to Ivanova. "If you have any trouble, call us with that. We will help." With that. he turned and dissapeared. Salazan slumped down into his chair. He rubbed his temples and sighed. After a few moments, Salazan stood back up and turned toward Ivanova. "Do you want me to take a look at the engines now, miss?" He said quietly, gazing sorrowfully around the room, but he never once looked into anyone's eyes.

"Well", Ivanova replied, "and here I thought I got into some wicked pissing matches." She hoped he would catch the humor and then continued. "If your up to it, sure. Do you need an escort to the location? Oh, and if possible, as I'll be here, perhaps you could give this", she said, holding up the disk, "to the Queen of Dragonsreach?"

Jann and Kane looked at each other, both with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile on their faces. “Here we go again,” they declared in unison, drawing a chuckle from Reid and Andie. “That sounds like a pretty good idea, assuming you can get it to work,” continued Jann, agreeing with Joat’s proposal. “I assume we can’t drag the Fortunes with us using your drive, so it’ll just have to jump to us whenever we end up back in real space.”

“I concur. With what’s on the WYAL and our equipment, we should stand a fairly good chance of finding what we’re looking for when you have found a location. And having the Fortunes’ firepower to back us up could prove useful. Though I hope we don’t need it,” agreed Andie.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Kane restlessly. “Let’s go hunting.” In the blink of an eye, his rifle was in his hands and he armed the weapon, with a click-vhhnn as the pulse circuits charged up. He winked at the two security officers in the room to reassure them he meant no harm, then just as quickly deactivated the weapon and slung it over his shoulder once more.

"Do you really think you can pull this off?", Channa asked.

"Hey", Joat replied, "it's me your talking to."

"So you don't have a clue", Simeon replied smugly.

Joat gave a devlish grin at Simeon's picture, "Wanna bet on it?"

"NO", Channa and Simeon replied in unison, knowing the technical wizardry that Joat had managed to pull off in the past.

"Thought so", Joat muttered and activated her implant as she headed for the door. "Rand, kick Alvec out of bed, we have work to do", she told the A.I. of W.Y.A.L. as she headed out the door and proceeded to tell him what she planned as she made her way to where he was docked.

Lauralin shook her head but smiled as Joat headed out the door.

"Funny?", Tailchaser asked.

"She reminds me of Baghtru", she told the Baroness, speaking of the half-orc who typically guarded her along with the barbarian woman, Brook. Both had been furious when she told them they were staying home to help her father. "He is absolutely sure that anything can be accomplished, has no idea how he's going to do it, but manages to pull it off somehow."

Lauralin glanced at Simeon then back to Tailchaser, "I am sure that I could arrange some form of transportation home. There is no need for you to continue."

Tailchaser gave a smile that looked more she was about to have Lauralin for lunch. "Go", she said, tapping herself and pointing at Laura.

"As you wish", Lauralin replied. She then turned to Andie, "With all do respect to Captian Simeon-Happ, would it be possible to join you aboard your vessel? As I said, Joat reminds me of Baghtru, and at such times as this, it's typically better to await the outcome."

"I can provide .... sustenance, for the Queen, if you wish to take her aboard", Simeon put in. Laura already knew, as did Simeon, that Nancia would be down for some time, and Laura didn't know Moira, therefore feeling more comfortable with the Indoans.

"I assume it would be difficult for your people to have someone ... like me aboard. But I shall endeavor to be as out of sight as possible", Lauralin told them, knowing how most react to vampires and having seen the reactions of some of the Indoans.

“With all due respect to Captain Simeon-Happ, would it be possible to join you aboard your vessel? As I said, Joat reminds me of Baghtru, and at such times as this, it’s typically better to await the outcome.”

“Certainly you can,” confirmed Andie, without even bothering to check with the Mind. “We would be honoured. And I know exactly what you mean. There are some things that it is better to stay out of until as late as possible.”

“I can provide… sustenance, for the Queen, if you wish to take her aboard,”

“That would be useful. I have no idea how long this search might take, and I believe Matrai blood proved to be of little use to her, so our medical supplies are of no use in this matter,” the avatar replied. It looked back at Lauralin. “And don’t worry about the crew. If you keep your fangs hidden, they will never know.” The mischievous smirk was back on Andie’s face.

Kane was watching the catwoman interestedly. The ‘other species’ issue didn’t bother him, as it hadn’t with Lauralin, and he was trying to work out the meaning in the exchange between her and Lauralin. He was considering using his knowledge of Douran gestures, since she was clearly descended from a predatory species, although less of it was evident than with the Douran.

Lauralin smiled, showing perfect white teeth. "Fortunetly, the particular blood line from which I was created has eye teeth that recede into the gum line until .... well .... until they are needed." She bowed her curtseying slightly to Andie, "And thank you for your kindness. Would it be possible to take the Baroness as well?" she asked, indicating Tailchaser. "I shall take full responsibility for her conduct, if you need reassurances."

Tailchaser dropped her tail, it begining to twitch in irritation. "Conduct fine", she said, forming the coming language around her sharp predators teeth with some difficulty, "what say?"

Lauralin looked at Tailchaser and smiled, "Would you accept them into your castle without escort, having just met them?"

Tailchaser realized her mistake and nodded. "Understand."

“Of course. If she wishes to come, we can certainly accommodate her,” confirmed Andie. “Do either of you wish for quarters so you can rest?” she asked.

Though only a small vessel, and a warship at that, the Vadra-class corvette did have 3 sets of unassigned quarters on the standard crew number. It was recognised that sometimes vessels did have to carry extra personnel, specialists or those being transferred were the two most common. The quarters were small and rather plain, but they served the task well enough.

The Indoans stood and made ready to leave. “Well, let’s get going,” stated Kane. “We’re not finding anyone by wasting time here.” He made his way over to the door. “After you,” he told the two aliens politely.

“Kane has a valid point? Again?” muttered Riesco in amusement. “If this keeps up I’m going to start getting worried for the state of the universe.” The Ranger glared at her, and she smiled sweetly at him.

“Oh, Simeon. Would you ask Joat if she want’s any assistance with her Slip drive, please?” asked the avatar.

"Well", Lauralin replied, "though I agree with Mr. Kane, that time is of the essence, it is a matter of whether or not Ms. Simeon-Happ is prepared. I believe that she should be reaching her ship very soon, but she needs to ... do ... whatever it is she is doing." She looked at Andie, "Room assignments are not of precidence at the moment, though I thank you. If you need to show us, however, then please proceed. I know not your proceedures. Besides which we may have a wait as Ms. Simeon-Happ prepares her device."

Tailchaser extended the one and half inch, razor sharp claws of one hand and reached up to scratch an ear as she looked at Lauralin in bemusement. "That longest winded yes ever", she told her.

Lauralin raised an eyebrow but grinned at the Baroness, "It is more propitious."

Tail snorted, "She say yes", she said to Andie simply and retracted her claws as she got over the confusion of Lauralin's rather lengthy reply.

Simeon checked with J.O.A.T. and was surprised when she agreed. Once she explained, rather shortly, he understood. "Yes", Simeon replied, "Joat is willing to accept help. Ghu help us, she's being reasonable."

“I am completely aware of the conclusion evident in her response, as verbose as it was, though she was quite correct in cataloguing all the factors involved in this endeavour, as they all influence the suitability of the choices available to us and the urgency inherent in the situation,” replied Andie, winking at Tailchaser.

“Now look what you’ve gone and done,” grumbled Dex. “She’ll be showing off her vocabulary and her ability to use as many words as possible to say the simplest things all day. And we’ve got to listen to her!”

“Translation: We know,” pointed out Riesco, mirroring Tailchaser’s actions regarding Lauralin’s statement.

“Could you please not call me ‘Mister Kane’? It makes me feel uncomfortable. Just Kane,” the Ranger told Lauralin. “Or Lieutenant, if you prefer. Or Nikolai, if you must. Now, as I believe you all agreed I had a point, let’s get going.” With that, he headed out of the door, and back in the direction of the hangar bay where the shuttle was waiting.

The Douran engineer was only a step behind him, still grumbling, though only half-heartedly. “Damn straight. Sooner we get this over with, the sooner Andie will start talking normal again.”

As the rest of the Indoans filed out and followed Kane, Andie spoke to Simeon again. “Ask her the nature of the help she requires. Engineers, a pilot, or something else?”

"Well", Ivanova replied, "and here I thought I got into some wicked pissing matches." She hoped he would catch the humor and then continued. "If your up to it, sure. Do you need an escort to the location? Oh, and if possible, as I'll be here, perhaps you could give this", she said, holding up the disk, "to the Queen of Dragonsreach?"

Salazan looked at her humorlessly. "I'm up to it. I need to know the location, that is all." He took the disk out of her hand. "I would gladly take this to the Queen of Dragonsreach."

OOc:Is there anything about anyone there Salazan would detect upon arriving?

Lauralin grinned at Andies long reply while Tailchaser just stared and then grinned at Riesco's comment.

Laura smiled at Kane, "By your will. Have you a preference concerning the the matter? Otherwise, with your permission, I shall address you as Kane."

Simeon checked back in with Joat and 'caught up' with the Indoans after Laura and Tail followed Kane out of the room. "She needs an extra pair of hands for the work", Simeon replied, 'so a tech would be best. No one flys the W.Y.A.L. but her."

*****************

Ivanova pulled up a three dimensional image of known central worlds space. Two points flashed in the sphere, "We're here", she said pointing to one, "and the space station Simeon is here. I certainly appreciate any and all help you can give."

(OOC - Only one I know that might catch his attention, out of my people, is Lauralin. Very powerful sorceress with highly developed psionic talent. Not to mention she's a vampiress. Tail I don't know, minimal magical powers, barely enough to illuminate a few things on her to help her get through pitch black areas. No one else though.)

Salazan took the disk from Ivanova. "Alright, I'll do that." He blinked out of existence.

A second later, he reappeared by Lauralin. He immediately thought out his situation. Damn! Must have 'Walked to the most powerful soul nearby. Oh well. "Hi. I'm Salazan. You must be the Queen of Dragonsreach. You have a very powerful soul." He held out the disk. "Ivanova told me to give this to you."

Laura tensed as he Salazan suddenly appeared, a flame aura surrounding her as her banked magic began to manifest itself. Tailchaser took on an unorthidox stance and extended the claws of both hands. Unorthidox, at least, until one took into account her balancing tail and differently structured legs, then it became evident that the stance was a rather lethal 'unarmed' fighting style.

At the mention of Ivanova, Lauralin relaxed and took the disc. Tail, for the moment, remained ready to fight, in case something happened.

Laura examined the disc and looked at Salazan. "You are correct, Sir, I am she." Her voice had a musical quility to it and was rather heavily accented by her elven heritage. It was also very alluring, being one formed from a natural singer, to which she would blushingly say she isn't, though most thought her very good. And due to the fact that the natural vampiric charm that was difficult to bank.

Andie was about to tell Simeon that they would send over the Fortunes’ other avatar to assist her when a person appeared from nowhere among them. Riesco threw herself sideways, diving to the floor and landing next to Dex, pulling him down with her. She wasn’t afraid, just clearing the line of fire, as Kane’s pulse rifle was armed and aimed at the intruder’s head within half a second, held firmly in one hand, while the other drew his pistol and aimed that at the target as well. Jann and Andie both jumped back into crouches and drew their sidearms, while Reid automatically imposed herself between the intruder and Lauralin, her rifle tucked in tight to her shoulder.

From her position between the vampire and the intruder, Reid suddenly realised that Lauralin could conjure a stream of flame from her hands, but not with the Ranger in the way. To rectify this, she subtly moved sideways, allowing Lauralin a line of fire just to one side of her. The Ranger had no fear for herself, her armour would protect her.

When the intruder did not appear hostile, and mentioned the name Ivanova, Andie spoke to the Indoans over their neural threads, telling them to relax. She stood, holstering her sidearm as she did so, then helped Riesco and Dex up from their prone position. Jann also stood and put away his weapon. Kane put away his pistol, but did not lower or safe the rifle, showing that he did not trust Salazan. Reid did not move either, remaining in her body-blocking position.

“Not the best of ideas, just appearing out of nowhere like that,” declared Kane, his voice revealing how close he was to firing the weapon in his hands. “Makes people a mite jumpy.”

"It's quite hard to warn you that I'm coming. My travel methods are near instantaneous." Salazan stated. He stared at Kane's weapon. "Please, let's not be hostile." The safety clicked into place and the clip fell out of the weapon.

Salazan turned to Lauralin. "I am Salazan, Imperial Liason of the Imperial Council of the Imperium of GruntsandElites. Quite a lot of "imperial" in there, isn't there?" He laughed. "Anyways, Ivanova wants me to inspect the engines on your ship, to see what went wrong. To me, it sounds like a Remnant attack. Very powerful beings....." Salazan seemed lost in thought for a moment.

Lauralin placed a hand on Reid's arm, "Thank you", she said. She could have defended herself, and still could, but made no move to get Reid out of her way. She was grateful for the Indoan's self sacrifice and made a mental note of it. Should Reid ever need help, she would do all within her power to assist Reid in any way.

"Where we come from", Lauralin told Salazan, "it is considered rude, and in bad manners to simply arrive unannounced."

"Fardlin far from that", Simeon announced from a nearby sounder as Channa appeared in the hallway, sidearm in hand.

"However, if you can assist, I would be grateful for it. The vessel lies outside, perhaps Simeon could assist you in getting to it. Or I could take you. I have never heard of a Remnant. Perhaps it is what we call a Revenant, though why one would destroy the Swan I do not know."

Kane’s face darkened as Salazan manipulated his weapon, and he let it fall to his side, hanging off the strap. “So, that’s the way you want to play this, huh?” he declared, drawing pistol and knife. The laser pistol worked completely differently from the rifle; it had a pressure-safety, so as long as it was in his hand, it was armed. He stepped towards Salazan.

“Kane!” snapped Andie sharply, “Stand down. Yes, he’s an arsehole, but that’s not going to help right now.” She was deliberately speaking English, so that all involved knew what she was saying. The Ranger gave the alien a look that could kill, and reluctantly stowed his weapons. The avatar turned to Salazan, “And as for you,” she declared, jabbing a finger at his chest, “You should know better. Lauralin is right; it’s rather rude to show up like that without warning. And forcibly disarming a soldier rarely helps their opinion of you, and usually makes things worse.”

While Andie was talking, Dex had retrieved the fallen magazine from Kane’s rifle and removed two items from the pack around his shoulder. The Douran engineer instantly became the most dangerous person in the group, excepting Lauralin, though no-one would realise until it was too late. The reason for this was that he could combine the three items in his hands into an impact fragmentation mine within ten seconds.

Reid’s eyes flicked sideways at the touch on her arm, then she lowered her weapon and moved out of the way. She would have passed a comment, but she was more concerned for Kane. If Salazan tried anything further, he would have two angry Rangers to deal with, not just one, and Reid would be out to protect her husband.

Many of the Indoans were remembering the incidents with Lauralin and Shandaril, where both had attempting to diffuse a situation in a similar way, and the attempts had been similarly received. With Lauralin, she hadn’t tried to disarm anyone, just made it difficult for them to do anything, then put herself in among those Indoans who had no armour, making it impossible for the Rangers to do anything without great risk. In Shandaril’s case, she had disarmed them, which hadn’t gone down well, because if she didn’t leave, they would all die.

Laura let her hand drop as Reid lowered her weapon. She allowed Andie her peace, knowing she was right. Soldiers hated being disarmed, a lessen she had learned long ago during her adventuring days which had earned her the enmity of a particularly powerful soldier, and rather high ranking. Not that it would have mattered much, as he would have hunted her anyway. The Zhentarim were her enemies, but the insult of disarming the man made his pursuit that much more fevered.

"Okay", came Simeon's voice, "lets calm down here. Ivanova is the commander of the station around Midgaard, right?"

"Correct", Lauralin replied, "if she sent him to me then there is good reason."

"Which is, apparently, that he can help. By the way, we're working on a statement for the press."

Lauralin sighed. "I am not sure which is worse. Vulture Lions, Rock Trolls or Reporters."

"Reporters", Channa replied, "hands down."

Lauralin giggled and then looked at the still stern faces of the Indoans and gathered herself. "Yes, well. I am sure you will do just fine Simeon. Mister Salazan, if you would be so kind, we should make haste in inspecting the engines. We are already preparing to investigate and should be ready to leave promptly."

Without another word on the situation, Kane wheeled around and stalked off down the corridor in the direction of the Indoan shuttle. He pulled his helmet from his belt, put it over his head, then disappeared, leaving only a faint distortion where he had been. The sharp of eye could see the distortion rapidly moving away, before disappearing round a corner.

“That man is looking to kill something,” murmured Andie. She had a rapid mental argument about sending someone after him, but decided the only person that might help the situation was Reid, and the avatar was reluctant to send both Rangers away, just in case.

~ Kane? she asked him over the neural thread.
~ I’m fine. Just have something waiting for me to shoot at in the range, he replied tersely.
~ As you wish, agreed Andie, notifying the Fortunes to set something up.

After the mental exchange, she gave Reid a reassuring glance and spoke to Simeon, voicing the statement she had intended to make before Salazan’s abrupt arrival.
“Simeon, inform Joat that one of the Fortunes’ other avatars will be there to assist her shortly. May we displace it onto this station, or would you prefer that it was transferred by shuttle?” she asked the shell-person.

As the Indoans waited, Dex looked to Reid and, satisfied that the situation had diffused enough that all out violence was not a particularly likely outcome, deftly tossed the magazine from Kane’s rifle to the other Ranger, who caught it neatly and put it into her combat pack. He then put the other two items back into his own pack, and smoothed down the fur on his forearms.

Lauralin placed a hand on Reid's arm, "Thank you", she said. She could have defended herself, and still could, but made no move to get Reid out of her way. She was grateful for the Indoan's self sacrifice and made a mental note of it. Should Reid ever need help, she would do all within her power to assist Reid in any way.

"Where we come from", Lauralin told Salazan, "it is considered rude, and in bad manners to simply arrive unannounced."

"Fardlin far from that", Simeon announced from a nearby sounder as Channa appeared in the hallway, sidearm in hand.

"However, if you can assist, I would be grateful for it. The vessel lies outside, perhaps Simeon could assist you in getting to it. Or I could take you. I have never heard of a Remnant. Perhaps it is what we call a Revenant, though why one would destroy the Swan I do not know."

Salazan sighed as she said it. "Yes, I know. Same as where we come from. But, I was not 'Walking to a perticular spot, so I was pulled to the most powerful soul. Which, appearently, is you."

He thought for a second, then said "Remnants are... spirits, they exist in other dimensions, ones we use for traveling, mainly. They attack a ship, rip it apart, drive everyone insane or kill them. Some, are... mutated. It is generally not talked about. I really don't know much, nore care too. Ask the Imperial Remnant. We forged an alliance with them, after much bloodshed. That was long, long past." He shuddered.

When Kane pulled out the pistol and knife. Salazan simply sighed. Fool.
Was the only thing he thought.

He stood watching until Lauralin offered him passage. "No thank you. I much prefer Planeswalking to any other form of travel. Just tell me when you are ready."

He turned to the nearest Ranger. "If Kane wants to fight me, we can have a sparring match if he wishes."

With the situation apparently diffused Tailchaser relaxed, retracting her claws and coming out of her stance.

"I think that, time being of the essence, the avatar should be displaced", Simeon replied, and sent the station schematic to the Fortunes with the location of the W.Y.A.L. Strangely enough, the vessel itself resisted scans, seemingly not in the dock that Simeon indicated.

Lauralin watched Kane stalk away and sighed, both in relief and resignation. The ranger was angry, and justifiebly so. She looked at Salazan as he spoke and replied. "I am ready, I shall meet you near the ship. There is no atmosphere inside, so I assume that you do not need any. If you were attracted to my soul then you should have no trouble finding me."

Once said, the air near her shimmered and wavered and she walked forward. Once she hit the spot she seemed to move forward quickly to an impossible distance before disappearing.

Much to Simeon's consternation, Lauralin appeared just off the port side of the stricken vessel. She was floating in space, no suit or armor, and apparently unaffected but the vacuum. She looked about, waiting for Salazan to arrive before into the vessel.

The drives would appear to be normal, barring the damage from the impact. The imbalance in the time they were activated had obviously caused the problem, supporting J.O.A.T.'s hypothosis.

“Kane doesn’t want to fight you,” Reid told Salazan bluntly, a look of contempt in her eyes. “He wants to kill you.” She started to walk away, then added, “And he’s got my support in the matter.” She continued walking, following the path taken by Kane, albeit at a far more relaxed pace. The Ranger had been quietly amused when the avatar had reprimanded Salazan as though he were a child, thinking it thoroughly deserved.

“Mine too,” agreed Jann. Riesco and Dex also voiced their agreement, and all three began following the Ranger. All shared the opinion that the sooner this arrogant alien was out of their sight, the better. And if he was going to be involved in the investigation into what happened to the Swan, then they wanted to get that over with as soon as possible as well.

Though she made no comment, Andie also agreed with the sentiments of the crew, and if the situation came up again, she would actually have to think about whether to stop the Ranger or not. She had seen Salazan’s opinion of Kane in his eyes when the Ranger had made to attack. It was true the Ranger had overreacted, but to dismiss him as Salazan had appeared to was to grossly underestimate him. As Lauralin had noted not so long ago, Kane was more intelligent than he usually gave the impression of, and he would be looking for ways to accomplish the task.

“Please follow me, we will return to the Faded Fortunes now,” Andie said to Tailchaser, ignoring the continued presence of Salazan.
----

In the entryway to the dock where the WYAL was located, a silvery ovoid expanded rapidly into existence, it’s opaque surface softly reflecting the ambient light. Anyone that happened to walk into it was gently pushed back. Once it was a little over two metres in height, and one in diameter, it held that size for a few seconds, then just as rapidly fell away, as though into the deck, leaving a slender woman behind. She had the same marble-white skin as the Matrai, and was clad in an unmarked black Indoan naval uniform, just like Andie.

She walked over to where station and vessel joined and announced her presence, in a voice that was not loud, but carried well over considerable distance.
“Captain Simeon-Happ, permission to come aboard. I am the avatar Fayalin-Xunrae of the Faded Fortunes; I am here to assist you.”
She tied back her raven-coloured hair as she waited, collecting the long silky hair in a ponytail that reached down to her waist. There were a few loose strands that had fallen across her brow, but they were intentionally left free.

Tailchaser padded along behind Andie, looking about her in wonder. Not so much from the technical aspect as from the fact that people actually chose to live here rather than outside, in the open, with the freedom to run where one wished. At least to an extent. Crossing borders could get ugly, but that was the way of things and accepted with the typically fatalistic attitude of her people.

“Why?” Tailchaser asked, moving her arm to take in the station. She sniffed, “Air not good. Not fresh. No grass, trees, open sky.”

----

Joat was busy in the engine compartment, attaching the drive systems to the sense engines. Though she heard the woman she left it to Alvec to bring her aboard, as she was right in the middle of a delicate operation.

Alvec, a big man, broad shouldered and powerfully built, came to the hatch. He was strange in that, though he was uglier than most men, once he smiled, which he did the moment he saw the woman, he had an infectious personality that melted many women’s hearts. Human women at least.

“Hello”, he replied affably, “Well you’re a damn sight better looking than the last technician I had to deal with.” How he ‘dealt’ with the last technician was a question only he and Joat could answer, and one most wouldn’t want to know, based on the scars the crossed his forearms and a couple on his face. He reached out a hand, offering to take hers, “Welcome aboard the W.Y.A.L., I’ll take you to the captain.”

The W.Y.A.L. had changed since their last meeting. It was a bit more streamlined now, though still capable of carrying it’s former volume of cargo. It was mat black, difficult to see when in space unless you got close and resistant to scans. Though it wasn’t Joat’s intention to hide the ship here, but she had to make sure that once the drive was hooked into the sense engines that all the systems worked, encluding her newly developed cloak.

The cloak didn’t work like the Wraith’s did and it had taken her some time to finish. The advantage was that it didn’t extend around the ship, like the wraiths, thereby making it effective even at close range. But it did have other difficulties which she had set, temporarily, on the back burner, since she was working on the skin hugging cloaking ability like the Indoan’s possessed.

“That’s a good question,” replied Andie. “In some cases it’s because they ran out of room on the planet, so they expanded into space, where they would have all the room they would ever need. In others, it’s because they want to see what is ‘out here’, and are willing to put up with some hardships to find out.”

She stopped walking and turned to look at Tailchaser. “You have to remember, humans are less in touch with nature. They will enclose themselves in fortresses of metal and stone, as though to keep ‘nature’ out. Of course, there are some that think like you, but not many. Humans are technophiles, and technology is rarely in tune with nature.”

“You may find our vessels more to your liking, though. The air is cleaner, because of the respiratory requirements of the Matrai. Colder too, but that’s how we like it. It’s not all that dissimilar to mountain air.” She resumed walking in the direction of the hangar where their shuttle was located.
----

“You are Alvec, correct?” guessed Fayalin. She reached out and took the offered hand in a surprisingly strong grip for one who, by her build, looked fairly delicate. “I’m not exactly a technician, but I think I will be able to help.” She smiled pleasantly in return. “Your ship is very interesting. Bit of a mongrel, but all the more intriguing for it. Rather different from when we last saw her, but given the nature of her captain, that’s not too surprising.”

The avatar had also guessed that many of the changes had been inspired by the Indoan vessels, even the exterior style was basically stolen from the Indoan Navy. And she knew about Joat’s efforts to mimic some of the Indoan technologies she had seen in action.

Tailchaser smiled, pleased that she had actually gotten a response. With the exception of Lauralin and a handful of others, non-catfolk tended to treat her as a child because of her broken speech. It wasn't a lack of intellect that caused it, but rather the extreme difficulty in forming words around a mouthful of teeth meant for tearing flesh. Those who got to know her realized how intelligent she is and how bad a mistake to think otherwise, though here, she was far outside of her own terrain or knowledge.

"Colder", Tailchaser replied and purred, a rather loud noise coming from a cat the size of a human, "Colder good. Fur, heat, no good." She nodded, as though have made a great discovery, "No good, bad for fur."

----

“You are Alvec, correct?” guessed Fayalin. She reached out and took the offered hand in a surprisingly strong grip for one who, by her build, looked fairly delicate. “I’m not exactly a technician, but I think I will be able to help.” She smiled pleasantly in return. “Your ship is very interesting. Bit of a mongrel, but all the more intriguing for it. Rather different from when we last saw her, but given the nature of her captain, that’s not too surprising.”

The avatar had also guessed that many of the changes had been inspired by the Indoan vessels, even the exterior style was basically stolen from the Indoan Navy. And she knew about Joat’s efforts to mimic some of the Indoan technologies she had seen in action.

"Aye, Lady, good to be known to a beautiful woman. Nice grip, strong hands, always a bonus."

He began leading her to the central passage, his shoulders almost brushing the walls and having to duck at the support struts.

"Aye, While is a mongrel, but she's got teeth. Though don't ask me what half the systems are around here, only the Captain can describe them all."

He turned toward the aft, following the central corridor which cut to the left and then right about every 20 feet. It didn't make sense until one took into account fighting off a boarding party, then the switchbacks made perfect sense from a defensive standpoint.

He led her to the engine room where Joat was bent over the prototype engine, working on connections. He stopped, tilting his head slightly for a better view of the posterior she was offering and smiled.

"You going to stand there admiring my ass all day or take her up front to begin working on the sensorum?" Joat asked, continuing her work.

"Have a got a choice?", he asked grinning.

"Yeah", Joat said in a no nonsense tone as she stood up.

"Uh-oh", he muttered.

"Take her up front or have me cut off your balls with the dullest and rustiest butter knife I can find", she told him with a smile that would have entranced most any man. "You choice." She stepped forward, extending a hand to Fayalin, "How ya doin? Just call me Joat, everyone else does."

"Actually", Alvec chimed in, "they call her lots of other things, but she's not partial to them."

"Yeah, yeah, but they don't know how charming I can be", she replied.

"They ain't the only ones", he muttered and she shot him an icey glare.

"Anyway", she said, returning her attention to Fayalin, "Rand will walk through everything and explain everything you need to know."

((OOC: Whoo, 1000th post.))

Though Tailchaser didn’t know it, no Indoan would treat her as anything other than an intelligent adult, because they shared their worlds with the Raishuv. They might be wary of her, since she was an alien, and it was the Indoan way to be distrustful of aliens, but they would never assume a lack of intelligence. The reptilian Raishuv suffered the same problem as Tailchaser, but to a lesser extent. However, because they formed a low-grade hive mind, they tended to have more trouble unless they were really concentrating. That was one reason why the Raishuv tended to speak slowly; both to get the words out clearly, and to ensure they said the right thing.

When the reached the shuttle, the other Indoans had already boarded and the engines were idling, ready to depart as soon as Andie and Tailchaser were on board. They were greeted by one of the two SK-4 synthetics, the other having boarded already. It said nothing to Andie, but raised it’s left arm and aimed the twin pulse cannons at Tailchaser.
“This vessel restricted. Identify and state clearance,” it declared.

Andie hurriedly interposed herself between the combat unit and Tailchaser, to avoid overly alarming her.
“Stand down, Three-Alpha,” she ordered it. “She is here by my request. And cease guard duty, we are about to depart.”

“Affirmative.” The dark green synthetic lowered it’s arm, then made it’s way up the ramp into the shuttle. Andie looked apologetically at Tailchaser.
“Sorry about that,” she said, “They challenge everyone who isn’t Indoan military.” She held out her arm in the direction of the shuttle ramp. “After you.”
----

Fayalin followed Alvec into the depths of the ship, until they reached the engine room. She watched the exchange between Joat and Alvec with a slightly amused expression on her face. When Joat greeted her, she shook the offered hand with the same surprisingly strong grip.
“Fayalin-Xunrae, but most people find it easier to call me Faye,” she told the woman.

“Actually,” Alvec chimed in, “they call her lots of other things, but she’s not partial to them.”
“Yeah, yeah, but they don’t know how charming I can be,” she replied.
“They ain’t the only ones,” he muttered and she shot him an icy glare.

“So I’ve heard,” agreed Fayalin. “Though I imagine they’re all just horrible rumours with absolutely no substance to them whatsoever.” She winked at Alvec, a playful smile appearing on her face.

“Anyway,” she said, returning her attention to Fayalin, “Rand will walk through everything and explain everything you need to know.”

“As you wish,” agreed the avatar. “Lead on,” she told Alvec.

((OOC: Busy are we? *grin* Well, at least at posting.))

Tailchaser crouched, extending her claws as the weapon was leveled at her, her tail twitching slightly. Once it was gone she retracted her claws and looked at Andie as she explained. When Andie extended the arm and the invitation Tail shook her head and pointed at Andie, “First”, she said, and looked in the direction the combat synth had taken.

----

Alvec led Faye toward the front of the ship. “The captain’s alright”, he told her. “Not like any woman I’ve known but good in a scrape. She ain’t as stern as she gives on, it’s a front for others and a defense against gettin hurt. Her father LOST her in a card game to his brother when she was four and her uncle sexually abused her until she was about thirteen, when he ‘accidently’ found himself floating in space without a suit thanks to a lock ‘malfunction’. Bastard deserved it if you ask me. Hell, I ain’t no angel but I’d’uv dropped the son of a bitch myself. So she don’t trust no one easy and opens up to people real slow like out of fear of being betrayed.”

Once they reached the bridge he looked over at the ‘face’ of Rand. “Hey Rand, this here is Faye.”

“Hello Faye”, came the male voice of the A.I. of the W.Y.A.L. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Alvec began removing a panel and pulling the wires that had been run along the floor of the main shaft from the engine room to the bridge.

“I’m sure you saw the cable cluttering up my floor. Typically Joat doesn’t allow such things but as we’re in a rush she didn’t have much choice. She’s normally very ….”

“Anal?” Alvec offered as he stood up.

“I was looking for something descriptive but less graphic, thank you”, Rand replied.

Alvec shrugged and moved around Faye. “I’ll be getting outa your way. I’ve a few things to do myself afore we’re off. Pleasure ta meet ya beautiful”, he said, flashed a smile and ducked out of the bridge.

Rand went on, “The sensorum pulls information from the sense engines and runs the backup sensors. Joat built sensors directly into the engines in order to avoid the typical buffering circuits that most other sensors have. The sense engines have twice the range of the best Central war ships and almost three times the sensativety. However, they go offline along with engines, thus the standard sensors as backup. She’s tapping the test engine into the drives, but the connection to make the proper adjustments must be made directly at the Sensorum here on the bridge. I can walk you through it. You’ll find a kit in the floor compartment just behind the Captain’s throne in the front center. The second seat can be moved back to allow you easier access to the Sensorum. The third seat is the weapons console, which Alvec slaves to the sensorum as we have no fourth crew member to man the weapons.”

I'll deal with those fools later. Now though, I have a mission to do. Salazan thought to himself. They underestimated the power of the Planes. With that, he blinked out of existance...

And back right next to Lauralin. He spoke, and remarkably, his voice carried right through the vacuum. "So, what do we do first?" He smirked at her. "I am not the best at Artificing, but I should have adequate skills."

Lauralin led the way through the swan, though she had to turn a backtrack as corridors just seemed to end and stairs went nowhere. She finally reached the engine room, however, and gestured toward them.

The damage on one was minimal, though others more so, but still able to be examined. They should have functioned perfectly, and would have, had they been activated at the same time. The main computer had been bypassed and figures put in manually. The slight difference in each station engaging the engines had caused the varying realities, and thus the three way collision that J.O.A.T. had proposed.

“Very well,” agreed Andie, and walked up the ramp into the shuttle without another glance behind her.

“There you are,” grouched Kane when she entered the main cabin from the airlock chamber that separated the interior from the main hatch. “We leaving soon?”

“We are indeed. As soon as our guest has boarded and made herself comfortable,” replied the avatar. The Ranger sat back, satisfied with the answer.

The two SK-4 synthetics were standing on either side of the entrance that Andie had just entered through, though they had deactivated, evident through their slightly slumped posture.
----

“Hello Faye,” came the male voice of the AI of the WYAL. “It’s an honour to meet you.”

“And to meet you,” returned Fayalin. “As for the cable, reminds me of some of the older Command complexes back on Todera. Bare cables strung all over the place, held to the ceiling by steel brackets. They look ancient, but they’re only about a hundred years old. The Minds that run them decided they wanted a more visceral feel, instead of hiding everything away or using the latest technology.”

She listened to what Rand told her about what she was meant to be doing, and pulled out the kit from the floor compartment when it was mentioned. Laying it down by the second seat, she began to move the seat back as suggested.
“Captain’s throne, eh? Does she like to think she’s a monarch then?” she joked.

Tailchaser reached the top of the ramp and looked back as she heard someone yelling to stop.

"WAIT UP", he yelled, out of breath as he pulled a hover wagon along. "Simeon told me to bring this blood for Queen Silverlief. Ghu but it's alot, I hope she makes it", he said, incorrectly assuming that the blood was for transfusions, since there was so much of it.

Tail stepped inside and looked around, trying to find someone to take on the load.

********

Rand either didn't find it amusing or wasn't programmed with a sense of humor. "Why, no', he replied simply, "it's a throwback to the time of the empire which had been overthrown only about 20 years ago." He interrupted his history periodically to guide her throught the process of hooking up the sensorum to the cabling, a process which took the better part of an hour.

"Emperor Frederick the first carved out the Central Worlds Empire. His Daughter, who became Emperess Madelen the first, continued to expand on the empire. When Emperor Frederick the second came to power, it had already become vast and she was barely holding it together. The Emperor had a hard time holding things together and they began to degrade. When the Hudathans attacked twenty years ago it was the end for him.

The Emperor, however, was insane and he had wanted to pull out from the rim worlds, leaving hundreds of millions to the mercy of the Hudathans, who had none. He delayed making a decision because of Legion General Marianne Mosby, who supported fortifying the rim worlds and fighting a steady retreat, thereby winning by attrition, rather than fighting one massive battle in the core systems. He delayed because he was rather fond of the General's .... sexual prowess. He finally made his decision and the legion mutineed, fortifying thier positions and sending reinforcements rather than withdrawing from the rim. Mosby, and the Legion forces on Rigel were imprisoned, but broken free later. She took the capital city and installed the new democratic government.

General Mosby was given multiple medals and awards, including, according to General Quester-Benn, who fought the Hudathan's to a stand still on Algeron, a medal for ... heroic screwing. I've researched military tradition, and find this particular award difficult to believe, however, assuming I'm using the correct form of the slang.

It's from those days, however, that the captain of a ship takes his seats name. Throne. Thus, the Captain's throne, as he rules the ship just like the Emperors and Emperess had ruled the Central Worlds Empire. I hope this clears up the matter."

The sharp ears of the avatar caught the request, and she swiftly stood and made her way back through the airlock to attend to it, signalling for someone to follow her. Riesco was the first to move, so the others let her go.
“Just through there. Find a seat and strap yourself in,” she told Tailchaser as she passed her.

“Ah yes, sorry about that,” Andie told the man as she descended the ramp. “The queen is fine. We requested this supply in case of an emergency, since our two species differ considerably. We don’t know what we may find, and she insisted on accompanying us. While we don’t intend for anything to happen, particularly not to her, sometimes the unexpected happens.”
She guessed that this officer was not privy to Lauralin’s ‘condition’, and so he had assumed it was for medical purposes, and to avoid awkward questions, she had humoured him, but corrected him regarding Lauralin’s current health, in case it caused further awkward situations in the future.

Andie took the cart, drew it part way up the ramp and started to unload it, passing the blood packets to Riesco, who stowed them in a cargo compartment just inside the main cabin of the shuttle.
“I apologise if you thought us heartless, appearing to be ready to leave without this blood,” she told the man as she worked.
----

As Fayalin worked, her face hidden from any viewpoint that Rand might have, and listened to what the AI was saying, a smile began working it’s way on to her face, slowing forming into a wide grin, then she started giggling quietly, which worked it’s way up to a point were her body was racked by suppressed laughter. When the AI had finished his account, she spoke to him.
“Rand, it was a joke,” she pointed out lightly, “As was General Quester-Benn’s comment about the medal, I’m guessing. Though I’d like to see it brought in as an official decoration. It would be highly amusing, and help crew relations no end.”

Though she had been paying attention to the AI, and struggling to avoid laughing out loud, Fayalin had been working skilfully and efficiently, following the directions from Rand precisely and very rapidly. It wasn’t particularly challenging work, but she could see why Joat had wanted the help; if both Joat and Alvec were occupied, this task wouldn’t have been completed until one of them had finished their work, further delaying their departure.

“Just through there. Find a seat and strap yourself in,” she told Tailchaser as she passed her.

Tail nodded and headed in, looking at the seat dubiously. She sat down, sitting slightly to one side in order to accommodate her tail, and picked up one of the straps, looking at it. Not quite sure how to use it, she began tying the straps together.

“I apologise if you thought us heartless, appearing to be ready to leave without this blood,” she told the man as she worked.

“Not at all”, the man replied. “It was supposed to be shuttled over, but with the amount requested, and being Royalty, I gathered it and got it here in time to catch you. I’m glad she’s doing okay, at least. Insisted on going huh?” he asked and shook his head, “leave it to the higher ups to get in the way huh?”, he asked with a grin and a wink.

----

“Ah”, Rand replied, “humor. Joat has tried to program me with the necessary skills for evaluating and appreciated that aspect of the human psyche, but so far has been unsuccessful. That is to say that she has come up with a program three times, but when I run it I seem to burn out processors in various sections when something is particularly funny. We can’t seem to come up with a way of suppressing power overloads during those moments.”

“Overloads”, Joat asked, “what overloaded?” She stopped and looked at Rand’s ‘face’ worriedly. Rand’s ‘face’ consisted of various lights analogous to a human face set on a display board. Joat could read the alternating lights when Rand didn’t speak to get an idea of his ‘mood’ or a situation when he didn’t think speech appropriate.

“Nothing Joat, we were discussing our attempts to install a humor program.”

“Oh”, Joat said miserably, hating to be reminded of her failure. She moved to the command throne and sat down, “I SWEAR to you Rand, I’ll figure it out …. Bringing the engines online, monitor for anything unusual, please.”

“Of course”, Rand replied.

Joat looked at Faye, “Your fine, I’ve cut the power to the sensorum from the back. When your finished, let me know and I’ll cut it back on so you can test it.” She observed the slow rise in engine power and then looked back at Faye, “That is, unless you want me to test it …. Rand, is Alvec finished?”

“He finishing up the checklist now”, Rand replied, “it would be easier if he could do it from here.”

“Well what do you fardlin what ME to do? GHU! I’m doin the best I can. I still have ta run a business ya know.”

Lauralin led the way through the swan, though she had to turn a backtrack as corridors just seemed to end and stairs went nowhere. She finally reached the engine room, however, and gestured toward them.

The damage on one was minimal, though others more so, but still able to be examined. They should have functioned perfectly, and would have, had they been activated at the same time. The main computer had been bypassed and figures put in manually. The slight difference in each station engaging the engines had caused the varying realities, and thus the three way collision that J.O.A.T. had proposed.

OOc: Im assuming that Lauralin or anybody doesn't know that.

Ic: Salazan touched the engine. A blue light flared out. He frowned and did that to each one. After pondering for several moments, he turned to Lauralin and said, "Well, the one engine works, the rest don't. Appearently, the system you used requires that all engines function perfectly. To put it short, they didn't. Some one put in figures manually which caused the engines to activate at different times. This probably shunted the ship to a different dimension then the one it was aiming for.

That's where something collided with the ship at some point. It was sabotage. I don't know who could have done it, so start listing off people who would have sabotaged it. " Salazan frowned in concentation, then said. "You know, the engine system you use is horribly outdated. If you wanted, we could supply you with the schematics for a better engine. Probably won't be expensive, but it will take a long while to complete if you have never done it before." His eyes lighted up for a moment. "Then again, I could probably get the Artificer to do it. Wouldn't take you too long then." He chuckled to himself.

(OOC - Your assumption is correct. Joat is a prodigy, but she hadn't examined the engines. She just guessed based on knowledge of the engines and the damage they had seen when the Indoans went through.)

Lauralin nodded and, unable to speak in the vacuum, sent a message psionically. 'Joat had assumed as much, but you have confirmed it. A superior engine would be a great boost, especially after this disaster. My people are nervous enough about reaching for the stars and this will damage thier already soft ambitions for such. I thank you for your time and expertise. If you wish to continue with the exploration on this matter, we shall be pursuing a craft that left the Swan. You should join Joat on the W.Y.A.L. I shall going with the Indoans and awaiting coordinates to catch with Joat as she follows it's course.'

Lauralin nodded and, unable to speak in the vacuum, sent a message psionically. 'Joat had assumed as much, but you have confirmed it. A superior engine would be a great boost, especially after this disaster. My people are nervous enough about reaching for the stars and this will damage thier already soft ambitions for such. I thank you for your time and expertise. If you wish to continue with the exploration on this matter, we shall be pursuing a craft that left the Swan. You should join Joat on the W.Y.A.L. I shall going with the Indoans and awaiting coordinates to catch with Joat as she follows it's course.'

Salazan nodded and bowed. "I would be glad to send you the schematics. And, I believe I shall join Joat on the W.Y.A.L. But I shall need proof that I came from you." Salazan said. He turned to examine the engines one more time. "Still, it looks to me like the people were subjected to a Remnant attack. The engine may have been sabotaged, but I am sure it is a Remnant attack."

Lauralin nodded and then glanced at the engines when he mentioned the possible attack. She wouldn't rule out anything, but she, also didn't know anything about the modern technology. She contacted Simeon, who was familiar with her mental contacts and told him that Salazan would be joining Joat on the W.Y.A.L. and to please inform her. After receiving his reply she sent to Salazan, 'Joat is being informed that you will be boarding, and that you will appearing on the W.Y.A.L.' She then contacted Simeon again and found that the shuttle for the Fortunes hadn't left yet. She curtseyed, as best she could in zero gravity and then vanished.

Joat glanced back at Alvec, Faye and Rand, "Some guy, Salazan, is going to pop on board, he'll being riding with us." Alvec simply nodded and Rand confirmed the passenger with Simeon.

Lauralin appeared near the top of the ramp, behind Riesco and in front of Andie. "I recall your disapproval at my previous appearance upon your vessel and seek permission to enter", she stated formally and politely.

As Riesco went back to her seat after she had finished loading the cargo, she spotted Tailchaser having trouble with the seat harness. It was a simple four-point harness, formed of two adjustable arm loops.
“Here, let me help with that,” she told Tailchaser, taking the straps and undoing the knot that the woman had started tying. “You put your arms through these loops, then they clip together here. It’s not really necessary, but we like to make civilians wear it, so they can’t complain much if we get shaken about.” She paused, then added, “If you don’t want to wear it, then don’t, just promise not to complain if anything happens.”

Andie returned the now empty cart to the man as she spoke.
“I know. They always think they know best, but they never do. Always cause more trouble than they’re worth,” she agreed, returning the wink. The comment amused her even more since, as an avatar, she could exercise command over any Indoan military personnel, though avatars rarely exercised their authority, choosing instead to treat the soldiers as equals, and suggest or recommend rather than command.

Andie jumped slightly at Lauralin’s voice behind her, and she turned to face the woman.
“Thank you for your courtesy. Please, after you.” She indicated the hatchway behind Lauralin.
----

“Thank you, but you needn’t have bothered. Unlike you bags of meat, I don’t conduct electricity,” Fayalin told Joat in an extremely arrogant tone, then smiled, “Just kidding. Though it is true that I don’t conduct electricity.” She stood up, having completed the last instruction Rand had given her. “As for testing; whichever you prefer. It is, after all, your ship.”

“In regard to the humour though, do you know why the power overloads occur? If you want, I can try and help you with that after we are finished with this,” she offered.

When Joat mentioned Salazan, a dark look crossed Fayalin’s face, though she said nothing. Though she had never met him, Anderaleigh’s impression of the alien had not been favourable. Thus, neither the Mind, who had seen the same events through Andie’s eyes, nor Fayalin, who had only heard the account second-hand, thought very much of Salazan. They were smart enough to reserve judgment until actually meeting him, though technically, the Mind already had, but avatars were generally fairly independent observers, so their opinions tended to be valid.

Tailchaser looked at the belt as Riesco explained it, eyeing it dubiously. When she mentioned about not wearing it, Tail let out a toothy smile, "No complain. No bind, no like." She sat back happily, now that she didn't have to be strapped in, still tilted a bit to one side to accomodate her tail.

The med tech smiled at Andie, having gotten her agreement and took the cart. "Have a good fl..."

Andie jumped slightly at Lauralin’s voice behind her, and she turned to face the woman.
“Thank you for your courtesy. Please, after you.” She indicated the hatchway behind Lauralin.

Lauralin smiled and entered, taking a seat next to the Baroness.

"Man that wierds me out", the tech stated in a low tone as he watched her disappear. "Just isn't natural. Anyway, as I was saying, have a good flight. I hope all goes well, and Ghu watches over you."

----

"Well", Joat replied, "if your staying, you may as well run the tests and familiarize yourself with the equipement. Not hard for you, I'm sure, but I'd feel better."

Alvec filled the doorway and Joat nodded toward the weapons console, "Take the weapons, Faye, I think, will be running the sensorum." He never hesitated, but simply turned and slid into the weapons seat, bringing the weapons console online. The array of weaponry, at least for a small cargo ship, was impressive, including pulse plasma cannons, Anti-mat missiles, Anti-missile missiles, orbit to ground and ship to ship missiles and ones labeled 'Flayer missiles. Point defense weaponry and counter measures.

"For the humor, I'm not sure what blows the systems. I think the program causes a force feed back that overloads circuits, but the circuits affected seem to be random."

Salazan waited for a bit. The he vanished out of existance.

He reappaared inside of the W.Y.A.L. He looked to the side, and his arm was caught in a the back of a chair. "HOLY SON OF A FUCK!" He screamed. He calmed himself down, and summoned a Magna Sword. It was long, distorted at the edges, and appeared to glow. He calmly, slowly, carefully, cut off his own arm, from the elbow down. No blood came out. The stump was filled with a swirling image of colors. If one loooked closely, they would be able to make out what looked like people. Salazan quickly glanced around. The "tissue" started to regrow. When it was regrowing, he muttered "I hate this part." When it was fully regrown, he started screaming. It was a scream of terror and pain. He clasped the back of his head. He fell to his knees. He yelled a bunch of heartfelt expletives. He fell completely to the ground.

His skin rapidly changed colors and textures. His hair and eyes changed colors rapidly, and his hair grew longer and shorter. After a minute of this, the changes settled. Salazan stood up. He skin was red, and had the consistency of dragon scales. He had claws, long, sharp, almost talons. His eyes were yellow, and his hair was white. "Hmmm. Interesting." Salazan said, admiring the talons. He smiled. "Isn't it cool?" He asked <closest person (who is probably Lauralin)>.

OOc: The reason for all of this is because of souls. My Planeswalkers capture souls, and that's where they get their power from. That's also the reason they are attracted to powerful souls when the Planeswalk.

When they regrow body parts, they have to use up an entire soul, which hurts really bad. Imagine getting eaten by fire ants with your tissues constantly regenerating, and multiply by a thousand. Planeswalkers are tough, but that's a little over the top.

It's part of the deal they make with the gods of deals and retribution. They get to be immortal, and use souls, and have lots of good powers, but they most be subjected to intense pain whenever they use powerful spells or regrow body parts. It doesn't seem like a lot, but they have to regrow body parts quite often.

(OOC - Actually, your on the W.Y.A.L. J.O.A.T. , Alvec and Faye are on the W.Y.A.L. and Rand is the A.I. of the ship.)

Joat jumped when Salazan yelled and just looked as he changed and regenerated. Alvec looked on nervously, glancing at Joat off and on. Once he seemed settled Joat raised an eyebrow, "Are you quite finished? If so, take a seat in the passenger area, back and to the left, we're ready to move."

“It can be a little disconcerting,” agreed Andie quietly. “Although quite entertaining. You certainly can’t say life is boring with things like that going on.” With that, she bowed her head in farewell, turned on her heel and walked up the ramp into the shuttle, touching the ramp and hatch controls as she passed them.

She walked straight through the main cabin, with only a single glance to check that everything was ready, and into the cockpit, where Jann sat waiting in the pilot’s seat, idly running a few checks. The avatar slid into the copilot’s seat and fastened her harness.
“Sorry about that, Jann. Ready when you are,” she told the pilot.

Jann nodded and keyed the comm. “Simeon, shuttle Salequin requests clearance for departure.” As he waited for a reply, he retracted the landing gear, leaving the craft floating on an AG cushion.
----

Fayalin greeted Salazan’s arrival with a stoic silence, completely ignoring him as she rapidly ran through the tests on the sensor equipment. She was working twice as fast as most humans could manage, and that with a system she was still familiarising herself with.

The only comment Salazan’s spectacle with his arm drew from the avatar was a muttered ‘Hmph… idiot,’ as she saw what had happened out of the corner of her eye. She finished the last of the tests and sat back from the console, expecting Rand to tell her if anything was significantly wrong.

(OOC - Actually, your on the W.Y.A.L. J.O.A.T. , Alvec and Faye are on the W.Y.A.L. and Rand is the A.I. of the ship.)

Joat jumped when Salazan yelled and just looked as he changed and regenerated. Alvec looked on nervously, glancing at Joat off and on. Once he seemed settled Joat raised an eyebrow, "Are you quite finished? If so, take a seat in the passenger area, back and to the left, we're ready to move."

Salazan glanced at Joat. "Yes, I am finished." He smiled a vicious smile, and thought Perhaps you would like to experience the pain I have to grow through to regenerate a limb, you bitch. He walked over to the area and sat down. When he sat down, he closed his eyes and muttered a few words.

Red energy surronded him, changing from blue to white, and back to red. The energy's outline was distorted, making Salazan appear blurry. He smiled and buckled himself in. Ahh, I have not been in a ship besides my own for a long time.

“Simeon, shuttle Salequin requests clearance for departure.” As he waited for a reply, he retracted the landing gear, leaving the craft floating on an AG cushion.

"Salequin, your clear for departure, vector 194 upon clearing the station then swing around to the Fortunes", Simeon replied, "Good hunting."

********

Rand went through the check with Faye as she quickly moved along the various sensor arrays. "The W.Y.A.L. has largely passive sensors, being more for stealth now. To do an active scan, simply override the standard protocols, or let me know. For the new sensor requirements enter the submenu ... there ... yes, that's it, and then activate the sensor array that runs through the test engine. You won't pick up anything this far from the source, but it'll come up just like any other lock on once we're close enough. The only question that remains is if the sensorum will pick up the signal in probability as well as normal space. Otherwise we'll have to jump, scan, locate, plot and jump again."

Joat became all business as Salazan strapped in and mentally activated the come, having jacked herself into the ship. "Hey pops, ready to go."

"Hold for two, then your clear, vector clear for Swan entry point. Salequin is leaving now."

"Confirmed." Then she shut down the com and waited for the Salequin to clear.

“Understood. Salequin is moving,” acknowledged Jann.

Without touching the throttles for the main engines, Jann began guiding the Salequin out of the hangar bay using the AG systems. As soon as the shuttle was clear of the station, he pushed power smoothly into the engines, accelerating the small vessel rapidly away from the large station. After a few seconds he brought it’s nose towards the dark shape of the Faded Fortunes, and initiated a micro-jump.

The shuttle reappeared a short distance from the corvette, and swiftly made it’s way into the port hangar bay. Once it had settled to the deck, and the engines had shut down, Jann and Andie left the cockpit and entered the main cabin. The avatar touched the controls to open the rear hatch, and immediately the two SK-4s reactivated and disembarked, to return to the maintenance facility where they were stored.

“Now, if you will follow me, I will take you up to the bridge,” announced Andie. “Oh, and Nikolai,” she added. The Ranger glanced at her. “Lane three,” she told him. He nodded, and wordlessly left the shuttle, with Reid close behind.

Lauralin and Tailchaser followed Andie, stopping as she did and then following again after the rangers left.

"I assume", Laura stated, "that lane three has something for him to shoot at. He looked like Baghtru on his way to the practice hall on a bad day."

********

Once Salequin was clear W.Y.A.L. left the bay. She was as undectable as before, and even the engines didn't let out a tell-tale signature. But the ship only fooled sensors, since Joat wasn't sure who to make it invisible to the naked eye. But it was now mat-black, and hard to see in space.

Joat guided the ship to the point of entry and the emission of the slip stream drive then looked over at Faye. "Scan, please", she asked and then proceeded to plot the course of the vessel based on the readings. The sensative array picked up minute traces of something else and red flagged them for further analysis, shunting them to Faye and Rand.

Chronoplast emmisions, or residual energy from flaked off material that is out of time sync, was something new to Central Worlds, and as yet, not yet completely proven. Having little expertise in it, Rand sent his analysis to Faye for conformation. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked her.

“I assume,” Lauralin stated, “that lane three has something for him to shoot at. He looked like Baghtru on his way to the practice hall on a bad day.”

“Not so much ‘shoot at’, and more ‘annihilate’, I think,” corrected Andie. “To that end, there is also one of the larger weapons we carry waiting for him, along with an excess of ammunition.”

The avatar led the way out of the hangar and in the direction of the bridge, which contrary to what she had said earlier, wasn’t anywhere near the top of the ship. It was near the front, but it was on the central deck and some twenty metres back from the bow. The Indoans knew better than to put such important locations near to an external hull wall, where they could easily be destroyed.

Upon entering the bridge, the small bridge crew paid them no attention, including the tall woman studying the large holographic sensor display in the centre of the room. It wasn’t until Andie coughed quietly that the woman noticed their presence. She straightened, turning to face the visitors.

“Ah, welcome on board the INV Faded Fortunes,” she announced. “I’m Colonel Nicola Valero, joint commander.” Valero was in her mid-thirties, though she hadn’t changed much since her early twenties, and her bright blue eyes sparkled from behind the curtain of shoulder-length blond hair that fell across her face. “We’re just waiting for the WYAL to finish the scan and give us a location before we depart. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask. The briefing room there is at your disposal, and more comfortable than standing out here on the bridge.” She indicated the door to one side, similar to the bridge layout of the frigate Forgaies that Lauralin had previously been a guest on. What Valero didn’t say was that there really wasn’t space for so many people in the bridge itself, though it was fairly obvious to the casual observer.
----

Fayalin responded as quickly as before when asked for the scan, and reported the readings back to Joat immediately. Then she began studying the data flagged by the system, a curious expression on her face. She took a few seconds to answer Rand’s inquiry, so strange did the readings seem.

“I don’t know,” she responded uncertainly, “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before, and what it seems to be doesn’t make much sense.”

She attempted to use the sensor systems to coax any other information out of the readings, and asked the Faded Fortunes if it knew anything of use. The negative answer was swiftly returned, though it was clearly as interested as the avatar and Rand were.

“Not so much ‘shoot at’, and more ‘annihilate’, I think,” corrected Andie. “To that end, there is also one of the larger weapons we carry waiting for him, along with an excess of ammunition.”

Lauralin nodded. “I stand corrected”, she replied, “that should have been BROOK on a bad day”, she said, referring to the barbarian woman, and smiled.

********

“The briefing room there is at your disposal, and more comfortable than standing out here on the bridge.” What Valero didn’t say was that there really wasn’t space for so many people in the bridge itself, though it was fairly obvious to the casual observer.

Laura smiled. “Thank you, but comfort is of no consequence to one with my condition.” She hesitated a moment, but before Valero could make her point more plainly, Lauralin continued, “However, having spent time among military personal, I know when I am an asset, and when I am a liability. Therefore, I shall get out of your way.” She then looked over at the Baroness.

Tail looked at Laura, seeing what was obvious, but not wanted to intercede. Once Laura had finished, however, Tailchaser blinked, shook her head, and made a motion with her hand, indicating Laura’s prevalence to state the obvious in as many words as possible, and made her way toward the indicated door.

Lauralin grinned after the Baroness and winked at Andie, then followed the cat woman into the room.

********

“I don’t know,” she responded uncertainly, “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before, and what it seems to be doesn’t make much sense.”

Joat routed the readings to herself and thought them over, then shook her head and rerouted them, again, to Alvec.

Alvec took one look, looked at Joat and then shook his head, “Don’t look at me, I just hurt people.”

Rand turned on a monitor across from Salazan and routed the readings to him, “Excuse me”, he said politely, “but would you happen to recognize these patterns?”

Salazan opened one eye and looked at the monitor. "Chronos charges. Very dangerous. Keep your ships away from it. I have seen chronos charges used to rip ships into shreds. I have also seen them destroy entire dimensions."

He sat up and looked at it more fully. He stared at the readings for a few seconds and then looked up. "Well, there is always a natural supply of chronos charges everywhere at all times. Naturally happens because of the time stream. But when it gets up to these levels, it's either a time warp, or..." His eyes opened wide. "Mainly used for weapons. Very, very powerful weapons." He closed his eyes and sighed. He looked at them. "You might want to scan some more.

If you get a build up of them, call me. I'll check it out. More likely it's just a random time warp. Stay away from that area."

It is comman Planeswalker knowledge that when dimensions collided, they tended to give off a very powerful ejection of chronos charges. That was a time warp. Depending on how it affected time, you could spend millions of years in the time warp, and only have a single day outside. Or, you could have one day in the time warp, and millions of years outside.

Joat opened a com channel to Fortunes and Simeon, passing on the knowledge that Salazan had given her. "Seems to follow the line of the escaped ship, so it must have one of these weapons onboard. I'm continuing scans as he suggested before plotting a jump. I don't want to pop into the middle of one of these streams."

Joat then turned, looking back toward Salazan, "Thanks", she told him, "While is all I got that's my own."

"Your welcome." Salazan mumbled, falling back asleep.

"I have a bearing, setting coordinates. 175, 83, 269. Jumping now."

Space seemed to explode and the W.Y.A.L. slipped into the opening before it vanish. 23 minutes later she re-emerged in the next sector of space and began scanning again.

Valero raised a questioning eyebrow at the retreating form of Lauralin, while Andie shook her head in resignation. The Colonel opened her mouth to speak, but the avatar cut her off before she started.
“Don’t ask,” she told Valero quietly. “I still can’t always tell when she’s being serious or just joking around. And as Tailchaser indicated, she does have a propensity to exercise her vocabulary.”

“Whatever. As long as she does what she’s told, and someone translates whatever she says to a degree that I can understand it, I really don’t care,” replied Valero resignedly, before turning back to the holographic sensor display. The WYAL was highlighted, with a green outline and a red glow by the ID tag. The outline marked it as an ally, and the glow indicated the strength of the contact, in this case, extremely faint. The WYAL was being tracked by visual and trace gravetic readings, which were incredibly difficult to conceal, but Joat would have been happy to discover that they could get no other significant readings on the vessel.

“Colonel, we have received coordinates from the WYAL,” the Mind informed her. “The jump will only take us a matter of minutes, so I recommend we jump to a point outside that system and wait until Fayalin-Xunrae reports that they have arrived, upon which we complete the jump and arrive a few seconds after they do.”

“I agree. Greyhame, find us a nice empty spot of space within thirty seconds of those coordinates,” Valero instructed the officer manning navigation. Between the navigator and the Mind, they had a suitable location within twenty seconds, and the Faded Fortunes disappeared into a wormhole thirty-nine seconds after the departure of the WYAL.
----

Fayalin remained silent after her comment on the sensor readings, and though she found Salazan’s suggestion highly preposterous, she had to admit that her assessment had reached a similar conclusion. It didn’t make any sense to her, but she was starting to realise why the Fortunes had warned her not to worry too much if she saw things that didn’t make sense. The laws of physics seemed to behave differently around these people.

When the WYAL re-entered normal space, Fayalin began scanning without a prompt from Joat, recording everything the sensors would allow her to, and analysing it as fast as the computer could cope.

“The Faded Fortunes has emerged sixty-three megametres to our port-rear,” she announced vaguely, seventeen seconds after their own arrival. It was said as though it was an idle comment to pass the time, neither important nor special.

The corvette began scanning with the entirety of it’s own sensor suite, though more for security and mapping than for their purpose in being their. The Mind was aware that the WYAL had a far greater chance of finding what they were looking for, but it also knew that two searchers were better than one.

Joat took a moment to assess the scans and nodded. "Yeah, it's proceeding along the same path. I'm going to do one more jump and then see if we can pick out a system that it might be headed for based on the three point line. Maybe we can cut down some time."

She picked a spot as far out as she could and made the jump, after telling fortunes of her intent and giving the new co-ordinates.

After another scan showed the same line she pulled up her navigational charts and plotted the line.

"Natares system. That seems to be the path it's taking. Doesn't make any sense though, there's nothing there", Joat observed.

"Then it makes perfect sense", Alvec replied. "If your going to hide, you wouldn't head for any place that has alot of security."

"True", Joat muttered. Rand had kept a channel open to Fortunes this time so they could listen to the crew of the W.Y.A.L. "Alright, lets head to Natares 4, it's the only inhabitable planet. Barely."

Alvec chuckled, "Yeah, if you like thin atmosphere and overnight low of about 100 degrees. But you're gauranteed a tan during the day."

Joat glanced over at him. 'He had to have been a pirate', she thought to herself and then plotted the jump and sent the co-ordinates to Fortunes. Once clear she approached Natares 4 and read out Fay's scans.

"Okay", Joat said out loud, knowing that Fortunes would pick them up, "we have a choice. I'm reading power on the surface, or rather about 2 kilometers below it, or the path heads out from here. What's your opinion over there?"

"We go down", came Lauralin's voice from the doorway as it opened.

"Okay", Joat replied, not knowing that Laura shouldn't have been on the bridge.

Laura looked around the bridge of the Fortunes, "I sense something. Something that should not be there. If I am correct then it MUST be retrieved."

“Then it makes perfect sense,” Alvec replied. “If you’re going to hide, you wouldn’t head for any place that has a lot of security.”

“You wouldn’t head for any place that has a lot of anything, so this system sounds like a prime candidate,” agreed Fayalin. “So, a nice place for a date, then,” she added after Alvec’s comment on the local climate, a lop-sided grin on her face.

The Faded Fortunes again made a short jump to an empty region of space near the target system, so that the two vessels would arrive at roughly the same time. Upon their arrival in what Joat told them was the Natares system, though the Indoan name for the star was completely different, the corvette began scanning, for the same reason as before. It too picked up the power reading on the fourth planet of the system, and the Mind logically assumed that that was where their trail led, until Joat revealed otherwise.

“Okay,” Joat said out loud, knowing that Fortunes would pick them up, “We have a choice. I’m reading power on the surface, or rather about two kilometres below it, or the path heads out from here. What’s your opinion over there?”

“We go down,” came Lauralin’s voice from the doorway as it opened.

Valero looked up at the ceiling in exasperation as the alien woman walked out onto the bridge.
“Since when do you make the decisions on this ship?” she muttered under her breath. She then continued in a normal voice. “Correction: You go down,” she told Lauralin.

“What are you thinking, Colonel?” asked the Mind, mostly for the benefit of the others present in the room, since it was almost certain it knew exactly what Valero was thinking, because it was thinking the same thing.

“We can’t afford to lose the trail, right? So we send a team down to investigate the planet, while we continue to track the other vessel,” she explained. “You can go and search for this whatever it turns out to be, while we pursue our main objective.”

“We can’t afford to lose the trail, right? So we send a team down to investigate the planet, while we continue to track the other vessel,” she explained. “You can go and search for this whatever it turns out to be, while we pursue our main objective.”

“So much for our date”, Alvec said and began slaving the weapons controls over to Joat’s board.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

“I’m going to head down with her. I know this planet, I might be of some help”, he replied.

“Suit yourself”, she told him.

He glanced at her, shook his head and opened a locker just inside the cabin’s door. He took out piece meal body armor, that while not much to look at, fit him well, a Legion issue pulse plasma rifle, a heavily modified sidearm with a silencer and a custom made, thick bladed knife.

Once he finished getting ready he looked over at Joat, “I’ll take a skiff to the Fortunes”, and then ducked and headed into the passageway.

“HEY”, Joat said and turned, an uncharacteristic softness suddenly came over her, “be careful.”

“Why? You worried?” he asked grinning.

The softness faded as quickly as it had come, “Yeah, it’ll be hard to find a replacement first mate out here in the boonies and if you die I’m docking your pay for funeral expenses.”

“Don’t think I’ll care much at that point”, he muttered, “but I’ll keep it in mind.”

He knew that she wasn't interested in him in a romantic sense, and the feeling was mutual. He respected her though. She seemed, sometimes, to almost regard him as a father figure though, and the thought frightened him, considering how her father had treated her. He was just thankful that she hadn’t shoved HIM out an airlock like she had her Uncle.

“Fortunes, Joat, Alvec is on his way over in a skiff, he says he knows the planet”, Joat said needlessly, since they could hear the conversation anyway.

********

Lauralin stood a moment, looking at the Colonel then bowed slightly. “I stand corrected”, she replied, “and beg forgiveness. One in my position is accustomed to giving orders, I should have been more thoughtful. Allow me, if you would, to explain.

What I sense is magical in origin. Similar to some items I possess at home. They are discs that open portals to other worlds. I knew of four. Three of them are in my possession. One leads to a world that I never learned the name of, a second to a world called Toril. The third, leads to my own world. The fourth was left on the world to which it opened the portal. If there are more, then there is no telling to where they may lead. The one we seek may have left in the ship, but I find it hard to believe it a coincidence that it came straight here. Therefore, the ship may be a diversion, and the one we seek may be trying to escape via the portals the disc or discs open up. In that case, I can be of more use here, since it requires a magi to use them. I can go alone if you wish. I know the Baroness would not fare well in that heat, and ask that she be permitted to remain with you.”

“Thank you,” Valero said to Lauralin. “We’re not letting you go down alone either. Fortunes, get Shrike Two prepped, full crew, and ask Sharpe and his squad to get ready and report to the starboard hangar.” She turned to look at the avatar. “I assume you will also wish to accompany her.”

“Correct,” confirmed Andie, “And I imagine that Jann, Kate and Dex will as well.”

“Fine. Then you’d better get down to the hangar and prepare. You’ll all need suits in that climate,” replied Valero. “The Baroness is welcome to stay if she is not going with you,” she told Lauralin. “Why would we have a problem with her staying here?”

Upon hearing Valero’s words, the three Indoans in the briefing room with Tailchaser hurriedly walked out on to the bridge and in the direction of the exit. As Valero had said, they each needed to get a suit ready, whereas the Rangers accompanying them already had their battlesuits, and the flight crew of the Assegai transport wouldn’t need suits.
“We’ll see you down there, Andie,” Riesco told the avatar, who nodded.

“Fortunes, any additions to the team?” Valero asked the Mind.

“We have to be prepared for any eventuality, so I suggest a pair of SK-4s, a Hawk and a Kestrel to fly cover. I know it seems like a lot for something like this, but we will be leaving them completely behind, so they have to be able to take care of themselves,” the Mind replied.

“Lieutenant Dallows?” asked Valero.

“Once again, our thoughts mirror each others,” agreed the Mind, a humorous tone in it’s voice. “I shall notify him immediately. I will also notify Alvec that he should enter the starboard hangar.”

“When you are ready, I will take you to the hangar bay,” Andie told Lauralin.

“Once again, our thoughts mirror each others,” agreed the Mind, a humorous tone in it’s voice. “I shall notify him immediately. I will also notify Alvec that he should enter the starboard hangar.”

The skiff left the W.Y.A.L. and Alvec received the information. “Confirmed, Starboard hangar”, he replied and guided the skiff toward the designated location.

********

“When you are ready, I will take you to the hangar bay,” Andie told Lauralin.

Lauralin’s dress changed to a light blue silk shirt and a sash with the Defender’s symbol on the shoulder. The pants that appeared were form fitting, showing her fine legs and made of soft doeskin leather, as were the knee high boots that appeared on her. Upon her back a red dragonscale scabbard appeared, in which lay her powerful Defender longsword and in right hand a staff appeared. The staff was made of ebony ironwood, a wood indigenous to Dragonsreach and attainable only by a process known to the dwarves who harvested it. Light as wood, but strong as steel it was often used for ships and fortifications. On the top as a large golden dragon claw clutching a diamond almost as large as normal man’s head that seemed to glow with an inner light.

“I am prepared”, Lauralin replied. She looked woefully unprepared compared to any of the heavily armed Indoans, but looks could, and in the case of magic, often were, deceiving.

********

Upon arriving at the starboard hangar bay Alvec stepped off the skiff and shucked the suit, leaving it on the skiff. The skiff had no covering, it was strictly meant to assist a person in moving about outside, and could be used on the surface as well with AG assist.

He moved toward the ship with the activity and as he did, now that he could walk without having to be hunched over, his stride was certainly one created by a quite a bit of time in the military, a fact that Joat never really noticed.

********

“Okay”, Joat said as Alvec left and she glanced over at Fay, “let’s scan and get some jump co-ordinates. Once we have them we’ll send them to Fortunes and jump, I’m sure she can catch up easily enough.”

Salazan had noticed all the commotion, being awake. He stood up, and yawned. He walked through the ship and over to the bridge. "Anything I can do to help?" He said, looking around, scanning the interior of the bridge.

“What in the name of…” began Valero as Lauralin’s clothing changed and her weapons appeared with the change. She nearly drew her sidearm, but a gesture from the avatar stopped her. Valero looked positively unhappy with the situation, but removed her hand from the holstered pistol. “Don’t we have a rule in place that all non-Indoans be relieved of all weapons from the moment they board an Indoan vessel?” she asked pointedly.

“We do indeed,” confirmed the Mind, “And I am interested to know why it was not enforced. Anderaleigh, explain. A normal officer would be court-martialled for this breach. Must I control your actions to ensure that you comply with regulations?”

The avatar looked down at her feet momentarily, then brought herself to attention and met Valero’s gaze. “The Queen is an ally, one that has saved the lives of many Indoans on several occasions. She also had no visible weapons when she boarded this vessel. There was also an element of time involved. These are not valid reasons for the regulation to be waived, but they are all the excuses I have. I hereby submit myself to custody and await my fate.”

There was a brief pause, and a blank look on Valero’s face, while the Colonel and the Mind rapidly discussed the matter and came to their decision.
“Fortunately for you, there isn’t time for that,” declared Valero, “We’ll overlook it this time, but if it happens again, you’ll be subject to the full punishment for your actions. From now on, any aliens who set foot on an Indoan vessel are to be greeted by at least two guards, who are to demand that all weapons, be they on the person or able to be summoned, be surrendered immediately and without question. Anyone who can summon a weapon is to be told that if they do so while aboard the vessel they will be shot, again, immediately and without question.” She looked at Lauralin. “That includes you, so when you come back, you’d better remember it.”

“Now get going, you may not be on the clock, but our pursuit might be,” ordered the Mind. A look of immense relief burst on to Andie’s face, and she moved towards the bridge exit, to lead Lauralin to the hangar bay.
----

The large Assegai assault transport situated roughly in the centre of the hangar had over twenty people moving around it, including the flight crew, Rangers and the engineers who were preparing the craft for it’s mission. The engineers were performing last minute checks on the craft’s weapons, which included a huge eight-barrelled pulse cannon on the left side of the cockpit, two missile tubes and twin laser cannons, as well as a laser turret mounted by each of the three hatches. A smaller group of people were clustered around a single dart-shaped Kestrel fighter off to one side of the transport. Two more fighters and a shuttle sat in the other areas of the hangar, largely being ignored.

One of the Rangers, clearly the senior from the way the others were standing around him, suddenly saw Alvec and walked over towards him.
“You must be Alvec. Captain Sharpe, Indoan Rangers.” Sharpe looked the other man over. “You look like you’ve seen your share of battles,” he added. The Ranger did not extend his hand in greeting, the alien gesture unknown to him. Instead, his hands loosely gripped the rifle slung about his shoulders.
----

As Fayalin made the scan and forwarded the appropriate data to Joat for the course plot, she smiled.
“I’m certain they can. They’ve been jumping most of the distance as we have, then waited for us to arrive before completing the jump, so that we both arrive at the same time,” she told Joat. “Our wormhole travel is fast, if nothing else.”

Lauralin was tolerant, and tried to adhere to the specifications of other nations and races, but direct threats were something that she had absolutely no tolerance of, especially when she had made no directly threatening advances. Her eyes locked with the Colonel’s, and they had changed from a bright emerald green to a shimmering orange-red. Flames danced over her body as her banked power came to the fore with her anger.

“Firstly, Anderaleigh could not have POSSIBLY known. My sword was at home.

Secondly, either you think I am foolish enough to go into an unknown situation unarmed, or you are foolish enough to do so. As I know the first to not be true then I must bring the second to the fore and question your ability to command.

Third, even if I turn over my sword, you would be forced to shoot me anyway. My power is something I was born with, is more lethal than the blade I carry and CANNOT be turned over.

Finally, you might wish find out the capability of the person you so blithely choose to shoot. As you would not be able to kill me and I would destroy you, this ship AND your crew.

So for the benefit of those people I DO like here, I shall be returning to the W.Y.A.L. as you have made it abundantly clear that I am not welcome here.”

With that Lauralin took one step forward and vanished. She appeared in space and near her a ‘hole’ seemed to open up. Through it came what looked like a horse, except that it’s eyes were red, it seemed to breath fire and it’s hooves burned. She caught the horse, swung herself on, as though she were on a world with gravity, and she and the Nihrain steed ‘galloped’ toward the planet, as if space itself held a solid surface. Salazan would be able to tell that the horses hooves didn’t come down in this plane of existence, but rather on it’s own, which was what allowed it to ‘run’ in space.

********

Tailchaser heard the confrontation and moved to the doorway of the room. She took a look at the Queen, saw raw power beginning to manifest and decided that discretion was the better part of valor, thus returning to the room. Though hand to hand she was a match for most she was well aware of the thunder weapon’s power and knew she wouldn’t stand a chance against them. The Queen, she knew, could handle herself and Tail was on unfamiliar ground here. What she needed was an opponent she could face in the open, and NOT an opponent who was supposed to be an ally. The Queen could be stubborn, she knew, but then again she was also right in a sense, and Tail hoped that the commanding officer wouldn’t take it upon herself to try to enforce the weapons restrictions on Tail, since thunder weapons or no thunder weapons they would play hell trying to get her claws out.

********

“You look like you’ve seen your share of battles,” he added. The Ranger did not extend his hand in greeting, the alien gesture unknown to him. Instead, his hands loosely gripped the rifle slung about his shoulders.

“Captain”, Alvec replied and half saluted before he caught himself. The Legion’s discipline was strong even after almost seven years. “Ehh, Yeah, Alvec, First Mate of the While. And yes, Sir, I fought on a few fronts during the Hudathan wars and handful of other conflicts before and since. I don’t expect to fit in with your team but I know the lay of the land. The power signature seems to be emanating from a former Legion base. It SHOULD be deserted.”

********

“Our wormhole travel is fast, if nothing else.”

“I figured …. As ….. much”, Joat finally finished as she saw, or THOUGHT she saw a horse appear and someone begin riding it.

"Anything I can do to help?" He said, looking around, scanning the interior of the bridge.

“Yeah”, Joat replied, “I think I need a psych eval. Either that or things are getting REALLY weird. TELL me you see someone riding a horse in the middle of space.”

((OOC: Merry Christmas!))

After Lauralin had vanished from the bridge, Valero gave a cry of frustration. Her pistol was in her right hand in a flash, there was a whine and the trace of a blue beam of light and a console exploded in sparks. A second later there was a dull thud as her left fist slammed into the console nearest her.

“Temper, Nikki, temper,” chided the Mind gently. Valero’s hot temper flared up frequently, though it rarely caused any real problems, and tended to disappear faster than it had appeared.

Valero jumped slightly at the voice, then glanced up at the ceiling. “I’m sorry, I just…” she trailed off, clearly upset. The rest of the small bridge crew were watching her warily, wondering if they should be concerned for their lives.

“You do know I’m going to have to have those repaired, don’t you?” pointed out the Mind reprovingly.

“Oh god, I’m sorry. I didn’t blast anything vital, did I?” Valero asked worriedly. She hurriedly returned the laser pistol to her holster, then winced and looked at her left hand.

“No. Fortunately that’s just a data terminal, and I think you did more damage to your hand than to the sensor display,” the Mind reassured her. “I believe you may have fractured your third finger.”

“I think you might be right,” agreed Valero, gingerly probing the damaged fingers with her other hand. “But it can wait. How did this happen? I didn’t intend a threat, I was just stating the regulation, and that she would do well to remember it.”

“Given your choice of words and the tone of your voice, it is possible to interpret it as a threat, but it is one of the less likely interpretations. The most likely is the one you intended; a cautionary statement,” replied the Mind. ~ And from a purely technical point of view, there are many things we can do that she does not know. She should not be so confident that, just because we lack ‘magic’, we could not kill her, the Mind thought to itself.

“Baroness Tailchaser,” continued the Mind, “Next time you see the Queen, please ask her if she would allow complete strangers to enter her castle fully armed. And tell her that our requirements are no different from those enforced on many Central stations, neither are the consequences.” There was a pause, “And you needn’t worry for yourself. We recognise that claws, teeth and the like cannot be removed without permanent damage to the subject,” it reassured her, guessing that she would be thinking it.
----

“I don’t know,” replied Sharpe, grinning, “You’ll probably fit in as well as any of those jokers, especially if you can handle yourself in a fight as well as I think you can. Don’t suppose you know the layout of the base?” he asked as he walked back over to his troops. “Alright folks, this is Alvec. He knows the local setup to some degree, and he’s friendly, so please don’t shoot him.” A murmur of laughter ran through the assembled Rangers. “And in no particular order, they are Paul Deitrich, Ed Jace, Holly Khonsari, Chloe Hardenne, Nikolai Kane, Evelyn Reid and Roxanne Tyler.” He indicated each in turn.

Kane was clearly acting as the squad’s heavy support, with a massive cannon in his hands and another large weapon slung across his back. Deitrich was the squad sharpshooter, with both a marksman rifle and a long barrelled sniper rifle about his person. Khonsari wasn’t really carrying a weapon, instead she was wearing a smart-cannon harness; wherever she looked, it pointed and, if there was a target there, fired. The rest carried varying heavy rifles, all with rocket tubes, along with enough grenades, mines and explosives to render an entire city a hazard.

“Are we going or not?” griped Jace. “What’s keeping us?”

“There was a slight… altercation… between the Queen and Colonel Valero,” revealed Andie, walking hurriedly up to them, already in a suit. “She has left the ship and gone to the WYAL, so I guess we wait and see if she still heads down to the planet.”

“What kind of altercation?” asked Reid suspiciously.

“They had an argument over the regulations regarding aliens and weapons,” the avatar informed them. “The only reason you’ve been allowed to keep your weapon,” she looked at Alvec, “is because there are eight Rangers and two SK-4s in the hangar bay as security, and you would be leaving the vessel shortly anyway.”

(OOC - Thanks anyway, and I wish you a good one. Mine hasn't been good since my fiance's death and this year, a few months ago I lost my mother.)

“Baroness Tailchaser,” continued the Mind, “Next time you see the Queen, please ask her if she would allow complete strangers to enter her castle fully armed. And tell her that our requirements are no different from those enforced on many Central stations, neither are the consequences.” There was a pause, “And you needn’t worry for yourself. We recognise that claws, teeth and the like cannot be removed without permanent damage to the subject,” it reassured her, guessing that she would be thinking it.

"She has no castle", Tail replied, "her mansion is modest. She doesn't not believe in large expense placed on her people. She also wouldn't harm them, only restrain them, but yes, they would not be permited. And thank you, for letting me know. I don't know if I'll see her, but perhaps I should go down after all. I can tell you with certainty that SHE will."

********

Words fit form as the Nihrain steed passed the W.Y.A.L. and headed toward the planet. Though it didn't move at a speed approaching any space vessel, it certainly moved a speed greater than any horse possably could, closing on a speed equivalent to a decently powerful ground car.

********

Alvec nodded to each in turn stopping a bit longer on the ladies. He looked at Andie as she spoke and then shrugged, "Hell, if it were a Legion base she'd have been shot, and I don't mean winged." Then he turned to Sharpe, "And actually served on the dust ball for almost two years, I know the base inside and out."

“Yeah”, Joat replied, “I think I need a psych eval. Either that or things are getting REALLY weird. TELL me you see someone riding a horse in the middle of space.”

Salazan squinted out the window. "Yes, you are seeing someone riding a horse in the middle of space. But, then again, we could both be insane, and so you might want to get a psych evaluation anyway." With that, he dissapeared.

A millisecond later, he rematerialized in front of Lauralin. "Something happening that I should know ab out?" He asked in a slightly irritated tone.

OOc:Sorry for not being able to post for so long. We had to have the computer cleaned of spyware, and I wasn't allowed on.

(OOC - It's okay, these things happen. Welcome back.)

Lauralin veered around him and sent him her reply, 'Nothing so very wrong, just something that I need to retrieve from the planet below.' The fact that they were there was wrong, but until she knew more then she wouldn't put too much stock in it.

********

"Oh yeah", Joat said as she saw the man appear outside, "we are SO out of here. This is just too wierd." She scanned the readings, plotted her course and sent a message to the Fortunes with the co-ordinates and that she would see them there, then waited for a reply.

“I hope you know we wouldn’t harm anyone either, unless we thought there was absolutely no alternative,” pointed out the Mind, “And even then, we would attempt to use tranquilisers or other non-lethal methods to restrain and disarm or remove the subject from the vessel before resorting to lethal methods.”

“If you do want to go down to the planet, then you’ll need to get down to the hangar,” said Valero quietly.

“The preliminary atmosphere scan confirms what Alvec told us about the planet. Average temperature on the night side of the planet is about forty degrees, on the day side; upwards of seventy or so,” reported the Faded Fortunes, “That’s similar temperatures to what you’d find in a desert, Baroness. Would you like us to provide you with an exposure suit to protect you from the heat?” asked the Mind.
****

“Really?” replied Sharpe. “Well then, I guess that puts you on point with Tyler if we end up in the base.”

“Don’t cramp my style,” quipped Tyler, and winked at the alien soldier. “Shall we load up, sir?”

“Sure thing. Might as well be prepped and ready to go,” agreed Sharpe. “That is, assuming we are going.” He looked questioningly at Andie.

“I believe we are going,” she confirmed, “However, the Baroness has decided to accompany us, so we will wait for her to join us.”

“Right. Everyone load up, we’re leaving shortly,” ordered Sharpe. “You too, Jann. I can’t order you around, and you’re technically in charge of this little jaunt, but my experience has to count for something, right?”

“Right, Tim,” agreed Jann. “When we’re on the ground, your judgment counts for more than mine, so I’ll bow to your experience in these matters.”

The Rangers and the other Indoan officers filed onto the Assegai, moving around or ducking under the Hawk drone suspended from the ceiling at the rear of the craft’s interior. The six-person crew were already aboard, doing everything up to actually starting the engines to get ready for their departure. The loadmaster directed people to seats, having already overseen the loading of the drone and the other cargo, while the three door gunners stood idly by the controls for their weapons. There was plenty of space inside the craft, even with the Hawk drone, since it had a capacity of 45 fully armed combat troops, and the group numbered only 13, including Alvec.

The interior of the Assegai was even colder than the rest of the corvette, right down at 14 degrees, four degrees lower than the standard temperature of most Indoan vessels, one that all three species found comfortable. When they started descending through the planet’s atmosphere, the cabin temperature would drop further, to help counter the extreme heat when the hatches were opened for various reasons.

"Yes, please", Tail answered the mind. Once she had the suit she made her way down to the hanger as quickly as possible and entered the assault boat.

Alvec nodded, "Ain't the first time I been on point. Least I know the territory this time." He grinned at Tyler and entered the assault boat. He took a seat and strapped himself in.

"Power Signal's comin from inside, but least there is power, so gettin in should be no problem."

********

Lauralin was already entering the atmosphere, following the power she sensed coming from below. The steed seemed unaffected by the entry into the atmosphere as it descended toward the ground.

********

Joat moved away and opened a probability hole, knowing that the Fortunes would be only a few seconds behind her as usual.

As it turned out, a few seconds was enough ....

The W.Y.A.L. emerged from probability and was just getting her bearings as the intereference from the jump point cleared when the ship began shouting her warnings. Proximity alerts went off first and Joat turned to see what Faye was picking up the target locks went off.

"Fardlin A", Joat muttered and turned the ship, just trying to get anywhere but where she was.

One impact rocked the ship and then a second as a small vessel shot by the W.Y.A.L. The sense engines went down, followed by the comms and Joat sought to bring up the secondary sensor array. The small vessel, sleek and packing far more fire power than it seemed it should, turned back as Joat tried to bring the ship around to have the weapons in line once the sensors came on. The next two shots took out the weapons and burned out the secondary sensors and then the ship slipped into it's main drive, just as the Fortunes arrived.

What the fortunes saw was a W.Y.A.L. that was adrift, and able to be picked up on sensors. She didn't respond to hails and seemed to be only on auxiliary power.

The backlash from the attacks sent a surge through the systems, and Joat screamed as the power shorted out her neural implants, slumping unconsious in her command throne.

As soon as Tailchaser had boarded the Assegai assault craft, the hatches slid closed and the four engines started up in sequence. The Kestrel escort fighter was already running, waiting only for the Assegai. The large craft rose gently from the deck, the co-pilot requesting clearance to depart as it did so. The clearance came immediately, with a proviso that the Kestrel fighter left first.

The small dart suddenly shot forward, accelerating out of the hangar bay at a tremendous rate, and the boxy Assegai gave it five seconds to clear the bay entrance before it followed the fighter, albeit at a lower rate of acceleration. As soon as the two craft were clear of the corvette, it flashed a good luck message at them, then disappeared through a wormhole in pursuit of the WYAL.

The pair of craft altered their heading until they were pointing at the planet, and began making their descent through the atmosphere, rapidly catching up to Lauralin and her mysterious mount. The Kestrel took up a wing position on the Assegai, to the right and a little behind, where it would be able to cover the larger craft.
****

When the Faded Fortunes reverted to real space and saw the crippled form of the WYAL, it wasted no time in responding. Within half a second, six objects flipped into existence at various points around the damaged WYAL, forming a perimeter, and the Mind hailed the vessel.

When it got no response, the corvette moved inside the perimeter formed by the remote defence drones it had deployed and slowly approached the WYAL, interrogating it’s avatar on board the vessel for a response. At the same time, it declared battle stations, began a full strength sensor sweep of the system and ordered the remaining five Kestrels to be scrambled.

~ Fayalin-Xunrae, what has happened? questioned the Mind.
~ We were attacked, replied the avatar immediately, ~ A small craft, not much larger than a fighter, but it was very powerful.

The avatar moved over to Joat’s console, and simultaneously looked at the status of the ship and checked Joat for injuries.
~ We have sustained severe damage; engines, comms, sensors and weapons all out. Captain Simeon-Happ is unconscious, possibly due to some effect from the implanted link she has with the ship, she reported to the Fortunes.

~ Any idea where the attacking craft went? asked the Mind.
~ If you have not been attacked, I would guess it is either hiding somewhere in the system and waiting for an ambush opportunity, or it has fled, either thinking we were the only vessel or deciding against engaging a fully armed warship, responded Fayalin. ~ I will see if the vessel’s AI is still active.

“Rand? Can you hear me?” she asked the interior of the WYAL.

(OOC - Sorry free eagles, I forgot it was an assault boat and not a shuttle, I'll edit my post. OOC2 - going to try to stick with metric for continuity, if something seems off, don't be afraid to let me know.)

The assault boat and the fighter easily overtook the Queen and followed the source of the power transmission. As Alvec indicated it was coming from the base on the planet.

"There's a landin pad, though I ain't sure it's a good idea to land there. Might be rigged to blow. You can land outside, but we'd have to climb the walls, they're about 10 meters in height. Or you can land inside the compound. Don't let the place fool you, the only thing on the surface are the AS, AA and ATS missile complexes and the secondary sensors as well as the landing pad and vehicle bays. There's 17 sublevels, so most of it is below ground. There's two entrances on the surfice. The main entrance and the entrance the quads, T-2's and T-3's would use, and what few T-1's we had left, as well as command cars that needed to enter the base."

The Queen's own path, following the magical emminations seemed to be virtually along the path of the ones the assault boat and the fighter followed.

********

Rand took some time to answer, enough to worry initially. "I'm sorry Ms. Xunrae, it took me a few moments to upload from the protective archives that Joat provided for me .....

"My .... Aren't I a mess. My comms are down, attempting to bypass now. The main engines are off line as well as the secondary sensor array. Weapons are out as well. I doubt we're cloaked as the hull has been breached. Containment doors have already been put in place. Life support is functional ... wait ... Oh good. Joat's coffee machine is working, that would have been cause for some concern. The vessel that attacked us has the same configuration as the one that had been recorded. Two person craft at most. Yes, I believe it's the one we were pursuing. Funny, I don't know how it detected us. Of course with the proximity alerts it probably saw us. I do hope it's left Ms. Xunrae, I'm afraid I can't see anything outside. I do have maneuvering thrusters, by the way ....

"Is Joat alright? She doesn't seem to be moving."

((OOC: No worries. I do have a lot of ships I keep switching between.))

As the Assegai approached an altitude of 10,000m, the pilot, a Master Flight Sergeant Harriman, slowly levelled the craft off, and reduced their speed. In the main cabin, the loadmaster, Flight Officer Siler, spoke up.
“Alright, stand by for drone deployment. It could get a little warm in here, people.” he told them. “Captain Sharpe, sir.”

The temperature in the cabin had dropped further, and was stable at about 12 degrees. The loadmaster and Capt. Sharpe moved to the back of the craft, where the Hawk drone was suspended. The rear gunner hit the switch to open the rear hatch, and the temperature jumped up immediately. Sharpe and Siler lowered the drone, locking the launch bracket in place. Working as fast as they could, they powered up the drone’s systems and lit off the engine. When all the systems reported as ready, they released the clamps and a burst of compressed air ejected the drone into the Assegai’s slipstream, where it wobbled in the turbulent air for a moment, then stabilised and dropped away under it’s own power, off to perform it’s programmed task.

As soon as the drone was clear, the rear gunner closed the rear hatch. As the Assegai’s climate control systems began working to bring the temperature back down, the craft resumed it’s rapid descent towards the ground. The Kestrel broke off from the formation shortly afterwards, and began a loosely specified patrol pattern over the base.

As Sharpe passed Alvec, he informed the other of his decision.
“We’ll set down just inside the compound, on the north side,” he declared, then moved forward towards the cockpit to give Harriman the instructions.
****

“She’s unconscious,” replied Fayalin, “I think the damage to the ship may have affected her because of her implant link. I am in contact with the Faded Fortunes via our link, and it is aware of our situation. As far as it can tell, the hostile craft has left the system, but we can’t be sure. It has deployed a number of autonomous defence drones around us to protect us, and the remaining Kestrel fighters will scramble shortly.”

~ The AI is intact. He reports that we have suffered some hull breaches, but that they have been contained. He also says that the manoeuvring thrusters are still operational, so we’re not completely adrift, Fayalin reported to the Fortunes.
~ Glad to hear it. I assume he is attempting to restore the primary systems, replied the Mind.
~ Yes. Comms first, so when they are restored, he might appreciate sensor feeds so that he’s not completely blind. Also, he believes that the craft that attacked us is the same one we were pursuing, she told her parent.
~ I see. Do you wish for medical assistance for Captain Simeon-Happ? inquired the Mind.

“Rand, if you can get communications back up, the Faded Fortunes will transmit it’s sensor feeds, so you won’t be completely blind,” Fayalin told the AI. “Do we need a medic for Joat? And what of your other passenger?” She began checking Joat for other injuries, starting by taking her pulse, trying to determine whether she needed any medical attention.

“We’ll set down just inside the compound, on the north side,” he declared, then moved forward towards the cockpit to give Harriman the instructions.

"Roger that, Sir. Main door", Alvec replied. Once the boat was down, he deployed with the others and moved to the main door. Taking a moment to watch the odd horse come down, he shook his head. "Wierd", he muttered. He placed his hand on the panel at the door and placed his eye over the retinal scanner. "Harriman, Alvec, Sergeant, 1st REC", he said out loud for the voice print. When nothing happened he moved away as Lauralin dismounted and approached the 15 foot high durasteel door.

Tailchaser approached her and whispered something to her quickly, then they exchanged a few words as Alvec removed the panel and attempted to bypass the security.

"Odd", he said, "we get power readings but there ain't nothin going to door. Ain't no way to move the bastard either."

Lauralin stepped forward, "Watch yourself", she told him and closed her eyes.

"Our way is clear,
it's way is barred.

Give us strength,
to move beyond.

Let not our path,
that is so far.

End here and now,
but go till won."

She raised her hand slowly and the door, screeching in protest, rose with it.

"Fardlin A", Alvec muttered and then raised his weapon and moved forward.

********

Joat's pulse was thready and quick, obviously in distress. Rand began stopping thier tumbling with the maneuvering thrusters as he sought to bypass the comm through secondary circuits.

"It would seem that Salazan has not rejoined us as yet", Rand replied. "As for Joat, there is a medical unit just off the main hold, though I'm not sure it could handle the kind of injuries that you seem to be describing."

"Test", sent over the rerouted comm. It was short range, but enough to reach the Fortunes, "Test. Do you read me?"

Even in a supposedly deserted base, the Rangers took no chances. They deployed straight into a semi-circular perimeter around the rear of the Assegai, then moved swiftly over to the door and formed a defensive circle around that. The naval officers followed just behind them, looking slightly out of place among the trained soldiers. They were an odd group to look at, all suited up with their faces concealed.

As soon as the last man was clear, the Assegai lifted off from it’s AG landing cushion and rapidly climbed upwards. Assegai assault craft acted as primary fire support for their deployed troops, so the transport would take up a low patrol orbit above the base, ready to provide cover fire or an emergency evac within seconds of the request.

When Lauralin raised the door, the only comment was a grumble from Kane.
“I could’a broken through that,” he grouched, hefting the cannon he held. “Or the Assegai could’a blasted it.”

The Rangers moved forward into the base, Tyler half a pace ahead of Alvec, her rifle tucked in tight to her shoulder, alert for any sign of movement as her HUD gave her a crystal clear view of the interior of the base.
****

Fayalin effortlessly lifted Joat from her seat, an impressive feat for one so slight had she been human, and carried her in the direction of the medical unit.
“I’ll ask the Fortunes to send a medic over then, though I don’t know how much we can do. We’re not that familiar with human physiology,” she told Rand. “However, we do know something about implants and their effects.”

{I do,} replied the Fortunes, {Not very strong, but it’s a clear signal. Can you receive the sensor feeds?}

It began transmitting the data from the majority of it’s sensors, leaving out a few of the more advanced ones because they were classified. At the same time, the five remaining Kestrel fighters left the corvette and began orbiting the two vessels.

At the request from Fayalin, the Mind summoned one of the chief medical officers, and ordered them to put together a field kit and prepare for transfer to the WYAL. There would be no need for a shuttle, the Mind could take a reference point from Fayalin and Displace the medic across.

Can you receive the sensor feeds?

"Mmm, ah, yes. There we go. MUCH better, Thank You", Rand replied. "I assume those are the autonomous defence drones and those the Kestrel fighters.

I think I can bypass and get the secondary sensors online, but the weapons grid is blown and Joat will need to physically repair the sense engines", he told the Mind. "Primary comms will also need a physical repair. The cloaking will be out until hull repairs can be achieved."

He then switched to the internal comm, his bypass allowing him only one sending channel, though multiple receiving channels, "Well if you know something of implants that would be wonderful. Her only other option would be to go to The Pride of Albion, and they wouldn't be very happy with her. Such implants as she possesses are typically reserved for cyborgs."

The medical room was small, barely enough for one person, let alone two with one being carried. Both woman were rather small, however, which made things easy.

"You know", Rand told Faye, "when the emotion program was running I did rather get quite a bit of amusement in watching Alvec try to fit in here .... Tell me, please, is that wrong?"

********

Alvec watched the Indoans deploy and was impressed with thier professionalism. It had been about seven years since he'd been in the presence of professionals and it felt good to be among them. His own techniques, trained and polished in the Legion, returned quickly.

Lauralin was about to stride in, but stopped, looked at Tailchaser, and then moved toward the middle of the group. Oddly enough the lighting seemed to be working, but Laura glanced at them, not having to use more than her innate abilities. "It is not power from the base", she said, as Alvec mentioned how odd it was that the lights worked but no power went to the door, "it is magic. Continual light spells, cast on the former lighting assemblies."

Alvec got into his old two person, point rythm. Move forward, cover 3 o'clock, trusting your partner to cover your 9 and the rest to cover your 6. Rifle to shoulder, sight along barrel, straight, up, down then inform your partner, "Clear", and move on, covering the 12 position once you got thier all clear.

Slipping into a comeraderie with Tyler as he moved he muttered, "Point sucks, I'd rather be looking YOUR behind."

The main chamber was large, with three points of entry, no including the door they came in, and three cover points from above, giving six points of fire in case of intrusion and forming a boxed in kill zone. The corridors had cutbacks approximately every 30 meters for defensive fire positions.

The second hall contained pictures and flags of the Legion throughout it's history. Strangely, half the pictures showed glorious defeat, only one half showing outright victory. Accustomed, through it's time, to being used as the first line of defense, or to be thrown into hopeless situations, the Legion had learned to revel in it's tenacity.

'No retreat, No surrender' was the motto on one painting where a borg was shown, firing it's laser canon and machine gun. Though it would obviously eliminate it's opponents, it would also fall in to process, and the number of enemy dead obviously out numbered the Legions own fallen.

Lauralin had stopped to examine the pictures, studying the history of the Legion, but got nudged from Tail as the others moved forward. Rather than protest she moved on, apparently, whatever the Baroness had told her had some kind of effect.

Alvec led them deeper into the complex and stopped at the main elevators. He pressed the button to summon it, waited a moment and heard nothing. He sighed, muttered, 'I'm getting to old for this shit', and louder said, "Looks like we take the stairs."

((OOC: Happy New Year!))

“I assume those are the autonomous defence drones and those are the Kestrel fighters.”

{That is correct. If there is anything we can do to help with the repairs, please don’t hesitate to ask. If the hostile craft returns, I think we can pull you through a wormhole to escape, so you needn’t worry about that,} replied the Mind.
Fayalin carefully laid Joat down on the examination table, then looked around the compact medical suite. On hearing Rand’s words, she recalled Alvec’s build and smiled.
“No, I can imagine that that would be quite amusing,” she agreed.
~ The medic? she asked the Mind.

There was no response from the Mind, but a silvery ovoid expanded and vanished in front of her, leaving a slightly bemused Capt. Carter and her field medical kit standing there, further crowding the small room. After sharing a glance with Fayalin, she started going through the medical kit.
“Okay, Faye, any idea what’s wrong with her?” Carter asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think the damage to the ship caused some feedback through her implanted link with the ship,” replied Fayalin.

“Okay, never had to deal with anything quite like that before, and I’ve never had to treat a human before either,” admitted Carter, a slightly ironic smile on her face, “I’ll treat it as a thread malfunction, and hope the differences aren’t too significant.” She pulled the four sets of nanite injectors from the kit, along with a control interface, then removed a scanning device from the kit and began scanning Joat’s body, searching for any injuries, then her head, looking for any damage to her brain tissue.
“See if you can reconfigure my nanite clusters for human physiology,” she instructed Fayalin.

The avatar took the first nanite autojet and clipped it into the interface, then allowed the Mind to attempt to reprogram the nanites, in case they were needed for Joat.
****

Tyler moved past Alvec in her turn, choosing to tap his shoulder as she passed rather than make a noise. Their standard doctrine was to limit speech to an absolute minimum, even though the Rangers wore full battlesuits and could talk to each other without even a whisper audible to anyone else. However, as she covered his advance, she broke doctrine as well, in replying to his comment.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she told him, “But I know you can’t see anything worth a damn of someone in one of these suits.” The truth of her statement was immediately obvious, the suit even hid the gender of the wearer in almost all cases. Even the swell of the breasts was completely hidden beneath the armour, except in those very few cases. And she knew she wasn’t one of them.

The Rangers were focused on the task at hand, and did not look at the images on the walls in any detail. The naval officers on the other hand, took the time to glance at them as they passed, but did not linger and passed no comment.

“Well, what did you expect?” asked Tyler, after the lift failed to respond, making her way past him and taking up position at the top of the stairs. “Come on, let’s go.”

(OOC - About 2 more hours here, but thank you, and same to you.)

The implants attached directly to the brain and the damage to the tissue was obvious, though not irreversable. The problem would be getting the link to function again. Rand put up a full scan of the area as well as a breakdown of human physiology and DNA patterning.

"Good", Rand replied to Faye's answer, "I was hoping it wasn't something cruel. I know that Joat has a, as the human's call it, bizarre sense of humor."

He switched to the mind, "Thank you, I won't be able to move or defend myself. As for repairs, you'll need to activate Joat. I am not familiar with all the circuitry quite yet, and most of it is .... inventive ..... to say the least."

The circuits certainly weren't to Indoan standard, but they also were off from Central Worlds norm, as they were created and built by Joat.

********

Alvec knew that you couldn't see anything, but chose not to answer. To say it was a joke now might be considered insulting, so he chose to ignore it.

“Well, what did you expect?” asked Tyler, after the lift failed to respond, making her way past him and taking up position at the top of the stairs. “Come on, let’s go.”

'That something would go my way for once in my life', he muttered with an uncommonly morose attitude. He moved to the next landing down, checked his corner and signaled for her to move on. Once she checked the next landing and corner he would move past her to the next one down and so on. At Sublevel 15 he stopped, signaled her to take up position and then opened the door and stepped in and right, waiting for her to take left.

Lauralin stopped and concentrated, then followed them once the Indoan's in front of her went in. The magical eminations were coming from this level, she was sure and as Alvec turned around, moving past Tyler, she realized that it was coming from the same direction.

After another 15 minutes he came to another door. This one was also durasteel, but only the size of a standard door. This one required only a hand scan and voice code. Once he did those two he swept the room after the door opened and then moved in and right.

Lauralin saw what she sought and entered the room, looking at three discs that were placed carefully on pedastals as though on display. She moved in, followed by Tailchaser, and over to the discs to examine them.

The power source stood in the middle of the room, a small generator that looked as though it were tapped into the power connections in the floor of the room.

(OOC - Choose wether or not, or how many of the Indoan's follow, but I want to get this part in before anyone touches the power source.)

Once Laura reached the discs, something occured to Alvec, "Wait, why did this door open?"

Suddenly the door slammed down and slits around the room near the roof opened. A sudden red torrent entered the room and Alvec aimed his gun up, only to stop in confusion.

"What the hell?" he asked, as he noticed the torrent. Roses fell in abundance around the perimeter of the room and Lauralin suddenly looked around, her eyeteeth bared.

"ALWAYS TO CURIOUS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD", came a voice from the speakers hidden about the room.

An all to familiar voice as Tailchaser looked at Laura, and Laura looked about in confusion upon hearing her own voice.

Slits opened in the floor and spiders, about half the height of a man suddenly began boiling out. Lauralin shrieked, and flames began erupting in all directions as she continued to shriek and yell incoherently.

Tailchaser stripped her suit quickly and then leapt into the spiders, killing two almost immedietly as she began to engage them and moving at a speed a human couldn't match.

"Great Ghu", Alvec muttered and began shooting. After three shots, three of the spiders lay dead.

“Okay, Faye. I want an activation group to attach itself to her implant, and the rest of the cluster to fix the tissue damage,” instructed Carter as she studied the results. “If the implant isn’t functioning properly, we’ll have to do something about it in case it does more damage when she wakes up.”

The avatar held the autojet out in front of Carter when the programming was finished, and the medic took it and stuck the tip into Joat’s neck. The spent injector went back into the medical kit for reconditioning, and Carter watched the progress of the nanites on her scanner.

Once the small group of nanites had connected themselves with Joat’s implant, Carter ordered the implant to run a diagnostic. Even if the device didn’t have that capability, the nanites should enable it to comply anyway, but it wasn’t a certainty.
****

Tyler followed Alvec’s directions down the stairs, and followed him through the door onto that level. When they found another locked door, Tyler sighed and was ready to retrace their steps back through the base. She was surprised when Alvec bothered to try the access mechanisms, since they had already established that the base was without proper power, even if the lights were somehow working.
“Hey, wait a minute…” she began, but didn’t get to the next word, distracted by backing up Alvec’s advance into the room.

The other Indoans made to follow, but only Khonsari made it into the room after Tyler, before the door slammed down, right in front of Deitrich. The sniper lowered his weapon and pushed hard against the blockade, then knelt down and tried to get his hands underneath the door to try and lift it, but there wasn’t enough space for a sheet of paper, let alone his gloved hands.

Inside the room, Khonsari spun around as the door closed, separating them from the rest of the squad. She too looked for a way to force it open, but came up similarly empty handed.
“Three, Six; you guys okay?” asked Sharpe over the comm.
“Yeah,” replied the smart-gun operator, “You…” she began, but trailed off as she saw the flowers.

When the spiders burst into the room, Khonsari triggered the smart-gun and the weapon took over from there. A stream of shells spewed forth, slamming into the horde of spiders, the muzzle of the cannon tracking from one target to the next as the system attempted to eliminate all the hostiles. The shear volume of fire coming off the smart-gun dwarfed that being put out by Tyler’s rifle. Neither of them were shooting too close to Lauralin or Tailchaser though, for fear of accidentally hitting them with a stray round.

On the other side of the door, the Rangers heard the distinctive sound of the smart-gun open fire, and Sharpe made repeated attempts to get further communication out of the two soldiers, but with no success. Kane levelled the cannon in his arms at the door.
“Everyone out the way,” he ordered.
“Kane, stop!” interrupted Sharpe. “We don’t know how close to the door our people are. If you do that, you might injure them.”
Kane knew Sharpe was right, and his weapon immediately lowered.
“So what are we going to do, sir?” he asked.
“If we can’t raise them over the comm, you can cut the door down with plasma swords,” decided Sharpe, then tried to contact Tyler and Khonsari again.

Joat's implant was capable of giving diagnostics, a practice Joat kept every night. It read out the story as best it could, under it's damaged condition. It would take longer to repair than the brain tissue, but it, too, was repairable. One thing became clear, however. The bright young woman hadn't designed the implant with the possibility of a power surge in mind. She had neglected to build in any buffers against that eventuality.

********

Alvec had been a graduate of the famed 'one for one' Legion school, or one shot for one kill. Only the top10% of the Legion members even got to go, and out of those, only the top 10% graduated. But as he fired, two things became clear. One was that single shot wouldn't cut it, so he switched to auto. Two was that the spiders were intent on reaching the Queen of Dragonsreach, so he adjusted his targeting accordingly, taking out what he could without getting too close to her.

Tailchaser, too, realized this and moved as she fought, closer toward the besieged woman. Tail realized two more things as well. One, that the woman didn't particularly care where her fireballs and flames went, and two, that the woman was practically hysterical, something she had never noticed about the Queen in any situation.

Lauralin was acting solely on instict and natural ability now. She rose off the floor in an attempt to get away from the creatures, raining fire down around her. Some of the spiders leapt for her, others turned and, ignoring the others in the room, began climbing the walls, heading toward the ceiling in an attempt to get over top of her.

Most of the spiders were falling between Khonsari's withering fire and Laura's flames. The torrent was slowing to a trickle, as most of the spiders were already in the room, and it seemed the sole target was the Queen herself.

After seeing the results of the diagnostic, Carter decided to see what she could do about it. She instructed the nanites attached to Joat’s implant to effectively restructure it, incorporating the nanites into the device in the process. Her intent was to repair the damage to the implant, as well as safeguard against a repeat event. The nanites would form the equivalent of a fuse; if they detected a surge they would isolate the implant itself from the neural link with Joat’s brain. The implant would still break, there wasn’t anything Carter could do about that unless she gave Joat an entirely new implant, but Joat would be protected from any injury.

The medic wasn’t sure it would work, she wasn’t an expert on implants, her speciality was trauma, the kind of injuries a military medic most expected to see, but her theory was sound and the Mind agreed with her course of action.
****

The two Rangers had also noticed the pattern in the behaviour of the spiders, but still couldn’t fire at the ones near Lauralin. It wasn’t that their weapons were inaccurate, even the smart-gun was highly accurate, but Lauralin was moving so much and so fast that a shot that would have hit a spider might hit her because she had moved into the line of fire.

A warning flashed up on Khonsari’s HUD, then the smart-gun cut out a few seconds later. She was far from out of ammunition, the massive hopper on her back still over three-quarters full, but the nature of the weapon and the rapid fire rate generated a lot of heat, and the system had a failsafe to cut out before the weapon suffered damage.

In this case, the coolant rod supply had expended, and the weapon had ceased fire immediately to prevent the magnets melting. The Ranger triggered a burst from the emergency cooling system, and a short spray of supercooled gas was released into the weapon, then ejected the spent coolant pack. She withdrew a replacement from her pouch, transferred it to her left hand and drew her pistol, firing that at the spiders while her left hand fumbled with replacing the coolant one-handed.

Tyler was firing her rifle at the spiders climbing towards the ceiling, realising what they were up to. As she did so, she also heard one of Sharpe’s transmissions over her comm.
“We triggered some sort of defence mechanism on whatever it is we came here for,” she told him hurriedly. “Released a load of large spiders into the room. Think we’ve got it covered, but some reinforcement would be appreciated anyway.”

Outside, Sharpe heard Tyler’s reply, then nodded at Kane. The Ranger slung his cannon over his back, along with the other weapon, and pulled the plasma sword from his belt. The silvery blade hissed to life, and he set about cutting through the door separating them from their embattled comrades.

As time slipped by and Rand continued to do what he could he became more and more concerned. Or at least, he became aware that should she completely cease to function then certain rythms that had become predictable would be altered.

"Secondary sensor array at limited use", Rand announced. "Comms are also limited, but functional. I fear it's the best I can do", he reported to those in the medical room. "Can you get her functional again?" he asked.

********
Alvec noted the lessening of fire and glanced around quickly. He didn't know what was wrong, but seeing Khonsari with a sidearm didn't seem good, so out of habit, more than any real concern, as the spiders were focused on the Queen, he moved back to provide cover fire for the Ranger.

Tailchaser had gotten several more, ripping into them as they made for the walls. She leaped for one, pulling it from the wall and killing it as she pulled it down and then avoided another sheet of flame, sighing as she did and patting her fur out.

Lauralin heard nothing, saw nothing. The flowers were beginning to weave into her senses and the sight of the spiders drove her into a frenzy. "NOOOOOO!!", she shouted and continued to kill.

Carter made a small noise of frustration as she watched the progress of the nanites.
“I want to give her some Ventro and Lamisac,” she grumbled, “but I’ve got no idea how they’ll affect a human.” The first drug was a mild steroid, which would relax the airways and ensure that the patient was getting enough oxygen, something that was always a concern with unconsciousness, and the second was a stimulant that would gently coax the patient back towards wakefulness.
“In the state she’s in, I don’t want to risk it. Could do more damage than good,” she admitted. “I’m doing my best,” she replied to Rand’s question. “Any ideas on the drugs?” she asked him.
****

Khonsari kept firing her pistol as she fumbled with the smart-gun. The replacement pack jammed in as she tried to push it in, then slipped free when she hit it with the palm of her hand and clattered to the floor. She swore and dropped into a crouch, scrabbling around for the fallen coolant pack. Her pistol clicked empty, so she let it drop to the floor too.

Trusting Alvec to cover her now that he was beside her, Khonsari looked down at the ground. Now that it had her full attention, she immediately grabbed the pack and slotted it into the housing on the smart-gun, then hit it with the base of her hand to make sure it was properly seated. The smart-gun control system chimed in her ear, and the muzzle began tracking targets again.

Khonsari gave a cry of triumph, stood up and triggered the smart gun. As it opened up again, the Ranger saw what was happening to Lauralin. Although the woman was doing her best, she was getting frantic, and that wasn’t good. In an instant, Khonsari made a decision.
“Come on, baby. Please don’t let me down,” she told the smart-gun.
She brought the smart-gun around so that it was pointed at the spiders surrounding Lauralin, and triggered it, trusting, and praying, that the system was good enough not to shoot Lauralin in the process.

"One moment", Rand replied as he accessed the medical data bases and the online stores. "Ah, here we go, these may be better. Steroid, Vinsichek. As for a stimulant there are two. One, the stronger is called Aluzantrix. The milder one is Tsenmthrix. The autodoc can be easily programmed to administer any of these, and I can do so myself if you wish."

********

Tailchaser stepped away from the Queen and looked around for any other spiders that might be in reach. Seeing none she moved away from the Queen, but kept an eye on the open panels in the floor, just in case any laggards happened to come along.

Alvec saw the mass thinning faster again with Khonsari's weapon functioning again. He made his own decision and switched back to single shot then jumped at the loud CLANG behind him as the door fell in after being cut through. He snapped around, saw only allies and spun back, picking off the targets one at a time.

Laura, noticing the spiders moving in above her let herself drop back to the ground and continued with the flames and fireballs, shrieking incoherently now.

Salazan felt himself being pulled back from reality. "DAMNIT! NOT NOW!" He screamed. "Why? Your status report is late." Said a man. The man, wearing a red suit of plate armor sat in a chair in a chamber made of stone. "Goddamnit." Salazan swore. "I have shit to do. I'll get it to you in a few hours." Salazan continued, looking more and more nervous. The man closed his eyes for a second, and then said, "Fine. But, I want it in 24 hours."
Salazan nodded and dissapeared.

He reapeared in full battle armor wielding two battle axes. He standing in the center of the room. He jumped out of the way, narrowly missing being flamed by Lauralin. He looked up, and said "Oh shit." He threw one of the axes striaght up and it a spider. He held out his hand and the axe came whirling back. "Too slow!' He yelled. He drew a heavy guass rifle out of the air. The rifle looked something like a paint-ball gun, but had a large handle and a long, square barrel. Salazan started firing up into the cieling, and while the little titanium balls hit the spider, curiously, the ceiling was undamaged.


Salazan started speaking in a strange language. It sounded.... backwards. "Ssyba eht fo nomed, adsed nommus ybereh I." A little spot of black appeared. Salazan looked at it and said "Sredips eht kcatta." The little black ball moved up, and... erased spiders, literaly erasing them from existence, past, present, future.

“Do it,” agreed Carter, “The steroid and the milder stimulant. I don’t want to force her to wake up, just try and coax her in that direction.”
Once those drugs were administered, there wasn’t a lot more Carter could do, other than monitor the progress of the nanites and wait for Joat to revive. She rifled quickly through the medical kit and searched her mind to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, the leant back against the wall.
“All we can do now is wait,” she told them.
****

Kane, plasma sword in hand, stood upon the threshold of the room for a second, taking in what was happening. After that second, he ran into the room, directly towards Lauralin and the remaining spiders.
“Holly, raise your aim,” he yelled over the comm as he passed Khonsari.

Khonsari tipped the smart-gun upwards, the fire being concentrated on the spiders crawling over the ceiling instead of those on the ground. Kane moved right in close to Lauralin and set upon the spiders with the plasma sword. He was by no means skilled in it’s use, but it wasn’t a hard weapon to use competently.

Hardenne also slung her rifle and switched to her plasma sword, dashing in next to Kane and defending Lauralin. Unlike him, Chloe was highly skilled with the plasma sword, and had used two of them to devastating effect in the past. Neither Ranger was concerned for their safety from Lauralin’s flames, the battlesuits would protect them from harm, even if the external surfaces of the suit were damaged. The rest of the Rangers moved into the room as well, shooting at what spiders remained far enough away from Lauralin to be safe to shoot at.

(OOC – Was I the only one unable to get on yesterday?

Hmm. Okay, slight change here, just take note of it, don’t bother editing or anything. Free Eagles actions will come BEFORE GruntsandElites. Just to make the flow a bit easier. Also, I’m going to change one thing with Grunt. Lets just wipe out the spiders in the here and now. Wiping them out in the past would mean they weren’t here, then something else would be put in place and then we would have to do the scene all over again with the new threat. So just to make things easier, and not have to go back and redo things, lets just say it eliminates them now.

Oh, and it’s okay Grunts, everyone runs into IRL things. I just try to do at least a post a day, but also attempt to leave things a bit open so others can catch up. It’s all cool, and hope everything is good there now.)

Two injectors went off, one in each shoulder, coming up from beneath Joat on the table itself. Then there was a brief flash as a localized force field was put in place. “Just in case she should react in a manner befitting the moment she went unconscious”, Rand told them.

Almost fifteen minutes went by as Joats vitals changed. Heart beat and pulse rose slightly, not dangerously and certainly expectantly given the drugs administered. Finally her eyes fluttered open, took a moment to focus on anything and then suddenly she tried to sit up, “WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!”

********

Lauralin, seeing nothing but the spiders lashed out at whatever scuttled near. She did, unfortunetly, and unintentionally, strike there rangers here and there. Something she wouldn’t realize, and would be upset about, later. For now, however, her world was filled the terrors that surrounded her.

Alvec turned as Salazan suddenly appeared, remembered him from the W.Y.A.L. and went back to his work.

More than the Lemure was attracted by Salazan’s summon and the being followed it, being as it moved toward Lauralin’s position. The being arrived slightly afterward and took in the scene. For a moment it watched the events, mainly watching the Lemure. Once sure that the little demon was content in it’s feeding it looked around.

To Salazan the creature looked as any from the Abyss would, it’s features not hidden from his race as they were to others. It was feminine in nature with a tail and horns. It’s hair was a bluish green and seemed to float about it as though the laws of gravity didn’t have the same effect on it.

To the others it appeared as one of it’s race. Indoan, Matrai, Catfolk, Human, or however the Avatars might see such things. To them she was exceedingly beautiful and her charm invited them to untold passions, drawing the eyes and minds of even the woman in the group. Her clothing was sheer, leaving nothing to the imagination. And to those who had seen her before, she was known as Shandaril, and her attentions were focused on the hysterical Queen.

Ironically, it was her presence that drew Lauralin out of her nightmare memories and she turned to look at Shandaril as the woman approached.

Tailchaser, was drawn to the woman, but wary, having seen and dealt with demons before and backed away.

Alvec, never having seen anything like her before, stood still, staring at the incredibly delectable female. His weapon arm seemed hinged to his jaw, and both dropped down as he simply stared at her, feeling the power of her charm.

“Now, now”, Shan cooed toward Laura, “all is better.” She approached Lauralin, who neither backed away nor approached, “The nasty creatures are gone. You’ve nothing to fear from them now.” She reached out, taking Laura’s trembling hand in hers and drawing the Queen away from the area where the spiders had been. She then looked around, “Ah, I see you’ve found your way here”, she said, then looked at Laura, “you shouldn’t be, you know.”

“I should not be”, Lauralin asked. “Why? You know something. Tell me, please.”

Shandaril sighed and looked genuinely sad, “You know I can’t. Even we of the Abyss have rules that must be followed. You know I can’t tell you what will be.”

“But how do you”, Laura began.

“Ahh, but you know. We of the Abyss do not live in the flow of time, but across it. What was, what is, it is all happening, and has happened and will happen. I can only say that … for once, I wish I could change the path of pain that lies before you. But remember this …. YOU cannot handle everything YOURSELF.” Then Shal turned to Salazan, “Be wary traveler, with whom you summon from the Abyss. She and her father have made powerful enemies. Even now Orcus, Demon Lord of the Undead, wails in fury. For her father had defeated him once, and she has defeated him recently. And they are not all who have failed before this family. But”, she continued in a much more lighthearted tone, “it is soooo much fun to watch them. Ta ta”, and then she vanished.

((OOC: I only tried once- I was busy most of the day- but I got a database error, yeah.))

Carter was watching Joat carefully, and knew as soon as she had woken up. She put out her hands, one to stop Joat from rising too far, the other to prevent her from falling back down on to the examination table and banging her head, then gently forced her back down.
“Easy,” she told Joat, “Everything’s fine.” The medic knew that everything was far from fine regarding the vessel, but she didn’t want to tell Joat that just yet. “How do you feel?” She pulled a small penlight from her med kit and checked Joat’s pupil response. “Can you move your fingers and toes? Or feel this?” She tapped Joat’s hand with the penlight a few times.
****

Salazan’s sudden appearance nearly earned him a volley of pulse shells for his trouble, though all the Rangers stopped as a ‘Hold Fire’ command flashed up on their HUDs. It was probably just as well that Kane was occupied with spiders and his sword, and failed to notice the alien, otherwise he might have loosed off a couple of rounds anyway.

Shandaril’s appearance soon after had much the same effect as it previously had, and the avatar, the only one not affected by her presence, brought her carbine around to point at the demon, though she did not squeeze the trigger.
“You again,” she said exasperatedly. What Andie saw would thoroughly confuse anyone else who saw it, since the avatar was immune to pheromones and other forms of mind-influencing, being artificially constructed, but she did feel emotion. What Andie saw was not Shandaril’s true form, and neither did she see a Matrai form; what she saw was impossible to describe to someone who hadn’t also seen it.

Knowing how Shandaril’s presence would affect the other Indoans from their past encounter, Andie instructed each Indoan’s neural thread to emit a piercing whine inside their heads, to help break the charm and give the Indoans some control back. She was just thankful that they did not have Sgt. Charlene Tomlinson with them this time. Shandaril’s effect on Tomlinson had nearly resulted in all their deaths and a nuclear grade explosion over Lauralin’s homeworld.

When Shandaril disappeared again, and the Indoans began recovering, Andie shook her head in frustration. She disliked that woman, if only for the effect she had on nearly everyone around her. It wasn’t helpful, particularly not in the situations that she had thus far chosen to appear in.
“I really don’t like her,” she muttered, and ceased the whining over the neural threads.

(OOC - Ah okay, at least it wasn't just me.)

"I have a bit of a headache, but I feel okay otherwise", she replied. She moved her fingers and her toes as Rand deactivated the field, allowing the doctor full access. Joat nodded each time she felt a tap, showing that she could feel okay. The pupil in her left eye reacted fine, being her natural eye, although the right cybernetic replacement whined a bit and adjust slowly to the increased light, apparently having taken some damage as well.

"Rand? How's the While?" she asked. There was a definite silence as Rand considered what to say and hoped that the doctor or Faye would field the question. At his delay, however, Joat tried to get up, "How bad?" she asked.

********

Lauralin was still trembling and a question hung on her lips as Shandaril disappeared. She glance around quickly and only slowling began to stop shaking as she realized that the spiders were gone.

Alvec took a moment to register the fact that the woman was gone and only then glanced around quickly, closing his mouth and raising his rifle again, though he knew it was useless felt ashamed for having so blatently let down his guard, so ashamed that he wouldn't meet the eyes of anyone else in the room.

Tailchaser let out a sigh of relief and looked at Laura. She then moved over to discs and collected them. The last thing she was going to do was leave behind the very thing that they had come for.

Salazan snorted after Sharindil (sp?) was gone. "Bitch." He said. Then he yelled,"I have summoning rights to it!" Then he turned. "Eh, I prefer working with Drakes anyway. So, anyone hurt?" He asked. A white light traced down his right arm, shining brightly at his hand.

A small noise from behind him caused Salazan to spin around. The black sphere hovered quietly. "Dessimsid era ouy." Salazan said in the slithering tongue of the Abyss. He turned back toward the rest of the people. "So, anyone hurt?" Salazan asked in a slightly irritated tone (meaning he was pissed). The white light pulsed brighter as Salazan stood there. "Anyway, who was she?" Salazan asked, the white light fading after it was appearent no one was hurt.


OOc: Note: If you ever see a / at the end of a sentence, it is supposed to be a question mark.

(OOC - / = ? Got it.)

Lauralin looked at Salazan. "She is Shandaril. A succubus born of a demon and a powerful mage. Thus she is unable to control her charming ability. She is self centered, but presently we can help each other. I am not sure that I understand what she is saying, but her words will be true."

She glanced around again, noticed that Tail had picked up the discs and then looked at the machine in the center of the room.

Alvec cursed himself and moved forward, checking the generator. He followed the leads to the cables and checked the routing of them.

"Son of a bitch", he muttered, "the generator only runs the power to this room, what the hell is that all about?"

“Well, a headache’s not surprising considering you suffered minor brain damage from your neural implant’s malfunction,” pointed out Carter, “However, I fixed you up as good as new, and the next time the implant malfunctions, it won’t take you with it.”

Carter stopped Joat from getting up, saying, “Ah ah, you need to rest. Doctor’s orders,” she smiled at Joat, “You can tell Faye what needs to be done.”

It was Fayalin who fielded the question about the WYAL’s status.
“Engines, comms, primary sensors and weapons all out of commission,” she told the woman. “Rand’s managed to hook up a single channel comm system, the secondary sensors are somewhat usable, and the attitude thrusters are fine. He’s receiving sensor feeds from the Faded Fortunes, so he can see what’s going on out there, and the corvette can pull us through a wormhole if we need to escape.”
****

The Rangers and Navy personnel all lowered their weapons and shook their heads to clear their minds. Kane attached the now inactive plasma sword to his belt again and did what he usually did in a situation like this; grumbled.
“How’s anyone supposed to get anything done with her around?” he muttered, “Saying she can’t control it is all very well and good, but she does have this habit of turning up when loosing control of our heads isn’t exactly the best thing to do.”

“Give it up, Nik,” replied Reid, “These people do what they want, and damn anyone else.” Her statement was intended as a jest, but as soon as she said it, she regretted it, remembering what Andie said had happened between Lauralin and Colonel Valero.

“Everybody okay?” interjected Sharpe. There were a variety of confirmatory gestures from the Indoans, and only two responses came over the comm net: Kane and Hardenne.
“Minor burn damage to the suit, fried a few of the optic circuits, that’s all,” reported Kane.
“Same here,” agreed Chloe.
While the suit could, as previously boasted on many occasions, survive being immersed in molten lava, the delicate optics embedded in the exterior surface of the suit could not survive much in the way of damage, and Lauralin’s magical flames had been sufficient to knock them out of commission wherever they had touched them.

“So, we got what we came here for, right?” asked Sharpe. “Can we get out of here now?”

"I don't know what needs to be done, that's why I need to see", Joat replied worriedly, but on looking at the doctor decided to lie back. "Rand, give me a schematic." A picture of the W.Y.A.L. came up, replacing her own image and rotated around. Joat slid up onto her elbows to look more closely. "The bastard. Whoever it was knew EXACTLY where to hit us. The impact points are precise, but that's impossible. I built this ship with my bare hands, they COULDN'T have known. We have breach too. That can't be fixed out here. And the cloak won't work as long as we're breached. The main thing are the sense engines. Without them I can't make a probability jump. Not only that but I can't track the ship we've pursuing."

Joat lay back, and closed her eyes. "Okay. Well we don't have much choice. Sense engines or Comms will have to be first. The weapons would be another option, but if Forutnes can pull us away then we may as well work on other systems first." She opened her eyes and looked at Faye, "So what do you want first? Comms or sense engines?"

After her question she looked back at the Doctor, "Oh, umm, and thank you."

**************

Lauralin looked at Sharpe, "I highly support that proposal", she said. Uncharacteristacally her reply was short and to the point. She then glanced at Reid, not having missed her comment, and turned to Andie. She drew her sword and presented it hilt first, "I request permission to return to your vessel. I fear I spoke rashly, for which I apologize. I also fear that I have put your people in unnecessary danger. This was a trap."

"A trap", Alvec asked, "what do you mean by that?"

Lauralin looked at Alvec, "Later would be better. The proposal to leave is the wisest choice of the moment."

Carter was about to concede that Joat could probably move around to inspect the damage to the ship, as long as she took it easy and let Fayalin to all the actual work, when Joat started to do her inspection via a schematic hologram.

“There are three explanations to the enemy craft’s detailed knowledge of the ship,” pointed out Fayalin, after listening to what Joat had to say. “One; they have some very advanced scanning systems. Two; they have been on board this vessel. And three; they have read your mind.” The avatar looked up and met Joat’s eyes. “The first is the most likely, I think, though a tiny spy drone could have been directed on board the ship during an occasion when you where docked at Simeon’s Station.”

There was a pause as the avatar conversed with the Mind of the corvette. “The Mind and I agree; we should try and repair the engines first. You have at least some comm systems working, and the corvette is able to defend us from further attack. If we can repair the engines, we can continue to track our target, and it removes some of your reliance on the corvette for movement and escape. We can also temporarily seal the hull breaches if you want, with the replacement hull plates the corvette carries for emergency self-repairs,” she informed Joat.

Carter smiled kindly. “You’re welcome.” She did her job regardless, but it was always nice to be thanked for her trouble.
****

Andie did not take the sword, but bowed her head. “Your apology is accepted, but keep your weapon for now. If this was indeed a trap, there may be more surprises lurking,” she said. “I will receive your weapon from you when we return to the Faded Fortunes.”

Sharpe nodded at Lauralin’s agreement to his statement, and looked at Tyler. “Back to the surface, quick as,” he instructed her. As the Ranger led the way out of the room and back the way they had come, Sharpe switched to a different comm frequency.
“Shrike, Wombat. Report your status,” he told the pilot of the Assegai.
“Shrike Two in patrol over Bravo, Devil Four in cover at twelve,” replied Harriman. “No contacts.”
“We’re on our way out. Prepare for evac,” Sharpe instructed the pilot, who acknowledged.

"Rand, activate the holo pad", she said and then thought for a moment.

"Well", she said as a holographic touch screen appeared in front of her where she lay, "sealing the breaches would be nice, but it wouldn't help with the cloak. The hull is lined with filiments and the specially designed paint I use carries the current completing the circuit."

Joat was working the touch screen. "I'm detailing the repairs that are needed from what I can gather. Anything else I can help walk you through. Rand can open my locker so you can get my gear, you'll need more than a basic kit. Some of the tools I designed myself, so if you have any questions, let me know."

She stopped a moment, studying her screen and then inputed a few more things. Once she stopped again she nodded, "That should pretty much do it. Rand ... download this to the screen in the engine bay, please." Then she looked at Faye again, "Careful with her, okay?"

She then looked at Carter, "So how long do I have to sit on my can?"

***********************

Lauralin returned her sword to the Red Dragonscale scabbard and followed the others as they went out. Her mind whirled with what had happened and tryed to understand what Shandaril had told her.

Tailchaser continued to carry the discs, falling in beside Laura and staying alert for any possible threats.

Alvec took point with Tyler, just as they had when they came down and moved at a quick pace.

They were almost to the main door when Lauralin felt something. "WAIT!" she told them.

That was when those outside suddenly saw a vast force appear on the grounds about the fortress. About 10,000 golden colored men. Though armed with swords they were numerous, and already inside the walls, as well as outside on the plains.

What Laura had sensed was a magical trap being triggered. One designed to take effect only upon leaving the installation.

The Door was slightly above the level of the grounds, and so was clear for now, but they force was moving in quickly.

Salazan had quieted down for the trip outside, but when he say the golden figures, all he could say was, "Shit." He pulled out his two axes, and, muttering a few indechiperable words, summoned two creatures beside him.

They both were tall, thin, albino, and had elvish features. One had full plate armor on, minus the helmet. He had red eyes, and wielded two gleaming Falchions.

The other, a female with long white silver hair, dressed in simple leather armor, stood with a longbow and a quiver full of flaming red ebony arrows.

The male turned to Salazan and said "What the fuck did you get yourself into this time Salazan?" To which, Salazan only replied "Fun", before he hurled one of the axes at the horde of Golden creatures.

“I know it wouldn’t fix the cloak, but we might as well do it. Makes the ship safer,” pointed out Fayalin. She nodded her understanding of Joat’s instructions and moved to the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after her.”

Carter sighed, realising that Joat wasn’t the kind of person to take well to being confined to bed, as it were.
“Alright, you can get up and move around. But I insist you take it easy and let Faye do all the work,” she told her patient.
****

A second after Lauralin halted them, Sharpe heard Harriman’s voice in his ear.
“Wombat Zero, Shrike. We have a large force on the ground, maybe ten thousand infantry. They just appeared out of nowhere,” the pilot told him.
“We see them, Shrike,” acknowledged Sharpe. “Go for hot evac, as close to the main door as you can manage. Devil Four, begin strafing runs.”

From it’s position twelve thousand metres above them, the Kestrel fighter rolled over and fell through the sky, screaming down towards the mass of soldiers. It pulled out of the dive less than five hundred metres from the ground and blasted over the soldiers, laser cannons flickering in rapid succession as Dallows’ fighter made its first strafing run.

The Assegai also dropped rapidly, setting down less than ten metres from the main door. The nose of the craft faced directly away from the building, and the gatling gun in the nose opened up, a ghastly ripping sound filling the air as a hundred 30mm high-velocity shells left the muzzles every second. The side gunners also opened up with their weapons, solid beams of blue light reaching out and scything across the groups of golden soldiers.

“We’re not waiting for you,” yelled Sharpe as Salazan ran off towards the soldiers. “Go!” he bellowed at the Indoans, attempting to make himself heard by the aliens over the racket of the gatling gun. The Rangers ran forward, taking up positions just outside the building to cover the others, the naval officers ran directly towards the gunner at the rear hatch, who was waving them in his direction.

Salazan frowned and said "Fine then." Muttering a few words, the two leShay dissapeared, leaving Salazan alone. He then said "Drako ves nieva!". Wrymlings, small golden dragon-like creatures, bearing only a back set of legs quite like wyverns, swarmed down on the golden soldiers, breathing fire, ice and acid, tearing at the soldiers with their claws.

Salazan ran toward the Assegai. Once near the boarding hatch, he yelled "Keep firing at the soldiers! I don't care if the wyrmlings are killed!" Salazan then spun around, muttered a few words, cast a spell of true seeing, and looked up in the sky to scan for any more magical traps.

Joat flashed a smile, waved away the holographic interface and got up, "Thanks, doc. Galley is down the two rooms if you want anything", and then slipped past her, catching herself at the door as a wave of vertigo took her and then continued on.

Once in the engine bay she began explaining how the sense engines worked and what needed to be done. Occasionally, though without thinking, she would pick up a tool to start on something and sigh once it was taken away.

********

Lauralin saw the men, "Khelmain horde", she muttered and watched as the others moved toward the ship. She made to head out past, prepared to defend the assault craft while the others escaped until Tailchaser grabbed her and hauled her toward the open door.

"Great Ghu", Alvec muttered and moved forward and then knelt next to the entrance. He thumbed his rifle to single shot, watched the enemy for a moment and then gave a smile .... which was cold as ice. Then, working on the principles long taught in the Legion, he began to eliminate the enemy commanders using those who seemed to direct others as his basis until it became clear that the commanding officers helmets had taller plumes than the rest. Slowly and inexoribly he created havoc among the enemy by eliminated thier command structure, but sheer numbers would win the day, regardless, unless they left quickly, which everyone, thankfully seemed intent on doing. Once the officers and the Queen, Baronness and Salazan were in he waited for the Indoan's further out to move in, entereding once his turn came.

Salazan, in the meantime, and thankfully, detected no other magical traps that might catch the unsuspecting ships unaware, and they were free to lift once all were inside.

Despite her unfamiliarity with the system, or half the tools, Fayalin still managed to work about twice as fast as Joat would have managed. The avatar couldn’t help but laugh at the dejected look on Joat’s face every time she had to remove a tool from Joat’s hands to enforce Carter’s instructions.

“Don’t worry. Won’t be long before you can start doing all this yourself again,” she told Joat. “It’s just for a few hours to make sure that you’re fully healed and you don’t stress the damaged or repaired tissue.”

Carter remained in the tiny medical suite, half sitting on the examination table with her eyes closed. She appeared to be asleep, but was actually just clearing her thoughts, a habit which people frequently confused for meditating.
****

None of the Rangers made any reply to Salazan’s comment, but then they hadn’t considered slacking off their fire in the first place. They had been firing before he summoned those things, so if he didn’t want them to get shot, he shouldn’t have summoned them in the first place.

As soon as Lauralin and Tailchaser were on board the Assegai, the Rangers began breaking off and boarding, those furthest from the craft moved first, while the rest continued to cover them. Deitrich was the closest Ranger to the hatch, and once Alvec and Jace had boarded, he stepped on board the transport, nodded to the rear gunner and held up a closed fist so that Sharpe could see it.

The gunner closed the rear hatch, and told the pilots they were clear over the intercomm at the same time as Sharpe stuck his head in the cockpit and told them the same thing. Harriman swiftly applied power to the engines and the Assegai rapidly lifted off the ground and began climbing spaceward.

Dallows hauled his Kestrel fighter around in a tight turn and made a third strafing run over the golden soldiers, then, seeing the Assegai airborne and climbing, he threw the fighter into a wild roll to throw off any weapons tracking him; even though his threat warning system had been completely silent for the duration of the engagement, it didn’t pay to take chances in his business. That done, the Kestrel swiftly climbed upwards in the Assegai’s wake.

At Faye's explanation Joat sighed and leaned against the wall, folding her arms. "It was stupid. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! I should have thought to design it with buffers, I can't believe I didn't think of it." She stepped forward and pointed, "No, the power regulator is on the second board inline to the sensory input to boost gain."

After a few moments Rand spoke in a low voice. "Are you alright doctor? I would suggest that you let me look at you, but you would know far more than I would, however, if you need something I would be happy to see if I could provide it for you."

********

Lauralin looked around and sat where she was told, just wanting to get out of the way. Once seated, however, her thoughts turned to the recent events. Something was wrong. Something was dreadfully wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was and she wouldn't rest until she had her answer.

Tailchaser sat down, the suit she had been given in her lap wrapped around the discs. "Cool here", she stated and smiled, utterly unshaken by the recent events, or seemingly so. Only Shandaril had been a nasty surprise that made the Baronness balk.

Alvec took his original position and as the craft lifted he eyed the Queen with a menacing look. He, too, knew something was screwy and he didn't like it at all. And somehow, it centered on this woman.

“No matter how hard you try, there’s always something you forget,” pointed out Fayalin, “From what I’ve heard, it’s impressive enough that you managed to create a working implant in the first place. And prototypes are rarely flawless, that’s part of the fun.”

She stopped abruptly when Joat mentioned her error.
“I knew that,” she said with mock irritation, then corrected the mistake and winked at Joat.

Carter neither moved nor opened her eyes in response to Rand’s inquiry, though she did reply.
“I’m fine. Just thinking,” she said quietly, “I’m Captain Janet Carter, by the way. Chief medical officer of the Faded Fortunes.”
****

The Rangers were also giving Lauralin suspicious and distrusting looks behind their helmets. It wasn’t that she was untrustworthy as such, just things kept happening around her that the Rangers couldn’t really deal with, or that were supposed to be impossible. And they too couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

As the Assegai rose through atmosphere, the Hawk drone flew an intercept path with the transport, rendezvousing at an altitude of 15,000m, where the rear gunner, Siler and Sharpe opened the rear hatch and rapidly retrieved the drone, since it wasn’t capable of wormhole travel. After that was complete, the two craft continued their ascent, stopping only when they had left the upper most layer of the planet’s atmosphere.

“Okay, let’s get on the comm and find out where the Fortunes is,” ordered Harriman. The co-pilot complied, contacting the corvette with the long range data link. They had the position fix after only seven seconds and, pausing only to transmit the destination to Dallows in Devil Four, made the jump immediately afterwards.

Joat grinned at Faye's wink and then nodded. "Yeah. I know. But I just hate forgetting things. As for the implant. It's unusual. Even the borgs in the Legion are brains in boxes that are fully integrated to the system that they're put in. Partial implants like mine haven't been very successful as yet. Once Faye was done, Joat turned to the engineering console and began the startup sequence. "Well lets see how well this is going to work."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Captain. I'm Rand. Permanent A.I. of the W.Y.A.L. An acronym for While You Ain't Looking. Relating to Joat's umm .... reputation." Suddenly the sensorum began feeding him information. "Ah, the sense engines are back online. They seem to be functioning properly. My compliments to your crewmember."

********

Lauralin sat, aware of the looks she was getting. She wished she could tell them something, anything that would help explain what was happening, but she didn't have any answers and it upset her more than it did them. She felt she had to say something but figured she would wait until she could speak to all of them. WHAT she was going to say was the real question, and that was the question to which she had no answer.

Salazan, wishing to break the silence, said "I think it's possible that some one is trying to kill you Lauralin." He turned to face her. "Think about it. The ship was destroyed, which led you to here. The disks themselves might be worthless. And here, a.... Khelmain horde. I, for one, am surprised that the person who is trying to kill you didn't have anti-air, or something. Maybe a Wall of Force at the door. That was much too easy." Salazan thought for a second. "Who's the most powerful sorcerer who can think of, in that other nation, the one who's trying to invade yours."

"Shadowspawn is the leader of the nation. He's the most powerful in that nation. Enos Yorl is the most powerful, but niether one would have anything to gain that I can think of. Why lure me out here to kill me when it would be easier to try right on Midgaard 3? But someone is trying to kill, that's for certain. The discs have to be worthless, the real onces are safely secured. The roses and the spiders were there for me specifically. The Horde ... that bothers me. It requires great power to summon them. I cannot even summon them yet."

((OOC: Sorry for the delay in replying. I've spent most of the past few days asleep.))

“Crewmember?” asked Carter, slightly confused, “You mean Faye? She’s not really crew, but then, she’s not really part of the ship either.” She laughed. “She has no rank, but has more authority than an Admiral. Not that she ever really uses it.”

The medic had opened her eyes by this point, her reverie broken, mostly by her own fault in giving more than a simple answer to Rand’s question. She sighed, lifting herself up with her hands and moved herself to a less precarious position than she had been, and stared idly into space, the small medical suite out of focus around her.

When the engines started up correctly, Fayalin looked at Joat and smiled.
“Well, that appears to have worked,” she proclaimed happily. “What next?”
****

“Maybe whoever it was did not expect the Queen to have such forces with her,” pointed out Andie in response to Salazan’s comment. “You may not think much of us, but you cannot deny that without Tyler, Khonsari, Alvec and the Baroness trapped alongside her, Lauralin may not have fared quite so well.”

“And they probably didn’t expect you to have something quite like this to make your escape on,” added Kane, tapping the interior wall of the Assegai with his armoured hand. “Perhaps if you had tried to leave by methods more normal to you, another threat would have appeared to counter them.” There was a pause, then the Ranger continued. “Shadowspawn… That’s the one that we beat back last time, isn’t it? The one who had alien help. Why didn’t you shut him down when you had the chance?”

Of course, Kane didn’t know that there had been an attempt to permanently remove Shadowspawn, or rather, that there had been two attempts. The first had failed, though no-one really knew the details, and the second would have been a retaliatory assault after the invasion force had been defeated, but the force walls had still been active.

At that point the Assegai transport reverted to realspace, the Kestrel fighter alongside it. They were but a short distance from the Faded Fortunes, and the pilots immediately saw the damaged WYAL, as well as the deployed defence drones and Kestrels circling the corvette.

Harriman immediately got on the comm and asked the Mind what had happened, but he was told to forget it and head into the starboard hangar. What had happened here could wait until they were back on board. With a resigned glance at his co-pilot, Harriman began guiding the Assegai towards the corvette.

((OOC: It's okay. I'm sure you needed it. Glad your back..))

"Curious structure. Hold on please, Joat is going to make an unreasonable request and I'm going to have to get her to a level three diagnostic", Rand stated.

"Excellent", Joat replied happily, "hold on. Rand? Run a level one diagnostic."

"I"m afraid that will take hours", Rand replied. "I've run a level five and everything seems in order."

"OH PLEASE! I can just look and get a level five, it doesn't tell you everything. But yeah, not much time. Run a level two and we'll put in at the 900 once we're done."

"Even a level two would take an amount of time that we don't have. I can run a level four, it will be a bit better than the previous", Rand countered.

"Look I don't feel like blowing up trying to get somewhere. We'll start on weapons while you run a level three."

"Very well", Rand replied, then switched back to Carter, "Now, where were we?"

********

"We tried", Lauralin said in reply to Kane's question. "Marcus died in an attempt on Shadowspawn's life and the assault against his underground domain was halted by the magical walls of force that he keeps around it. They are extremely difficult to take down because of the power sinks. Magical stones in which wizards and sorcerers of old used to store thier power, to call upon later should it be needed."

She then looked at Andie, "And there is no may about it. I would have lost. As I said, the roses and the spiders were there specifically for me."

((OOC: Oh, I definitely needed it. In fact, I could probably do with several days more as well.))

One corner of Fayalin’s mouth curled upwards in a smile as she listened to Joat and Rand arguing over diagnostic levels. As an Indoan Mind, even only an avatar mind, she was no stranger to plotting and scheming, and recognised that the AI had played Joat into choosing the outcome the AI had wanted all along. It was a technique known as ‘forcing a choice’; giving the person the illusion of choice as they did exactly what you wanted them to. It was commonly seen in parlour tricks, but the vocal version was rarer, and took more skill.

“Weapons, eh?” she asked, “Lead on then.”

“You called our military structure curious,” replied Carter. “And I suppose it is to an outsider. But the avatars have no rank because to give them one would be inappropriate. They are several more times more intelligent than Matrai, but their principal role is supposedly personnel relations.” She paused and smiled, “Though the vast majority of them see it as personal relations.”
****

The Assegai entered the hangar and settled to the deck, and Harriman shut it down immediately. The load master opened the rear and port hatches, and a pair of technicians came over to the craft to remove the Hawk drone from its bracket near the rear hatch. The Indoans filed out of the transport; the naval officers, Sharpe, Kane and Reid waiting in the hangar before heading to the bridge with the rest, while the rest of the Rangers went to dump their gear.

Andie stopped just inside the hatchway, and turned to the three aliens, blocking their exit from the transport.
“I must ask you surrender your weapons now,” she told them, “And ask for your word that you will not perform any magic, summonings or other abilities you may have while aboard this vessel.” She looked at Alvec, “Unless you wish to return to the WYAL immediately.”

"Actually", Rand stated to Fayelin and Joat, "You'll need to start on communications. The weapons bay was holed, so we'll have to wait for Alvec to return."

Joat nodded and moved toward the communications room.

"Mostly it's blown circuits. It shouldn't be a problem."

'For her', Joat muttered to herself, and Rand chose to ignore the comment, knowing how frustrated Joat was getting.

Rand switched back to Carter. "Actually our system is similar. In the Legion a borg can't go above the rank of corporal. At least so far. That policy is being reviewed now, though it's yet to hit the senate. General Quester-Benn is pushing for allowing the borgs to rise through the ranks.

********

"If you don't mind", Alvec replied, "I'd like to get back to the Wyal. Are we in the same hanger as my sled?"

Lauralin handed over her sword, "I shall forego magic, relying on your protection in the meantime."

Tailchaser had only the discs, but handed over the suit she had been given.

“Not that I don’t think fixing the comms shouldn’t come first, but if your reason for putting off the weapon repairs is because it is open to space, that is not a problem. I do not need to breathe,” pointed out Fayalin. “It is cold out there, but I can deal with that.”

The avatar sighed when she heard Joat’s muttered comment. She had difficulty understanding why some people had trouble seeing that by refusing to rest, they were causing their recovery to take far longer.

“I see,” said Carter, “Well, actually I don’t. Can you explain what you mean by a ‘borg’?” she admitted.
****

“We are. Your sled is over there,” Andie told Alvec, pointing over to the side of the hangar, where Alvec had left the machine after his arrival.

She took the sword from Lauralin, handling it with great respect. “Thank you,” she said, then handed the weapon to Reid. “Put this somewhere safe until the Queen wishes to leave.” The Ranger nodded, and walked away with the weapon. “And you?” she asked Salazan.

“We’ll take you up to the bridge,” Jann said to Lauralin, gesturing for her & Tailchaser to follow them. “They’ll join us shortly.”

Salazan snapped his fingers, and his weapons clattered to his deck. "You have my word, good ma'am." He walked after Lauralin and Tailchaser, thinking to himself What idiotic procedure. Anyone even partially trained in hand-to-hand combat would know that it is useless. Xenophobic bastards.

Rand was about to reply but said, "Excuse me", instead and switched back to Fayelin. "If that is your wish. However, you will have to go out the airlock and over top of me. I cannot risk opening the airtight door. The transport has returned, though, which means that Alvec should be back shortly."

Joat stopped, waiting to see what would happen. Both needed to be done, of course, but they could be done at the same time it would be easier. She understood where Rand was going. Alvec was already suited and so could move right to the weapons control room. Otherwise he would have to unsuit and then get to the comm room.

Rand kept an ear out and switched back to Carter. "We have shell people and cyborgs, or borgs for short. Most borgs are in the Legion, with handfull of citizens having chosen to become borgs themselves. Cyborgs are living beings, humans mostly in this case, as they founded the technology in this area and most other races are bothered by the idea. Living beings who upon death of thier bodies choose to have thier brain and part of thier spinal cord placed into a protected life support box. They are wired to connections in the box that when plugged into a mechanical body allows them to control the body. The Legion has the Trooper II's, Trooper III's, Quads and Fly forms. They also use a spider form and humanoid form. The spider form is primarily for the quads who can't fit most places, being about 25 meters in height and heavily armed and armored. The humanoids are primarily for office duty.

The troopers, quads and fly forms are what we refer to as war forms. The quads can carry bio bods, or soft shells, humans, inside thier bodies. They have four fast recovery laser turrets, two .50 caliber air cooled gatlin guns and various missle and grenade launchers and walk on four legs.

The trooper II's have one fast recovery laser in place of thier right arm, one air cooled .50 caliber gatlin gun in place of the left and can attach mini missile and or grenade launchers to the left and right shoulder and stand about 3 meters in height. They have steps on the back of the legs and a harness to allow a commanding officer or other soldier to ride them. They are primarily in the cavalry division of the legion and attain speeds up to 31 kilometers per hour in a run.

The trooper III's are a recent addition. The main body in which the sentient is placed is smaller than a trooper II, but larger than a bio bod. They are linked, and control, 5 semi-sentient forms. 2 battle discs, 2 flying discs and one scout form, which is like a 4 1/2 meter long snake. The satallite forms are all brains of semi sentient hunter type animals.

The reason borgs haven't had the right to rise through the ranks is because they can consist of criminals who were executed for crimes, and therefore they didn't want them in a position of power. They may also, however, have been volunteers. Those who aquired a disease that destroyed thier body and chose to serve in the legion. Those who were killed accidently or who died at a young age from natural causes.

I hope this answers your question. For clarification, Shell people are not borgs."

********

Alvec nodded, said thanks and moved over to the sled. He checked it, not because he thought anyone would tamper with it, but because it was tempermental to start with, and then got on and requested clearance. Once clear he spotted the defense drones and grunted. Then he saw the Wyal.

"What'n'ells going on?" he demanded of no one in particular.

********

Lauralin nodded respectfully to Andie and then smiled at Jann, "Thank you", she replied as Tailchaser joined them. Her smile quickly left her face, however, and her eyes became somewhat unfocused as she considered the situation again. She expected to have to tell them something shortly, and unfortunetly, she still had no idea what was going on.

Fayalin was silent for a moment, having a rapid exchange with her parent Mind.
“Yes, he is on his way back now,” she confirmed. “Very well. That is the more sensible choice.” She gestured for Joat to lead the way again.

“Ah, now I see,” said Carter. “We don’t have anything similar, though I believe I have heard about a small number of people being given a cloned body after befalling an serious accident. We do use synthetics to supplement numbers in the Army, but they are only infantry, and are not sentient, so we don’t have this problem.”
****

Andie treated Salazan’s weapons with a lot less respect than Lauralin’s, leaving them on the deck and instructing one of the hangar technicians to ‘put them somewhere out of the way’. She then left the Assegai, and swiftly caught up with Jann and their other guests.

The avatar quickly led them back to the bridge, which was now more slightly more crowded by the presence of a security officer. When they entered the bridge, Valero looked around, saw who it was and walked over to Lauralin.

“I believe I owe you an apology,” she told her. “While I spoke nothing but the truth during our last meeting, I realise that I probably could have chosen my words a little better. I offended you through my ignorance, and I am sorry.”
Valero’s left hand now sported a bandage around the third and fourth fingers, one consequence of her outburst after Lauralin’s departure, and she had opted to let it heal naturally, to serve as a reminder. In addition, there was a small maintenance drone in the process of repairing the console Valero had destroyed, though the laser burn was still clearly visible.

Joat led the way forward and to a compartment on the starboard side. She entered, smelled the burnt circuitry and frowned. She knew that the comms had fried, but knowing it and smelling it were two different things. While Faye unpacked the tools, Joat opened the appropriate panels and seemed to instinctively pull the affected boards without any consultation or equipement to check them. She knew her ship. She knew where they had been hit, and she had a damn good idea of what got fried.

********

“Excuse me again”, Rand said and opened a channel to Alvec.

“…. omebody answer me?!”

“There is no need to shout”, Rand told him, “I’m afraid that my comms were hit during the attack.”

“WHAT attack?”

“We were attacked upon emerging from our jump”, Rand stated.

“Even cloaked?” he asked.

“Joat did have the cloak engaged”, then a thought crossed Rand’s pathways. “Be that as it may”, he said, “if you would be so kind as to enter the weapons bay so as to get them online?”

“Sure, sure”, Alvec replied, “how’s Joat? Is she okay?”

“Physically, she is recovering I believe. Doctor Carter has done a superb job.”

“Good”, he replied, “And Fayelin? She came through alright?”

“Fayelin is quite well”, Rand replied, “she came through unscathed.”

“Good to hear. Alright, buddy, don’t you worry. We’ll have you right as rain in no time. Then we’ll see if we can’t nail those bastards that hurt you.”

“Technically”, Rand replied, “I cannot be injured in the sense you mean. I don’t have any pain receptors. But I do appreciate the sentiment.”

Alvec made his way over the Wyal and attached the sled close to the hole near the weapons bay. He then entered and opened the tool locker, proceeding with the necessary repairs.

“One more moment”, Rand said, switching back to Carter and then opened a line to the Fortunes. “I just thought of something”, he stated. “Joat was concerned about an attack against me as I was cloaked, as was Alvec. However, upon leaving the jump point, the intereference would have prevented the cloak from working until we were clear of the event horizon. So it is not a matter of whether or not they saw us, so much as how did they know where to look? Just an observation.”

He then switched back to Carter, “Apologies. Yes, we tried non-sentients. We do have some robot units, but do not have the capability of building true synthetics. I am even the only A.I. in Central worlds, and Joat hadn’t anticipated that she could actually make me work.”

********

Lauralin spread her hands in deference, “The fault is as much my own and for that I, too, apologize. It was a misunderstanding on both our parts, and best left in the past.” She gestured toward Valero’s injury, “I still have time to fix that, if you wish. I fear that I may need your protection far more than I have ever needed anyone’s before. Someone knows a great deal more about me than I am comfortable with.”

((OOC: Right, I'm heading into 2 weeks of exams now, so my posting will remain slightly erratic, at best, for that duration.))

As Joat was pulling out circuit boards, Faye picked up the first board and began to inspect it once she had laid out the tools. If it was just a matter of fixing the damaged circuitry, then it shouldn’t be too difficult, though with what she knew of Joat’s reputation, she expected something far more demanding.

“Wow,” declared Carter. “I can’t really imagine life without having the Minds around. But I guess that makes you even more unique, doesn’t it? The only completely artificial life form in your civilisation.” She paused abruptly, “Damn, when I put it like that it sounds like it must be really lonely.”

{Hmm, that is an interesting question. But let us examine the feasibility of such a statement,} sent back the Faded Fortunes. {How precise are your probability drives? Do you emerge exactly where you intend, or is there a significant margin of error? And how long is there between the very first sign of an incoming vessel and the activation of your cloak? For example, a vessel with an AI in charge of the fire-control could well be able to lock on and fire in that time even if it wasn’t expecting you.}
****

“No thanks,” replied Valero. “I’ve left it be, to remind me that I should keep my temper in check.” She looked at Andie, Jann and Sharpe. “So, was your mission successful?” she asked them.

“It was not,” replied Andie. “While our entry was without event, upon reaching our objective we were ambushed. The majority of our team was cut off from Lauralin, against whom the attack seemed directed. Fortunately, they were able to repel the attack. Then, as we left, a large army materialised around the base, seemingly intent on preventing our departure. Fortunately, we were able to escape with little difficulty thanks to Shrike Two,” she explained. “And I believe that the items that were our objective were fake. Am I right?” she asked Lauralin.

“Basic tactics,” realised Valero, nodding slowly, “A trap is never baited with real bait. Any injuries?” she asked with concern.

“None,” responded Sharpe, “Minor damage to two battlesuits, but that was all we suffered.”

((OOC: I understand, and thank you for letting me know. And GOOD LUCK! I hope you do well.))

Joat's reputation, and personal preferences were only part of the equation. The circuits for the comm system, and a few other systems on the ship, since she hadn't had the funds to replace all of them, were optical switch circuits. Created and perfected by the denizens of Denube 3, they used light rather than physical pathways, with tiny, almost indestructable, mirrors to turn the circuit 'on and off'. They worked faster and were less likely to break down over time. Presently she had them in the comm system and the weapons systems, with plans of overhauling the rest of the ship as soon as she could.

********
"Oh, it's alright", Rand replied. "My programming comes largely from Joat, therefore, softshell company is what I'm used to. Because I can't move from here either Joat or Alvec is on the ship, so that one the other or both are onboard at all times.
********
Rand then switched back to Fortunes, "There is a 3 to 5 kilometer variance, giving a 6 to 10 kilometer diameter. Fairly accurate compared to some systems, but not so accurate in comparison to others. As for the other, the cloak is active, but the intereference prevents it from working. The event Horizan was cleared in .47 seconds. The cloak would have been functional .26 seconds later. So .73 seconds from emergence to cloak.They would have had to know where we were coming out, but risk a variation by sitting there.

********

Lauralin nodded at the posed question. "The discs in question must be replicas of ones I possess. But those are safe inside Paranor. I may be able to glean some information from them with a few spells, but only if you permit me. As for the battlesuits", she continued, then looked down and back up again, "I fear the damage is my fault, and I shall compensate you for any repairs."

Salazan looked about uninterestedly. "So, what's gonna happen now?" he asked in a irritated tone.

OOc: Glorified bump.

(Bumpity bumpity. *grin* Just waiting on Free Eagles. What happens next will be part story line and part reaction to events. I tend to provide a general outline. How it proceeds is almost entirely dependent on those in the story, except to nudge or point in the right direction. He'll be back once the tests are done, or when he has time inbetween tests.)

OOc:Ok.

((OOC: Okay, small gap in exam schedule. My free time has been mostly limited to reading new posts, and the rest has gone towards another RP, with considerably more people in it. You're pretty lucky to get this post; I really should be asleep.))

“Oh. Optical circuits,” realised Fayalin, “Very nice. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though. Everything else you have is more advanced than the standard level of technology seen in Central. These look similar to what we have in all of our systems.”

She politely refrained from saying that they looked a little cruder than Indoan components, but then it was perhaps to be expected; the Indoans had long ago put a lot of research into ‘optronics’, deciding that it would improve the performance of both their military and civilian systems.
****

{I hate to burst your bubble, but in normal operating conditions I could hit such a target within a two hundred fifty kilometre range with an eighty-seven percent chance of success. And that’s without any prior warning at all. I know I’m not your average AI, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s possible. And if you do have prior warning, then both effective range and success rate will rise. I still think that your attacker was a little lucky in this case, and probably did know you were coming,} sent back the Faded Fortunes.
****

“You don’t need to do that,” replied Valero, “Those suits are built to take damage instead of the wearer, and are somewhat expendable. And with the facilities we have on this ship, they’ll be as good as new in a few short hours.” A half-smile appeared on her face, “Besides, I don’t think the Treasury would accept whatever currency you use, even if it came down to pure metal weights.”

“You may cast some spells to try and find some information from the fake artefacts, but understand that I will be keeping a close watch on you,” the Mind told Lauralin.

“What now?” asked Riesco.

“We wait for the WYAL to finish repairs, then, depending on how well those repairs turn out, we either continue our pursuit or head back to the station,” replied the Mind, “Unless you have any other ideas, your Highness?”

(OOC - GO TO BED! *Grin* I can wait until your done your tests. It's only about another week or so. Besides, it gives me more time to plot your demise .. ehhh .. I mean .. plan the storyline. Yeah, that's it.)

"Not as efficient as Indoan, I'm sure", Joat said, making a reasonable assumption. "But then I'm sure we're behind on the tech scale. Central has focused on medical technology. I think we can fairly compete with most in that area, barring catching up in the actual comp tech. But medicines we have, cured damn near everything." As Joat talked she handed Fayelin the appropriate circuits, almost without looking at the damaged ones, knowing what was on what boards. "The next major funding is Archeology and Exploration. Sounds odd, I know. Until you realize that Central Worlds didn't originate in the Rigel sector. For the humans that is. We were colony ships. One wound up in the Capellan sector, the mutants. The worlds didn't protect them from some of the radiations and those that survived mutated. The others wound up in the Rigel sector. But the computers had fried in some freak accident, so we lost all the information on where we came from originally. Thus the A&E funding and a short back slide in technology as the original colonists sought only to survive initially. Then we began expanding, running into other races and Central worlds really began to form. Then it slipped into an Empire period after a civil war, and then back to what it is today after another civil war. The Empire focused on conquest rather than advancement, so we lost time there as well. The third and fourth priorities are equal. Military and civilian support. So progress is a bit slow, but we take pride in what we achieve and aren't bothered that others are more advanced. We anticipated as much. So far we're pretty lucky. No major, more advanced race, has attacked. The biggest war has been the Hudathan war, but that was both unexpected and at a time when the Empire was pitting it's forces against each other. Not directly, but through favor and interforce rivalry. That way the forces wouldn't be likely to band together to overthrow the Empire no matter what it did."

Fayelin finished the last repair and Joat slid the board in place, opening all circuits for the initial test. It was then that Alvec, working in the weapons bay with his open suit mike came across the line and was broadcast in general, singing in a not unpleasant tenor:

"Ohhhh the moonlight, shown off her handcuffs
as she gave me the back of her hannnnd.
And her whip ... cracked cross ... my back .. as I lay
BOUND IN HER BLACK LEATHER BANDS!"

Joat blinked, raising an eyebrow and glanced at the comm panel. Yep, all systems were open.

"Oh she whipped me and she beat me,
and she turned me all black and bluuuuue.
And as the cock crowed with the sunrise,
I'd remembered, WE'D FORGOTTEN TO SCREW!"

"Ohhhh..."

"Oh no", Joat muttered. "ALVEC!"

"Cap'n? Comms workin huh?"

"Yeah, unfortunetly. And I'm not interested in how you were going to resolve that little issue you were singing about."

A chuckle came from Alvec's end, "Aye, aye Cap'n. I've got a bit to go on the weapons. The repairs are easy enough, it's working in these blasted gloves, thats hell."

"I read you Al. Do your best. We can move on to the secondary sensor array."

"Aye Cap'n. Hey. How's that pretty little filly comin along? Bet she's pleasant to watch workin, if you know what I mean."

"Just for reference", Joat said with a pixies grin and glance at Faye, "this IS an open comm."

"Ehhh ..." then dead silence as Alvec hoped he would just up and die at about that point.

********
Rand listened to the Mind, impressed by the capabilities. "Far more accurate than even a military brain ship could manage. So the question changes now. If it's Central worlds design, do they have the capabilities that you do? Was it blind luck? Or did they know exactly where we would come out? Keep in mind that your military capabilities are greater than our own. Though we have a few good systems and platoons, we still rely heavily on fire power. The Naa are our best covert strike forces, being naturally stealthy and growing up on an unforgiving world. Add to that the fact that they share it with the Legion and the two are constantly testing each other in combat. Strange really, at least to me. They work together when needed, even with the Naa joining the Legion and yet seem to have evolved a culture all thier own. Naa warriors aren't given warrior status until they've been 'blooded' in conflict with the Legion and Legionaires are sent to Algeron after training to be 'blooded' in conflict against the Naa. Either there or Drang. Personally, I don't understand it. But then I was never designed for combat. I've spoken to Simeon about it, who, for a space station brain, is quite knowledgable about such things. He ..." It was then that Alvec's Tenor came across the comm system.

********
Lauralin nodding understanding to Valero and then to the Mind as she turned to Tailchaser who still had the discs. She smiled as Reisco and Salazan asked thier questions at almost the same time. At the mind's question Lauralin sighed.

"Lauralin, or Laura would do fine. I only took my position after a friend of my father's death."

Tail was looking around for a place to set down the discs. "You can hold them", Laura told her, and Tail shook her head. "They are only information gathering spells", she told the Baronness, but again Tail shook her head. Though she had learned a trick or two, magic still made her nervous. "Alright", Laura said in kind and calming voice and gathered the discs. She set them down, "What happened to the Wyal?" she asked, as she began casting. Nothing seemed to happen, except for Salazan, possibly. But whatever it was she had done, it brought a frown to her face. She tried another spell, the discs glowing in the eyes of those with the power to see it.

"Impossible", she muttered, "they can't be real."

Salazan grinned and said, "Yeah, they can. I've seen things get stolen from better vaults than what you have. I can guarentee it."

"Think it might be Mind Flayers?" He asked. "Fits what they would do, power hungry bastards."

Lauralin raised an eyebrow. "You make an assessment of something you have never seen. Paranor is not a vault, it is a fortress. And it's defenders are not of this world. Some of the Indoan's have seen it, and I do not think they would care to return."

She stopped for a moment. "But of course, you may be right. I, myself, have penetrated that which was impregnable. But if it has been breached, then there are far worse, and more powerful things, loose upon my world. My father and I have made it a point to hunt down items that are too dangerous to be left in anyone's hands and secreted them away there. I can verify this", she said looking at the Indoan Colonel, "with your permission to summon a servant."

She looked back at Salazan, "As for mind flayers, I doubt it. You have to realize that my planet has but recently reached for the stars. Though wizards and other spellcasters such as myself have known of other worlds via magical portals, we did not know they could be reached by a manner such as this vessel until the last five years."

Salazan sighed. "Perhaps you have never heard of Retrievers. They specialize in the gathering of magical items. We once had a team of three penetrate and steal several valuable items from our most powerful fortress. No porting of any kind in or out, so they couldn't get in that way. It floated in a demiplane made entirely of magma surronding the fortress. The only way in or out was either 'Walking, entirely impossible not to be detected, but then again, no one but Planeswalkers can Planeswalk anyway. Their was also a portal, guarded by fourteen full-blown Planeswalkers, but the Retrievers slipped in anyway." Salazan shook his head and continued the story.

"So, they went past thousands of magical traps, locks and monsters, including a tarrasque, and went out, with none being captured or killed."
Salazan grinned. "They were hunted down and killed of course, and they were some of the top Retrievers, each having retrieved approximately thirteen-thousand artifacts. They weren't the best, but this was a Planeswalker fortress. So you should understand that there are very few places it is impossible to get in."

After watching the summoning ritual, Salazan commented "A wraith? It sounds like it wasn't exactly fully under your control. Be careful around summoned creatures, especially ones you may not be able to control fully. But, then again, that doesn't really apply to sentient creatures." Salazan shook his head. "How many kids I've seen killed by a not fully controlled summoned creature. It breaks my heart." Salazan said as he stood waiting.

((OOC: What are you, my mother? ;p Only one exam left, yay! And my demise, you say? We'll soon see about that. *goes off to plot doom*))

“Surely you came from Terra originally,” mentioned Fayalin curiously, as she handed a repaired circuit board back to Joat. “That’s where humans came from, and you’re human, so you must originate from Terra somewhere back in your history.” She began working on the next panel, “The odds of two completely identical species evolving independently from each other, particularly on different planets, are astronomical.” She looked up, “Our two species are similar, that’s a result of parallel evolution under very similar conditions, but we’re nowhere near being identical.” She handed that panel back, finished with the repairs.

When Joat reactivated all of the comm circuits and Alvec’s singing could be heard, a slight smile appeared on Fayalin’s face at the song he was singing. When he passed a comment about her, she blushed heavily, the pink in her cheeks contrasting sharply with her pale skin, and avoided Joat’s gaze.
****

{Well, from what I’ve seen of Central vessels, I find it unlikely that any of them could match that level of performance. Which leaves custom, independently built vessels such as yourself. Without meaning to inflate your ego, you’re probably the most capable of those, if indeed there are any others, so could you match that kind of performance, given full control over your weapon systems? Whatever your answer is though, I think it was a combination of blind luck and prior knowledge of your arrival in this case, though don’t ask me how they got it,} sent the Faded Fortunes. The Mind made no comment on Alvec’s singing, regarding it as an untimely intrusion.
****

“Minds seem to prefer to use formal methods of address,” revealed Valero, “You’re unlikely to get Fade to call you anything else, so don’t bother trying. It’s a respect thing, supposedly.” Valero was slightly unique in that she always used the alternate contraction of the corvette’s name, as opposed to the common Fortunes.

“That is correct, Colonel,” confirmed the Mind, “However, if you would prefer it, I will make an exception for you, your Highness.”
That was one aspect of Mind-level AI that continued to puzzle people; regardless of what the rest of their personality was like, all Minds seemingly randomly switched between formal and informal conversation models. Whereas avatar-level AI did used formal mode conversation only when it was appropriate, just like matrai and douran, Minds used it at random.

“They were attacked almost immediately after they emerged into the system, by an unknown vessel. They did not manage to return fire or even get a clear picture of what the hostile craft looked like. We suspect, however, that is was related to the vessel we are pursuing,” the Mind explained in response to Lauralin’s question.

“Paranor is not a vault, it is a fortress. And its defenders are not of this world. Some of the Indoans have seen it, and I do not think they would care to return.”

“Damn right about that. That place was fucked up,” agree Kane vehemently. “And we only saw it from the air.”

“I can verify this, with your permission to summon a servant.”

“Are you determined to pull off as much magic as possible now that we’ve told you not to?” asked Valero with a smile. “Go on then.”

(Salazan - I'll wait until you finish your posting before responding to you. I assume that's what you meant. Rest well.)

(FE - Mother? Not unless I had a sex change someone didn't inform me about. *grin* Glad to hear about the last test coming up, I hope all of them turn out well.)

Joat cut off the comm circuit and led the way to the sensor array. "Don't ever let him see you blush", she advised Faye, "then he'll ride you constantly." She stopped a moment and then coninued, "No pun intended", she said, her voice a squeek near the end as she tried not to laugh.

She entered the room and knew right away it was hopeless. "Well unless you can come up with anything", she said, now quite serious as she looked at the slagged boards and panels, "then it looks like we're out of luck." Her voice, now, was listless as she looked over the damage, and even though it was obvious that nothing could be done without gutting the room, at least within Central's capabilities, she still moved to the consoles running hands over them.

'Rand', Joat subvocalized, 'run a check on a system, planet, people or culture known as Terra.'

********
Once Joat cut the comms, returning them to Rand's control, he opened the channel to Fortunes again, "I apologize for that, the comms system seem to be fully operational now." He took a long time to consider the Minds statements and observations, 2.3 seconds to be exact, before replying. "Considering the arsenal at my command, and I use the term lightly, I doubt it. Given a proper ship and weapons I would estimate a 87. 362 percent chance of accomplishing such an attack, and do not fear, I do not seem to have been programmed with an ego. But I do concur with your assessment of the situation. Luck is not something I'm programmed to evaluate, however, and the idea of awareness of location is, to say the least, disturbing, considering the fact that we, and those we carry, are the only ones aware of this other than Simeon and Channa, and I would vouch for them personally. Not to mention that they are Joat's adoptive parents."

********
Lauralin tried to absorb everything at once and then set about the tasks one at a time. She extended a hand, making a summoning gesture as she spoke. "Nightclaw."

A few seconds later a wavering image appeared, humanoid and translucent, a shadow looking thing. Salazan would recognize the wraith immedietly and sense that it was very old.

"Mistress", it intoned in hair raising sepulchral voice.

"Nightclaw", Laura replied, "I must ask a boon of thee. Within the wall of Paranor, thee must go. Seek the den of respite. Survey it and bring to me knowledge of ought that might be gone."

"By thy will", Nightclaw replied and faded away.

Lauralin then turned to her first concern, "Attacked. I do not like this", she and sighed. She then looked at Valero, "I do apologize. But I beg you understand that to me magic is a tool as your systems", she said, gesturing to the consoles, "are to you. I shall try to avail myself of it with less regularity, but I felt it would be easier this way. Otherwise I should need to return home to Paranor itself."

She looked at Kane, grinning, "Fucked up .... as it may be", then looked back at Valero with a twinlke in her eye. "As for title", she looking upward to address Fortunes in a more direct manner, "I shall cede to that which is easier for you."

((OOC: This is Free Eagles. Until further notice, I will be using this account to post, due to a forum screw-up. *grumbles incoherently*))

Fayalin’s blush deepened at Joat’s quip, and she continued to avoid making eye contact with the other woman. Wordlessly, she followed Joat into the other room, then stopped short on seeing the state it was in.

“Sorry, there’s nothing I can do to even begin to repair this,” replied Fayalin apologetically, “If this was an Indoan vessel, then maybe some of it could be made functional again without much effort, but only because we routinely carry replacement parts for key components.” She picked up a melted board and inspected it doubtfully. “We couldn’t use the repair drones either; they would have to be completely reprogrammed, and provided with schematics of the components. And even then it might not work.”
****

{As I said before, I suspect either a physical tracking device or a very small remote drone is somewhere on board your vessel. That has to be how they are doing it, because, as you say, Simeon and Channa were the only ones apart from those on board our vessels who knew. And I do not believe that they had anything to do with this either,} replied the Faded Fortunes.
****

When the wraith appeared, the security officer present in the room automatically began to raise the carbine in his hands, but the barrel stopped rising when it was aimed roughly at where the wraith’s feet would be. After holding the weapon there for a second, the security officer lowered it again, letting it hang on the strap about his shoulders.

“I know,” admitted Valero, “It’s just that there’s nothing we can do to control it, and we can’t see how it works. I guess maybe we’re a little scared of it.” She smiled again. “Also, this is a military vessel, and more so than anywhere else, people don’t tend to let foreigners carry weapons on their military installations. And since magic can be used as a weapon, we are a little wary of it.”

Joat just nodded and sighed. 'There goes two years hauls', she muttered and then stepped into the hallway.

"Rand", she said, her voice sounding completely dejected and all the mischouvous fun gone from it, "get Al please."

"Hey Cap'n", came Alvec's voice, "damn near done, how about you?"

"Bad news", she replied.

"Uh oh, I know that tone, what's in the wind?"

"Secondary arrays are slagged. No repairing them without a butt load of money and a docking facility where we can tear it apart."

"Now don't you be frettin cap'n. We'll get that money and Simeon will always let us dock for a reasonable amount of time."

"The point is", she told him irritably, "that we have no secondary scanning array."

Alvec chuckled, "You jus leave that ta me, cap'n. I'll finishin here soon and get you some off sense engine scanners."

"How are you going to do that. I mean they're slagged."

"Ya didn't stutter. Jus trust me." And then turned off the comm connection.

'Well THIS should be interesting', Joat muttered as she made her way forward to the command cabin.

********

"Indeed", Rand replied. "But then the threat still exists. My internal scanners went down with the secondary scanning array, which seems to be unrepairable. Alvec seems to think he do something, but the entire system is slag. Even Fayalin said she couldn't fix it. But I did an internal before we left and I didn't pick up anything. Joat did too. She's always scanning and she's got very good ones that she's built. But I suppose it could be possible."

********

"Well", Lauralin replied, "I can help you with a few things there. How to help combat it. But first", she said, holding out her hand, in which appeared a small amber rod with a gold band around the middle. "Take this. Twist it to activate, twist again in the reverse to deactivate it. It will cancel magic in a small area. Probably about the area of your room here", she said, gesturing around the bridge. "It will cancel out spells already in affect, but it will prevent others from being cast. If you must use it with me here, I understand. I would prefer not, since as a sorceress part of my .... essence is bound in my magic and I would be severly, physically weakened.

Further. Most magic requires some form of component. It can material. An item or more than one. Vocal. Spoken, or somantic. Gestures. This is not the case in every spell, nor is the case in the more powerful magi. But should see gestures, hear the magic tongue or see a mage pull something out, and you feel that the mage is a threat, then it is probably a good idea to shoot first and ask questions after. The key is to hit the mage with something that inflicts some damage. This will foul the spell and it will be lost. There are ways around this, of course. I can, for instance block out the pain and continue the spell, but most magi cannot."

Salazan looked interestedly at the training session. "Also remember that a very powerful spell caster will be able to cancel out many anti-magic fields."

"When facing a singular spellcaster, energy fields would be effective. Most types of personal energy fields will work against most magic of the destruction school. There are some spells, life draining ones for example, that will not be blocked by the . If you are going to use personal energy fields against spell casters, I would recommend your basic energy shield. Area energy fields will not work unless you have a teleportation block effective, which in all likely hood you won't." Salazan paused for a second, then turned to Valero. "Do you have nannites? Not medical ones, like mass produced?"

Lauralin nodded as Salazan spoke, "Yes. That is an excellent point. For instance my flames could be blocked, but my burning blood spell, which brings blood to a boiling point, would not be blocked by personal shields."

((OOC: Hooray for Salusa! Tis all fixed.))

{Fayalin-Xunrae is not a miracle worker, you know, and neither is our technology,} replied the Faded Fortunes in amusement. {However, if you like I can send over someone with some equipment to scan the interior of your vessel for any possible traces of a transmitter. Stealth and concealment are something we know a lot about, maybe we might find something you weren’t looking for.}
****

Valero took the rod and inspected it suspiciously, as if she half-expected it to suddenly bite her. After a few seconds, she handed it to Andie, who also began inspecting it, and resumed listening to what Lauralin had to say.
“We would be grateful for anything you can do to help us safeguard against such an enemy,” she told Lauralin, “We are fully aware that we are lacking somewhat such defences.”

After Lauralin gave them some advice on how to spot someone attempting magic, and how to stop them, Valero smiled in a way that would make even the most confident person feel uneasy, particularly if the expression was directed at them.
“Damage,” she said, “is something we’re rather good at.”

When Salazan added his own views on the matter, Valero nodded her understanding.
“I see. Projecting localised shields inside the ship is not something we expected to have to do, but it can be done with little effort. However, we do have another system which is probably more effective. Fade, is the trapdoor system active?”

“It is now, Colonel,” confirmed the Mind.

Without another word, Valero drew her pistol and shot Jann. Or rather, she appeared to shoot him. There was a whine as her weapon discharged, and the faintest trace of a flash of light from the muzzle, but no beam crossed the gap between them, and Jann remained unharmed, though he had flinched when the weapon was fired. She holstered the pistol, and smiled apologetically at their guests.
“Would that kind of defence be as effective, or more so, than shields?” she asked, “And to answer your question, nanites are nanites to us. Much of the minor maintenance of this ship is completed using nanites.”

“Your Highness, you said that damage had to be inflicted to prevent the spell from being completed,” put in the Mind, “Does that have to be the case? I have another method which I would like to test, with your permission. It will undoubtedly affect you rather significantly, but I would like to know if it would be effective against others.”

Joat sat in sulking silence in her command throne, angry that something had happened that she couldn't fix. After some time a light oh her board caught her eye as Alvec cycled the bay door and brought the sled in. He stepped into the lock, waited for the decontam and then entered the ship.

"HONEY, I'M HOME", Alvecs voice boomed, carrying all the up the corridor.

Joat hit the comm button, "Honey, huh?"

"I was talking to Rand", he replied.

"Smartass. You took long enough."

"Yeah, well, I had to chew a hell of alot of gum for those repairs."

She could hear things being moved around, apparently he had moved to equipement storage. After a few moments he arrived in the command room with tools and wires. Joat turned to look as he knelt down, performed something of a contortionist act to reach the weapons panel while bending around the chair and sticking is feet out into the corridor. Once he got the panel off he pulled the items to him and began doing something inside.

"Hey, Faye", he said from inside the weapons console, "remove the panel for the sensor array will ya?"

"Just what are you up to?" Joat asked.

"Well .... we need sensors should we need to shut down the sense engines. The secondaries are slagged. I peaked in, Ghu what a mess. SOOO", he continued straining a bit as he tried to do something while squirming around, "I'm giving us some scanning ability. The weapons use thier own systems to scan and track. I'm just going to tap into thier scanning array, route it to the sensor board, and BLAM. Sensors. Of course Faye will get threat analysis and combat factors, but she'll be able to scan none the less."

"How in the hell did you think that one up?" Joat asked, actually a bit impressed.

"Had to do it before. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, well, it was necessary for us to see in order to save our asses from being blown apart by a Kolnari war ship."

"No pressure huh?", Joat replied, grinning.

********

"I did not mean to imply that Fayalin was a miracle worker, simply that with the technology you have and her seeming familiarity with it, and our simpler technology, that if she couldn't come up with something then I doubt it could be fixed."

Rand opened a channel to the bridge, "Fortunes would like to know if you would like a scanning crew, just in case we're bugged."

"Yeah, better safe than sorry", Joat replied.

Rand sent her reply to the mind as he opened up a channel to medical. "Shall I lower the lighting for you Doctor? Or the temperature in the room perhaps? As I understand it, your typical temperature is a bit lower than ours."

In the meantime, Rand was running the records on anything called Terra, downloading the information to Joats station and then alerted her when he had it. She turned at the soft beeping and activated the panel, reading the information he had aquired.

********

"I am unsure as to how your system functions. What does it key on? There are many forms of energy", she stated after watching the demonstration. "There are also other means to disrupt spellcasters aside from damage, I simply picked that one because of what I have seen of your abilities. If you have psionicists then they could disrupt a spellcaster mentally. I could teach that, being a psion myself. Also, I could test some of your people for magical capabilities and take them to Midgaard for training. The fact that you don't use it doesn't, necessarily, mean that you can't. People often move away from it in favor of science and technology.

As for your test, I would like to ask what entails first. Simply because certain things that might disrupt my train of thought will allow the energy from the negative material plain to take control. You saw a brief example of what would happen in that event in your medical bay when I was there before. I would not wish anyone harmed."

Fayalin was about to move to fulfil Alvec’s request when she was told to remain where she was for a moment by the Mind. Knowing what was coming, the avatar turned her head to look at the clearest space in the command room. Sure enough, a few seconds later a Displacement field appeared, and deposited a single matrai male, and a sturdy storage crate.

“Uh, I guess it’s a little late to ask for permission to come aboard,” the officer said ruefully. “Lieutenant Jonas Hammond. May I ask where Captain Carter is?”

Fayalin gave him directions to the medical suite, and he disappeared in that direction to enlist the assistance of the senior officer. After he had left, she moved over to the sensor array and removed the panel as Alvec had asked.

In the medical bay, Carter had closed her eyes again, but opened them when she heard Rand’s voice again. A second later, she heard the voice of the Faded Fortunes over her neural link.
“No thank you, this is fine. Besides, I have to help Lieutenant Hammond scan the ship,” she told the AI. “I’m coming, Lieutenant,” she told Hammond, who appeared in the doorway at that moment.

The two officers returned to the bridge, and began setting up the scanning kit. There were two components; the large central scanner, which would sit in the bridge room, and the hand-held scanners that Carter and either Fayalin or Joat would take round the ship.
“I could do with some help from one of you,” stated Hammond. “It’s not necessary, but it would get it done faster.”
****

“It doesn’t ‘key in’ on anything, it’s controlled by Fade. Whenever anything that might be harmful to the vessel or crew is detected within the hull, it gets snapped away to ultraspace through a wormhole,” explained Valero. “You can set off nukes within the hull, and no-one bar the Mind notices. It’s a fairly recent system, and it’s not always active currently, but it could be.”

“I do not believe that training any of our people would be effective, purely because they would almost certainly be unable able to match any threat that we might face,” replied the Mind. “However, any methods you have for nullifying or suppressing magic that could be applied to our vessels would be extremely useful. The system I wish to test is a simple anti-personnel device; the emission of a combination of high-pitched sound, low-range ultrasonic and mid-range infrasonic at high volume. It has a severely debilitating effect on people, but is it enough to disrupt a spellcaster?”

Joat stood up, "I will. If there's something on my ship I want to know it." Of course there was the added reason that Alvec and Faye were busy, but she didn't bother to mention that. The main reason, however, was to have SOMETHING to do.

Once finished, aside from the sealed off compartments, they would find no evidence of a bug anywhere.

********

"Alright", Alvec said, after the others had been gone for a short time, "start connecting the wires into the sensor board off the secondary sensor array would you? I'll finish up here and then we can try this. When I activate the system we'll get a warning. Since I had to reset the grid it'll detect your ships as hostile, so don't worry about the alarm. I'll fix that once it's up and running. The guns don't lock without my authcode, thankfully."

His voice sounded a bit hollow, coming as did from inside the console. Once he finished he extricated himself, with a bit of grunting and painfilled noises and finally got up and into the weapons chair. "Just let me know your done", he told her, "take what time you need." He didn't say that to infer caution, but rather to admire the view on this end as she worked as long as he could.

********

"Well the system should be useful against direct physical attacks. Spells like burning blood or mind rot will not be affected, but at least you can block many potentially dangerous spells. Once we are able to get back to Midgaard I can order the construction of some things that will help you further, like that rod. I won't ask how many vessels you have, rather I'll ask how many things you need, then you could go over or under depending on if you want extras or choose to place them on critical ships.

As for the sonics. Yes, it would be effective. Mages are beings and susceptable to the same dibilitations by and large. Of course there are other races where sound may react differently to them or the rare deaf spellcaster who has adapted the spells to thier handicap, but by and large your sonics should work."

“Are you sure about that?” asked Fayalin dubiously as she began to connect up the wires. “While the corvette might be forgiving, the defence drones will attempt to pre-empt any attack if they detect weapons locks.” She worked slowly and methodically, double-checking every single wire before fitting it in place to ensure she did not screw up the unfamiliar system.

She heard Alvec move, and seemingly caution her. Like he had been, her head was completely hidden inside the console she was working on. A slight smile appeared on her face, and she shook her head gently. Completely casually, and without pausing in her work even for a second, she added,
“And if you’re going to stare at my arse, could you at least try and make it a little less obvious?” she teased lightly.

As Carter and Joat re-entered the bridge, Hammond spoke up.
“We’re not done yet, sir. There’s still the exterior of the hull and the sealed areas to check,” he told them, “Plus, if could quite easily be a sleeper transmitter; only sending a signal when there’s something worth sending. We’ll check the rest first, then I’d like you to plot a jump, doesn’t matter how far, just so long as it’s enough to register as a major position change. Only if that shows up negative do we say the ship’s clean.”

“Well, we can’t check the rest, so someone else will have to do it,” pointed out Carter. “Faye, can we borrow you for a minute?”

The avatar took a few seconds before replying, then withdrew from the console and stood up.
“Yes, of course,” she replied. “It’s all done,” she added to Alvec. She made a ‘give’ gesture, and deftly caught the scanner that Carter tossed to her. “Show me to the airlock, please,” she asked Joat.
****

“Well, ideally we’d like to completely cover every vessel in the fleet, but I suspect that’s asking a bit much,” replied Valero. “How big a volume can you make one of these things cover?” she asked, “Since this is one of the smallest vessels we have.”

“Actually, a deaf person would not be entirely immune, since both the ultra and infrasonic components will achieve their effect regardless of the hearing capabilities of the target,” clarified the Mind, “Sharp headaches and nausea, though I admit that may not be enough to fully incapacitate the target. Still, we have other, more effective methods; I was merely exploring a non-lethal option.”

“And if you’re going to stare at my arse, could you at least try and make it a little less obvious?” she teased lightly.

"Well, you know, I'm jus a lowly grunt. Don't teach us nothin bout no savvy stuff", he replied grinning, but still keeping his pleasant vigil.

When the other three entered he quickly turned his chair and began a systems check.

Joat had caught what he was looking at and grinned, shaking her head. The man was an implacable cur, but he was solid as a rock under pressure.

“Show me to the airlock, please,” she asked Joat.

"Sure thing", Joat replied and led her toward the airlock.

"Here goes nothin", Alvec stated and activated the weapons system. When it came up it began sounding it's warning and Alvec nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I know." He quickly put in his code and flagged the indoan marks as friendlies. Once done the system quited down again. He stood up and moved to the sensor station. 'Come on, baby', he muttered and activated the system. As he had predicted the sensor array showed combat analysis information and green deltas, indicating friendly ships, but it worked. He ran a quick systems check and came up clean then looked at Rand's 'face'. "Double check me, will ya Rand?" he asked.

"Of course", Rand replied.

Then Alvec looked at the remaining two. "You want a course plotted. But we ain't jumpin right? Don't want ta try that without patchin them breaches first."

'IF we can', he murmured.

********

"Ahh", Lauralin sighed, "I understand. Like the Had'Linth back home. A creature who uses sound beyond normal human hearing to drive off attackers. It's the only defense it has. Yes, that would work on most, of that I am certain. It would be a good non-lethal option to try first, to be sure."

Tailchaser shuddered at the name, her hearing well beyond the range of a normal human. She had heard one once. It's effect was disorientation and vertigo, and not something she would wish to experience again.

Fayalin stepped into the airlock and turned to face Joat.
“I won’t be long,” she said, and flashed her a smile. Her attitude had to appear a little strange, since she was stepping out into open space without any form of suit at all. And even though the vacuum would not harm her, it would cause her considerable discomfort, as she would still feel the cold.

She quickly manipulated the airlock controls to seal herself in, vented the atmosphere and then opened the exterior hatch. Very carefully, she pushed herself out of the airlock, and pulled herself sideways towards the bow of the WYAL. She had only progressed a couple of metres before stopping, and anyone watching would see her mouth moving, as if trying to talk to someone. A few seconds later, another Displacement orb cycled next to her, leaving behind an AG harness, to allow her to move more easily. With the harness on, Fayalin began to move much more quickly, rapidly covering the exterior hull and the breached compartments that she could access from the outside.

“Well, we have to jump, otherwise the tracer isn’t going to register a change of location to transmit,” responded Hammond. “If that means it has to wait a while, that’s fine, but until it’s done we can’t assume the ship is clear of transmitters.”
****

“So we’re not completely defenceless against magical aggressors,” commented Valero, “That’s good to know at least. And we have plenty of lethal methods; not least of which involves Displacing a small AM warhead into the target’s head. But that’s a little messy and slightly hazardous due to radiation concerns.”

“I’m sure our guests don’t really want to know about that,” put in the Mind, “These devices you can offer us, your Highness. How large a volume can they cover? Would it be practical to try and cover the entire vessel, particularly on our larger warships?”

As with the internal scans, Fayalin's scans would turn up nothing at all. The damage, however, as Alvec had discovered would become known to her. The breaches, though sealable in space, would take far more time than if the ship could be put down.

********

"Well, we'll try an get her going as soon as possible. We may have to find a place to set down. Least then it would take far less time than tryin to repair her in space. But we're lookin at a week if we had a dock and with Joat and I workin on her. Longer an that out here", Alvec told them.

********

"Yes", Lauralin replied, looking up at the mind, "forgive me, I was trying to figure out a way of answering that .... "

She thought a moment before she continued. "Let me put it this way. How much area can be covered is not at issue. An entire planet could be protected. The question is feasability. The easiest answer I can give is take the area you wish to cover, divide it by the area of this room and multiply that by the size of the crystal that I gave to the Colonel", she said, indicating the 7 1/2 centimeter long and 1 1/4 centimeter wide crystal. "That would be the mass of the crystal needed.

Now, add to that the fact that it has to be centrally located within the ship to cover the whole area. This alieviates most planets since the cores of many that are inhabitable are molten.

We can make them, to be sure, but only one in three to four weeks. The time does not vary on the size of the crystal, but rather it's purity, and the purer the crystal, the better the results."

“All clear,” reported Hammond, when Fayalin had finished. “If there is anything out there, it’s not making any noise.” He shut down the main scanner, realising it would be some time before the WYAL could make a jump. “We might be able to plug the holes,” he suggested, “We use the emergency hull plates stored on the Fortunes. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.”
****

When she was finished, Fayalin slipped the scanner into a pocket and had just begun to make her way back in the direction of the airlock when she felt a sudden hammerblow to her left shoulder. A silent scream of pain left her mouth as her back arched reflexively. Her left arm hung uselessly in space, completely unresponsive, and the controls for the AG harness floated mere centimetres from her left hand. She forced out the pain and brought her right arm over, pulling the controls in by the strap which fixed them to the harness.

She pushed at the controls, but nothing happened. She tried again, but the AG unit stubbornly remained silent. What she didn’t know was that the AG unit had been shattered by the same micrometeorite that had crippled her shoulder. She was left drifting in space, moving slowly but surely away from the WYAL. For a second, the fear of drifting forever without rescue dominated her mind, completely overwhelming the knowledge that she could just call for help over the neural thread. Fortunately, it didn’t go any further, because at that moment she saw a flash of silver around her, and then she was lying on a bed inside the medical bay of the Faded Fortunes.

Now that it had atmosphere to carry in, her piercing scream cut the air, so loud it caused the medic moving to treat her to flinch. The medic swiftly instructed Fayalin’s pain sensors to reduce the intensity of the signals sent to her mind; the avatar equivalent of a painkiller. Fayalin could have done this herself at any point, or even cut them off entirely, but she was a purist; she wanted to experience life as close to how a matrai would as possible.

Her screams now cut to intermittent groans through gritted teeth, Fayalin forced herself to speak.
“Micrometeorite,” she told the medic, “Serves me right for going out there without a suit,” she admitted wryly.

“Easy, Faye. You’re alright,” the medic reassured her, “We’ll have you fixed up in no time.” He helped her to roll over, then began cutting the harness off so that he could get at the wound.
****

“Ah, I see,” acknowledged the Mind, “I believe this will have to be a long term project. We have no right to ask you to do this quickly, if you could even manage it anyway. Please wait for a minute.” The Mind was silent for nearly the full minute it had asked for, prompting questioning expressions to be passed between the Indoans present.

“Your Highness, on behalf of the Indoan Alliance, I would like to propose a formal treaty between the Alliance and your people, to initially include the commissioning of your people to upgrade the long range vessels of the Indoan Naval Fleet with these suppression devices. I am sure we can agree on something that we can provide you with in payment. And obviously, the treaty is not limited to this exchange, though the details can be worked out later.”

Alvec nodded, "That would be greatly appreciated. The Wyal is technological wonder by Central standards, but everything goes into her upgrades rather than have a large stock of repair parts. And before you ask me, it's a question for the Cap'n. I've argued with her till I'm blue in the face about have repair parts, but she still focuses on new research and upgrades. If it were my ship, I ..."

Alvec stopped as he saw Faye floating away and began to stand up, ready to grab his suit until she vanished.

"What'n'ell?" He hit the internal comms, "Cap'n? I just lost Faye from the scanners."

"You WHAT?!"

"She was drifting away, I was about to grab a suit and go after her and then she vanished."

"Scan the area."

"I did. Nothing. I'll grab the sled and have a look around", he told her, standing up.

"Good idea, Rand? Contact the Fortunes. I hate to tell them this, but give them the news. As Captain of the Wyal I'll take full responsibility."

"Understood", Rand replied as Alvec excused himself from the two Indoans present and ducking throught the door to the command cabin began making his way aft. Rand sent the news to the Mind, Alvecs intended response and Joat's acceptance of full responsiblity.

********

Lauralin smiled, "I accept", she replied, "consider the personal one to the Colonel as a gift, and I shall have my people begin once I return. I wish we could make them faster, but after the mage wars there are only a few magi even capable of making them. We'll discuss the terms at a time that is convenient to us both. For now, the first certain percent of the total number will be gifted to your people, in exchange for your assistance in the conflict on my planet against the alien invaders and the Skull Kingdoms and for your assistance here. That will provide more than enough time to work out the details on the rest."

“Faye?!” burst out Carter. “What happened?” she asked Alvec worriedly.

{Do not trouble yourself. Fayalin-Xunrae is on board the Faded Fortunes. She was hit by a micrometeorite, and I Displaced her back on board to render medical attention. Do not worry either, she will be fine. Consider yourself lucky she was not brought back to your vessel; else she would surely have deafened you all,} transmitted the Faded Fortunes in reply to Rand’s message.
****

Fayalin was lying on her stomach, while the medic carefully removed fragments of the AG unit from her ruined shoulder. Tears stung her eyes as she continued to suffer the occasional stronger pulse of pain. The tiny meteorite was still embedded deep in her shoulder too, which was the next thing the medic would deal with. Fortunately for Fayalin, the AG unit had absorbed the brunt of the kinetic energy in the impact; otherwise her shoulder would have been far worse.
“I’m sorry, Dan,” she muttered, the pain still evident in her voice.

“Got nothing to be sorry for, Faye,” replied the medic, “You were just doing your job. And I’m just doing mine.” There was a pause as he removed another fragment. “You know I get paid to do this?” he asked light-heartedly.

That drew a chuckle from Faye, “No, really? And I thought you were doing this out of the goodness of your heart,” she replied.

“Well, for you, maybe,” he conceded, “I never could bear to see a pretty girl cry.” That got another laugh.
****

“Thank you, your Highness,” acknowledged the Mind. “You are most generous. However, you are also correct. This is not a particularly convenient time. We must complete the repairs to the WYAL before we can go anywhere, and one of my crew is currently being treated for a serious injury.”

“Who?” blurted Valero, “When and how did this happen, and why didn’t I know about it?”

“Because, Colonel, it has only happened within the last few minutes,” countered the Mind. “It is Fayalin-Xunrae; she was struck by a micrometeorite while conducting an external inspection of the WYAL.”

Rand voice came out through the ship, "Fayalin is aboard the fortunes. She was injured by a micrometeorite and returned to her vessel for medical treatment. I am told that she will be fine."

Joat and Alvec had just passed each other in the corridor, "I'll go check her out", Alvec told her.

"Belay that, we need to start on the hull repairs", Joat stated.

"Understood", he replied, "Apparently Fortunes has some plating that can go over the affected areas."

"Alright, but we'll need to work together on this. I'll take the flit car and you take the sled. Stick close to me and the shields should protect you. Lets get over there and pick up the plates, I want to get the hell out of this place."

"Roger that", Alvec replied, "Rand, contact the Fortunes would ya? Let them know that we're on our way to grab that plating."

"Of course, Alvec", Rand replied and sent the message to the Fortunes.

********

Lauralin's hand clenched into fists, flames briefly cascading around her body before she regained control. "I am seriously considering having you take me to Midgaard and I shall conduct this investigation on my own. This is beginning to get out of hand. These Microbe meetarites, are they intelligent? Who are they, exactly, and why did they attack your crewmember?"

Carter winced sympathetically when Rand relayed what had happened to Fayalin, but relaxed visibly.
“Ouch,” she commented, “I bet that hurt immensely.” Her extensive medical training, and subsequent assignment to a combat space-faring vessel had given her a vast knowledge of the various injuries that could be suffered in this profession. Micrometeorite impacts tended to be devastating; they represented a threat to unshielded ships as well as EVA personnel.

{Tell them to stay there. I’m sending a group of four repair drones over with the plates. Between them, Joat and Alvec, they ought to get it done faster. We have better things to be doing than sitting here,} replied the Faded Fortunes, as the drones left the corvette with the replacement hull plates.
****

The wound in Fayalin’s shoulder was clear by now, and the medic was preparing to remove the projectile itself.
“Now, this is going to hurt, and hurt a lot,” he informed her, “I really recommend you cut off the input from the pain sensors, at least temporarily.”

“Would painkillers be that effective?” asked Fayalin.

“Well, no…” admitted the medic, “But that’s not through lack of trying. Faye, just for a few seconds, please.”

The avatar stubbornly shook her head. The medic sighed, and set about removing the small rock. Almost immediately, Fayalin cried out through gritted teeth, bearing the considerable pain as best she could. Fortunately, it did not take long, and she gasped in relief as the pain settled back to the incessant throbbing that was the limit of what the nerves were allowing her to feel currently.

“Right. That’s that done. Now to start fixing you up,” he told her. Within five minutes, the wound was packed and sealed, and Fayalin had four nanite clusters injected into her. They would convert the packing to useful material and repair the damage with it; completely reconstructing her shoulder. She would retain a scar where the would had been, and it would be at least two days before her arm was fully repaired, but she would return to normal.
****

“That’s micro meteorites, your Highness,” corrected the Mind, as gently as it could, “Small chunks of rock, ice or metal travelling at high velocity through the void, typically numbering in the billions in the average star system. They can do considerable damage to any object they hit if it is not properly protected. Fayalin-Xunrae was merely unfortunate enough to be in the path of one such object.”

"Alvec, Joat, Fortunes says stay close to the ship, they're sending drones over with the plating", Rand told them.

"Got it", Joat replied as she jumped into the small two person flit car. The vehicle was designed for transport between a planet and it's satellite, but worked well if she didn't want to bring the WYAL down to the surface.

Alvec suited up and jumped on a sled, "Rand, power up the sense engine and scan the area. Maximum range, we don't want anymore surprises."

********

"Oh", Lauralin replied sheepishly, "I see. Forgive my ignorance, this is new to me." 'Micro Meteorite', she muttered, storing the information in her mind. "Thank you."

********

Rand brought the sense engine online, overrode the sensor station and scanned the area, his sensors extending well beyond the range of most ships.

"How long will the repair take?" Rand inquired.

Alvec grinned, "Don't worry, buddy, we'll have you moving in two or three hours with what have coming over now."

"I ask, because the micrometeorite was not alone." Rand sent the information to the flit car, sled and Fortunes. A veritable storm of rock and other debris were at the extreme range of his sensors moving fast.

"Oh ... give ... me ... a break", Alvec muttered.

"What the hell is that?" Joat asked, "A stray asteroid field, Great Ghu."

"I would hypothesize a destroyed planet based on the mass of the rock field debris", Rand corrected.

"How long?" Joat asked.

"Approximately one hour", Rand replied.

"Then we're out of here in forty-five minutes", Alvec asserted.

"Care to explain how?" Joat asked.

"We'll tack the plates, jump out of the way of the debris and then complete the repairs", Alvec replied.

"Is that safe?" Joat inquired.

"Safer than being here, Cap'n", Alvec said firmly.

"Agreed", Joat replied, "lets get to it", she said as the drones approached. "We'll have the drones place them, we'll tack them and then we'll get inside and jump. Rand, plot a jump and transfer the co-ordinates to Fortunes."

"Already done", Rand replied as he transmitted the information.

{I saw that before, when I was searching for any trace of your attacker,} sent back the Fortunes. {I didn’t mention it because it poses little threat to this vessel. However, the destruction of a planet is interesting, so I think I will take a closer look. Don’t worry; the drones will have completed sufficient repairs before the debris reaches you.}

The corvette accelerated smoothly away from the WYAL, heading directly for the debris field. The Mind began a systematic, highly detailed scan of the cloud, plotting each particle back to it’s point of origin, along with calculating the exact mass of the planet and searching for any trace of what might have caused the destruction.

The drones split up on reaching the WYAL, one heading for Joat, another for Alvec, and the last two made for a third breach in the hull. In each case, one of the pair would hold the plate in place while the other affixed it to the hull with a laser welder or similar device.
****

“Do not worry about it,” reassured the Mind, “It is not a term that one is likely to come across until you began space exploration, since it has very little use on a planet’s surface.”

“Where are we going?” asked Valero, having noticed the corvette was moving.

“To investigate a debris cloud that appears to be the result of the destruction of a planet,” replied the Mind, “Such an event would require extraordinary amounts of energy, and I wish to see if there is any trace of how it was done.”

“Couldn’t we do it fairly easily?” asked Valero, “Just Displace a load of AM into a planet’s core?”

“Yes, that would achieve this result, but they may be many other methods. I would also like to know why it was done, if it was the result of sentient actions, but I doubt I will find anything to shed light on that question here.” The Mind paused. “And if it was the result of natural actions, then it is one of extreme power. A black hole could do this, but there would be no expanding debris cloud, and we would have noticed it immediately we entered the system. Regardless, if it was a natural event, we should probably warn someone about it.”

Alvec and Joat moved to the opposite sides of the plates the drones began working on, moving in the same direction as the drones in order to work on one half of the plate while the drone worked on the other half. Once the three were completed they all moved to a fourth, smaller, breach and Alvec and Joat, along with two drones each took a side. By the time the plates were in place and Alvec and Joat back inside it was only five minutes longer than Alvec had anticipated. As they crowded into the command room Alvec said, "Prepare your scans, we're about to jump", and took the sensor station instead of weapons.

"Here we go", Joat warned, once the Indoans were set, one at weapons and one in the cabin behind the command room. She accelerated away from the defense drones and jumped once she was clear enough that the drones wouldn't be damage, jumping a relatively short distance away.

The scanners revealed no sign of a bug before, during or after.

********

The debris, one cursory inspection would show natural tectonic stress, enough to tear the planet apart. On closer inspection, however, it showed the tectonic stresses were not in areas where it would have occured naturally, but rather where normally solid rock had simply been torn apart.

Rand monitored Fortunes advance, assessed the information and plotted his own course, overlaying central worlds star charts over Fortunes more limited charts of the area.

"The manticore rift seems to be the origin point", Rand observed. "It would take several weeks to reach this point. It would seem coincidence played a part in our being here when it arrived."

"Coincidence that those discs were on that planet. That the ship that attacked just happened to be right were we came out and now this", Joat replied, "just my luck.

"Bull", Alvec said, "There's a saying, 'Once is happenstance, Twice is coincidence, Three times is enemy action.' I don't like this."

********

Lauralin nodded at the Minds explanation. "True. There is much to learn. Perhaps enough that we reach too soon."

OOc: Jeez you guys have posted a lot.

Ic: Salazan stood around, glancing at the ship's technology, perhaps bending over to look closer at some aspect, when he dissapeared.

"Report?" Asked a man.
Salazan sighed and said, "Damnit, it isn't time yet!"
"Yes, but we noticed you weren't doing anything."
Salazan glared in front of him, as to throw the voice into Oblivion.
He sighed and said, "Alright. Presently, the situation is a little confusing. We have a class 8 magic user, along with some soldiers from some place called Indoa, or something, and we were just discussing ways to protect from magic.

Before that, we had gone down to a planet to check some disks out, turned out the disks were fake. We were then assualted by a army of some sort. We then went up to the ship and started discussing things. That is all I know at the moment."
After a few moments and what sounded like scribbling, the voice said "You may go now."
Salazan blinked and dissapeared.
He reapearred back near Lauralin, grumbling to himself.

(Sorry, busy weekend and busy day at work today.)

Lauralin raised an eyebrow at his disappearance and once he returned, grumbling, she made a supposition. "I take it that you did not wish to go wherever it is you went?"

((OOC: And I've been rather ill over the last few days.))

When the WYAL prepared to leave, the repair drones pulled away, giving the vessel space to jump, taking with them the excess panels they had brought over. Inside the vessel, Carter sat uneasily at the weapons station, protesting that she knew nothing about how to use the systems and it went against her ethics as a medical professional. She had got stuck with the weapons, since she knew equally little about the scanning device that Hammond was using to check for sleeper transmitters.

After the jump Carter looked decidedly unhappy, as well as more than a little unwell, and a loud groan from the Hammond’s vicinity indicated he felt similarly unpleasant.
“What the hell was that?” she asked weakly. “As soon as the Fortunes gets here, I want off this ship. You are not putting me through that again.”
Hammond reappeared in the command room, looking a little unsteady on his feet. “You really need to get a better drive system,” he told them. “On the plus side, I detected no signs of any tracking devices. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go collapse in a corner somewhere.”
****

The corvette remained in the debris cloud until the WYAL had jumped away, it’s shields and point-defence weapons ensuring that nothing threatened the vessel. The Mind also cut off the transmission of it’s sensor fields to the other vessel now that it had it’s own sensors working again.
{Gravetic manipulation; maybe a seismic weapon of some sort. Certainly artificially induced, though I don’t know why,} was the Mind’s assessment of the former planet.

It then made a micro-jump back to it’s previous location, picked up all the drones and the Kestrel group, then made a second jump to rejoin the WYAL at it’s new location. Immediately, the Mind began a detailed scan of their surroundings, searching for anything of interest.
****

When Salazan disappeared, Valero looked around in shock, which quickly turned to anger. A strange, low growling noise emanated from Kane’s throat, and all three of the Rangers present drew their sidearms. The security officer brought his carbine up, and Andie walked swiftly over to the officer and removed a pistol-sized object from his belt. It was an odd device, looking little like any other weapon in the Indoan inventory, and was known to the Indoans as a Xeltak. In scientific terms, it was a short-range electrolaser optimised for battle usage; with no moving parts, an extremely long-lasting rechargeable power cell and a pressure sensitive trigger, and only recently added to the armoury. As far as the soldiers were concerned, it was a stun gun, simple and easy to use, which inflicted a great deal of pain and disabled a target for several minutes, and also had the handy secondary ability to be able to knock out any unshielded electronics you shot with it for a substantial period of time.

Upon his reappearance, all five of the weapons were aimed at Salazan, as well as whatever forces the Mind could conjure up within the ship. The remaining officers all had their hands resting on their sidearms, ready to draw them at a moment’s notice.

“What did we tell you?” asked Valero accusingly. “What were you told when you came on board?” She was trying desperately to resist the urge to draw her own pistol and start blasting, though logic told her she would be within her rights to.

My country has turned into a whorlpool because there is so mucj dissargeement between everybody. I am trying to ressolve the matter peacefully but if this keeps up I am going to have to cause war which I know everyone dont want........................................:mad:

The warnings screamed for attention suddenly as a dozen ships came out of slipstream, weapons already locking on and firing. Alvec shoved Hammond into a corner, hoped that Carter hadn't undone her belt and reached over Joat to slam his fist on the emergency thrusters.

The Wyal leapt forward, away from the incoming line of fire, but the missiles turned to pursue thier quarry. Alvec, neither against a wall, nor in a seat, was thrown backward into the rear bulkhead. He had thrown an arm out reflexively but the crunched sickeningly under the impact and g-force pressures and the Wyal made it's bid for escape.

Lauralin sensed the danger and closed her eyes. The missiles began to waver erratically and finally began colliding into each other, decimating themselves. After a moment her shoulders slumped and she opened her eyes shaking her head, "The ship I cannot stop, only the missiles." When she looked up she saw Valero and raised her hands placatingly, "Not magic, psionics."

"Let me have a crack at it." Salazan said. "I could probably at least stop the thing from attacking your ship. If I can't, I'll hold it off and call in one of my ships."

OOc: It's GAE, but I'll be posting as United Law due to some technical difficulties.

"It is not my ship to say, and it seems the Wyal is under attack. They seem focused on it for some reason. But the Colonel must decide. And forget not that Fortunes is war ship. I was merely eliminating the immediate threat to the Wyal", Lauralin replied.

Carter was thrown sideways against her restraints as the thrusters fired, and clawed her way back into an upright position. She stared at the weapons console, but stubbornly refused to attempt to do anything with it. She had no problems with other people killing each other for their survival, but she refused to do it herself. She was more concerned about Alvec and Hammond.
****

The weapons aimed at Salazan did not waver when the alarm went off, though the bridge crew jumped into action. Valero began studying the sensor display intently, trying to work out what was going on.
“I believe we told you not to do that either,” she told Lauralin in clipped tones, without looking at the other woman, “But, extenuating circumstances. Do what you can.”

“Fade, release all batteries and engage. Scramble the Devils, and anything else you think is appropriate,” she instructed the Mind, “I want to know everything you can tell me about those hostiles; rough classification, apparent weapons capability, the lot.” She glanced briefly at Salazan. “And you’re not doing anything. If things get too hot, we’re perfectly capable of dragging the WYAL clear.” As the Mind began carrying out the instructions, a loud klaxon sounded throughout the ship, signifying the move to Battle Stations.

Without warning, the bridge doors opened, and Fayalin ran in, her left arm in a sling and an AG harness grasped in her right hand.
“You have to put me back on the WYAL,” she told Valero.
“Why would I do that? You’re injured,” shot back the Colonel.
“Because they need me. There’s only two of them on that ship and Carter and Hammond won’t be much help. And I already know the ship,” she replied pleadingly.
“Fine,” agreed Valero after a short pause, “Fade, do it.”
A split second later, a silvery Displacer orb expanded around Fayalin, then shrank back to leave nothing.
****

The other end of the Displacement put Fayalin next to Hammond in the corner. The AG harness, already active, was cancelling out the lack on inertial dampeners on board the WYAL, and allowed Fayalin to move around unhindered despite the wild manoeuvres the vessel was making. She swiftly helped Hammond over to the sensor station, then moved over to Carter. They switched places as fast as they could, with Carter taking the AG harness and hurriedly putting in on.

Carter moved over to treat Alvec as Fayalin strapped herself into the seat at the weapons console, a difficult task considering she only had one hand to use, and one that resulted in a slightly awkward and uncomfortable situation once she had fastened the straps. Once she was secure though, she quickly scanned the console and looked over at Joat.
“Where do I start?” she asked, though she was ready to try and figure it out herself if it turned out Joat was too busy trying to pilot the vessel.
****

The Faded Fortunes plunged into the fray, every single one of it’s weapon batteries firing upon the hostile ships. The six Kestrel fighters boiled out of the hangar bays and began their own concerted attack against one of the hostile vessels, and a number of defence drones were Displaced into space and immediately opened up with their weapons. Lasers, tiny AM-tipped missiles, particle streams and hyper-velocity slugs all lanced their way towards the hostile vessels.

Joat glanced back at the others and noted Alvec’s situation, but survival came first and she twisted the ship around in a tight turn while the enemy vessels pursued her. The maneuver threw them off momentarily, the freighter being more maneuverable than it might seem, but they quickly got back on course, determined to take down the Wyal.

“Why in all HELL are they after me? I’M not the bigger threat!” Joat jinked again and changed course as Alvec hung on to a nearby support with one arm, muscles bulging with effort.

‘That’s it, come get me’, Joat muttered as she flew straight toward the Fortunes. One of the fighters had already been destroyed by the kestrels, another by the combined firepower of the Indoan corvette and the mines.

“Where do I start?” she asked, though she was ready to try and figure it out herself if it turned out Joat was too busy trying to pilot the vessel.

They let loose another salvo and Lauralin closed her eyes. The missiles, again, went astray and began colliding with each other. This time when she opened her eyes they took a moment to focus and she wiped away several drops of blood from her nose, showing the incredible effort and strain, but she said nothing, only looking for the next attack to ward off.

Just as Joat reached what she estimated to be short range for the Fortunes she yelled, “HANG ON!” and changed course again to dive under the Corvette. The pursuing fighters realized their mistake in their single minded pursuit and began veering off, but not before three more wore destroyed.

Once clear of the Fortunes Joat came around again, throwing Alvec, this time into the weapons console as he lost his grip.

“Okay, Faye”, Joat said, coming around on the retreating fighters, “focus the cannons on one and let the Antimat missiles go once their shields have taken a barrage.”

Suddenly Lauralin spoke up. “They are after the Wyal because it is the only vessel that can follow them.”

The fighters, as Fortune would find out, were unmanned and stronger than a vessel that size should be. The sported two forward firing and one swivel undermounted AM cannon. The shielding was extremely strong and the core source registered far higher than a vessel that size should be able to carry.

Salazan, himself, would notice the chronoplast emissions of the vessels as the neared the Corvette, before peeling off.

“Well, Faye”, Alvec said, looking up, “together again. And doing about as well as normal.”

“Al, while I’m on an even keel, get to medical. Doctor Carter, if you would assist him, please”, Joat said, “besides, I don’t think you want to be around for this”, she finished as she bore down on one of the three fighters, the other two having split off.

“I count seven bandits remaining, Colonel,” the Mind informed them after the WYAL blazed past just below the corvette. “All are fighter class vessels, armed with two fixed forward and one ventral turret anti-particle beam weapons and possess shields stronger than the size of the craft would indicate. I believe one of these was the vessel that previously attacked the WYAL. Performance and response time indicate they are unmanned, confirmed by scans; no life signs detected.”

The Kestrels had split apart into wing pairs and engaged their cloaks after the first run, with each pair picking a target and pursuing it. The corvette’s weapons were focusing on whichever hostile happened to be in the best position to fire upon the WYAL at any given time, though the secondary effect of distracting the enemy from getting a good shot off was lost as they were facing AI controlled vessels. The corvette itself wasn’t making full use of standard battle tactics, since it wasn’t being fired upon, at least not in significant numbers.

Fayalin targeted and fired the weapons at Joat’s instruction, then looked at Alvec. Her actions were a little slow, but she didn’t fully know how to operate the systems yet, and she was working with only one hand.
“If this is normal, I think I’m glad I’m usually somewhere else,” she told him with a smile.

Carter didn’t wait for Alvec’s approval, and started pulling him along behind her towards the medical bay. She knew the freighter could go into another series of manoeuvres at any second, and while she would be fine, thanks to the AG harness, Alvec would fare just as badly as before unless he was strapped to something. Even with the AG harness, if she was still holding onto Alvec, she would go flying too.

Carter didn’t wait for Alvec’s approval, and started pulling him along behind her towards the medical bay.

Alvec grunted, cradling his damaged arm, which showed angry red, blue and black mottling with a puncture where a bone was protruding from his forearm. "I take it we're leaving?", he grimaced, still showing good humor. Once she had him safely strapped down Rand gave the word to Joat.

Faye's attack, weaking the shields first before launching the anti-mat missiles destroyed another vessel, but the other two were on either side now. When one blew up between Fortunes and a pair of Kestrel fighters, Joat took the advantage and cut above the fighters, turning in thier direction and away from the last of the three that she had followed out of her turn under the Corvette.

The last one tried to turn but with Fortunes firing, two fighters on it's tail and the two that just freed themselves it exploded after several tense moments in which one had to wonder if the shields would go down.

The shields, oddly enough, seemed shared. The few the vessels the stronger the shielding, and the last four would prove to be the most difficult by far.

The last four fired missiled, and again Lauralin closed her eyes. Once the missiles fired they vanished, moving into the slipstream. Lauralin held onto to Tail's arm, and gripped a console, again focusing on the missiles. This time took a little longer before they collided and exploded, and she gasped, barely holding herself up, wiping more blood from her nose with pain filled eyes.

"Heh", Joat said, "they need to talk to thier missile manufacturer, those things seem to keep locking onto each other ..... Hey, where are the last four?" she asked. Suddenly the appeared almost right in front of her and she had to dodge left and then jink right, heading back toward the safety of the Fortunes as the shipped rocked with one impact, having avoided the other three.

((OOC: Sorry for the delay. I went away for a few days, and was unable to access the internet, then I've been very busy the past couple of days.))

As soon as Alvec was strapped down, Carter instructed Rand to give him a painkiller, prepped a nanite cluster in the same way she had for Joat and pulled a small surgical laser from her kit while she waited for the painkiller to take effect. Open fractures were delicate; you could do more damage in realigning the bone so it could be set than was done it the break if you weren’t careful. Still, her speciality was trauma, and this certainly fell into that category.

“Three bandits remaining,” the Mind informed Valero. “The fourth just collided with the WYAL. They appear to have taken lessons in tactics from us; micro-jumping to gain a more advantageous position in battle. The shields on the remaining craft appear to be getting stronger as the others are eliminated, which makes no sense, but it seems to be true.”

“Target all weapons on a single bandit, order the Devils to do the same,” ordered Valero. “If that doesn’t work, try Displacing warheads inside the shields.” She looked at Lauralin, “I think you need to stop. We’ll do our best with jammers and point defence guns. There’s fewer bandits to launch now, we should be okay. Fade, full strength active jamming on all frequencies, and remove the limiters on the point defence system.”

“Done, Colonel. I can also attempt to divert any missiles through wormholes; send them to a distant region of empty space. I could also attempt to do this to the remaining hostiles if they prove too difficult to destroy. If I sent them as far away as possible, regardless of how good their own long-range drive is, they will be stuck in transit for many hours. Nothing can escape a wormhole during transit; at least, not in one piece.”

The corvette planted itself firmly on the tail of the WYAL, blocking a direct line of fire between the freighter and the hostile craft, while all of its weapon systems capable of tracking a single target did so, pouring fire at it. The Kestrel fighters also attacked the same target, taking up chase and engaging, effectively sandwiching the enemy between the corvette and the Kestrels.

((OOC: It happens, no problem. Good to see you back. I’ve not heard from GAE, now UL either.))

Rand injected the pain meds and a mild sedative to make him relax.

“Doctor”, Rand addressed her, “your request has been carried out, as well as a sedative to relax him. He tends to get fidgety on the med table. Would like a vein constrictor to minimize possible bleeding? Or would that interfere with your procedure?”

She looked at Lauralin, “I think you need to stop. We’ll do our best with jammers and point defence guns. There’s fewer bandits to launch now, we should be okay.

Lauralin nodded, sitting down on the floor and leaning on a console, bringing her knees up to keep out of the way and trying to reduce the pain in her head. Psionic use she limited, though, since Ariel had begun working with her, she had improved in bounds, but nothing like this had been required of her before.

The remaining three fighters vied for position, thwarted a position directly aft by Fortunes. Two vanished, the last having taken to much of a pounding, apparently, to jump itself. Finally, after what would be an eternity in a dog fight, the ship finally exploded.

“Where are those ships?” Joat threw back to Faye, but was answered as the collision alarms sounded again. Joat throttled up and turned down and toward the coming craft to get under them. The ship continued it’s speed, though the course changed.

“RAND, WHAT THE HELL?”

Rand did a rapid check of his systems, “It seems that last impact severed our connections to the main drive, we can’t accelerate or slow.”

Desperately Joat altered her course again, her present speed being unable to cut under the craft before they collided with her. “Oh hell”, she muttered, as she watched her central circle and the two red deltas, knowing there wouldn’t be enough time to make the new course correction before all three collided.

As the remaining fighter succumbed to the barrage of energy, the Fortunes immediately began attempting to predict where the other two would reappear. It was certain they would; they had not retreated yet, even after taking severe losses, and they didn’t appear to want to let the WYAL escape intact. It had a fair idea of where that might be, but it wasn’t certain.

When the two hostile craft did reappear, it wasn’t quite where the Mind had expected, but Joat rectified that of her own accord. Her intention was clear to the Mind, as was what went wrong with her plan, though it didn’t know the reason why. The collision between the three ships was unavoidable through any action of the WYAL, and based on the previous behaviour of the hostiles, highly probable.

There was only one way to prevent the collision, and the subsequent destruction of WYAL, though it would be risky, and it wasn’t guaranteed to work. Still, there was only a bare few seconds to do act, and anything was better than just letting the WYAL be destroyed. The corvette accelerated to max thrust, moving up and over the WYAL.

Inside the bridge, Colonel Valero was quick to realise what was happening, and even as the corvette began to make it’s move, made her opinion known to those present on the bridge.
“Oh, this is not going to be pretty,” she groaned, “Hold on to something.” While the way she said it made it sound like it was just an offhand comment, she did grip the edge of the sensor display.

The Mind reconfigured the artificial gravity fields used to give the corvette it’s remarkable manoeuvrability as it moved over the WYAL. One field projected a strong field behind the WYAL, pulling it backwards, while another did the same to the hostiles. The net result was to reduce the rate of closure between the vessels, and give the Mind time to open wormholes in the paths of both hostile craft. The Mind had overridden some safety protocols in activating those wormholes; the other end was far further than was generally considered safe for travel, but that was hardly an issue in this case. If they survived, the two craft would find themselves deep in a nearby galaxy.

On board the Fortunes, the vessel shuddered like it had collided with something. Alarms sounded all over the ship, then the artificial gravity cut out. Across the ship, people drifted up off the decks, as reaction forces suddenly had no action to nullify. The bridge crew were strapped into their seats for precisely this reason, but everyone else suddenly found themselves floating. Anderaleigh let out a sigh as she drifted across the bridge, her arms folded across her chest.

Joat heard the engines whine as they were pulled back and saw the Fortunes pass over the top of her ship. All she coud do was grab the panel, white knuckled, as the corvette seemed to dive between them. 'No, no, no, no', she kept muttering and then sighed with relief as the two vessels vanished, slumping in her chair for a moment, thankful that the Fortunes hadn't been destroyed in attempting to save her. Quickly, though, she recovered as the Wyal continued it's path forward and made sure to cut away from the corvette.

"Rand, send Alvec to look at the damage", Joat barked, "Faye, scan the Fortunes, I want to know if they've sustained any damage."

"Alvec is still in medical, Joat", came Rand's calm reminder.

"Oh yeah .... Alright. Rand, keep us close to the Fortunes, circle if you have to, I'll check it out", she replied. She stood up and layed a hand on Faye's shoulder, "Let me know how they are, huh? I owe them. Big time." She stopped at the door, and Rand, let them know our situation, alright, buddy?"

"Of course, Joat", Rand answered.

**

"This is the Wyal", Rand sent, "The captain has told me to inform you of our current situation. Your people, aside from Fayalin's previous injuries, are quite well. Alvec has suffered a broken arm from the initial move to get us out of the way of the incoming craft. He hit the emergency thrusters without strapping in first. The doctor is working on him as we speak. I'm afraid that I've suffered damage to the engine control circuits on that last impact. At present, we can neither increase, nor decrease our speed. Fayalin will be in contact with you to assess your situation there and Joat requests knowledge of your condition."

**

Tail suited action to words and latched onto the nearest thing, extending her claws for a bit more purchase. Lauralin, meanwhile, seemed unaffect by events, having cast a fly spell. Her spell would go unnoticed, as the material component was a feather that she kept in her hair and was so well known that no vocal or somantic components were required any longer, thus she seemed to simply stay where she was, until, after a few moments she allowed herself to rise and looked about questioningly.

**

The two vessels, now far beyond the range of control, entered the distant galaxy adrift. Silent and unpowered now, they're story forever entombed within thier now quiet hulls.

Now that the ship had stabilised, Carter could begin working on Alvec’s arm. She declined Rand’s offer, pulled on some surgical gloves, then used the laser to widen the laceration caused by the shard of bone. The laser partially cauterised the surfaces it cut through, meaning that there was little bleeding. Working as quickly as she could, she carefully brought the two pieces of bone back together.

With that done, she adjusted a setting on the laser, then used it to completely seal the wound. She stripped off the surgical gloves, picked up the nanite injector and jabbed the tip into Alvec’s upper arm, just below the shoulder. She then went back into her kit and removed two collapsible rods to use as splints and a roll of tape. She deftly taped the splints in place, then wrapped a small bandage around where the laceration had been. She had taken care of the macroscopic damage; the nanites would deal with the rest.

“At least six hours, and keep it in a sling,” she instructed Alvec. “And if you don’t stick to that, I’ll make you regret it. You may not be my military, but don’t think that will stop me.”
****

Faye nodded, and made a scan from the weapons console. The results were a little vague, but that was nothing to do with the WYAL’s sensors, cobbled together or otherwise. She raised an eyebrow at her conclusion of the data, then called out the result to Joat.
“I’m picking up some distortions in the gravitational field around the Faded Fortunes, but I see no damage. I think our foes were far too busy trying to get rid of us to think about the corvette,” she announced. She suspected what the reason for the gravitational distortions was, but couldn’t be certain without actually asking the Mind, and it wasn’t really important.
****

“You’d better get that, Fade,” observed Valero dryly as Rand’s transmission came in, “I’m a little busy right now.” They had already completed a damage analysis, and confirmed that there was no damage to the ship bar the loss of gravity. “And can you turn those alarms off? I think we all know there’s a problem,” she asked sarcastically. She gently put out an arm to prevent a collision with the ceiling; the collision-like shudder having dislodged her grip and leaving her just as airborne as the rest of the crew.

The alarms abruptly shut off, leaving an empty silence for a few seconds as everyone readjusted to the lack of noise. Oddly, the only person on the bridge who didn’t seem fazed by the loss of gravity was Riesco; she was lying parallel to the deck, her arms behind her head and her eyes closed, with a slight smile on her face. Andie gently propelled herself towards Lauralin and Tailchaser by pushing off a nearby console.

“Are you both okay?” she asked, “This is just a minor inconvenience; I’m sure we’ll have it fixed shortly.”
****

{We are fine. We suffered no damage as a result of the attack, only a minor problem with the artificial gravity systems thanks to that stunt I just pulled. I don’t believe there is anything I can do to help with your engine problem. At least, nothing you can’t do yourselves. All I can offer is more personnel or resources,} transmitted the Mind in reply.

“At least six hours, and keep it in a sling,” she instructed Alvec. “And if you don’t stick to that, I’ll make you regret it. You may not be my military, but don’t think that will stop me.”

"Your an angel, Doc", Alvec managed to mutter. Rand gave him a neuro inhibitor for the pain and a counter agent for the sedative, then offered a sling.

"How are you, buddy?" Alvec asked, taking the proffered sling.

"We were hulled when the one ship impacted us. Presently, probably as a result, we have lost connection to the main drive. We can neither increase, nor decrease our speed.

Joat is assessing the situation concerning the drives, though I believe she'll need to repair the breach before that can happen. Entering by shutting one of the other air tight hatches and performing the repair suited is feasable, however, I predict only a 17% chance that she will take that route. It is more probable that she'll repair it from the outside."

"No bet." Alvec had listened and then nodded once Rand had finished. "So ... we're doing about average", he said, sliding off the table. He turned to Carter, "Can I still help out? I got one good flipper."

“I’m picking up some distortions in the gravitational field around the Faded Fortunes, but I see no damage. I think our foes were far too busy trying to get rid of us to think about the corvette,”

Rand piped Faye's message into the med room as Joat responded. "Tell them we have 4 or 5 portable grav generators. I use them to do repairs when I can't have gravity. They won't cover much, but they suffice to hold down a decent working area", Joat told her.

****

“Are you both okay?” she asked, “This is just a minor inconvenience; I’m sure we’ll have it fixed shortly.”

"I am fine", Lauralin replied. She was looking at Tailchaser, however, who still had a death grip on the console and was twisting and turning herself, trying to gain purchase with her rear claws. A low desperate growling came from the Baronness in her paniced state as she sought to right herself, trying to understand what was happening.

"Baroness", Lauralin said, floating easily toward her. She stopped as Tail's head snapped around and she hissed at Laura.

"I do not, however, believe that the Baronness is at all comfortable with the situation", Lauralin stated.

****

Rand opened the comms to both the bridge and medical, knowing that Joat could already hear.

{We are fine. We suffered no damage as a result of the attack, only a minor problem with the artificial gravity systems thanks to that stunt I just pulled. I don’t believe there is anything I can do to help with your engine problem. At least, nothing you can’t do yourselves. All I can offer is more personnel or resources,} transmitted the Mind in reply.

"I believe we can have our situation in hand in relatively short order", Rand replied, who got an affirmitive nod from Joat. "Thank you for your offer, but please see to your own and allow us to say thank you, again."

"You got that right", Joat muttered. "I'll need to EVA to fix this breach before I can conduct the repairs", she stated.

"I do not recommend this action", Rand replied, "we are still moving."

"No shit. And we're going to keep moving until I can fix it ... And I'm NOT doing it in a suit."

Rand closed unnecessary comms except for medical. "The .. stunt .. to which Fortunes refers, Doctor, is the opening of to artificial gravity pockets. One behind us and one behind the two vessels that were incoming. This slowed our rate of speed while they opened up wormholes to evacuate the hostile vessels."

“You’re an angel, Doc,” Alvec managed to mutter.

“Aren’t I just?” Carter replied with a smile. “I’ll be watching though, and don’t forget it.” She began packing away her medical kit, listening to the report of their situation as she did so. “Yes, of course you can help. Faye’s out there on your weapons console, isn’t she? And she can’t physically use her arm, it won’t respond at all. Is there anything I can do?” she asked.

She listened carefully as Rand relayed the transmission from the Fortunes to them, then explained exactly what had passed, and instantly began worrying if anyone had been hurt. Like Fayalin is the command room, she had a fair idea what ‘minor problem’ meant, though she was less certain of it than the avatar, being a medic and having far less knowledge of the technological workings of the ship. She realised that there was little to worry about with regard to injuries; there was still the rest of the medical team on board the corvette, all of whom were highly skilled.
****

“Sounds like a bit of a Catch-22” observed Fayalin, after the exchange between Joat and Rand. “I assume you have a plan in mind.” She was silent, thinking for a few moments. “If you don’t, I may have something. Can you get to the main engine room? Even if it’s through a vented compartment.”

“What are you thinking, Faye?” asked Hammond. As a member of the engineering section, he too had been thinking of ways to solve the problem, but so far without success.

“If we can get to it, we can shoot it with a Xeltak. The electromagnetic energy in the beam will knock out the electronics in the engine if it’s not been deliberately shielded. That should knock the engine out completely, if only temporarily. Should give you long enough to do something more permanent,” she told Joat.
****

“Just relax,” came Riesco’s voice as she drifted across the bridge, her eyes still closed. “Enjoy it. We’ll all have to suffer gravity again soon enough; might as well make the best of it while it lasts.”

Andie looked at Tailchaser with a frown, agreeing with Lauralin’s assessment. She pushed herself over, and spoke softly.
“Do not be alarmed. The gravity will return soon,” she said soothingly.
Without giving Tailchaser a chance to reply, Andie moved herself around behind the Baroness, and grabbed her in a gentle embrace. She then began to sing a lullaby in Indoan, the words sounding pleasant and reassuring, even in an alien language.

The other Indoans had all come to a similar conclusion to Riesco, and were just waiting patiently. Kane had managed to invert himself and appeared to be crouching on the ceiling, the rest were all floating freely somewhere out of the way.

"I do not believe so", Rand replied to the Doctor's query. "Joat wishes to repair the breach then repair the break. I do not believe that she will allow anyone else to leave the ship. Though I disagree with her chosen course, she has done hull repairs on moving vessels before."

"Thank's Doc", Alvec said smiling and moved up toward the command room. "Joat", he said, "I'll monitor you from the sensor station, just no acrobatics huh?"

"You're taking all the fun out of it", she replied as she began putting on an oddly modified suit. "And the main engine room is open to vacuum. That's where the control circuit is. Looks like I'm going to have to do a little redesigning. I'm going to go out and seal the breach, then come back in and repair the damage once engineering is repressurized."

****

Tailchaser struggled at first, though she was reluctant to let go her purchase on the console, thus limiting her resistance. As the singing penetrated her panic stricken mind she began to relax, her eyes closing halfway as she began to hum along to the tune.

****

Suddenly the lights on both vessels dimmed as an extremely powerful communications link forced it's way through the systems.

"What the ...", Joat began, but then the screens on both vessels showed the messenger.

Lauralin's jaw dropped as she looked at the person who was forcing the signal through. A very familiar face to everyone, as Lauralin looked back at her own image.

"You STUpid BITCH!", the other Lauralin screamed. "YOU and your driving NEED to go to space. It wasn't enough for me to kill those people. YOU .. HAD .. to pursue it. NOW I will have destroy YOU!"

"Who are you?" Lauralin finally managed.

"IDIOT! I'M YOU! THEY .. TORTURED .. ME .. FOR .. CENTURIES. STILL I SUFFER! BECAUSE OF YOUR CURIOUSITY!"

"I do not understand", Lauralin replied.

The other Lauralin screamed in fury and frustration and suddenly the lights returned to normal as the signal broke.

On board the Wyal Alvec had been quickly working the sensor console and sat back after the link died. 'Great, Fardling, Ghu', he muttered, suddenly becoming paler.

"What is it?" Joat asked, having moved forward during the diatribe.

"The signal", Alvec said, barely above a whisper. "It originated from the Manticore."

"From the Manticore rift?" Joat asked, "but that .." Joat stopped as Alvec was shaking his head.

"Not the Manticore RIFT. The MANTICORE itself."

“Just because I got my arm in a sling didn’t mean you had to go and copy me,” observed Fayalin lightly on seeing Alvec’s sling. “The Fortunes says they don’t need your portable generators, by the way. Just a matter of replacing the power regulator.”

“If you need any help, I’ll do what I can,” put in Hammond. “Seeing as I’m the only one who isn’t injured.”

“Not true, Jonas. Janet isn’t injured,” pointed out Fayalin.

“Well, true, but medics don’t generally know too much about fixing bits of ships, just bits of people,” he replied.
****

Various members of the crew watched in wonder as Andie once again showed her remarkable talent for calming people down. She continued to sing the lullaby as the message came in, completely oblivious to what was going on around them, content to let others deal with that while she did what she could.

When the image had gone from the screen, all those who had seen the message had a question in their heads, but it was Kane, as frequently happened, that managed to get it out first.
“How come there’s all of a sudden two of you?” he asked Lauralin from his position on the ceiling. “And what’s going on?”
****

“What’s this ‘manticore’ you speak of?” asked Fayalin after they had seen the transmission. “Or the rift for that matter?” She looked questioningly at Joat and Alvec, “I assume it’s not a good thing from your expressions, but it’s not something we’re familiar with.” She stood, walking over to the sensor console and looking at what was displayed on it, searching for anything that might mean something to her.

“Just because I got my arm in a sling didn’t mean you had to go and copy me,” observed Fayalin lightly on seeing Alvec’s sling. “The Fortunes says they don’t need your portable generators, by the way. Just a matter of replacing the power regulator.”

"Ah, I thought it was a pain and pleasure thing among your people", Alvec quipped in reply to Faye. His answer was offhanded as he studied the readouts, but he still managed a quick wink at her.

"Keep it in your pants", Joat ordered as she deftly and almost carressingly moved her hands over the sensor console.

Lauralin looked at Kane, but her eyes drifted and became unfocused as her keen mind went over what she had heard and what she had experienced to this point.

“What’s this ‘manticore’ you speak of?” asked Fayalin after they had seen the transmission. “Or the rift for that matter?” She looked questioningly at Joat and Alvec, “I assume it’s not a good thing from your expressions, but it’s not something we’re familiar with.” She stood, walking over to the sensor console and looking at what was displayed on it, searching for anything that might mean something to her.

"Rand", Joat said after a moment, "would you open a link to Fortunes, please? Politely. I doubt Fortunes is any to happy about that last forced transmission."

An area of space appeared in a three dimensional image on the bridge of the Wyal and the transmission showed the bridge as Joat continued.

"The Manticore rift", she said, immedietly gaining Lauralin's attention at the mention of a creature she had seen once. "It's a system that once held an advanced space faring race. The system had twelve planets, the last being approximately sixty AU's from it's central star. The star itself has begun a period of evolution into a red giant. It's a solar system, simply put. But the rift contains something unique. This .."

The 3-D image wavered into what appeared to be a massive planet about 145,000 kilometers in diameter. As the image telescoped in on it, however, it became obvious that this was no natural construct.

"The manticore, as we call it, is a station approximately the size of a gas giant. It appeared about 200 years ago, attacked the three planets in the system that had once been populated and various stations throughout the system, and after .... removing .... the various cities, simply went silent. We, along with the capellan navy, attacked the Manticore. 1,538 naval vessels of varying classes participated in the assault. 293 survived, and the manticore seemed untouched.

The rift, as we now call it, is about 100,000 AU's in radius, patrolled by 25,000 naval vessels of various types and over 12,000 space stations. The massive effort to contain the Manticore, not that we're at all sure it IS contained, and the ongoing vigilance is a heavy drain on Central Worlds resources. The Manticore, itself, remains largely quiescent, occasionally moving within the area with no known reason or understandable reason as to why.

To date, no ship entering within 1,000 AU's has survived, being instantly destroyed by weapons of unknown power and manufacture. One thing that HAS been recorded was one man who managed to get in close and escape."

Two pictures appeared. One showed a man about 25 years of age, in good shape. The other, showed the man at what appeared to be 80 years of age, barely alive.

"This is, or was, Captain Albin Tomaque. The first picture was taken of him just before attempted to penetrate the sphere of influence around the Manticore. The other was taken after he had been attacked, 48 hours later. When he died, about 12 hours later, they estimated his age about approximately 120 and his vessel, which was state of the art, had deteriorated due to age.

To date, no transmission has ever been sent out by the Manticore. According to what research can be safely done at a distance, there is a massive emision of chronoplast particles. Time displacement particles", she finished for the benefit of those who didn't know what chronoplast particles were.

Once Joat had finished, Lauralin took a few moments to absorb what she had said and then finally spoke, though not to anyone in particular. "Our enemy does not anticipate where we will be, she is remembering. That is how her traps and strikes are so precise. That is what Shandaril meant. 'You cannot do this yourself.' I had assumed she meant alone, but she did not. She meant that I should not be here at all. Everything I experience feeds the memory of our enemy. In a very real way, I AM your enemy. She is myself, but from some future time, after some sort of great suffering", she finished in soft and sad voice.

"Whoa", Alvec said. Suddenly, though his anger and suspicion had been focused against the Queen only a short time before, his natural need to support and protect a woman came forward, "You can't blame yourself for this. You ARE on our side. Your not responsible for what WILL happen."

Lauralin sighed, "But neither can I be here. Or have knowledge of what happens from now on. Anything I come to know will be one more weapon to be used against all of you."

((OOC: Sorry it took so long. Whichever genius decided I should get four assignments in a week should be shot.))

Joat’s assessment was absolutely right; the Faded Fortunes was not the least bit happy about the previous transmission forcing it’s way onto their screens. This whole mess was spiralling out of control, and from what Joat was telling them, it seemed like it was only going to get worse. Initially, it seemed like a good thing, since this so-called ‘Manticore rift’ involved neither a rift, nor a manticore, a term which the Mind was vaguely familiar with through their English translation database.

However, as Joat continued her explanation, the more the Mind found itself wishing that it was some form of rift. It sounded like a region to avoid at all costs, preferably through collapsing the star and watching the whole mess tumble into a black hole. It had to assume, however, that either that wasn’t a course the Central leaders wanted to take, or that they couldn’t bring it about. The Mind was also of the opinion that it was the latter reason.

“They’re accelerating the passage of time?” stated Reid, in a half question. “Is that even possible?”
“Remember what we saw before,” pointed out Jann, “We altered history. I’d have to say it was possible, even though I still think it’s an insanely bad idea to mess with time.”
“Jann’s got a point,” added Kane, “Just because we can’t and won’t manipulate time, doesn’t mean that the same applies to others.”

As Joat finished talking, the artificial gravity on the corvette came back online, the destroyed power regulator having been replaced. So as not to give everyone on board a nasty shock, the Mind slowly dialled the strength of the field up to it’s normal level over the course of fifteen seconds, giving people plenty of time to adjust their position and prepare for the transition.

Kane, having been ‘sitting’ on the ceiling, received the greatest effect from the return of gravity, but took it in his own way, letting it gradually pull him downwards, still inverted, and extended his body so that, when the gravity had returned to normal, he was in a handstand. He then let his lack of balance bring him to the deck, then stood up and brushed himself off with a grin.

At the same time, Andie made sure that both she and Tailchaser ended up on their feet through subtle movements of her body. Once they were standing on the deck once again, Andie did not stop her singing immediately, instead finishing the verse then slowly letting go her grip on the other. “Forgive me,” she said to Tailchaser, then walked over to inspect the data that Joat had sent them.

After Lauralin revealed what was apparently going on, Valero’s reaction was immediate.
“Right. Onto a shuttle with you then,” she declared. She carried on speaking, but she was taking no chances now that she knew anything Lauralin knew could come back to haunt them. She stopped her neural thread’s automatic translation of her words into English, switching back to her native Indoan Common. “Kane, please escort the Queen down to the starboard hangar. Jann, would you be willing to be her pilot?”

Both Indoans responded in the affirmative, so Valero continued. “Okay then. I’ll assign you a co-pilot and a crew chief, since I can’t spare you an avatar. Fade, please inform the Baroness that she is free to stay here or go with Lauralin as she chooses, and ask Joat if they have any plans.”

“Baroness, you may remain here if you wish, or you can go with the Queen on the shuttle,” the Mind announced, speaking in English. It also transmitted Valero’s inquiry to the WYAL, that in English as well, since Lauralin could not hear what was said, and deactivated the open circuit that would allow the bridge crew to hear the reply, for the same reason.

Though her face filled with sorrow and pain, Lauralin nodded, knowing it was the best course of action. Her thoughts turned inward, her mind struggling against the darkness that threatened her as it did every time she felt that she had failed. Her depression over this situation threatened to be even worse, since it was her who was responsible, in a way, for what had happened and what was happening now.

****

"Plans?" Joat asked, "Yeah I have plans. I intend to go out there and fix my ship before anything else happens. Beyond that I intend to find this future Queen version and plant my foot up her ass for endangering the people on my ship and damaging it." With that she left the command deck again and grabbed replacement plating and a torch, then moved to the airlock.

Alvec waited for Joat to leave before he shook his head. "Solid planning", he said, "She should have gone into the military intel division, that's about the extent of the planning they come up with."

****

Tailchaser looked at the Colonel and then at the Queen. She waited until Laura was out of earshot and then a bit longer just to make sure.

"No stay", she sighed. "No like out here. No mean intent upon others. Prefer ground, trees.

But advice. Umm", her brow crinkled as she fought for the words in the language she was only just learning. "Four things know", she said, pointed at the Colonel indicating that the Colonel should know these things. "One, common. She", she said, gesturing vaguely out toward space indicating the 'other' Queen, "older. Know more. Intellect. Wisdom. Greater than now.

Rest may not know", and again she pointed to the Colonel. She wiggled her fingers, "spellflingers. Natural spellflingers like Queen. Get stronger in time. Same true of Deathwalkers", she said, making a grimace and sticking two claws down indicating fangs for vampires. "They gain strength in time. Last, mental strength", she said hesitating a moment, "not magic, but power like, only from mind", she continued, "also get stronger in time.

Should", she stopped, thinking again, struggling with the words, "should .... gathers others for the hunt", she said, using the catfolk means of expressing help.

"Franfir", Tail said, butchering Ferranifer's name, "Queen's .. umm..", she stopped, sighing and growling slightly in frustration. "Elder", she said, "give counsel to Queen. Should speak to. Can advise. Franfir older. Known to catfolk of generations past. Speak, yes?" she asked to see if her broken common would be understood.

((OOC: Okay, English language dialogue is in blue. The rest is in Indoan Common.))

“Thank you,” accepted Andie, “We’ll bear that in mind,” she told Tailchaser.

“Jann, a slight change to your orders,” spoke Valero, “Take the Queen and Baroness back to their homeworld, and ask this advisor for her help. We may need her. Fade, kick the XO out from whichever hole he’s hiding in and send him along too. Requests like this always sound better if they come from a higher rank.”

“Lieutenant, I believe that the Baroness meant Ferranifer,” added the Mind, “You’ve met her in the past. I’m starting to think I should spare you an avatar too. Oh, take Anderaleigh. I’m sure that Llyndanila can cope with the crew for a few hours.”

“Please, follow us,” Andie said to Tailchaser, “We’ll take you to the hangar. Unless you have anything else to add?”

Jann and Andie led Tailchaser off the bridge after getting an answer, aiming to catch up with Kane and Lauralin in the hangar bay, along with the assigned crew and the XO. After they had gone, Valero and the Mind began discussing the situation.

“She’s right, you know,” pointed out Valero, “We would be wise to get reinforcements of some kind. Even though we’ve no idea what we’re going to do, a little more firepower couldn’t hurt. Be it ours, theirs or someone else entirely, so long as someone trusts them.”

“I concur,” replied the Mind, “However, for the moment, we must wait for the repairs to the WYAL to be completed. This gives us a period of time best used to plan our course of action. From what Captain Simeon-Happ’s information about this place shows though, I’m not sure any amount of reinforcements would suffice. Of course, it all depends on precisely what we decide to do.”

“Wait a minute… If this supposed future-Lauralin was trying to kill the past-Lauralin, wouldn’t that mean that future-Lauralin doesn’t exist, and therefore can’t kill past-Lauralin,” mused Valero, “And that would cause a time paradox. Of course, there’s one theory that says no matter how hard you try, you can’t alter the course of history, which would suggest that past-Lauralin can’t die until she becomes future-Lauralin, so she’s got nothing to worry about…” She trailed off. “Temporal interactions make my head hurt. Why can’t we have a nice simple encounter with pirates?”
****

“You know, I think the Fortunes was after something a little more detailed than that,” Fayalin said to Alvec after Joat had left. “With her plan in it current, rather vague and slightly useless form, it doesn’t actually help.” She glanced sideways at him with a slight smile. “As you know perfectly well, we need a detailed plan of action of what to do from this point on. Otherwise, if our target is everything you say it is, we have a whelk’s chance in a supernova of succeeding.”

Lauralin was silent, her head bowed as she made her way to the hanger deck. Part of her mind fought for a reason to stay and help, while her intellect argued against it. She didn't even notice that they had reached the shuttle until she mistepped on the upward slope of the ramp and stumbled, then looked around quickly, her haunted eyes moving away from the those of the Indoan's with her in embarrasment.

Tail shook her head, not having anything further that she could add, then she moved to follow the others to hanger and the shuttle therein.

Alvec nodded, "Don't worry", he replied, "once her mind is clear of what she must do right now, she'll come up with something. Of course, the question then is, will we like what she comes up with? She doesn't like her ship being damaged and likes having the people on her ship hurt even less."

Joat had secured the metal to work bot, activated it's magnetic tracks and sent it out. She followed, her suit having several magnetic bars placed through it to allow her to hug the hull and move herself along.

By the time Jann, Andie and Tailchaser reached the shuttle, the other Indoans summoned by the Mind were already there. The flight crew, a pair of Second Lieutenants named Spinnet and Kinnear, were in the cockpit pre-flighting the shuttle for departure, while the XO, one Lt. Colonel MacIntyre, was slumped in a seat in the main compartment doing his best to fall asleep, paying no attention at all to their alien guests. Andie retrieved Lauralin’s sword from where it had been stored earlier, made sure that both Lauralin and Tailchaser were okay, then found herself a seat. Jann went straight for the cockpit, rapidly helped the other two to finish the pre-flight checks then started the engines. Spinnet went back into the main compartment to ensure everything was strapped down, then closed the rear hatch.

“Fortunes Flight Control, shuttle Salequin requests permission for departure,” Jann said over the comm.

“Salequin, you are clear to depart. Good luck,” replied the Mind.

Jann made the final few checks before they departed, then spoke over the internal intercom.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jann Ferrante; I’ll be your pilot this afternoon. We thank you for flying Indoan Air and would like to remind you that naval regulations have designated this an alcohol-free Condor shuttle. For those of you in our Fortune frequent flyer program, you’ll be earning a hundred free credits this afternoon. And, as always, the air sickness bags are located in the seat back in front of you.” He exchanged a grin with his co-pilot as he switched off the intercom.

In the main compartment, both Andie and MacIntyre sighed at the comical antics of the pilots, both knowing they should have seen it coming when they put Ferrante and Kinnear together. The pair always cracked slightly inappropriate jokes whenever they worked together. It was clear that the announcement had been in jest, since only a couple of the seats had another seat in front of them, and there was no seat back pocket.

“All systems green, Jann,” reported Alicia Kinnear a second later.

“Let’s go then,” replied Jann, “You can take this one if you want. I’ve flown quite a bit recently,” he offered.

“Thanks, Jann,” she said gratefully, and flashed him a smile. She took the controls, lifting the shuttle off the deck and moving slowly out of the hangar before accelerating smoothly away from the corvette, showing every bit as much skill as the senior pilot. She took her time setting up the jump plot, since they weren’t in any rush, then engaged the drive.

“It’ll take about ten minutes for us to reach our destination,” declared Jann over the intercom after they had jumped.
****

“So long as she doesn’t lose her head about this, and keeps things sensible, then we’ll be fine,” replied Fayalin. “Going after revenge won’t do anything but harm, however.” She fiddled idly with the loose strands of hair that fell across her face, knowing there wasn’t a lot she could do at this point.

Tailchaser looked around her seeking the bag in question. "Ummm .... where bag?" Tail asked, looking a bit desperate at that moment.

Lauralin sat staring at nothing, not even having noticed the sword that Andie had with her. Occasionally she would mutter, as though either asking no one something or answering. Of course no one could see the piece of the warrior's soul who had been lodged in her after she had pulled him from the jaws of the soul devourer some years ago. Though he could manifest himself he only did so during times of crisis.

Ten minutes later, once they reached Midgaard system, they were greeted by a very tired looking Commander Ivanova.

"Indoan shuttle, this is Ivanova. Please vector to the following route for planetary entry. You'll be landing behind the mansion of the Queen. I hope you have her on board. I was told to route you or Nancia to that location should either of you arrive ..."

"Commander, the Palaquin is insisting on an explanation for the delay, what should I tell him?", asked a young man behind her at one of the monitoring stations.

"Tell him he can shove it up his drive bell", she said, turning her head to look at the him. "But tell him that in a pleasant and professional fashion."

She then turned back to her console. "Anyway, here is your vector. Ground has no controls to bring you in. From what I understand, that should make you happy."

********
"Revenge?" Alvec asked, watching her playing with her hair for a moment before suddenly remembering why he had come forward and turning to monitor Joat and the surrounding area.

"Oh, she'll want revenge alright. But don't worry about that. Joat has a survival instinct like no one I've ever seen, and much as she hates to admit it, she cares about those on her ship."

“They’re just playing around,” revealed Andie softly after seeing Tailchaser start to hunt for the fictitious air-sickness bag. “None of what he just said was true. It’s something we’ve come to expect from them. On their own, they’re both nice, sensible people,” she continued, “But put them together and they just start bouncing things off each other. We like to put them together. It keeps the fun in life.”

As Andie spoke, MacIntyre regarded Tailchaser through one half-lidded eye from his reclined position, and smiled when the avatar said the last sentence. It was perfectly true; both had their own crews, and only random chance had brought them together when they had been the only pilots available for a flight. Ever since then, they were always trying to work together, and for the most part they were allowed to, since they worked well as a team. There were also rumours that the pair were romantically involved, but no-one had any prove.
---

When they arrived over Midgaard and were contacted by Ivanova, it was Jann who replied, fulfilling his current role as co-pilot, as Kinnear was supposedly occupied with flying the shuttle. In truth, one pilot was perfectly capable of handling all the aspects of flying the craft, even under fast-paced conditions like combat, but some habits were hard to break, and this was a good one to be stuck in.

“That’s affirmative. Vector received,” he replied.

After Ivanova mentioned the complete lack of traffic control, Kinnear couldn’t help but voice her opinion.
“Oh, you have no idea,” she replied happily. She had heard about the system Central used from Jann, and had expressed her distaste over it. There was nothing worse for a pilot than to have to surrender control of their craft to someone else.

Without wasting time, but still at a leisurely pace, she took the shuttle down through the atmosphere towards the coordinates they had been given. The final part of her approach was carried out at relatively low altitude, a bare few hundred metres above the ground, mostly for her personal enjoyment as the pilot. As they reached the mansion, she brought the Condor into land in the largest space she could find, executing a perfect textbook landing.

Jann left her to shut the craft down and headed back into the main compartment and motioned for Spinnet to open the rear hatch.
“And here we are,” he announced, “Back on solid ground,” he told Tailchaser with a grin.

MacIntyre stood up, yawned hugely, stretched, then walked over to the hatch and looked out at their surroundings, suddenly appearing to be fully awake. Andie went to Lauralin, she seemed so lost in her own thoughts that she probably hadn’t noticed they had arrived. Spinnet opened a storage locker near the rear of the shuttle and removed a compact carbine, to defend the craft against hostiles. He knew that he almost certainly wasn’t going to need it, but it was in accordance with regulations, even though that was one that frequently got ignored because they didn’t want to spare the personnel.

As they flew in they would see commuter rails stretching from outside the city and into the distance. Mainly mass transit was used, since Lauralin didn't allow vehicle, mass transit or personal, on the city streets. The city itself was made entirely of crystal, which fractured the suns rays into rainbow hues. Though it look fragile, nothing short of anti-matter or atomic blast could damage the magically enhanced crystaline structures.

The landing pad was made of duracrete, laid by Central worlds as a landing platform for Nancia, who was on loan to Dragonsreach until they could get ships of thier own. Though, normally, Central didn't interfere with the evolution of a planet, they felt that it was alright in this case, since they had already been in contact with another government, who had given them technology already, including a rather sophisticated computer for the Queen's use.

As they came in close over the mansion a figure could be seen on it's roof, moving across it and along gables with the grace and speed of a mountain goat. It disappeared inside as they came in for thier landing.

Tailchaser smiled toothily and curtseyed quickly before moving onto solid ground, happy to be back on firm earth.

Lauralin jumped slightly as Andie neared her and looked up, her eyes unfocused for a fill minute before they truly locked onto Andie and then looked around. She sighed and then stood up, "And so my failure is now complete", she stated and then noticed her sword and reached out to take it. "Thank you for taking such good care of it. I do appreciate it."

Now, coming around the front of the mansion and heading toward the ship were four people. One was Brook, the barbarian woman being the tallest of them at almost 2 meters. Baghtru strode beside her in his black armor. In front of them, her hands folded in front of her was Ferranifer, resplendent in her full gown, while behind them, approximately one and half meters in height and the shortest of them, was a rather lovely looking woman with brown hair and eyes, and leather armor covering her body. In her hands was a rune carved bow, an arrow knocked, though pointed down and not drawn. Her furtive actions reminded one of an animal that was spooked by something it had never seen but needed to approach.

Jann and MacIntyre followed Tailchaser down the shuttle’s ramp, both officers wearing the small black filter masks over their nose and mouth. The pilot recognised three of the four members of their ‘welcoming committee’, but he recalled that none of them would know him. At least, he didn’t think they would. Behind them, Spinnet walked down the ramp and sat down on the edge of it, leaning back against the shuttle’s hull and leaving plenty of space for others to walk past him. The carbine in his hands rested on his knee, and he kept an eye on the woman holding a bow.

Andie gave Lauralin a puzzled look as she waited for the woman.
“What failure?” she asked, “You can’t blame yourself for what is happening, if that’s what you mean. You don’t know anything about the circumstances that will bring this about. And the future is not predetermined. Just because this is happening now doesn’t mean that it has to happen.”

“So, Ferrante, who are we looking at here?” asked MacIntyre quietly. “Which one do I address?”

“Well sir, the tall woman is Brook, the man in armour is Baghtru; they’re bodyguard-type figures,” replied Jann, equally quietly, “The woman in front of them is Ferranifer; the one we need to talk to. And I don’t know who the other woman is; I’ve never seen her before.”

“So Ferranifer is the senior figure there?” clarified MacIntyre, then after getting a nod continued, “Good. Wouldn’t want to make a fool of myself by addressing a bodyguard.”

“Brook and Baghtru aren’t exactly your standard bodyguards; they protect the Queen, but that’s as far as the similarity goes really,” corrected Jann, “So it wouldn’t make too much difference here.”

The two officers walked towards the group, stopping a few metres in front of them. MacIntyre bowed his head in greeting, then introduced himself.
“Lieutenant-Colonel John MacIntyre, Indoan Navy. Second-in-command of the INV Faded Fortunes,” he announced.

Lauralin retired her sword and shook her head. "I should be helping. Somehow. Though I know not how. But I should be doing something." She had walked to the ramp and down it as she spoke.

Of the four that approached, only Ferranifer and the archeress stopped, while Baghtru and Brook continued toward the ramp.

"Oh that's alright. I'll greet our guests rather than just ignoring them, that would be rude", Ferranifer said to Baghtru's and Brook's backs as they continued. She then looked at MacIntyre and spread her hands in a helpless gesture, "Young people", she said. Which seemed odd, since Brook looked to be in her early thirties while Ferranifer looked to be in her early twenties and even more odd considering Tailchaser's comment about Ferranifer being remembered for generations.

"The", and she hesitated a moment looking past him before looking back and seeming to force the words out, "Gentleman and Lady who passed you, are Baghtru Uth-Matar and Brook Cartmill. Commander of the Mansion guard and Captain of the city's law enforcement respectively. This", she said gesturing to the short woman beside her, who was obviously a full blooded elf, "is Rayanna Moonbeam. Formerly of the Silent Leaf of the Elven lands and now second in command of the Mansion's guard. And I", she continued, placing a hand over her heart and lifting her dress a fraction of an inch in a shallow curtsey, "am Ferranifer Melbourne. The Queen's advisor. And I am most honored to meet you."

As Baghtru and Brook rounded the shuttle and looked at Laura decending the ramp, both realized that something was wrong and they looked at each other with knowing glances. Neither bothered to address the issue of her leaving without them and instead simply stood waiting for her.

"Hey Laur", Baghtru said, raising his visor to reveal red eyes, dark skin and upthrusting canines.

Lauralin smiled saddely and reached out to gently place a hand each on each of thier arms.

"So what gives", Brook asked gruffly, "you look like someone ate your dog."

Lauralin chuckled at thier decidedly unroyal welcomes and shook her head. Both had adventured with her before she had become Queen and both had the luxury of shared dangers. "I shall tell you, let us inside."

They both nodded and took up positions behind and to one side of her, as though they had always been there, as lauralin turned to Andie. "Of course, if you wish, you are welcome to stay and rest."

********

Joat finished the repair to the hull and moved inside to fix the linkage to the drive engines. Once she was inside Alvec sighed, feeling better about things.

((OOC: I'm alive! My assignments are done, and now it's Easter break. Yay!))

“Yes…” agreed MacIntyre uncertainly. To a human, he looked like he was in his early-thirties, which actually meant he was in his early forties, and was the eldest of the Indoan group by a fair margin. In fact, he was actually the oldest member of the crew of the Faded Fortunes; Valero having risen much faster through the ranks than he had, a fact which had resulted in many light-hearted jibes between the two.
“The honour is mine. Unfortunately, our visit is tainted by bad news. We must speak with you about a matter of great importance,” he announced, cutting to the chase, “And for the safety of everyone involved, your Queen cannot be present or know anything about what is discussed.”

“As much as we would love to stay, I fear we do not have the time to waste,” replied Andie apologetically. “Perhaps when all this is over, we can return. While I do not know about the others, I would love to see your world.” With that, she bowed her head briefly, then went to join her comrades in talking to Ferranifer. “I am ship’s avatar Anderaleigh. I represent the ship-Mind of the INV Faded Fortunes. As Colonel MacIntyre has said, we need your counsel.”

Jann remained silent as MacIntyre and Andie spoke to Ferranifer. This was beyond his ability to deal with, and the only reason he had followed the XO was to identify the people that they needed to talk to. Andie had the greater experience with these people, as she also had the knowledge of the Faded Fortunes, and the knowledge shared by the Forgaies. He thought about returning to the shuttle to get out of the way, but realised that it would be better to wait for MacIntyre to dismiss him.

(OOC - Woo Hoo!! Glad to have you back. I hope things went well.)

Ferranifer's eyes narrowed, seemingly far older than her young face would allow. She remained silent even after Andie presented herself until Lauralin arrived with Brook and Baghtru.

"I assume there are things to be done", Lauralin said, looking at Ferranifer.

"There are", she said, still looking at MacIntyre. Then she looked at Lauralin and smiled. "But first you should see Chrissy. She has been afraid that you won't return. What with Arleena's death and all."

Laura stood stock still, just looking at Ferranifer.

"I'm sorry", Ferranifer said, "there just wouldn't have been an easy way to put it."

Lauralin nodded, "I'll go see her now. We'll get to things tomorrow", she said, embracing Ferranifer who returned her embrace warmly. Laura then headed to the mansion and Ferranifer stood, looking at MacIntyre again silently until Lauralin was not only hout of human hearing range, but the range of hearing that Ferranifer knew she had.

"Now", Ferranifer said, her voice cold as an arctic wind and as powerful, "what is it that cannot be discussed in front of my Queen?"

********
Joat waited until the area was repressurized and then entered, checking the damage again and making a mental list of what she would need. She then went to one of the holds and got the components she needed and then returned to begin the repairs.

The two Indoans waited even longer before speaking, leaving a further ten seconds after Ferranifer spoke; making absolutely sure they wouldn’t be overheard. Even then, they spoke in slightly reduced tones, though that may have been due to the sombre nature of their news.

“You may not have heard, but your cruise ship did not finish it’s maiden journey in one piece,” started Andie bluntly. “In our examination of the wreck, we found that the disaster had been caused deliberately, or more accurately; it was caused accidentally by someone trying to sabotage or hijack the vessel.” She paused, giving a little time for that to sink in. “We also detected a trace that signified that the saboteur had escaped the catastrophe, and after we had determined that their were no survivors, and recalibrated some equipment to enable us to detect the trace more easily, we set off in pursuit, hoping to find some answers once we had caught the culprit.”

“However, after we had made a few hops between systems in pursuit of this trail,” continued MacIntyre, “we, or rather the Central vessel that was actually doing the tracking, was attacked, by ships that possessed incredible firepower for their size. They retreated upon our arrival, having caused severe damage to the Central vessel. We managed to repair the damage to the extent that the ship was functional again, and continued.”

“After our next jump, we were attacked again,” said Andie, taking up the account again, “This time in greater numbers, and with greater determination. We managed to emerge victorious, but not without the Central vessel suffering considerable damage again. Shortly after that, we received a communication from the source of these attacks. This person threatened to destroy your queen, and possibly us and your people as well.” She stopped, leaving the obvious question hanging in the air, waiting to be asked.

Ferranifer listened quietly, but intently to the relation of the events. She made a gesture and Rayanna crouched, knowing that the discussion may be long or short, but keeping the bow clear in case.

"I was made aware of the incident", Ferranifer replied, her voice cool. "I do hope that the Central Worlds vessel is alright, and your people as well." She was silent a moment before turning, "And the source of this terror? Who is it that needs to be sought for these terrible attacks?"

Andie took a deep breath, knowing how what she was about to tell Ferranifer would sound, and hoping that these people were slightly more accustomed to this kind of thing than the Indoans were.
“Her royal highness, Queen Lauralin Silverlief,” she declared quietly. Before either of the natives could speak, she continued. “Now, I should explain. Our foe is Lauralin as she is some time in the future, though how she got back to this time period is anybody’s guess.”

There was a pause as Andie bounced an idea around inside her head, then she spoke to Jann.
“Get on the comm and suggest to Fortunes that she ask Simeon and any other Central Minds they can contact if they have any idea how this might have happened.” The avatar’s referral to the shell-people as ‘Minds’ was not a slip, it was an honouring; even though the gap between the Indoans’ AI and the organic shell people was immense, the Indoans respected them enough to put them on the same level.

Jann looked to MacIntyre briefly, just to get confirmation from the senior officer.
“Get to it, Captain,” ordered MacIntyre urgently, “We don’t know how much time we have, and,” his voice dropped conspiratorially and took on a slightly humorous tone, “she’s scary when she gets angry. Best not to keep her waiting.” The pilot smiled at the comment and saluted crisply, before walking briskly back to the shuttle to make the transmission.

“The Baroness Tailchaser suggested we ask for your counsel in this matter, and also warned us that the Lauralin we now face is almost certainly far more powerful than the one we know; something which you probably know more about,” stated Andie, returning her attention to Ferranifer, “And because of the nature of this… unique problem, the Queen can never be allowed to become aware of anything that transpires here, as it will only hinder our ability to stop her future self.”
****

Upon receipt of Jann’s message, the Faded Fortunes immediately agreed with the idea and fired off a message to Simeon.
{Simeon, this is the Fortunes. We have a serious problem, one that you might find rather interesting. I’ve attached the data we have on the situation, but that’s not why I contacted you. You, as a people, have had marginally more experience with this kind of thing than we have that I know about, so I’d like you to try and find out how this happened. How did the Queen manage to get herself transported back in time? Of course, anything you can summon up to help with the actual situation at hand would be a great help too, but one of my avatars thinks this might help, and I agree with her. [files attached: FF-627WK-8291.arc, FF-627WK-8297.arc & FF-627WK-8301.arc]}
****

A few minutes after Joat started the internal repairs, Fayalin stood and went through to the engine room.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, “I know I’ve only got one hand at the moment, but that hand does belong to an avatar, so maybe I can be of use.”

Ferranifer seemed unphased by this revelation and only stood watching. Rayanna's eyes on the other hand grew wide and she rose from her crouch in anger at the accusation, but Ferranifer was faster, far faster than the nimble elf and far stronger as well. The hand that clamped on Rayanna's arm was as unyielding as steel.

"NAYA!" Ferrinefer told her firmly. ('No' from a superior to an underling.)

"Quesan sharar sulan" Rayanna replied. (They seek to destroy her soul.)

Ferranifer shook her head, "Quema common asmono." (You speak common Now.)

Rayanna huffed. She did not go back to her language but neither did she speak.

"They do not seek to shatter her honor", honor and the soul seeming to be one in the same to a member of the Silent Leaf. "They may speak the truth", Ferranifer told her.

Rayanna's jaw dropped as she stared in Ferranifer in astonishment.

Ferranifer's grip loosened, but she did not let go. "Most of our kind die early, before we learn to trick the mortals. The elders, however, sometimes allow themselves to die in time, because though the world changes, we don't and it gets harder and harder to explain this. Some, however, cling to life and grow mad over time as the changes wrought upon the world grow beyond even our comprehension. I must admit, I had thought the Queen would survive this."

She turned to Andie, "I'd like to see this transmission."

********

Joat peeked out from the crawl space she had managed to get into. "Actually, yeah. When I tell you, do a hard shut down of the engines. I'm hoping to get the link in before they cool, so restarting them won't be an issue. If you can shut them down and bring them it'll save me having to crawl in and back out again and save time."

********

Simeon sent an acknowledgement and informed Channa, then sent a message to the shellpeople managers and brain ships he could reach, requesting all information. He then sent a priority one message to CenSec (Central Worlds Security Division) for any information they might have and waited for the replys to come back. He mulled over what he knew of the Manticore and this newest revelation, gleefully storing the knowledge away with so much other information he had gathered, being a 'knowlodge whore' as Channa called him. But he was also solemn. He had rathered like these simple people, but the Queen seemed alot more mentally agile than most backwater leaders.

Andie had half expected a reaction like that the elf woman displayed and, as she had thought, it had not come from Ferranifer. The Indoans found it difficult to accept what appeared to be happening, and it had to be worse when the accused was one of your own. The less advanced natives had to be even more sceptical, since the Indoans at least knew that time travel was theoretically possible, just not really advisable.

“Believe me, I wish this was anything but the truth,” she stated, after Ferranifer switched back to their shared language. “I wish this was nothing more than a joke, and that there was nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, that is not the case.”

She nodded when Ferranifer asked to see the transmission. “Of course. Follow me, please,” she requested, walking back towards the shuttle ramp. “We can show you both the transmission itself and footage from the bridge of our ship, showing your queen observing the transmission.” She stopped at the base of the ramp, while MacIntyre continued into the shuttle, “If you are still not convinced, there are some among you that can read minds, correct? Captain Ferrante was there. I’m sure he would not object. I would offer my own memory, but I doubt you would find anything there. I am an artificial entity,” she added for Rayanna’s benefit.

“Jann, get the Fortunes to send us the record of that transmission from the future queen, as well as the bridge security footage at that time,” instructed MacIntyre. The pilot quickly complied, and less than twenty seconds later he had both pieces of footage ready to display on command, the bridge footage compressed into a 2D video, rather than the 3D holographic it was recorded as, since the shuttle did not have a projection unit.
****

“I think I can manage that,” replied Fayalin with a smile. “What do I do?” she asked, not wanting to try and work it out herself like she had with the sensor systems.

Rayanna blinked at Andie uncomprehendingly.

"Golem", Ferranifer said, using the closest appriximation that Raya would understand.

"Ohhhh", Rayanna replied, reaching out a finger to poke at Andie lightly. "Good work. Strong magic."

"Indeed", Ferranifer replied, "but she's a bit different. She has a mind of her own, she doesn't just follow preset instructions, so be polite."

"See", Rayanna replied, looking around the ship now in wonder, "Apologies", she told Andie, before something else drew her attention and she began reaching out tentatively toward a control board.

"No touch", Ferranifer told her, "magic crystals. Dangerous to a non-initiate", she continued, still putting things in such a way that Raya could understand it.

"No touch", Rayanna replied, backing away but still looking around in awe.

Ferranifer nodded to MacIntyre, "Proceed, if you would be so kind."

********

"There's a panel between the engines. Open that, and punch in the following sequence. A76D3847EIF071. Password, Channamom. Yeah, okay, so I suck at passwords. Just give me a minute to finish up what I can do before we HAVE to shut down."

Kinnear had followed the natives back on board the shuttle; she had heard MacIntyre’s instructions to Jann, and wanted to see for herself what had sparked all this off. However, she was currently watching the elf woman in mild amusement, as she admired what, to the Indoans at least, was a fairly old shuttle. There was little space in the cockpit itself, barely enough for Andie and the two natives to stand while Jann and MacIntyre occupied the pilot seats, so Kinnear stood in the doorway behind them, craning her neck to see what was displayed.

MacIntyre motioned for Jann to play the two recordings, and the pilot played them back to back, commandeering the large multi-function display in the centre of the main control console for the purpose. The transmission from the future-Lauralin came first, followed by the bridge footage, with the sound coming through the shuttle’s comm system.
****

Fayalin laughed when she heard Joat’s comment about passwords. She moved over to the panel, opened it and carefully input the alphanumeric sequence and password, having no trouble remembering the random fourteen character sequence, unlike most humans or matrai. She held back from actually submitting the sequence to the computer, in case that was the command to shut down the engines.

“Okay,” she declared. “Should I submit it, or is that the command for the shut-down?”

"Oh", Joat replied from her crawlspace, "you can go ahead and enter it. It'll wait for a verbal yes or no to continue. I didn't put any other safety protocols on it because if someone can actually get into the WYAL then ain't nothing gonna stop them anyway. RIGHT ALVEC! Admire her posterior when I don't need you on the bridge."

Alvec grunted from the doorway when he heard his name and sighed. 'Don't need me on the bridge noway. Rand can handle it', he muttered as he made his way forward feeling sheepish about being caught when Joat couldn't even see him from the crawlspace.

********

Rayanna crouched and growled, sounding more like a lioness than a doe and looked around as the voices came across the comm.

"Ventriloquism", Ferranifer threw over her shoulder.

Raya stood up slowly, still mewling lightly and suddenly became enraptured by the screen as she gasped. "Portrait moves."

"Yes", Ferranifer replied, "strong magic."

"Aye. Strong", Raya said in awe.

As it played Raya leaned closer to the image of the future Lauralin. "Sad", she stated.

"Furious seems more like it, why sad?" Ferranifer asked.

"See it. No. Feel it. Sadness in a mask of anger."

Ferranifer considered the archeress' words as she watched the rest and then watched the bridge segment. Ferranifer focused on Lauralin's words, but Raya focused on something else as she turned to look at Andie and smiled, humming the tune to herself that Andie had sung for Tailchaser. "Mother", she said, pointing toward Andie, "Songs for the children. Help sleep."

Once it was done Ferranifer stepped back, her head bowed, deep in thought.

"Forgive me", she said at last, "it is wise to keep this discussion from her." She stepped further from the command cabin, thinking. "I don't think that I'd be a match for her. 200 years since that things arrival, a century of torture. I'm just over 400, she must be close or greater than that and her vampiric powers are already almost a match for mine. She was the first dark child that I ever created, thus most of my power is infused in her. In magic, she's probably stronger in that future self. I'm a wizardess. I have to study spells, sometimes weeks, sometimes years. She's a sorceress. Her power comes naturally. She only has to see it once and she can duplicate it. She's also a psionicist. My mental talents come from my vampiric nature. Her's are natural and she being trained."

Ferranifer hesitated another long moment before continuing. "You'll need help though. I would suggest taking three people with you. Rayanna. She's a sorceress in her own right, her power is simply focused in her Oath bow. I know you have powerful weapons, but I urge you not underestimate her ability. The second, presently in Highport, is the Princess Ariel. She is a member of the triad among her own people, one of the three most powerful psionicists. The third, and most difficult to convince I think, who is near the Skullkingdom border, is her father. He's a holy knight and an avatar of his god, his powers were a match for Arleena, who was almost a thousand years old. Such is my advice."

Andie coughed slightly and blushed at Rayanna’s comment.
“Yes, well, that was only because the Baroness was having trouble dealing with the sudden lack of a down,” she explained, slightly embarrassed that it had been brought up. She was also mildly surprised that the fact they were all floating had not prompted a comment from the elf.

“Oh, we know we need help,” agreed MacIntyre, standing up and coming through to the main cabin. “The war we helped fight showed us that. I saw some of the combat logs. Things that can suffer being blown apart, then just come back together and keep going? We can’t deal with things from your world too well, though I imagine annihilation probably still works.”

“Indeed. We have given up assuming that anything we can do is enough when dealing with a magical foe,” confirmed Andie. She grimaced at the thought of trying to convince Lauralin’s father to help them; it was probably the last thing in the universe that he wanted to do. And it wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation to have. She would have to be the one to make the request, and she would have to show the King everything they had. He would then know why they had come, and while it wouldn’t actually change anything, at least she wouldn’t have to physically say they wanted him to help kill his daughter.

“Thank you for your counsel,” Andie told Ferranifer respectfully. “I assume you will stay here, and the task of convincing the Queen’s father is solely up to us.” She was already thinking about how they might go about the task that lay ahead of them. While the elimination of Lauralin had to be carried out by the mages, there was also the question of how they would get close enough to do so. That, she suspected, would be up to the Indoans and Joat, along with whatever Central help they could get.
****

Fayalin started guiltily when Joat reprimanded Alvec and told him to get to the bridge, blushing again, though fortunately he couldn’t see it since she was facing away from him. She hadn’t noticed his presence this time, and realised she hadn’t exactly been making it difficult for him to watch her. She couldn’t work out why she hadn’t noticed either; she should have heard him follow her back, and her situational awareness was normally excellent, as evidenced by her realisation on the previous occasion.

“Understood,” she acknowledged, and completed the entry. “Anything else?”

"Lack of down", Raya said nodding, "Catfolk no like lack of down. Ancient tower of magi near home has lack of down. Play there as child. Fun place. But catfolk", she shook her head, "no like."

As MacIntyre stood and moved to the back, Rayanna tensed, watching him warily. "They won't hurt you", Ferranifer told her, "they're here to help."

"No hurt. Help", Raya replied, still watching him as he moved with the caution of an animal.

Ferranifer spread her hands toward Andie, "I would go if I could, but Laura suffered a shock. Once she works through that she'll want to go resolve the problem. It's in her nature. I'll need to be here to stop her, she'll listen to me."

She headed toward the ramp, followed closely by Rayanna. "No. You need to stay here and help them."

Raya stood for a moment, just staring. When Ferranifer turned to go she took another tentative step to follow, but stopped at backward glance from the Queen's advisor. Finally Ferranifer left and Raya turned, glancing at everyone. She backed up, placing her back to a wall and sliding down into a ready crouch, looking about warily.

********

"Nope. That ... will ... do it. I'm almost done. Sometimes I wish I were twelve again, these places are easier to get in and out of at that age", came Joat's hollow echoing reply from the crawlspace. "Give it the okay and I'll make the final connection. When I say, start em up again. Same sequence you used to shut them down."

As Ferranifer left the shuttle, MacIntyre called out instructions.
“Ferrante, Kinnear, start her up. No point wasting time,” he ordered, “Spinnet, get up here. We’re leaving,” he called loudly to the loadmaster sat guard on the ramp. “And don’t worry,” he added for the elf’s benefit, “We’re not going to bite you.”

Andie rolled her eyes at MacIntyre’s rather useless effort to reassure Rayanna, and moved over to her, sitting down on the deck next to her. “Colonel MacIntyre is right, you know,” she began, as Spinnet came up the ramp into the shuttle. “There really is nothing to worry about.” There was a muted whine from overheard, as the pilots initiated the engine ignition sequence. “You have nothing to fear from us, you’re perfectly safe.” Spinnet hit the panel to close the rear hatch, which sealed just as the engine noise became a muffled roar. “We’re just like you really. Yes, we have all this,” she waved her hand at the shuttle’s interior, “but you have things we don’t understand as well. And underneath it all, we’re the same.”

MacIntyre sat back in the same seat he had occupied on the way to Midgaard, and again leant back in it. A few seconds later, Jann spoke up from the cockpit, informing them that they were ready to leave.
“We’re all ready here, sir,” he announced.
“Understood,” replied MacIntyre. “Get on the comm to that station, and ask them if they can give us a location on those two people. Beyond what we already have, obviously. I don’t feel like searching an entire city for one person.”

After acknowledging the suggestion, Jann activated the comm.
“Midgaard Station, this is shuttle Salequin. On the advice of the Queen’s advisor, Ferranifer, we would like to speak with the Princess Ariel. Could you let her know we’re coming, and give us a vector to the nearest suitable landing area? We don’t have to stay on the ground if necessary; just somewhere big enough for me to touch dirt and drop off those involved, then come back again to pick them up at a later time,” he transmitted.
****

Fayalin hesitated at the instruction, recalling Joat’s earlier statement.
“You said it was a verbal command,” she replied, “What do I say?” She felt slightly stupid asking the question, but couldn’t see any physical control to shut down the engines, so she was forced to ask. She was happy with re-entering the code sequence for the restart, but assumed there was another verbal command for that as well.

Rayanna's eyes narrowed at MacIntyre's words. She watched as Andie moved over, still alert, but seemingly more comfortable with the motherly singing golem of intellect. She looked up as the muted whine began and then looked back to Andie, her eyes still shifting from time to time as the activety increased around her. Her eyes widened as the hatch began to close and she gasped as the muffled roar from the engines rose. "What no understand?" Rayanna asked, reaching for anything to stifle her fear.

"Salequin, moon base, this is Commander Ivanova. Sending co-ordinates for Highport spaceport. You'll be able to land. I'll inform the Princess so she can meet you there. Ivanova out."

****

"Like I said, I ain't much for passwords. Yes or no, you want yes", came Joat's hollow sounding voice from the crawlspace. "Next time we get into a mess like this I'll try and have it more complicated", she said with a laugh in her voice.