The current Day is 032.

The intrepid crew of Gypsy Moth spent a day and a half getting Suzain fueled, powered up, and slaved to Gypsy Moth’s helm and navigation.  From there you were directed to proceed not back to Box 2, but to the Espiaux system proper.  You were not allowed into orbit around either of the two main worlds of the system, Espiaux or Savigny, but rather to the tiny, airless moonlet Lavillete.

A meteor scarred, tide-locked worldlet, fractured by the gravitational stress generated by the large nearby gas giant Chaumys, Lavillete serves two basic purposes.  The first is to house a SOEW (Solar Observation and Early Warning) station, which watches the system’s primary for early signs of solar flare activity.  Additionally, on its inner face, there is a military facility, which collects and stores sensor data from the cloud of sensor satellites the FRN has in orbit around Chaumys.  As most of the equipment at both outposts is automated, there is very little need for human presence.

You arrived over the moonlet two weeks ago, trailed by a Navy SDB, and have been circling the arid wasteland of Lavillete since.  Various specialist teams from Espiaux: xenology, decon, forensic, have been going over Suzain with a fine toothed comb.  Gypsy Moth has also been decontaminated in myriad ways, vacuum, light, radiation, chemicals, etc, “just to make sure”.  You have all been extensively de-briefed as well.

You are certainly close enough to Espiaux to have been receiving near real-time news and entertainment feeds, though Gypsy Moth has been under a transmission blackout order.  You have seen no reports about Suzain or xeno-contact.

Ultimately, the Trills have been declared sufficiently alien in their biochemistry to be incapable of transmitting disease to humans, or even of digesting carbon-oxygen based matter.  Similarly, for any Terran or near-Terran to try to consume plants or animals from the Trills methane-ammonia life system would be vaguely analogous to drinking ammonia bleach.  The debate as to whether the Trills possess animal or sapient intelligence is unresolved, as not enough is understood about their native environment, social patterns, and natural stimuli.

Following all the events of the last three weeks, this is what you have pieced together about what happened:

A party of two mission specialists, Dr. Roland Rypien and Dr. Tomir Sargant, with two Suzain crewmembers, Xavier Xey and Tara Taylor, acting as security went to retrieve an example of the largest plant-like creature found on the planet, some sort of plant/fungus mound.  They gathered the specimen and returned to Suzain without incident, though they encountered a group of Trills, that followed them back to the ship.

The Trills attacked the four person landing party as they were preparing to load a cargo container containing the plant specimen into the port aft cargo lock.  Despite several Trills being shot by Tara Taylor, a mob of 20-30 Trills overwhelmed the party and swarmed into the ship via the port cargo airlock.  They overtook mission medic, Laura Vipperman as she was fleeing from the cargo airlock into the port lab and killed her.  Having gained access to the port lab, they attacked Dr. Neil Ahrens there, killing him before he could escape.  The Trills in the lab succumbed to oxygen poisoning shortly thereafter.  Outside, the trills killed Dr. Rypien and crewmember Taylor, and overcame Dr. Tomir Sargant and second engineer Xavier Xey.  These two were dragged off by the surviving trills.

At lead scientist Dr. Talun Sargant’s insistence, a rescue mission was launched immediately.  It does not seem  mission commander Honit required much convincing to try to rescue Tomir Sargant and Xavier Xey.  Down six people already, four killed and two kidnapped,  mission commander Honit decided to take six of the remaining seven personnel on the rescue attempt, leaving only Claudette Eubanks to man the ship.

Video and audio logs of that day are replete with Dr. Talun Sargant’s repeated pleas, admonishments, and insistence for haste.  He clearly and forcefully argued repeatedly that time was the most important factor in saving his younger brother’s life.  Given the limits of vacc suit duration and the possibility of accidental or intentional rupture by the aliens, he may have had valid concerns.  As the ATV driver, Dr. Sargant drove very quickly to the location of Xey and Tomir Sargant, as indicated by their suit trackers.  They had apparently been taken into a trill burrow, so the rescue party dismounted.  Talun Sargant remained behind the wheel.  Aaron Asher climbed out through the top hatch to provide cover from the top of the ATV.  The others hadn’t gotten more than 20 meters from the ATV when the trills attacked again.

Engineer Geoffrey Igman went down quickly.  The rest of the rescue party fell back towards the ATV in good order, firing and throwing grenades.  Asher steadily provided cover fire from atop the ATV and Fiona Honit bought time for the others.  With numerous trills closing in, Steward/Gunner Terrence Juliard boosted team chemist Deidre Paquette up so she could scramble on to the ATV’s roof.  He was about to climb up as well, when the ATV jolted forward.

Despite the screams of Asher and Paquette to “stop” and “wait” and “they’re still back there”, the ATV rocketed forward, barely under control.  On the video, the vehicle appears to have swerved sharply to try to miss a rock outcropping.   It careened left, nearly throwing Deidre Paquette from the roof.  She managed to grab a handhold, but her lower torso and legs were crushed as the right side of the ten ton ATV slammed into the rocks.  Footage of Asher’s helmet cam shows he pulled Paquette back up on to the roof.  The last image of the rescue team as the ATV sped away is that of Fiona Honit being impaled from behind by a spear-like trill claw as she shoots one in front of her at point-blank range.  Terrence Juliard is barely visible under a pile of trills.

Asher lowered Paquette into the interior of the vehicle, but she bounced around a lot as the ATV lurched and rocked.  Still screaming at Dr. Sargant, Asher them jumped down himself.  As the ATV turned near the mouth of the ravine, about a dozen trills jumped down on it.  Mounted cameras showed the trills ineffectually trying to breach or damage the ATV as it sped back to the ship under the panicked guidance of Dr. Talun Sargant.

Along the way, a few trills fell or were thrown off the ATV.  Another was crushed against the aft wall of the vehicle hangar during Dr. Sargant’s high-speed entry into the bay.  Several large triils and some small ones were still clinging to the ATV, though.  With Asher desperately trying to treat Paquette’s wounds, Dr. Sargant began screaming of the comms circuit to Claudette Eubanks to “go go go,  get us out of here”.  Eubanks boosted the ship.

Once in orbit, Dr. Sargant seems to have become unstable, ranting incoherently and screaming.  After several minutes, Asher sedated him.  Asher then became totally absorbed with treating Paquette’s wounds.  Periodically Eubanks would report on the trills activities or ask for direction, but Asher brushed her off.  During this time, the trills gradually lost interest in the ATV.  Cameras in the hangar showed them wandering around aimlessly until they discovered glass.  Perhaps it was the silicon base, but the trills seemed to take to fiber optic cabling and glass like felines to catnip.  They devoured all the cable in the bay.  One by one, the hangar cameras went offline.

Several hours later Deidre Paquette died.

After a few minutes of apparent despondency, Asher and Eubanks determined a way ahead.  They tried to open the hangar’s outer door remotely, without success, perhaps due to the aliens having chewed through the control cables.  They tried to open the bay to vacuum using the doors along the port side, from the hangar bay to the port cargo airlock, but the iris valve to the hangar bay would not open remotely.  Asher forbade Eubanks from trying to open the valve locally, considering it too dangerous.

Asher then made the command decision to abandon further attempts to rescue the others, deeming them likely dead by that time.  Asher further determined not to try to locate the scout/couriers, then exploring other systems along the local arm, as too uncertain, too time consuming, and not meeting the most important goal: sounding the alarm.  Despite healthy academic debate before the attacks of the trills intelligence, or lack thereof, Asher had firmly decided by this point that the trills were sentient.

Suzain left a probe in orbit over the alien planet, to act as a comms beacon, to inform other ships of what happened.  Over the next several weeks, Suzain worked her way back towards civilized space, refueling from gas giants along the way.  Asher and Claudette discussed whether or not to try the high risk double-jump to Espiaux or take the longer, eminently safer, route to Marsoui.  Going to Marsoui would have delayed reports of the encounter reaching Espiaux by several weeks, but would have not required the risky double-jump.  Asher eventually conceded to Eubank’s recommendation to go to Marsoui.

However, the atmosphere in the ATV appears to have become extremely tense over time.  The cramped quarters, and presence of a corpse, probably didn't help.  A vain and arrogant man, Dr. Sargant seems to have become unhinged by his actions and perceived complicity in the death of his brother and other crewmembers.  Asher, honestly, but tactlessly, called Sargant a “coward” at one point.  After several days of animosity and recrimination, the two devolved to physical confrontation.  Asher won.  At this point he decided to fast drug Sargant, for his (Asher’s) own safety.

After the confrontation with Sargant, Asher became adamant about the need to get to Espiaux as quickly as possible.  Although he rationalized his decision by emphasizing the importance of reporting the encounter with the trills, the stress of being confined for weeks on end with a madman may have affected Asher’s judgment.  For her part, Eubanks’ journal entries from that time place an almost atavistic value to the idea of “going home”, which may have reflected a desire to escape the prolonged stress of the voyage.  She followed Asher’s orders to double-jump with less pushback than maybe she should have given, understanding the 50-50 risk proposition the double-jump entailed.

In the hangar bay, the trills had become sedate, rousing themselves only when they detected motion or noise.  After eating the smaller trills, the remainder chewed on the ATV’s tires periodically.  It is yet unknown whether the tires actually provided any sustenance or were merely consumed as “filler”.  It is likely the aliens were starving to death.

After the final wilderness refueling, Eubanks’ used maximum acceleration to reach the 100d limit as quickly as possible.  That, plus the vagaries of interplanetary orbital mechanics, resulted in Suzain’s high V upon entering the Espiaux system.  Had the jump been a few hours shorter and the course closer to desired, she may have survived.

Asher and Dr. Sargant have both been removed from Gypsy Moth for counseling.  It is unlikely either will participate in another Pathfinder mission.

On the bright side, the quarantine period gave Dr. Jones ample opportunity to "get to know" Box 2's doctor.

As an asides, the Pathfinder Corps arranged for a message to be sent on behalf of Blackfin Shipping to the Tupolev based consignee of the ten tons of farm equipment in Gypsy Moth’s hold, informing them of the delay and offering free delivery.

Finally, Gypsy Moth has been released from quarantine and directed to Espiaux high orbit.

Danica sat at the controls of the Gypsy Moth, as she had done so for the last two weeks.  The main difference at this point was that the console was not powered down on standby mode like it was during the interminable wait for clearance from quarantine.  The lights of the dynamic displays played off of her face and mirrorshades as she worked the controls.  The Moth glided along its assigned path, it moved to assume its position in high orbit over Espiaux.

It felt good to be flying once more - to feel the push and pull of inertial compensators active and alive.  Quarantine had made Dani feel like a non-person, a statistic or worse yet, a disavowed entity - it was the Pasternak mission debrief all over again.  Most of the same players were even present.  Then as now, the ex-Army Major had spent plenty of time reading and exercising.  Of course, exercising for her included a lot of yoga, biofeedback meditation, sparring with live blades, and sniping practice (with live ammunition whenever possible).  And there was a lot of available time in quarantine.  The ship didn't go anywhere and so her skills as a pilot remained untapped for the entire time.

Danica had offered once, and only once, to aid the others in questioning the remaining crew of the Suzain.  While her skill in deduction and with investigative techniques was pretty good (she'd not have survived that long as a spook without them), her forte in questioning lay elsewhere.  Pasternak had referred to her as 'an artist' during the physical interrogation sessions that he oversaw.  Dani wasn't proud of it, but there it was.  And she was pretty sure that Doc and Jacques were not looking for that type of expertise when talking with their fellow pathfinders.  And while Danica was willing to run security for them at any point, she also knew that Dagala and Lance were present as well - so, that set of skills were not necessarily tapped that often either.  So, the bridge had become her primary haunt.

She had pieced together a fair bit of the action that the Suzain and her crew had seen.  Much of the physical state of the cargo bay and ATV, once they hunkered down and started to really look, spoke volumes about what seemed to have occurred.  While she was not a xenobiologist or very good at any of the theoretical sciences.  She could see when fiberoptics had been cut and eaten.  And she could see when an ATV had been driven recklessly (the logs on that matter did help).

And her instincts about Asher and Sargent both being a bit unhinged by the situation seemed to be born out in the transcripts of the interviews and conversations that she saw before they reached Lavillete.  The two men had been through a lot - and seen good comrades die.  They had not signed up for a war, but had gotten it.  Dani was hardly surprised that not all of their sanity survived the impact with the enemy - and while she sympathized with the survivors, Danica also pitied them.  They would carry the weight of their actions and decisions; command decisions that led directly to the death of companions and friends.  Dani was all too familiar with that feeling - to pity them was to consign herself to that Purgatory as well.  Just another reason that the ex-Army officer was thankful for her mirrorshades.  That and her ability to compartmentalize...

"Roger that," she intoned smoothly over the external comm link to the Espiaux Port Authority, as one of the ancillary tactical displays for the bridge highlighted the projected route, "locking in trajectory coordinates for approach to high orbit.  Thank you, Port Control.  Gypsy Moth out."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:06, Tue 21 Oct 2014.

Jack was smiling as Danica eased the Moth into her designated orbit. They had been inside the ship for what seemed like forever and even though Espiaux, being a water world, had no open spaces to speak of, he was looking forward to getting off the ship and moving around. Smelling different air.

He had had a sleepless night or two, imagining what the men they'd rescued had gone through, thinking about the gigantic mother Trill or father Trill or whatever the hell it was. Not fearful nights, just deep thinking. He recalled his mental note to talk with the crew individually at some point then realized Doc was the better man for that job. Then he realized the crew would deal with it as they needed to. No need to baby them in the face of a never-before-known form of life, Jack!

He watched the world spin through the bridge viewports for a moment then pulled up his database and skimmed the Espiaux entry. He'd never been here before, only ever to Box 2, so he was working blind. He couldn't even recall a recommendation for any place on the world - from any one at all.

"Here's something," he murmured. Reading off an entry, "Exquisite cuttlefish and other local delicacies. Enjoy the mesmerizing view of glowing lava vents, dancing steam clouds and the swirling currents of the deep." He chuckled. "Not much, I suppose. But I need a little time off the ship, stretch my legs. Need to get out of orbit for a bit..."

He sent out a little ping letting everyone aboard know he was heading down for dinner this evening and anyone was invited if they'd like to try some exquisite cuttlefish, his treat. "Let the punishment begin," he said sardonically. "Starport looks to be top notch. Good chance to stock up on things, though I suppose we'll back at Box 2 in the near future... anyway, see you in a bit." He put his console into sleep mode and headed to his room shower and change.

Jim leaned against the door frame of Casey's stateroom, petting Jinx...

"Exquisite cuttlefish?  Seriously Case, Jack's been taken in by some silly advert...," he argued, watching Casey pull on a boot.*

"Sure .. Fine ..  Okay - if that's what you want to do instead of some cuttling of our own - fine," he stated with little enthusiasm in response to the look she shot him.

Putting Jinx down, he added, "But about the other thing, Case - forget it."**

Shoving his hands deep in his pockets he turned to depart, remarking, "And I'll go change .. though I don't see what's the big deal with just wearing coveralls..."

* - Espiaux is Jim's homeworld.
** - They've had a discussion re: someone on Espiaux.

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg # 4):

After the desolation of Lavillete, the beauty of Espiaux is a welcome change.  The deep red light from the system's dying red primary clashes with the bright orange reflected light from the gas giant Chaumys.  Together, they illuminate Espiaux's numerous cloud formations and give an unusual tint to the rich indigo of the planet's endless oceans.  As Gypsy Moth swings around to the night side, the twinkling of lights from the above-the-waves portion of habitats offers tangible proof that you will soon be able to interact with people other than your crew mates and possibly even, stars forbid, eat something that isn't processed.

Orbit is heavily populated, by sector standards.  In addition to the orbital shipyard and smallish highport, there are easily a half-dozen Navy vessels of various classes in orbit, as well as a few traders and the periodic system ship bound for, or returning from, Savigny.

Theaters, parks, museums, restaurants, libraries, cities, it is all down below you, waiting to be visited.  Yes, the parks may be impossibly well-groomed and organized, the restaurants and other places full of distressingly efficient and polite people, and the museums and cultural centers immaculately clean, but it is undeniably civilization.

After nearly six weeks in space, with only a few hours on Box Two to provide any sort of social interaction, most of the crew are eagerly awaiting the chance to go dirtside (under-waveside?) on Espiaux.  That a handful are from Espiaux, and many more have friends or family on the planet, only makes the opportunity that much more enticing.

As various members decide what to wear, where to go first, and generally banter back and forth, there is almost a holiday atmosphere on the ship.  One positive outcome of the rescue mission is that you have gotten to know each other, and the other members of the crew.  While everyone has their quirks, all performed well over the past few weeks and there is now a certain bond between crew members, built of respect and trust.

On the bridge, Dani is alerted to an incoming transmission, "Gypsy Moth, this is orbital launch 011 inbound for one personnel transfer to you, ETA ten minutes, request docking instructions, over."

Hayden has been sitting in front of a terminal on the bridge for several hours now, reviewing various cargo offers and weighing, volume, destination, and offered rates.  His concentration broken, the furrows disappear from his brows as he looks up and asks quizically, "Are we expecting visitors?"

Dani nodded to Jack and his invitation, giving him a thumbs-up to include her in the festivities.  It would be good to get out and see a horizon again for a little bit.  Espiaux had been her adopted home after leaving St. Croix - though, her missions had forced her to travel all over the subsector - so, it was really only her adopted home, in theory.  Given that her stateroom was just off of the bridge, Dani waited a bit to change.

When she emerged from her stateroom, the ex-FRA officer was wearing her dress uniform sans any combat ribbons and only the simple insignia epaulets to denote any form of rank, that of a major.  It wasn't too flashy and it had been a while since Danica had worn her uniform.  Still it fit and the cut was flattering enough; she had to admit that she liked the bolero-style jacket and Dani knew how to wear the thing.  Old habits die hard, she thought to herself, her fingers running down one of the pleats of her jacket sleeves.

As she moved back into her seat to wait for a bit, the Moth's pilot rolled her shoulders and tried to center her consciousness.  It was a simple yogic technique that she found kept her relaxed and focused.  In the young brunette's opinion, when her concentration lapsed, bad things tended to happen.  She watched the tactical displays - some had wire-frames and schematics of the Gypsy Moth, others had planetary overlays with projections of weather and local traffic.  The lights played off of her mirrored sunglasses and across her face, as the raven-haired pilot continued to scan the information streaming through the displays.

She was still impassively staring at the displays when the external comm link was initiated.  Danica glanced in Hayden's direction, as she answered with a slight shrug, "Not that I recall..."  Her fingers began to dance across her console as the raven-haired pilot brought up the manifests for the ship, as well as any public transponder and designation information on the 'orbital launch 011'.  Still reviewing the relevant documents, Danica opened the audio line to the launch and responded dutifully, "Orbital Launch 011, Gypsy Moth.  Advise approach on vector ... "  And she relayed an eye-balled trajectory from the tactical information on her screen projections to the Moth's main airlock.

Dani muted the line while waiting for a confirmation both aurally, as well as visually from the tactical screens.  She also started to pull up sensor feeds both inside and outside the main airlock, pushing the feeds to one of the tactical displays and making sure they were available on the common crew channel, should people choose to view them.  She painted the incoming launch, highlighting it on the main planetary, near-space display on the main tactical screen of the bridge.  Danica also opened a general crew line, announcing, "All-hands.  Orbital Launch 011 in-bound with passengers.  Prepare for to welcome guests."  Then she texted the security crew, primarily Bertrand, Thera, Dagala and Lance:  ++I want turrets manned.  Keep an eye on the Launch as it approaches, but don't paint it.  Dag, make sure you are at the lock.++  Dani didn't really know what to expect; so, she tried to prepare for the unexpected.  Perhaps one of the other crew knew who was coming aboard; at least, that was her hope.

As Jack was getting dressed he realized what he had been wanting: he was going to find an expensive hotel with a good wine list and large chambers and spend the night on Espiaux. Maybe several nights if there wasn't anything pressing to force them back to Box 2.

He dressed smartly but casual, in good-fitting somewhat pricey jeans with a linen shirt and polished deck boots matching a wide leather belt. He threw on a good canvas jacket, slipping his hand comp, comm and credit chit in the breast pockets. He allowed himself his Pathfinder rank insignia on the left cuff; he didn't want to trumpet himself or the presence of the Moth over Espiaux but if something important came up while he was down the well he wanted it known he had served.

Danica's announcement came over the address system just as he was deciding between two likely hotel candidates. "By the stars," Jack mumbled. He headed to the bridge.

Of course Dani was in her military finery looking dangerously attractive and she had a hundred tactical displays working, tracking the incoming vessel. He'd never know how she was able to be on all the time. He needed some R&R every once in a while.

"Guests, eh?" Jack said lightly, eyes running across the readouts. "This had better be the frakking welcome wagon..." He chuckled, glancing over at Hayden. "Maybe we're all going to get medals. As usual, the boys are under-dressed for the occasion."

In reply to Jacques Keveloh (msg # 7):

Dani quickly pulled the publicly available information for the launch:

Orbital Launch 011
Id Code: 012-4344-0115-011-Y
Registry: Espiaux
Owner: Espiaux System Lines
Crew: 2
Passenger: 1
Cargo: 5
Flight Plan: Depart Shianu down 1103L to Espiaux highport for xfer 5 cargo, fol to vessel Gypsy Moth for xfer 1 pax, rtn Shianu down ETA 1220L.

Under the scrutiny of Moth's military grade sensors, the launch appears to be what it's transponder is claiming: an un-armed, un-armored, 20 ton orbital utility launch.  She is coming from the highport.  Under the watchful eye of Dani and the ship's gunners, the launch approaches in a thoroughly routine fashion.

Most of you have been in one of ESL's orbital launches at some point: six basic acceleration couches for passengers, space for ten tons of cargo, and flown either by the newest pilots with the company (trying to gain hours and work their way into more prestigious, and better paying, positions) or by the oldest (family men and women who place value on being home each night).  Judging by her approach, 011's pilot is pretty new to the job.  Still, she docks 011 on Moth's dorsal airlock acceptably enough.

Before the passenger is even at the bottom of the airlock ladder, Launch 011 has requested permission to undock.  The passenger is a slightly built male dressed in business casual attire.  He moves down the ladder like a reasonably fit adult who has done this several times, but not with the aplomb of a spacer who goes up and down shipboard ladders several times a day.  He looks familiar.

When you catch his face in the airlock's camera, you place him immediately: Simon Newell, your meticulous, perpetually mildly worried, but basically decent "handler".  Uncharacteristically, he is smiling.

Thera kept her weapon systems trained on the launch until it left and she caught Simon's face in her feed from the airlock camera. Not that she was expecting trouble over Espiaux, but she hadn't survived this long by underestimating life's little quirks.
She was still dressed in her shipboard coveralls, though she had mentally laid out out a couple of stylish numbers for her R&R. She'd change after her turret was locked down and her duty shift was over.
Simon smiling? Hopefully that was good news. Momentarily she pictured him handing out large Bearer Bonds for salvage of the Suzain. She gave a short laugh. Yeah, right!

Jim was waiting impatiently (for Casey to join him) in the crew lounge when Dani made her broadcast.  He got up when Dag arrived and joined her at the dorsal airlock.

"You don't know either?", he replied to her negative when he queried who their quests might be.  Frowning while trying to pull the wrinkles out of one crumpled arm of his casual suit, he speculated, "Probably some pompous..." till he saw legs descending.

Seeing Newell's face, and a smiling one at that, his own lit up as he reached out a hand, "Mr. Newell, what a pleasant surprise - welcome aboard!"

It was a fairly simple task for Dani to manipulate the internal visual sensors to freeze frame on the face of the individual in the airlock.  Her experience with sensor usage and analysis was extensive, dating back to her earliest days in the FRA.  "Newell." Danica stated simple and directly, when she recognized the man that had just boarded the Gypsy Moth.  She said the name partly for her own edification as well as the others on the bridge.   Not that Hayden or Jack needed the help identifying Simon Newell, but Dani did it just the same - neither may have been looking at the feeds at that precise moment.

Noting that Doc and Dagala were already present to greet their handler, Dani made no move to get up from her perch in the bridge; she knew that all of them would meet with him eventually, there just wasn't any rush at this very moment.  Last Dani recalled, Simon Newell was supposed to be headed for Perseus, but needed to take care of some personal business on Alsace first.  Of course, that was before the Moth took a six-week detour in the Espiaux system.  So, perhaps Simon was just hitching a ride with them - as was his prerogative as a senior Blackfin executive.

Somehow, Dani considered the theory that his presence was just a mundane occurrence to be highly improbable.  Which, of course, didn't help her determine why Newell was really here.  And his smile didn't help or reassure her about the situation.  "I suspect," Danica noted rather deadpan to the others on the bridge, "that Simon has already eaten..."

Jack made a small affirmative sound at Dani's comment about Newell. "Indeed he probably has... and something tells me our own dinner plans are about to change."

He turned then, leaving the bridge and heading down the corridor to join Doc and Dagala. He put on a business-like smile along the way, setting aside thoughts of fine wine and hotel rooms for the moment.