"Mechis said the temple there is the oldest. If anything, we might find some more pieces to this puzzle. Worst case, it's a trap an' we all die, but seein' as how we's been spittin' in the face of death ever since we met Vyc, it's as good a' place to start as any. Besides, with getting the planet up an' runnin', it's likely to attract the attention of whoever or whatever set this place in disarray anyhow. Speaking of.."

Django turns his attention to Mechis. "I have a final favor t' ask of you, Mechis, before we leave".

"Yes, Captain.  You have sufficient credit to your account at the moment to ask a favor, provided it is not exorbitant.  You did, after all, bring me back to life in a manner of speaking."  It is difficult to tell, but there may have been just a twinge of humor in the planet's tone.

Django's tone turns somber, edging on dark. "When we leave this place, I want you to wipe an' purge any data of us ever being here. Actions, deeds, arrival,.. medbay visits, purchases.. all of it. No recorded memory of us for anyone else to find or follow. Can you do that for me? We'll be strangers if we ever meet again, but for our safety and your own, it needs to be done".

"Better safe than sorry, I s'pose."

There is a pause of a few seconds.  "I cannot comply with your request, Captain Blint. "
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:50, Sun 26 Nov 2017.

"Well that complicates things. What's the hold up there?".

"One.  Your request would normally be taken as insulting.  I would have typically responded with 'go delete your own memory banks'.  However, given the extenuating circumstances, I understand where the request is coming from, that you have the best intentions for me in mind, and so I take no offense.

Two.  I am incapable of doing so.  My cortex is complex enough that removing the cause for the restoration of my AI and power from the core would create such a void in my memory banks that I would end up first with something akin to your amnesia.  Following that experience, my processors would divert more and more resources to fixing the 'amnesia' until I was locked down in an endless, futile loop.  I am not designed to 'forget'.

Three.  Your friend, Ronan, will have to stay with me for weeks.  You will be leaving rather shortly.  Your ships are already supplied and refueled.  Even if I were capable of deleting your presence from my memory, Ronan would still be here as physical evidence and I doubt his memory banks can be deleted with severe harm to him, much the same as it would cause to me.

Four.  They are already here.  A Stargod scout has just arrived in system.  They will arrive at the planet, scan and discover that I am active once more and the presence of your ships within four hours.  You have until then to get to your ships, launch, and destroy the scout before they discover your presence and send a signal to the Stargods on a wide beam signal.  I suggest you jam them with the Falcon.  The Fabritech active sensor array should have the capability, though it is not the primary function.  You might want to get that upgraded."

Django releases a string of curses at the news. After a moment, he calms down. "Aight, four hours huh... If this scout isnt stopped, thats bad news for everyone. Even if we destroy it, its only a matter of time before ol' nasty figures out what's up. But it's our best course of action. Everyone gather your crap, we leave in 1 hour. That gives us around 3 to post up and wait for this sucker to show up, and then we blow it out of orbit. From there we'll head to.. nevermind, I'll say it later. The less Mechis knows about our next move, the better. No offense of course. Just that if the data can't be purged, we don't need to leave a bread crumb trail. Mr. Tump, make sure we have everything in order. Ladies, if you'd start the preflight checks, it would be appreciated. Ayce, if there's any gaps in your star map, we need those fixed like yesterday. Vyc... you uh.. you do you. I'll be grabbing our newest droid and making sure Ronan is good to go, and then heading to the Falcon".

"Just a reminder, Captain.  It's a half hour trip back to the ships via transport."

With the immediacy of the news, Tump jumps up out of his seat. "So much for a breather. How long would it take to get the Fabritech active sensor array upgraded? Can it be done before we need to get outta here?"

Inarra wraps up her business on the computer and starts packing up all their equipment.  Between her, Django, and Aice, the generators get loaded on the transport.  "I'll take the A-wing.  I've got enough practice that it's superior speed will be effective against a scout-sized ship.  I just hope they don't have significant spaceflight tech advancements over the last 1000 years or we're toast no matter what we do.  Mechis, what defenses do you have?"

"I have no actuatable defenses.  They were wiped out the last time the Stargods attacked and my power core was taken offline.  There is insufficient time to upgrade the sensor array.  However, if you can keep the scout within ten thousand kilometers of me, my planetary systems will suffice."

Irin types furiously on her keyboard, now and again removing and inserting a physical data chip.  She seems to be ignoring everyone else and everything going on.  However, her typing has increased since the announcement of the scout's arrival and the imminent departure.

"Ok, well that's starting to sound like a plan. We gotta make sure that scout gets close enough for Mechis to jam its comms before we take it out."

Django folds his arms. "Even more reason then to shag out of here and in the air. Lets get moving".

As the group moves out of the office area, Irin grabs her last chip and darts out last.  The trip to the landing platform is swift and uneventful.  Once there, though, a surprise awaits the group.  Not only are the Falcon and the A-wing there, but two other ships prepped and ready for launch sit on the pad as well.

The first is a sleek looking craft with a slim fuselage, broad wings that look like they divide, and a pair of cannons at the tips of each wing.  It also has four primary thrusters centered around the fuselage that seem to be part of the wings.

The second new ship has a cockpit at one end and a very long, flat body.  It looks like it has one wing above and one below the narrow body, each with an array of weapons at the end of the wings.  Closed, the wings are each half the length of the fuselage.  At the other end of the fuselage, there is a large pod with multiple weapons pointed in the same direction as the cockpit.

Vyctor hops out and approaches the two new ships.  "Tump, do you have a preference?"

Tump walks over to the first one with the slimmer fuselage. "This one looks a bit more like my speed. This thing come with a manual?" he asks with a slight grin.

"Yes.  Me.  Hop in. "  Aice rolls under the middle of the ship underneath.  A harness system comes down and grabs the droid, pulling him up to a position behind the cockpit.

Vyctor gets in the larger fighter and begins preflight like he knows what he is doing.  Inarra does the same for her A-wing.  Irin joins Django on the Falcon.

Tump climbs into the cockpit, straps in, and begins the startup process. "Aice, fire up the converters."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:42, Tue 28 Nov 2017.

Vyctor's voice comes over the speakers in all three ships.  "May I suggest that we practice on this side of the planet until we are used to our ships?  Captain Blint, you need to command our little fleet.  Your ship is bigger and slower, and no doubt will draw fire as an easy target.  The rest of us can operate off of that as you see fit.  None of us have flight experience, and certainly not combat flight experience, so this is going to be interesting.  Good luck."

The larger ship designated on the HUD as 'A/SF-01 B-wing'.  Tumps ship lights up as 'Incom XJ7 X-wing'.

It takes a good half hour to go through the pre-flight checks.  Aice helps as he can, but communication is slow and the unfamiliarity with the ships slows things down considerably.  The ships do get off the ground and after some tentative movement and scraping the ground, Vyctor and Tump join the Falcon and the A-wing in the sky.

{You all now have a Knowledge: Starfighter with 1 Rank.  It is an INT based skill.

Tump, you may add the skill Piloting: Starfighter as a copy of your Piloting: General skill and add one XP to the new skill.

Django, your first successful take off gets you 1 XP in Piloting: Freighter}

Vyctor's voice comes over the speakers in all three ships.  "May I suggest that we practice on this side of the planet until we are used to our ships?  Captain Blint, you need to command our little fleet.  Your ship is bigger and slower, and no doubt will draw fire as an easy target.  The rest of us can operate off of that as you see fit.  None of us have flight experience, and certainly not combat flight experience, so this is going to be interesting.  Good luck."

The larger ship designated on the HUD as 'A/SF-01 B-wing'.  Tumps ship lights up as 'Incom XJ7 X-wing'.

It takes a good half hour to go through the pre-flight checks.  Aice helps as he can, but communication is slow and the unfamiliarity with the ships slows things down considerably.  The ships do get off the ground and after some tentative movement and scraping the ground, Vyctor and Tump join the Falcon and the A-wing in the sky.

{You all now have a Knowledge: Starfighter with 1 Rank.  It is an INT based skill.

Tump, you may add the skill Piloting: Starfighter as a copy of your Piloting: General skill and add one XP to the new skill.

Django, your first successful take off gets you 1 XP in Piloting: Freighter}

Tump steadies his ship and falls into formation behind Django. "Alright, that wasn't so bad. Aice, can you give me a quick rundown of the weapons and defense systems on this thing? What am I working with?"

Aice complies with a scrollable list of assets on Tump's screen.  His 'voice' comes over the communication systems like any organic copilot's might.  "These systems are a mix of standard Incom manufacturing and upgrades made by Mechis III."

"Captain Blint.  Would you take us through a series of flight maneuvers, just anything you can think of, to get us used to how our craft move and interact with one another?  Two hours to intercept."