"The cargo bay isn't nearly big enough to hold the Scout ship, even if we cut open the hull to cram it in," Pablo says. "We've already got the clamps for carrying it piggyback. Remember, that's what we did out in the asteroid belt."

"That was makeshift, but Vonon has been getting the drones to improve them... I hope."

"So, what? You want me to booby-trap the pyramid? You want them to be lethal or just discouraging?"

"That overloaded gravity well has been shut off. It's not going to come back on without someone tampering with it."

"You making any progress with the stiff?"

"You seem to be no worse for wear, Eveylyn," Aimee says to her.

"You've been in cold sleep... suspended animation... for about three years, as near as I can tell."

"Do you remember anything? How you got into the chamber? How you wound up on the pyramid ship?"

She made a note in the medical logs that this alien cold sleep chamber should be studied as it seemed to be safer than the ones in common use in the Imperium.

"I am... was a maintenance worker on Manaan one of our underwater domed cities on Sarrad, I was working in air circulation. I've worked in a few departments this was my latest one. There are... were 31 domes of around 100,000 people each.

I survived by being in one of the underwater vehicle bays doing maintenance on air filtration couldn't have pilots and techs suffocating. I heard about some sort of systematic collapse or attack from the info feeds.

The domes were thought to be safe from collapse, so none of them should have failed, let alone all of them at once. It's not like they were grouped together. Whatever happened was calculated perfectly for maximum damage.

I had several days worth of oxygen in the vehicle bay, so i wasn't in any immediate danger as long as rescue came.

The last thing I remember was starting to lose consciousness, though I can't remember why it's cloudy... Just before everything went black, I felt a strange-looking robot moving around me... over me... it has a triangular body and tentacles extending out of it. And then darkness and nightmares and here I am.I Don't remember climbing into a metal coffin. I was just there" she explained trying to remember as much as she could.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Wed 11 July 2018.

"Hello," said the other person in the medical bay. He didn't appear to be a patient, though there was another person in one of the other beds.

"My name is Jones. Does this look like the robot?" He holds up his comm unit and shows the picture transmitted from the pyramid ship.

"Wow," he says when she identifies it.

"That's the first clue we've had about those dome collapses! No one's been able to explain it till now. It was thought that some energy effect must have been propagated through the water to all domes simultaneously. Just no one had an idea how that could happen."

"It's starting to look that these aliens are the cause of it. I'm at a loss for any motivation."

"Makes me wonder what else they might have done."

He'd have to have a word with Sam. Was Evelyn legit?

"Very well, lets get it docked to the hull and recalculate our jump fuel to see how much cargo we will need to dump in order to safely get out of here and back to Outpost. Samantha, please add in a 10% margin of error just in case to be on the safe side. Sharik, please calculate a course back to Outpost. And Serge, please get with Vonon and Kheaiftouaw to make sure your vessel is securely attached to the . " Walter said.

While Khea walks back to the airlock and seals her suit she opens her comm.
"Are you sure Outpost is a good idea after the problems we had? The last thing we need is someone with command over several ships and a grudge to steal this find"

"It is the best that this area has to offer that we can quickly reach and the authorities will be better able to handle it than we can." Walter said. "I am not sure if putting some distance from this thing will help the Count but medically speaking, it would have the best services available for him. I would leave that to the Doctor but I think he requires more than the med bay can provide."

Sam picked up on Kheas point "Is leaving the Count, unable to act, in the hands of someone who dislikes him a good idea even? It wouldn't be hard to arrange an accident with the med care."

"Like I said, I will have to defer to Doc Lavaud's opinion." Walter said.  "If there is a better place to take him, I am all for it but for the time being, we have a damaged Imperial scout ship to return and a strange alien craft to report to the authorities. While Cassandra has a good starport, Outpost is the closest naval base. Since we are not trading, we can avoid her by staying in the military section of the base if they will allow us. Now I am not military so I will defer to you Vonon, but with what has occurred, would they be interested?" he asked.

As Jones talks with Evelyn, the Count suddenly lets out a groan, and sits up!

"That's the last time I go out partying before a shoot!" he mutters as he puts his hands to his head.

His eyes come into focus and he looks around. "Where the hell am I? Who the hell are you?"

He doesn't look as confused as he does annoyed.

"Is this another one of your jokes, Reggie?" he asks and looks around.

"Trying to make me think I'm on a starship instead of the sound stage. Wait! Is this the set of the new Captain Tallant vid! Have you gotten me a guest appearance in it? A paying appearance?"

"Damn it, Reggie! Where are you? You can come out now. And where are my clothes?"

Sharik paused at the doorway of the medical bay to listen to Aimee and Evelyn converse.  She nodded curtly to Walter's orders as they were broadcast over the crew channel, subvocalizing a click of the tongue in acknowledgement as well as a tap to her dataglove when send a simple text over the common crew channel, "++On it.++"  A few seconds later, Sharik had the core cranking on a couple of different preliminary astrogation calculations.  She'd learned her lesson previously, the Longshot's destination was never perfectly defined until right before they reached the jump point.  So, she started to prepare plots using both Outpost and Dulcinae as defined endpoints, given their position effectively equidistant between the two, it wasn't advantageous fuel-wise to select either one.

As the female navigator tapped away, she glanced over in the direction of the patient and doctor.  Evelyn was a bit of a conundrum, but one that wasn't going to be solved at this juncture.  So, the auburn-haired socialite simply shrugged noncommittally to the assertions and explanations being given about what newly-thawed woman had seen, heard, and claimed about her circumstances.  There was no reason to believe that the young woman was lying to them at this point.  And, overall, Dupont seemed quite resilient.  Shar was unlikely to have taken the loss of three years with that type of composure.  If she proved useful, there was always a place on a diverse crew like theirs for such a person.  If not useful, then at the next stop, she could always disembark.

The Count was a different matter.  When Darrel started to spout off quasi-incoherently about being on set and the butt of a practical joke, she pursed her lips and texted once more to the rest of the crew, "++Captain, to the medbay, please.++"  She opened a channel directly to Walter, leaving a slightly more detailed message, "++Cromwell awake.  Rambling.  Possibly non compus mentus.++"

A sidelong glance at Gregory had her take a step forward with her hands, held up before her in an open placating gesture.  "M'Lord," she intoned easily, letting both her training as an operative and a minor nobility take over, "I am glad to see you awake.  You drifted off during your annual physical."  She motioned to Aimee to come closer, "Dr. Lavaud, if you please.  You may continue, with the Count's examination."  She hoped that sedation wouldn't be necessary; but Sharik knew that she didn't always get what she wanted.

"Reggie has stepped away for a moment to answer the call of nature.  I will retrieve your clothes momentarily, Count Cromwell." Sharik soothed, gesturing discreetly, for Jones to cover the door.  Hopefully, he'd be able to make sure that Count didn't simply up and leave.  A slightly bemused smile crossed the diminutive asian's lips and she shook her head slightly at the vagaries of Ifni, reminded of the old adage once more, Things just get complicated all by themselves...

As Khea is in the airlock, wanting to go outside to check on possible ways to attach the scout ship she radios while the airlock is sealed.
"Simply report the finding of the ship? We should keep that to ourself, at least to people who have the means to get here and the firepower to claim it"

[Bridge]
++Sharik? Can you repeat that?++ Walter typed back. With the private information confirming what had occured, he typed on the crew channel ++On my way++ before turning over the bridge to Samantha.

[Medical]
Making his way to the medical bay, Walter was deep in thought, if the Count was possibly non compus mentus, then the group would have to cash out his share of the Longshot. Might be time to start over from scratch since some of the crew had been talking about leaving.

Entering the Medical Bay, he spoke, looking over Darrell. "Glad to see that you are back with us Count Cromwell. Feeling better?" Walter asked.

"Feel just fine. Never felt better. I was just in for a check-up," Darrel replies. "Studio always insists on that before the start of a new picture. They're afraid I might die before the picture is completed, in which case they stand to lose a lot of money. Either the picture doesn't get completed or they have to start over or--perish forbid! They have to CGI me in for the rest of it. And we know how well that works! Nobody can do me better than I can do me!"

"Is this really a ship? Are we shooting on location? Reggie was trying to surprise me for my birthday, wasn't he?"

"So where are shooting? The Cess Pits of Molta? The Silver Mountains of Ravanna? Oh, I know! The Rainbow Caves of Castillon! I always wanted to go there."

"Have I seen the script yet? I don't remember reading a new one. I don't want to play an old man again. Not even if he's a nasty villain. Leading man... that's what I want."

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 403):



- Aye aye, sir, - reported Serge.
After all needed procedures were checked, Serge hailed Longshot:
- Bridge, this is Serge, "Elusive" is safely attached and ready for jump. Confirm RTB, over.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Sharik's post, and said "I have the comm" as Walter left, bit otherwise seemed to carry on at her console unperturbed

"Count is awake again? At least some good news then.

Attaching the ship will take a few hours. So get comfortable and start counting our salvage.
Speaking of which, have we taken those robots on board? They are worth a lot, but having one of them decide to run amok during the jump will be very bad unless we have enough firepower to take it out.

"I am Doctor Sir Walter Zeller, Acting Captain of the Longshot.  We met years ago." he said, recollecting when they first ran into each other. "Currently we are in deep space after coming out of jump prematurely. You are in the med bay and there is no script. Sorry, your agent is not here, nor your personal assistant." Walter said.  "Is there anyone that we should contact to let them know where you are?"

"This isn't my yacht!?" the Count responds to Walter. "What ship is this? Is this the studio's ship? Why did I ever agree to go on it? And without my agent or assistant! This is unacceptable!"

"Sir Walter? Oh, yes, I remember you. You're a doctor now? Jolly good show!"

"Was I injured? I feel fine... a little tired, maybe. What do you mean, there's no script? What am I doing here then? Oh, wait... I get it. The script's being written en route. Was there a plot? Did I approve it? Whatever. I need to talk the writer. I've got a few ideas he needs to put into the script."

"Contact? Well, I am a Count. Surely someone in the nobility should be told where I'm at. And just where is that? Why would they need to be informed?"

Evelyn observed her surroundings quietly three years had passed. She had been in that coffin for three years... Ok well time to review facts. Her father was definitely dead thank the Deep One for that. She didn't have a girlfriend so nobody missed her. Huh her pet Sheeri probably starved to death that was sad. She wondered if her bosses survived. There was a few technicalities she had to work out. Also had to check her accounts see if she accrued any interest. And then... She didn't know what would come next. Trying to live unnoticed , surviving day to day with no ambition was her life. Was it time to change?

Yes, the four alien robots have been loaded into the cargo bay of the Longshot, and two of the alien bodies have been put in coldsleep/storage.

The Scout ship is attached dorsally to the Longshot.

There's just enough fuel to make a jump-1, but you'll only have a few hours of standard power after that. You'll then be running on back-up power until you refuel.

After attaching the scout to the hull Khea returns to the airlock and finally gets out of her sweaty vacc suit.

<Over Comm while in the airlock> "The ship is secured so you can start to make calculation for the jump. And better be thorough with it, with the extra mass we do not have much fuel both for the jump and for the generator.

How are the injured holding up, Count and the one you pulled out of cold storage?"

Finding a secure area, Aimee replies on her comm to Khea.

"The Count is doing fine physically, but he seems to have lost the last ten years of his memory. He thinks he's still a successful actor."

"Our stray puppy doesn't seem to be any the worse for wear... or spending three years in cryo. Not sure how she's dealing with survivor's guilt. I don't see any signs that she's suffering from PTSD even though so many of her colleagues died that day."

"Maybe being abducted by aliens is superseding everything else."

Having to pause for a moment to calculate how long 3 years are in Aslan years Khea replies.
"That long ago? That certainly invalidates any claim on salvage we found here, doesn't it?

And too bad about Count. Is there anything the scientist can do for him? Getting adequate and uninterrupted care on Outpost might be tricky if we even manage to get there

"Sorry Count Cromwell, I am not a Medical Doctor. Doctor of Galactic Economics, specializing in trade. This is the Longshot, a converted system defense boat. Sorry to say that it was not designed for comfort but there is some fine cuisine in the galley, although, I would suggest no alcohol for the time being." Walter said

"I was asking so that you can be properly cared for when we get to Outpost. Doc Lauvad has a better idea as to what happened to you. If you will excuse me, I have to make sure that everything is in order before we head out of here."  he said with a bow before departing to the bridge.