By the time they arrived at The Twins Audacity was a very different ship than when they'd started. In addition to the initial problem that nearly sent one half of the ship off 256 times the speed of light faster than the other half, and the inoperative security system, a litany of other problems kept everyone busy through the entire length of the run. None of them brought brought systems down, but by the time the passive densitometer showed a small blip on its screen, less than an hour from Epsilon's the hundred diameter marker, they had quite a to-do list of repairs that were going to require facilities.

That said, despite the need for a couple of days in a maintenance bay, Audacity was now flying like a new ship. Every watch, it seemed, required new adjustments to fuel systems, thrust systems, and the environmental controls that brought things closer to an alignment that looked normal.

The other reality that, by now was all too real, was just just how small Audacity was, and just how many of them there were aboard her. As the days wore on, the minimum amount of privacy and confined space aboard their little ship grew on everyone's mind. The only saving grace was Leeda and Qamala's apparent lack of any need for privacy. That gave the rest of the crew a stateroom to themselves. Other than that, the largest free space aboard the ship was the galley, the only place in the living compartment big enough to decently stretch one's arms, was rarely empty -- there was always someone there eating, reading, talking, or working on something; and there wasn't really any place else to go. The cargo bay was crammed full, and where stuff wasn't parked or stored someone else had something torn apart; Leeda was busy with her work in sick bay -- which was also serving as she and Qamala's quarters -- which left the engineering spaces. They were not only disturbingly noisy, that's where Jack was usually to be found, doing her best to either keep Audacity flying, or make her fly better.

The only way to be alone, it seemed, was to sleep.

Teagan did better than most with the tight living conditions. While the inconvenience was there, things like lack of privacy and personal space didn't register the same with her as they did with others. She registered the attitudes and knew that some tempers were short and did her best to minimize her presence whenever possible. She also offered both Leeda and Qamala her quarters in the event they needed more privacy.

"523, 524, 525." He counted out loud while doing pull-ups in his room. His legs were crossed and he was wearing weighted boots for extra pull. He had done his best to setup a short running track in the cargo bay -- until Willa and Leeda and Paladin and Jacks and Jacob had started moving shit around and making it impossible to run. He had traded his traditional bed for a hammock-style deal, which gave him more space in his room. He had stripped out everything but a chest to store his gear in and a chair. He then hung a speed bag and used the rest of the space to exercise and stretch his body.

But right now, the mental pressures had to be set aside. Whatever that blip was, it was small. Small meant either a ship or an asteroid. Paladin, Willa, and Morgan all three quickly came up with the same plot in less than two minutes: It was probably in their flight path. And at warp, they couldn't turn.

The arm wound forced Paladin to delegate duties at first. (Like a real captain should) Over the course of traveling the good doctor was able to get him back to full function, but by then habits and routines had started to develop. As much as he wanted to get back behind the stick, he had to admit Willa was competent there too, and he had no reason to remove her other then his own desire.

So they split the duties and rotated through them, so that they would remain sharp but not get burned out. The confined space was causing enough stress as it was.

Then the blip appeared and Paladin did the math.

"I so don’t want to experience a Warp 10 collision. Willa... Drop us out, and ready a different course in case of hostilities." Paladin readied the sensors to start collecting data as soon as they dropped out...

Knowing that the others would want to look to he added, "At warp ten we’ve been lighting up the sky, the only question is was someone looking for us. Let’s not give them anything else to see. Passive’s only for the moment."

The drop from warp 10 caused them all to feel as though they were in several places at once. The stern of the ship felt as though it passed the bow several times before the canopy display showed them normal space. They were still a little over 3,500 AUs from Epsilon; about a third of a light year away.

With exquisitely bad timing, Jacob was just making a critical and delicate connection when the ship dropped out of warp. Instead of fitting nicely into the prepared slot, the component was crushed under his micropliers as Jacob fell forward. The big man bit off a vicious curse as his stomach did flip-flops. Once the ship stabilized, he looked down at the box and realized he had to redo three hours of work now. Grunting in frustration, he put the tools away and headed to the bridge, curious to see what had caused his latest problem.

Morgan hated that feeling, it was about the only thing about space travel he had never been able to get used to - the warp drop. He dropped to his feet; pulled on his gear and walked to the bridge to find out if something needed to be hit. Please say 'yes'. He thought.

It took several more minutes for the granar to get an exact fix of the object it could see, but they could not. After that, finding it with the high powered stereo video gear that fed the canopy display its data was simple. Without that critical data, however, finding the object would have been nearly impossible. For what had been so dangerously close at 500 times the speed of light -- only five minutes from impact -- was now very far away -- nearly nine AUs distance, almost 1.3 billion kilometers.

The object itself was a ship, and it was obvious from first glance neither they nor anyone else was in danger from it -- unless they ran it over. It was a Free Trader, a small merchant ship only slightly bigger than Audacity. But it was slowly rolling end to end and also spinning. It was also generating no EMR -- though that could have been due to masking. But closer inspection at higher mag showed that the hull had been blown. Oddly, it kind of looked like all the hatches were still in place, which implied she'd probably not been boarded. If it was true, it also definitely ruled out a Medrass attack. They never left anything behind after an attack, no matter how worthless.

Paladin looked and studied the ship. It could be a trap, but that would be an awful lot of work, when they could have several active ships here with gun blasting. The later seemed more their style.

That left him with a choice to make, and he was just a stick jockey, somethings would just be out of his reach. Turning on the ship wide comm. He makes a mental effort to be less then military, “Everyone, Sorry for the unexpected drop out of warp. We have what appears to be a derelict merchant ship in our path...” There is a slight pause as he changes subjects. “Now we’ve several days to shake things down and figure what we might have forgotten or didn’t know we might need. Except for the hull breach, the merchant appears to be intact. So we have a good chance of finding things.” Which odd in and of itself.

“So my question is, Is there anything we need, that it might have, that would make it worth the stop in light of our mission?”

Lawrence Bourne III's groggy, somewhat hung-over voice travelled over the onboard communications lines from his stateroom to the bridge. "A supply of aspirin, perhaps?"

Qamala glanced at Leeda, smiled when her diminutive friend indicated she should go first. Her long finger touched the comm button, pretty voice trailing into the bridge like sunlight. "Haste, Paladin," she reminded him, though she knew Willa felt the same way about this as she did. "Whatever that ship has it still will have when we are finished on that moon, if the pirates in this system left anything behind, that is. We must get to that downed ship first, if we can."

Teagan kept her eyes forward and remained linked into the Audacity as she spoke to Paladin. "If the hulls aren't breached, then there may be survivors. If there are survivors, that may not be the case after we're done with our other mission. My humanity is desensitized but my instincts say we should take a closer look at the vessel.

Leeda took Qamala's place at the comm, standing on her tiptoes to bring her mouth closer to the speaker. "I find myself agreeing with Teagan on this one. I'm afraid that even with better logic insisting we continue on our mission, where we know there are individuals who need our help, I cannot simply pass the ship by without at least checking for survivors. I wouldn't make for much of a doctor if I did."

Morgan walked onto the bridge like it was his personal playground. "We have no idea what's on - or not on - that ship until we board and search it." He said (to the bridge crew as well as over his communicator. "Assuming we can get that roll-righted, we can be in and out of that can in an hour." He said confidently, but confidence had less to do with this than did just getting out and doing something - anything. "Besides, anything we find is ours - the Man made no claims to loot."

Not wanting to crowd the bridge any more than it already was, Jacob stayed in the hall. "I'm for checking it out, just in case there are people who need help." He shrugged with a faint smile. "Besides, I can always use new parts."

Paladin rolled his eyes at Lawrence’s comments but everyone else’s he took seriously. “This is not a general salvage operation. For those interested we can mark the location for return when we have more time. That been said this might turn into a rescue operation. The odds aren’t good, but if there is some poor soul still alive on that thing...” He let it trail off for a bit. “We are going to take a closer look.” With that he turns off the comm.

“Willa, please take us to Warp 2 until we are 1 million out from it. Morgan, Jacob a chaff pack and weasel loads.” At that distance Paladin didn’t expect trouble to reach them before they could run, but it never hurt to be careful.

Leeda felt the ship shift as it slid back into warp, hearing the last echoes of the Captain's words. She felt... odd, being in accordance with Teagan on insisting for humanitarian aid. It was not a response she'd expected from the woman, even with all she'd learned during their long journey to this point. It was proof that there was some improvement being made; Leeda only hoped she was helping.

Jacob nodded at Paladin's orders and headed for the bay. He was glad they were stopping, even if it wasn't likely anyone would be alive. The chance to help made him feel good. He smiled slightly as he went through the now familiar motions of loading the tubes.

"Chaff and weasel, aye." Morgan said before turning to move back toward the racks. While Morgan didn't like the initial decision Paladin was making (passing up what seemed like a perfectly good merchant ship seemed like a stupid play), he was happy that Paladin was calling shots and not asking for votes.

Willa brought Audacity about, then punched up warp 2. Again that nauseating feeling of stretching and collapsing occurred, though this time not so violently, or for so long. (It was only warp 2.) The waterfall display re-appeared on the canopy display, which still showed The Twins, all its planets and moons, neighboring systems -- and their little dot, which grew larger and more certain as they approached.

Thirty minutes later the process reversed. Front end met back end as warp was dropped. The waterfall display cleared the canopy and there she was: Their free trader.

At a mere million kilometers they could almost count the rivets in the hull, and they could certainly see the cause of the ship's demise. There was a hole in the port side, at the very stern. From the looks it was probably a missile. It hit there, penetrated the hull and breeched the power plant. Free to burn unchecked, the hydrogen turned into an uncontrolled propellant giving the ship its its current pitch and yaw rotations.

The blast also breeched the hull, of course, which would have caused sudden and rather violent decompression. The question was, were there any pressure hatches separating the various compartments? Free traders were often rebuilt to serve a variety of functions. There was no standard interior; just a vague notion of one based on what had to be in certain places for the ship to function. But none of the escape hatches had been blown or manually opened from the inside. And while the hole in the hull was certainly big enough for a man in a vac suit to enter, it would have taken hours, maybe days, for all the hydrogen in the fuel tanks to burn out. And until it did, nobody was getting in through that particular ingress.

Then, another thing happened. Passive EMS began to pick up a new electronic signal. With the naval base near by The Twins was a very noisy place. Radio waves of all frequencies all over the place; and the electronic "hum" any number of massive fusion reactors could also be picked up -- albeit faintly.

But this signal was different. It was very faint -- perceptible mostly because of its difference from the others, rather than its strength. The RDF pointed to the derelict ship as the source of the signal.

Catching the faint signal, Paladin begain slowly adjusting the filters an gain. He wanted to remove the background noise, and enhance the signal as much as possible. It turned out not to be easy to do. The signal was embedded in the background clutter. But finally, by running the frequencies through the filter one by one he was able to weed them out. It was kind of like trying to separate that one piece of alfalfa from the a pile of hay.

In the end it was still a bit noisy, but the signal itself was clear. That didn't make it any more comprehensible. Even the computer didn't know what it was. But it was there as surely as carts to horses.

Turning on the intercom he ask, "Can anyone recognize this signal? Our friend out there is broadcasting it." He then routes the signal through

Leeda looked up sharply as the intercom crackled, settling into a recognizable pattern after the captain's short message to the crew. She lept for the nearest comm system and jumped up to hit the button, too impatient to retrieve something to stand on. "Captain! Captain, this is Leeda, and that is EM emission pattern for a Cryogenics chamber! Has to be functioning, wouldn't be a signal otherwise... oh, this is very exciting. Someone on board that ship is alive, or, was meant to be. With the power station down, I'm not sure how much longer the backup systems will last, though, with that sort of drain on them. I don't even know what a ship like that is doing with a cryo chamber, I'm sure its not installed properly, they probably don't have the right monitors or sensing equipment... we need to get in there as soon as possible. And I'm coming with the boarding party." She released the comm button but stayed by the unit, waiting for the Captain's reply.

Something the doctor had said registered in the back of Lawrence's mind. Carefully he picked through his hurting brain to see what it might be.

Cryogenics...cryogenics...cryo... His eyes burst open in sudden realization. Ice!

The playboy leapt out of bed and began collecting himself and his clothing. He ran his hand through his hair a few times to straighten it out and tried not to kill himself pulling on his pants too fast.

Qamala blinked in gentle astonishment at the doctor's excitement, then simply and wordlessly facilitated her getting to the comm -- making a mental note to ask Jacob about bringing something closer to a level where Leeda could more easily use it, in future. She then moved over to a computer display unit and toggled the keyboard on so Leeda could continue to communicate with the bridge without interference. Her long fingers typed in "recent use shipboard cryogenic chamber" and waited for the responses to come back.

If Leeda didn't know what a ship like that was doing with a cryo chamber, someone needed to find out if they could.

Cryogenic chamber: Commonly found aboard medical vessels of the Imperial Navy and the vessels of other NGO health care providers to poor planets. Standard cargo cases are also commonly fitted with cryogenic liners to transport environmentally sensitive materials, terminally ill patients, and de-activated AI and ALF units aboard regular cargo vessels.

She nodded wordlessly, then tapped Leeda on the shoulder, gently directing her more knowledgeable friend's attention to the information.

When the doctor ID the signal Paladin swears but his hand it not on the transmit button. Regaining himself he transmits again, "Hold on Doctor. Are you trained in zero g and space suit operations? Is anyone? Because that is our recovery team, unless the ship is more habitable to life."

"That's me." Morgan said. "I think it would be a good idea to make sure the ship is clear of traps and possible hostiles before we send the doctor over."

Lawrence slapped the intercom button after shooting an arm through the sleeve of his casual leather blazer. "And me, Captain," he said with hurried excitement. "I'm on my way to the bridge now."

He stepped outside his stateroom and got his bearings before striding off purposefully for the pilot area.

Zero-G operations, the debonair young man considered as he made his way forward. Lawrence had seen it done plenty of times by those neat little maintenance crews on the cruise liners. How difficult could it really be?

Leeda made an annoyed noise as the Captain gave his reply; though she saw the logic of his actions, between her abilities and her small size, she knew that she could be useful aboard that wreck. She couldn't deny, however, that she really didn't know zero-G procedure, though she made a vow to herself to learn sometime in the near future. It was probably a good skill to have, if she was going to be traipsing about in space on such an... unusual ship.

She moved herself over to where Qamala had been typing, reading the display and plucking at her bottom lip with two fingers, absently. "Sensitive materials, that could be it. Biological samples, perhaps? Oh, dear, I hope its nothing hazardous. Qamala, would you please send that information over to the Captain? He'd probably appreciate having some small idea of what he could be facing."

"Of course, heartsister," she replied, nodding absently as she reached for the comm button. "Captain, I'm reading some data here that indicates the cryo units in cargo ships could be carrying, I quote, ` environmentally sensitive materials, terminally ill patients, or de-activated AI or ALF units'. Dr. Paayt thought it was information you should have," the Magellen concluded neutrally. One measured beat later, she added, "Oh, and I do not wish to go to that abandoned hulk, nor am I qualified to do so. If you need an eye out here to watch for ambush, I'm your... Magellen."

Morgan was waiting for the order to suit up by pulling on his EVA suit and prepping weapons when he had a thought. "Paladin, it would be good to take Jacob across with us. No telling if we're going to run into anything like a security system that will need to be over-ridden." He was hoped that the big man had done that kind of thing before - but it not - this would make an excellent learning time.

Jacob swallowed when he heard Morgan's suggestion. "Um, I've never done anything like that. Will the suits even fit me?" He wasn't really claustrophobic, but the thought of walking through a vacuum with nothing but a suit on bothered him. Especially when he wasn't even sure how the suits worked. He wasn't going to refuse, but he hoped he wouldn't have to actually do it.

Jack swung her eyes to regard Jacob who was hovering outside of the bridge. Her exceptional hearing could detect a certain aspect to his voice that made her wonder if he would be able to perform the function. "I can go. I'm familiar with security systems, but I would need to secure my jack on the outside of the suit. If that's possible."

Lawrence stepped inside the cockpit doorway. He was in full-on collected mode, having willed his hangover to go away, or at least, his body to ignore it. Dressed in his casual clothes - slacks, a half-tunic, and a black leather blazer - he was an image of smooth confidence.

"I'm ready when you are, Captain," he said with a serious nod. "How long until we go?"

Paladin was surprised at Lawrence’s answer, he was even more surprised when the guy showed up in the cockpit doorway. Was the guy serious? Paladin would love nothing more then for Lawrence to step up and show some competence in something useful to the team. But he really doubted this. Once everyone had a chance to answer he replied.

Over the intercom he says, “Thanks...” Part of the thanks was for Qamala’s information and the rest was for everyone else’s. “Everyone with the skill you’ve just got assigned to one of the...” He looks straight at Lawrence, “Hardest, dirtiest, and most dangerous jobs I know.” One way or another he needed to make sure Lawrence knew what he was getting into. He was haif hoping the man would weasel out again.

Lawrence just winked at him while he fiddled with the button on the cuff of his jacket.

Back to normal he continues, “It’s going to take about two hours for me to get close enough to line up our cargo bays to make the transfer. Meanwhile those going on the EVA need use the time to prepare to suit up and get what ever you think you are going to need. Those not on the EVA need to work out how their skills can be used through other hands because they will need your help. Also the cargo bay needs to be secure for decompression.”

Jacob glanced over at Morgan. "So, does that mean I'm going, or staying and letting Teagan handle it?" He shifted slightly, uncomfortable with the idea of letting someone else do his job for him, but happy to have an excuse not to go.

"No offense meant Jacob, but no matter how good you are, if you haven't been trained to do it is zero gees your reactions and habits will be all wrong. Out there being wrong will get you killed. Work with Teagan and make sure she has what she needs to follow any instruction you might give her."

Jacob avoided sighing with relief with effort. "No offense taken. I don't want to shirk my duties, but I don't need to get someone else killed either. Teagan, I know you know the basics, but I'm hoping there is some way for me to see what you see, just in case this thing isn't standard. Either way I'd like to stay in touch with you, just to be safe."

"I can transmit data and speak with you, but I don't have a way to record or transmit visuals." Teagan's tone was matter of fact.

Having given the assignments Paladin takes Willa post at the controls while she goes and gets ready for the EVA. He was sure there would be questions and disagreements and offers of advice. He would deal with them as they came. Meanwhile they would be doing six gees to the other ship, and he would be watching the sensors like a hawk for anything out of the ordinary. He also double checks that their EM masking is still running properly

It took two hours to reach the other ship, even at 6 gees. Plenty of time for everyone to make their preparations. Plenty of time also, to study the freighter, with sensors as well as with eyes. IR indicated no heat sources. Or, at least no heat sources penetrating the hull. The only EM signal remained the one Leeda had identified as the hum of a cryogenic plant running.

At one thousand meters, Paladin began his maneuvers. He flipped Audacity over into a roll, slowly working her up to the same tumble rate as the derelict ship. Visually, it looked like the freighter first slowed, then finally stopped tumbling all together.

Then came the hard part. Using the starboard thrusters he started to match her spin. The problem was, because the ship had no gravitational field to hold Audacity in orbit, he also had to apply a specific amount of counter thrust to simulate the orbital movement.

One thousand meters, the spin of the freighter was slowing.

Five hundred meters and five minutes later, the spin had nearly stopped.

One hundred meters and another five minutes: Paladin's fingers were caressing the thruster controls constantly. The freighter had stopped moving all together. Audacity now hovered directly over its cargo bay doors.

Audacity and the freighter were now belly to belly, so it was now an instruments only operation; Short range ladar had to serve as Paladin's eyes for final approach.

Fifty meters, the freighter started to move again and they were dangerously close. One bump of a warp nacelle into the freighter and space would suddenly look a lot bigger. Paladin struggled to correct Audacity's rotation rate. Fifty more meters was all he needed for the short range force field at the cargo bay to lock the two ships together.

Five meters. The closer they got the harder it seemed to be to hold Audacity steady. Ladar showed the freighter steady, then it would shift. Steady, then it would shift.

One meter, steady, steady, and... Paladin punched the button. The force field came on. Red, yellow, then green. They had a hard lock to the other ship, directly over her cargo bay doors.

Sweating just a little bit Paladin exhaled as he locked it in. After a short pause he relays over the comm. "We are in position. Confirm final readiness then begin. Time to get this show on the road."

Leeda held on tight to the exam table as the Audacity shifted and rolled. Though the inertial stabalizers did a good job keeping everything on what everyone agreed was the ground, they couldn't quite compensate for the sharp movements required to get the two ships locked together. The result was a slightly nauseating feeling of weightlessness, in fits and starts, like taking a transport over a hill too fast and dropping out on the other side, followed by abrubt returns to full gravity. All in all, she was glad she hadn't eaten much of anything for the past few hours.

Morgan pulled his helmet on and did a quick triple check on his gear -- once he was sure everything was right, slapped the wall twice (as was the tradition on his last ship). "Ready." He spoke into his comm-link. He looked to the others before opening the airlock.

"Ready." Teagan repeated as she checked her tool belt one last time. "I will need to be in front so that I can open the orphaned ship's cargo door."

Lawrence had been studying Morgan's every move out of the corner of his eye and did his best to match them. There wasn't a scrap of information about these suits or EVA operations on the ship that he hadn't found and studied over the past hour, but that was still remarkably thin. He had made sure that he was with the others as they put their suits on so as to make sure he was doing it right. Reading a manual was no substitute for actually seeing it done.

He'd taken his time, always just half a step behind the others. Like with everything else, his helmet slipped into place and he gave it the half-turn and clamp as Morgan had done. And as with everything else he had a feeling of pleasant surprise that it worked.

On a spontaneous impulse, he tapped Morgan on the shoulder. "Check me," he mouthed before turning so the other could examine his suit.

"Yeah." Morgan mouthed back. He quickly checked and re-checked the various places where thing could go wrong. He gave Lawrence a thumbs up.

Morgan picked up a tether cable and readied the launch device. "Paladin we are ready -- waiting your signal to open air lock."

"You are clear to open." Paladin gave the signal. He made sure the cockpit overrides would not interfere. Then he flipped the switch that activated the Neural activity sensors. They hadn't really been close enough before, even now the hulls would interfere, but if those were going to have any use outside the ship... Now would be the time.

Qamala slid into a seat beside Paladin, an unaccustomed sober look on her lovely face. "Tell me what I need to do to help you here," she said quietly, gazing at the displays she'd been slowly learning about since their departure, weeks before.

“More eyes.” The young man replied soberly. “Right now all the sensors are clear, any changes could be very bad. Help me keep an eye out for them.” Knowing that their job is more about waiting he continued. “Right now to any other ship we are just a slightly larger blip on the GRANAR then it was before we got here. So unless they are looking for us, or we are in their flight plan most ship should fly right on past. For those that are looking for us, well unless they know where to look, space is large and this is a very active system. Any EM from use that is not shielded should be weak enough to be lost in the background noise. Still they only have to have a bit of luck, or we make only one mistake...” He trailed off

"Understood,"she agreed grimly, putting her mind to work in memorizing each and every display she could see. "That was a fancy bit of flying you did to get us hooked up to the derelict," she went on almost absently. "And I hope we never have to go through something similar again. I thought I was going to be sick."

“It’s pretty common if you try docking with out of control ships often. Which in and of itself is not a common thing. Planets, stations and controlled ships all have their unique issues but none of the involve tumbling around like a child’s toy. Matching that is what caused you to feel sick. Pulling away should be much cleaner.”

"Oh good." Her long fingers dipped into a pouch on her belt, retrieving what Paladin recognized as a single-shot hypospray. "Just in case it isn't, Dr. Paayt gave me this," she said, grinning a little. "Anti-nausea medicine. So I don't, ah, how did Morgan once put it? `Blow chunks'? All over your displays?"

Willa punched the button to begin depressurization of the cargo bay and a warning alarm went off. "Warning... depressurization has begun... Warning... depressurization has begun." A light over the cargo bay doors was red. A minute later it turned yellow, then finally green. "Depressuization complete." The ship dutifully told them.

It was a strange feeling. Nothing had changed. They were still standing on the deck; the lights were still on. Everything was just as it was when they suited up -- except if they took of their helmets they wouldn't be able to breath.

Willa worked the control for the cargo bay door so it would clam shell instead of going down like a ramp, and with a growl the hydraulics pushed the doors open. Directly below the team, only two meters away, was the hull of the other ship. And, shimmering around the cargo bay was the force field that kept the two ships locked together. It also served to keep them from cavorting off into space. And, had there been an atmosphere on the other ship, it would also have preserved the environment -- though 180 degree gravity rotations are notoriously disorienting.

In this case, the gravitic field stopped at the ship's deck, so one could literally `fall' through the cargo bay door, but once below the ship, there you were, just, well, floating in space. It was a little bit like being suspended in a swimming pool, but there wasn't even water to push against.

Reading the depressurizing of the cargo bay Paladin activates the radio, “Alright people. The priority is the Cyrotube, followed by any information about the ship or the cyrotube’s occupant. Third is salvage our space is limited so if you grab something make it count. Repressurizing the ship and restoring gravity might be useful, or it might take more time then it is worth so at your discretion. Happy Hunting.”

Teagan followed Morgan's lead as they approached the derelict ship. Once they reached the other ship's cargo door, she floated ahead of him and grabbed a hold of the door to steady herself. She pulled out a wrench and began cranking the hydraulics manually to open it.

"This ship hasn't been derilict for very long. I see no dust in the crevices, no pock marks from being banged into by rocks and it looks like it has been maintained." Teagan reported the ships exterior condition to everyone on the channel.

Lawrence clutched a hand-hold at the end of audacity's airlock and tried to look casual. The thought of trying to look casual in a vac suit while performing an EVA was stranger than he was used to, and the motion of the rest of the universe wheeling around them didn't help him any.

Easy, Bourne...breathe...breathe... His face was a mask of serenity while his insides were full of adrenaline. It was doing wonders for his hangover - it barely registered now - but he forced himself to a regular breathing pattern in order to not appear completely over his head.

So far so good, he told himself. Just breathe...breathe...

Qamala winced at Teagan's description. "This feels more and more like a trap with every moment that passes," she murmured, maintaining a steady pace in monitoring the displays. "I don't like it. Please be careful over there."

Leeda listened anxiously as the team moved in on the other ship. At Qamala's words, a nauseating flutter started up under her breastbone; it honestly hadn't occurred to her that this could be anything than what it appeared. She cursed herself silently. She had insisted, she'd been the one to say they couldn't possibly pass the ship by. Apparently, she still hadn't gotten the hang of being mistrustful. She only hoped it wouldn't be others paying for the lack this time. And, she reminded herself, it could just be what it appeared to be, a ship in need of aid, a possible life-form stuck without their assistance, and they had fortunately come across the hulk shortly after it was disabled. At the location they were headed to already. In the middle of the vastness of space. She cursed again, the flutter kicking up to a buzz, uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Answering Qamala and unaware of Leeda unspoken concern he said while still working on the Neural activity sensors , "I've been expecting a trap since it appeared. So we have taken every reasonable precaution, and continue to do so." He said as reassuringly as he could.

It took several minutes for Jack to crank open the cargo bay doors. Disturbingly, they opened in ramp formation rather than clam shelling apart. Obviously, the last time the cargo bay doors were opened the ship was on the ground somewhere.

"It isn't the `reasonable' that concerns me," Qamala replied, but she flicked him a smile to show she appreciated the reassurance.

Morgan was first in, he swung in and turned on the powerful light attached to the shoulder of his suit. "Video up." He radioed back, "Paladin, you getting this?" He moved about 1 meter inside the ship and began looking around, waiting for the rest to catch up with him. He was in a strange, dormant, dark space craft; but he was used to that. What he wasn't used to was that he hadn't helped to make it this way. Rescue mission, not piracy. He reminded himself.

Jacob watched the video closely. The only way to assuage the guilt he felt at not being there was to do everything he could to help them deal with any security systems they might find. He wasn't sure he could spot anything on a video monitor, but he was going to try his best.

Teagan waited for Morgan to pass before following him into the hold. For now she kept a tight hold on the wrench she had used to crank open the doors.

The first thing that greeted Morgan's light was the face of a woman. It was upside down and blue; her hair floated in the weightlessness of space like millions of tiny Medusa snakes. Her body was floating over the ladder to the upper deck, and there was some kind of wiring attached to her ankle. Probably the only thing that had kept her body in the ship during the explosive decompression. She had been wearing a standard light duty vac suit under a bomber jacket similar to Willa's, but no helmet or PLSS was hooked up. Obviously, they weren't prepared -- if one ever can be -- for a hull breech.

The next thing Morgan noticed were the flashing lights to his right.

As his light scanned the blackness of the cargo bay, he noticed it was empty. Completely empty. As in, the only cargo of any kind this ship was carrying was one standard cargo case. It was attached to a pedestal and the pedestal was fastened to the deck grate in the standard fashion. On one one side of the case was a small control console with some lights blinking on the panel. It was those lights that had caught his attention. It seemed to be the only sign of life left about the ship.

The cargo case, like all cargo cases, was slightly over two meters long with tapered ends, about a half meter wide, and slightly less than that in thickness. On the end his light illuminated a logo. It said quite clearly ITI.

Teagan continued forward, unaffected by the dismal scene in the ship. "I can see the woman's body, she seems in tact. lt also seems that the cryogenic plant in the pedestal, is still connected to the cryogenic environment. It appears we have a survivor."

At the far end of the cargo bay his light showed where the explosion had ripped through the after bulkhead. Two more bodies hung there, impaled on the sheared metal, also dressed in light duty vac suits sans PLSS gear or helmets. Congealed and frozen blood swirled around them like tendrils. There was also some stuff floating near the bulkhead at the after end of the bay. Tools, boxes, test equipment, cargo tie downs, and so on. Stuff that must not have made it out through the hole before decompress had completed.

Once Morgan stepped forward on to the ship the Neural activity sensors picked him up. This confirmed for him that they were working. Knowing that it was a gruesome sight Paladin continued in his calm tone, "Alright guys, we are not detecting neural activity but your own. If there is anyone on board, they are not thinking enough to be a threat. Now this looks like an ITI ship so that means data recovery just became part of our larger mission."

"Understood." Teagan replied to the Captain as she made her way further into the ship to see if there was anything salvageable in regards to the operating systems and data on board.

"Jack," Morgan asked, "Check the wire on that body before moving any farther inside." Morgan then went into the cargo area and over to the pedestal, then jumped up to the control console. "Doc -- you reading this? Is this what you're looking for?"

Teagan obediently swung her gaze back to the exposed wire and rechecked it. "It has no functionality, it is dead. It is also a fiber optic wire which poses no danger when exposed."

Lawrence was a study of relaxed concentration as the others traversed the brief nothing between one ship and the next. A step here, a gentle push-off there, an easy landing over there - in the slow ballet that was spacewalking it all seemed easy enough. He checked the distance which looked to be little more than a meter across. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, he thought.

A step and a gentle push and Lawrence was falling...sideways? What??...Um... His muscle memory reacted quickly by stretching for a handhold but the lack of leverage in zero-g made it a silly-looking and wild flailing gesture. The cargo doors were moving away and he helplessly tumbled towards the force field binding the ships together. He didn't think touching those would be a good idea.

Don't panic...don't panic...don't - fuck that! "Um, guys? A little help please?" There was definitely an uneasy tone breaking through Lawrence's usually smooth delivery.

Something grabbed Lawrence's foot just before he hit the force field. Willa had been half way through the ramp when she reached up and pulled him back down. "In space you have to compensate for your dominant side," she said in a noticeably neutral tone. "Hands on the ramp, spacer," she pointed to where one of her own gloved hands held onto the freighter's cargo ramp. Then, once he was secure, she floated through into the blown hull with a pull of her wrist.

Oh, of course it had to be the Harridan, Lawrence griped inside his head after the thrill of rescue subsided. Now I'll probably have to thank her. I think I might prefer spinning off into space. He took a moment to gather himself and then followed her into the other ship...carefully.

His study of the others served him this time and he cruised through the hatch and did an unintentional twist-and-step that landed him squarely and gracefully among the others. He managed to hide his surprise at his accidentally skillful display and fronted with an 'I meant to do that' confident nod at the others. Easy peasy...riiiiight.

"Captain this ship looks about as dead as they get," Willa said through the comm as she floated up to Morgan. "If you want data were either gonna need a power coupling, and we'll have to isolate systems in order to not fry everyone and everything, or Jack's gonna have to remove all the RQAM^† cards from their computers one by one."

Time to be useful, Lawrence thought, still settling the butterflies in his stomach from his previous misstep. "Could we shorten our time by grabbing the cards from specific computers only? I'm thinking whichever would hold the captain's log, the crew roster, and the cargo manifest."

Paladin didn’t know nearly as much as the others in this area, “Teagan I need a technical assessment here. Balancing speed, safety while on board that ship and data recovery, what is your call on our options?” He would have left it there, but both he and Qamala saw it at the same time. A new target appeared on the granar. A ship in warp, in their area. It was still to early to know anything about it yet. "Guys we just got a blip, keep working while we figure it out, but keep your exits open."

"The biggest risk is safely moving the cryogenic case. It is too big to fit through the Cargo Doors, so we would need to transport it. Breaking it from it's base would prove fatal to the human. There is no way to conclusively determine if there are any dangers present in the chamber or case." Teagan paused a moment to allow the Captain to process.

"To remove all of the RQAM cards in conjunction with salvaging the case, would take approximately two hours. To remove only Sick Bay and Logs, would take approximately one hour. Cargo manifests may not be present. It would be advisable to look the ship over for memory cards, if Cargo data is priority. This will require all four of us working on the retrieval."

Paladin absorbed the information, "All right Teagan, Lawerence, start working on the RQAM cards. Morgan, Willa we need to know if the person is the cyrotube is alive before we make an effort on it. Find the readout in it and feed the video to Doc."

Leeda rubbed her eyes as the team relayed their position and findings, including the bodies of the unfortunate crew, still floating, exposed to the harsh effects of space. She sent a tendril out to Qamala on the bridge; "Those poor people. I wonder if they even knew what was happening, before it did." She knew Qamala could feel her sadness, she didn't try to hide it. "I wish there was something we could do for the crew, retrieve the bodies, something. Instead of just leaving them here, floating... all alone."

Qamala sent back a warm stream of love and comfort and reassurance, sensing Leeda's sorrow through their link. "Those are just the empty vehicles, heartsister," she replied, not making light of the deaths, just keeping clear about the reality. "Just the way they were tied in to all this. They don't need them anymore, and are much less concerned about them than we are, at present." The flow paused as she reached up to touch the button Paladin indicated. "Can you tell yet whether that body in cryo is Duranaki?"

She was brought back to the present as Paladin relayed his orders for the team, nodding even as she keyed in to add, "Be sure you don't move anything, though. As Teagan said, the unit and the console appear to be two discrete parts, the case and pedistal there, so don't seperate them. Don't want to disconnect anything important..."

Jacob tried to focus on the electronics around, rather than the bodies, but couldn't completely suppress a wave of nausea. The sight of the dead and floating bodies was nearly more than he could take. He hadn't ever actually seen a dead body before, outside of a funeral home, and wasn't prepared for the state of them. In an effort to avoid embarrassing himself by getting sick, he looked down at his console and took deep breaths.

Willa floated over to the case. Above the display, in the center of the case, the text: "Model: A56CBE451 SN:123 C 65 AB4 LOT:A2" had been stenciled. "Morgan, check out the pedestal. See if there's any other connections to the deck plate other than the locks."

The display itself was complicated. It was divided into three sections. The top was the only part any of them but Leeda could understand. One was the temp: 49.27° C. Next was specific gravity: 0.98 sg. Finally, the viscosity: 1.945 cP. Next was a section of readouts that had something to do with fluids, but it was way over a layman's head to decipher. At the bottom was a 3D outline of the body inside the case that was color coded. The different colors blending slowly or sharply into each other in various parts of the body. There was also a halo kind of effect around the outline. It was biggest at the head and over the chest. Smallest at the extremities. Below that display was another scrolling line of data that was too technical to make anything out of, though common sense said the data had something to do with the body.

Around the display were a series of buttons. Some were flashing green, others yellow, a few red, while still others weren't lit at all. Obviously they controlled the cryogenic plant.

"Come in and sit down, Jacob," Qamala murmured. "We could use your help." She was obviously distracted, trying to have her eyes everywhere on the displays at once. Before he could answer, she squeaked in startlement and pointed at the radar display. "Paladin! There's a line there! I think we just got bounced."

The computer was already displaying the information Qamala couldn't yet understand -- the line stretched toward The Twins (the center of this solar system). It was on the H band, which meant it wasn't Imperial Navy, and it was very weak. The computed chance of detection? 10%

Jacob moved his bulk into the pilot's compartment reluctantly. It wasn't that there wasn't enough room, he just always felt like he took up too much space. He slid into a chair just in time to see the report that Qamala noted. "Yep," he added. "Something over there is looking for us." He examined the controls, not certain what he could do. "Any way to increase our ECM or something, hide better in space?"

Pulling up the visual sensor Paladin answers Jacob’s question, “Nope this is as hidden as we can get out here. Still the computer says 10%. That makes 90% that they didn’t and I think the computer is off. This system is very noisy. Even if they did they got one blip back not two.” Adjusting some knobs he continues, “The result we got are what we would expect if we where radar scanning someone else at about 16 million kicks. Anything that close is searching for the ship, there is no other reason to be out this far, and it will still take them some time to close the distance.” The twisting and turning of the ships was not helping him find the source of the radar signal.

Leeda squinted at the slightly fuzzy video display that played on the monitor in front of her. "Well. That's.... weird. There's a body in there, for sure, human... shaped. I can't say humanoid, because anything even remotely resembling our physiology would expire, exposed to temperatures like that for an extended period of time. It's not a cryo-chamber at all. I mean, its not holding something in cold suspension. With those temperatures and fluid specs..." She muttered to herself, already moving away, grabbing her data pad and accessing the files she had brought with her. There was something, a note, or maybe an article in a journal? "It's a womb." She said over her shoulder to the still open comm. "That fluid isn't cryo-based at all, its like... anmiotic fluid. Something is growing in there, I just have no idea what..." She trailed off again, frowning down at the readout as the half-remembered piece of data continued to elude her. "It's not human... definite neurological function but, strange. There are independant temperature readings but they're off the scale for human norms, and fluxuating... circulatory, something pushing *something* around... where is that article?" She muttered to herself, but loud enough to be read over the still open comm system.

Paladin pulled his head up to check on the warp ship, “An artificial womb? Not what I was expecting.”

Morgan searched the pedestal and base and frowned. "Um ... This is weird." He said. Then he took a step back and tried to feel for a different latch; he seen pedestals like this once or twice - there was always some kind of trick about getting it loose. "Damn." No, that didn't work either. He leaned into the pedestal and shoved against it as hard as he could, and (of course) that didn't work either.

"Whatever this thing is - it doesn't want to be moved." Morgan announced. "Hey - Doc - should we look into cutting the foot with a torch or would that be 'bad'?"

"Leeda my sweet, what's in that thing?" Qamala wanted to know.

A womb, interesting. “Leeda, can you replicate the conditions of the stasis chamber in sick bay? We don’t have time to figure out how to get this thing transported whole over there. Not only do we need to get back on our way to Epsilon, we don’t want to be sitting ducks out here.” As a woman from a genetically modified race, Willa was intrigued with the contents of the unit, but wasn’t willing to jeopardize the mission, even if it meant having one up on ITI.

Now that Jacob was looking at the panels in front of him rather than the bodies, he was able to focus on the problem better. "Hey Teagan, those latches are probably secured by an independent system. There are lots of ways it could be done. The first thing to do is look for some sort of control panel for them. Probably something small and portable. If you've got a power tracer, see if there is any juice running through them."

"I have a hint of an idea, but I'm not going to be positive about it until I can find this file that I thought I brought with me... in any case, I'm definitely sure we shouldn't remove the specimin from its environment if I can't figure out what it is, and if it is what I think it might be, removal still wouldn't be wise." Leeda knew she was being cryptic, but she couldn't help it. She was slowly tracking down the file; her system was loosely based on chronology, with a seperate tree structure for subject matter. She'd gotten to what should be the right time period, and now if she could just recall what she'd used as a retrieval keyword, she'd be in business. She'd already tried research and cutting edge with no success. "Hey, someone mentioned this was an ITI vessel, correct?" She tried that, again, no dice. "Well, if I'd just done as my thesis advisor suggested and established a concrete system, this would not be a problem... think Leeda..." One last possibility floated up from memory. "'Science Fiction': Query results equal one. Article, Journal, 'Frontiers in Artificial Science' Text with illustration, no video, no holographic record. Body of article as follows:.." Leeda squeaked and cut off the computerized recitation excitedly. "Halt recall. Search query, text, instance of key words: Artificial Life Form or acronym, biological construct, chemical programming, all combinations of above words." She waited nervously as the unit hummed, then pleasently related an answer. "Ten instances of query text. Including combinations, 34 instances of query text." Leeda slapped the pad down on the desk and whirled back to the comm. "I know what's in there. Oh goodness, this is exciting. Its absolutely cutting edge, I mean... I have absolutely no idea what its doing all the way out here, my god, if I was in charge of a project like this I'd keep it in a vault..." She stopped herself, taking a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself, and succeeding to a degree. "If I'm right, and I'd bet my first born that I am, this is an ALF, but... it's a new type, something they've been talking about, but I had no idea it was in production, even experimentally... It's not cybernetic, not a robotic shell... its a biological construct. An engineered biological computer." She held out her hands, which had a fine tremor. "I mean... goodness. This is amazing. This is exciting. Very exciting. Really extremely very exciting." She grinned at the speaker of the comm system, wishing there was someone in the room that she could hug.

"Yeah, okay, great..." Lawrence's impatient voice came over the line. Not a cryo-whatever? That's just peachy.

"Look, can we make ice with this thing or not?" He caught Teagan looking at him. "What?"

Paladin was seeing something out there, but he kept losing it on the rotation, before he could magnify in. Realizing that chasing it was futile Paladin changed tactics. Knowing the general coordinates Paladin moves to the ops station and let the computer crunch the numbers of where it would show up given their spin and roll. Then when the computer starts spiting out co-ordinates he routes them to the cameras. The computer could track it much faster then he could. There would be blips and stuff because of blind spots but it should be much better. One the computer had it tracked then he could zoom in on it. While he is working that he listens to the Doc. “Calm down Doc. We did this on the possibility that someone might be alive over there and in need of our help, and you’re telling us that it is a science experiment instead?”

Information was coming in at a furious pace and Qamala rode it like the edge of a wave, smirking once in genuine amusement at Lawrence's question. "Stolen goods, perhaps?. I can't think of any other reason for it to be out here in the middle of nowhere."

It worked the cameras focused and zoomed in and found a Corsair. From what Paladin knew of about corsairs he placed it no closer than 16 million away. It would have the Audacity outgunned, then Paladin saw the aspect of the Corsair and grinned. Then he looked over to the Warp ship as the computer finished its number crunching. The closest approach would be about 1 light year. “We are still in clear everyone. No one is reacting to our presence.”

"Well done, Captain," Qamala murmured, a smile of approval and relief making her look even younger than she normally did. "Still, my friends -- we have a job to do and I remind everyone that we're in a race to do it. So let's be about this side-stop quickly, please?"

Willa pulled out her power tracer and pressed it onto one of the latches. As she did so she spoke over the com, “Paladin we’ll need two TIES pads transported over here. The sooner we get this thing unlocked and over there the sooner we can get out of here. Lawrence, would you mind heading up to the living quarters and looking for the Mem clips of the manifest? Maybe you’ll find an ice maker while you are up there.” There was not a hint of sarcasm in that last bit. The power tracer lit, and she tried to follow the trail, but as soon as she moved it away, the light went out. “Morgan, check those other latches, please?”

The playboy shrugged deflatedly. "Okay, sure," and he made off to find the living quarters.

The first thing that Paladin wondered was why they didn’t take any TIES over with them. Still nothing good would come from voicing that idea now. “That would light us up like a supernova. Once we do that we need to be all done. I’m talking transport them over slap them on and transport back, then run like crazy done. And before we do that I’d like this Corsair to be a bit further away.”

"Sounds like a good plan. Let’s hope that Corsair isn’t the same one that chased us on our way out of Regillus. Do you have a visual on it?”

Leeda reacted to the captain's comment with something that bordered on anger, though it was an instinctive reaction, and probably one fueled by her own heightened emotions. She breathed for a moment as the team discussed how to move the unit, glad that they were taking her seriously in that, and then responded when she thought her voice wouldn't be shaking any longer. "Don't misunderstand what I said, Captain, for all that this is an experimental unit, it *is* an ALF, and designed to appear as a functioning human being. I don't know *exactly* what's in there, but I know enough to know that it might have been programmed already. It might be completely developed, just in suspended animation. In which case, even if it is stolen, it's a little bit more than goods." She stopped talking abruptly, feeling her breathing accelerate, and realized she might not have done as good a job of calming down as she ought. "My official opinion on rescue still stands. Sir."

Qamala threaded a tiny tendril of inquiry through the link she shared with Leeda, following it with the soothing sound of her mental `voice'. "Don't be too hard on him, my sweet. Or on me, please? We are all at terrible risk for this. All of us -- that ship that's passing us by in warp was a pointed reminder of just how much danger we could potentially be in here. Paladin feels it keenly -- and so do I, just from sitting next to him."

As if to emphasize the point, a new, and very large, blip appeared on the granar screen. Then it quickly dissolved into seven smaller blips. While Paladan and Qamala and Jacob were pondering those developments the corsair vanished from the canopy display right in front of their eyes. Then yet an eighth new blip appeared on the granar.

"Oh by the powers." It was Qamala's voice, both over the comm and in Leeda's head. "Oh, oh no."

Willa’s head shot up at the sound of Qamala’s voice. There was dread behind every syllable. “What?” panic filled her own over the com link.

"Calm everyone calm..." He wasn't saying it for himself, because he really was calm. "We just got treated to 7 ships jumping to warp at the exact same time. It makes for a showy display on the grandar. Such formation flying is used by the Imperial Navy in fleet maneuvers. 7 ships make it a Carrier group. That means a Imperial Naval Carrier Group just warped out of Meridian Navel Base. And then our Corsair friend also jumped. His course was perpendicular to ours. We still need to watch him but he is getting farther away."

The Magellen in the copilot's chair covered her face with her hands. "Am I supposed to get used to this?" She asked no one in particular. "How does anyone live like this? Sorry, Willa," she said contritely. "But that was.... heart-stopping."

The short hard laugh that escaped from Willa was part relief, and part humor. “You’ll get to know the different patterns eventually Qamala. I bet that was exciting, almost like fireworks. Damn Navy, always showing off.”

"Thank you, Willa." The gratitude in the words carried over the link. "I'll try to be a better credit to my teachers in future."

“You are a credit already. You’ve learned so much in such a short time, it’s impressive.” Willa went back to trying to figure out the latches on the deck, feeling a bit more secure, knowing her back was being watched.

Jacob watched Qamala for a moment. He didn't know anything for sure, but her reaction seemed off for just a strange display on the screen. She seemed worried about something, or even afraid, which was odd to him. He wasn't sure how to ask, but he finally screwed up his courage and spoke quietly to the beautiful woman. "Um, Qamala, did you see something the rest of us didn't? I know you can perceive things we can't. What happened?" Concern tinged his voice and emotions.

With a glance at Jacob, Qamala dropped her voice to a more intimate level so the others aboard the derelict couldn't hear over the comm. "It really was mostly the display," she told him earnestly, leaning in closer. "Willa and Paladin have been teaching me how to read them, but they still startle me when they light up like that. As for the rest... this just feels wrong, all the way through. Like bait for a trap," she went on, whispering now, though Paladin could hear if he chose. "So I'm nervous, but trying to control it so Paladin and the others can do what they're so well-trained to do."

Then she leaned back and smiled tenderly. "Thank you for asking though. It's so kind of you."

Jacob flushed at her praise and ducked his head slightly, returning his attention to getting the latches released."

The only way he could find to get to the living quarters, or anywhere else on the rest of the derelict ship for that matter, was via the ladder currently guarded by the floating dead woman. So Lawrence took a moment and scanned around the bay for another way up. Unfortunately, the only way was to go where the dead woman was. So Lawrence took another moment and scanned around the bay for another way up. Still there was no other way out of the bay into the rest of the ship.

He paused and wondered if he might be able to get into the ship from somewhere outside, but that would necessitate another trot around the spinning universe and given the crew's chatter about being in such a hurry he figured that might not go over poorly, perhaps poorly enough that they decided to leave him.

He sighed and stared at the floater again. There was nothing for it. He walked over and tried to step onto the ladder but the corpse drifted towards it and he backed off. It now hung between him and the ladder, as if it knew he wanted to go up and didn't want him too.

"Um, pardon me," he said to it before gingerly poking at it with a finger. As it moved away from him the hair flowed in the opposite dirction and covered his face.

Teagan, who had been watching Lawrence's antics with keen interest, grabbed the body as it began to rebound, and pulled it to a better location. Taking a few moments to check the pockets, pulling out an Imperial ID card and a License to operate as an Independent Freight Hauler.

"Oh, ick! Ick! Ick!" Lawrence's hands flailed about in front of his helmet trying to get the strands of hair out of his face. His reaction was to kick at the encroaching body and he sent it flying away to the extent of the wire wrapped around her ankle. It snagged at the end and started to rebound back and he scurried up the ladder as fast as he could.

At the top of the ladder Lawrence was greeted with the bridge and a wonderful view of spinning space outside, this ship apparently having real windows rather than just a heads-up display. In between two of the windows a single playing card had been tacked up. It was the Ace of Spades. And, there was yet another corpse. This one was was strapped into what he had come to know was the captain's chair. The hair was short, and he could see the edges of a beard around the back of the chair.

Behind the open bridge was what looked like a small living room. Couches, chairs, and end tables had all been bolted to the carpeted deck. In the center of the room was a holo-pit for watching movies. Along one wall was a book case -- a real book case -- full of books. It was tilted slightly and a bar ran across each shelf to hold the books in during the vagarities of artificial gravity. On the back wall hung a large sized stereographic picture of a man, a woman, and two small children. To either side of the couple was another man and woman. All were smiling happily. Everyone was wearing those tailored vac suits like the woman corpse was wearing. Below everybody in the picture the words "Crew of the Ace of Spades" had been profesionally lettered into the print in a calligraphic script.

To his left was a small kitchenette, though compared to their tiny food prep area on Audacity it now looked huge. To his right were two doors, both partially buckled from the force of decompression; there were two more doors on the left side, adjacent to the kitchenette, also partially buckled.

The living area was intriguing, almost inviting, so Lawrence made his way there first. He carefully moved in the zero gravity, keenly aware of his need to watch his momentum. The Harridan had been right - compensating for his dominant side helped. Lesson learned, he thought confidently with unfamiliar self-pride at his resourcefulness thus far.

He'd always loved to read in his youth and he'd seen his share of actual bound-page books. Like an explorer he swept his eyes across the spines on the shelves, his eyebrows raised at the impressive collection of authors. Twain, Lewis, Shakespeare, Tolkien, Tolstoy, Rowling...this crew's taste in fiction was very old-school. And the non-fiction was nearly completely political philosophy tracts from the likes of Jefferson, Marx, Mao, Gerrrand, and Zul'Aman.

There were drawers at the bottom of the bookcase and Lawrence opened them carefully. Nestled inside was a collection of mem clips which, upon examination, turned out to be mostly children's movies. Some of them were musical recordings, including a few live performances. The Police: Synchronicity Tour, Madison Square Garden? Where in the name of...how do people get this stuff? he wondered with amazement before tucking the mem clip into one of his suit's exterior pockets.

The endtables had drawers and so he moved to check those, too. One was empty, but the other had a set of clips that looked to be financial records of some kind. He pocketed these with his previous find and gave the room another quick once-over before deciding to move on.

Morgan looked up at Willa, then back to the bottom of the foot. He couldn't get his mind wrapped around the thought of rescuing a science experiment. This wasn't the kind of treasure he was used to. "Paladin, what do you want us to do? Try and take this thing? If not, I say we blow it; leaving this thing out here to be found by ... whoever ... seems cruel."

"The ship has ITI markings we need to know what they are up to. Once the pod is free to be transported you can move on to help Teagan and Lawrence grab any data or other useful stuff."

Morgan chaffed a little at the order, then clicked his mic twice to acknowledge that he understood the order. He looked up at Willa, I'm going to go back over and get the gear. You comin'?"

"What gear? Paladin is going to send the TIES over right before we are ready to transport. Right now we have to figure out how to get this thing detached from the floor." Willa looked down at the large array of buttons, lights, and boxes on the control panel and was overwhelmed trying to figure out which could disengage the locks. "Jacob, do you see anything here that might unlock this thing from the deck?"

"Oh." Morgan said, feeling a little stupid, "I thought he just sat on his ass all day long. My bad." With that, he jumped back up towards the keypad. "Jacob, have you considered hitting it with a stick?"

Jacob laughed quietly, still tense but glad for a job, even a long range one. "That might work, but it might also set off any booby traps on the thing. I'd hate for you to get blown up." He thought for a second. "It is probably something small and portable rather than something on the console, although I can't be sure. Since the tank is designed to be moved, so should the controller. Scan the room with the camera, let's see if I can see anything promising. Otherwise you'll need to check the other rooms. It's possible the control is in a cabin or something. The other option would be to cut them, but that might disrupt power or set something off."

As Morgan and Willa determined the items they needed, Teagan began working on removing the RQAM cards from the ship's operating systems. Her mind was free and clear of any pesky emotions that might have been bothering her crew mates. When her work brought her over to the dead man in the captain's chair, she emptied the contents from his pocket before turning the chair around to face the other direction.

Willa slowly scanned the room with the camera for Jacob, taking more time on the areas that were more cluttered, giving him time to see anything that might be a bit hidden. “See anything?”

Jacob watched the view screen carefully, looking for whatever might be the controller. Suddenly he spotted something. "Wait, stop. Go back. No, too far go back the other way, slowly. There, hold it." Unconsciously, the stylus was back in his mouth as he stared at the screen. "No, darn, that's the viewscreen remote. Keep scanning."

He continued to watch as things drifted by, but didn't see anything. Finally, as Willa turned to scan the next desk he sat up. "Hold it. In the corner. What's that hanging by the wall?" He looked closely as the camera moved it. "Yeah, grab that."

Morgan moved over toward the wall in question. "OK." He looked over to Willa, had she been able to see his eyes through the helmet; she would have seen a look of curiosity mixed with 'this is a trap'. He gave it a solid pull.

"Yeah, bring that over here. Hold it up in front of the camera for me." Jacob studied the black box with a set of buttons on it. Rather than numbers, the buttons were covered with obscure symbols. "Great, electronic key pad. I'd almost rather deal with retinal scan," Jacob mused to himself. "Well, the safe way is to search the ship for the code. Of course, we don't know which cabin it might be in, and I can't even tell what the symbols are for, so I think the easier way is just to crack the case and override the system."

The big man's fingers twitched as he considered how to do this. "You might want to get everyone else out of the room, just in case there is a bomb in it or something. I don't see any sign of a booby trap, but that doesn't mean there isn't one." He looked at the view screen, trying to see details of the case over the screen. "Whose got the steadiest hands?" Jacob asked.

With a hearty laugh, Willa turned to Morgan. I’ll roshambo you for it. Winner gets to stay.” She held out her left palm and placed her right hand in a fist on top, and waited for him to do the same. “One, two, three.” Her right hand landed flat on the palm of the other. “Paper beats rock! See ya.” She waited until everyone had moved out of the area, and looked down at the control pad. “Got any ideas Jacob? Otherwise, this could take awhile.” She pushed 4 of the symbols randomly.

For the first time on the ship, Jacob yelled. "Hey, whoa, Stop!!!" From nearby, he felt Qamala nearly jump out of her skin at that. He took a deep breath and calmed himself, once he was sure the ship didn't explode, then continued in a calm voice. "Well, so much for plan A. We'll have to crack the case open now. Please don't do anything unless I tell you to, OK?" Jacob rubbed his head slightly wondering if any of them would be alive in a few minutes. He considered trying to warn her of the possibilities, but decided it would probably be wasted effort.

As the quiet man’s voice came ringing through the com to her ears, Willa almost dropped the control box. “Umm... sorry. What should I do now?” Walk me through this one step at a time please.”

"OK, find somewhere to rest the box when you are working on it." Looking around, Willa found a workbench, she moved over to it, found some vices and clamped the box to the table. Jacob waited until Willa had the box secured. "I'm going to tell you what we intend to do, then I'll walk you through it, OK?"

“My hands are yours now Jacob, use me how you will.” Willa’s heart was actually racing. She had worked with electronics a bit, but never in zero gees.

"The box is fairly low security, so I don't think we'll have trouble getting it open. You'll unscrew the case, then I'll have to see what is inside. I'm hoping we can just blank the memory, then insert our own code. There are safe guards against that sort of thing, but I think we can get past them. If that doesn't work we'll have to send a power surge through the sender independent of the key pad. That will work, unless it burns the sender out first or there is some kind of booby trap on it." Jacob thought for a moment. "I suppose worst case I'll have to rebuild the unit and go from there. That would probably take too long, however."

Jacob took a deep breath. "OK, let's get started. On the back of the unit, there are four screws. They are currently blocked by tamper-shields, which you will need to pry off. Get one of Teagan's flat-head screw-drivers. Work the tip under each shield and gently pry it off. Watch carefully for any wires or metal connection points as you do so. If you see any, stop immediatly."

Willa moved over to Teagan’s work bag, which she had thoughtfully left in the cargo bay, and brought it over to the work bench and followed Jacob’s directions.

Once Willa had done that, Jacob continued. "OK, now move the camera so I can see the screw heads." He looked for a moment. "Great, square drivers. See if Teagan has any square driver zero-G screwdrivers." Looking at the screwdrivers Willa held up, Jacob nodded. "The one on the left should work. Fit in into the screw, then push the button. Do that for each screw and remove them.

Jacob wiped a bead of sweat away from his forehead as Willa removed the screws. A companion bead of sweat rolled down Willa’s face, but the helmet made it impossible for her to wipe it away. The suits ac control kicked in to help lower her body temperature, but that didn’t slow down her heart rate. Jacob tried hard not to think of all the ways this could go badly. Fortunately, the screws came out, they weren't one-way. "Good. Now set the screws aside, but don't lose them. We might want them again later. Time for the fun part. You need to be very gentle, but firm. I don't know if you can grip enough in your suit, so you might want the grippers from Teagan's kit."

Once the screws were removed, Willa placed them in a container and turned it upside down in the air next to her. That should keep them close at hand. She removed the grippers, “Ok, now what?”

Jacob said a brief prayer to a deity he didn't believe in. Two hands came to rest on his shoulders, gently, non-demanding, supportive without being distracting.

Jacob jumped slightly at the unexpected touch, then focussed on the screen. "Grip the two sides of the case and slowly increase pressure until they come apart. Don't pull them any further apart than you absolutely have to." He wanted to close his eyes as Willa pulled, but didn't dare. The case resisted for a moment, then popped suddenly, the two halves coming apart in her hands. A wire snapped loose from the tension. "Gaa," he sputtered, waiting for the explosion. When all remained calm, he dared to breathe again.

Willa released the breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. Jacob's tension was flowing through the com system to her. She took a deep breath to calm herself back down to her regular tension level.

"Good job. At least we're all alive still." Jacob considered the two halves for a second. "Alright, put the box back down on the table and let's see what is what." The big man's hands continued to twitch as he considered the open case. "Yep, low security indeed. We got lucky. Keep the two halves close together, so the wires stay attached, but we're going to work with the front, the part with the keypad. The board there controls the signal. If we're even luckier, it will have a built in reset."

"Sounds good. I'd cross my fingers if I could."

Jacob cursed quietly as his view of the board got better. "Just my luck. The idiots put the memory module in backwards. How hard is it to understand this end up? We'll have to remove the module to get at the reset. See the black box right in the middle? It is soldered down to the board, which is just clumsy. It should have snap-connectors instead."

"Civilians, can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em." Willa's laugh sounded distinctly nervous.

"No, next to that. There, that." With a little direction Jacob got Willa's hand on the right piece. "OK, get Teagan's solder iron." He waited a moment, then grunted. "No, that is an engraver. This looks something like that, but has a metal strip sticking out of it. Yeah, that's right. Now, what we are about to do, never, ever do, OK?"

"Umm... ok. I won't."

"Put the tip of the solder iron against the little metal blob there. Yep, just like that. Push the button gently. As soon as the metal melts, pull it away." Jacob watched closely. Willa did as she was instructed, now enjoying the racing of her heart. This was almost as fun as navigating an asteroid belt. "Now, pull it away. Quickly get the flat head screwdriver and pry the piece up, very gently. Gently, gently, gently," he kept repeating. When the piece was partway loose, he called, "Stop. Can you see a small button under the module? Using a toothpick, or stylus or something very thin, push it. The light next to it should flash."

Aaahh, the stylus he chews on, that makes sense now. Willa found one in Teagan's bag, and pushed the button.

When the light flashed, and the box didn't explode, taking Willa's hand with it, Jacob sighed in relief. "Alright, now we're almost done. Push the box back down and melt the solder again." Once the box was reattached, he nodded again. "Good. Now just enter a four digit code onto the keypad, then enter it again." Although the light was hidden now, Jacob knew it would stop blinking when Willa entered the code the first time. Willa found for symbols that looked similar to the word, 'bold'. It had now accepted that code as a new code. When she entered it a second time, there was a muted click as the latches released. "Good job again, and we are home free. Bring the box back with you, please." Jacob said, leaning back in his chair and wiping his brow again.

Leeda stood by the comm and listened anxiously as the extraction efforts took place. Several times she sucked in a breath, her finger hovering over the button on the console, tempted to key in... and say what, exactly? She was no expert on electronics, though she was no slouch either. Jacob had obviously dedicated his life to the art, and she couldn't add anything that he hadn't already thought of. The best she'd be able to do would be to warn them to caution, once again, but she'd already done that. She had no doubt that the crew understood the seriousness of the situation, though some of them might be thinking of profit or espionage rather than scientific curiosity. So, she laced her fingers together, to keep from chewing her fingernails to the quick, and remained silent, listening.

"Thanks for walking me through that Jacob. As you saw, I'd probably have blown us sky high if left to my own devices." Jacob had just earned a great deal of Willa's respect. She had known that he knew his stuff, but that was amazing. Her confidence in the crew she had been assigned to grew ten fold.

"You did great. Nice steady hands. If you ever get tired of killing people, you'd make a great electronics specialist."

Turning to the security guy Paladin tells him, “Good work there Jacob. Get your stuff and get ready in the Transport room. Once we bring it over you’ll need to go over it and make sure there are no bugs, tracers or bombs in it.” Then back over the radios, “Alright guys, as soon as you finish up your searching we will be ready to move on.”

"Thanks Captain, but Willa deserves most of the credit. She was the one in the hot seat."

Qamala's slender hands squeezed his shoulders in approval. "Perhaps, but your ability to explain what needed to be done was masterfully done, Jacob. A work of art, truly."

Blushing at the unexpected praise, Jacob got up and headed down the hallway, whistling quietly to himself. "Still got it," he muttered as he grabbed his kit out of his room.

The kitchen cupboards were bare, which was to be expected. Lawrence found a mem clip organizer in a drawer and flipped through the inventory. He discovered some decent fare before freezing and slowly retrieving the last clip in the Stack.

Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, vintage 2154...thirty cases??? Lawrence wasn't a white wine enthusiast - he usually preferred a good chianti when sampling the grape - but this was a gift horse whose teeth he was not about to inspect. he replaced the chip with the others and carried the entire organizer with him as he made his way to explore the rest of the ship. White wine...there must be ice here somewhere...

“Why don’t the rest of you head back now. Paladin will transport the TIES, and we’ll get out of here as quickly as possible.” As Willa waited around for the pads to be transported she looked around the cargo bay for anything else interesting. Poking in corners, and sticking her helmet where it ought not to be.

Morgan smiled, "Nice job not killing us all." He said, moving back towards Willa. "I'll stay here with you until we get it moved over. First in; last out and all."

Willa looked up at Morgan and considered him for a moment, then smiled back, and said, “Thanks.” She hadn’t given him a direct order, and this wasn’t a military operation, the extra set of hands would make things go more quickly as well.

Once he heard that the EVA team was heading back, Paladin turned to Qamala, “Alright, now you really get to watch the screens. Once we start Transporting we are going to call attention to ourselves, and so I expect there to be a reaction. I’ll need you to tell me what it is.” Once he was sure Qamala was ready he got up to join Jacob in the transporter room.

"All right," she assented nervously. eyes sweeping the readouts once again. "Just get Morgan or Willa up here as soon as you can, please?"

As he was working with Willa to make sure he had the correct co-ordinates to send the TIES to he called the Doctor to the transporter room as well. Once he was sure everyone was place he announces, “Alright everyone its show time.” And with that he flipped the final set of switches to transport the TIES over.

Audacity literally groaned as the power generators kicked into high gear. The normal low hum turned into a growl, then wound up into a deafening scream. The whole ship shuddered, once again feeling flimsy under the enormous power of the huge power plants that had crammed aboard the tiny ship.

Leeda clung to the edge of the table as the engines cycled up, the roar vibrating through the air, through the floor. She could feel the table shaking, the lights seemed to pulse and she closed her eyes, grasping harder even though the tremor was not enough to knock her down. The sheer weight of sound seeemed to try and push her into the floor, like a hand upon her head. She wanted to cover her ears, try vainly to block out the scream, but she couldn't get her fingers to unclench from their safe grip.

One by one the lights on the control panel flipped from red to yellow, then green as the power plants roared to full power. Behind her Audacity threw a blazing orange tail fire a kilometer long. Their pitch and roll made it look from afar as though a comet had suddenly blazed to life.

Breathe, Qamala. Just breathe. Keep your eyes moving, calmly.... breathe... She watched the displays continuously, ready to give a shout when the reaction Paladin expected occurred.

As the final light turned green on the panel, the TIES pads faded from view, reappearing simultaneously right where they were supposed to on the freighter. Then, as the lights went out on the control panel, the scream of the power plants began to wind down as well, slowly returning to the comforting hum they'd emitted before.

In three seconds flat Audacity had just used enough fuel to burn half way to orbit from an Earth like planet.

The scream of the power plants was almost overpowering in Willa’s ears. She couldn’t imagine what the crew out on the line between the ships was hearing! The TIES appeared in front of her, and she worked to move them under the cryo unit.

Morgan stood at the open airlock, watching the space between the ships and the area he could see. He had helped everyone else get back over and had helped get the provisions across. This place was way too busy for this kind of raiding. They had been lucky so far; but, was this a good use of their luck? He wondered. All that they had really gotten out of here was that case, some tech and some food stuffs. Well, that and a 200 year old firearm he had taken from one of the cabins.

As soon as he received the signal that the TIES where in place, Paladin activated the transporter again to bring the Cryo Unit on board.

Once again Audacity growled, then screamed as she worked to dissolve the case and pedestal aboard the freighter. From his perch between ships Morgan witnessed her breath -- the silent, blazing orange tail fire that seemed to stream behind them into eternity, lighting up both ships like a beacon. From inside the freighter the scene was ghostly. Expecting the transport, but in the silence of space unaware of Audacity's scream, Willa watched the case change suddenly from opaque and substantial to gossamer and spectral. It had nearly faded from view when, almost as an afterthought, ghostly fingers seemed to reach out and take the TIES pads she'd place beneath the pedestal to facilitate the transport.

Once the pads had disappeared Willa walked over to the cargo bay doors and patted Morgan on the shoulder. She smiled at him, “Let’s get off this death trap.” Then she pushed off and back over to the Audacity. When she landed down in the now familiar bay, she waited for Morgan to return, then closed the bay door and recompressed the room.

OOC: I have to shoe horn this info in here somewhere, and this was the best spot I could find. Apologies in advance if it requires others make some edits.

Lawrence was oblivious to the delicate machinations of the crew as they dealt with the case and cryo unit. He'd gone through the four other rooms and in each he'd begun to piece together a little more of the mystery of this ship.

The rooms had been the living quarters of the crew. There was one for what was obviously a couple, and based on the pictures he'd found floating about with all the other trappings one normally finds in a stateroom living space it was the man strapped to the pilot seat and the woman floating down in the cargo bay. Their stateroom had a nightstand which contained a mem clip that might have been the manifest and he'd stashed it with the others he'd found.

Two of the other rooms had to have belonged to the other two adults whose corpses decorated the aft bulkhead, a man and a woman. And then there was the kids' room. The kids must have belonged to the couple, who based on what clues he could find were very good friends with the other two adults. There were even signs Lawrence's experienced eyes spotted to indicate that "Uncle" and "Aunty" might have been friends with privileges, so to speak.

As he put together the relationships of the crew, something ate at Lawrence, gnawing at the edges of his reason. He'd pieced together everything but somethign wasn't right. Something was missing. No...someone was missing. Two someones, in fact.

"Pardon me..." Lawrence called on the radio, "but has anybody found the body of a child on this ship? Hello?"

After a few seconds of no answer, Lawrence realized that he hadn't heard from anyone in more than a short while. He pushed off a wall and drifted towards the ladder leading back down to the cargo bay. He'd misjudged the push, though, and was just able to grab the top rung before his body sped past it wide right.

"Gack!" Lawrence's body swung on the pivot of his left-handed grip and his lower body bounced off the far wall. It rebounded with some upward momentum, and he found himself upside down and flailing, still holding the ladder. It took a moment for him to remember that he only had to offer alternate momentum to fix himself, and in a few he was climbing the ladder back down - or in his new orientation, up - to the now-empty cargo bay.

Qamala's ears perked up at Lawrence's question, but since she wasn't on the away team, she kept her mouth shut and eyes fastened to the displays.

Back in the transporter room Paladin and Jacob saw the case fade into view. It paused briefly before solidifying, as though Audacity was thinking about the problem. Then the TIES pads appeared below the pedestal. There was another brief pause before, as though now satisfied, she let the case finished solidifying on the pads. The lights on the control console went out and the light in the transport emitters died as scream once again faded, then died, leaving only what they'd come to recognize as Audacity's normal rumbling hum of a heartbeat.

On the bridge Qamala watched the march of the lines on the granar display. The computer had finally decided the 7 ship carrier group was headed rimward. They had been as close as they would ever be to Audacity when they'd spectacularly entered warp in formation. Now they were moving away at warp 8.9 -- obviously in a hurry to be somewhere other than Meridian. Nothing else changed. The ships marched smartly across the display and the planets and moons and asteroids continued in their stately stellar pace as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

Once the Cyro Tube appeared Paladin’s hands worked the transporter controls once again. “Alright you guys this is your show now,” He said to Jacob and the Leeda. “Check it for bomb, tracers, toxins, poisons… whatever. If it poses any danger to the ship this is the ‘Oh God put it back button’” he said while pointing to a large green button on the transporter control panel. “Lets hope it was worth the risk.” He said as he left the room.

Jacob shook his head, ears still ringing from the sound of the transport. "We're gonna have to get some sound proofing or ear plugs if we plan on doing that very often," he said to Paladin. Then he pulled out his kit and turned to the capsule. "Let me know if you need me anywhere or anything, Doctor. I don't want to get in your way." He began carefully examining and scanning the capsule, checking for any unusual electronic readings that might indicate trouble.

Moving down the he used his com button to talk to the EVA team,“Morgan, Teagan… Once Willa is safely on board I want you to close the doors and break the links… Cause we are out of here.”

Arriving at the cockpit Paladin scanned the reading while he listened to whatever Qamala had to say, he verified her comments with his own eyes.

The young Magellen lifted her hands slightly. "Nothing seems out of the ordinary here to me, Captain. Does it scan all right to you?"

"It does... Looks like the busyness of the system worked in our favor," he said while taking the pilot seat and once he received the signal from the cargo bay, he maneuvered them free and back onto their course at 6 gees.

Willa removed her suit and headed up to the bridge to see what was happening. “How we doing on fuel Captain?”

Paladin glance over to the read out to confirm what he already knew. "The aux fuel tanks are dry and the main tank is just under half way, so about 14 days worth of fuel left. Will need to keep our eyes open for a convenient place to refuel."

Qamala slithered out of the co-pilot's chair with a warm smile for Willa. "Just keeping it warm for you," she murmured, putting herself in one of the two other seats to hear what these two most knowledgeable spacehounds had to say about their current situation.

When the beautiful Magellen got up Willa smiled and asked, “How did it go? Bit more action then we saw on those watches.” She took the co-pilot’s seat and settled in to take a look at what the equipment showed.

"Certainly was. Captain, I think we should have everyone sound off if they're back in Audacity, before we detach, don't you think?"

OOC: The EVAC team didn't leave without LBIII did they?