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548.1.6

The crisp, clean uniform enhanced the naval authority of Captain Stirling. It hadn't been buttoned up all the way yet, as it had in fact been donned in haste, but it certainly served him better than cryowear.

The bridge had been cleaned up in the few hours that had passed since the crisis resolved, and the rest of the bridge crew had appeared at last. Helmsman Mukinna struggled to control the attitude and yaw of the vessel with only maneuvering thrusters, apparently some forces were operating on the vessel, at least in minor ways, and until he received orders otherwise it was his duty to keep the vessel on the bearing they had originally set out on.

Jezial, a contracted civilian, operated the Observation console, taking in sophisticated representations of local gravity, estimated time dilation, and thousands of other terms that would boggle any other crewman, as had already been shown.

Ensign Exemplar operated her post assisting the helm, which mostly consisted of flipping various toggles back and forth so as to look busy, while she was really just happy to be included. Until Mars was found, at least for the time being, she would need to be on hand for the Captain.

The comm channel from engineering opened, and Ignak the industrious engineer appeared on the forward viewscreen.

"Captain, we have tried to flip the reactor several times, but with each try, an electrical fire is created somewhere on the ship. I do not feel it is safe to try again without your orders. Auxiliary power will fail in 24 hours. Ignak Out."

Stirling nodded his acknowledgement, and Ignak vanished from the screen. With a gesture, his staff started a countdown timer on one of the multipurpose displays.

"Sir! Comms here, I've got...what sounds like an intermittent distress signal coming in from Ranger 2. It is automated."

Lieutenant Commander Faarhi Bri was the next to report in.

"Sir, those damned monkeys....I mean...the deck crew here have finished the repairs to Ranger 3. There's still no sign of Reaper yet, so I don't think I can take it out to search for Ranger 2, but it's got a partial crew and is standing by. It would need a commander and orders, sir. Bri out, sir. Now what the fucking shit are you..."

The foul mouthed commander had already started chewing her men out again before closing the comms link. A wash of blushes swept over the bridge. The brashness of Faarhi Bri had been felt by any that had crossed her path, even those that outranked her.

The XO's station sat empty. According to the rumors, Commander Keen had pulled Ignak and several of his legendary engineering team out of a fire as it spread down the walls, and was then burned nearly to death himself. While he had not actually been placed on medical leave, he was rumored to be still sitting in the wheelchair he had been placed in after his operation.

The ominous red block numbers overhead slowly ticked away, a countdown to loss of life support.

23:59:59

[Begin. Place yourself where you wish to be. Any story that was not resolved in Episode 1 can be continued here, the 2nd part of the series opener.]

Episode 2: Post 1

With the recent crisis abating Voracity was able to finalize the medical logs, and arrange for the available staff to begin taking shifts. The arrangement of order was pleasant to the Matriarch’s mind. The most critical medical cases were stabilized, and assigned to rooms in the medical bay, so they could easily receive constant attention. The less than critical cases were slowly healed, and then sent to report for duty. Satisfied that most of this had been done well before the command terminal report, Voracity was quiet pleased with the efficiency of the staff it had.

Doctor Darr was given leave to act as he chose, and help were he thought he would best be needed. His skill had not gone unnoticed by the vigilant Matriarch, the only merit its quietly ordered mind cared for, or understood in all the dashing doctors deeds.

With nurse Voyin’s help the medical bay established clear guidelines for incoming checkups. Every member of the crew registered in the database was scheduled for examination, with the command staff of course being first. They had to work closely with security to keep order, and help find wayward personnel.

On top of this Voracity sent a request to Captain Sterling to keep a guard outside the medical bay at all times until all the prisoners had been accounted for.

Voracity also did what it could to try and locate the pregnant passenger. They last thing they needed was some mammal giving birth to a liter of wild beasts. The Matriarch didn’t need an competition for its own offspring when they started to arrive. Several things occurred to the Queen at this point: one; it was incredibly hungry, and needed to ingest organic matter soon, and two; it occurred to the Matriarch that the system may have been detecting its own unique biology, and logging the Queen as ‘pregnant’. If this was the case then such information was unnecessary, and it wouldn’t be prudent to keep filing a report. Thus, Voracity went about attempting to reprogram the medical sensors to exclude itself from the analysis, or if that wasn’t the case to pinpoint the creature that was being detecting.

[Roll Intelligence + Computer (no Computer skill): 3 successes to use the medical computer thingy.]

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/search/1262084

With that finished, and the routine established Voracity was finally able to take a break, and see about healing some of the damage that had been done to its near flawless physiology by the crude sciences of the Federation.

Despite it's attempts to use the computer, lacking any skill required it to actually interact with the computer. Lacking easy speech methods, the current ships computer was able to understand what Voracity wanted through the use of a manual terminal, though it still responded out loud.

"Golly Doctor, aren't I just pleased as punch to be included! I am the Endeavor of Mercy Museum and Tourism Replica ship's archival interface, and while Sign still isn't installed, I'd be pleased as punch to help you out in his absence.

That gosh darn report was already programmed to exclude your unique biology. If you felt like doin' so, you could see in the exclusion list an executive authorization to omit Biothreat XE-27915 from all interior scans. Your unique biology and the threat you pose to your fellow crewmen are ok by me, and they're ok by the federation. How about that!

Bonus information! The disease our systems detected seems to be spreading!"

Doctor Voracity noted that there wasn't anyone else in earshot while the computer thing rattled off his rambling, excessively friendly, but ultimately condescending report. As if on cue, Nurse Voyin appeared, now dressed in her sanitary and traditional white garb, covering all but her eyes. She had apparently refreshed herself and seemed reinvigorated. She smelled vaguely of cinnamon and honey, with a smoky sense to it, as though...as though she had been burning an aromatherapy candle in her quarters while taking a shower and dressing. Doctor Voracity did not require it's extreme and highly tuned senses or intellect to puzzle this one out.

"Doctor Varsity, I saw Doctor Darr leaving, he handed me this to give to you. I do hope he comes back at some point, he said that with the crisis over, he was planning to 'play nine holes by torchlight.' Is that a sexual reference? If so, I do not think it was appropriate of him to say it near the female nursing staff."

Voyin handed over a handwritten note, that to Voracity's inspection appeared to be an itemized bill for Doctor Darr's services during the crisis, including the use of some of his special equipment, and a charge for his publicity endorsement of the Endeavor medical bay. It was printed on letterhead that showed his address here on board the vessel.

Slightly perturbed by its inability to manipulate the grossly inefficient computer Voracity turned its mind toward other things. The condescending manner of the program passed over the Matriarch without effect. Its alien emotions unable to even register such social nuances. Its understanding was limited to the ineffectiveness of the machine to do what it wanted, and little more. The highly inappropriate tone, and phrasing was simply lost.

Nurse Voyin’s arrival, and the subtle hints of her previous activities were also somewhat lost on the asexual organism. The strong scents, and cleanliness made very little impact on the Queen. The change in odor, and body language was intriguing, but the reasoning behind it remained a mystery. Perhaps it would be worth discussing later. Voracity had quickly learned that socializing was a large part of most species culture, and the bonds that kept them together. It had also learned that the many methods of that social paradigm were as limitless and unique as the individuals employing them.

The current predicaments, however, took precedent over all this. These were of course the pregnant crewmember, and a contagious disease that seemed to be getting worse. The Matriarch wondered briefly if the two were related. Priority would be the disease, as that sort of thing in a closed environment could disrupt or destroy the whole ecosystem inside. To begin the young Queen was going to need help with the computer.

“Nurse Voyin, We are pleased you have arrived. We are in need of your assistance with this… technology. Apparently our vocal modulation, and projection is not sufficient to manipulate this software, nor are our skills with such devices allowing us to interact with the hardware.”

“Oh, why Doctor… are you saying you need my help to use the computer? I’d be more than happy to assist you. What do you want it to do?”

“We need to begin isolating the source, and sectors affected by the disease on the medical sensors. We should try to isolate the largest area of contamination so we can collect a sample and gather more data. We should also inform the Captain of the outbreak.

Our next task is to find the pregnant member of our crew, and either send a team to check up, or get that being to sick bay and quarantined.”

The nurse looked a bit startled at the revelation of a pregnant crewmember, but this quickly turned to excitement. “Oh, Doctor, how wonderful! Imagine the first baby born this far outside know space. Its historic I say. The little cutie is bound to be the biggest thing since the Endeavor itself.”

“Nurse Voyin we know nothing about the source of the pregnancy yet. It could be a situation that needs to be quarantined as soon as possible. We know nothing about the parent organism. The birthing could be lethal to those around it. The offspring could be poisonous, or worse. There are too many variables at this point to warrant a positive reaction.”

“Oh, don’t be that way Doctor Varsity. You can’t spoil this with wild theories. Birth is one of life’s greatest miracles, and making babies is probably another.” this last was said with a coy look.

“We are sorry but your statement is not logical. Birth is a natural process, and a part of the cycle of life. There is nothing miraculous about it, as it can all be explained quite well through science. Furthermore the act of procreation, while important to some species, is not the only form of conception.

Again we reiterate that this pregnant creature presents a possible biological hazard to the ship until we have reason to believe otherwise. Even if this is not the case we should try and get this being to med bay to facilitate any requirements of the birth that we can.”

“Well doctor, you certainly know how to rain on a girls parade, but I think I see what you’re getting at. Okie dokie, lets get to work. Computer….”

And with that the two went about trying to work with the computer to see what they could do to begin tackling the current trouble. Somewhat discarded, but not entirely forgot was a ‘medical bill’ from the savvy Doctor Darr, placed on a nearby table after being over looked in the discussion to address real issues. Voracity made a quick note to discuss its meaning with the Captain the next time they talked

Exemplar was bored. The bridge takeover, chasing after Jaxx, even her less-than-expected battle with Scar, that had all been more exciting and meaningful than her old life ever was. But instead of continuing excitement and worthwhile work, she was pressing buttons and trying to look busy so that they would let her stay on the bridge. Wasn't there something more useful she could be doing?

Timidly, she spoke to the captain. "Captain, sir, should I be somewhere else? My screen is all clear, and I might be more useful sealing hull breaches or moving heavy equipment while loaders are down, or... well, anywhere you want me sir, I'd be happy to go. Or I can stay here if you think Jaxx will make another try for control." Maybe it was out of turn, given her low rank, but the ship was still far from operational and her talents might be of use elsewhere.

In the short lived silence on the bridge after all the reports and Ensign Exemplar's comment, there was rather unexpectedly the sound of popcorn being crunched open-mouthed, followed by the slurping of soda through a straw. All eyes, heads, stalks, and attentions slowly shifted to the back-left of the bridge where, behind a red velvet cordon, was an obese Abturan in a floral patterned shirt, and different floral patterned shorts, standing just behind the cordon and a few feet to the right of a sign that read "VIP observation area - Please remain quiet," eagerly munching his fresh popcorn and guzzling some profane calorie laden beverage. He froze in place as he realized that everyone was looking at him. He spluttered a moment, and deigned to reply to the confounded stare.

"I'm behind the line. I paid good money for this trip and I wanted to see the action before the power goes out. I'm behind the line."

He shrugged off any responsibility for disrupting the bridge with his second repetition and, as it happened, he WAS just behind the line. A drone quietly refilled his beverage and then departed. He shook the ice around making a loud ice-against-cup clattering sound, and then sipped again, much quieter this time.

All eyes shifted away from the Abturan, a race roughly humanoid in shape with multi-jagged ears, a ridged nose, and with skin a most offensive shade of Canary. Any who cared to find out would learn that his name was Jooeff Crambuterol, and he liquidated a substantial collection of space exploration memorabilia (it should be noted that since the heady days of space exploration ended long before even the first Zorian War, with space being basically charted at that point, that such artifacts are of great value to many in the 'geekier' galaxies of the universe,) including several small ships for enough money to purchase a residence aboard the Endeavor, and the coveted 'very influential passenger' status, which in turn entitled him to view various normally restricted parts of the ship and the goings on of the crew in action.

Very few might care to find out that Jooeff had actually been alive for several hundred years, 653 to be exact, and that his race is normally never that long lived. The Abturans' cellular memory expansion allowed them to recover from what would be lethal damage to most races' nervous systems, but in turn created a very real and probable limit of lifespan. Each physical skill that an Abturan learned would be encoded in a way in each of his cells so that it could be reconstructed in his neural pathways later, but once an Abturan had accumulated a certain threshold of physical skills, his cells became overcrowded and they started developing tumors and eventually died. Jooeff had avoided this untimely demise by simply not picking up any skills save one or two as needed to get by, and mostly entertained himself by observing phenomena of interest, such as science fiction dramas of yesteryear and collecting ancient digging tools, using the same three skills his whole life.

Absolutely nobody cared to know that Jooeff originally gained his fortune by winning a "Bropil Monkks' 'Who looks the most like this piece of earwax'" contest in the backwater galaxy of Hiilgrindle Minor, which previously had no knowledge of the Abturans and have since banned them from competing in earwax lookalike competitions.

In spite of what the crew of the bridge cared or didn't care to know about Jooeff, he stared back at them while defiantly munching popcorn, while carefully maintaining his position exactly behind the line.

**********

"Golly doctor, I think that's probably just about every single way that I could be asked that question! I sure hope I was helpful and all, but how about something new? Have you seen the concession stand today? They've got plushies of every ambassador on board, including you!"

Nurse Voyin rolled her eyes at the tourism computer. She had long since discarded her head dress and her normally serene demeanor was starting to fray at the edges.

"It's like it's not even really a computer. It's just a computer program designed to screw around and waste your time. Doctor, I don't think we can get any more information about the disease without examining one of the people who has it. And so we need a patient with the disease for that. Maybe in one of the larger civilian areas we might find some sick people?"

Voyin shrugged in resignation to the task.

"Computer...thing...annoying...bot!"

"Right here Nurse, what can I do for you this time!?"

"Where is the pregnant being, and what kind of being is it?"

"Oh golly, that's a really important sounding question. I'm just super excited to be here to answer it for you, and my presence here is funded by the Sirious Cybernetics Corporation: "Doing what we must, because we can." The pregnant being is a female Nerbian, and she is located here."

With that last, the occasionally helpful computer displayed a schematic of the ship and the rough location of the pregnant creature.

"Nerbian - A species of bipedal sentient creatures from the Nerbius empire, a member of the Galactic Federation since it's founding. Blah blah blah, nothing in here about candle preferences, ah hah! Aaaaaand they are reasonably harmless...average height of females is 5'4, fairly typical anatomy, lavender skin...ooh, they're amphibious....and while this description is somewhat boring and clinical, they do have sex AND babies in the proper, normal, fun, safe way. THERE, it's a miracle. Doctor, I don't think that there could have been many births after so long a period of cryosleep, do you think? Do you think she knows? We should check her out! I mean, go and see her and make sure she's ok! Doctor? I could bring some candles and a mud mask. OH goodness, we should throw a baby shower, how exciting! Doctor? Do you think we should go? Doctor?"

Nurse Voyin was clearly in her element, and as such, she had blushed a fetching shade of purple, which a couple of the wounded marines nearby had managed to notice rather thoroughly.

Stirling's narrowed gaze turned from the Abturan. He instead picked out Major Lavay as the target of his gaze, smiled pleasantly, and tilted his head at the Abturan.

That dealt with, for now, he turned to the ensign. "Well, the reports say that the breaches are all sealed. Sign, though, would definitely be something that would require heavy loaders - or someone with your... unique talents. It should be in the main cargo bay," he looked to the cargo officer and received a nod of confirmation. "Aside from main power, Sign's one of our top priorities.

"As for Mr. Mars, I don't think we'll see him again immediately. He's too canny to attack us head-on now that we've got weapons," he grinned, "and clothes." With this he started fastening up his jacket the rest of the way. "But he'll be back - I think we can be sure of that. I mean..." now he gestured toward the main view and the relative chaos just beyond the ship's hull. "Where else would he go?"

He looked at the main screen for a moment and keyed the comm back to Ignac, "Engineering, this is the Bridge. Is it possible that the problems with main power and the fires have been caused by some sort of sabotage? Can we save much power by shutting down uninhabited parts of the ship and restricting access to the turbolift system to military personnel until the problem is solved?"

He then flipped the switch to key over to speak to Lieutenant Commander Bri, "Bridge to Commander Bri - I'm authorizing you to do what you must to retrieve Ranger 2. Its pretty dangerous out there, so coordinate with the bridge to make sure you don't get trapped in any of those eddies or distortions."

"All right buddy, you just got your wish. Hawkes, Powers, Pierce, dismiss the interloper."

As their names were called out, the large, burly, aggressive marines freed themselves from their positions at the main entrance to the bridge and bore down on Jooeff.

"What? I'm behind the line!"

"Let's go punk. You will submit immediately or be subdued."

Hawkes, an imposing figure and one of the primary members of Ghost Company, the onboard complement of battlesuit troopers, intimidated Jooeff handily.

"Eeeek!"

"That is all."

Jooeff gave a girlish scream and crumbled beneath the aggressive grip of the three huge men, who dragged him to the back of the VIP section, deposited him in the turbolift, and sent it hurtling away randomly. Hawkes dusted popcorn fragments off of his battle dress uniform, and returned to his post with his flanking wingmen.

Major Levay nodded her approval and returned her attentions to the bridge deck crew.

The bridge comms from the main hangar bay crackled on.

"Captain, I need someone to lead the mission, maybe a boarding party of some kind? I've got enough crew on board Ranger 3, but unless the mission is to blow Ranger 2 into tiny pieces, I need some more hands on deck."

As the comm channel closed, Major Levay piped up.

"Captain, I'm available to go, or I can send someone. Colonel Adar is in the barracks now with the 'new recruits.' Do you need Marine support for this mission?"

"I'll leave that up to Ensign Exemplar," he turned back to the superhuman. "So, take your pick. Some heavy lifting in the cargo bay, or you can bust some heads inside Ranger 2."

Thinking of something he turned back to the major, "In either event, contact the colonel, let him know I'd like a sweet done of the ship - check to see if there are any more of these VIP viewing areas, get people out of them, and see about blocking them off or closing them up. We're running a military ship, not a sideshow." Not to mention it'd give the marines something to do, and have the side effect of possibly flushing out Jaxon Mars before he was ready. He should probably mention that, "Be sure to let him know that Jaxon Mars is still at large and could be anywhere. I'd prefer if his position was reported and we did not engage - not without backup. One patrol probably won't fare well against him, even if he's alone."

Exemplar thought about her options. Lifting heavy things monotonously for hours until they all asphyxiated, or an adventure to save lives and test her limits. "Uh, I think I'll go on the Ranger sir, if it's all the same to you. I'll go suit up. If you're sure you don't need me here in case Jaxx comes back." She was still worried about that, since she was probably the only one that had any hope of taking him down. But if the captain was sure, who was she to argue?

“We would agree with your assessment of this computer nurse. It will not be much help to us it would seem” This was said following a gurgling sound from the host form, and was accompanied by subtle psychic signals flashing through Voyins mind indicating frustration, and contempt as far as she could tell. These emotions were of course from the alien doctor. “Very well. Please dispatch a medical team to find, and assist the female Nerbian with the pregnancy. Since you are so eager you may accompany the medical team. Keep us abridged of the situation.

We will take a second team to the civilian areas and search for those with signs of the disease being detected.”

With that the doctor went about collecting several instruments to aid in its search, and isolation of a disease. It indicated toward several of the medical personnel in the medbay upon entering. “You three will come with me. Prepare biological quarantine equipment, and a mobile biomedical unit.” The nurse started at the sudden mental command, but quickly snapped to, and began preparations.

The alien doctor picked up an intercom and croaked to prepare the host form’s vocal organs. Several patients looked extremely uncomfortable.

“Captain…Voracity speaking. Outbreak of disease detected. Going to find source. Request escort to civilian areas… security and safety of medical personnel. Will need biological containment equipment.’ The unsettling wheeze of the doctor’s host vocalizations subsided, and the Doctor awaited a reply.

The rapid pounding of boots against metal punctuated the heavy breathing of the Major and Exemplar, as they hustled through the ship to the main hangar. In spite of the dead sprint they were running at, Exemplar was more than capable of conversation, the Major less so but obliged to do so anyway.

"The boys are moving...your suit into the ship now...and mine...and theirs...I think that weird....security bug is coming...with us as well....his should be there too...Faarhi said that she...had given us an extra...couple of crewmen so that...we could fly Ranger 2....back to hangar if...we can take it over."

The Major was breathing hard and speaking in short amounts as a matter of training, she was pushing her endurance to the limit to keep up with Exemplar, but her discipline and training allowed her to relay mission relevant information while doing so.

As the two sprinted through the doors to the main hangar they slowed a bit, and caught sight of a group of six marines loading combat armor of some kind into Ranger 3. Exemplar caught a glimpse of a snarling LTC Bri in the control tower as she shouted something undoubtedly abusive at a subordinate. In response to this unheard abuse, yellow lights began flashing and the deck rapidly cleared. As Exemplar and Rahbi made the last leg of their sprint, the marines finished loading and joined them on the ramp. Rahbi waved off their salutes, and they all scrambled into the craft as the ramp started to close.

The Ranger Class Gunship was a stout fighting vessel capable of supporting short and long range missions across the spectrum of battle spaces. Three modest decks supported the flat and wide dimensions of the craft, with most of it's volume consumed by weapons, ammunition storage, and limited space for crew and passengers. The sixteen aboard were Ensign Exemplar, Major Rahbi Levay, Cardinal Cha'llx, three crew for Ranger 3, two crew for ranger 2, two security officers to help Cha'llx, and six marines currently in the process of stowing their combat gear and getting ready for boarding action. At Levay's orders, two of them started setting up a light rainbow cannon and defensive positions at the near side of the boarding gantry, to help prevent the unknown enemy from counter-boarding during what would likely be a fast paced and dangerous battle.

Levay led Exemplar to the modest bridge of Ranger 3. The crew were frantically firing up systems and checking them twice; given the recent and hasty repairs to the vessel's pressure hull they were attempting a level of certainty before blasting haphazardly into the dark.

"Main reactor is up and......good to go. Power flow is nominal. Auxiliary reactor is scrammed and standing by, it checks out just fine."

"Weapons stores are at D1 - standard payload missiles in tubes 1 through 10, high yield payloads in tubes 11 and 12 only. Primary beams are online. Secondary beams are standing by."

"Transmat Suite is...not up. It looks like it was never installed and...that this is the standard factory condition for a Ranger. That means the enemy won't have it either."

"Communications and Conning is up."

"Sensors are currently blank, though I'm getting a relay from Endeavor giving a bearing and range to last contact."

"Shields are online, forward and rear each standing by for 100%."

"Marines report they are stowing gear for takeoff and...defensive position Alpha is ready."

The comms crackled on from the Conning tower.

"Ranger 3: your mission is to intercept and retrieve Ranger 2. Your rules of engagement are: do not fire until fired upon. Make every possible effort to retrieve Ranger 2 in working or repairable condition. Godspeed and goodluck. You are clear to launch."

The crew sat at their workstations poised to launch the craft. Exemplar stood and watched, and reached for a workstation at the side, only to be politely but gently pushed by Major Levay into the empty command chair. She leaned in and whispered into Exemplar's ear.

"They were talking to you."

With that Levay flashed a smile and dropped into a backup comms position.

"Ensign, crew report all stations secure and ready to launch on your command."

It gradually occurred to Exemplar that even though Major and Security Chief were substantial ranks, they were not naval officers, but an Ensign was.

***********

Nurse Voyin and her medical team wandered through The Village in awe of what was before them. In spite of the ship being without power for the most part, the environmental module was impressive by...what kind of light was that? It looked like stars. Torches and other self powered lights lit up the quaint and rustic village that made up the central and largest populated area in the upper environmental habitat. Their guide, a civilian they found wandering around, continued their tour.

"So this is where I live, third on the right there. We haven't really gotten settled yet, since you know, everything's in chaos, but most of our stuff got in alright. Down that road leads to the pastures, my family owns just a few dozen head of mod-cattle, a tiny portion of those present. Most people in the Village are involved in the livestock somehow, even if just as an investment."

Voyin struggled to imagine how doctor Voracity would react to this place.

"Here we are, this is as far as I go. This road leads up to Cougar Hill, that's where you'll find the address you're looking for. Large house on the left. I have to...you know...do something more entertaining now."

With that the scantily clad man just walked off, as though his well fed and highly gentile attentions were no longer satisfied by leading a blue nurse around. Voyin resolved herself to the inconceivable task at hand, and led her small team up the cobblestone road which was flanked by live, real, fruit bearing trees, and a trickle of the stream that fed the pond in the Village square. The road curved around past some smaller hills, and then led up a taller, the aforementioned Cougar Hill, about a quarter mile from the Village.

On either side of the winding avenue were as yet unopened boutiques and restaurants, though the quaint buildings had for the most part already been painted, furnished, and were ready to go. One was actually open. Voyin did a long painful blink before acknowledging what it was she was seeing.

The Cougar Cafe had little in the way of business at this time, but due to local power in Cougar Hill, was up and running. Voyin spotted a waitress wiping down tables, and someone behind the counter making a beverage. The smell of freshly ground...something...wafted out of the open door.

"Urs, do you mind if I...if I check it out? I have some cash on me. I...I could really go for a cuppa, if you get my meaning."

Voyin shook her head in disbelief, and then her latent parental instincts took over.

"Make it snappy and...and get enough for everyone."

Jagan, the tech she brought along, moved with purpose. A few long minutes later he emerged from the cafe with three piping hot yet tiny and undoubtedly expensive drinks. Voyin tasted hers expecting the usual synth-food, and was surprised entirely by the fresh, organic taste. The three of them stood there in self-doubt sipping their drinks in the middle of the street, obstructing nobody, well aware that Voracity would be likely to murder them if he...she...it found out.

"I mean, it's a pregnancy, right? It's probably not going to jump out right this second. It'd be a shame to spill it. Jagan, how much did these set you back?"

Ashe, her orderly, asked the pointed question. Always a naive girl, Ursula wondered if Ashe would have benefited as much as she had from Voracity's admonishment. Just because it was a pregnancy didn't mean it was safe for bystanders, the mother, or the fetus, and the ship's internal sensors couldn't indicate how far along or how complicated it was. Odds were they were walking into a medical emergency about which there were no guidelines and no precedent. The baby was at least two years old, and still hadn't been born, due to the rigors and miracle of cryosleep. Still, it was damn fine coffee.

"Twenty. Each."

Ashe spit some back into the cup.

"Here ya go. I drank about a quarter of it, so I guess I owe you a fiver."

Ursula knew that Ashe knew that Jagan fancied her, otherwise she wouldn't have done something so brash.

"You want me to drink spit?"

"Yeah...but it's my spit. It'd be just like kissing."

"I've never kissed you before."

"I know. Think about it."

Ashe flipped her hair as she turned and, continuing to drink the coffee, started back up the hill. Voyin offed her twenty credit caffeine hit and followed. Jagan stood perplexed for a moment before giving up and following the other two.

13587 Cougar Drive was a mansion to itself. Literally. It was a freestanding three story residence with a number of garages of different sizes, what looked like a tiered gravity assisted pool in the back yard, twenty acres of grounds behind it, and riding animals in a small stable. Voyin checked the address twice before heading up to the door...doors. The double doors. The house had it's own power, apparently. Voyin rang the doorbell, unprepared for anything, as the experience so far of seeking out a pregnant passenger had disarmed her completely.

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

"Bridge, this is Ignak. My team says that they've found evidence of 'faulty wiring.' Normally that wouldn't be a big problem, but it looks right now like the faulty wiring is the main conduits from the main reactor to everywhere else. I'm gonna check their work before I give a final answer about that though."

Ignak paused and scratched one of his eyes in thought.

"Captain, I'm certain that if we cut power to several of the 'unused' decks we could save some. The cargo holds are the biggest drain right now, as they are huge and extensive. Evacuate the cargo holds and I can cut power from here, we'll see if that does it."

The comms from Engineering cleared, in time for Bri to crackle back on.

"Captain, Ranger 3 is loaded, crewed, and ready for launch. They'll be taking off any second. I've put some of our best on board to give them the best chance of handling...whatever that shit outside is."

Bri closed the channel quickly, realizing that she may in fact have used profanity in every transmission she had made to the captain. She secretly hoped that he found it endearing or something, otherwise she imagined herself on his bad side...already.

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

The Cantina at the End of the Universe was a swanky bar and grill situated in the Endeavor at such a position to afford it a sweeping view of the dorsal side of the ship, and beyond. Doctor Voracity barged into it, to find a dozen crewmen drowning their premature sorrows, accompanied by the pained croonings of whatever up and coming music star had paid a fortune to send their music on the mission.

PX121, a support intelli-drone, was currently assigned to the Cantina, until the actual proprietor finished settling into his apartment on Glass Road. While his service insignia was visible, so was his vest and his name tag simply said "Pete." Pete synthesized a polite tone and cadence for Voracity as it entered.

"Doctor Voracity, welcome to the Cantina. Records show you are currently on duty, so how may I help you, OTHER than by providing a drink?"

A few of the patrons glanced towards the doctor in his encounter suit. One of them caughed a few times uncontrollably, and turned back to his drink.

Exemplar froze, hovering beside the command chair. She looked around, her mind blank, before realizing Everyone is looking at me!

The young ensign's breathing, so calm and even on her recent jog to the ship now came light and rapid, her heart beating unevenly. You can do this, you know this stuff, you just need to show them that.

Exemplar sat down quickly and with an audible thump as she hit the chair. Head toward the viewscreen so she couldn't see any of them judging her, she gave the order. "Uh... open the bay... Open the bay doors, disembark 1/4 speed until we clear the ship, then get us to Ranger 3 as fast as we can go." Truth be told, she couldn't exactly remember the speed on these things. She was used to non-standardized tech, you'd think that the standardization of the federation would be easy to keep in mind, but instead it just blended in to the jumble of Aternan tech she'd learned to operate. But they didn't need to know that.

Ranger 3 lifted from the deck and swept through the containment field at 1/4 impulse, clearing the Endeavor before angling off to the course Ranger 2 had taken. In spite of the visual chaos before them, Ranger 3 was heavy enough to provide a smooth ride, for now, even given the amount of debris they were passing through.

"Going to warp."

Once the bearing was set, the warp engines engaged, gingerly at first, and then full blast.

The ship shook a bit.

"I'm getting some resistance in the controls here. It's like I'm flying through mud or something."

"Sir...I mean...Ma'am, the shields have automatically engaged and are holding at 97%. The medium we are passing through is behaving like atmosphere at these speeds, the friction caused not damage to the hull because the shields flicked on. I'm gonna try to stabilize them a bit better. Forward shield is at 97%, rear is still at 100%."

"Sensors here, I've got a...possible long range contact...SEVERAL CONTACTS! MISSILES INBOUND!."

Three missiles had been deployed by Ranger 2 in "hunter-killer" mode, and had found a target at last. Exemplar noted that she didn't have any of the special 'warp missiles' as they were really for destroying and not for capturing, but apparently Ranger 2 had chosen it's own loadout. Alarms sounded and warning lights flashed.

"73 L and closing. At these speeds we'll have a hard time avoiding them!"

Levay piped up again.

"Exemplar, I've got that distress signal again on a low frequency comms circuit, it's gone. It's back. I can't keep it, but it's out there."

"65 L and closing. Impact in 25 seconds. Orders?"

Theoretically Exemplar had training for situations like these. All officers had basic tactical training, but situations like this weren't really covered in hers; she could only assume that it was covered in the advanced training that the higher ranking officers received.

Lacking anything more than simulator training, Exemplar attempted to correlate the situation with something she actually had experience with: hand-to-hand combat. Three attackers, all coming in fast, you can't fight them all at once, and you can't let them hit you...

Exemplar spoke rapidly, time was too short to do otherwise. "Alright. Sensors, figure out the coordinates we can move to in order to make at least 2 of the missiles hit us in the exact same spot. Helm, go to that coordinate, and tell the computer to go to drop warp a half second before impact. Weapons, while we're sitting still, use the secondary beams to put some of this debris between us and the third missile, and shoot it if you can get a lock."

With any luck, two of them would take each other out, and they could deal with the third using the ship's full complement of beams.