Futuristic The Relentless: Journey to Old Earth (Chapter Three)

[_gallifrog_]

After Tin-Tin spoke up, Lin could feel herself and the crew being scrutinised by both the captain and the dark haired woman beside him. She could practically see the wheels in the heads turning as they gauged the four of them up. Lin didn't flinch or squirm under the scrutiny, this wasn't the first time she'd been looked at it such a way. The dark haired woman, whose name she later would learn was Talia was the most openly suspicious, it was as if she expected them to be something other than a rescue party. Lin had been given next to no details as to why this ship had crashed where it did or what exactly it was doing in this region of space, but this welcome made it quite clear that not only was The Relentless' mission top secret, if she or any of the others put a foot wrong they'd more than likely be killed in order to protect whatever was going on on this ship. Not that that was anything new to her, it was normal when back she'd been working with the gangs.

After what seemed like an eternity the captain stopped his scrutiny, evidently satisfied that they were who they said they were. Lin was relieved to hear that there was a mechanic on board, if the external damage was anything to go by, this was a job for more than one person. It would also save a hell of a lot of time to already have the damage analysed by somebody who actually knew what they were doing. She nodded once "Good to hear I won't be doing this alone, this is very much a job for more than one person from the little I've been told." She hefted the tools and parts over one shoulder before continuing. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have the skills, luck mightn't be my strongest point, but I've repaired plenty ships and cruisers without dry dock before so that counts for something."

She followed the two others out of the airlock, pulling off the helmet, tucking it under one arm and running a hand through her short, spiky hair. Now that she was back on a ship with proper gravity the suit was cumbersome and heavy, so she stripped it off (bar the boots) and carefully rolled it up into the kit bag. All too aware that she was still wearing prison issue trousers she turned to Myn and Talia. "Lead the way then."

 

[Bronco]

Throughout the previous exchange, which included the departure of the rescue crew's mechanic, Baxter had been de-suiting. He'd thrown sideways glances at those being introduced during the captain's welcoming address, doing especially well to throw an affirmative nod at the ship's two officers. It wasn't until Lin had been ushered away to engineering that he'd stepped out of the baggy garment's boots. He was halfway through cramming the damn thing into a nearby locker when he heard mention of galley, prompting him suddenly halt his struggle and raise a brow. "Well now that you mentioned it-" he was cutoff as he pulled one of his hands from pushing against the suit, prompting the already busted helmet to clatter to the deck. He spared it a look, his mouth still agape, before bringing his hand back to stuffing the locker. He continued as he worked, "Our current ride seems to be lacking certain amenities. I think we'd all appreciate some table chow," As he thanked the captain, suit sleeves disappeared into the locker and Baxter manged to slam it shut.

He'd then approach the crew that was still present, which really only seemed to be the captain, by sidling around Tin-Tin. Passageway's were tight on ships, even morose when they were relatively small vessels. Partially pressed against the bulkhead he'd extend a hand, "Lee, Baxter. Hell of a ship you've got here, sir," he'd state as they shook (if they shook). He'd then rest the same hand on his robotic companions shoulder, "This here roadblock goes by Tin-Tin, the fastest thinkin' scrap pile this side of the quadrant."

 

[Epiphany]

_gallifrog_ ro With the XO formally leading the way, that frees Talia up to hold the rear. Which is all the better for keeping an eye on Ms. Linwood so she doesn't mind at all.

As they traverse the corridors towards the engine room, Talia says in a deliberately absent-minded tone, "Smooth journey getting here? Hopefully smoother than ours, anyway. You do a lot of rescue missions like this, Ms. Linwood? I'll admit, I'm not used to needing rescue so if I sound or seem a bit uncomfortable, I hope you'll understand."

When they draw closer to the engine room, Talia then volunteers "If you need an extra hand, I can't say I'm an expert mechanic but I've got good arms, a sure hand and I'm good at directions. Let me know if I can help in any way."

 

[_gallifrog_]

The XO wasn't the chatty type, which was fine by Linwood, she took the time to examine the inside of the ship. While she hadn't worked on a ship of this exact make, model or serial number, she had experience of similar craft. Thankfully somebody high up, maybe Belmore himself had decided that it would be useful for the engineer to at least have some kind of idea of the craft and engines she'd be working with. Navigating her way down into the bowels of the ship Lin was sure footed, her years spent crawling around in the lower levels of ships and service tunnels of space stations were paying off here.

At Talia's question she turned her head so as to look at the woman better. She considered for a few moments before answering. "Yes and no. In terms of flying in and landing? Yes, it was a pretty smooth trip, the pilot really knew what they were doing. But in terms of actually getting me to their ship?" She shook her head before continuing. "No, smooth isn't the word I'd use. Hectic, rushed, put together at the last minute, all over the place, that's how I described it. Gods knows how much red tape had to be smashed through to get me here, or why I was chosen over any other sod." Lin suspected money has changed hands somewhere along the lines. In her experience somebody convicted of two murders wasn't realised that quickly without money changing hands.

"Honestly? Rescues missions aren't really something I've done much of. The places I grew up and worked there was no need for rescues, nobody cared about the workers. Desperate people willing to work in dangerous places can easily be found everywhere. Why waste money on saving them when you can just hire somebody else?" She shrugged, thinking back on her life working on various space stations and planets as little more than a slave. She had been bitter and angry about it when she was younger, but now after spending some year in prison, it seemed like lifetimes ago that she'd been properly free. "I'm more used to save and salvage style stuff, working on crafts while going down, stations in meltdown, repairing damaged ships without drydock so as to make suspicious damage disappear quickly, that sort of thing."

At the other woman's offer of help, she nodded in acceptance. Whether the woman was doing it out of the goodness of her heart or because she didn't trust an ex-felon not to deliberately banjax the ship didn't matter to Lin. An extra pair of hands and eyes couldn't go amiss. "With that resume, who could refuse." She flashed a grin which was followed by "I'm sure there's something myself or the actual mechanic of this ship can find to make use of you. And enough with the whole 'Ms' thing, I haven't been called that for years and it's quite weird to hear. Just Linwood is fine, or if you insist on some form of honorific, just use M, as in the letter M."

Epiphany

 

[Epiphany]

Talia begins to smile halfway through Linwood's commentary and it's an outright smile by the end. Once the mechanic gives her name, she sticks out her hand in a plain invitation to shake. "Linwood it is. My friends call me Talia. You have a colorful history, new friend. It speaks to a certain...useful flexibility, shall we say. Given this ship, its crew and its mission, might be just what we need."

She casts another glance at the XO, who hasn't had much to contribute to the conversation on the way to the engine room. Now that they've arrived, though, Talia says "Here we are then. Go on, have a look, and let us know how we can help. Perhaps starting with finding the repair locker, if it's not already open and in use."

Talia had been prepared to watch the other woman like a hawk, with one hand on a weapon for Linwood's sudden but inevitable betrayal. This wasn't a betrayer, though. Linwood was too beaten down to harbor enough malice for a good betrayal. Which meant Talia was probably with the wrong visitors at this point but hopefully the ship's commander was up for any surprises the potential rogues might visit upon him.

Given the man had already been rendered unconscious in the not too distant past, Talia sighed, brought over a roving workstation and silently prepared to jet out of here and pursue hijackers whenever John Haverson was inevitably knocked out again.

 

[Shannon Trevor]

For the third time in as many days, John led a new group of strangers through his ship. There was no tour this time, this group wouldn't be staying and the less they saw, the better. He led the trio of newcomers up to the gantry overlooking the cargo bay and through a set of double doors into the briefing room.

Aline sat at the empty briefing table, her mind elsewhere, lost in whatever she was reading on her slate. John waited until they were out of earshot before dropping his voice. "I assume Belmore told you that as well as repair we also have one to transport?"

 

[Bronco]

Baxter had found himself towards the front of the group for most of the walk, but moved aside and leaned up against a console as they stopped. He cocked his head when he'd heard the rest of their assignment, sparing a few glances towards the faces of those beside him for any indication of their own knowledge. Turns out that was a fruitless effort when, One: a member of your crew is an expressionless robot and Two: the only one you've managed to get a read on is multiple decks below with a busted engine. Suffice to say, the man couldn't tell if any of his compatriots were any wiser about the full extent of their job. This left him one option....sound off.

"Good to know briefings aren't any different outside the service. Um not exactly sir. Belmore's mug's probably pasted right alongside Vague in the dictionary, truth be told this little escapade was probably thrown together over a few hours planet side." In truth Baxter couldn't say anything for sure, but it seemed they'd at least ushered him into to operation obscenely fast. Thank god they had their own little stockpile of gear on site, or he'd have been running with practically nothing. Like his SNACKS.

Pushing past the growing urge to find Lin's luggage and strip it of every protein bar it held, Baxter focused on the second most pressing matter. "This, "cargo", wouldn't happen to be related to your technical difficulties would it? The modern spacecraft doesn't exactly have asteroid issues anymore, not with magnetic compensaters that is," though he'd only been a glorified grunt, EDS's had picked up on some of the systems their ships utilized during their time aboard. It just so happened that the magnetic compensaters, a device with the ability to generate a reflective magnetic field against the metals in asteroids, were one of these components they'd been interested in. Though it was more to argue to their superiors that smaller variants needed to be mounted to drop pods, as everyone heard tat least once of someone who'd intercepted a space rock.

 

[Squee]

Keller felt himself floating through a dark, cloudy haze. It was like realizing he was dreaming and being unable to wake up- only he wasn't dreaming; he was clinging to the edge of consciousness, trying to claw his way up from the black. He wasn't sure how many times he tried to hold on to that feeling and fight his way awake, but the dark haze kept pulling him back, and he was distantly aware that time was passing around him like a vague mirage.

Finally, his eyes slowly rolled open, his surroundings taking their lazy time coming into focus.

What in hell's name...?

He was staring at the ceiling of a room, but it took him several seconds to recognize it.

The infirmary. On The Relentless. His head was throbbing.

He winced and squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, then reopened them and looked around. He looked down to see a body- toned muscle wearing a fitted underarmor tshirt and cargo pants beneath light tactical armor and military exoskeleton. The pants had a bloodied bandage wrapped around the left calf. Overtop that was a long cargo style trench coat. His coat. His body. He was on the medical bed, lying with one arm lying across his abdomen, and the other next to him.

What happened?

He had no memory of coming to the infirmary. He remembered tending to his bullet wound after the gunfight on the dock at Armstrong Station. He remembered getting a bit of sleep before they arrived at Helios Station- but not before spending some quality time on the Net. After they docked...

His head was swimming, his memories starting to fragment. He remembered planning to stay on board and help inventory the armory- or was he gearing up to leave the ship? He was in his cabin when he heard Othic suddenly calling for backup- or was it a female voice yelling at him to move his ass? He definitely remembered that moment when it was suddenly Go Time. He had then taken an extra minute to equip his tactical gear, left the room and then...

His head continued to throb, the back of it in particular. Something- or more likely someone- had knocked him out.

"Shit!" he hissed, pushing himself up onto his elbow and forcing himself to his feet. It was a mistake, and he immediately collapsed back onto the bed. His leg hurt, but nowhere near as bad as his head. The room was spinning; he needed to get his bearings. He put his hand to the back of his head and pulled it back to see half-dried blood. Whoever it was had hit him good. How long had it been? Where was the crew? Who attacked him?

The fact that he was in the infirmary bode well. He took a few seconds to catch his breath, preparing to try to get up again.

 

[Shannon Trevor]

John sighed at Baxter's answer. It was a marvel that Belmore had been able to throw a rescue party together so quickly but inevitable that details would be missed. "One to transport," he confirmed. "She's secured and I'd recommend you keep her that way."

"This, 'cargo', wouldn't happen to be related to your technical difficulties would it?" Baxter ventured. "The modern spacecraft doesn't exactly have asteroid issues anymore, not with magnetic compensaters that is."

John nodded. The link between a prisoner and the ship being damaged was obvious enough and there was nothing to gain from denying it. "Thought she'd steal from us and then damaged our engines so we couldn't pursue." John left out the detail that he was the prize she was attempting to steal. Too much wrong info could be inferred. If this group of strangers got the mistaken belief that John had a bounty on him, it could complicate matters.

"Luckily my crew was on the ball and we stopped her, but not before she injured one of them." He looked to the young medic, who appeared to be of similar age to Kyra. "I'd appreciate if you could look in on him asap. We need him back on his feet." Without further direction, the young woman took off in the direction of the infirmary.

He led the remaining two members of the rescue party into the galley. "Help yourselves," he said, motioning around him. "I noticed you didn't bring much in the way of parts over so I imagine most of us will be making a supply run to your ship to get what is needed once your engineer takes inventory. For now, get comfortable and I'll call you when needed."

 

[_gallifrog_]

Seeing the genuine smile that appeared, then grew on Talia's face as she listened to Lin nattering away was something that Linwood considered a small victory. The other woman had been so damn stoic and radiating 'I don't trust you or like you vibes' since she first clapped eyes on Lin, Talia wasn't a woman to be messed with and didn't trust easily it seemed. Though when the other woman stuck out her hand Lin knew she'd passed whatever kind of test Talia had been running, enough to be given the term 'friend' (a word that hadn't been applied to her in quite a while, one didn't really have friends in prison, there were people you allied with, people you didn't and people you just happened to share the same canned air as).

Lin shook the other woman's hand firmly, before letting go. During the handshake Talia would easily be able to feel the thick callouses of Lin's hand, the result of years of manual labour. Talia revealed nothing about the purpose of this ship's mission in her remark, but the phrase 'useful flexibility' caught Lin's attention hinting to Lin that there was far more going on with The Relentless and it's mission than met the eye. "Talia, a 'colourful history' is probably an understatement, though I highly doubt I'm the only one on this ship with an unusual and unconventional life. But yeah, I can turn my hand to more than just fixing ships."

At the next remark Lin nodded "got it, I'll give a shout then" she told Talia before heading into the engine room, flicking on her torch, casting it around. She had intended to take Talia's advice and head to the repair locker, but as soon as the torch light fell on to the engines below that thought was completely gone from her head. Straight away she could see that the engines were in a state. Neither the mysterious Belmore nor the captain hadn't been kidding about the state of the engines. This was no mechanical failure or explosion, this was sabotage plain and simple She knew the difference. What the hell were these guys doing that warranted their ship being sabotaged?

Lin walked a down the gantry, the beam of the torch flicking from side to side as she took in the damage. A preliminary look said the damage was fixable with the parts on Baxter and Tin-Tin's ship, but if the coolant had leaked into the fuel it would take more than just skill to get them flying again, she'd need a hell of a lot of luck, some elbow grease and some divine intervention. As she rounded the corner she caught sight of another figure, also holding a torch. The other mechanic she presumed. From this distance she couldn't make out much, the build and height suggested male, though Lin herself was tall for a woman and with her baggy clothes and short hair, she had been mistaken for male many times from the back, so she couldn't assume. "Hey! Are you the mechanic they told me about? I'm the engineer sent here to help fix this thing. If you are, how bad is it? If you're not, minding telling me where I can find them?" As an afterthought she added. "The name's Linwood by the way."

Talia ( Epiphany ) Steve ( RayPurchase )

 

[Jaxsor]

Although Sahra had been assigned to this rescue crew, she had to admit, she still had very little idea what was going on. In truth, she expected that this would be just another job out in the middle of nowhere, just another footnote as she kept wandering. Even so, the lack of details she and the others had gotten from Belmore dismayed her more than a little bit, and he was lucky that she was so keen on helping people; if she hadn't been, she probably wouldn't have bothered, what with how shady it had seemed. She barely even paid attention as Baxter and John spoke, not until the older man turned to her and actually addressed her, snapping her out of her own little world, "I'd appreciate if you could look in on him asap. We need him back on his feet."

She'd only briefly gotten the part about someone being injured, but it was enough. Finally, something she could actually do well. "Infirmary, yes? Alright, I'll give him a look."

Without further ado, she was off to the infirmary, not waiting for any sort of conclusion to the briefing. When she arrived, she found a rather tall and imposing looking man, one who seemed to be rather out of it, trying to get up off the medical bed slowly. However, she stopped him quickly, almost hissing, "Mein Gott, lay back down, would you?!" She then realized that was probably the wrong tact to take with someone she didn't even know, and who was probably confused and tense. She lightened her tone, her voice laced with the barest hint of worry as she feared that she'd spooked him too badly to salvage this, "Please. I'm a doctor. I'm here to see what your injuries are, and hopefully to get you back on your feet. But I can't do that until I actually look you over. So please, lay back down so I can take a look?"

 

[Squee]

Keller was still trying to decide if he'd be better off trying to leave the infirmary or simply making it over to the com panel, when an attractive young woman walked in, and then immediately rushed him. She was almost a full foot shorter than him, and probably more than a hundred pounds lighter, but he allowed her gentle but persistent hands to push him back onto the bed. He winced as the back of his head touched the padded vinyl.

"I'll be fine," he said, "I just took a knock to the head."

The bloody bandage on his leg had already escaped his attention. Instead, his confused and skeptical expression studied the woman next to him. He certainly didn't recognize her. Glancing down briefly, he confirmed that he still had his tactical gear on, and his sidearms secure in their holsters. Surely if an enemy had taken over the ship, he wouldn't still have them. Still, he had far too many questions to just sit back and let a stranger play nurse.

"Who are you? What's going on? Where's Haverson?"

He tried to keep his demanding tone from sounding harsh, but his irritation at his situation wasn't improving. Getting jumped from behind and waking up to a doctor trying to check his boo boos was not anywhere on his list of fun. His sharp blue eyes fixed onto the woman, determined for answers.

 

[Jaxsor]

She had half expected the man to try to indignantly play hero and try to get up, so the fact that he was at least laying back down on the bed was good enough for her. His insistence that he was fine was no different from similar bravado she'd heard in the past. She'd learned by now that it was better to say nothing, but silently she thought, I'll be the judge of that.

As she was about to get to work, he interrupted with all sorts of questions. She let out a sigh, but did her best to reassure him and answer the questions, "Well, I'm certainly not in a position to answer every question you must have, but I'll do my best. I'm part of a rescue team that was put together on short notice to help you out. Haverson is onboard the ship, don't worry. He's fine. My compatriots and I were briefed by him just a few minutes ago. He asked me to come check on you. As for what's going on? Well, there's some woman who tried to steal from you and the rest of the crew, apparently, from what I actually got out of the briefing. I take it that she's the cause of your injuries? Which, by the way, I still need to take a look at. So please, I'd like to be able to do my job and help you. Alright?"

 

[Shannon Trevor]

Myn watched as Linwood introduced herself to Steve. The Relentless' own engineer had done a commendable job of repairing the damage done, at least to Myn's untrained eye but there was still a lot to do. His mechanical knowledge was rudimentary at best. About the only skill he could offer was to assist with the heavy lifting when it came time to move the parts from the rescue ship to the Relentless. "Just let us know what you need," Myn called over to the two engineers. "I live to serve."

He turned to Talia. "Chloroform, an attempted kidnapping, desertions, a bar brawl, another attempted kidnapping, an explosion and a crash landing." He counted each event off on a finger. "Please tell me once we have the ship up and flying again that it's all smooth sailing. I was under the impression that Old Earth was the dangerous part of the mission, not the journey to it."

Epiphany RayPurchase _gallifrog_
BreeDav

 

[Squee]

Keller blinked at the woman a couple times; still trying to clear his vision. In a lot of ways, her features were a polar opposite of his.. soft, warm, innocent...

Is she even old enough to be a doctor?

She seemed to be telling the truth, and normally Keller would like to think that his intuition was pretty good. But then again, he certainly wasn't as sharp as he should be at the moment. What he wanted was confirmation from Haverson or Othic that all was well. Raising his left arm, he activated the screen on his data pad and connected to the computer on the Relentless. Com logs confirmed everything the woman had told him, and he decided that was good enough.

He relaxed back on the bed and exhaled his frustration. "Fine, do your thing. Just hurry it up; I've been laid up long enough as it is."

 

[Jaxsor]

As he finally relented and let her work, she smiled, "Thank you. Hopefully this will be but a moment." She then got to work with the nearest diagnostic tool she could find, getting what readings she could from the man's head, where the wound was, occasionally taking a look or two of her own to verify what the tool was telling her. In particular, she was keeping an eye out for any signs of a concussion or internal bleeding. If either of those were present, then there was no way that he would be back on his feet anytime soon. However, as she looked, she found no such signs. True, the hit he took couldn't be feeling good right about now, and she could definitely see some external bleeding, but that was less of a serious issue than internal; external bleeding wouldn't require surgery of any kind, whereas that wasn't a guarantee if the bleeding was internal. And no signs of concussion meant that he was probably going to be okay ultimately.

Once she'd finished up, she nodded, satisfied with the results she was seeing, "Okay, looks like there's nothing long term to worry about. It's gonna hurt for a while, and you may want me to do something about the bleeding if you can't handle that yourself." He looked like a soldier type, however, and soldiers were perfectly capable of tending wounds like that, in her experience. A few bandages and some antiseptic would probably do the trick. She continued, "Bleeding's not too serious, fortunately. I also saw nothing that would make me concerned enough to keep you in here long term. I don't envy the headache you must have, but there's no internal bleeding or concussion to worry about, meaning that you can get up and about as soon as you're ready. Just be careful, and maybe take some painkillers if you feel the need."

 

[Squee]

That's it...? No checking vitals, no flashing lights in the eyes, no asking me to rate my pain with a fuckin' number between zero and ten? Thought all doctors loved that question.

Keller looked at her fancy medical scanner, and couldn't help wondering why those things couldn't have been available during the war- or growing up on Selene for that matter. He had been half expecting to need stitches, or for her to insist on rebandaging his leg, but to his surprise and relief, she apparently wasn't going to make a fuss.

He shrugged. "Like I said- just a knock on the head. Nothin' a shot of tequila or a handful of ibuprofen won't cure."

With that, he pushed himself up to the side of the bed. This time, he took a moment to make sure he wasn't going to be dizzy and remained seated while he tapped his data pad again. Date. Time. Location. Ready to roll.

Getting to his feet, he was about to head for the door, when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in a small mirror above the sink. Dried blood clung to his hair and side of his neck- which just wouldn't do. The last thing he needed to do was parade his embarrassing incident around any more than it already had been.

After turning on the sink, he grabbed a towel and some antiseptic. Waiting for the water to heat up, it didn't take long for his thoughts to wander to the information he had pulled off of the Net last night- information that was making him question whether he had made the right decision taking this job.

 

[Jaxsor]

As the man stopped to wash up and apply some antiseptic, Sahra found herself awkwardly fumbling for words. She never was that much of a people person, truth be told, and she was perhaps worst at finding conversation starters. Worse still was that she was still a stranger to this man, and didn't even know his name. Well, she figured, that was as good a place to start as any. She awkwardly piped up, "So...I guess I never got your name, did I? I know we were sent to rescue you and all, but we didn't really get much in the way of names, aside from Haverson's."

 

[Squee]

As soon as the water was warm, Keller wet one end of the towel and began mopping himself up. He was still trying to be quick, but the warmer the water got, the quicker the blood washed off of him. He glanced up at the woman's refection in the mirror when she started speaking. He was a bit surprised that she seemed nervous, or shy or whatever it was. For a doctor to make through medical school and all the way out here without a firm degree of confidence was... curious. Keller was beginning to get the notion that this was her first time out in space.

"Keller," he replied. He wrung out the towel, and then used the dry end to dry himself off. He hissed when he came into contact with his wound, and slowed down to pat the back of his head, hoping to not find fresh blood. "I'm security." Or supposed to be. "You?"

 

[Equusheart]

Kyra had stood off to the side eyeing the newcomers as they came on board with a mixed sense of wariness and curiosity. Their past few experiences had left Kyra slightly untrusting of strangers, the last one being responsible for the situation they found themselves in. Though she was sure she wasn't alone in that thought, she was sure Taila had something up her sleeve should one of them make a wrong move.

Though at the same time, the four strangers reminded her a bit of their own ragtag group. She was a little skeptical at how young the engineer seemed, but Kyra really didn't have a place to judge being considered young for a pilot herself.

As the groups seemed to split off, Myn and Talia leading Lin down to the engine room while John lead the rest to the briefing room, Kyra broke off from the rest. She still had a ship to maintain and look after, life systems to check and oxygen levels to monitor.

Kyra made a quick stop by the galley to grab up a bottle of Jack Daniel's before making her way up to the bridge. She popped the top off and raised the bottle to her lips to take a swig as she came to stand at the control panels. She swallowed the dark amber liquid as she reached to press a couple buttons on the tablet she'd jerry rigged to hook up to the ships speaker systems. Within seconds rock music filled the halls of the ship as well as the bridge. Hell, they were stuck here for a while so they might as well relax some.

Taking another swig of the whiskey, Kyra went over to a screen showing their location. At first glance there was nothing but the Relentless and the rescue ship that had brought the engineer and her crew. Nothing but desolate rock. Kyra had been about to take another drink when something on the screen caught her eye, a small mass of sorts not far from the ships. Now that was odd.

Not taking her eyes off the screen, Kyra paged through to John's communicator. No sense in worrying the whole crew if this turned out to be nothing.

"Hey Captain, you want to come up here to bridge when you got a minute?"

Song playing:

 

[Shannon Trevor]

John had only left the remainder of the rescue crew in the galley when the music started pumping around the ship. The beat was a good deal too heavy for his own personal taste but it still brought a smile. The Relentless needed a boost, even a small one, to pick up spirits.

His slate pinged as it received a call. He held the device up as Kyra spoke. "Hey Captain, you want to come up here to bridge when you got a minute?"

"No time like the present," John replied. "On my way." He took the time to fire off a quick message to Myn asking for a status update as soon as it was available and another asking Talia to check in on their prisoner if she got a chance.

John found Kyra seated in the pilot chair, intently studying one of the screens in front of her. "You know there's regs about drinking and flying, right?" he said lightly as he joined her, nodding to the bottle of whiskey on a nearby console. "What have you got?" he asked, leaning over Kyra's shoulder to get a better look.

 

[Equusheart]

Kyra's lips curled upwards in a grin at John's words and his light warning about regulations. Of course she was aware of regulations, not that it stopped her from sneaking the random bottle on occasion. And she never let it interfere with her flying.

"Yeah," she said in reply. There was a small glint of mischief in her eyes as she turned to give him a smile and a wink. "But, technically, we're not flying at the moment."

Kyra turned back to the screen before her. She was very much aware of his closeness as John came to stand behind her, leaning over her shoulder, but she didn't let that distract her at the moment.

"I'm not really sure." Kyra tapped on the mass the had been detected, her face falling into a frown. It was closer than it was a moment ago. "This popped up and... I'm not really sure what to make of it. I would've thought this asteroid was just a hunk of rock, but..." Kyra shrugged her shoulders.

 

[Shannon Trevor]

John frowned as Kyra pointed toward the mass. He considered it for a few seconds. "Weird," was all he was able to offer.

The topography on the screen was clear enough, John could make out the position of the Relentless and the rescue ship and beyond that, a cave system where the mass appeared to be emanating from. "I'd guess the sensor is at fault," he said after a short deliberation. "Who knows what's on this rock that could be scewing with the systems." He looked from the screen to Kyra. "Still...it's probably worth checking out. Better safe than sorry. I'm waiting for Steve and Linwood to finish their check of the engine room to see what parts we need to bring over from the rescue ship. I'll take a look when we're on the supply run." John clapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Good catch, Kyra."

 

[Equusheart]

Kyra gave a nod of her head before glancing up over her shoulder at him.

"Just be careful when you go out," she commented. "It's not like we're at a space port or something." Kyra looked back down at the screen. It wasn't like they could call for immediate help if things went sideways again.

Kyra picked up the bottle of whiskey and took another swig before nudging it his way. "Want some?"

 

[_gallifrog_]

It wasn't that Lin didn't trust Steve, but she always felt it best to survey the damage with her own two eyes. The other mechanic hadn't seemed particularly surprised by her appearance, or if he had been, he had the decency not to comment on it. More importantly he didn't question as to whether she was qualified to fix such a ship or not. His words to her had been minimal and she got the 'silent unless strictly necessary' vibe from him, which she was fine with. Despite being an utter chatterbox, Lin had no problem working with somebody who spoke only when they deemed it necessary.

Surveying the damage again, Lin couldn't help but wince at the extent of it. Somebody had done their damn hardest to make sure that this ship never flew again. Her observations matched Steve's, minor leaks at junctions 7 and 12, the fuel cables would need to be replaced there and potentially cleaned up too, to prevent a clogged. the connecting junctions of 3, 4, 5 and 6 looked no better, they'd need to be worked on too. But the worst part was the primary engines themselves, the coolant system was completely shot, the air filled with the acrid smell of escaped the escaped coolant. Lin may never have worked on this exact kind of ship before, but it was basic engineering, never let the coolant get into the engine, it was a recipe for disaster, the liquid could not only destroy the inner workings of the engine, but could also combine with the fuel to make all kinds of toxic by-products. Lin couldn't tell without getting close (as in right on top of the engines) if that had happened. that kind of damage could only be properly fixed with a dry dock, depending on the extent she could maybe quick fix something, but it wouldn't last more than a couple of hours. The electronics were in better shape than she though, while the console had been smashed up and wires ripped out, the saboteur hadn't gone as far as to do any cutting or slashing, so with some hard work and elbow grease it could be up and running.

With the damage inspected, collated and discussed there was nothing to but call up to the upper decks. It would be both easier and faster Lin felt, if the others could go grab the supplies and parts from Baxter and Tin-Tin's ship, rather than she and Steve having to climb out of the ships engine rooms, up to the airlock into pressure suits, trek across the surface of the asteroid grab the supplies and repeat but in reverse. Flicking open the radio channel and selecting the bridge she went straight into it. "Linwood here. Do you want the good news, or the bad news first?"