Rising From The Recovery

    Thursday, 084-1114: 7am
Gear And Ghosts
     After a two-day long wild ride ending when they returned to the system's main trading station aboard the shuttle they'd hunkered down in, Mikah had been punished for having the guts to give the orders.  What that meant was that, until Admiral Khupi Augikaa Pu Irsiismi could resume his command, his Executive Officer, Admiral Arshush Garna, delegated command to her.  She only guessed that because she'd given the order for all ships within two light seconds of the station to go cold and restart.  Not just "going dark", but literally shutting down their power plants and life support to stop any chance the AI could jump to their computers.  Where Admiral Garna didn't feel he had that authority, he was happy to wait for his boss' ship to power back up.  Until the Mikaka carrier INS Kaarshur powered back up, and Admiral Irsiismi resumed his command, Mikah was in charge of the recovery.

With restoration work started on the station, most of the computer systems were in the early phases of start-up, or still dead while station engineering worked to restart their power systems.  That gave Mikah enough time to send Jocelynn and Aali off on a mission of high importance.  The crew knew the computer controlling Rol's cloning was a secondary system, separate from their ship's computers.  "Every" ship on the station had been boarded by port and berth crews to shut them down on the orders of Admiral Irsiismi following Mikah's command.  But the berth crews wouldn't have known about the cloning system in their med-bay.  And a computer capable of holding multiple mental images would certainly be large enough for the AI to hide in.

Not wanting to let that be known to the station's crew, Jocelynn suggested she be sent to make sure the gear they'd recovered from InstellArms was moved to their ship from the shuttle they'd "borrowed".  Mikah agreed, winked and told Aali to go with Jocelynn on that run.  That gave Aali a reason to rush to the ship, where she could shut down any network or over-air connections while keeping Rol's cloning system running.  Mikah also knew she now had a deadline.  She needed to decant Rol's clone within the next six days, or the clone would die.  Colinne, Aiden, Fesic, Sekea and Zimzod had stayed in Station Central with Mikah, just in case extra hands were needed.

While Aali and Jocelynn ran, they decided to split up so Aali could get to the ship that much faster.  Back in Station Central, Sekea considered the issue and asked Colinne about a risk he considered.  Since the cloning system had enough memory to house the AI, he worried it could activate there if it was present.  Then, it might be able to threaten Rol's mental image or the clone.  So, he asked Colinne how likely that was?  She told him the cloning system would likely have enough memory to house the AI, but would not give it enough operating memory to do anything serious if it could activate.  So, Colinne wasn't worried about that.  She just worried if they didn't air-gap the computer before another big computer sparked up.  Especially one where the AI could awaken fully.

Accepting that, Sekea still wondered about a possible presence in the system.  When he asked if they could "capture" an image of the AI from the cloning computer, Colinne said they "could", but had to be very careful.  If a mistake was made doing that, they could release the AI again, and force the whole system through a repeat of everything they'd done in the days before.  Mikah said it was a good idea to try and capture the image, but got on the comms to Aali and Jocelynn.  Hearing they'd split up, Mikah told Aali to call back to Colinne for instructions when she got to the medbay.

The plan was to have Aali air-gap the computer first, then check its memory to see if there was an AI presence?  If there was, then Colinne would walk Aali through the steps needed or go to the ship herself.  If they managed to "capture" an image of the AI, they'd give it to the Navy, to map and develop scanning data to hunt the AI in the future.  "If" it had managed to escape the shutdown.

When Jocelynn got to the shuttle dock, she'd thought to have the shuttle flown outside the station, to their ship's berth.  But she realized that wasn't possible.  Scanning the dock, she saw the berth workers mixed with a bunch of 'still-current' and 'supposedly-fired' InstellArms workers.  They were confused about what to do next, because some of them had been fired.  Because of that, many weren't sure "if" they should go back to work or not?  When Jocelynn pointed out "one of them" had killed the man who'd fired them, she asked if they'd been fired at all?  While every inch of every InstellArms had camera coverage, there was no evidence there had been any audio recording of his order.  And if he'd been killed before he got to a computer, there would have been no record of the firing.  Jocelynn did admit there'd be video evidence of the killing.

Accepting that logic, the workers decided they should organize the gear and go back to work or home.  Hearing that, Jocelynn decided to lean on them a bit to get them to move all the crew's "to be worked on" gear back.  Accepting that, some of the workers went to get transport while Jocelynn stayed with the shuttle and others, preparing to move the gear until they returned.  When they came back, with InstellArms-branded stationTruks, Jocelynn supervised and confirmed all their gear was loaded, secured and moving back to the InstellArms shops.  After that, Jocelynn was ready to return to the ship when a shuttle crewman asked her what she wanted done with the rest of the stuff?  Confused, Jocelynn asked what the crewman meant.  The man led her back into the shuttle's cargo compartment where she saw twelve boxes marked "InstellArms".

Confused by those, Jocelynn remembered the workers bringing boxes onto the shuttle while evacuating, after they thought they'd been fired.  She figured they must've grabbed what they could reach while leaving, hoping that would sell for "severance pay" with the station in danger of major damage or destruction.  Now seeing they might be able to just return to work, they didn't want to be caught coming back to work with stolen goods.  It was possible they planned to claim the computer stocking records had gotten corrupted during the crisis.  Figuring that, Jocelynn decided 'the less said about them, the better'.  That decided, she asked the shuttle workers to load the boxes onto a gravSkiff.  While they got the skiff, Jocelynn checked out one box before going back to the ship.  It was a case of twenty pyroGel grenades!

When Aali got to the ship, she used the manual access systems to open the powered-down craft.  Thanks to the laws in place on every station, the local bay crews had the right to enter any vessel in an emergency.  So, bay workers had obeyed orders and shut down every computer they "expected" to be aboard.  Lucky for Rol's clone, they hadn't expected, nor looked for, any unexpected computers.  So, the cloning computer wasn't powered down.  Checking the system's status, Aali saw it was still able to broadcast and had the skills to air-gap it.  From then on, things were easy until they had to find a way to download and "contain" an instance of the AI. 

Done with that, Aali then called Colinne for instructions what to do next?  Needing a joke when Colinne connected, Aali asked, "I take it the station isn't gonna blow up in the next few minutes?"  When Colinne said it wouldn't, Aali said, "Well, good.  Then we have time for this."  Aali continued, "I've isolated Rol's cloning computer.  Can you tell me the best way to check and see if it's clean?"  Working slowly, and giving Aali time to type in the commands needed, Colinne explained how to check the computer's memory.  The module "should be" empty unless an operator had loaded one of the saved mental images, like Rol's.  Since no one had done that yet, any data in the module would have to have come from some other file, like the AI.  So, when Aali checked it and found it registering "Empty", they knew the AI hadn't managed to occupy their system.

Sparking her comm's, Aali called everyone in the unit to send them an update and decided to give it a twist.  Aali first said, "The system's memory is empty.  Wait!  That was Rol's Brain!"  Then, she busted out laughing when Mikah also laughed and said "I told you it would be a small file."  Aali could hear Mikah start laughing along with the rest.  Still, she confirmed there was no instance of the AI in the computer, so they were clear.  Despite the laugh, the crew all heaved sighs of relief even if Sekea was also a bit disappointed they couldn't give the Navy an image of the AI.  Aali then said she'd make sure the cloning system was secure before touring the ship to insure nothing had been disturbed or damaged.  Then, she'd head for engineering and spark up the ship's power plant and on-station systems.

Warming Up The Xerox Machine
     Getting that word from Aali, Mikah had to consider what came next?  She knew it was the 84'th Day of the year and she now had six days to decant Rol.  She also knew it'd be better if she did the work that day, or in the next two.  Mikah also knew they were waiting on the power up of the carrier INS Kaarshur, so Admiral Irsiismi could relieve her and resume his command.  After that, Mikah could go back about her day and plans until the station authorities called her in to question her actions and decisions.  She had no idea how long that would take?

Jocelynn got back to the ship, and when Aali saw the skiff and boxes she asked what they were?  Shrugging, Jocelynn just explained her thoughts on the gear.  Aali was pleased and they made jokes about things having fallen off the station, or even the King George as they stowed the containers.  While moving the boxes, Jocelynn told Aali that at least one of them was a case of pyroGel grenades.  That gave them something to do while wondering what the others were doing in Station Central?  And there, the station folk worked at their assignments.  Mikah and her people were outsiders who were only there because Mikah was "in charge" of events they and the Navy would normally control.  Especially since there were few other events Mikah had to be aware of, with the station and all the ships still lighting up.

With empty hands and no orders, Aiden asked what he could do to help?  He was told they needed pilots to drive service craft to help those ships and parts of the station signaling distress or a need to move people and support.  After Mikah agreed, he was signed up for an eight-hour shift flying a "service hopper".  With Aiden preparing to get to work, Colinne checked the station map she'd downloaded to her handcomp.  She looked through the concourses she'd mapped before and reviewed her list of places to visit after the station got fully restarted, which wouldn't finish until early the next morning.  She did realize she could either spend an entire day rushing from place to place after things re-opened, or spend three or more days casually wandering the concourses while wandering the restored station.

Moving past future shopping, Colinne looked over her personal projects to see what she could advance?  One thing she'd started working on were "auto-connect" apps for her stent, and the others.  She would be able to lay out the design of apps which, when she got back to the ship and got the main computer restarted, would let her concentrate on her stent, then on a command, and quick-connect to devices.  Or, even the ship's computer.  Realizing those would be easy to write and that she could do the bulk of the work sitting waiting for other things to do, Colinne started on those.

Fesic decided to lend his hands to those working to restart systems, and was attached to a team of station workers.  Mikah called the department heads to sit with her and tell her what they needed.  What she learned was that they had done simulations of this kind of a disaster even if they'd not actually done this before.  Because of that, and good planning, they largely had what they needed and Mikah really couldn't advance things on-station.  Accepting that, Mikah decided to follow the activities of their teams and learn what she could.  Zimzod found a corner in which he could do physical therapy until or unless Mikah needed him or they could leave.  During their time working with station management, they'd gotten a report Mour had reboarded the station and was enjoying the entertainment provided in the compartment she had joined.

Early on, Sekea expected there'd be a lot of calls to help those injured in the panic, or worse.  After the main phase of the panic, once the station started shutting down, he saw most "compartment leaders" had worked to get people into common spaces.  There, they'd feed and entertain them.  The division leaders then delegated tasks to both keep the populations active and entertained, while segregating those still in shock or panicking.  Their fears could then be dealt with in private, while preventing a spread of fear.  Thanks to that, most of the permanent and visiting population had calmed down and there wasn't the rush on medical services that would have demanded his skills.  For some, the answer had been "handing out happy pills" to get them over the fears.  In the end, there were some few who were treated with morph gas, but there was no more panic.

With nothing he could contribute to what the station needed, Sekea started to consider things "he wanted" to get done.  He soon realized the military personnel in the station's Naval and IISS annexes would likely have nothing much they could do in the crisis except help keep order.  So, if he could get to them, he just might find a way to get access to the navigators who flew ships into and out of the Sonthert system.  If things worked out well, he could take advantage of the crisis and their desire to do anything other than crowd control to meet with them and set up the next steps.  Seeing Aiden had just finished his 'paperwork', Sekea asked if Aiden could give him a ride to that part of the station?  When Aiden agreed, they were off to a small craft bay.

Two hours after Aali reported back to Mikah, the INS Kaarshur announced it had completed power up, and Admiral Irsiismi took his command back.  Getting that word, Mikah told the station authorities she was going back to her ship to decant "a clone of the legendary war hero Rol Kaihvos."  And, the only reason she didn't vomit there and then was because she knew Rol would never hear those words after he'd been decanted.  She also said she would not be available for debriefing until after the decanting and restoration was done.  Along the trip back to the ship, Mikah started going over the process in her mind.

She would first need to run the in-vitro checks on the blank in the gestation chamber.  That would take ten to twenty minutes.  After that, she'd activate the decant process, which would begin draining the gestation fluids from the tank.  While that was done, blowers would help dry the blank off, and a 'tongue' would extend through the opening chamber entrance to the body was exposed to the medical staff.  Mikah knew Sekea had gone to the military annex, so she'd have to call him and tell him when to return to take part in what she'd planned.  After the body was out of the chamber, it would have to be cleaned properly.  After that, she'd test the stent connectivity before beginning a four-hour upload of Rol's mental image.  When that was done, Rol would officially be 'restored', and no longer a clone.

The first part of her plan to "fall in place" had been the delivery costumes Mikah wanted the others in her medical team to wear as uniforms.  She'd ordered them for herself, Zimzod, Colinne, Sekea and Jocelynn before things fell apart.  Satisfied with those, Mikah handed boxes out to everyone but Sekea.  She told them they'd each be expected to wear them when Rol woke.  Doing the math, Mikah then called Sekea to tell him when he had to be back at the ship too.  On the service hopper Aiden was flying, Sekea checked the time and told Mikah he'd be there on time.

The Costumes:
                                                             

Aali worked on the ship's systems as the day wore on, since no one was really sure how long they'd be staying anymore?  Aiden flew operations for the station and Fesic worked with the station central techs.  While getting done with their chosen tasks, Mikah called the others back to the ship, to help her until the body was released from the chamber.  Mikah then told them she needed the naked, breathing clone blank "scrubbed and cleaned".  Jocelynn reacted harshly, forcefully saying she wasn't doing that!  She didn't want to have anything to do with cleaning the nude body on the table.  Mikah got her over her issues, telling her they'd be wearing medical gloves and using non-abrasive sponges.  Jocelynn still made it clear she wasn't going anywhere near the clone's genitals!  Going to take a break, Mikah joked to Jocelynn, "Not making much of a doctor, are you?"  Mikah laughed as she left, making sure Jocelynn knew it was a joke.

Several miles away from the ship, Aiden had dropped Sekea off and he found he could offer the military members there something they'd not had since the station shutdown started.  He could offer them something to do.  With all or most systems down, and comms restricted between any ships within the area of effect, they'd been sitting on their hands, sleeping or socializing until any work they could do came up.  Word was soon spread they could communicate with ships outside two light-seconds, but even that was limited.  Simple math specified who could work without computers where a computer virus or AI couldn't effectively "leap" the two-light second distance electronically.  They could offer minor administrative support for those ships with small-brain computers, but could do little without their main computer and sensor systems.  Those had been shut down and were slowly coming back on-line as restarted power systems started feeding them.

With nothing else to do, anyone who could wanted to see if they could help this visitor?  Especially after word got out he was part of Lady Mikah's crew!  Everyone had heard of her and her crew.  And, no one wanted to go back to the rash of GI parties which had broken out.  With the wealth of interest in helping him, Sekea led saying, "My interest in in the Sonthert system.  Our crew has been granted permission to enter the system."  Sekea then explained that he hoped to get the most updated navigational data he could find from Sonthert.  He added that he hoped he could get that from those ship navigators who flew into the system from Ghandi with the interdiction fleets.

What Sekea worried would be a long and involved process of begging and twisting arms turned out to hinge entirely on showing the ranking officers his proof of permission.  Signed by the Arch Duke himself.  As soon as a captain heard Sekea mention Sonthert, he came up officiously and firmly said Sekea would need to provide some level of authorization before they could continue talking about the system.  Before Sekea could respond, the firm voice of another man said, "I've been made aware of his authorization." in a tone that ended that part of the conversation.  Sekea looked up to see a low-grade Admiral, who he learned was named Apzen Laurdur Iinsudan.  it also turned out he commanded that local group and more.  The Admiral then brushed off the self-important captain and sat with Sekea, saying he would help Sekea get the data he wanted.

After the computers came back, the Admiral suggested he might be able to move things faster.  He said that depended on any of the navigators being aboard a ship outside the two light-second limit.  He promised to do what he could to get Sekea the needed data and asked if there was anything else he could do for the Knight?  When Sekea couldn't think of anything he'd bet they "would do" for him, the Admiral had one of his admins list five flag battleships whose navigational sections would've had the data.  He then said they'd work to locate the ships and see how soon they could make contact, and get the data sent.  Officers aboard those ships would have generated the jump plots and shared them to the ships in their squadrons.  Shortly after that, Sekea got a call from Mikah telling him when she'd need his help in the cloning.

Checking his cron and seeing he could easily get back to the ship, he let the naval officers know there was something they could do for him after all.  Not long after that, Sekea was on a Navy small craft heading back to the part of the station the ship was berthed in.  They also asked a favor of him, despite the fact the Upgrade was headed to Lanth next.  A number of them had friends aboard the ships of the interdiction fleet and hoped Sekea's crew would deliver messages to them.  So, they'd put out a message asking for those who wanted to send messages and get back to Sekea with the data.

When Sekea did get back to meet Mikah at the ship, she introduced him to his costume/uniform and gave him his orders for later.  After he sighed and accepted his orders, Mikah then told him to get aft in the medbay and help clean up the clone.  Pleased to be using his medical skills, Sekea stowed his "uniform" and moved back to join the others.  And, when he arrived, Jocelynn was happy to assign him the work of cleaning the genitals while the others giggled at her assumed authority.  While they worked, they found time and again that the "detail cleaning" was more difficult than they'd guessed.  So, it was more than an hour before they were done.

After they told Mikah, and she joined them with a set of Rol's clothing, they worked together getting the clone dressed.  Next, they would help position the clone so she could test the stent implanted on the blank.  She'd then have to jack the stent in to the machine and run more tests.  After twenty minutes of that, Mikah could do the checks to certify the clone was ready, before loading the mental image to the server.  That would take four hours more to upload to the blank, so she assigned people to watch the body.  Mikah said she'd take the last hour, so she could jump directly into things and told the others to decide who got what hour between themselves.

Colinne wanted to take the first hour but wanted to know what Mikah wanted her to do if anything went wrong?  Mikah said, "If he coughs, or does anything at all, except lie there, call me."  Mikah then took a break to review the decanting process and prepare herself.  After her hour, Colinne planned to keep working on designing apps.  Sekea took the second shift, which left Zimzod the third hour.  When he wasn't watching the clone, Sekea felt like relaxing and watching vids.  Nodding, Zimzod went looking for Jocelynn to ask about their gear and get an update since they sent everything back to be worked on?  Jocelynn guessed it would be another day before InstellArms got themselves back together, but confirmed she'd sent all their gear back to start working on again.

Hunting Lost Toys
     Jocelynn then told Zimzod about the "extra boxes" which had 'fallen out of InstellArms' cargo bay.  When Zimzod asked for an explanation, she told him about the case of pyroGel grenades and the other eleven boxes she'd not yet investigated.  The more Zimzod heard, the wider his smile got as Jocelynn explained her thoughts on the boxes.  And when she asked if he wanted to go check them out with her, he almost roared, "Sure!"  Jocelynn told him the cases were in the cargo bay and she'd meet him there.  While it was never said, both knew 'the race was on!'

Down in the Upgrade's cargo, Jocelynn first showed Zimzod the case of pyroGel grenades.  Seeing those, Zimzod decided today was his birthday!  He cracked the box open, grabbed five of the grenades and said, "Mine!  You can have five and then put the rest of them in the ship's locker.  And, don't tell anyone else about them!"  The last part was spoken as a 'direct order'.  Nodding, Jocelynn set those aside while they grabbed the next box.  Opening that, they saw at least one folded fabric with a label on top which read, "Blanket, Flame Retardant - Count: 4".  Jocelynn was so underwhelmed she giggled.  When Zimzod asked, "What the fuck?" Jocelynn guessed they must have just grabbed what they could and hoped it would be worth it.

Moving to the next box, they saw eight long rifles made for the use of Aslan warriors!  The scale of the weapons made them too large for any Human to use unless they were in battledress.  And, why anyone in battledress would 'scale down' to a weapon with nearly no comparative damage potential was something Jocelynn didn't consider.  She was certain they could sell the weapons though, that that was the prize.  So, setting that container aside to secure as cargo, she and Zimzod moved to the next box.  The next box was tall and wide enough to be "very interesting and exciting".  And, that didn't end when they opened the box and saw what was in it.

Also called "Zhodani Command combat armor", it was a full suit of Zhodani Officer combat armor!  An enhanced version of their 'trooper' combat armor with extras like target designators, improved sensors and more.  It had a helmet-mounted communicator providing five extra comms channels set to connect with other communicators out to a 50 km range.  The suit provides basic protection against enemy fire while allowing command and control of troopers under battlefield conditions.  Exciting just as it lay in the box, both Zimzod and Jocelynn knew it would sell well on the collectable market.  Even more so, it might be worth even more if they could crack the suit's battle computer and get the full details on how it was captured?  On the outside, they both looked at the suit and compared notes before agreeing it just might fit Rol.

In the next box, they found twelve pairs of high-end protective gauntlets to wear over vacc suit gloves.  They each had standard-sized connecting rings which would attach to vacc suits.  They were made of the same fabric as vacc suits, with triple layering on the palms and fingers.  They were also made to be tight, and fitting them over the existing suit gloves would take up to 2 minutes to don and seal.  A note in the container said gear like that should be inspected before each use and be submitted to annual maintenance, to check for damage or leaks.  Excited despite the misses between hits, they opened the next container to see a gross of adjustable-strap "night blue" baseball caps.  Jocelynn could only snap, "WHAT?!"  Recovering from his own surprise, Zimzod said they could hire embroiderers to sew into each: "I flew on Lady Mikah's ship and all I got is this lousy cap!"  Then, he joked that they could give one to each passenger who booked passage with them.  Both Jocelynn and Zimzod laughed at that idea.

Pushing that box aside to decide with the others what to do with them, they opened the next box.  That held sub-boxes in each of which were four bottles of Water Purification tablets!  the box had eighty bottles of them!  Each bottle held ten tablets sealed in water-tight wrapping, to prevent accidental contact with moisture.  A total of 800 tablets, which the wrappers said would purify ten liters of any fluid that was 80% or more water.  Dropping a tablet in the water would create a "powerful effervescent reaction".  All "natural" impurities(radiation, poison, additives or intoxicating alcohol) would be captured in foam bubbles which rose and could be poured or scraped away.  So, while they both agreed they'd find a use for them, Jocelynn and Zimzod agreed they had more than enough of those now!

Now more completely into the idea of a bizarre treasure hunt, they opened the next box to find four "Pressure Tents" inside it.  Each was an air-tight tent strong enough to be inflated to 1 atmosphere in a complete vacuum.  Opening each would completely expend that tent's air capsule until it was recharged at a retailer site.  Entering or leaving through the 'one-man' airlock would take one minute or more and each tent weighed 150 Lbs.  Moving to the next case, they saw a Laser Communication system.  A rig like that would be used when radio transmissions might be intercepted.  Mounted on a sturdy tripod when used, it had to be aimed at a receiving unit within a range of 10 miles.  If the "target" moved, the unit had to be re-targeted, and added systems could be bought to track and re-target receivers while either point was moving.  The device was also limited to 'Line-of-sight', and worked for 24 hours(assuming continuous transmission) when connected to a standard battery power-source.  It could work uninterrupted as long as it was connected to a continuous power source.

Moving to the next case, they found it held 1,000 rounds of 5mm ball ammunition for an "assault rifle".  That stopped them cold for a second when they tried to remember if any of the crew had assault rifles?  While they all had weapons which were of an "assault class", none of them had an actual "Assault Rifle".  And, where many in the crew had hundreds of rounds for the weapons they had, their options for the ammo were to sell it or have someone buy an assault rifle.  Of course, if "someone" did buy an assault rifle, would that person "Use" the weapon?  A number of the crew already had weapons they never used, which were taking up storage space.  Going through the crew's weapons by memory, they realized the only person who didn't have an "Assault" class of weapon was Fesic.  So, the question remained, did they "Need" to buy a weapon, or just sell the ammo?

Moving to the next box, which they saw had its own grav-compensators, they expected something expensive because it was large enough to have another suit of armor!  When they opened it, they found an "autodoc" manufactured by Ling Standard Products!  While they'd have to evaluate it, the device was a coffin-like, computer-controlled medical bed that automatically diagnosed and treated patients.  Just looking at it, the contoured and stylized cabinet exterior told them it wasn't as basic unit, so they guessed it had some advanced tech.  How much, they would have to evaluate to see.  The device was also dependent on drug pack refills, but so was the unit they had in their medbay already.  So, the questions were, if the unit was better than what they had, and if they wanted to sell it or find space to install it if it wasn't?

The last of the boxes contained twelve Tech Level 11 disposable vacc suits that weighed 15 kg each.  These were fully collapsible vacc suits where even the helmets folded down.  Each suit had a thin rectangular "services" box which contained pressurized air-capsules and scrubber filters allowing a user to don the suit in an emergency, and safely wear the suit for eight hours before air quality would suffer.  Waste disposal in these suits was 'diaper based', with fabric that degraded Sophont waste so it was safe, if not pleasant.  Zimzod and Jocelynn agreed they could sell those on low-tech or backwater world like Denotam.  Markets where the locals couldn't afford "the best", or make it themselves would likely buy these goods.  Zimzod grunted, "crew disposal baggies", and said it was too bad they didn't have them on the ship before Terin had gotten himself shot.  Jocelynn grabbed the flame Retardant blankets and moved two of them to gear storage in the ship's engineering compartments.  She put a third blanket in the ship's lounge, near the galley, and the last in a compartment on the bridge. 

Waking Rol
     Well before it would be time to wake up Rol, Mikah talked to Zimzod and Jocelynn about the "goods".  She then told the others to get into their costumes and be ready to wake Rol up.  When the time came, they gathered in their face paint and costumes in the medbay.  Ready for the next step, Mikah checked the computer for status and went over the readouts.  Confirming Rol was not artificially asleep, Mikah fired off the spark to wake him.  Coming awake with a shock, Rol looked around him at the gathered figures in the medbay with him and had to wonder what the hell??

                                       

Seeing Rol's eyes open and the beginnings of his reactions, Mikah started telling the others what to do while starting her tests.  It took Mikah thirty minutes of tests to confirm his medical state.  She also started hitting him with questions to check his mental state and memory.  Especially since the last thing he remembered was the fight with the man who turned out to be an assassin after he'd died.  He remembered giving up the idea of surviving, so he could devote himself to killing the man who'd appeared after they'd snuck into a dead man's starship.  And, he remembered them learning the dead man had been on the trail of an assassin.  While all that roiled in his memories and tried to remind him what "had" happened, he was also trying to make sense of the costumed people surrounding him and what was happening?  He did recognize Mikah's voice, and knew he was being treated, so he could only guess he'd been wounded badly and was on very good pain killers.  That would explain what he thought were costumes after all.

Done with the testing, they got Rol to the "here and now", and they were all satisfied the blank was now Rol.  The last thing Mikah had to do was certify Rol had been successfully cloned and ready to resume his life.  That had to be sent to the in-system authorities and filed with the Imperial ministries in-system.  Mikah considered it might also be a good idea to send an x-mail to Regina.  Given that, Mikah wrote a brief but respectful message and connected to the ISS messaging system.  She then paid the Cr 1 and sent the message.  It was addressed to the Seneschalate of the Duchy of Regina and marked to copy to the Duchess herself.  All the while, Rol had been brought down from the sudden shock of not being in a fight, and was only now getting to ask questions about the costumes?

While she sent her messages, Rol started asking questions.  Jocelynn cheerfully said, "Dude.  You missed the best adventures!  Terin died and it was the best thing ever!"  Hearing that, everyone except Rol laughed while the sudden off the cuff update shocked him.  Done with the paperwork, Mikah started setting up a physical therapy schedule for Rol.  And designating authorities to take over when she expected to be "busy".  When they quieted to take in Rol's reaction, his face shifted to one of loss as he asked, "I missed it?"  Some of them laughed when they realized he was upset to not have been there to see Terin die while Mikah nodded and said, "Yes, you did."

In a mock howl, Rol let out two cries of "Noooooo!"  When he quieted down, Mikah pointed and said, "By the way.  This is Sekea, and that's Colinne.  You haven't met them yet."  Of course, Jocelynn was the only one not wearing face paint or a mask, so knowing who they were wasn't an issue.  When Rol asked, "Where's Emkir?" they told him that Emkir had died, as had Terin.  Assuming Emkir would be cloned, Rol asked when he was coming back and reminded Emkir hadn't had a stent so he wasn't getting cloned.  Zimzod smiled wide and joked, "Notice he didn't ask if Terin was coming back." and they all laughed.

Rol first said, "I'd shake hands but..."  Then asked about the others?  Mikah said that Aiden, Fesic and Aali weren't med-staff so they were working elsewhere.  Looking around, Mikah realized Rol was unsure what he was seeing and she'd not asked him if he knew where he was?  When she did, Rol realized he'd been caught, but also knew their ship didn't have cloning facilities.  During all the testing and questions, he'd realized he was just outside a gestation chamber and even if that wasn't there, he hadn't spent much time in the medbay to start.  So, he easily admitted he wasn't sure.  When Mikah told him they were on the ship, he asked, "On Regina?" and Jocelynn giggled as she and Mikah both said no.  Mikah added they were in the Ghandi system.  Rol nodded as he quietly took in that answer.

Accepting that, he said the medbay was different than he remembered, and then asked "How long was I dead?" for the first time.  When Mikah paused before saying "A while." he asked, "How many years?"  Mikah laughed and told him it had been eighteen weeks, which was standard for cloning systems.  When Rol plead confusion and asked about the costumes, Jocelynn joked, "They are the crew uniforms now."  Mikah laughed and said, "Just wait til you see Fesic's.  It fits him to a tee."  Hearing that, most of the crew laughed.  Rol then asked what their situation was and Mikah said, "We just saved the station from an AI."  Surprised, Rol asked which station and was told it was the main trade station in the Ghandi system.

Rol then asked about the AI, and was told it had called itself "Hannah".  Shaking his head, Rol said, "That sounds like a friendly name."  Jocelynn jumped in then, saying, "Don't worry Rol.  We'll fill you in on what's happened."  Shrugging, Rol asked, "Anyone got a cigar?" and Jocelynn said Zimzod likely did.  Zimzod very quickly snapped, "And they're mine!  You want one, you gotta earn it or buy your own!"  everyone laughed at Zimzod because his joke wasn't a surprise.  Rol shot back, "You can keep it." and got even more laughs.

When Rol was about to ask a question, Mikah asked if he was ready to go on a mission?  Rol answered, "Always!  I'll hold my rifle in my mouth if I need to.  Let me at 'em!"  Getting serious, Mikah told Rol his mission would be physical therapy.  She said their autodoc would help a little in toning his musculature, but he'd have to do the hard work to force his body into shape.  She guessed he'd be self-mobile in four days if they used the autodoc, instead of a full week on his own.  Mikah said she planned on 'cooking him over night' in the doc, and handling direct PT in the day.  Jocelynn said he could work out with Zimzod after he was self-mobile.

After the chatter got serious, Mikah had to decide who would assist her through each day of rehab?  They'd handle the grunt work and Mikah would handle the skilled work, unless she had to step in.  Mikah said she'd have Sekea work with her for the first day, because he was in much better shape than Zimzod.  And, there'd be a lot of grunt work early on.  Sekea said that would be the perfect way for Rol to get to know him and the others agreed.  That would start the next day, and Mikah said she'd cover everything the second day, so they got moving on Day 1 therapy.

While they did, Rol got to basics and asked how things ended after that fight in the downport?  Jocelynn told him that he'd occupied enough of the assassin's attention that Fesic was able to draw the sword from his cane and stab the assassin to death.  From there, Jocelynn explained what the investigation uncovered.  She then told him about the scope of the move to hire an assassin from a violent religious order from the Menorb system.  They learned the man's mission was to kill the "then" Duchess Designate", Seldrian, daughter of Arch Duke Norris.  And, that he was no simple assassin, but a "Grand Master" from the cult on Menorb.  Even more, the plot made it likely the assassin could have struck the Arch Duke and even Prince Lucan!

Broadening out that out even more, she told him they'd learned the assassin had been hired by a resurgent group claiming to be Ine Givar who'd survived the Fifth Frontier War, and gone underground until they could strike back.  The assassin's strike was to trigger moves by cells of the group to carry out secondary attacks meant to cripple Regina's global government.  Because of their actions and discoveries, Jocelynn said they'd been honored by the Duchess Designate, and given chivalric orders.  She then surprised Rol. telling him he'd not only been honored along with the crew, but made the primary of a new order!  Jocelynn explained that once Seldrian was invested as the Duchess of the Regina Duchy, she had created "The Order of the Unfallen" to honor those who died, but would return to life after cloning.  And, when she did that, she named Rol the Primary of the order.

To say the least, Rol was stunned.  Especially after learning the assassin might have been intent on killing not only Seldrian, but the Arch Duke and Prince too!  And, beheading the planetary government of Regina!  Zimzod added, "And there's a gift waiting for you too."  Hit by a new wave of surprise, Rol could only ask, "What?" and was told Duchess Seldrian had made that announcement as part of the ceremony creating the order.  She'd announced that when Sir Rol returned to Regina after having been cloned and resolving those things their crew had planned, she would grant him a special gift of her own, in gratitude for saving her life and uncounted more lives.  Rol could only consider that no one takes the offer of a gift from a Duchess lightly!

When he asked questions about this mysterious "gift", Mikah suggested Seldrian would give him her hand in marriage, and Rol asked, "How far is it to the Sword Worlds border?"  That got everyone laughing hard.  Jocelynn then started giving him a brief list of the world's they'd visited, including a bit more detail when it came to Arden.  Added to that, she very happily told him her battledress was now legal with the Imperial Navy!  She also mentioned they'd looked into starting the process to ask permission to get him a battledress suit too, but that was only just newly started.  When Jocelynn mentioned Tremous Dex, Mikah enthusiastically said, "Yeah!  We beat the shit out of the pirates there!" with a huge smile on her face.

Rol could only shake his head at the adventures, pirate battles and a coup d'état changing the government of an entire solar system!  It certainly explained the crew deaths and such.  Mikah joked about stoking the fires of civil war on Denotam and others talked up an 'in joke' he didn't have the background for.  Something about "urban renewal" on that world.  Rol could only joke, "And no one's prosecuting this time?"  When Mikah smiled and said, "Nope", he asked, "How'd that happen?"  There was a pause while Rol looked at Mikah.  He then said, "I can't express my admiration that you managed to keep this crew alive."  Of course, he still didn't know about the book deal, the stolen Stepozhevaci money and more.

On a downstroke, Jocelynn reminded him, "Well, we're not all alive." and Mikah added, "Yeah.  We got rid of some of the troublemakers."  Rol only added, "I can't express my admiration that you managed to get rid of the troublemakers too."  That got laughs despite the losses.  The stranger Rol had been told was named Sekea added that he'd gotten a chance to stand in the presence of the Emperor too!  Rol's eyes almost goggled at that and he asked, "The Emperor is coming here?"  But he was told the "Presence" had been thanks to a stent-based personality overlay the Prince had.  But, it was still a high honor this far from Capital!

When Rol suggested he'd died just when things were turning good for the crew, Jocelynn pointed out a lot of that had happened "because" he'd died.  That suggested a number of the honors and opportunities they'd had came their way not only because he'd died, but "how" he'd died.  Rol could only answer, "Always happy to help." while he tried to sort things out in his mind.  Deciding to get back to the immediate issue, Rol asked, "So, when can I get off this table?" and Mikah said they planned to stick him in the autodoc overnight.  But, they'd walk him about and get him moving first, with the help of others.  Then, when he was tired, put him into the machine.

When Rol asked how long it would be until he was self-mobile, Mikah guessed it would take a week.  She explained that his body was in proper order and fully functional.  But, his muscles weren't toned or used to being used yet.  So, he had to start forcing his body to do what he needed it to, and the body wouldn't like that.  Mikah made sure he understood that even after he was self-mobile, it would take months before he was fully back in trim.  When Rol asked how long it had taken Aiden to get back on his feet, Mikah reminded him Aiden had been cloned on Rhylanor and she couldn't give him absolute numbers.  because Aiden wasn't in the compartment, he couldn't tell Rol it was twenty five days short of a year since he'd been decanted and was still feeling it.  So, the unstated answer was that it would take a long time, even if Rol wasn't sitting on his ass as much as Aiden was.

Nodding, Rol asked Mikah to promise he'd beat Aiden on fully returning to service.  Mikah very honestly pointed out that was up to him, not her.  Rol could only answer, "Let me at it!"  Mikah did tell him that when he wasn't in the autodoc or doing physical therapy, the gravChair was his to use when he needed it.  When Rol said, "Let's get started!" they got him up and moving around the ship.  They did call Aali from the engineering spaces instead of trying to get him to move through the compartments.  Moving around the ship, they continued talking about the things the crew had been through and some of the outcomes.  Jocelynn said the media still wanted to interview him, but the media wanted to interview them all.  Especially the few remaining survivors of the Dawnstar Horizon.  Rol could only ask again, "How far is it to the Sword Worlds?"

They then maneuvered him about the ship allowing time for Aiden and Aali to welcome him back to the living.  Soon enough, Fesic also returned from his help in Station Central and welcomed Rol back.  Mikah monitored what they did with Rol, and limited that because she didn't want to risk over taxing him.  She then led them back to the medbay and put him into the autodoc for his first session.  With Rol in the autodoc, Mikah answered a station request to schedule herself and Zimzod to sit before a board of review, and answer questions for at least four hours.  Knowing she wanted to be available to handle Rol's care when he came out of the autodoc, she called the station offices and set up to meet with them the next day at one in the afternoon.

Planning, Profits And Details
     After Mikah set her appointment, they said they'd be calling the rest of the crew in to be debriefed by the station officials too.  They also told Mikah she'd likely be in and out of station offices for the coming week, and she agreed to the point she had medical work she also had to get done too.  Mikah was told the station had half-recovered from the shut down and station central was now fully up and running.  Security were still warning visitors to stay close to the open and available entertainment centers, or to keep close to those designated administrative centers where they could go to get business done for their ship.

When Mikah spread the word to the others, Aali said she was good to leave the work to the androids in engineering.  Mikah OK'd that and Aali called and set an appointment to meet with Station authorities the next morning.  Mikah also told her medical minions she wanted them all to be available the next morning, and said she'd work that evening to set up schedules and physical therapy procedures she wanted them to use with Rol.  She'd then go over those with the crew, and even add in things the non-medical people could help with too.  After she'd told everyone that, Sekea took a break from helping Rol to clean off the face paint.  He then returned to helping Rol until he was in the autodoc.  Sekea then went back to his stateroom and worked on his drafting and drawing skills.  Checking his computer before he started his practice, Sekea saw a notice that he had an in-system message.

Checking his message, Sekea saw he'd gotten a message from a Lieutenant Commander Iarrur Umgad Pemiigim, aboard the Irkakiam Class Fleet Escort INS Apzen Amni.  Commander Pemiigim greeted 'Sir Sekea' and said he was the Lead Navigator for the fleet's escort division within the 645^th Battle Squadron(18^th Imperial Fleet).  The man said he'd gotten word from Admiral Iinsudan(CINC-Ghandi Station) about Sekea's interest in the Sonthert system.  Answering that request, and under the orders of the Admiral, the officer said he'd attached data he'd collected on his last deployment to the interdicted system, which ended two months before.  Checking the size of the files, Sekea saw he could save the data both to space he had on the ship's computer and on his own personal computer.  Granted, he couldn't run the file on his handcomp, but he could easily run it on the ship's computer.

Loading the file up, Sekea could see the carrier and her squadron had been ordered to Sonthert "interphase'.  That meant the carrier squadron hadn't been sent in as part of a normal rotation.  It was most likely 'swapped in' while another squadron was withdrawn, but no reasons were suggested in the data.  Still, Sekea didn't care about that.  Activating the model, Sekea could use tools both on the ship's computer or on his handcomp to advance or roll back the date.  With any change, the model of the system updated to show new orbital data extrapolated from the date the model was collected.  That satisfied Sekea, since any error created would be a gap of less then seconds.  So, he could plot the positions of bodies in the system to almost exact degrees when they chose their arrival point.

After doing her work to plan and schedule, Mikah decided to relax and unwind after all the excitement.  Her one question was who would cook dinner?  While the others laughed about that, Aali relaxed with Mikah.  When Aiden decided he needed food and relaxation after having flown all day, Mikah appointed him the cook.  Aiden only responded, "I'll cook.  You might not thank me later but I'll do it."  Because they'd gotten back to the ship, Colinne was able to pick up one of the "half-built" apps she'd been working on to finish.  Some hours into the evening, she tested it and decided it was good enough to release.  Calling together those with a stent other than Rol, she announced she had an app ready to release.

When the others asked, she said she called the app 'ShipsComp'.  Colinne told them the app would allow them to concentrate on their stent and think or subvocalize the word.  The app would then simplify opening a connection with their ship's computer.  From there, they'd have to find and connect to whatever app or file they wanted.  But it would simplify the process.  After Aali said she wanted to install an instance, the doors opened and the others said they wanted to install copies too.  Overhearing the conversation, Sekea reminded Mikah he'd bought a stent kit, and would like to have it installed.  Mikah first nodded and said, "We'll get it done once the war criminal is back on his feet."

When Sekea said it wasn't anything urgent, Mikah said they should get it done before leaving Ghandi.  When Mikah asked who'd help train him, Colinne volunteered because she was largely training all the others.  Suddenly, apropos of nothing, Sekea asked if they had vids of Terin being ejected from the ship's airlock?  Surprised, Mikah said they did and asked why?  Sekea then suggested they could show it to Rol while updating him about the things that had happened while he was being cloned.  the first jokes started about how Terin was disposed of.  They then started laughing more and more about how they felt Rol would enjoy it, or how many times he watched it too.

With the laughter fading, Mikah reminded Sekea they had clips playing as screen savers on the ship's terminals.  So, if he'd watched the clips enough, he'd periodically see the vid of Jocelynn cracking Terin's frozen nuts to pieces.  When he nodded, she even led him over to one of the terminals to see vids of:
      Munarshu being tazed at InstellArms when Aiden handed his custom pistol to the man.
      Rol staggering to the ship from a berth bedroom, half-drunk the night after a party before leaving Rhylanor.
      Aali nearly getting shot in the head in a jewelry shop.
      Zimzod decking Terin after Terin offered a rag to cry in when they'd delivered 2 FGMP-15's on Lanth.
      A still shot of Rol, in a hospital bed out cold, with a large Human negroid dildo stuck to his forehead like a pornographic unicorn.
      Mikah kneeing Rol in the crotch while they played Drunken King or Queen of the hill brawling.
      Aiden getting zapped by his custom pistol when arriving on Regina, after Mikah changed the DNA sig while he was being cloned.
      The vid also showed his right arm dropping numb as he fell to the deck shuddering, and then pissed himself.
      Fesic's video of Munarshu stuck in a gopher hole while hunting, becoming unbalanced, wind-milling and accidentally firing his rifle.
      That was followed by the group zip-tying Munarshu hand and foot, securing his weapons and being read out of the tour.
      that was also followed by loading Munarshu and his weapons onto a VTOL and Fesic waiving goodbye to Munarshu while the VTOL lifted off.
      Munarshu, secured and unable to move, holding a toy gun with a flag deployed from the barrel reading "BANG!" in a hospital room on Regina.
      Jocelynn "anger attacking" Zimzod after discovering the drug pusher cheated her, while Zimzod laughed.
      Jocelynn shattering Terin's frozen corpse and throwing his remains out the airlock.

Watching the vids, Mikah said she was sorry they never got a vid of Zach's tent flying away when he'd tried to open it in a dust storm.  They did remember they'd had the scan from Zimzod's battledress radar showing the tent "explode" on his sensors at the time.  That turned into both explaining what happened to those who weren't there, and making jokes about Zach.  Fesic had done more research on the causeways where they'd be moving in floral and other natural displays to see if the station's power issue had affected the schedule?  He found they were starting to set up and wondered if he could visit the location.  Or, even help set up the displays?

Done helping Mikah, Jocelynn tried to call her concierge at InstellArms but got a recorded message InstellArms would be open the next morning.  Cutting the connection, Jocelynn thought about calling the broker to leave him a message about the gear they'd gotten from the InstellArms people.  She was thinking they wanted to get rid of it to not waste cargo space, but also wanted to know what wouldn't sell locally?  Zimzod reminded her many of the cargos crossing through the station were bound for other places.  So, he suggested, it was possible a ship heading out might have connections with someone in another port they could sell it to.  So, they might well be able to get rid of the stuff before leaving the system.  So long as they changed the boxes if they sold anything to InstellArms.  Considering that last part, those nearby broke out in giggles.

They also had to admit Ghandi had a very large 'on-station' market where items could be offered and even demand reserves protecting items from being undersold due to low bids.  And, anything they sold in Ghandi didn't take up cargo space on the way to Lanth.  That reminded them they'd have to come up with a back story for the Zhodani armor.  They also agreed they'd get more cash for it if they could get the real story how it ended up in an InstellArms station store?  Zimzod suggested they might get that if they could hack the suit's electronics and see if anything was left on the vid?  that Turned everyone's thoughts to Colinne.  Agreeing to go through the haul and check before deciding on any of the goods, Jocelynn still called the broker to ask him to start looking for cargos for Lanth.  That done, she relaxed with the others and everyone wound down to bed time.

    Friday, 085-1114:
Interviews And Annoyances
     Blissfully wrapped in both her blanket and a limp Zimzod, Mikah was woken by a soft repeating chime alarm she didn't recognize.  Mikah really didn't want to get out of bed, but she knew that alarm was coming, via the ship's comms, from the autodoc.  She'd programmed the comms to play it because the device was getting ready to release Rol.  While she got up and dressed, Mikah swore she'd set the device to release Rol later in the coming days.  Glaring at the cron, Mikah saw it was nearly 5 am local, and muttered, "Well, I really screwed up that calculation."

Behind her, Zimzod gurgled a rough chuckle or two and said, "You got that right," as he got up and joined her.  They went through a short version of their daily routine and went to the medbay to help Rol out of the autodoc.  They got to the bay a few minutes before the machine woke Rol with a vitamin injection and opened to let them remove the patient.  Looking up from the doc, Rol saw Mikah and Zimzod and asked, "Who do you want me to kill?"  Zimzod busted out laughing and said, "I bet you can't get your ass out of that machine!"  Still, the look on his face told Rol that Zimzod was sorry he didn't have another dildo to stick on Rol's face when he couldn't fight back.

Mikah, who just wanted to go back to sleep, said, "OK!  Come on!  Get up!" as if she were talking to a pet.  Despite both comments, Rol gave it a real try, and found his muscles had no intention of working because they never had before.  Mikah mentally added "assisted" sit ups early on as well as "walkies" and added specialized occupational therapy to the list.  While she and Zimzod bent to help Rol lift himself and encourage his body to consider activity, she also felt this would be good therapy for Zimzod too.  He was certainly bending, twisting and handling loads in different ways than he was used to.  Because of that, Mikah decided to make sure Zimzod was assigned to help others lift and move Rol.  That way, Zimzod wouldn't be handling the bulk of Rol's weight, but would be doing more 'real world' work along with his own therapy.

Despite "some work" being better for Zimzod, Mikah didn't want to over work him by adding to the work Zimzod was pushing himself to do too.  So, she thought she needed something like "walking androids" to help Rol walk around and keep mobile.  When they got Rol into the lounge, Mikah could see that Fesic had mounted some sort of "hood" over the galley's stove and had a small 'bunsen burner' type flame going.  She could see he was using something that looked like a medical clamp to lift squares of fabric into the flame to burn them.  It wasn't hard for Mikah to guess where the fabric squares had come from?

In fact, looking closer, Mikah realized she didn't need to guess.  The squares were from the entirely cut up "uniform" she'd bought him.  And, while he burned each square, Fesic was singing an insipid song which went, "Baby shark, da-do-di-do-do-do..." and repeated itself.  While Mikah moved with Zimzod to set Rol down, Fesic turned to see them enter the compartment and smile before happily saying, "Hi Lady Mikah.  This is going to be your musical selection until you withdraw your mandate."  Excusing herself after sitting Rol down, Mikah went back to her stateroom, grabbed her snub pistol and loaded a tranq round.  Returning to the ship's lounge, Mikah saw Fesic's back was turned to the portal.  So, she called his name and when he turned, she raised the snub pistol and shot him in the chest!

The initial reaction in the compartment was shock.  People had varied reactions of alarm or shock until they started noticing the back end of the tranq round, or the lack of blood and slug damage.  Realizing she'd used a tranq round, Rol dryly commented, "I see it's business as usual around here." and shook his head.  Having been shot with a tranq by Munarshu, Rol could imagine how Fesic would feel because he'd actually seen Mikah shoot him.  With Fesic out cold for four hours at the least, they started discussing different ways Mikah could deal with Fesic.  Zimzod then grabbed Fesic by his feet and dragged him into the man's stateroom to sleep it off.  Not pushing himself, Zimzod left Fesic lying on the floor of the compartment.

Looking around the compartment, Mikah got up, went to Sekea's stateroom and started banging on the door.  When Sekea woke and asked what was happening, Mikah asked, "You wanna be the cook?".  Confused, Sekea agreed to cook and asked what she wanted to have?  Mikah just said, "Whatever you want to have, I don't really care", making it clear he would be cooking for the crew.  When Sekea got done with his morning routine and came out to the lounge, Rol volunteered to "instruct him" how to cook his "special" grilled cheese.  At the same time, he saw someone had set up an odd collection of panels and a pile of fabric which Mikah was taking apart, so he stepped up to help her with that work.

When Sekea asked who had set up the items, Mikah said it had been Fesic.  Sekea then asked what happened to Fesic and Mikah only said, "He was insubordinate."  Not getting more, Sekea shrugged and announced he was cooking breakfast.  Hearing Rol offer to direct him, Sekea agreed to learn and follow Rol's recipe.  When he finished cooking and began the "service", Sekea even took a grilled cheese sandwich and left it "on" Fesic's face while he lay on the floor in his stateroom. 

After dealing with that, Mikah checked with a number of the stations nearby medical facilities and suppliers and found what she needed.  Mikah quickly called a supplier and asked for two "walker" 'droids that were designed and programmed to help unstable walkers move about while protecting them from falls.  She also filled a small shopping bag with occupational therapy devices they rented.  When Mikah told Rol and the others what she was doing, Rol joked, "You have to get me a bigger collar."  Mikah laughed and said, "We're not cruel.  We'll get you a harness." and everyone laughed.  About that time, Colinne came out of her stateroom to join the others in the lounge. 

While they walked him around and she waited for the shop to answer, Rol asked, "Honestly.  In your medical opinion, shouldn't people die before they suffer this much pain?"  Mikah only smiled at him and reminded Rol, "You did die."  Eventually, someone from the shop came on the line and Mikah rented two androids along with the therapy devices for two weeks.  The bill for that was Cr 5,000 which Mikah thought was fairly modest for what she got.  When Mikah joked it would come out of Rol's accounts, he was a bit annoyed until someone told him to check his accounts.  Rol shrugged that off as a joke since he hadn't expected much of a change in his cash.  Still, his day was filled with being walked around, first by crew and then the androids, separated by being seated and given devices to manipulate for occupational therapy.

Another thing Rol started doing was catching up on what he missed.  Some of that could be filled in with news reports and other media, but the best was to talk with the others.  Eighteen weeks didn't "sound like much", but the crew had packed a lot into those weeks.  Some media was still able to be downloaded from Jocelynn and Zimzod's battledress, but much of it had to be talked out.  Lucky for those trying to remember details, the situations divided by the systems they'd visited, so the stories could be handled almost as episodic storyboards from media vids.  Remembering "we visited Extolay" led to, "Oh! Yeah, I remember the guy we were hunting had gotten caught in a bar fight."

With all of her "medical staff" awake, Mikah was ready to lay out the treatment plan she had for Rol.  She first told them about the androids she'd rented, which should be delivered within the hour.  Those would get him walking, while one of them supervised.  When he was sitting, between walks, the assigned person would manage having Rol work with the occupational therapy devices.  Those worked everything from small muscle activities to fine control.  Each night, for the first few days, she would also put him in the autodoc and set the machine to treat him until after 9am that morning.  Mikah assigned Sekea to handle the work for the first day, because she and Zimzod had to go in for their debrief.  Mikah expected to be free to take the second day.  Colinne would handle day three, and Zimzod would get day four.  From there, they could rotate the same schedule moving forward.

About that time, Jocelynn and Aali came into the lounge after their morning routines.  Sekea happily bragged about having made grilled cheese for them.  Looking down at the served food, Aali dryly said, "I'll believe it when I see live vid of the cow."  Hearing that, the others laughed.  After serving the food, Sekea said he'd call in to Station Offices and set up his appointment to be debriefed the next day, since he was assigned to Rol-duty that day.  When Colinne said she could set up her debriefing too, it was suggested she simply call the offices and say she was coming in with Mikah and the others.

Realizing Aiden was the only member of the crew not there, Mikah called him back at the suite.  Waking him up, Mikah said they were all going to the Station offices together to be debriefed.  She told him he had to get ready and meet them there.  Agreeing to that, Aiden was the only member of the crew to eat the food their rented android chef had made for them.  With that decided, Sekea would be left at the ship to work with Rol and handle the delivery of the androids.  He'd then keep up the recovery treatment while getting the androids into the action.  At the same time, the rest of the crew would be sitting in Station Offices answering questions.  While working with Rol, Sekea first told him about what had happened on the King George and how he'd joined the crew.

He then spent more hours talking about the events the crew had been through in Tremous Dex, Arden and Denotam.  Sekea especially talked about the vat food on Arden, and when they assaulted the home in which the assassin was hiding, on Denotam, when Mikah had shot the man's bomb.  Sekea also talked about being trapped with Colinne and Aiden in a shop's basement, and how Colinne had proven how deadly she was.  It seemed the shopkeeper had something bad planned for them and she spotted it before he did, and killed the man.  When it came to being debriefed by Station Offices, Sekea explained what had happened with the AI calling itself 'Hanna'.  While Rol worked on things Sekea didn't have to be present for, he went about his own plans after setting up a small personal network to track Rol's vitals.  He also set the androids to raise an alarm if they detected any changes in Rol's condition.

In Station Offices, Mikah and the others had shown up en masse to be debriefed.  Concerned about developing a complete picture one at a time, they could work to question each of the crew separately first.  Then, bring them together to discuss differences of point of view.  By that time, the station was nearly fully operational and even the commercial concourses were operating.  They first set up a "gather point" in what looked like a small classroom.  There, they addressed Mikah and reviewed the limited information they had on their records.  The first item they had was when their crew called security about a suspected child kidnapping.  They then covered your claims that a hidden compartment might exist, which they admitted you were correct about after all.

After confirming the crew's discovery and apologizing for that mis-understanding, they reminded Mikah the reaction was legitimate based on the data they had at the time.  When Mikah agreed to that, they said the records showed her crew requested permission to do a reconnaissance run through the area and they cooperated.  Beyond that, the station's lead man said things got sketchy in their records.  So, they simply wanted clarity on how things played out?  Each of the crew were separated and they all agreed they'd gone down to the coordinates they'd given the station.  The area they arrived in looked as normal as security had said, but they found a panel which opened to a hidden passage.  That led down a set of stairs to the entrance to the lab they'd found next.

The station people confirmed they'd sent a security team to the lab to secure those compartments and begin the investigation surrounding the lab's existence and use?  Mikah then made sure the station folks knew Jocelynn and Colinne were the only one's getting messages from the entity, through their stents.  And the entity urged them on.  When they found the lab, the entity said it was "on the table".  When they saw the place, it looked like a tech lab and the entity said it was "on the table".  Looking there, they saw a number of items on a table but no person or creature.  Mikah specified to her interviewer that they had no idea yet if they were looking for a "human" or some other intelligent creature.

Seeing a box on the table, Mikah had the others ask if the entity was in the box but that only seemed to confuse it.  Hearing that, Mikah said she decided to open the box and look to see if it contained a creature?  And, to back her guess up, many races and especially Humanitii, had "uplifted" a number of species from their home environments.  Examples included uplifting rodents to be trained for inspection and clearing of plumbing and other small spaces.  So, her supposition was not an unreasonable position.  Of course, that didn't mean others would see it that way.

Everyone agreed that all hell broke loose after Mikah loosened the box.  But, at that point, none of them could say "that" was the cause.  That came later, when the entity announced it was freed, along with other comments.  They each discussed what the entity said after that, and how they'd responded.  Especially Sekea, who had tried to reason with it directly.  In the end, when they came back together, a security officer asked Mikah if she'd even considered calling for backup instead of simply opening the box?  Mikah firmly said, "Nope!" and continued to explain she was being told the entity was in dire need of help.  The security officer sat back with a smile on his face suggesting he'd just gotten exactly what he wanted.

Before anyone else acted, the security officer stood up rigid, as if coming to attention.  He appeared to be ready to make a statement, but was cut off by the station's Executive Director.  Director Irshimunmu said, "Colonel Shiapku Daaaar, please stand down."  The Colonel turned while gesturing and said, "But sir, she just said..."  Shutting the Colonel down, the Director said, "You've seen their dossier.  They've got colorful histories.  Can you not say that if you felt a life was in extreme danger, you wouldn't go to extreme lengths to save that life?"  The implication in the air was that he wouldn't likely keep his job if he didn't admit he would.

Still more than a bit angry, the officer still seemed to deflate back into his seat without giving an answer.  While the security man didn't speak for the rest of the meeting, the Executive Director said he could put himself in their place and understand what Mikah did.  I would recommend, in the future, that you do call for backup before opening things.  He then asked his team if any of them had further questions?  He also admitted their answers had filled in the list of events and explained what they could of the events.  They now had to explain the existence of the lab and the AI.

While the director spoke, Mikah and Zimzod both felt a "buzzing" in the back of their heads.  At the same time, Colinne and Jocelynn heard a male 'voice' say, "And, this is all you're ever going to say about it.  Right?"  Reacting to that, Jocelynn shot a look of "What the Fuck" at Colinne, who gave her a small nod back.  Jocelynn assumed the message came from the Station Director while Colinne swept the station group with an attempt to read their surface thoughts.  What she got back was largely a jumble, because she was scanning multiple people.  But she did get enough from the colonel to know he wanted to nail them to a wall.  Especially Lady Mikah.  And, she hit shields projected by the Colonel's assistant.  A man who's nameplate read "Sgt. Kuuimaga".  Psionic shields.

Looking at the man, Colinne saw him give her a slight smile and nod.  Colinne then nodded back.  While both the security men remained quiet, they went over the details a few more times, discussing small deviations.  They also used pictures of the lab and other locations for reference, because they'd had security teams down there loading images to the computer.  A chief set of questions asked if anything in the pictures had been moved since they last saw the space?  In case anyone had snuck back into the lab after they left.  That was a hard question to answer because Mikah had smashed the table with a chair and sent things flying.  While Colinne was working to remember the individual items, she again heard the mental voice of sergeant Kuuimaga.

He "told" her to just remember the entire space in her mind.  As completely as she could.  When she pictured the full lab in her mind, he nodded and she felt the connection break.  That added to what Colinne knew about the sergeant and his psionic abilities.  By the end of the day, they'd been in station offices for nearly eight hours.  And where Colinne had come to accept they'd done something stupid and needed to accept that, Mikah disagreed.  Mikah said she felt they were reacting to the data they'd been given, and which started as a rescue and turned into something they hadn't expected.  Mikah also pushed that they'd seen nothing suggesting opening the box was dangerous.  And, while the others agreed, no one added that they didn't look for any signs of danger before opening the box.  The station people asked Mikah and her crew to remain available to help with their investigation. 

Back at the ship, Sekea had woken and come out of his stateroom.  When Sekea saw him, he asked if Fesic had found the grilled cheese he'd left?  Fesic said he'd seen it on the floor next to where he'd been lying and Sekea felt it must have fallen off Fesic's face.  Not seeing most of the crew, Fesic asked, "What happened?"  When Sekea said, "My understanding is 'the captain happened', that didn't really answer Fesic's question but he let it go.  Still, Fesic answered, "The captain always does happen." in a resigned tone.  Fesic then asked, "So, what's the deal with the grilled cheese sandwich?"  Sekea said that, in celebration for Rol's return, he followed Rol's direction to recreate his famous meal.

Going back into his stateroom, Fesic came out with the sandwich, having taken a bite from it.  After chewing thoughtfully, Fesic said, "Not as good as cold pizza."  Not missing a beat, Rol joked, "That's what's for dinner!"  Fesic then asked, "So, what's for lunch?"  Rol suggested he'd try to make club sandwiches, and..."try out these new hands."  To his credit, and with a good amount of effort, Rol was able to raise his arms just a bit.  Sekea cautioned him not to push too hard and be sure he didn't over do anything.  Rol puffed fake bravado as he said he was fine and asked where the arsenic was?  That got a laugh from Sekea and Fesic.

After lunch had been served and eaten, Fesic asked Rol, "You don't mind if I make a mess over here on the grill.  Do you?"  Annoyed, Rol said, "Yeah, I do." in a defensive tone.  Despite that, Fesic ignored Rol asking "What are you doing?" and said, "Well, that's too bad."  He then went to his stateroom and grabbed even more fabric squares to burn.  Seeing that, Rol said, "That's a bad career move." in a neutral tone.  Shaking his head while Fesic wet for the stove again, Sekea went to where he'd set his medical kit - just in case.  Sekea then tore the wrapping from a hypodermic and drew a dose of sedative.  Then, Sekea slowly moved up behind Fesic and injected him with the drug.  For the second time in the day, Fesic sagged as Sekea caught him and commander the androids to help him move the man to his stateroom.

Not wanting Fesic to get hurt, or in further trouble, Sekea then went to the bridge and logged into the vessel's security settings.  He then locked the door to Fesic's stateroom.  That way, he'd keep Fesic secure until Mikah and the others got back.  As for the fabric, Sekea left the pile on the counter where it was and ignored it until Rol asked what it was?  Sekea didn't explain where the cloth came from or what he expected it was, but complained that Fesic was acting irrationally and risked setting a fire.  But he was wrong on both scores.

First, Fesic started setting up a hood and secured fire source.  So, he was not only securing the "area of the fire" to the stove top, but he'd also set up a hood to capture the smoke.  And, when he lit each square, one at a time, he carefully kept each single burning square over the stove top.  So, there was zero chance of setting a fire.  And, as far as Fesic being irrational, Sekea certainly had not asked the man about his actions.  Because of that, Sekea had no basis to understand or evaluate Fesic's actions.  And, rather than asking Fesic what he had planned, Sekea prepared a drug and attacked the man.  So, it was Sekea who was actually being irrational.  Regardless who was being irrational, the ultimate truth was that Sekea was fairly certain Mikah would approve of his actions.

So, he wasn't worried about Fesic's reaction.  Despite that, he was trying to decide how he'd explain things to Mikah?  Rol asked why he had to explain at all, and when Sekea started to answer, Rol said he could let Mikah make up her own mind.  Rol then showed Sekea how to get into the ship's security systems because there were multiple security cameras covering the space.  So, they not only were able to pull down the video of Sekea reacting to Fesic's actions, but also pull the video down from earlier, when Mikah shot Fesic.  So, they pulled down both clips to save until the others returned, and Mikah could decide what to do.  While they waited and wondered, Sekea got a call on his comms from the station, which said his testimony was no longer needed.

When Mikah and the others got back to the ship, she looked around to see Rol doing occupational therapy with Sekea's help and no sign of Fesic.  She did notice a new stack of fabric on a counter near the stove.  Looking up to see her arrive, and noticing she'd seen the fabric, Sekea explained what happened, finishing with the fact Fesic was sleeping off an injection of anesthetic and locked in his stateroom.  While he explained, they couldn't help notice that Rol couldn't stop himself from giggling at the recitation.  Mikah heartily approved of what Sekea did and thanked the man before telling him he'd done a good job.  Ignoring that, Sekea began to tell Mikah he thought Sekea had a mental illness even though he was not at all qualified to make the diagnosis and had not only not examined the man but had not even asked about Fesic's motivations.  But, since Mikah didn't care, no one was going to point out the failings in Sekea's statements.

When Sekea, entirely unqualified in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, suggested prescribing drugs, Mikah's eyes lit up.  She smiled while considering her options.  Showing the hint of a buried sadistic streak, Sekea suggested he would be happy to help her drive a fellow crewmate into an enforced long-term drug-controlled existence simply because he'd not asked the man "why" he was doing what he did.  The jokes went on at Fesic's expense for some time, until Mikah asked who was going to cook?  Rol told her the androids could help Rol to stand and do what was needed to cook.  hearing that, everyone again called for more grilled cheese, but Rol announced he was going to make them pizza.  So, after nearly five months, Rol was going to cook his first new meal.

While they ate, they all heard Fesic knocking on his stateroom door.  Rol was the first to say, "I don't hear anything.  Does anyone hear anything?"  Mikah agreed, "No.  I don't hear anything." even though she couldn't keep Fesic locked up long term without either dealing with the issue or kicking him off the ship.  If she did try long term imprisonment or even medical intervention which wasn't properly diagnosed and supported by actual psychiatric professionals, there could be significant legal charges.  When Rol and Mikah both suggested it was the wind, Sekea again showed a hint of his buried sadistic nature when he suggested, "I don't know.  Maybe Fesic needs another injection." and laughed.  Still, it as Sekea who fought to release Fesic, suggesting he could inject the man again depending on his behavior.

After they unlocked his stateroom door, Fesic walked up to Mikah and said, "Lady Mikah, I am entirely sorry for the distress I have caused you and I will behave."  When Mikah demanded, "Forever?" Fesic matter-of-factly said, "Well, I'm not going to live forever so I can't make that promise."  Mikah then amended, "For the rest of your life?" and Fesic began to answer her.  But, Mikah cut him off, adding, "In my presence?"  Fesic then answered, "I won't annoy you."  Mikah then added, "Or anyone else on the crew?"  Fesic then added, "Unless you want me to." and Mikah added, "I don't want you to."  When Mikah said, "First infraction and your out." Fesic only answered, "Yes ma'am."  Mikah then nodded and told him to sit down and have dinner.  While they ate, Aali turned on the news.  Of course, most of the stories covered events related to the shutdown, but they got to new Interstellar news eventually:

    Rhylanor (A434934-F 2 Green Hi Cap 910 M2 V6)                            Date: 046-1114
    Notice to Ships (NTS-1115/37) *WARNING ORDER*
    This notice is in force in the Five Sisters, District 268, Glisten, Lunion, Vilis and Lanth systems.

    The craft below is believed to be a new type of Sword Worlds Scout/Intruder in the 200-300tn range.  Heavily armed,
    highly maneuverable and equipped with a formidable weapons suite.  Both integral and in deployed autonomous weapons
    platforms.  The craft appears to utilize sophisticated ECM/ECCM suites to jam and disrupt defensive
    communications and targeting systems.

    Unlike standard Sword World doctrine, this craft appears to focus on overwhelming defense forces with volleys of
    missiles whilst maintaining a high rate of acceleration.  The crews seem to concentrate on the destruction of ships
    and orbital assets rather than their capture.  It is suspected that this vessel emerges from jump space carrying a
    high velocity,  They then use continuous acceleration to evade attacks and, once all munitions are expended, jumps
    out of the system.

    These ships operate singly or in pairs, and are often followed up by a second wave the timing of which is variable
    and is believed to be deliberately designed to stretch local defense forces.  All ships are to report any sightings
    or contact to your nearest Imperial representative and a bounty of KCr 250 shall be paid for each ship destroyed,
    MCr 2 for any ship captured with an additional KCr 100 for any crewpersons captured.

    TAS News Management have added to this report a summary taken from discussions of political and strategic experts
    and retired military experts.  Despite occupation of the Sword Worlds systems, and newly declared Border worlds,
    this craft class appeared to have come from an undetermined source site.  It is speculated the Imperial Navy and
    Scout services will be working together in a search for the source of these mystery designs.
                    

    Ghandi (B211455-A  N  Ni Ic  G  303  Im  F8 V  M3 D)                            Date: 083-1114
    Port officials confirmed the arrival of the diplomatic courier ANS Qemdosni in-system today.  Arriving
    unescorted, the courier announced they were transporting a new Ardeni diplomat to the Mora system, with
    credentials to represent the Tremous Dex system.  It is expected the ambassador will provide the Imperial
    Admiralty more complete information on Arden's "assumption of control" in that system.  Many wonder if
    that data will include the various incidents between Ardeni and local forces?  Especially, given the
    limited data gained during the pull out of Imperial forces on the Ardeni fleet's arrival.

    Making a brief comment, without explanation, a senior Ardeni officer stated, "After we secured the
    system, and swept all arcologies and surface facilities, our forces located what could only be called an
    "unfortunate slaughter" left by the pirates who'd fled."  Examinations of the bodies found suggested the
    victims were those the pirates felt had no value for sale or as work force.                 

    Mora (AA99AC7-F  2  Hi In Cp  G  112  Im  M5 V)                            Date: 033-1114
    MegaCredit Billionaire Francis Mancor Treed, Owner of the Treed Interstellar Shipping line released the
    suggestion he might be consider a new line of business.  To augment his own profits and make the trade
    lanes safer, he suggested hiring smaller, older and more "vulnerable-looking" large and small freight
    vessels for a new program.  Each ship he hires will not be augmented for combat in any way.

    Instead, his thought would be to hire teams of combat operators, who would work for him as mercenaries.
    Those teams, for reasonable pay and the chance to travel the space lanes playing tourist while in port,
    would act as a "ready reserve".  And the ships participating in the program would receive hazard payment
    while trading in the more dangerous parts of any subsector in which Treed Interstellar Shipping operates.

    The intent is that the program would hopefully "trigger" attempts by pirates and other raiders to attack
    the freighters.  During those attacks, the hired mercenary teams aboard the ship would engage any boarding
    criminals while the ship's normal flight and operations crew were moved to a "safe compartment".  The
    combat teams could also be called on to assist in repairs and rescue after combat has ended aboard the
    freighter.  Mr. Treed has also suggested he may pay to create a sub-fleet of small Q-ships to shadow the
    hired freighters.  It appeared he was now beginning the search for pre-equipped personnel to hire for
    these ventures.                 

After they ate, Aali suggested they have a stent training session, and Rol said he'd join in too.  That led to jokes about his being lazy because he'd not been practicing for the last eighteen weeks.  When Rol brought up back pay, Mikah and others told him to check his credit balance.  After more than one person got pushy, Rol checked his Ident for his Credit balance for the first time since being decanted.  And he was stunned.  Rol remembered having just more than Cr 340,000 credits on account.  What he saw "now" was a balance of Cr 1,312,271!  So, his funds had grown to a point he had nearly one million credits more than he'd had when he died!

Having heard nothing about big money scores, Rol snapped, "I think someone's been skipping updating me on certain things!  Where did we get all this?"  A number of people started speaking at once, but Mikah could be heard saying, "you can thank Jocelynn for most of that."  Zimzod added that Rol could thank Colinne too.  Raising his Ident, Rol called out, "Thanks guys!  This brings a smile to my face."  After that, things calmed down again and those with stents gathered to train.  Not having a stent, Fesic practiced his computer skills.  Mikah relaxed and split her time between watching vids and keeping an eye on Fesic.  Like he would break out in wild behavior at any second now she'd accepted his apology.

An Evening Awry
     Sekea asked if any of the crew wanted to go out on the station's concourses, then scaled that back to Mikah and Fesic, because they also didn't have stents.  Fesic wanted to catch up on long-avoided computer practice and chose to keep at the exercises he'd started.  Because Mikah didn't have anything planned but relaxing, she decided to go with Sekea and he suggested they find a bar to check out.  Mikah agreed they should be able to find a bar nearby and Sekea said it would be good because they'd all had a stressful day.  Mikah only shrugged and said, "Both of us got to shoot up Fesic, so it was pretty great."  Still, they both agreed to hit a bar and both wanted one close to where the ship was berthed.

There were a small number of concourses they could get to from the berth, and most of the bars in either direction would likely be 'spacer' or 'dock worker' bars.  Not having a preference, the two wandered with the flow of traffic at the moment, letting that make some of their decisions.  The first bar they noticed seemed to address the needs of station workers to blow off steam after long hard shifts.  And, after the overtime demanded to power the station down and back up again, it was 'hopping'!  Walking in, they realized the crowd at the bar and tables drinking had masked a mini-amusement center in the back!  The space behind the hard-core drinkers had arcade games, skill challenges and even a pocket bumper car arena!

Stopping to take that in, both Mikah and Sekea realized the attractions were not kiddy-version items.  Even the people on the bumper car "ride" seemed to be out to hammer the others around them.  As if they were playing "attack" bumper cars!  That grabbed Mikah's attention and she approved.  Both Mikah and Sekea agreed that was a bar they should check out.  Wandering in to check the place out, Sekea noticed "banks" of sit-in positions that looked like fighter cockpits.  Checking out the screens of people playing them, it seemed the idea of the game was to provide realistic small-craft racing challenges.  Sadly, many of the people who were spending their credits were not pilots at all, much less trained fliers.  So, their craft were often auguring into obstacles or the course barriers.  So, they were most often re-spawning until their flight time ended.

Mikah spotted an area that would fit ten to fifteen people inside it, which was walled off in inflated plastic "bubble walls".  She saw the walls and ceiling were also made of "plastic cushioning bubble" structures and the people inside the space were "adrift" because there didn't seem to be gravity in the "bouncy house".  And, it seemed, some of the people inside were wrestling and "throwing" each other around.  Others only seemed to be bouncing around a pretending they could fly, but Mikah couldn't tell if they were just enjoying the sensations or moving for positions from which to attack?

No matter where they looked in the space, the bar had spent a fair amount on station space and seemed to have shoe-horned "a lot" into that space.  And it seemed to be paying off at the moment with what seemed like a lot of station workers drinking and playing hard.  The two could also see a few sets of ship suits mixed in, that suggested ship crews taking part too.  When Mikah asked Sekea if he was up for some zero-g training, his response was, "Before or after we get drunk?"  Mikah happily answered, "After, of course!"  Sekea even suggested a 'make the other guy vomit' competition and Mikah bought in on that too.  When they first grabbed a small table, Sekea asked Mikah what she wanted to drink and said he was paying.

After buying her what passed for a 'scotch on the rocks' in that system, Sekea checked the bar's wine list to try a local wine out for adventure.  Neither intended to get seriously drunk but both wanted to get a buzz on before heading for the grav-House.  After Cr 20 of drinks, the pair moved into the plastic space and got down to some serious "swing-bouncing".  Sekea could tell Mikah's serous training outmatched his basic skills.  He could also tell she likely didn't need the drinks to loosen her up.  Each time one of them came at the other, she enjoyed grabbing and throwing Sekea with wild abandon!  And, she very clearly had the ability to recover from actions and re-set herself for new attacks.  Sekea also had to wonder if her throws intentionally sent him spinning into other strangers in the space, which sometimes earned him reactions from those people too.

At one point, despite her training, Mikah was lining herself up on Sekea and missed the launch of another person who hadn't noticed what Mikah was doing either.  So, they collided in the space and went spinning.  Taking note of what was happening between her and Sekea, the others took more precautions, as did Mikah.  The "fun" continued until Mikah sent Sekea spinning and he wildly grabbed out for something to hold and stabilize himself.  Unfortunately for him, his wild grabs led to him firmly "groping" a younger woman by her groin!  And, as expected, the woman started screaming and kicking at him as they flew into a bubble-padded wall.

Adding to the unfortunate situation, Sekea was more aware he had grabbed hold of someone than he was aware of "how" he'd grabbed her, who she was or what she was doing?  At first, anyway.  So, he was more interested in adjusting his grip to hold on more firmly to try stabilizing himself.  So, Sekea wasn't immediately aware of the wider situation he was getting himself into.  It was only when safety moderators reacted and started enforcing gravity in the space that Sekea's awareness of the situation grew.  As soon as he realized "where" he was grabbing the woman, Sekea let loose, but the damage had already been done.  The second they were able, the bar's bouncers rushed in to grab Sekea and drag him out of the bar without any care for who he was or what excuses he'd make for what he'd done.  Their job was to eject him and they'd seen too many perv's to care.

Added to that, it was made clear Sekea could leave the area or they'd call station security to arrest him for assault, sexual groping or even intent to rape!  Added to that, while they were not approaching Mikah, they had connected her to Sekea, and were watching her with unhappy looks on their faces.  Those told her than any false move she made would get her thrown out too, and they were just waiting for that to happen.  Shrugging, Mikah left the bar and said, "Bad move, dude." before gesturing to continue the walk down the companionway for another bar.  When Mikah repeated, "bad move" Sekea tried to blame it on his need for more training.  The truth was that when a person is thrown into a situation they can't control, many will simply and desperately reach out for anything to hold on to, and "where" he grabbed the woman was entirely unfortunate and outside his control.

The good news, as they wandered further looking for the next bar, was that none of the garments the woman was wearing had been torn.  Because, that would have made the unfortunate situation even worse.  Now knowing how well trained Mikah was in zero-G operations, Sekea wondered if Mikah would consider helping him learn more to improve his skill?  Mikah smiled and said she'd happily do that while Sekea had not yet learned how much she and Zimzod love "throwing their junior crew around."  Soon enough, the two came on an electronic café spread across most of the companionway.

Anyone sitting down at any of the tables had free access to a number of applications promoting social connectivity.  There were trivia and other competitive games which could be played against others in that café or other locations scattered across the station.  Along with the menus and chat windows, there were event schedules and ads for the free applications.  Drinks would be ordered from the e-menus, and androids would deliver them to customers.  When Sekea first said he didn't want to go to that place, Mikah said it was as good as any if he wanted to sit and talk.  Looking down the passage, they discussed it before Sekea changed his mind and they sat to look at the menus.

When Sekea dove in, asking how Fesic had gotten so messed up, Mikah dismissively answered, "He came that way."  Sekea tried to probe, saying "He seems to be doing things that are self-destructive, which is sad."  Again, his evaluation of Fesic's behavior came from assumptions since he'd not really learned the background, intent or any other facts about Fesic's actions.  Nor was Sekea even aware of the other pranks various members of the crew had pulled on each other.  So, Sekea's point of view had no facts to back it up.  Very much like the bouncers who'd thrown him out of the bar without even asking for his side of the event.

Mikah told Sekea about Fesic's abortive attempt to pick locks while they had rooms in a station hotel in the Equus system.  She said that after he couldn't seem to understand how that had become a problem, he seemed to go more and more off the rails.  When Sekea asked why he'd tried to pick locks in the hotel, Mikah said he just wanted to challenge himself and practice.  Sekea asked if he'd been arrested and Mikah said he was grabbed by hotel security.  She then told Sekea about how he'd gone out in a hotel where everyone was uniformed and branded, and couldn't understand that his generic and unbranded coveralls stood out?

While the conversation about Fesic continued through several drinks, a man stepped up to their table.  Looking up to ask what the man wanted, Mikah saw his expression was angry and the patch on his shipsuit read, "IMV Dilucca".  Mikah had to juggle a few memories before she fixed on the Sladek family, who owned and operated that ship.  Still, before she could react, the man held his drink over the center of their table and poured it out on the tabletop.  Knowing full well, but asking anyway, Mikah asked, "OK.  What is your problem?"  The man only turned and walked away from them while Mikah called to his back, "Emkir's dead."  Hearing that, the man turned to look at Mikah and shouted, "Good" in an angry voice before turning to continue leaving them behind.

When Mikah called out, "I've got your number, dude" the man only reached back and flipped her the finger.  While one of the bar's androids rushed over to clean the table and refill their drinks, unasked, Mikah explained about the bar fight in the Equus system, and how Emkir accidentally killed a senior member of their crew.  She also told him how that ship had been a 'family ship', so every member of the crew was also a member of the family.  And, Senior members were older and more important members of that kind of crew.  Mikah added that they'd always known they'd cross paths again and could only hope they'd cooled off, then shrugged and guessed they hadn't.

When Sekea asked about letting the man go or teaching him a lesson, Mikah waved it off.  On a station like Ghandi, security wouldn't likely do anything on a spilled drink.  And any move to "teach the man a lesson" would likely be seen as an unacceptable escalation.  They could tell security about the situation so officials knew they'd been harassed, and be aware in case of possible escalations.  That was the best way to hope security backed them if an escalation happened, and they were called in.  While they talked, the android had been followed by a human manager who apologized and knocked a percentage off their last drinks.  Still, after that, the two decided to head back to the ship and spread the word the Sladeks were on-station.  Sekea said he'd thought the man was from the bar with the "gravCastle" and Mikah laughed.  She said they'd have to wear glasses if they went back to that bar.  Sekea suggested they wear costumes and the idea of wearing the "medical uniforms" came up as they laughed.

After two hours of stent practice, Aali watched vids, relaxed and socialized.  Aiden had come to the ship from the suite, and wanted to continue his chats with Jocelynn about managing his stateroom storage.  Colinne also chose to relax while Fesic got into his lock pick training.  Rol and Zimzod did physical therapy.  So, when Mikah and Sekea returned from their bar hopping, the others were either at their own activities or relaxing in the ship's lounge.  Seeing that, Mikah called everyone together and warned them the Sladek family were in port and she and Sekea had an encounter.  So, there could be trouble.  That also led to explanations for those new to the crew who didn't know the history.

When Sekea asked about security measures, Zimzod said they could just tell the berth crew to stop anyone trying to enter the berth and ask their business.  And, if it turned out to be anyone from that ship, or on behalf of that ship, they should comm anyone of the Upgrade's crew and act as a go between in case station security might be needed.  Agreeing with that, Mikah called the berth crew comms code and set that up with that shift's berth lead.  That crew would now be a security buffer protecting them from attacks in their berth.  Events while wandering the station would be different.  From then on, the crew relaxed until Mikah set up Rol in the autodoc, to be released after 11am, and set the gravChair up to charge.  After that, the crew faded to their beds.

    Saturday, 086-1114:
Meetings In The Murky Mornings And More
     Aiden and Colinne were the first to wake that morning and went through their morning routines before emerging to the ship's lounge.  Realizing they were alone, Aiden volunteered to try cooking and not ruining breakfast.  While he did that, Colinne reviewed some of the app designs she was working on.  With time passed in the lounge, Zimzod woke in the stateroom and crawled on top of Mikah for some morning fun.  First things first, as she felt Zimzod's exploring hands and lips, Mikah worked to get a view of the clock.  When she saw he was waking her up around six in the morning, even earlier than the autodoc had the morning before, she let loose to beat the crap out of him for ruining a full morning's sleep.  Sadly for Mikah, Zimzod liked it when she gave him bruises, so the lesson was slow going.

When it finally got through to Zimzod that Mikah wasn't giving in, they both knew they'd not get to sleep so they did their morning routines and left the compartment for the lounge.  Added to that, Mikah planned to badger Zimzod constantly through the day to get even for the sleep he'd cost her.  Between when Zimzod had woken Mikah and when they stepped into the lounge, Jocelynn had woken and done her own morning routine.  So, she was just serving herself from the food Aiden made when the two and their argument arrived.  As they looked on, the others could see Zimzod had a facial bruise or two while Mikah muttered, "The one day I can sleep in, but no..."  After eating, Mikah angrily stomped off telling Zimzod he "had to" help her and led him to the medlab.  There, she ended Rol's treatment early and had Zimzod help her walk Rol back to the lounge because if she had to be awake, so did both her patients.

They weren't in the lounge more than a few minutes when the ship's comms began to buzz.  Sighing and demanding "What" from the powers of space...  Answering the call, Mikah was told Station Security wanted to have a private meeting with Lady Mikah, Sir Zimzod, Dame Jocelynn and Dame Colinne.  When Mikah said "OK" she was told they were sending a car to collect them at the moment.  Seeing everyone being summoned was awake was not as settling as seeing that those four in the crew were psionically "active" was unsettling.  Especially after the events of the debriefing.  Especially, all wrapped up in what seemed like a sudden, early-morning 'summons and grab'.  So, Mikah spread the word while they all fed themselves and got ready.

Not sure how long this summons would take, Mikah also woke Sekea to take over Rol's physical therapy, because she'd been scheduled to handle things that day.  Now, she had to make Sekea aware of what was happening and have him take over for her.  Deciding to make a statement, Zimzod decided to wear his "Order of the Marches" chivalric uniform.  Mikah chose to wear her March Defenders uniform and Domain of Deneb ear rings.  Jocelynn went to change into one of her business pant suits, as did Colinne.  Mikah holstered her magazine-fed laser pistol and wore lapel pins for all her orders.  Where she had extra pins, she loaned them out.  And, because she and Zimzod were wearing uniforms, they could wear medals like their Purple Hearts and his MCUF.

Mikah also told the others to wear honor weapons because they had the right.  She didn't also say she was uncertain what the Station Security offices wanted and that she wanted as much of a statement made as possible.  So, when Colinne asked why she'd holster a weapon, Mikah told her to do so.  Both Jocelynn and Colinne holstered their gauss pistols.  Zimzod decided to 'go overboard' and holster both his .45's, Pain and Misery.  Despite the rushing, they were all ready when the security portCar arrived and they piled in.  The ride was as short as expected but the arrival was not what was expected.  There was actually an honor guard waiting for them!

Invited to step out of the car, they were then escorted into the offices, to meet a station officer named "Raguar Kuuimaga".  In fact, he was the sergeant they'd met the day before!  Suddenly, as the man took in their outfits, they all heard his voice in their minds, saying, "Thank you for coming.  We can speak safely here because this chamber is shielded for security."  Verbally, he said, "Thank you for coming at my request." as he also bowed in Vilani style.  Cutting right to it, Mikah asked, "Why are we here?"  The sergeant answered, "you're here because I wasn't certain in our previous meeting if one of you might have scanned me, once you knew I was psionic.  Before I made my presence known."  He added, "After that, we couldn't speak about it openly, so I wanted to give you a chance to ask any questions you had after I identified myself."

Caught by surprise, Mikah could only ask what insight he had regarding the AI?  He admitted he could only offer his opinions, but said someone built the lab either during the station's initial construction or since.  He also felt there could be more secret locations like the lab.  And, he admitted the only way to find out who "could have" done that would be to start with a deep dive into the station's records.  That would tell them if any major work had been done in that section of the engineering spaces, and who'd been hired or authorized to do the work.  Other than that, forensic research could give them some data if they had a team take apart the lab and connecting compartments to test the materials for age and composition.  That data could tell them how long ago a given welding material was used, or where source data components had been made and sold.

That was also because the passage was entirely unimportant and had little security coverage.  So, anyone who had access to the station's engineering spaces, or had been brought in as a third party or assistant, could have come and gone in that space and not been monitored.  Because of that, he hoped the shutdowns Mikah ordered killed the AI, because he admitted he felt it was "fuck all scary".  He also admitted finding out who had been working in the lab, and could have been the AI's designer, was going to be a long and hard slog with little existing information from the lab itself.  Especially because they never got an image of the AI.  And because they had no idea of the designer's intent?

Nodding, Mikah told him they'd had encounters with AI's before, and this was their third encounter.  That revelation surprised the sergeant and Colinne, who had heard some stories but not the full accounts.  The man even sat down in surprise when he heard Mikah say that.  The blood drained from his face and his look was aghast.  Mikah also told him they'd reported the other AI's to Imperial authorities, though she glossed over the fact that each of the authorities was a different organization.  While she'd reported the first Human-replicant to the Imperial Navy in the Equus system, the local government on Equus had cleaned everything up.  So, there was no guarantee it went out as anything except an apocryphal claim.

The second report went to the authorities in D'Ganzio, so there is no evidence that they, or InstellArms, may not have covered up much of the data to research on their own.  Again, with little data given to the Imperial Navy, there was no way to ensure the reports had risen to the correct levels and connected?  And, as far as IRIS went, Mikah wasn't sure who they might talk to?  It was suggested they reported to the Emperor himself, and only him.  But, there was no evidence a coherent report may have reached that level.  Any bureaucratic cog in the chain could have chuckled and pigeon-holed the report as "too fanciful".  When the sergeant said they'd not had any data about their reports in Ghandi Mikah said they'd be making a third report regarding this event too.

When Mikah asked what his boss' problem was, Kuuimaga said the colonel wasn't his boss.  He told her there were a group of high-ranking officers on station and he'd happened to be grabbed by that colonel to take notes and handle tasks during the meeting.  Still, he did admit he'd been angling to be selected because he wanted to better understand the events of the past days.  He just didn't realize how insane her crew's testimony would be, or that they might be psi-active.  The big issue the officers had now was that every single new agency was blasting this out on an interstellar level.  Kuuimaga described the colonel as an "Ultra-Nationalist", and worried that what the universe was hearing about Ghandi now would damage the system and his career.  So, to protect himself and Ghandi's reputation, he wanted to pin the events on someone else.  And Mikah's crew were there, so they were "someone else".

Mikah and the others knew there were actually many lower tech systems who had laws against advanced tech, to protect their populations.  So, there were a lot of world governments who would believe a claim like that.  If a news broadcast went out blaming Mikah and her crew, some governments might believe it, and actually act negatively if their ship arrived in the system.  So, where the colonel wanted to protect Ghandi and himself, he was willing to damage the reputations of Mikah and her crew to do that.  When Mikah said she didn't think it was the fault of Ghandi's people, he tried to point out that was "Her reaction.  Not the reactions of the mass-media broadcasts.  And, he pointed out, they were not broadcasting all the facts.  They only broadcast what was in the releases, or in the opinions of the copy writers.  But Mikah just talked over him, explaining how some clandestine cabal had been at fault.

Letting Mikah wind down her comments, he agreed with her analysis but also made his point in the clear.  He pushed that the millions. Billions, Trillions who received the broadcasts would be limited in the facts and opinions broadcast about the subject.  So it didn't matter what Mikah thought because she couldn't explain what they were not hearing or seeing.  So media would control their opinions and there was nothing they could do unless they got into the media themselves.  And none of Mikah's crew commented on how many requests for interviews they were refusing already.  Kuuimaga also pointed out most intelligent people would refuse to accept the AI story because it was right out of modern fantasy.  It was an easy and obviously fake excuse because no one "they knew" had seen one.  And Mikah could admit, that, just like on Equus, the event had been so cleaned up the Imperial Navy had nothing but their reports hours after the event.

Shrugging that off for the moment, Mikah asked who was the ruling authority running the Ghandi station and was told it was a Starport Authority port.  Just like Rhylanor, Regina and many of the other ports they'd visited.  Not under the Imperial government, but a Megacorporation just like LSP, General Products, SuSAG and many more.  That meant the reports they didn't tell the public would be sent up the grape vine.  What came back down, or got spread in anything other than whispers, was unknown.  Nodding when the sergeant told her that, Mikah told him she planned to talk to the Navy and find the right offices to make reports to and that was all she could do.  Kuuimaga nodded and accepted that because that was also all he could do.

Kuuimaga did say he was told the Navy wanted to speak to her, and had connected with him when one of their people heard he was reaching out to the crew.  He said they wanted him to deliver a message that the Admiral would like to sit down with you and have the drink he'd mentioned when he'd spoken with her before the shutdown.  Mikah nodded and agreed to make an appointment with him, since she wanted to talk to him anyway.  While she didn't mention it to anyone else, the Admiral was one of the people she wanted to report the AI to.  Changing the direction of the conversation, Mikah asked, "So, how many psions do you have on the station?"  Kuuimaga answered that there weren't many, and admitted he was shocked to realize they were psi-active.

He admitted he'd surprised the Imperial psions on the station because he'd been self-trained after he'd suffered an unexpected blossoming.  So he'd been self-trained until he'd come in contact with someone who - "blessed him" - after the fact.  That meant he'd been protected from investigations and being outed to the regular population, and been further trained instead of lobotomized.  Mikah nodded and said three of them were newly active where she pointed at Colinne and said she was the trained one.  Nodding at that, Kuuimaga said that, not including certain obvious examples, the security services of the station were there to help Mikah and her people.  They would work together with Mikah's people if a need rose.

Jocelynn gave out an emphatic "Nice!" and Mikah mentioned the Sladek family and their ship, the Dilucca.  Mikah gave a thumbnail sketch of what had happened in the bar on Equus' station.  She made it clear she didn't expect trouble, but wanted security to be aware of the situation just in case.  When Mikah used the phrase, "Unfortunate incident", Kuuimaga asked for an explanation.  Mikah told him about the accidental death, and how Emkir had been acquitted without the details how that happened.  Mikah also said that Emkir was dead now too, so there shouldn't be an issue in her opinion.  That was good enough for Kuuimaga and he said he'd do his best to get the word spread around.  He also bumped her his information in case of emergency or an urgent issue.

They then said their goodbyes and loaded into a security portCar for the ride back to the berth.  Along the way, Mikah sparked up a call to the Admiral.  he quickly connected and welcomed her saying, "Lady Mikah.  I've been waiting for this call for a brief bit of time."  Mikah answered, "Yes.  We had to take care of a crew member who had been cloned and needed to be decanted.  He is now reborn."  Cocking his head, the Admiral admitted, "I wasn't aware you'd had a fatality in the other day's incident."  Mikah could hear his voice was honestly concerned.  Mikah waved that off telling him the death had happened some time ago on Regina.  Nodding, the officer said they regularly got news from Regina, but said he'd been told they'd arrived in Ghandi from the Denotam system.  Mikah admitted it was a long story from Regina to Denotam and Ghandi.

Mikah then said they should have the drink he mentioned and she'd tell him the whole story.  The admiral nodded and said, "That sounds like a plan.  I think we should do that."  He then started to say, "I should have a cutter inbound by..." then faded off.  He then asked, "Actually, how is your crew suited for an off-station excursion?"  Mikah answered, "I think they'd love it."  Nodding, the officer said, "I will have my officers set up a reception aboard the Kaarshur.  Mikah quietly shared the news while also telling the admiral about Rol and his support androids.  The Admiral seemed very pleased with that and said he'd make sure his medical division was aware of the situation, and that they'd be meeting his senior medical officer during the reception.

Mikah then asked, "Do you happen to have any intelligence officers aboard?  Pausing at the odd question, the admiral was about to answer when Mikah added, "I need to make a report."  His pause got longer, given who she was and the very odd comments, then carefully said, "I do.  Is there anything you feel you can tell me which suggests what your report was about?"  Mikah told him it regarded the incident on the station and ordered power downs, and other reports we've made in the past.  Nodding, the Admiral said, "So, it has to do with the purported virus at the center of the station's crisis." and Mikah answered, "Yeah", missing the word "purported", which suggested the admiral had his doubts.  Still, he said he'd have a cutter in-bound soon and on the station in hours.  Since it would take time to the station and back and forth again, the admiral planned to host them for dinner that evening.  When Mikah was good with that, they cut the line and rode back to the berth anticipating visiting a capital class naval carrier for dinner.

While Mikah and the others had gone to the security offices, Aiden had eventually gotten up and gotten his morning going.  After eating, Aiden called InstellArms to connect with his concierge to ask about a training suit loaded with the software to help teach him skills in Zero-g combat.  Aiden knew the tech for such a suit was higher tech than could be made in the Ghandi system, so there was a good chance it wouldn't be available.  The concierge first asked him about any changes to his body shape, which they'd collected several times in the past.  With that, she checked her board and found they did have a suit which would fit him in stock.  But, she cautioned, it had a more advanced software instructor level than he'd intended.  That meant it would cost him Cr 250,000!  That set Aiden's interest back a bit and he stopped to think about it.

After considering the buy and the odds he'd run into a situation before they made their way to D'Ganzio, Aiden bit the bullet and bought the suit.  Especially when he heard in his head, Mikah saying, "Never cheap out with survival gear."  Aiden asked for it to be delivered to the crew at the berth where their ship was, and the woman said it would be delivered within the next two days.  Then, Aiden planned to let the berth crew know a delivery was coming for him since he might not be there when it arrived.  When the woman asked if he wanted anything else, Aiden asked about a music synthesizer system that would be small enough to stow in his already bulging stateroom.  He wanted it to speak quite a number of "instrument voices" and had a number of other requirements for the device.  When she checked, the concierge said the only version of the system she had was a performance sized device which would take up half his stateroom.  Hearing that, he said it was much too big for his gear.

Moving on, Aiden started to ask about connecting his HUD integration kits to his new organizer and realized he could connect them himself.  So, Aiden moved on, asking about a maneuvering pack for his combat armor?  The concierge again searched her pad and came up with two items, of which they only had one in stock.  Both were hydrogen fuel cell powered packs, because they didn't have thruster plate driven packs in stock at all.  Of the HFC units, he already knew that they didn't have the advanced tech "slim-line" packs.  So, he ordered the full-sized unit for Cr 20,000.  Aiden then went about pulling his vacc suit and combat armor to re-rout the connector cables for his HUD integrations.  Aali had slept in and not been awake much earlier before the issue with the spacer started.  Rol was doing physical therapy while Sekea worked with and helped him and Fesic worked more on his lock pick studies.

When the security car brought Mikah, Zimzod, Jocelynn and Colinne to the berth entrance, there seemed to be some sort of "discussion" going on.  Getting out of the car to see what the issue was, Mikah was protectively blocked by a line of berth workers as the lead man said, their "visitor" was a senior officer on the secondary command staff of the IMV Dilucca.  Mikah's voice was hard and firm when she demanded, "What do you want?"  The officer, a stocky older man in an obvious merchanter shipsuit with a Dilucca patch said, "We want to challenge your crew..."  Mikah interrupted him, angrily telling him to fuck off and get out of their berth!

She added, "And I'm calling Station Security" while reaching for her comms and forgetting they had arrived in a station security car.  Complete with a security officer, who had also gotten out of the car.  Ignoring everything else, the man stood his ground and firmly answered, "We want to challenge your crew to bumper cars."  That froze everything for a moment before Jocelynn who'd also gotten out or the car, broke out laughing.  Mikah had to pause to replay the words in her head because she was certain she'd heard wrong.  The berth and security people weren't sure what to do with what the man had said?  Most eyes were on the man, in case it was some kind of ploy, but he and some others were watching Mikah.

Mikah went with the easy answer and assumed the other spacer had heard of the incident with the girl.  So, Mikah said, I don't know if they're gonna let us in again, but OK.  Still, it won't be today."  The Sladek man answered, "If any bar on the station won't let anyone from your crew in, they'll have both our crews to deal with."  As Mikah told him it would have to be the next day because they had plans, she realized they might be late for that too.  After dinner, they'd spend hours flying back to the station from the carrier.  That meant it would have to be later in the day.  Still, the man bumped Mikah a comms pin for their ship's main comms.  He told her to call the next day when they were ready to set up the match.  When Mikah agreed, he thanked her for that and then left with everyone watching him go.

With the man gone, Mikah checked the time and realized the cutter from the carrier would have to arrive around lunch time in order to get them back to the carrier by dinner.  Because of that, Mikah led the others back onto the ship and told Aiden to get into the ship and start cooking them an early lunch.  She then told the others they had a dinner date with the admiral aboard his carrier flagship, and had to get ready for that reception and dinner aboard the warship.  When some asked what the dress code was, Mikah said they'd been invited to a reception and dinner.  Ignore the fact it's on a warship and dress accordingly because it's not like it's a court event or anything special.  They then settled in while Aiden did his best not to poison them.  After eating, they went to get changed.  Joking, Rol sparked up in an excited voice and said, "I get to wear clothes?" while the others laughed.

Mikah snarked back at him, "We'll put you in a johnny coat.  That should be fine.  We'll make you stand up and bow to everyone."  That got even more laughs.  Rol then asked, "Can I carry a gun?" and Mikah snapped back, "You can't even lift a gun!"  Rol shrugged and said, "That's not common knowledge."  Aiden then said, "he can wear a holster." and Mikah agreed as Rol said he'd just been joking.  Mikah stuck to her position, though, and repeated, "Everyone who has a right to an honor weapon should have an honor weapon." in a firm voice.  With that, Rol nodded and it was settled.  Zimzod said he wasn't changing but Mikah changed into a pant suit.  Still, she wore her array of lapel pins and had her gauss pistol.  Aiden wore his Knight Victor chest badge and lapel pins on one of his good Vilani suits.

While Jocelynn went to her stateroom, she also called her concierge at InstellArms.  When she was connected, Jocelynn rattled off a list of instructions she wanted InstellArms to provide her in an order.  Hearing the list, the man giggled a few times but confirmed the order and Jocelynn had to wonder if he found the idea funny or was considering his commission.  He also apologized for the events on station and hoped this would not affect her crew.  She also had a set of files and data she transferred to the concierge.  In the end, this cost her Cr 39,000, which she paid.  When they talked about delivery, Jocelynn made sure they knew to contact her directly to set that up because she had conditions and limits to confirm.  The concentrate agreed to her conditions for an extra Cr 1,000.  The concierge confirmed all the crew's projects would be done, he also said he had an update on the pell 'droid.

After testing, they found 89% of the 'droid's components worked, so they didn't have to be replaced.  The other eleven percent were not major or critical parts, so they could say the "full rebuild" of that unit would cost the crew Cr 50,000.  He then addressed the question which Sekea had raised.  He said that "physically", the android could be re-engineered and have its design altered to give the 'droid hover capability.  And, while that would be difficult, and have its costs, the real cost would be the new software they'd have to buy.  That was because none of the existing software had the capability to move.  Nor did the strategic and tactical capabilities also didn't take movement into account.  So, they'd have to buy an entirely new software suite for the unit.  And, if they did plan to do that and wait for the re-design, they would do better to just buy a brand-new unit.

When Jocelynn decided to at least start the conversation on buying a new android, the man said he wanted to sit with the members of the crew involved in the decision and work through what they hoped to learn.  Software had to consider the weapons, differing existing skills and the space in which the unit would operate.  Added to that were unit storage and maintenance issues along with power needs and specialty requests.  Accepting that, Jocelynn set an appointment at InstellArms for the next day at one in the afternoon.  Done with that, Jocelynn changed into her black pant suit, with the silver pendant/purple gem, pearl ear rings and the Tellona diamond ring.

Colinne changed into her green gown and also put on her silver necklace and ear rings and holstered her gauss pistol.  Colinne also wore her chivalric chest badge.  Rol went with his dark blue Vilani suit, lanthanum diamond ring, Knight Defenders of the Marches pin and holstering his honor snub pistol.  Sekea chose to wear his "Conservative/Casual" blue Vilani Business suit and holstered his semi-auto snub pistol with one magazine of Tranq rounds loaded.  He also brought his handcomp, medkit and wore his chivalric chest badge.  Aali wore her green semi-formal gown with her handcomp, Knight Defenders of the Marches and Order of Caranda's Sword lapel pins, Tellona Diamond ring, necklace with infinity linked wedding rings, engagement ring and Gold and Emerald starship brooch.  Fesic wore the simple yet stylish Solomani suit with the broad black and brown color scheme with his Knight Victor chest badge and Order of Caranda's Sword lapel pin and hand computer. 

Before leaving the ship, Mikah unjacked the charging gravChair for Rol to use because they didn't want to over-push him.  While they were leaving the ship after dressing, Jocelynn told Sekea and Aali about the appointment she'd made with InstellArms to talk about the pell 'droid.  She also told them what the concierge had said about re-working the 'droid they had brought, which disappointed Sekea.  Still, they had options and they had LOTS of money!  Not much later, Mikah got a call from Station Central that the cutter from the carrier was moving closer.  She was advised they should call a portCar and get themselves to the port's shuttle port to meet the craft.

    Saturday, 086-1114: Following Lunch Time
Where everyone is at the end of the session:
     Everyone is en route to the station's shuttle port to board a cutter to the carrier INS Kaarshur

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Next: Transitional Connections