Lester heard footsteps walking away....
Cedric was fianlly going.

"About time..." He said, and started working on the door lock....he gave a contemptful snort.

"Call this a lock? Ten seconds on a slow day..." He hooked up his data jack, and the door opened within moments. He stepped out and looked around...no one. He grinned.

The adjoining door opened, surprising him. He ducked back into his room, then peeked out. It was Tiala....she'd gotten out as well.

"Hey..." he said, stepping out, smiling...

Tiala's tail twitched in surprise when she saw Lester had gotten out just as she had. "Hi. Since they're being so security uptight, they must be hiding something valuable."

"They're Nitzscheans....they're always uptight." He remarked. "But they may be going after something valuable....wish El Capitan would've given back that flexi. Had all the details..."

Tiala considered it for a few minutes thoughtfully. "Well, if they're going after something then it might be good to stay here until they get it. I could delay repairs on my ship...and steal it from them when they get it." Her eyes lit up. "You're welcome to join me."

"Re...Really?" Lester said, swallowing.....
"Th..that'd be nice, actually...better than here right now..." He glanced at Tiala and smiled, blushing again. "You....need a mechanic? I'm pretty good with my hands..." he commented, then realized he'd done it again...

Tiala smiled and nodded. "Sure, I mean, I'm an adequate mechanic and with two people running my ship will be easier than just me alone."

Lester exhaled, glad she hadn't caught his foible... "Great. That would be perfect for me...thanks. You're really great looking.... really great. Nice. I mean..." He smiled weakly. "Sorry..."

Tiala hid another smile, she had caught on all of his mistakes but wasn't about to embarrase him by highlighting them. She gave him expression that told him she had caught them all and really didn't mind. "In that case, we're agreed. We'll wait here aboard this ship until they get that vauable item, steal it and get out of here fast." She looked around.

"I think we should go inside my quarters to continue this discussion. "It would look bad if someone came along and saw us on the loose."

Lester's eyes brightened. "Sure." He said, the word out almost faster than the thought. "I mean, good idea." He said, smiling. He mentally kicked himself; he was making a fool of himself in front of her...if he wasn't careful, he would blow any chance he had...if he really had one...

Tiala nodded and shut his door before leading Lester inside her own quarters. She shut her own door and sat down on one of the seats. "Sit down where ever you want."

He was on the bed before she blinked, before he even knew where he was going. He blushed again. "Thanks..." he said, looking at her...looking a very long time at her..."So what d'ya want to do?"

She withdrew her glove, then changed her mind. "Constantine," she called. "Come over here and hold down these corners, will you?"

The young Niet smiled briefly, and looked pointedly at the door he was guarding. Silver missed the look, and called to him again.

"I think perhaps it would be better if I stayed here," Con said politely, knocking lightly on the door panel. The noise drew Silver's attention and she frowned. Niets. Always so paranoid about security.

She searched the room and found a couple of objects she could put on the map, and spread it out more. This time, using both hands, she started scanning from side to side, lingering over certain details. "Dandy copy!" she said to herself. "Good details, good quality. Wonder where it came from?" She was startled when the Niet woman drifted up beside her to stare down at the same corner. Ought to put jingle bells on their feet, she thought grumpily. "As long as you're here, put on a glove and hold this thing, right here." She drew another glove out of her pocket and dropped it on the table, away from the map. "So tell me," she asked the Marauder captain, "where'd you get this? What do you know about its history? And do you have any new music recordings, because mine are getting old."

"I have many musical recordings, but they are all on the Marauder. I f you like I'll have Ivor send some across, it would be nice to have some music while we work! As to the map, all I can tell you is that some years back I ran into a badly injured Perseid. In return for basic medical care and helping him to repair his ship he gave me this map. All he told me was that it was a map of the Jaalet system and that it pointed the way to a very valuable treasure. He would tell me no more, no matter what questions I asked, eventually he was well enough to continue his journey and I was forced to let him go. Later that day as we were on our way to another business deal, we ran across a lot of debris floating in space. After scanning the debris we identfied it as the Perseids ship. There were no life signs, so I assumed that he died in the blast. That is all I know, other than what I have already told NJ. So I am very interested to see what you can unearth"

Mia bent down to get a closer look at what the archeologist was pointing to.

"Here. Where it says 'The Way of the Sword'," Silver's finger hovered gently over the map, without touching. "See the word 'sword'? It doesn't match the other writing. That word has been altered. I can't tell here what the original word was." She pointed to another phrase. "And this one--'The Coral of Life.' The word 'coral' has been altered as well." She located the burned area of the map. "And here. Something was removed here. See these lines? They converge on the burned area and then pass through to unwind into decoration again. A common technique to hide important information by coding it within what would appear to be complex drawings. Someone deliberately damaged this map to remove whatever the lines were converging on."

Silver paced around to the other side of the table. "And why place a compass rose on a map of a solar system? Unless the compass was not meant to indicate magnetic north, but perhaps a more general direction. Although I don't know about you but when I'm in space everywhere is pretty much 'over' or at least that seems to be where I wind up. Plays havoc with poor Ivy. He doesn't know which way he's supposed to be growing."

"Ivy?" inquired Mia, a little confused.

"My plant. Ivy. Its always nice to have something green on board that's supposed to be growing on purpose, isn't it? I mean, sometimes when I bring artifacts on board I wind up with bits of local moss or something, but that isn't like I *meant* it to be there. And mostly NJ makes me get rid of it anyway. The woman has no sense of rhythm, you know," she confided.

"Rhythm?!"

"For music!"

Mia shook her head. "The map. What about the map?"

Silver spread her hands wide. "Its ok. No moss. At least that I can see." She waved in Constantine's general direction. "Con, could you get a hold of CCG and see if she's busy? I need a few things from my ship."

By the time Ivor had returned and dropped off Mia's personal items (items NJ made a mental note to check out later) - they were ready to go. A quick confirmation of the route they were taking to the Jaalet system with Ivor and they finally got moving again.

"Thank the gods" NJ muttered aloud "At this rate, we were going to need another ship just to carry the extra passengers we've been picking up". She heard a muffled snicker from CCG and grinned at her apprentice in response.

"I was actually supposed to meet someone else in this system...I think it was one of that NJ lady's rivals. He found out that she was gonna go after some sort ancient artifact, and wanted to get it first. He hired me to circumvent any traps and to sell it afterwards. I was supposed to meet his ship here."

"I was a little rushed leaving the drift I was on, so chose a transport that was less than reputable....they got me here, threw me out in a shoddy lifepod, and left...and then these people picked me up." he explained.

Flopping back on the bed, he stared at the ceiling. "I always seem to end up as someone's punching bag...people like to push me around. Why can't I ever find somebody nice?" He wondered.

He fidgeted kind of nervously, whistling and looking around. "So....what do you like to do?" he asked absently.

Tiala thought about it. "You mean as hobbies, or my job, or right now?"

"Right now.." Lester replied. "We have some time...have any games you like to play, something fun we could do for a while?" he asked innocently.

Tiala tapped her tail against the ground lightly as she thought. "Well, I can't think of any games to play at the moment. Do you know hand to hand combat?" She asked.

"No....I hate violence." Lester replied. "I try to avoid things that can kill me...like the old Earth saying,'I'm a lover, not a fighter'.." He laughed, then blushed again as he looked at her.

Tiala tilted her head to one side slightly. "Is that so?"

"Um....yeah...not that I ever have any lovers." He said nonchalantly. "I am sooo two left feet around women...I just go stupid...kind of drives them off.."

Tiala regarded him steadily for a few moments, her expression unreadable. "You're not stupid, you just kinda say what's on your mind. It's really quite charming."

"Well, if I really said what's on my mind..." He rolled his eyes. "...well, let's just say you'd turn a few more shades of purple.." He winked and grinned, but still managed to blush...

Tiala laughed. "Yeah I suppose so." She got up and stretched and sat down on the bed and looked out of the window at the stars.

He watched her stretch, staring..."You know, you're really easy to talk to....and not bad to look at, either..." He blurted out. "See? Mouth before brain.." he said, berating himself...

Tiala turned her head to look at Lester thoughtfully. "Thanks, that's really sweet. Now, can you think of any games or something we could play?"

"How about 'doctor'?" He asked. Immediately, he shut his eyes hard. "Sorry...I'm always doing that...especially when..." he opened his eyes again and looked at her. "...I'm with a beautiful woman...in her room...on her bed...which isn't that often, mind you.."
He laughed nervously.

Tiala blushed slightly. "Why thank you. That's a nice thing to say." Her tail snaked out to touch his shoulder.

Lester jumped."Aah!" Then he saw it was part of her, and relaxed. "Sorry..never knew anyone with a tail before..." He sat back down close to her, gazing at her....and the tail...

Tiala slid her tail loosely over Lester's shoulders. She actually found him quite attractive, and maybe he'd relax later. "I can think of a *game* we could play."

Lester blushed again, then smiled...
"Great....how do you win?" He asked.

Tiala leaned close and whispered a faintly naughty game in his ear. "What do you think? I'm sure we could make up the rest as we go along."

Lester's eyes widened. "I must be dreaming..." He whispered into her cute pointed ear. "Do me a favor? Don't wake me up...." He asked, and kissed her sweet purple lips..

Fade to Black....

Fortunately, the young Niet returned with Ivor, who had a carry case of items.

"Great!" exclaimed Silver. "CCG was able to get the things I needed!" She stepped towards Ivor, who started to frown and back up. He came up short against Con, who nudged him aside.

"This is not yours, Silvereyes," Con explained gently. "CCG is with NJ. This belongs to our guests."

"Oh. That's right. I haven't had a chance to actually talk to CCG yet, have I."

"No," Con smiled. "I would have remembered."

"Good thing one of us did," Silver said brightly. She turned towards Ivor again. "You wouldn't have a carbon dating analyzer in there, would you?"

Ivor shook his head and looked at Mia for help. "Silver," Con interjected before the conversation could get any more out of control. "I'm sure Mia and Ivor would like to go to their quarters now. Have you spoken to NJ about your findings?"

"Excellent idea!" Silver chirped. As Con led the other two out of the conference room, Silver commed NJ.

"Hello, NJ! Guess what! Besides the fact that the map is a copy, there are a couple of other interesting little items. I'm coming up to talk to you." She tapped the comm off before NJ had a chance to reply.

She entered the command deck and NJ met her coming down the ramp. "Silver, when people activate the comm its generally because communication is desired. When only one person talks, it is not really *communication.*"

"Oh, sorry," Silver said, completely without remorse. "But look what I found."

With a sigh, NJ stepped aside so the map could be spread out on a station. Cedric hurried to deactivate that station before anything happened accidently. CCG drifted over to look at what was going on.

Silver suddenly became the archeology professor the Peshtur Pride had hired. The quick shifts between personality quirks always surprised CCG. Silver pointed to the elaborate compass rose. "Why put a compass on a map of the solar system?" she asked rhetorically. "Compasses are used to indicate magnetic north on a planet. But this compass rose, very beautifully detailed, is a work of art itself."

"Yes, yes," NJ said impatiently. "So what."

Silver waved off NJ's comment. "This whole map is an exercise in misdirection," She continued. "Elaborate decorations that go no where, borders, fanciful animals, words that have been altered..."

"Altered words?" NJ interrupted.

"Later. But why a compass? It doesn't work in space. Unless it wasn't meant to." She bent over the map and traced an invisible line from the north pointer straight across and up. It ended neatly in a tight Maltese Cross on the fourth planet of the system. "X marks the spot," she said.

Clapping Silver soundly on the back she exclaimed "It's at moments like these that I remember why you're such a valuable part of our expeditions my friend!" CCG lent Silver her arm to steady her from NJ's enthusiastic back pat.

Just then Constantine rejoined the group on command and NJ shared this new information with him. Directing Constantine to change course for the forth planet indicated on the map and to send Ivor on the Marauder corresponding course data, NJ allowed herself the chance to sit down and mull the current situation over.

"Is there anything you need to figure out those hidden words or whatever it was you were talking about Silver? We'll want all the information we can get in advance of our arrival." Silver was quiet for a change and just shook her head in the negative, taking the map and moving somewhat unsteadily out of command with CCG's help.

"What's wrong with her?" NJ asked Cedric. Her mate flashed her a quick smile and replied "Oh - you know humans..especially the old ones...they're easily breakable". Breakable? NJ thought in confusion.

"That's odd" She thought "We appear to have altered course"

Mia was not one to sit quietly and do as she was told, you didn't get anywhere in life by doing that. She rummaged through her belongings looking for something, anything to help get her out of her quarters. Finally her hand touched something solid, she pulled out a carved wooden box. She opened the box and selected one of the miniature tools inside

"This should do it"

She walked up to the door and set to work, after what seemed like hours of crossing and re-crossing wires with no luck she leant back against the door in exasperation. The door opened

"What the ...," She began to laugh, she laughed until tears streamed down her face. She had assumed that she had been locked in and all the time the door had been open and unguarded. She stepped out into the corridor and headed in what was the right direction for command.

Silver stretched a little. "Have you seen my lungs?" she asked.

"Um, no," CCG answered. "Why?"

"Oh. Good," Silver said, picking up her pace a little in the corridor. "If you had, it would mean NJ really *had* knocked them clear out onto the floor."

CCG giggled a little, and Silver smiled. "She was just glad to hear what you had to say."

"Well heaven help us all if she ever becomes *really* enthusiastic about anything!" CCG giggled again and accompanied Silver back to the docking bay. Silver unlocked the bay door, wondering at how quiet it was. "I thought you had a Trancer back here fixing her ship?" she asked.

"She was," CCG agreed, "but she's in quarters right now. NJ became...enthusiastic."

That made Silver laugh, and she waved absently at the young Niet as she headed back to command. In her ship, her computer warmed up, her scanners loading, her ivy watered and reassured, and a cup of hot chocolate nearby, she prepared for several hours of intense study.

Much to the woman's surprise - NJ greeted her warmly and asked her if she'd like to join NJ in the galley to grab a meal. Mia nodded good naturedly, pleased at the Nietzschean Captain's good mood and she soon found herself seated at a table while NJ prepared them what smelt like an antariun stir-fry.

Placing two protein shakes on the table along with the main course, NJ sat down and the two Captain's soon found themselves sharing stories and laughing over comical adventures they had both experienced. This was a first for Mia, she had never met a Nietzschean from a small Pride before, let alone one who actually seemed to have the capability to interact with a human without looking like she was resisting the urge to become physically ill in the process.

The two women stopped talking simultaneously at the strange sound. NJ's hands went to her forcelance and even more shockingly - she handed Mia a gauss gun. Mia checked it immediately - yep - it was loaded.

They moved to opposite sides of the small hallway that connected onto the larger corridor and NJ looked around the corner cautiously.

"Well, what do you see?" She whispered

Mia nodded her understanding and began a standard leap-frog investigation of the corridor with NJ. They both felt a distinct chill in the air now - reminescent of a slight breeze flowing past them. But, of course, everyone knew there were no breezes in space and certainly not on a ship.

NJ sent a silent comm signal to command to notify them they had unwanted *guests* on board. She frowned fiercely, the trail was definitely moving with purpose and headed directly toward the section of the ship where the Trancer and that funny little man Lester were quartered.

She looked at Mia as the trader signalled that she had seen a flash of color on the right hand side of the hallway. NJ nodded her understanding and they entered the corridor very carefully. A quick flash on her comm showed her that her message had been received by command and counter-measures were being taken.

She had full confidence in Cedric, CCG and Constantine to do whatever it took to prevent these intruders from leaving the ship and to help track them down. NJ hoped backup was on it's way...right now she was trusting her life to a total stranger.

" I think we have it cornered. I'm assuming that there's no other way out. Do you want to go in or wait for back up?"

"Well, that leaves out another round of our game, then.." He said softly, grinning as he leaned forward for another soft kiss. "Wonder what they're looking for?"
He asked, stroking her tail lightly.

"Initiate counter measures," Cedric answered quickly.

ccg nodded and began to seal off the area NJ had specified in her message, while Cedric and Constantine armed themselves. They were going to provide back-up for NJ and Mia and ccg was going to stay and guard Command in case there were anymore intruders that her sensor sweeps had not detected.

ccg smiled at Con as he and Cedric left Command. Then she turned her attention to the internal sensors and the comm link between herself and Cedric. When Cedric told her they were at the sealed off area she unsealed the door near them and sealed it again when they were through. There was nothing she could do now but wait and watch out for any more "guests".

"We will be back soon." he said calmly as he followed Cedric out of the door, the two began a sweep, moving like silent cats as they moved to narrow the search pattern started by Enjae & Mia.

D'

[This message has been edited by D'Monix (edited January 03, 2002).]

She grimaced at the cheerful lack of information offered up by her latest scan and decided she was going to have to be more aggressive. Setting up the laser scanner she carefully placed the map in the tray. If she could scan down past the newer ink, a shadow of the older ink might be coaxed into the forefront.

Oblivious to the drama taking place in the other corridors, she delicately set the parameters for the enhancement.

Sven and Johann hung their heads in shame and Culebra paced the small area. "Forgive us mistress" whined Sven. "But there are so many of them."

"Bumbling idiots!" Culebra glared at the two."You have had the best training available, it's been days and not only have you been detected but you still havent brought me my prize!"

"But mistress" explained Johann "We havent been able to catch him alone. He is with the one called Tiala as we speak. Did you want us to bring you the both of them then?"

Culebra became very still "Tell me...what use would I possibly have for a female?" Seeing the look that passed between Sven and Johann sne continued. "You will find him alone and bring him to me! Now go!!"

IC: Tiala and Lester pulled on their clothes after finishing their activities. Tiala lay back on the bed after getting dressed, staring at the stars outside the window. "I wonder if they have forgotten about us? They sure have 'imprisoned' us in our quarters for a long time haven't they?" She commented to Lester, still focused on the stars.

[This message has been edited by Tio (edited January 04, 2002).]

"I really like you, Tiala...boy, do I really like you....and I'm really looking forward to going away with you in your ship, once we steal this Sacred Udu or whatever....we'll be rich....okay, I'm going now...." He listened a moment, heard no one near, then opened the door and slipped out, closing it behind him....

He re-entered his own quarters and engaged the lock, so NJ wouldn't suspect anything. He plopped down on his bunk and sighed.

"I'm an idiot....stay here alone and wait, or be found in the arms of a hot purple babe that actually wants me....would almost be worth the beating...God, what a tail..." He sighed and fell back onto the bed, closing his eyes and thinking of soft purple skin and talented tails....

Mia looked at NJ. NJ looked at Mia. They were standing in the galley - where they had both seen the intruder flee - and they were alone.

At the slight sound - both women spun to opposite sides of the small room - weapons pointed at the open doorway. They were looking down the barrels of Cedric and Con's gauss guns. Exhaling sharply, the women stood and NJ related their findings..or lack thereof...in hushed tones to the men.

"Who are they?" Mia queried, wondering if this was a known enemy of NJ's. "A better question right now would be - what are they after?" NJ replied grimly, looking at Cedric and Constantine for their input.

Constantine turned to face the corridor.

"They will be heading for the guests quarters then.."

D'

"I can assure you that the intruders are nothing to do with me, The Marauder is not big enough for stowaways"

NJ held up a hand to silence her

"No-one was suggesting that they were Mia. I think Constantine was referring to our 'other' guests"

Mia breathed a sigh of relief

"Ok, so what do we do now. Go after them?"

Stretching, she went to wash her face and hands. Moderately presentable, she tapped her wrist for the time. No wonder she was hungry! She'd missed dinner! And for some reason NJ hadn't called her to remind her to eat. Although "Silver, get your butt out of there and eat before I haul you out like a mnuen from its shell" didn't quite have the genteel ring of "dinner is ready." NJ was obviously busy. And she was always complaining about Silver interrupting her, so Silver decided not to comm. She was perfectly capable of burning dinner on her own.

She locked up the Illusion and walked out of the docking bay. As she headed down the corridor she thought, why did she have to eat alone? Knowing NJ, the people they had brought on board were probably sitting in their quarters, eating that reconstituted stuff that came out of the local emergency station. She'd go poke in on the Trancer, see if she was hungry. She didn't have many chances to talk to the elusive and enigmatic Purple People. Maybe Lester would like to join them as well. For a man his size, he had an amazing capacity for food and would probably be willing to eat again. Silver figured she didn't have to worry about Constantine. CCG would be *more* than capable of making sure the young man ate!

Humming to herself, she walked briskly through the corridors.

"Cedric - you and Mia head to command - I want the ship on high alert." He nodded affirmatively and turned to go. "Constantine, you get the Trancer and I'll get Lester...I think it's time we had a little talk with our guests. We will do so in command.

NJ commed CCG and filled her in on their status. "I want this ship on lock-down CCG and find Silver, have a guard escort her..." NJ stopped mid-sentence as Silver rounded the corner and looked at them in surprise.

"Well!" Silver said cheerfully "A party! And why wasn't *I* invited?". NJ sighed.

After filling Silver in - she re-established her link with CCG and continued "Sorry CCG - Silver's been located and will be accompanying Cedric and Mia to command. Where was I? Oh yes - then I want you to contact Ivor and ask for his assistance in scanning the area for other vessels - close and long range scans CCG. Once we are all in command - I want the rest of the crew to go to their quarters - where they will be temporarily locked in. Do you have any questions?"

CCG confirmed her orders and NJ and Constantine headed toward the guest quarters of Tiala and Lester cautiouslessly with their weapons drawn.

Constantine smiled to himself, he could tell NJ had a plan.

"Ivor has responded and is assisting us with the scans NJ...the crew is armed, on alert and heading for their quarters now" CCG informed her.

"Very good" NJ replied with a determined look on her face. "Now we'll see..." NJ's voice trailed off without finishing her sentence.

"Constantine - escort Lester into my planning room" she said over her shoulder. Constantine moved toward Lester indicating he should follow him through a door adjacent to the main command deck. His weapon was still drawn.

Lester noticed the young man, probably around eighteen years or so, seemed much older, his voice was calm and even, and never had changed much since he had first met him, his arms & face had emrald lines tattooed into them, and a wisp of a line extended to his right cheek of his face. His bone spurs were white & polished, there were glyphs etched into them. Constantine's eyes scanned the hallway..

Reaching the door, he palsmed the lock, letting the gun trace the room beyond.

"This wasy sir.."

D'

"You know, constantly waving guns around could make a fellow feel unwelcome....and sometimes, a polite asking works even better than orders or threats...." He remarked to the room in general as he moved where Constantine pointed out.....

"Do I have any enemies?" He repeated the Niet's question. "I owe a little money here and there, but everybody loves me... really. What possible enemies could I have?" He said, smiling nervously. He looked back at Constantine. "At least he doesn't push..."

They headed for the planning room, Constantine watchful. "This way sir" he said.

"Sir..." Lester repeated, genuinely pleased. "Finally, someone with manners. Nice to meet you, my friend..." He said jauntily. He followed the young Niet to the planning room, and took a seat at the table.....looking curiously at the papers on it...

Cedric directed her to one of the perimeter posts and left her there with growled directions to Not. Touch. Anything...Ever. NJ had Constantine round up Lester, leaving another stranger sitting on the other side of command. Silver got up and walked closer, trying to determine who was there. Ah! It must be the Trancer! She caught the movement of the tail. Unless NJ had found someone *else* who had a tail.

"Hello!" Silver said with a smile. "I'll bet you're the Trancer with the damaged ship! Nice to meet you! Unless I've met you before, in which case I don't remember, but its nice anyway. I'm the archeologist for this trip. How are your ship repairs going? Cedric is very good at repairs. Heaven knows I've watched him do enough on my ship." Cedric studiously ignored this comment. "Did NJ forget to ask you about dinner? Because I haven't eaten yet, and you're welcome to join me. Unless you have some dietary restriction. I don't know much about your people."

"You are not to leave command, Silvereyes," Cedric said without looking up. "It isn't safe."

Silver made a face. "Well we'll just have to eat here, then!" she announced. "How about it?" she asked, turning back to the Trancer.

D'

"Ivor, how are the scans progressing, do you have anything yet?"

"Nothing yet Mia, it would help if I knew what I was looking for!"

"Well, we're not really sure, just look for anything out of the ordinary. No, belay that order just look for anything!"

Mia looked over at the older woman, Silveryes. She walked over to her, and lightly tapped her on the shoulder

"Sorry to interupt your dinner plans, but have you found anything of interest on the map yet?"

Her console beeped, alerting her to a new transmission. "Ivor says he still hasn't found anything," ccg reported after reading the message.

"Keep searching, ccg," NJ responded.

ccg nodded. She heard Silver in the background talking to Tiala and smiled when Silver suggested eating in Command. Silver's suggestion had made ccg realise that she was kind of hungry but she could go without food for a while, her Nietzschean make-up made sure of that. She wouldn't mind having a sandwhich right now though.

"Sorry to interupt your dinner plans, but have you found anything of interest on the map yet?" Mia asked.

Silver clutched her shirt over her heart. "Will you stop sneaking up on people like that?!" she gasped. "I swear. You should come with an early warning system!"

Tiala chimed in a little giggle. "Niets can be *very* quiet when they want to be!"

Silver caught her breath. Mia found it was difficult to read the facial expressions of someone who's eyes she couldn't see. She wished Ivor was around. He was better at this. Or so he claimed, anyway.

"Well, important things first," Silver continued. "Did NJ remember to offer you dinner, Captain?"

Mia smiled and gave a small nod. "We have eaten. Your captain is a good cook. What about the map?"

"Well, there're some pictures of food on the map--grains, some areas that might be grasslands, trees with fruit, a few animals--but nothing I could say specifically addressed meal preparation. I can't distinguish colors very well, so you would be a better judge if the pictures are supposed to be representational or allegorical."

Mia sighed.

"Ah, Silver," called CCG from her post. "I think the questions of dinner and the map are separate."

"Oh, well that makes more sense, then." She turned back to Tiala. "NJ keeps a store of provisions here on command deck. They aren't exciting, but they can be heated and eaten quickly. Although, obviously, we don't have to eat fast, we can take our time. Let me see what's in there." She turned briefly to Mia. "Hold on just a second. Be right with you."

Raiding NJ's emergency stores, setting up a place to eat, and other preparations took several minutes. CCG allowed as how she wouldn't mind eating also, but couldn't leave her post, so Silver brought her a sandwich. Cedric declined all offers, and reminded the room in general that crumbs and delicate circuitry were incompatible.

Munching on a hot sandwich of her own, Silver explained the significance of the compass on the old map. "If you draw a line straight out from the north pointer, it ends at a Maltese-style cross on the fourth planet. A Maltese cross is a cross with equal lengths of side bars, usually highly decorated," she explained briefly. "The cross would have been difficult to distinguish from the rest of the decorations, some of which include a repeating motif of crosses. The compass line intersects only one, on the fourth planet. Lines drawn from the other cardinal points intersect several, or none at all." Beside her, she saw the rising pattern of body temperature from the Trancer, indicating her interest had been aroused. The Marauder captain tapped her chin lightly with the knuckles of one hand.

"So we're off to the fourth planet," Silver summarized. "How about you, Tiala? Where were you headed before your ship broke down?"

[This message has been edited by Kidwrangler (edited January 06, 2002).]

"Yes Tiala, where exactly were you heading?"

She made a mental note to ask NJ if she had actually assessed the Trancers ship for damage

"Silver" NJ breathed softly "I want you to take the Trancer aside and see what you can find out from her. I want to know three main things from her...why is she in this system and who and what damaged her ship."

Without waiting for a response, NJ stood and told CCG to follow her into the planning room that was adjacent to the command deck. The two entered the room and saw Lester chattering aimlessly at Constantine, with Constantine leaning against the far wall, wearing his usual patient look. NJ almost smiled. People were often led astray by Constantine's easy manner...until they saw him in battle. There was nothing more deadly than a well-trained Nietzschean who never lost his cool.

She motioned Con over to them and said very softly "I want the two of you to go make up a batch of anesthetic gas and set it up so I can release it wherever I choose to on the ship. Then return to command immediately and let me know with just a nod that all is in ready. Do not speak about what you are doing while you are doing it...we don't know what kind of technology these people are using..and they may be able to listen in on our conversations. Any questions?" she asked. They both nodded no and she waved them out of the room.

As she turned to face Lester, she could see he had been trying to listen in on their conversation...but she had spoken barely above a whisper and knew he couldn't. Was that frustration or anxiety she saw in his face? It was time to get some answers from this seemingly 'harmless' human. If there was one thing NJ didn't trust - it was anyone who appeared *harmless*.

Grabbing a chair and turning it around so she could straddle it, NJ faced the young man and began to question him.

"Well Lester" she started. "It appears someone is very interested in my guests. Now, without rambling or stuttering or any of the other distracting and annoying speech patterns you seem to employ...if you were to guess...who are these people? What do they want? Are they trying to recover you from me? I think they are. Which means you know a great deal more about the Scared Udu than you have let on."

NJ rose and leaned toward the quivering human, stopping inches away from his face. "Which means you've put me and my entire crew is great danger...I want you to guess what my response to you will be if I get anything less than the whole truth from you..and get it now .

"Okay..." He hissed. "You want the truth?" He stood quickly, shouting. "WELL LISTEN UP, UBER! I have given you nothing BUT the truth from the second I stepped onto this madhouse! I don't KNOW who's on your ship, looking for us or whoever....I don't KNOW anything about this stupid Sacred Udu, except what's on the flexi YOU STOLE from me....I was hired by Ravendarke to help him get it because he heard YOU wanted it! I took the job because, news flash, I could use the MONEY! That's my only motivation for being out here! OKAY?"

He stood almost nose to nose with NJ, eyes locked together, his face flushed in anger and breathing hard. She could probably kill him with a gesture, but he wasn't going to let her walk all over him anymore....

"Kill me; I'm just a pathetic kludge....kick me off your damn ship if you like....do whatever the hell you want, but just GET...

OFF...

MY....

BACK!

"First of all Lester" she said evenly, never taking her eyes off of him "Don't ever call me that again. I have never and will never use those words to describe you or any other human - and I expect that respect to be returned. Do you understand Mister Vale?

She removed the knife from his throat and stood up, giving him a little breathing room. "You know," she continued still looking him in the eyes "If there is anyone on this ship that has demonstrated prejudice - it has been you- not me. And tell me something Mr. Vale...did you really think I wouldn't have employed added security to your quarters - and that of the Trancer's? *I* allowed you to exit your room, just as I allowed the Trancer to do so...and what did you do? You both went into the Trancer's room and spent a great deal of time there. I wonder why? What a happy coincidence it was that both of you were in trouble in exactly the same place in space...right where the Kittiaun *happened* to be. And the next thing I know - the two of you are holed up in her room...doing what? Perhaps a meeting of some kind - providing assistance to our intruders to by-pass our scanners and internal security system? Tell me Lester, what would you think in my position right now?"

[This message has been edited by Enjae (edited January 07, 2002).]

"Well, first off, if I were in your position I'd see a shrink regarding manic paranoia..." He commented. "Yeah, maybe it was strange that me and the purple girl show up so close together...but it was just coincidence! I never saw her before this little shindig. As to being holed up together, well we happened to get out of our rooms about the same time, and heard someone coming. Given the warm reception we'd received thus far, we decided discretion was best and ducked back into her room..the closest."

"And we weren't planning or plotting anything during that time either! We were..." He stopped, and his face went red. "We weren't plotting against you or your crew, let's leave it at that..." He took a breath, shedding the embarrassment.
"I told you why I was in this area; I was supposed to meet Damius. The freighter captain must've screwed up the destination or the time..."

He sighed and threw up his hands. "Why am I bothering? I could explain this a hundred times and it wouldn't matter....you'll just twist what I say to fit your conspiracy theory." He started pacing. "Here....I'll give you what you want: The purple girl and I are partners, working with evil shadow people to steal the Udu from you because it's the ultimate Nova bomb...powerful enough to incinerate the whole universe! But you figured us out...bravo." He stopped, and bowed as if giving a performance in front of an audience.

"Happy now?" he glared. "I was nice when I got here...it was your ship, and you saved my life. But since then, I've gotten nothing but abuse and contempt. Yeah, maybe I did some unuathorized strolling; but only to check on my gear, some of which is sensitive. I didn't do anything to your ship or crew...and you act like I'm running around with a plasma rifle shooting everything in sight."

"So I'm done being nice, now. You give attitude, you get attitude. Respect is earned, and it goes both ways." He looked at her. "And as for predjudice....well, I don't know many nice Nietzscheans, especially towards Humans." He lifted the sleeve of his left arm, to reveal a brand. A Nietzschean slave brand. "And I haven't seen anything here yet to break that trend..." He slid the sleeve back down.

He sat back down. "These...intruders...are out to get me, you think?" He asked. "Fine. Make me the bait to draw them out. You want proof I'm not in league with them, I'll give it to you....by helping you get them. Would that do it, captain?"

So, she stood there instead - allowing the very angry young man his chance to 'take the edge off' as her father used to say. Once he had finished his 'speech' and ended it with "Would that do it Captain?"...she waited a minute before responding. She watched him sit down and could tell by his demeanor and his breathing that he had regained his emotional balance a little now.

She waited until he looked her in the eye again and said quietly "Yes Lester. It will do very nicely. Thank you - I appreciate your help. If my first plan doesn't work - you and I can develop Plan B together as a back-up."

NJ rose, indicating that Lester could follow her if he wished back to command. As she passed through the door, she turned back to him stating "Oh and by the way Mr. Vale, just for the record, the Pestur Pride has never had any slaves of any sort...nor do we have any desire to acquire that disgusting and co-dependent lifestyle. We deplore captivity and have always assumed any sentient being did also." With that, she left the small planning room and re-joined the rest of the crew on command, wondering what Silver may have learned from the Trancer.

"Is it dinner already?" He asked. "And would you lovely ladies like some company?" He pulled up a chair.

Tiala laughed. Silver had to admit it was a great laugh. "We are as variable as your own people," she answered. "We follow our strengths and our interests."

Silver's comm warmed the back of her hand. Someone was routing a signal through the Illusion. NJ's voice whispered through her cochlear mike, asking her to make follow up inquiries of the Trancer and her ship. NJ was using her Niet whisper, and Silver had the urge to pat up the volume. She had the disconcerting feeling the Kittiaun's captain was breathing in her ear. She resisted the need to scratch the phantom itch inside that ear and tried to figure out what NJ wanted. Usually NJ tried to get her to *stop* talking. Now she was supposed to *keep* talking? Was the new talking supposed to be different from the kind of talking she usually did? Did NJ want her to ask different questions than she usually would? And why didn't NJ just ask the Trancer herself? This sort of stuff was never covered in those graduate courses on field work. Then NJ went into her conference room, so any possibility of getting more information was moot. Oh well!

"NJ said your ship was pretty banged up," she continued. "Did you ask Cedric for any help in fixing it? He has a lot of experience in that sort of thing. With my ship, I mean. The Kittiaun is much more reliable than my little runabout."

"And lands smoother," floated a quiet comment from Cedric's direction.

Tiala smiled. "Oh, that's very generous, but I'm really capable of fixing it on my own."

"So the damage isn't that bad?"

"I think its repairable without too much difficulty." Tiala smiled again, wondering why the older human didn't smile in return. "I'm used to having to do my own repairs, being out alone a lot of the time. You know how it is." She gave a small, understanding kind of laugh, and got a quick smile from Silver. Why does she smile only when I laugh? she thought to herself.

"Well, what exactly *happened* to your ship?" Silver pressed. "NJ said this section of space was supposed to be relatively peaceful. Empty, even. We hadn't seen *anything* until everyone else started appearing. There aren't any asteroid belts listed around here, are there, Cedric?"

"No."

"Is he always so dour?" Tiala whispered, and Mia tried to suppress a smile of her own.

"Not always," Silver confirmed. "He's just trying to hide his secret affection for me. He's bonded to NJ, you know." Mia's smothered snort of amusement was almost drowned out by Cedric's bass rumble of warning.

"So how *did* your ship get damaged?" Silver repeated. "Is there some kind of danger around here Cedric should know about? NJ doesn't like it when the Kittiaun gets dented."

"How is it coming along?" he asked.

D'

"Thanks," ccg said with a smile when he handed it to her. She turned her attention back to the mixture. At the precise moment she added a little of the greenish gas. The mixture became bluish-grey colour. She growled. Con looked at her questioningly. "What?"

"It has to be invisible," ccg whispered trying to convey what was wrong without giving away too much in case they were being listened to. ccg looked around the lab for something that would make the gas invisible or nearly invisible. The gas couldn't be seen by the intruders or else they might be able to escape before it began to take effect.

"Keep an eye on that, make sure the pressure and the temperature stay the same," ccg said to Con. Con moved to the place where ccg had been standing and ccg walked to a shelf and examined the jars on it. She giggled with delight when she found what she wanted.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed and returned to add the gas. Soon afterwards the mixture wasn't to be seen. ccg grinned and said, "It's ready."

Con turned and activating his comm, letting CCG see part of his impish smile at the jab as he messaged Enjae. "Your tea is ready.. We'll pour.." Half expecting the gas canister to conk him across the head..

Beckoning her to his terminal, he pointed out to her silently the network of corridors that ran through the large vessel to the engineering deck, where the environmental processor was. CCG pointed at a tunnel and Con shook his head no, taking her hand in his, he moved it to a another tunnel, the central well of the ship. Built to be a vessels structural spine, the central well was normally deserted, but also always in low to zero-gravity. Con squeezed her hand slightly as she nodded.

Standing up, he went to an access panel, unfastening the clamps, pulling it aside, revealing a small service tube leading to the central well. constantine took a band from his coat, fastening his long hair in a pony tail as he looked into the tube with his light. Then looked back at CCG and smiled.

D'

"Attacked?!" Silver squeaked. "Oh, no. Attacks are bad. I'm severely allergic to people who shoot at me. I'm too old to duck. And shooting means dents. Many, many dents. And that means NJ yelling. Much, much yelling. And a great number of orders. And shaking about." She paused for a minute. "I can't have any shaking about. The laser scan I'm running right now is very delicate. It'll be ruined." She paused again, but continued in a sterner tone of voice. "Just where were you attacked? And by whom?"

Lester joined them, smiling goofily at Tiala. His request for dinner had been ignored, but he didn't mind asking again. His eyes widened at the talk of attacks, and he added his own comments to the confusion. "Attacks? What attacks? What do you mean attacks? Right now? Shooting type attacks? I'm not very good at the shooting back part. Maybe I don't need dinner. I think I need another life pod. I hear the Jaalet system is really quite nice if you don't mind eating vegetarian, and I wouldn't, really, if it meant me and shooting were *not* in the same place."

Mia caught Tiala's eye. "What *other damage*? You seem to lead a rather dangerous life."

Silver located NJ, sitting in her command chair, pretending she couldn't hear the babble of voices behind her. "I need to get to my ship, NJ," she said.

"No, it isn't safe," replied NJ.

"But the scans are really very delicate. The map could be ruined."

"This is not a good time."

"I could be very quick."

"You haven't been quick since I've known you. The map will be fine." NJ winced at the rising volume. Lester joined them, looking worried.

"Oh, hey. I can go with her. We could go together. You know. Off. Away from the shooting part. I'll make sure we're out of the line of fire."

"I don't need help keeping out of trouble!" Silver interrupted defensively.

"Yes you do," chimed NJ and Cedric together. In the background, Mia and Tiala were continuing to verbally fence around the issue of attackers and damage.

"You," NJ said, pointing at Silver, "will stay here. On command deck. Your ship will be fine." She turned to Lester. "You," she pointed, "will stay here also. It isn't safe to be anywhere else right now. But if you'd like to make yourself useful, Cedric will show you how to run the sensor board." NJ shot a glance at the Marauder captain and Trancer. "And you two. Would you *please* explain exactly what attackers and damage is being discussed?"

Silver waved a hand to catch Lester's attention. "NJ's use of the word 'please' is a dangerous sign," she whispered. "Becoming temporarily invisible is strongly recommended."

"I'm not the one who has been attacked, well not recently anyway! Although there have been occasions, I was telling Silvereyes about the unfortunate demise of the Perseid. That attack took place not too far from here, I myself try and avoid trouble if I can, it's bad for business! It's ..

She gestured at the Trancer

"Her you should be asking, not me"

"Very good" NJ responded "I want to drink it soon, please have everything ready for me...you know how I hate miss my tea-time". NJ looked up to see several people casting wondering glances at her. She ignored them and turned to the Trancer.

"Let me make this simple Tiala" she said flatly "I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. You are going to answer them in 5 words or less. You are going to get to the point and give me the information I need to keep my people and my ship...and for the moment...*you* - safe. No more 'Trancer-talk'. No more walking around the questions or subject matter. Either that, or you are welcome to hop back on your damaged ship and leave us here and now. Do I make myself clear?" she asked the woman.

"Question number one...Who. Attacked. You?" NJ asked, clipping every word for emphasis.

"Five words or less? this should be interesting and brief"

She turned her full attention to the Trancer, and waited

As close as they were he could smell the sweet smell of her hair, she was warm beside him. Reaching over around her, he gave her a pat on the shoulder and opened the hatch to the central well. It was perhaps three meters in diameter, studded with pipes & line guides, pulling himslef into the well, Constantine splayed himself out, doing a slow soumersalt as he balanced himself in the near zero-grav conditions, his sand colored pony tail swishing like cat's tail on his head. Reaching on his belt, he pulled out a D-shaped clip, locking it into a small track on the wall. The track ran the length of the well and was for workmen to move along the shaft relatively quickly.

Con smiled

"Come on."

D'

"De'Saants?" NJ said with a dozen different possibilities running through her head. Tiala just nodded silently in confirmation, her facial expression giving away no further information.

"Well, one down...now to the second question..same rules by the way - 5 words or less" NJ continued "Why did they attack you?"

"Not that I know of. She keeps some here...with the emergency provisions." Silver shrugged. "Beats me what she's talking about."

Lester shrugged in reply. Niets. Who knows why do they do things? He brightened a little. "These emergency provisions. Are they like real food? Not that dried, pressed, brick like stuff that comes in bars?"

Silver held her palm up to shush him. He was disconcerted to see the runnels of silver that seemed to slip through her hand. "Not so loud! Its sandwich stuff, mostly."

"Ok. Sandwiches are good," he whispered. They paused to listen to Tiala. "Who's De'Saantis?" he asked.

Silver shook her head again. "Don't know, but NJ doesn't look pleased. I think we're out of docking bays, so whoever it is, they're going to have a hard time coming aboard."

Cedric was by the sensor console; he scowled as Lester approached him. "Captain lady over there said I could run the sensors, watch out for bad guys...." He waited for Cedric to move. "Do you mind?" he asked.

Cedric looked to NJ, then moved just enough to allow Lester to scoot by when he got confirmation. He hovered over the engineer uncomfortably close.

"And I don't need any help, either...I know my way around a sensor suite." Lester reiterated, looking up at him. "In fact, I probably know and could operate every system on this ship as well, if not better, than your own engineer....barring extensive modifications, of course...then it would take a minute or two..." He smiled and turned back to the sensors, calling up the long range scans....

Tiala kept her face expressionless and her tone blank. Although inside she was furious. They would send her out in a broken ship where the lack of life support would kill her? "They seek the item. Unfortunately, your five word rule is preventing me from explaining further." She intoned, her tail still swishing, incicating her annoyance.

[This message has been edited by Tio (edited January 09, 2002).]

"Now you see Tiala" NJ explained evenly "Most people would have defined 'the item' in that sentence. And you know very well what I'm after with these questions when I told you 5 words or less. You have been skirting around our questions since you first arrived onboard. While I understand that that is a Trancer characteristic, under the present circumstances, I simply do not have time to allow you to play your usual word games with me. You say you want to cooperate and make things clear. Fine. Please do so - but get to the point - I need facts and I need them right now.

As NJ was speaking her eyes never left the Trancers face, nor did she raise her voice or sound angry...but she was serious...deadly serious and everyone on the deck knew that.

"The De'Saants were after you. Fine. What *item* were they trying to take from you and why? Where did this item come from and is it presently onboard this ship? Did you steal it from somone and if so - whom?"

NJ folded her arms across her chest wearing what she privately referred to as her 'Captain's Mask' on her face. No one, not even Cedric could read her emotions or body language when she went into this mode.

He grinned in reply. ccg shot him a defiant look and eased herself out of the service tube. "Ouch!" she exclaimed as she smacked her head off the side of the central well. She growled. "I don't like zero-grav conditions."

Con laughed again and held out his hand. ccg grabbed his wrist, just below his bone-spurs, and balanced herself. "Laugh again and you're in trouble!" she said jokingly.

Aloud NJ replied calmly "Thank you Tiala. At least now I know who one of the other players in this quest is...and I can assure you..all of you - that if the De'Saants think the Kittiaun is an easy target - they will regret that remarkably inaccurate perception."

NJ returned to her command chair and waited impatiently for Constantine and CCG to return from their secret assignment.

Then he burst out in laughter..

"hehehehhehehe OW!" he exclaimed as ccg elbowed him.

"Warned you.." she said with a smile "What's the matter, did Mr. Unshakable lose his stoicism?"

Constantine blushed slightly and smiled again "It appears you have that effect on me.."

Pulling her to him, he smiled and wrapped his right arm around her waist. Hs left gripping the D-Ring. "Hold on to me.." He said with a smile as he thumbed a button on the D-Ring, it causing it's motors to slide it along the track and down the shaft.. Con looked over to see how CCG was reacting to the sensation of flying with him.

All too soon though, the ride was over, and Con and CCG entered the engineering deck.

"I think that this is your area of forte CCG.."

Con smiled.

D'

She tried to search the command deck, but there were too many people wandering around now. She couldn't find CCG to ask if she could borrow one of the young woman's communication boards. CCG had undertaken, as a personal project, to adapt one of her stations, as much as possible, so Silver could use it. If the link was still active, Silver could access her own ship remotely, and perhaps do a little additional research.

"NJ?" she asked tentatively.

"I'm rather busy at the moment, Silver," was the brief reply.

"Well, I'm not!" Silver answered with asperity.

"Then find something to do. Just don't leave this deck."

"I'm trying! Is CCG's adapted board still live? Can I get an uplink to the Illusion? Or is that too dangerous, too?"

"As a matter of fact Silver - it is up and running - CCG was about to tell you that before all of this *excitment* started." NJ paused, thinking things over then gave Silver the OK to link with the Illusion. "Why don't you see if Mia would like to help you with that? You are both familiar with the map - we might as well take advantage of her expertise and knowledge while she's around" NJ added as an after-thought.

Moving carefully to try and avoid stepping on the Trancer's tail, she worked her way over to the communication board CCG had been adapting for her. Sitting down she ran her hands over the controls. CCG had done a good job. All the dials and LCD readouts had been removed. Most of the color markers had been erased, and the ones that remained were particularly intense hues, arranged in geometric patterns. CCG had even taken into account Silver's smaller hands, and the depressions that now marked the controls were comfortably within her reach. With a brief hesitation, the board responded to her voice, and a link with the Illusion was achieved.

Mia circled around the perimeter of the deck to come up to Silver's station. She paused. While the old human's reaction to her approaching the last couple of times had been amusing, she didn't want to give the woman a heart attack. Producing what seemed like criminally heavy footsteps she walked up behind Silver.

Those shadow irises regarded Mia briefly without emotion, and then Silver smiled. "Ah! Captain Mia! Interested in doing a bit of research with me?"

Mia smiled in return. "Depends on the research."

"Well, we've got a bunch of little bits of information that need to be correlated and put into a probability matrix--you know, to rate for levels of reliability and importance. I've got a laser scan running on the map right now in the hopes of lifting whatever was under the altered words, but I could use some help searching the databases for information on the fourth planet. Anything. Name, climate, geological features, anything that we might be able to match to the map. I have a little information on the population--just that they were back to nature types, but that's all." Silver indicated the station next to hers, and Mia frankly stared at the board the human was using. "Is there something you feel particularly comfortable starting with?"

"The fourth planet it is then. Do you think NJ would mind if I accessed the Marauders database from here? I doubt that there's anything much in there, but it wouldn't hurt to look. I think I'll start with the Name, it's always good to have a name, don't you think"

Mia clapped a hand over her mouth, she was beginning to ramble as much as the older woman, but hopefully she made slightly more sense

"Give it a try," she told Mia. "Your ship in on board, right?"

She got an answering nod.

"I'm guessing as long as you confine your signal to the Kittiaun, Cedric will let it go. He'll shut down anything that looks like it'll compromise us." She swept her hand across her own board, patting together the e-files she had pulled up. "The Jaalet system was supposed to be mostly undeveloped. As well as a name, which I agree would be very helpful, can you see if you can find any remaining towns or structures?"

"Silver, does Cedric ever, you know, let himself go, relax, laugh, smile even." She blurted out.

"Cedric, no mostly he just glares, grunts and growls, but NJ likes him" Silver replied.

"Oh!" was all Mia could manage, once again laughter threatening her composure. She bent over the console and tried desperatley hard to concentrate on what she was supposed to be doing.

"Name, towns, structures. How difficult can that be?" she whispered to herself. She contacted Ivor. Cedric merely snorted softly.

"Ivor, can you link the Marauders database to the Kittiaun. I am helping Silver with her research. Any information that we received at the time we, um, acquired the map would also be helpful, as would the perseid ships final co-ordinates and anything else you consider relevant really"

She leant closer to the comm and whispered

"I hope you're not getting to lonely in there, I remember what happened last time I left you alone, we don't want a repeat performance of that now do we?"

"I think that this is your area of forte ccg.." Con said with a smile.

ccg nodded. "Yep. And you know what's great about it?" She tapped her foot on the floor. "It's on solid ground. No floating."

"You're just not used to those conditions."

"They don't agree with me, I like to be in control of where I'm going,"ccg replied as she made her way to the enviromental processor. She took the canister of gas out of the small bag and handed it to Con. "Hold that for a minute."

ccg worked on the systems, rewiring a few things and setting up the commands for releasing the gas. She then took the canister from Con and placed it inside the processor. "That should do it! All we have to do is specify where in the ship it should be released and hit the button in Command. Good night intruders!"

With a smile Con activated his comm. "It's done NJ."

"Very good Con, both of you return to Command," NJ replied.

Con shut his comm. ccg nodded to say she had heard it. "I have just one question,"she said.

Con looked at her, "What?"

"Do we have to go through the central well again?"

Con laughed.

[This message has been edited by crazycoolgirl (edited January 10, 2002).]

Lester leaned over close to Tiala, keeping his voice low so as not to interrupt anyone else. "So, you think she believed what you told her?" He asked.

Tiala considered it and shrugged, leaning close to him so the others wouldn't hear. "What I told was the truth, as far as it went, except about the De'Saant's reason for crippling my ship." She whispered.

Lester's eyes widened for a moment. "Really? So what's the real reason?" he inquired.

Tiala felt a slight smile curling at her lips. "They weren't trying to kill me, but to board my ship. I have something they want, an artifact, to do with the Sacred Udu we're searching for. I don't know what it is yet. I'm hoping to find out when we get there."

"No kidding?" Lester said, a bit louder than he wanted, then winced and went back to whispering. "Well, here's hoping NJ believed you....I've been straight with her about my being here the whole time, and I think she has yet to believe a word I said. I just can't seem to convince her...I mean, she seems like she could be nice, if you can get past the paranoia..." He whispered, glancing over at NJ.

Tiala frowned as she too, glanced over at NJ. "She seems far too stern, and paranoid to me to be a nicer person. We should probably just avoid her attention right now, you know, fade into the background. After all, we can still use this Pride."

"Yeah, I suppose....though it seems kind of wrong, somehow.." Lester said, his expression becoming uncomfortable. "I mean, they didn't ask for all this weirdness....
and Silver seems like a nice old lady. I guess I'm not much of a backstabber at heart...."

Tiala looked into Lester's eyes and subtly probed his intentions. She concluded that he was telling the truth. Tiala considered for some time, she had chafed at the enforced idleness and being rudely imprisoned for most of the duration of the time on this ship, when she just wanted to repair her own ship so she could make a quick getaway if she needed.

Finally she compromised. "Okay then, I understand. As soon as I get my ship repaired, we leave and get the Udu ourselves before anyone else does. That way, we won't be stealing from them."

"I just told NJ we weren't in cahoots against her....now you want us to take advantage of them and beat 'em to it?" He asked, becoming confused.

Tiala managed to contain a sigh. He was such an innocent, unused to the intricacies Trancers lived in normally. "Why don't you tell me what you think we should do?" She asked kindly.

"Okay....I help you fix your ship. We work with them to find out all we can about this thing we're supposed to get....find out what their intentions are. If NJ isn't playing straight with us, or it looks like they're gonna use us and dump us, then we screw 'em and grab it ourselves....how's that sound?" He asked quietly.

Tiala grinned. "And if she is playing it straight? Do we let them get all the profit?" She asked slyly.

"No..." Lester snorted, with an 'Are you crazy?' look..."I don't work for free. But they did save our butts....so I'm willing to see what kind of cut we can scope. I'm a fair guy, if people are fair with me. And I'm sure I can get a mint for whatever it is, as long as it's even remotely valuable....enough for everybody to come out ahead..."

Tiala smiled lightly. "Then we're agreed. Now, all we have to do is repair my ship." She leaned back and called out to NJ in a lazy tone of voice. "Can I go fix my ship now? I'm bored of being forced to just sit around and do nothing!"

Lester went back to the sensors, deciding that being inobtrusive was good at the moment....

Constantine looked at ccg and couldn't suppress a laugh..

"OW!", he looked down where she had lightly elbowed him again in the ribs..

"That'll teach you.." CCG said, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder with a movement of her head as she went back to the service tube.

The trip back down was uneventful, and Con replaced the hatches to the well's service tubes, Grinning at ccg "That was not so bad was it?"

CCG rolled her eyes and laughed, Constantine in spite of himself laughed with her.

Minutes later the pair came back on to the bridge, their ponytails swaying as walked. NJ looked up from her control panel..

"And just what took you two so long to get back?"

Constantine met her eyes and in his usual calm voice replied "Oh, we have just been floating around..."

As ccg elbowed him again...

D'

Mia was unabashedly eavesdropping. "Why is the reliability of the location only medium?" she interrupted.

"Because I don't have providence for the map."

Mia made a little ahem noise. "Providence?"

"Background. History. Who it belonged to and where it came from. That sort of thing."

"Oh. *That* providence." The wry tone wasn't lost on Silver who pointed imperiously at Mia's board.

"Name of planet!" She turned back to her own board, patting and poking the controls. "Size: large enough for a cargo container. Reliability: low."

"Low?" Mia interrupted again.

"The information came from Lester."

"Of course."

"Shape: irregular. Reliability: low."

"Lester?" inquired Mia.

"Lester," confirmed Silver. "Weight: unknown. Illustration: none known. Religious affiliation: Local version of Environmentalists. Reliability: low." Silver waited. Mia didn't say anything.

"Well?!" Silver said.

"I didn't say anything!" Mia said innocently.

"I know! I'm waiting!"

"No, no. You go right ahead. I'm fine."

Silver glared suspiciously, then continued. "Cross reference the Environmentalists and the Back to Nature factions." She heard Con and CCG come back on deck and turned to greet the young woman. Well, well! By the flustered and pink look of her, Con had had some assistance in the making of his "tea." "List catagories of common objects considered sacred: Plants...geological formations...animals...farming implements?"

Cedric snorted from his station. "Worshippers of plows and rakes?"

"Told you he mostly grunts," Silver whispered. Mia covered her eyes briefly. Maybe if she couldn't *see* Silver, she could keep from snickering.