The group loads up with food, and salvage. They put the antique fighter in the hold, and the alien fighter in the port landing bay, while the pinnace goes into the starboard bay.
Finally, the two weeks pass, and the ship takes to space again, leaving EAVE's planet behind, hopefully forever.
It's obvious when the two black holes come to their closest approach, the star begins to vibrate, waves of plasma and solar storms lighting up space around it. Then the gas giant begins to swirl, and the ship lurches as the nebula gasses begin to stream under the gravitational lensing.
Warren yells for everyone to strap in, and once they are, Dev flies the ship on the reverse trajectory (as close as they can calculate it) to the one the luxury ship was on when it was captured by the gravitational effects.
The ship's Jump Drive whines, smoke begins to come from panels, and then the ship lurches into jump space. However, it's not a normal jump transition, the 'tunnel' that's normally 'visible' through the front viewport is normally a vague and nebulous thing, like a silk screen over a dull ember. But today, the tunnel is bright, with energy arcing from wall to wall. Green electricity arcs and crawls over the panels and over everyone, making their hair stand on end.
Panels explode, shrapnel ricochets around the ship from bits of metal and plastic.
Dev's arm is ripped up by a shard of glass from one of the control panels. But he's the lucky one, the panel was directly in front of Malt, and the unfortunate droyne takes a face full of glass and metal, his long life finally at an end.
EAVE's hit hard by an electrical arc when a major capacitor complex gives way in the sensor console it's strapped to detonates. Scandalous is hit in the back of the head by the same arc of energy, and for some reason, her eyes glow green and she screams for several minutes before she slumps over, blood leaking from her ear.
Glitch, in engineering, is hit by a pipe that used to be a coolant feed line, but after the coolant system detonated, became a scything piece of jagged metal. It slams through the meaty part of her thigh, pinning her to her chair.
Tam makes it out relatively lightly, just getting peppered with small electrical sparks and bits of plastic shrapnel.
Warren, strapped in the gunnery console, receives a nasty wound as a chunk of metal comes slicing out into his chest, just below his right collarbone. Fortunately it's heated, so it cauterizes as it sinks 4 inches into his shoulder.
The normal 2 week period of a jump is nowhere to be seen as the ship comes out of of warp only minutes after entering it.
Were the survivors outside their ship when it arrived, they'd see a hole open up in space looking like a cross as the ship fires out of it like a bullet from the muzzle of a cannon. It trails green fire through the heavens as the lightning crackles around it before dying down. Behind them, the glowing white hole ripped in space closes with a twinkle and a wink, as if a cosmic joke were being laughed at.
As the ship re-enters normal space, it's power systems shut down, come back up, shut down again, and then come back up at reduced power. The fission drive is functioning, but power is not getting to all systems as circuit breaks trip around the ship.
The ship's computer packs it in, the repairs undone by the rough jump. The backup computer comes online, barely, reporting failure after failure. Gravity flickers and the shuts off. Life support is offline again.
Tam's station begins to beep, slowly, the only station in half-way decent shape on the bridge. A comm hail begins to filter into the cabin. However, the language is a barking whining language, filled with what may be anger or fear or just boredom (with no cultural clues).
Tam looks at her station in momentary confusion as the comms filter through the cabin and asked, "Is that Vargr?"
Jenni reaches for the comms, stretching her arm carefully to avoid doing more damage to her thigh. "Uh, if someone has a few minutes to spare, I have a bit of a problem here."
Dev holds his shredded arm, trying to halt the blood flow.
"Sorry Jenni, things have gone all pear-shaped here. I think we may have lost Malt and Scandalous! We will get to you as soon as we can..sorry!"
Getting up, Dev goes to the one working station and tries to bring the life support back online.
Life Support repair:
"Tam...can you try and hail whoever that is out there and get us some help? I have a feeling we will need a tow to the nearest Highport we can find!"
Life support slowly chugs back to life, as Dev directs the repair bots (thank the 2nd imperium for them!) to prioritize the life support. It takes about 10 minutes for it come fully on line, but it's there.
Warren screams as the metal tears through his shoulder. He then pants out a shout of "Who else is alive? Let me check those unconscious to see if they may be saved. I'll need to look at my wounds before I can tend to the others."
Malt and Scandalous are dead, Malt from a head wound, and Scandalous from an uknown effect, although she is bleeding from both ears, both eyes, her nose and mouth, so it appears to involve a lot of cranial bleeding.
Everyone else seems to be alive and semi-stable. Glitch is pinned to a seat by a metal rod, and someone who's unwounded with a crash cart needs to be present when it's removed, as it will likely tear some major blood vessels coming out.
I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK!
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
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Once the life support systems are back up and running, Dev contacts the inquiring ships.
"MAYDAY...MAYDAY...this is the Pheonix, now classified as an Imperial Scout Service ship carrying rescued low-berth cryo-stasis chambers rescued a number of derelict ships found at the following coordinates. We request medical assistance for the frozen as well as our crew. Please respond.
EAVE listens to the attempts at communication from the other ship, and responds, though does not use the comms, by simply repeatedly saying "Barbarbarbarbar." After a moment, she splits up into two halves, one slipping away towards engineering, and the other examining Scandalous.
"Oh, no. Civilian Scandalous." comes the quiet voice. "All of your clothes will go unworn. But fear not, EAVE recorded your pretend session. The one where you were doing a documentary with yourself about what happened during the crash."
Meanwhile, in the other room, with Glitch, the smaller-EAVE looks over her form, saying nothing. Demi-EAVE takkataks back the way it came.
Once it returns, it recombines with EAVE, "Major says Engineer Glitch is pinned down." then she immediately takes off to try to figure out which of the life support pods had taken damage from the leap. A small part of her had known that leaping back was going to kill some of them; many had died on the initial trip, after all. But she had not voiced that opinion, knowing that the data that she carried needed to be returned home.
About 1 in 4 of the life support pods are offline. If immediate repairs are made, some of them can be brought back on line. Those that haven't been fixed, might still be restored to life, but it becomes much more chancy.
There is a delay on the comms unit, but not nearly as long as might have been expected, only about 20 seconds. The voice is heavily accented. "Attention, Phoenix. You are outside Imperial Territory, our records show your permission to be here not at all. You will prepare for boarding. If you arm weapons, you will be destroyed. If you attempt to run, you will be destroyed. If you attempt to leave the ship, you will be destroyed. If your situation is not as stated, you will be imprisoned for espionage. Hight Aezluekon by Ogzthoeva of Kovalza, Pack Commander of Kathkeo squadron do swear." A series of howls fill the comm line from the background.
As the group looks out the front window, a flight of Vargr fighters zoom past at close enough range to make people see spots from the exhaust flare.
In the distance, just close enough to see as ships instead of stars, a dozen ships are heading toward the Phoenix.
"Tell Dogpeople to send engineers, many of EAVE's crew are in danger!" EAVE calls over the comms to her allies.
Whats worse being marooned or a prisoner of the dog people, Tam thought. While aloud she muttered, "Out of the frying pan into the fire." She unstraps from her seat and try's to help Eave with the life support pods.
Within 20 minutes, a pair of cutters swoop in on the Phoenix and connect to the port an starboard airlocks.
Armored Vargr in full battle dress storm onto the ship, each carrying multiple weapons on their armor, and gatling lasers in their hands. They spread throughout the ship immediately, two on the bridge, two in engineering, five searching the cargo hold, and another dozen spread throughout the ship.
They hold everyone at laser point for 5 minutes, while they confirm that everything is copacetic, then they call in engineers and medics, who come in wearing only ship suits and begin to work.
The engineers, along with Tam and EAVE, manage to recover all but a couple of the downed pods in time to save the occupants.
The medics provide emergency medical treatment to the crew, and then offload the entire crew, excluding EAVE, to the Cutter. The crew is taken back to a Vargr Carrier and are placed in the Carrier's sick bay while they are treated.
The carrier then has the Phoenix towed into one of it's large landing bays. The massive carrier is over 20,000 tons, and has several landing bays big enough for tramp freighters to land, even ones as big as the Phoenix.
Once they are in the sick bay, and fully bandaged up and no longer bleeding, a solid white vargr in a uniform comes to visit them. There are 2 Vargr guards, Marines in Combat Armor with SMG's, guarding them in Sick Bay. The white Vargr has 2 guards as well, also in combat armor, following it.
The Vargr speaks in accented Imperial. "I am Pack Commander Aezluekon. You will explain your presence in our space."
Once landed on the Carrier, engineers begin to pore over the ship, a mixture of Vargr, Human and Droyne technicians go over the ship in detail, cataloging things. Their priority is unloading the surviving Pods and hooking them up to more stable power supplies and monitoring computers. Each pod is in turn hooked to a portable generator and a more advanced computer, which takes over for the onboard computer, before it's moved off the ship and into staging area.
The handful that can't be brought back online are immediately sent out to the Carrier's Medical Section, for emergency revival.
For the most part, the ship's repair drones and EAVE are ignored, other than being pinged by the engineer's portable scanners to get the ID of each bot, so it can be registered to ensure none of them leave the ship.
*Urgh* "We were stranded in an unknown system. We cobbled together our *unh* vessel to escape and jumped. We are here entirely by accident," Jenni offers, wincing in pain. It hurt to move.
"If you check the navigation computer it should show you what the place we came from was like and, to be truthful, I have no idea how we got here...it was more like we folded space then jumped...one moment we were looking at a pair of black holes and the next we were here...purple flames and all!"
The Vargr narrows it's eyes. "So, you somehow managed to perform a fold jump, which is, my engineers assure me, only barely theoretically possible. You managed to exit your fold point, by your own words, randomly, and just happened to come out less than 3 light seconds from the Ruler of Five's largest military installation in an highly restricted system. Accidentally that is, and it has nothing to do with the fact that the Empire of Gashikan is about to explode, and may declare war on us at any moment. You do realize that there is no way I can accept such 'coincidences'? I advise you to tell the truth, humans."
EAVE stays in the small spaces of the ship, taking her data chips with her. Occasionally, Vargr hear her tikka-tikking away from them, but she doesn't approach any of them. It could easily be stated that the little bot being left on the ship had hurt her feelings and had only managed to add to the rift that was programmed into her towards the stupid dog people. She did watch the droyne more closely, having come to rely on Malt more, and didn't shy away from the nearby humans nearly as much.
The Vargr ignore EAVE, while the Droyne and Humans merely seem to note her presence and seem to assume she's merely an odd repair droid.
EAVE can tell that they are accessing the computer core, and vacuuming it clean. They also seem to be looking for weapons and explosives, as if the ship were an enemy vessel.
"You have gone over our ship and you can tell it is cobbled together with bits and pieces of several other ships from 3 distinct eras..and even some odd 'unknown' tech. We arrived carrying cryo-pods from different ships and again from different eras and in our hold, we have food you probably have never seen, an unknown alien fighter and an old Imperial heavy fighter all packed up in a crate. What exactly do you think we were going to do here? You are asking the impossible of us, because the only way we can get you to believe us is to travel back to the place in space and let you see it all for yourself...which we could not do even if we wanted, because we have no real idea where the heck it was! Now you can either believe that we are of NO threat to you and whatever is going on here, or you don't. I have told you the truth as far as I can relate it."
Dev slowly sinks back into his chair, not even realizing when he had got up, but now is exhausted and hangs his head in exhaustion and frustration.
Warren listens to the others and the response and begins, "My name is Dr. Warren Connery, currently retired. I, and the others, were on the ship Verdant Dawn when it was pulled into wherever we were. We are the only survivors I am aware of. Upon surveying the area of space we arrived in we found 2 black holes in orbit of each other lasting... That may be too much detail if you need more please ask, I have a tendency to lecture. There was a gas giant with much debris from many other travelers stranded there. Around the giant was a moon on which we landed out small ship which is in the Phoenix. We found the ship we arrived in there and repaired on. On the planet we found a 2nd Imperiem warship which had crashed there and the civilization descended from the survivors which had died out. The data on them is in my computer, I think there is a good paper in it. We found many derelicts in space which we harvested what we needed to repair the Phoenix as well as alien ships from races we had never heard of before. We have samples from them as well. Once we repaired everything we waited for the black holes to align as they were when we appeared and then followed a reciprocal course out as best we could and ended up here. Unfortunately, Scandalous and Malt did not survive the journey. That is the truth of what brings us here. We have nothing to do with any war that may break out."
The Vargr growls at Dev's words, hackles rising. But apparently the Pack Commander has very good control for a Vargr. "We shall see, Human."
When Warran talks more politely, the Vargr seems to calm down. "Very well, which computer was yours, Dr. Connery? We have run your bio-rec specs through our computers, and you have not been found. I have had them forwarded to the capital via comm relay, I will append your name to yours, since you have given it. If there is such a person as you say you are, that will perhaps convince me to believe you. You will, when you are physically able, spend time with my scientists, explaining your ships readings to my satisfaction."
Warren nods to the Pack Commander "I don't know if Imperial Citizen records would be in your records as well. I'm not that educated on how those things work exactly between empires. My computer would have been near where I was sitting but probably got thrown around during reentry. I'll be happy to show your people which one it is and which data sticks have the relative data on them."
The Vargr nods. "We will be at the base within a few hours, once we bleed off the delta V we needed to catch your ship. By that time, we'll have the ship inventoried, and pictures of everything we find. At that time, I'll hand you lot and the ship over to Admiral Iyaii. I suggest you treat her with utmost respect, she is not nearly as tolerant of problematic humans as I am." One of the guard's makes a motion and turns his head.
The guard finds the comment highly amusing, exactly why is not clear.
Warren looks at the guard with a quizzical look on his face.
Tam stays silent trying to access the situation with the Vargr content to let the rest of the crew do the talking.
The white Vargr then turns and leaves.
Over the next 8 hours, the group rests in the med-bay.
EAVE observes the military types removing everything from the ship they can, personal effects, dead bodies, cargo, pods, everything. By the time they are done, the ship is stripped bare, and then hundreds of scuttly little droids begin crawling all over the ship, getting into the wiring, the access ways, between the hulls, the smaller of the bots is as big as a human hand, the larger the size of EAVE.
Finally the ship itself is taken up and towed out of the Carrier and toward a massive starbase with dozens of military ships in slips or nearby in space. . The Phoenix is taken into a small isolated slip on the station and then more engineers begin to go over it with scanners and video recorders, poking at the wires.
The pinnace and two fighters are in the same slip, sitting a dozen meters away from the Phoenix. More technicians go over those ships as well.
The living crew are taken onto a pinnace, and transferred to a larger medical bay. They are isolated in that medical bay.
Moya has been moping around for the last two weeks, doing drugs and staring out the window. His company lost it's military contract when it was found out that one of owners had direct ties to the Empire of Gashikan, and was a member of a vocal and violent anti-Vargr group.
Moya had kept his mouth shut and done as told, not gaining any friends with the Military Security forces who investigated on the station, but making an Ally out of Airyana Svolman, the Vilani woman who had been in charge of his subsector, and who had been based in the small civilian sector maintained here on the Ruler's Fist, as the station was named.
She had enough pull to weather the loss of contracts, and was busy building new connections and would soon be working in nearly the same position for a different military contractor. However, that wouldn't have happened if Moya had told about some of the under the table stuff she'd been involved in. Nothing traitorous, thank goodness, but illegal for sure. Her position was precarious, she couldn't bring Moya with her, but she could look out for him and pull strings to keep him from going to jail.
It was her who left him an encoded message.
"Hey Moya, got some news for you. I know you're at ends, and you get too maudlin if you're not working. There's rumors that that big flare was a fold jump, and a ship came out of it. The Admiral has the crew of the ship over in civilian med-bay, not wanting them in the military sections of the ship. Dust off your legal credentials, and your military red-tape scissors. If my intel is correct, that ship is absolutely loaded with filthy lucre. And it's all salvage, meaning the crew is the owner of it. I bet you can cut yourself a deal with them if you can get them out of the clink. You know how the Vargr are about salvage laws." That was true enough, the Vargr were fairly well known for being very aggressive about the bounds of Salvage Law, nearly holding it as a religion. This often led other political entities to calling the Vargr Extents the Pirate Extents, but if Vargr law had one solid base it was 'salvage it keep it'. That didn't apply to war criminals of course, but if it could be proven that the ship crew wasn't criminals, then the Admiral would have to give them their salvage back.
If Moya goes along with the suggestion, it will take a couple of hours to cut through the red tape and get access to the prisoners. The prisoner's will have to tell the military that Moya is their lawyer, but he should be able to get a meeting at the very least in order to offer his services.
Down on his luck and high as a kite on nylaquin*, Moyasmedsev doesn't even notice the message for nearly half a day. It takes him another several minutes to piece together the sense of what his old patron is saying.
"Maudlin indeed. I am not maudlin. I'm...I'm... really hungry. Is there some of that leftover grakh in the cooler? He sighs, his narrow chest and large reptilian snout giving him the appearance of a morose plucked chicken.
He looks at his stash of nylaquin, noting with regret that the vial is more than half empty. Okay, I don't need it. I can make that last for awhile. Two, three days. I've got to see that clerk from Hortalez to see if my credits have been transferred yet. Wait...what?
He walks back to the monitor to examine Airyana's message. Filthy lucre, she had said. These humans were...rich?
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Some time later, a small droyne presents itself to the hulking Vargr security guard at the military post.
He chirps at the the shaggy alien, clicking and whistling in his native Oynprith. His hand-held translator spoke simultaneously in Gvegh.
"Hello. I am a properly credentialed attorney, one Moyasmedsev of Thaxray, here to see the prisoners. Here you will notice that I am holding a certified copy of my travel documents as well as my legal certifications good throughout the Ruler of Five as well as seven other Packs. Admit me to communion with my clients."
Remember, strength without challenge, strength without challenge, he thinks.
_____________________________________________________________
* An exotic drug from Ista in the Gashikan Empire, smuggled into the Vargr Extents at great expense. In humans it has has mild narcotic properties, but it creates a powerful hallucinogen in the bloodstream of a droyne.
The guard growls at Moya, hackles rising. The translator is silent, indicating there's no speech, just noise.
When that doesn't seem to work, the Vargr sighs, and speaks into his headpiece.
"Stupid runt sport lawyer here, claims he's the lawyer for the invaders, invaders don't get lawyers do they? Can I shoot him?" Moya's translator dutifully translates. It can't translate the response, which takes awhile.
Finally the Vargr guard sighs. "Ok, but if he has weapons on him, I can shoot him right?" Whatever is said, seems to make him feel better. "All lawyers ought to be shot, like we used to do in the old days." He says, and then turns to Moya. "Gonna search you, if you got a weapon on you, I get to shoot you." His arm extends, and a screen pops up on the forearm, and a blue scan beam washes up and down Moya.
Assuming no weapons are found, he lets the Droyne into the med bay, looking very depressed when he does. The outside guard nods at the two inside guards. "Invaders get lawyers, who knew?" He says, sounding like the world is insane.
The other two Vargr inside make annoyed and curious yipping sounds, basically decrying how unfair the world is and how much better it would be if they could just shoot invaders and lawyers on sight, but finally exit the med bay room, but not before pointing their weapons at Dev and company, obviously making the point that any trouble will make them very very happy puppies. They also glare at the droyne as it enters the room, making sure it's aware that they want to put many many holes in it as well.
Dev and company are then presented with a small Droyne in a fancy silk tie.
Smiling is not native to either the Droyne or the Vargr, but Moyasmedsev has been told that his wide "grin" is unsettling. He cheerfully smiles at the guards, bobbing his head and chirping. "Thank you for your lawful cooperation, officers," the translator yips in Gvegh.
Turning to the assemblage of humaniti before him, the little Droyne regards the prisoners with wide, unblinking eyes, taking in their strange clothes and unusual scents. Without speaking, he fussily adjusts his tie, sets his translator down, sets down a battered leather briefcase, removes some papers, adjusts them into neat piles and returns his unblinking gaze to the humans, once more adjusting his tie. Finally, he climbs up on the table so that he can look down at them instead of up.
He squawks and chirps at them like some dangerous combination between a monitor lizard and a giant chicken. It should be ludicrous, but is too alien for that.
The translator speaks in Anglic. "I am Moyasmedsev and I am your attorney. Don't speak. You have few rights here and privacy is not one of them, so close your beaks and just listen. You are about to be charged as invading soldiers and spies. There will be no trial and no mercy. You will be shot and eaten, possibly in that order. Do I make myself clear?"
"You have one chance and I am it. If you are war criminals, you are also prey. If you are lawful salvagers, you just may be permitted to breathe tomorrow. With me on board, you are lawful salvagers. Without me, you are war criminals. Is that succinct enough? "
He taps a thick claw on his computer monitor, indicating several documents. "These are legal retainers. They are written in Gvegh, but in short they say that you acknowledge me as your attorney. All of you must sign or none are represented. It states that you submit to a naval tribunal of the Ruler of Five to determine your status and it states the terms of my remuneration, equal to one equal share of the salvage value of your ship and cargo, with five thousand credits due immediately and paid from my eventual share. It also states that I have first right of refusal over any Droyne artifacts in our salvage as part of my share."
"Oh, and humans almost always call me Moyas. That is acceptable. Make your marks here to demonstrate your approval of our arrangement."
Warren watches the Droyne come into the room and the Vargr body language since he doesn't understand their language. He listens to his speech and then addresses his friends. "So do we accept him at face value as our lawyer or see if another would be better for us? If we take him, is an equal share worth his services or do we negotiate a more favorable rate to us?"
"Getting shot and eaten would really ruin an otherwise perfect day," Jenni says cheerfully. "I say we give him a chance."
With a humorless laugh, Dev speaks.
"I think he is our only option, and we can always kill him once they let us go..no need for him to profit from our hard work and suffering!
He makes sure that he speaks right at the translator when he talks.
"Looks like we only have one choice," Tam adds pragmatically. Wait and see, she cautions herself.
Moyasmedsev holds out the panel for them each to sign. "I had much the same thought about you, Mister Dev," says the Droyne. "But I was too polite to mention it. However, if you wish me to leave you here, I'm sure that Admiral Iyaii's reputation for ferocity is merely an exaggeration."
"However, permit me to add that I am in fact good at what I do. If there are any Vargr counsel willing to incur the Admiral's displeasure and represent you, I am unaware of them. It is true that my price is high, but I assure you that I am, in fact, worth every credit. Besides, I too am an outsider here. We travelers must stick together."
"If it please the court, It is my observation that few principles are held as sacrosanct throughout the Ruler of Five and the Vargr Extents as the principle of lawful salvage. My client's ship is filled with salvage... it is salvage, and contains nothing that might assist invading soldiers or spies..."
Preamble to Moyasmedsev's two hour oration on the Vargr law of salvage rights.
Two weeks after Moyas meets with the crew, the Admiral sets up a board of Review, and has the crew sitting in chairs under armed guard, while Moyas starts into his 2 hours of oration.
Moyas get's about 2 minutes into it when the Admiral, a wolf with a scar through her right eye, with an obvious cybernetic replacement, bellows at the top of her lungs, and several guards train their weapons on Moyas.
"I will not sit here and listen to lawyer drivel from a Droyne who should be in jail along with his traitorous former employer." She says, then looks at the crew. "My experts have looked over your ship, and it's cargo, and the pods you had on it. The pods all show long term radiation exposure, as well as coming from eras as far removed as pre Imperium, to as late as 200 years ago. It is they're considered opinion that, based on the ship's logs, and the evidence, including the alien bodies, that your story is true. I therefore free you from custody, under the restrictions that you may not leave the civilian sections of the base except to travel to your ship and arrange for repairs, which you will pay for before you are allowed to leave." She then turns to glare at Moyas. "However, I am adding one additional requirement, you will take your lawyer with you when you leave my station, or I will have you all drawn and quartered and spaced, is that understood?"
"See?" says Moyasmedsev. "Effective, as promised."
Dev struggles to keep quiet, and for once succeeds...and he exits the courtroom and heads straight to 'their' ship.
"I will not stay a moment longer in this...kennel than I have to. Let's sell what we can, get the repairs finished and out of this place!!", he rants once back aboard the Phoenix and away from the prying ears of the Vargr.
"See he is an effective lawyer," Tam says dryly to no one in particular. It seems Moyà as annoyed the dogs as much as he has Dev. She takes a moment to express her thanks to the Droyne, "Thank you Moya.... And I guess welcome aboard too!"
Once back to the safety of their ship she agrees with Dev, "We need to decide how we are going to pay for these repairs?" She paused for a second and adds, "as well as what are long term plans are."
Dev looks back at the Droyne and after a moment's hesitation offers his hand.
"I'm not quite so stupid not to thank someone who helped us out. Thanks, and sorry for the rough treatment earlier. Names Dev Vorn, but I guess you got that off your brief there. Looks like we will be ship-mates for a bit...at least until we get out of 'dog-space! So tell me, other than being a legal beagle (haha), what skills do you bring to the group?"
The Vargr have credited the group with the following :
Rescued Survival Pods : 83 people brought back in various pods. Standard rescue reward per being is 10,000 credits. That's 830,000 credits.
Copy of various recordings and logs from ship's systems and computers : 1,253,382 credits
Alien Artifacts taken for research : 2,453,832 credits
Alien plant/animal samples taken for research : 853,283 credits
Alien life form samples taken for research : 2,285,828 credits
Estimated cost of rescue fees, repair charges, and docking fees : -6,846,325 credits
As the group reconvenes on the Phoenix, they realize the ship is completely empty of everything, and the Vargr have left their cargo and ships sitting on the deck around the ship.
There appears to be less cargo than there was before the ship was emptied, by about 5%.
As the group is discussing things, and Moyas is going over an electronic transmission he just received, a group of technicians come over to the ship and walk up the ramp.
They are mostly human, although there's one Vargr, and one is a furry unclothed alien the crew is likely unfamiliar with, although Moyas knows it is an Hlanssai.
The lead tech is an older man with dark skin and one leg in an exoframe, indicating he's recovering from an accident or else he has permanent damage to that leg. "You the ship crew right? We're here to get started on the repairs. Your ship is s$*&, you know that right? Looks like monkeys put it together, then had a poop fight. We ain't making it new, less you got more credits than you got on the book, we just gonna get it working again." He waves a spanner at a half-dozen pallets they've pushed up next to the ship. "Your jump drive is burned out, and has three types of components, your maneuver drive is blown, your gravity grid is crap, your life support is all but packed in, the power grid is shot, nav system, sensors, computer, hell, the only thing on this ship that works reliably is the microwave in the galley."
Dev smiles and steps forward.
"Dev Vorn, and if you can do half of what needs to be done on this tub, then you are worth every credit we pay, and maybe more. Speaking of which, is there any way to gain access to the Imperial Banking System here? I have a number of 'investments' that I could liquidate to get more credits to repair this old girl."