Little time is wasted after the discussion of what to do next. The orbital is still badly damaged but all of the most immediate issues have been resolved. It is now up to the government of Black Moon to rebuild and repair the orbital. The team's work is done.
Surge does a very careful scan for any sign of an Anubi presence. Unfortunately with the number of ships in the vicinity, it is difficult to tell whether one of them belongs to the Anubi or not. With everyone at battle stations, Vamperina undocks the ship. Surge is at Astrogation. Midnight is in the gunnery tower. Kyle is at the Sensor/Comms position. Omen is on the bridge. Jack is at the After-Steering postion in engineering and the Professor is serving as Engineer. Nancy Ricket and her daughter Lisan are in their stateroom. Everyone is at battle readiness.
ROCK shoots away from the damage orbital. The professor knows his ship and as he is able to concentrate solely on the engineering function, he is able to coax a few extra cycle of energy from the N-space engines, giving Vamperina more power to accelerate away.
Kyle and Surge are both monitoring the sensors and see no signs of pursuit.
Black Moon orbital is quickly left behind as the ship blasts out of the gravity well of the primary around which Black Moon rotates. Days pass uneventfully. At a suitable safe distance, some six days later, Surge computes a jump solution to the selected destination and feeds it to Vamperina. She triggers the jump drives and ROCK dopplers into subspace where she is safe from pursuit. Everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief and then settles into dull shipboard routine.
VAMPERINA: For the first time in a long time, Vamperina is not busy learning astrogation from Surge. She has learned all that was necessary and has her commercial starship captain's license. She takes the opportunity to relax, though she still works out every day and will happily spar with anyone who so desires.
Two months later, on 04/21/6570, ROCK comes out of subspace at Regina JP. The long ordeal is over. What started, for some, as an escape from prison so many years ago, led to a discovery of a mystery starship in Black Moon's asteroid belt, which in turn led them on an odyessy deep into Zhodani-controlled space. All that is now behind them. They have arrived at Regina as free men and women - able to rest and relax for awhile before deciding what they want to do next.
JACK: Jack has had little success with his efforts to manipulate his bio-field in the way he wanted, but doesn't give up completely, trying various other tactics. He also asks Vamperina if she can teach him an Offensive Strike martial arts maneuver that he can make his own (Roundhouse punch? Spinning back kick? No idea what works best for him). He certainly doesn't remember how to do one well enough to try it without an instructor. Jack also continues his studies with Midnight, learning to be a Rocket gunner, in case we decide we want to try to hire on as a ship's crew he needs to be good at something other than his winning looks and glinting smile ;) Let's all sign on as the crew of the Love Boat, he'll be the figurehead captain! *snicker* |