Driftwood


The Chirr'T'Thar have been on extreme alert since two of their ships were destroyed by unknown parties, with only one crew member surviving to tell the tale. Additional encounters with the unknown ships have been odd, with them blinding sensors with an ECM pulse and disappearing. To counter, the felitaurs have been planting a mix of active and passive sensor satellites around the Tharhome system. And several ships are now doing the same around the Nexus solar system, including the "Tail Thrasher", Captain Leda Caudate commanding.

Leda grumbles under her breath about 'baby missions'.

Sirius yawns and stretches and gives Leda a scritch behind the ear, "C'mon captain, you know this sort of thing has to be done. We should be on to a meatier assignment in a few more days."

Leda sighs. "I know, I know... it's just frustrating. Little kiddy-hops around the planet to get everything just in exactly the right position. I _still_ say it would be faster if we did every third one around and skipped off planetary atmosphere to get there quickly.

A few million kilometers away, an odd organic shape is biting off pieces of a small comet. Charon likes the way they taste.

Sirius nodnods and hmmms, "We're getting a call from another ship, they missed a section out at the edge of this solar system. Want to take a break and at least see a different planet or two for a few hours?"

Leda looks over the grid, then grins... "Sure."

Sirius does the BIG eyes routine, "Can I drive this time? Pleaaaaase? ;)"

The crew member by the sensors chuckles loudly.

Leda grins. "Maybe after we get started... I've got a maneuver I've always wanted to try."

Sirius ruhrohs, and both he and the sensor engineer dig their claws into the acceleration couches and start buckling themselves securely.

Leda clamps herself to the seat with her legs, and starts fiddling with the controls, running through several checks, and a close-up view of the planet below... a gas-giant with thick banded clouds.

Sirius hmmms and double checks that the inertial dampers are fully functional, "We're ready when you are Captain."

Leda spins the ship right around, and hits the thruster, bringing the ship almost to a dead halt in orbit, resulting in it slowly dropping straight down.

Leda pivots the ship until it's pointed almost straight down, and hits full thrust on the ship, diving in towards the planet.

At that moment, a microsecond of signal is directed at the vessel from somewhere in the unexplored region. A faint, weak whisper of a pulse, barely enough to register on the grid...just a faint single pixel that fades faster than the blink of an eye, some thing you'd never notice unless you happened to be looking right at it. Still, it's dutifully logged by the computer, as are all stellar bursts, sensor glitches, and everything else deemed below the attention of the crew.

Charon spots the scout as it makes its plunge. Figuring it wants to play, he begins to slowly 'stalk' it, using some of the gas giant's small moons to hide behind.

Leda builds up the speed as she heads in towards the planet, which is quickly taking up more and more of the forward view screen.

Sirius mentally yeeps and nearly rethinks having given Leda an option on his contract when she decides to form a mating group. The sensor engineer just looks like she'd rather be planet side.

Sirius mrrrrrps, "You do like to keep our main engineer busy, don't you kecharra?"

Somewhere, where the faint signal originated, something registers an analysis of the ship. ((Erratic flight patterns. Vessel is not malfunctioning. Perhaps crew is malfunctioning. May be unsuitable.))

Leda has a mischievous grin on her face, and waits until she's just about to skim the upper, invisible, layers of atmosphere with the top of the ship. She kicks in the 'lower' landing thrusters, pushing the ship towards the planet, pulling a super-hyperbolic orbit around the planet, orbiting faster than normal orbital dynamics would allow. The cloud layer looks close enough to reach out and touch.

Charon makes a break for the planet's thick atmosphere in an attempt to get under the little ship.

Sirius's claws dig at the couch as he feels the inertial dampers get a real workout. Even so, the force in the cabin is nearly 3 Gs.

Leda grins at Sirius. "Hey, when he leaves here he'll be considered one of the best engineers in the fleet for having survived this ship."

Sirius can't resist, "It's not surviving the SHIP he's worried about. ;)"

Charon picks his ambush spot, hiding under a particularly thick cloud layer. On the scout's next orbit, he'll pounce it!!

Leda chuckles, and shuts off the landing thrusters, kicking the main engines up to full again. The ship leaps forward, shooting away from the planet at an angle heading straight out towards the location they're heading for, at close to solar escape velocity. Unbeknownst to her, Charon is almost immediately underneath her when she does this...

Charon mentally eeps as the prey makes a run for it! He lunges after it, trailing a long streamer of atmosphere in his wake.

Leda grins, and stretches. "If you want the controls now, Sirius, go ahead... I'm done. Just have to decelerate when we get there."

The sensor engineer eeps, "Something incoming from the gas giant Captain!"

Leda says, "What?"

Reaching out with a gravitation pseudopod, Charon gently 'baps' the scout to flip it over. "TAG!" he broadcasts, before zipping off in another direction. "You're it!"

Leda arrrgs, and grabs the controls again to correct the ship's attitude.

Sirius . o O (And Leda considers THIS to be boring?)

The sensor engineer growls, "It's that Charon ship...er person...whatever. From what came over the radio, I think we've been tagged in a game."

Leda hmmmmms, and shifts the course a little... "How are we doing for fuel?"

Sirius's tail grabs a data pad that got stuck on the ceiling and looks at it, "We're doing fine. The upgrades to all the ships for defense included the power systems."

Charon heads out towards the cometary halo again, but abruptly changes course. Something's out there, maybe another scout trying to ambush HIM this time. He goes to investigate the metallic anomaly.

Leda grins, leaning forward over the controls. "Good."

Sirius mutters, "I sure hope they upgraded the inertial dampers too."

The sensor engineer just nods sympathetically.

Leda shifts the course just a bit towards one of the planetary moons. "How about the deflector screens?"

Sirius's whiskers droop, "The shields are supposedly twice as good, but we...haven't tested them yet."

Charon zig-zags his way towards the unknown object.

Leda grins. "We will now." The ship skims through the thin atmosphere of the moon, using the atmosphere to brake the ship as she kicks the thrust into a tight turn around the moon to shift direction towards Charon.

Sirius turns his torso around to look over his wings at Tulee, and purrs, "Well, you were the one who wanted to be the sensor engineer on the "Tail Thrasher" ;)"

Tulee just growls something that threatens to peel the paint off the walls as she digs all four paws worth of claws into her acceleration couch, while her hands hold onto the console in front of her.

Leda hits the main thrusters again, shooting off directly towards the living ship.

Charon pauses. The tag ship is closing on him now, but the new one hasn't reacted at all. He decides to take a closer look at the newcomer instead of running just yet.

The 'object', as Charon comes within range of it, resolves itself to be...a ship. Avian in appearance, predatory, with long, curved, forward-swept wings, a streamlined hull and a bridge pod on a short 'neck', all in all about two hundred feet in length. She's been drifting a long time, it would seem, from the ice around her engine ports, over her view ports and sensor grids... Cometary carbon dusts her hull, yet it seems to be in perfect shape, no meteoroid holes, none of the pockmarks you'd expect on a normal vessel long adrift.

Leda hmmmms... "I wonder..."

The Stelya-rhyan pings a radar beam off the alien's hull. Knock-knock.

Sirius blinks at Leda, "Oh no. What do you have in mind now? ;)"

The leading edges of the newcomer's wings flicker weakly blue under their coat of ice...then a second later, Charon's query is answered with a pulsed signal on the same frequency. Three pulses, a pause...then one pulse, then four pulses. Then a long pause, then a repetition.

Leda says, "Oh... just a little twist." She cuts the engines. "Could you cut the outside lights for a bit, run on passive sensors as much as possible?"

Sirius nods and turns down all external signs of power, "Want me to try some of the stealth measures?"

Leda coasts towards Charon. "Please."

Charon puzzles over the reply. Integers aren't something he's used to. Just to be safe, he relays the series of pulses to the Chirr'T'Thar ship.

Sirius nods and motions to the sensor engineer. In a few minutes, the shields harmonics alters to make them more transparent against the background, and all active sensors shut down, leaving only passive ones online. The shields also suppress internal energy signals.

Charon is now facing TWO apparently sleeping ships. He repeats the 3-1-4 signal back to the alien.

Tulee hmmms, "The Charon creature just sent us a set of pulses. 3, 1 and 4 at a time?"

Leda asks, "Sending us? That's odd. Any signs of anything else out there?"

The alien vessel, apparently deciding that Charon is not an intelligent creature by only mimicking, returns to dormancy, only passively scanning what it can detect of the other vessel.

Charon hmms. The newcomer is almost a quarter as long as he is, so he'd have to grapple it if he wanted to move it somewhere. Maybe it wants a comet?

The Tail Thrasher, no longer sending out any energy signature, is nearly transparent to sensors. Only the minor gravity fluctuations caused by it's movement could be detectable. Tulee hmmmms, "There is an object near it, but in stealth mode that's all we can determine."

Leda nods. "Okay. We've got enough of a placement to be sure of not hitting it, anyway."

Charon illuminates the alien with another radio burst, to see if it will respond again.

Leda says, "On my mark, shut off the stealth suite... Two..."

Leda says, "One..."

Leda waits until she's as close as is safe to Charon. "Mark!" She hits the maneuvering thrusters, quickly spinning the ship around backwards, then hits the main thrusters, a light wash of the exhaust plasma passing over Charon as she sails past.

Sirius nods and turns the running lights and active power systems back on, while Tulee hardens the shields.

Leda broadcasts "Tag!" back to Charon.

Sirius smiles in spite of himself, "You know. That is kind of fun. You're a bad influence on me Leda. ;)"

Charon eeps! He reaches out with another force tendril to tap the alien. "You're it now!" he beams at the alien, then backs off a few kilometers.

Leda slows the ship down as she grins. "I should hope so. Now let's see what that other object is..."

Tulee hmmms, "It appears to be a derelict ship Captain. Odd design. Lots of accretion materials, but no damage noticeable."

The alien vessel, detecting another vessel far too close now, quickly plays a low-power scan over it.

Leda brings the ship around, moving in slowly towards the derelict.

Tulee's voice raises pitch, "It just scanned us captain. Some on board systems must still be functional."

Ignoring Charon in hopes that the creature will leave a 'boring' ship alone, the vessel turns its attention to the scoutship.

Leda says, "Well, scan it back. What's in there?"

Tulee nods and runs a full sensor scan across the ship.

The alien ship's internal atmosphere seems to be...rarefied argon gas? and vacuum. Power systems are minimal, a single operating fusion device feeding mostly sensors and an unknown type of computer. There would seem to be a number of unknown alloys on and in the vessel, a few strange field readings... The ship's hull itself almost seems to be not quite there at times, incredibly dense a moment later. And strangest of all, somewhere in the engine section, there is an energy signature that matches that of a black hole, only infinitely smaller....

Tulee notices one more detail. Though most of its needed reactants are absent, maybe purged, this ship is armed. Well armed.

Tulee relays the information to Leda and Sirius.

Sirius hmmms, "It doesn't look like one of the ships that attacked our scoutships. But it's armed to the fangs."

For his part, Charon is content to examine the collapsed-matter elements in the alien's hull from afar.

Sirius's ears are flicking nervously as his tail thumps on the floor of the bridge, waiting for the Captain's decision. Well, almost. He makes sure the deflector shields are at full.

Leda hmmms. "What was the signal Charon was sending again? Three, one, four?"

The ship, turning slowly in space, gradually shows its tail section, its engine ports frosted over with what looks like centuries of accreted ice.

Tulee nods, "Yes."

Leda says, "Sounds like the first few digits of Pi."

Tulee points to the frozen ports, "How can it be in such good shape if it's as old as it looks?"

Sirius twitches a whisker at Leda, "True. Or 3 and 1 equals 4."

Leda says, "It probably has, or had, some sort of deflector shields as well. Or maybe a more active defense system against impacts."

Sirius purrs, "Why don't we just signal a simple hello?"

Leda says, "Try sending out a signal with the same three digits, then the next two of pi. See what it does then."

Sirius nods and sends out a series of pulses. 3, then 1, then 4, the 1 then 5 and finally a 9.

The alien vessel pauses...then transmits back several more digits, then a broadband carrier signal, a visual signal apparently translatable to all parts of the visual spectrum.

Leda turns around. "Tulee, what do you make of that?"

Tulee hmmms, "It's an attempt by something on board trying to communicate. Still no life signs detectable. Probably automated. Sirius, if you'll patch communications in with the sensors, I think we can resolve the signal between us."

The next transmission is a repeated series of images. First a rapid series of images of mouths, muzzles, speaking, of all different species-form types. Then waves, symbols, moving across to a depiction of ears and antenna, aural receivers of all sorts. Then, between the two, another group of images. Books, display screens, writing, clay tablets. Finally, all three are replaced by a stylized image of the alien vessel, an outline of the scoutship, and the changing books/tablets and writing moving along a line from the scoutship to the alien. Then the whole sequence is repeated.

Sirius blinks, "Does everything in this galaxy have to be nuts?"

Leda looks over it. "Some kind of dictionary, I guess... Weird. Who's got Contact training?"

Meanwhile, Charon has drifted closer to the two ships, the better to eavesdrop.

Sirius and Tulee stare at each other.

Sirius ahems, "I guess we'll have to muddle through ourselves, Captain."

The images change. The 'books' move back and forth between the two ship images, then are replaced by stylized heads speaking back and forth. Then...a high-speed data stream carrier wave is emitted, waiting for reception. The screen flashes the 'book' symbol, and waits.

Sirius hmms and nods at Tulee's readings, "I think it wants us to send data back and forth along this frequency Leda. What do you want to send?"

Tulee continues to check out her sensor readings, and mrrps, "Anti-matter weapons?"

Leda says, "So it would seem... Let's start with something simple that doesn't give away too much. An image of the star and some nearby stars, setting up a map. Let's see if we can ask it where it's from.

Leda says, "While we're at it, try sending a tight-beam back home to tell them about this."

Sirius nods and sets up a star map of the local region, with a highlighted dot where they are, and then a paw points to an image of the unknown ship, and then sweeps around the stars, as if to ask, "Where?"

Sirius hmmms, "I'll bounce it to the mining station by the gate. They can get the signal home faster that way."

Tulee hmmms, "Any hope of just sending an audio signal? Maybe our translators can handle it."

Leda nods. "Good."

The alien responds with its own starmap images, then images of a green world, then a blue-oceaned cloudy one, then pauses. It displays Sirius' map back, a line leading off its edge, then...fading. It pauses again, then displays the same thing. The starmaps it displays from memory are like nothing in this part of the galaxy at all.

Leda hmmms. "We could try. Start in the basic trade-talk, see if we can get an audio response."

Tulee hmmms, "Looks like we're not the only ones new to the area. It seems to be saying that it's from a long ways away."

Sirius hmmms, "It?"

Tulee nods, "Still no signs of life. Probably an automated system."

Leda says, "So it would seem."

Charon begins his own probe of the ship, using a telepathic scan. If the ship is completely automated, he has to let the other Stelya-rhyan know..

Sirius frowns then turns on the broadband and purrs, "To the alien vessel. This is the Chirr'T'Thar vessel "Tail Thrasher"."

Sirius continues, "Identify yourself."

The vessel responds in several unfamiliar tongues...obviously a computer, by the intonation. The screen displays the words as it does, first in a graceful, curved script, then in a simpler block-character script, then several others.

Sirius gahs and feeds it into the translator program, "Figures it would speak gibberish. Just for safety's sake, Tulee, keep a sharp eye on that things weapons status."

Tulee hrrrmphs, "I haven't looked away from it since I first saw what looks like anti-matter missiles."

After another pause, the screen shows more. The green world, accompanied by rotating images of small balls circling other clusters of balls. Molecules, it would seem. One is nitrogen, the other oxygen. Both indicate at the planet, with notation for some sort of percentage beside them.

Leda says, "Looks like breathable atmosphere levels."

Tulee nods, "It does indeed. Wonder why an automated system is looking for a breathable atmosphere?"

Sirius hmmms, "Maybe it still thinks it has a crew? Or its gathering information about us to better fight us?"

Leda says, "Send the same sort of image back, using Tharhome's atmosphere levels. Maybe it's asking for what atmosphere we'd want to breathe if we came aboard."

Charon's probe encounters something that provides weak feedback.. very weak. He tries quantum resonance to see if the source is organic or not.

The screen shows other parameters. A simulation of an object falling at a certain rate. Water. Protein molecules. An semblage of other molecules with 'X' forms over them, molecules like methane, carbon monoxide, chlorine.

Sirius hmmms at Leda, "I guess we can't be paranoid with every race we meet." With a few taps at his console, a picture of Tharhome and similar ratios are given to the apparent derelict.

Tulee hmms, "Want's to know the acceleration due to gravity. How our proteins are made, as in levo or dextrorotary."

With a glance to the ship on the viewscreen, Sirius looks at his captain and future mate, "How much do we tell this thing?"

"There is a lifeform aboard the alien vessel," Charon interrupts. At least he understands about 'volume', thankfully. "It may not be alive. Can you retrieve it for me?"

The images stop as Sirius send the data. After another pause, the derelict begins a high-speed data transmission, this one meant for a computer it seems to hope exists. Pure binary, the logical basis for a...language.

Leda looks over the images. "Fascinating..."

Leda blinks. "A lifeform? Well, we hadn't planned going inside immediately..."

Tulee points out the data stream to Sirius and Leda, "We could feed this into the translator, but no telling what it really will do."

Leda nods. "Okay. Try and set up a firewall around it as we work with it..."

Sirius nods, "I've isolated a copy of the translator program into a subsystem of the waste recycler controls. Should be safe there. I'm starting to upload the information into it."

Leda nods, leaning over and looking out at the ship.

Leda taps the communicator and sends a message out to Charon. "Let's see if we can talk to the thing first before we worry about rescuing people who have been sitting around for thousands of years."

The data stream continues, logical basis, roots, words, idioms, derivatives, conjugation, images associated with words, everything needed. It's not that alien a language, thankfully.

Charon wonders about the value of talking to a machine, but doesn't relay this to the Chirr'T'Thar.

Sirius hmms, "I don't see any trojan programs in it, do you Tulee?"

Tulee shakes her head, "No, it's purely language structure. When it's done uploading, we can let the main computer have at it."

Sirius coils his tail around Leda's, both to keep him from thumping it on the floor, and for comfort.

Leda's tail tightens around Sirius'.

As the data flows, something else happens. The alien ship, seemingly mothballed with a rarefied noble-gas atmosphere, the perfect way to preserve something...begins to be pressurized with an oxygen-nitrogen mix instead. Pressure climbs slowly, as does the interior temperature, rising from a chilly -200 or so degrees.

Charon scans the immediate area, looking for a rock big enough to squish the alien with if the kitties can't determine who or what controls it soon. Heavily armed robot spacecraft are very high on the Squish List his mother gave him.

Tulee hmms, "It's altering internal environment to the norms it sent us earlier."

Leda looks out at the ship again. "If there was a lifeform aboard, like Charon said, it might be waking him up now that someone's here to talk to."

Sirius hmmms, "Possible. Tulee, do a more in depth scan for organic material. Oh, Leda. The information is loaded in, no apparent destructive code. Want me to dump it into the main translator and run it?"

Leda nods. "Go ahead."

Sirius taps a few controls, then purrs, "It should be running. Let me send something to the ship.....This is the Chirr'T'Thar ship "Tail Thrasher". Identify yourself and your intentions."

The alien waits a moment....then responds in a quiet, modulated computer voice. "Eidolon. Peace is full yes. State my self your please intention. "

Sirius sighs, "Did the translator come with a money back guarantee?"

Leda chuckles.

Tulee chuckles as Sirius purrs, "Our intentions are to figure out your intentions. If you want peace, we'll be happy to give that. But any aggression on your part will not be tolerated."

Charon doesn't like the sound of that response. Maybe it's a brain-damaged, heavily-armed robot..

The ship speaks again. "Intent pieces full of yes. Only aggression is if first attacked. Intention preservation is pilot of."

After a pause, one more statement. "Please datafile send of language."

Sirius grins at Leda, "You should talk to it. It sounds a lot like one of your mothers. ;)"

Leda hmmms. "Might as well send them the Trade Talk..."

Leda glares at Sirius.

Sirius ahems and nods, "Transmitting the trade language now."

The alien vessel quickly assimilates the incoming data. Whatever else, it's got a fast computer. It speaks again as it 'learns' more. "This is free trade ship Eidolon. Assistance is required. What are intentions your?"

Sirius looks at Leda, "You're the boss."

Leda hmmms, pondering how to answer. "Intentions at this time are for learning. You've got us quite curious."

The computer almost sounds...pleased. "Curiosity is indicative of higher lifeforms. Learning is indicative of higher lifeforms. Assistance required is to restore pilot of vessel this. Please state view of rescuing others."

Charon broadcasts, "I call dibs on any corpses."

The parameters for a habitable world are displayed again, this time in the Trade Language..with only one or two errors, it's not done assimilating yet. "Does your world match these parameters?"

Leda says, "Charon, be quiet for a bit. Eidolon, it is among our rules to always attempt to help travelers in distress."

Sirius hmmms, "The mining station is the nearest location where we have medical facilities Captain."

The computer speaks again, broadcasting to Charon as well. "Corpses are not acceptable. Being in space near ship, remain at distance. You are unacceptable."

Sirius mutters something about "Copernicus's friends."

Leda chuckles. "How far is the mining station?"

Sirius purrs, "It's in orbit around Nexus by the gate Captain. Nexus is the 3rd planet of this system."

Charon gets a little flustered by the alien's tone, and starts looking closer for any signs of deception.

The alien vessel waits for a moment...then lights begin to flicker on within its viewports. Warm, inviting light. The interior temperature continues to climb, nearing 30 degrees and rising. A puff of ice crystals sparkles from the ship's stern as excess water vapor is vented. "Such rules indicate a highly advanced culture. Acceptable." It displays a schematic, a complex-looking coffin-shaped device. "Primary termination-of-stasis overrides have malfunctioned on this unit. Manual termination of stasis cycle is required.

Leda nods. "Right." She flips on the outside broadcast. "There's an orbital mining station in this system that has full medical facilities. We could take your pilot there."

Tulee frowns, "A stasis pod? Hopefully the thing can tell us how to manually work it."

Leda says, "Manual. So you require someone to go inside the ship and work the capsule?"

For the first time, the ship moves under its own power. A short burst of emergency maneuvering jets rolls it gently, then holds it with its belly towards the scoutship. On the aft hull, a square panel glows with interlocking blue lines, ice flaking off and tumbling away in a shower of glitters. "That is correct. This vessel is equipped with a universal docking adapter." More schematics are displayed on the screen, for a self-adjusting locking hatch that seems to be able to change sizes. "Interior environment is now normal for your planet."

Leda blinks. "Tulee? What do the scanners say?"

Tulee frowns, "Well, the internal environment is like Tharhome's. Not that it matters for us anyhow. If it tries to suffocate us we'll have a few days to get out. None of the weapons systems seem to be active, and the magnetic bottles on the anti-matter weapons seem stable."

The computer continues. "Manual termination of stasis requires simple manipulation of medunit controls. Ship's manipulator robot has been inoperative for one hundred of your solar years."

Sirius chuckles at the other ship, "You needed a better remote servicing warranty. One of the Chirr'T'Thar's specialties. ;)"

Leda grins. "Neat. All right, anyone up for a little walkabout?"

Sirius raises his hand and grins.

Tulee hmmms, "I might enjoy that."

Leda nods. "We should bring at least one tech person along, though I'd like someone to stay back here on the sensors just in case."

Tulee nods, "I'll call up a replacement. Course, I assume Charon can help watch out for us?"

Sirius nods, "Want me to tell Charon what we're up to?"

The other ship's computer chimes in again. "Docking adapter may also function as an airlock if EVA transfer is preferred."

Sirius hmmmmms, "That might be best, keep our ship at a distance."

Leda nods. "Tell Charon." She hmmms. "But we might want not to let him know that we can EVA without suits."

Sirius frowns, "True, but docking with the ship does put this ship at much greater risk Captain."

Leda sighs. "Decisions, decisions."

Sirius purrs, "That is why you're the captain, captain. ;)"

Leda says, "Let's use the docking tunnel to put ourselves as far away as possible, and connect up to it."

Sirius nods and relays the plan of action to Charon, asking the ship to look out for them.

Charon tightbeams back, "What do I do if you are taken hostage and the alien exhibits hostile intent?"

Leda says, "Tell him to try and save the rest of our ship and get word back home; we'll take care of ourselves."

Sirius nods and relays the message, he also points out to Charon and Leda that two more Chirr'T'Thar ships are en-route in about an hour.

Leda says, "Good."

Sirius purrs, "You want to position the ship for docking captain? I can set up the docking tube."

Orientation lights glow softly around the Eidolon's docking port as it changes configuration, having scanned the scoutship's apparent hatch. A docking target appears in glowing blue lines at the port's center.

Leda nods, and does a quick maneuver, getting the ship a bit closer... she does an expert job of it, only showing off a little bit as she sets the ship's hatch dead center on the docking line.

Sirius pads off the bridge, and moments later a tube extends from the Tail Thrasher's hatch to the one on the alien ship. Only a faint shudder in the ship announces that the two have connected.

Tulee purrs, "Sirius confirms a stable connection. The docking tube is pressurizing. Shall we Captain?"

The other vessel's port performs an impressive change of geometry to lock itself to the Thrasher's tube. Now touching hulls, the soft 'clack' of multiple docking latches engaging can be heard inside the ship, followed by a dull hiss beyond its end. "Dock secure.", the other ship's computer announces. "Eidolon's hatch is open."

Charon giggles quietly at the sight. He knew the Chirr'T'Thar were kinky, but didn't think it extended to their machines as well..

Leda nods. "Let's go."

Leda, Tulee and Sirius meet at the hatch and enter the airlock. The lock cycles and they pad along the docking tube to Eidolon's open hatch. With a little apprehension they enter the alien ship.

The air is still cold in here, about 40 degrees, cool enough to let breath mist in the air. The lighting is warm, bright and white, normal spectrum, and the ceiling is easily high enough for a 'taur to move around comfortably. For the apparent time this ship's been drifting, this area doesn't show it. Deck and panels are sparkling clean, not corroded or worn in the least. The air carries no scents save that of alloys and plastics, and the only sound is a gentle rumbling from somewhere aft. "Welcome aboard.", the computer says... this time from all around. "This is C Deck. Power usage is minimal. Please do not attempt to operate the teleport or food synthesizers."

Leda whistles. "Teleport? Not bad... Now, where was the capsule we had to look at. Business before pleasure."

Sirius nods, "Shame teleporters don't work on us very well. Supposedly something about our makeup tends to make it difficult to lock onto us."

The computer continues. "Stasis capsule is in the medunit, up one deck, aft, portside. Air temperature will stabilize at 65 degrees in five-point-two standard minutes."

Tulee just makes numerous notes and scans with her portable data pad.

Leda nods. "Alright, let's go."

Leda peers in at the space suits and such to get a better idea of what we're dealing with here.

Tulee nods at Leda's tactic, "Bipedal. Apparently has a tail."

Sirius leads the way up the stairs that are big enough for the taur. Leda is in the middle with Tulee bringing up the rear, as it were.

The party emerges into the padded grey corridor, only a few lights overhead spreading pools of bright white light on the carpeted deck. It's eerily silent, the rumble of backup systems almost inaudible here. Still, the ship looks...new. Well-preserved, and almost luxurious in an efficient, simple sort of way. "Aft, port.", says the computer.

Sirius hmmms, "So who wants to be the lucky one and go in and "turn them on"? "

Leda peers aft, looking around towards the door to the port that the computer was referring to.

Leda says, "Oh, what the hey."

Sirius grins, "Well, you were always able to turn me on Leda. ;) And you'll fit a bit better in there than I will."

Leda smirks, and brushes her tail along Sirius' muzzle as she walks into the medunit room.

Tulee giggles at the two teasing each other, but quickly returns to monitoring the local environment.

The medunit is small...It's really only meant for stabilizing life-threatening injuries until someone can be flown to a real facility from the looks of it. There's some curved cabinets of first-aid supplies and field kits, medicines, and medical scanning devices, but taking up most of the small compartment is a clear-lidded coffin-like device. Mist swirls inside the glass, obscuring whatever's in there. On the unit's console, a small screen displays script now in Trade Language. "RNA lang trans. complete" , then under it, "stasis term: manual init required." Various controls wink and glow beside the screen.

As Leda enters the medunit, the computer begins giving her instructions. "Turn the green key one full turn to the right. Then press the blue, red, and yellow lighted pads, in that sequence."

Leda looks over the controls. "All right, now which one of these little blinkenlights do we want..."

Leda says, "All right." She turns the key, twisting it around, then taps on the pads with a clawtip.

As Leda touches the red pad, the screen displays "Term Stasis, Y/N?" As she touches the last pad, it beeps once, scrolls, and displays "Stasis end seq active. Stage 1, cryo purge" A bargraph counts down across the screen as the mist in the chamber begins to swirl more, then thin...

Sirius purrs to Leda, "How's it going?"

The mist thins even more...then vanishes, to reveal a young, tall red foxmorph. Digitigrade with claws and all, his neatly edged flame-red-orange, midnight black, and white fur patterns are visible as he's clad only in his own fur...fur dusted with fine ice, through which defined muscles are visible as faint curves. His muzzle, icicles on its whiskers, is gracefully tapered, his expression peaceful as he sleeps.

Leda says, "Looks like it's going well... It's doing something, anyway."

Leda looks over the morph inside. "Not bad looking, either. For a biped, anyway."

Sirius chuckles at Leda, "You never discriminated against bipeds before, at least not that way. Does he seem ok health wise?"

The screen displays another message: "Stage 2: Sonofield Regen/Heat" The chamber goes opaque again suddenly as condensation forms on its inner surface, and it appears to almost...vibrate softly. The bargraph counts down once again, taking longer this time.

Finally, the chamber clears, revealing the fox unfrozen, his fur soft and silky-looking. The screen displays a final message: "Stage 3: Revive". There's a sound like a capacitor charging, a high-pitched whine...then a *CRACK* and a bright flash from the chamber. It fades, leaving only an afterimage as the glass lid swings up with a hiss, to reveal a softly breathing fox, his eyes still closed.

Leda takes a step back. "Seems to be, from what I can figure from the displays."

Leda goes "Whoah."

Zephyr takes a deeper breath, stretching a bit. His paws curl and uncurl, claws visible against the midnight-black fur as they extend, then retract. He looks to be a young adult fox, perfectly groomed, probably rather handsome for his species, and rather well-built as well. He also looks like he might still be a predator sort. "Mmf..."

Leda grins. "Good morning."

Zephyr turns his head a little, his eyes opening to reveal amber around vertical black pupils. "Mor..Uh.." He tries to focus. "Who.."

Sirius looks in over Leda's hindquarters, trying to get a look at the biped.

Leda waves. "Hi. We just found your ship floating about at the edge of the system, and it asked us to help wake you up."

Zephyr closes his eyes and opens them again. "I..um...Yes, it's supposed to.." He looks confused, with his vision still blurry, he sees the female in front of him as torso, going down, then also going back in a way that's not supposed to be. He blinks again. "I mean...thank you. How long have I..Rf.. What system is this, did I get in past the Rim colonies?"

Sirius flicks his wings, "Rim colonies?"

Leda says, "In order: we have no idea; none your computer seems to have ever heard of; and _WAY_ past."

Zephyr looks beyond to the other being, and sees...wings? And there seems to be too much body in the room for not enough heads. He swallows and tries to sit up, still a little fuzzy. "Ach...hate cryostasis..." His eyes widen a little at Leda's word, and his ears swivel confusedly. He clears his throat. "Computer, chrono. Time from stasis entry. And give me our position."

Leda says, "One of the first things we asked your computer when we started talking was about where it was from... there wasn't much overlap between it's star charts and ours."

The computer replies calmly. "Stasis was entered, in Standard timeparts, exactly three hundred fifty nine years, seven months, ten days, four hours, and forty-five minutes ago. Position is unknown."

Sirius hmmmfs, "Unfair. No way to break that sleeping record and live to tell about it. ;)"

Tulee kicks Sirius, cause someone has to do it.

Leda hmmphs back at Sirius.

Zephyr isn't saying anything, just his muzzle is moving to echo the words. "Three hundred...Computer, recheck! Level 2 diagnostic on main and backup chrono. That can't be right..."

Tulee, from out of sight behind Sirius purrs, "Considering the build up of ice and debris on your ship, I had estimated about a 1,000 years."

Sirius nods from just outside the room, "What is your name by the way?"

The computer responds. "Chronos are accurate."

Zephyr looks up absently. "Me? Oh...Zephyr. Zephyr Blackpaw." He tries to smile a little. "If you had to get me out of stasis, that means I was..stuck in there. Thank you. You saved my life..."

Leda smiles, nodding. "Leda Caudate. Yes, the computer said there was a problem with the automatic termination systems on that."

Zephyr finally hears Sirius' words about buildup on the ship. His ears flatten in alarm. "The ship? How bad is she? Computer! Condition!" The computer responds, "Backups functioning. Minimal power usage. Hull one hundred percent. No degradation of interior."

Zephyr finally relaxes a little, and turns to the female in front of him...giving her a warm smile, his usual charming one. "Nice to meet you...Leda?"

Sirius ponders that this fur seems to care more about the ship than being displaced nearly 4 centuries in time by a stasis accident.

Leda nods, smiling back. "Leda."

Sirius purrs, "And I'm Sirius, and the lady behind me is Tulee."

Zephyr takes a deep breath and looks around. Across the cabin are the same cabinets that have always been there. A display panel glows softly as it always has, and light from the corridor shows the same grey padded walls. So familiar that he might well be in denial about what's happened...

Leda says, "Though I'd suggest we take you in to our medical facility to check you out."

Zephyr smiles warmly and nods to Sirius and to Tulee, then struggles to sit up more...still a little weak. "I..rf...You all came on a ship? And yes...I'll agree, good idea. Can I get my ship towed to a port somewhere?"

Sirius purrs, "Well, the mining station is doubling as a space port, and that's where our medical and engineering facilities are for this system."

Leda grins. "Sure, I don't see why not."

Sirius hmms and taps a communication stud on his armband, "Charon, seems the pilot is ok, if a bit bewildered."

Zephyr shivers a little. He almost looks like he's on the edge of shock, which _would_ explain why he's so calm about what's happened. "Mining? Okay." He starts to slip off the medunit bed, then finds that his legs don't quite want to support him as he starts to slip against the edge.

Charon sends back, "What is the pilot?"

Sirius chuckles, "He's a fairly good looking male fox."

Leda reaches out to catch Zephyr.

At that comment, Tulee puts her feet on Sirius's taur back so she can get a look at the pilot.

After a pause, Charon asks, "How many tails does he have?"

Sirius blinks a few times, "Why do you want to know?"

Zephyr yelps a little in surprise, then umfs as Leda catches him. "Um...thanks. Visit to sickbay might be a good idea. Over sleeping gets to you." He blinks at Sirius's comment and almost stumbles again, startled.

"Do you really want me to answer that over an open channel?" the Stelya-rhyan answers.

Sirius frowns and responds, "Well, near as I can tell, he has one tail. But I'm going to want to know what's up. You've been acting very oddly around this ship, more paranoid than even we were."

Charon sends, "Only one? Rats, just a regular fox then. Okay."

Sirius's eyebrows go up, but he decides not to ask, "Well, let's get going then. Our other ships will be here soon and wondering what's up."

Leda nods. "Let's. Zephyr, you want to stay on this ship or come onto ours?"

Zephyr's ears perk? "Come onto yours, if I could? I want to let Eidolon shut down, not risk her backups and memory cores." He smiles and pats the bulkhead. "She's a good ship. And..."

Tulee's head finally appears over Sirius's shoulder as she stands on his back to look into the small room.

Zephyr smiles warmly to the group. "If you're wondering why I'm not pounding the deck and sobbing...As long as I'm not stuck somewhere with only blobs for company, and as long as my ship's okay...This is a risk all spacers take. The records were full of people out of their own times. It's why I had stasis on board. And...I never had many attachments back home. So I'm okay." He grins. "My race sort of has an ancestral trait of extreme adaptability. And thanks... for waking me up."

Sirius nods, "That does explain a few things."

Tulee grins, "He is cute."

Zephyr nods and patpats the bulkhead. "I get to see a place no-one of my race has seen before, I have Eidolon with me, and...er..." He stares over at Tulee, ears blushing. "I...um..." He just grins embarrassedly, ears splaying. "Um..Thanks."

Leda chuckles. "Okay, come on. Let's get going."

Tulee smirks, "You're very welcome."

Zephyr smiles and takes an experimental step, still glancing curiously at these new beings who keep calling him 'cute' and grinning...and then follows them out into the corridor. "Computer, shut down all but communications. Open tractor-lock pads. And I'll get you fixed up soon, I promise."

Leda says, "We have a docking tunnel connecting the two ships. It's pressurized, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

The three felitaurs, and one rather confused vulpine, make their way through the docking tube back to the tail thrasher. The docking tube is retracted, and the Tail Thrasher, along with one of the other Chirr'T'Thar ships, tow the Eidolon towards the mining station and dimensional gate in orbit around Nexus.

Charon follows along for most of the distance, until all of the digital traffic from the station and the gate make him itch too much.