Starliner: Freedom

Ship

Linro watched the small craft take off. May the luck of the goddess go with you. He quickly kissed a small pendent that hung around his neck. After the craft had disappeared from view, he turned to see if B'garr was still there. Lying on his back, B'garr looked up at Linro. Linro checked the bandage again. We need a medical infirmary, that wound doesn't look so good. Seeing that B'garr was as good as his skills could do, Linro got up and started to walk down to the large group that was hanging around the front doors to the school. Coming closer to the group, he could see that the instructors had broken the larger group into smaller ones. Walking over to the first group, Linro could hear the instructor talking.

"If one craft was traveling in one direction and another craft was traveling in the opposite direction, the time it takes for the two craft to meet is the starting distance between them divided by the speed of the two crafts combined."

"So is that how we get distance over time?" asked one of the students. Linro shook his head. The things we do to avoid thinking about what happened. Not paying attention to the instructor, Linro quickly looked over the students. Noting that only a few seemed to be paying attention, he took a careful look at the ones that were not paying attention. Seeing someone watch them, the students quickly sat up, faking that they were interested in the lesson. Smiling, Linro walked to the next group. The instructor of this group was giving the group a lesson as well. Patting the instructor on the back, Linro bent down and whispered to the instructor.

"Don't mind me, just taking a little peek." The instructor nodded and continued on. Linro wandered in among the students. He stopped to take a look at one student that had a bandage on her arm. After he replaced the bandage, he heard someone call him.

"Medi-aid! Over here! Quickly!" A young girl ran up to him, panting.

"Take it easy. Now what's the problem?" He bent down to look her in the eyes. Out of breath, she pointed over to one of the small groups. Walking with her, they made their way to the group. Brik was there looking at one of the other instructors. Linro knelt next to the man. There was a large blood stain on his shirt and he was breathing hard. Brik moved out of the way so Linro could get closer to the instructor. Peering under the shirt, he could see a gapping hole in the man's chest. Sending the girl for a blanket, Linro rummaged through his kit. He found an injection needle and a small bottle of medication. Drawing the medication into the injection needle, he bent over the man and administered the medication. The girl had returned with the blanket. He placed the blanket over the man and tucked it in. Linro then held the small pendent as he muttered a little prayer.

"Will he be okay?" The girl asked with worry filling her eyes.

"There is nothing we can do for him, but to keep him from feeling too much pain. His wound is too great." He replied. The girl knelt down next to the dying instructor and cried. Getting up, Linro turned to see Brik standing there.

"There's nothing? Nothing at all that we can do?" Brik asked solemnly.

"Nothing, just ease the pain a little."

"How long do y-you think it'll take?" Brik's voice cracked as sadness filled his words. Looking down to see the dying man, Linro shook his head. In a few moments it was over. The girl kept crying. He bent down and pulled the blanket over the man's head. Getting up, Linro saw a tear in Brik's eye. Taking his friend by the shoulder, Linro walked away from the crying girl and the man that he couldn't save. The way that Medi-aids were taught to deal with situations like this was to keep going, do what they could for the living and to take care of the dead after. Making up his mind to do just that, Linro marched over to the next injured person. Brik wasn't too far behind. After dealing with three or four minor scraps and bruises, Linro turned to Brik only to see his friend standing there looking lost.

"Brik! I need you to do something for me." Linro shook the other man out of his state.

"W-what?"

"Look, I need to know how many people we got. There is only about half the school here." He pointed to the small gatherings around them. Brik looked about.

"Oh, yes. Umm, okay." Brik scratched his head. "Right. I'll see how many are here." Looking down to his feet Brik continued. "Sorry about that. I just didn't think that anyone could die. I mean that they would die or that there was nothing we could do to save them."

"I know what you are trying to say, so let me say this, everyone dies and there is nothing we can do about that except to keep the living alive as best we can." Brik nodded in understanding. Given a task, Brik moved off, counting. Linro watched his friend for a few moments before going to the next person that needed his help. He helped quite a few people with small cuts and the odd burn. Then he came to a gathering of six people. They had large gashes and many broken bones. Sighing, Linro dug into his kit. As he was pulling out a bone regenerator, a small arm grabbed his hand. Jumping back in surprise, he saw that it was the young girl who had cried when the instructor died.

"C-can I help?" She asked staring into his eyes with her tear streaked ones.

"I don't know …" He trailed off as her big red eyes pierced into him. He could see that she really wanted to help. Well she could be a great help here. Looking at her again, he agreed. Taking her by the arm he brought her over to the first person with a broken leg. He showed her how to set the bone and how to place the regenerator over the break so that it will heal. She took it all in, never saying a word. When they had set the leg, they moved to the next person. He watched her as she set a broken arm. When she was done, he quickly looked it over. I don't think I did such a good job my first time. She's good. The two of them went to each in the small group, setting bones and changing bandages. After he had finished with his last one, he looked to see her standing next to him.

"I'm done. Who's next?" She asked.

"We go to the next group. By the way, you can call my Linro."

"I'm Strisa." She said, smiling. Linro offered her his arm with a slight bow. She took it in hers and they walked to the next group. The group they came to was larger then the others. It was also one of the quietest. Looking at a few of the students, Linro saw that they seemed to be unharmed.

"What happened to them?" Strisa whispered.

"They have gone inside themselves. This happens when a person can't deal with what's going on around them so they simply retreat into their own minds. There is very little we can do for them but to try to get them to come back out."

"How do we do that?"

"You have to talk to them, get them to help out a bit, and make them feel useful. Just little things, stuff that is normal. It will take time, but we might be able to get them all back. We also should get them away from the thing that made them this way in the first place, but not away from their friends. That’s the hard part. We can't get them away from what's happing because it's happing everywhere. We can hope that Tiy-sola and her group can find a ship that will take us off this planet. Then we can really help these people." Looking at one of the instructors sitting there, Linro pulled out the skin bonder and set to work on a scrap the woman had on her hand. Strisa watched over his shoulder. When he was done he spoke a few words to the woman. She in turn did not respond. She didn't even blink or look at them. She just sat there. Strisa patted the woman on the newly healed hand before the two of them move to the next person. As Strisa took her turn at using the skin bonder on a little cut, Linro looked around. Very little had changed since he started. There were two or three small groups with instructors teaching lessons. There was the group of badly hurt people that they had just visited. This group of gone-aways. There was a group of about three students walking among the battle field. Looking closely at three, Linro could see that they were taking the belts and armor off the bodies and placing them into a pile. He started to walk over to them when a low rumble echoed off the school walls. The rumble grew to a roar. Following the roar, Linro could see a dust cloud approaching the school. As the cloud goes closer, a figure became visible. Quickly the figure grew into the outline of a scrap huller. The big, monstrous thing came barring down upon the school grounds. It stopped just shy of the large group Linro was standing in the middle of.

"What is that?" Strisa looked up at the huge metal machine.

"Our ride to the scrap yard." Called a voice from above. Craning their necks to see the speaker, Linro and Strisa saw Fay-ru sitting on the top of the driver's dome. From out of the driver's dome a small figure dropped to the ground. Dusting himself off, Marnok started to walk over to them.
"We found a ship." He called out. "So, do you have any preferences to who goes first? We figure that we can load 30 to 40 people at a time." Marnok spoke directly at Linro.

"Why are you asking me?" Linro looked puzzled.

"Because you're the Medi-aid." Fay-ru called from above. Right and I would know who would be best to leave right now and who can wait till the next one. Sighing, Linro started to look at the students and staff gathered around the school grounds. Okay I can do this. Linro pointed at one of the lesson groups.

"Okay, let's get that group on first. Then we can load that group. How many is that? We should get a few of these people on too." He was now pointing at the group he was standing in. As the students he had indicated started to climb on to the scrap huller, a small gathering formed around him. People started to complain about not going first. They started pushing and shoving. Linro was being swamped in a storm of bodies pressing in from all about. Suddenly a zap-bang of a blaster and a small puff of dust from where it hit startled everyone.

"He's the Medi-aid, he says who goes first and if you don't like it then you can eat my blaster bolts!" Fay-ru shouted from her perch, her hand on the still smoking blaster rifle. The students calmed down after that. After the scrap huller was loaded, Marnok jumped up into the driver's dome. The large machine rumbled to life. As it pulled away from the school, Linro looked around at the disappointment that filled the students' faces.

"It will come back. We will all get the chance to get out of here." He told the closest students. The students and instructors went back to what they were doing before the scrap huller arrived. Linro turned to say something to Strisa when Brik approached them.

"I got the count. We only have 107 students and eight staff." Brik spoke with a hint of desperation. "The school records show 180 students registered. We also have a staff of 22."

"Okay, we should find those missing people." Linro took a breath to think. After a moment he made up his mind. Taking off his kit, he handed it to Strisa.

"Here, you will stay and help where you can. Brik go get those three over there. They will help us find the missing people." He pointed into the battle field at the three scavengers. Brik looked to where he was pointing and nodded in agreement. Strisa hooked the kit over her shoulder and sighed nervously.

"You can do it. This group of gone-aways should only have little cuts and things like that anything more and you come get me. Okay?" He looked into her eyes.

"Okay, if you think I can do it, then at least I should try." She replied. Fear and worry was replaced with cautious optimism. He rifled her pitch black hair playfully, making it flicker with light just like the night sky. She giggled in response. Brik returned with the three students in tow. Linro flicked Strisa's hair one last time before heading for the front doors of the school. They started to go through the remains of classrooms. After some time the rumble of the scrap huller could be heard returning. Linro left the others to continue and went out to meet the huller. When the huller had stopped, he pointed out various students and instructors. They got in the huller and it took off back the way it had come. Linro took a break to see who was still here. Most of the able body students had left, leaving the gone-aways. He walked through the group, pausing now and then to pat a hand or say a few words. None noticed that he was there. Everyone that he stopped at just stared blankly into nothing. One of the scavengers came up to him.

"Found most of them." The boy said. "Eating hall, nothing left of it." Linro took in this news. It must have taken a direct hit from the craft that dropped the men off.

"Okay then, if Brik says that we have found all that we can then go and look for anything we might be able to use. We'll take what we can with us. We won't be able to come back for anything else." He took the boy by the shoulder. "Are you sure that there's no one in there that could use our help?" The boy shook his head sadly. A quick pat on the arm sent the boy on his way.

"I'm finished with this group." Strisa spoke from behind Linro. "What do you want to do about that fellow there?" She pointed to B'garr, who lay in the middle of the field. Linro turned to look at B'garr.

"Guess we should check up on him." The two walked over to where the hairy man lay. B'garr had his eyes closed and his breathing was shallow. Linro knelt down to inspect the wound in B'garr's chest. The skin bonder had done the best it could. The wound was sealed and presumably was healing on its own. Linro took a few moments to show Strisa the wound and what he done to help it heal. He pointed out things like what should be done if they had a medical infirmary and what to do when there wasn't one. Through all of the inspection B'garr did not move. He didn't even open his eyes. He lay unconscious. Linro pointed that out to Strisa.

"He's not waking up. That could be a good thing. It could mean that his body is healing itself. It could also be a bad thing. It could mean that the wound is so great that he can't wake up. The only thing we can do is the best job we can with what we have and to pray that he will be okay." Linro told the young girl. She bowed her head down and muttered a few words that he didn't catch. Prayer, the last line of a healer. May the goddess bring swift health to our injured. He took hold of the small pendent and gave it a kiss. When Strisa looked up again, there was a tear running down her smooth cheek. Linro held her close, both needing the warmth of the other. The rumble of the scrap huller approaching broke the silence. Linro got up and waved Marnok over to where they were standing. The little fellow trotted over to them, leaving the loading of the last few people to Fay-ru.

"We'll need to make a stretcher for B'garr and a few of the others." Linro informed Marnok.

"Already done." Marnok said, pointing to where Fay-ru was directing the unloading a handful of makeshift stretchers. By the time they had loaded the last person as well as the stuff the scavengers had dug out of the school, the sun was just about out of sight. The rumble of the engine, one last look at the school and then they were on their way. No one spoke as they traveled. The shake and creak of the metal machine spoke volumes to them. Everything they knew they were leaving behind. The safety of the home they knew for the uncertainty of the unknown. The crunch of the gravel under the tracks and the growling roar of the engine told them of the people that were not coming with them. It told a tale of sorrow, a tale of loss. They use the time to remember the ones who fell and did not get up again. It was a solemn group that got out of the huller when it finaly stopped. It might have been the fact that nearly all of them were gone-aways. But even those that weren't didn't say much. Linro helped get those that were not moving on their own off the huller. When he stopped to catch his breath he saw for the first time the ship that the other group had found. The thing was big. It dwarfed everything else in the scrap yard. In the twilight it looked as if it had face. A face with a scar running down from top to bottom. The face had a gentle look to it, even with the scar. Linro felt that maybe there could be a chance to find a home within this gentle giant. He saw Ko'lar climb into the driver's dome of the huller with Marnok. The huller pulled away into the mounds of scrap surrounding the ship.

"Glad you could make it." Tiy-sola said walking over to Linro. "Who's that with your kit?" She pointed at Strisa. Linro called the girl over.

"Strisa this is Tiy-sola. Tiy-sola this is my helper Strisa." With introductions made Tiy-sola addressed them both.

"Well met then. Okay we have set aside a room for you Linro. It's one of the crew quarters near the infirmary." Linro perked up upon hearing this. Tiy-sola continued on. "Strisa, I think there is an empty room next to Linro's. Come on, I'll give you the half credit tour." They made their way through the throng of students to where Brik and H'Trae were assigning rooms. Seeing them approaching, H'Trae motioned to them.

"Is there another room near the infirmary?" Tiy-sola asked.

Looking at a pad he had in his hand, H'Trae replied. "Yes there is. I guess you are getting it?" He was looking at Strisa.

"She is. Strisa this is H'Trae." Tiy-sola answered for the young girl.

"Pleasure meeting you." H'Trae turned towards Linro. "Umm … do you have any perferance to where we put those people?" He nodded in the direction of the gone-aways.

"Well … it would be best to have them somewhere near everyone else. But not under foot. Somewhere where they can be looked after as a group but still have some sense of privacy." Linro spoke thoughtfully. With Brik looking on, H'Trae studied the pad. After a few moments he pointed at a spot on the pad.

"Here. We could put them here. If we remove these walls here and here, we can then make an area that should be big enough to hold them. We can hang up partitions to allow for privacy." H'Trae handed the pad over to Linro, showing him the area in question. Linro studied it for a moment.

"This should work." He agreed, handing back the pad. "I should also see anyone with more then a scrape in the infirmary."

"We'll get to that after we clean up the infirmary. It's a mess."

"Come on and I'll show you." Tiy-sola lead the Medi-aid and assistant into the ship. Passing through the hallways of the ship, Tiy-sola pointed out various places. Parts of the ship where there were holes in the deck. Patches of flickering lights where the power conduits weren't the best. Along their walk they went by three exercise rooms. One of which had a piece of red string holding up a sign that read 'Keep Out, Unsafe.' A few of the hallways Tiy-sola showed them also had the string and sign. She showed them where most of the students were going to be staying. She made a detour to point out where the gone-aways would be. The three scavengers were there knocking out a wall. Linro could see where another wall had been removed. He walked around the area, noting that another wall had been marked with paint.

"That wall next. Then clean up and bring in gone-aways." One of the scavengers called out from across the room. Linro wander back to where the two girls were waiting. When he rejoined them, Tiy-sola continued the tour. They left the passenger area and went up a deck to the crew quarters.

"What type of ship is this?" Strisa asked their tour guide.

"It's an old starliner. H'Trae tells me that with a little love, the right tools and a few well placed hits, this ship will fly forever." Tiy-sola replied with a laugh.

"Hits?"

"Yup, hits. If something doesn't want to work right, give it a smack. If it still doesn't work then either you didn't hit it hard or it is really broken." They walked down one hall and turned onto another. All the wile Tiy-sola pointed out rooms where she or one of the others would going to be sleeping in. she indicated two rooms near the end of the second hallway.

"These will be yours. There isn't much in them right now. A bed and maybe a blanket. We'll find more soon … I hope." Her smile vanished as she said this.

"Don't worry. We brought some blankets with us." Linro patted her on the arm. Tiy-sola seemed a little happier. Turning, she pressed the button next to the door. It made an awful grinding sound as it opened.

"Some of these doors haven't been used in a wile." She yelled over the noise. The door stopped. It wasn't quite open all the way, but they could still get through. Stepping into the small room, a smell of stale air met them. It permutated the dimly lit space.

"H'Trae said that the air cleaner will work once he gets a part for it."

"It reminds me of the ship I grew up on." Strisa commented with a smile. "There was always something broken or out of order. The air cleaner would fail every other rotation." She paced around the tiny room. Placing her hands upon her hips and declared "I like it."

Laughing, Tiy-sola responded "Good. Now that makes three of us. You, me and H'Trae. What do you think?" She turned to address Linro. He looked around timidly. The bed only had a mattress. There was a dresser along one wall. It was missing all but two drawers. The lighting was dim and sputtered every now and then. The air was stuffy. Everything had a thick layer of dust. One wall had a stain on it as if someone couldn't keep their meal down. I don't know. Clean it up a bit. Fix the air cleaner. Maybe scrub off that stain. Linro sighed.

Shaking his head, he spoke. "It needs a lot of work. But it might be livable." And may goddess help us. He thought, holding onto his pendent tightly. Once outside the room, Tiy-sola pressed the button again. The door didn't move. She balled her hand into a fist and slammed it into the door. Squealing in protest, the door started to close. She kept an eye on it till the door closed with a clang. She rubbed her hand a little before turning to the other two.

"Let's go on with the tour." She motioned for them to follow her around the corner and down another hallway. She stopped at a set of double doors. The word 'Infirmary' was written on a plaque hanging on the wall next to the doors.

"Here we are." Tiy-sola pressed the button and the doors slid apart with hardly a sound. Linro walked into his new domain. Holes in the wall told of monitors missing. Wires stuck out of absent control panels. Only two lights were working. Six medical beds took up the better part of the room. The room had been cleaned up. There was an obvious effort done here to bring the infirmary back to its former glory. Linro peeked into the storage space. It was devoid of everything, including shelves. He walked over to the open door on the far side of the room. He slipped into what should be an office. A desk sat there on two legs. A broken stool was behind it. One wall had a gaping hole for a monitor. Linro examined a box of medical instruments sitting just inside the door. As he was leaving the office, he nearly got knocked over by the back of a monitor. The large device turned away reviling Marnok. The little guy was carrying the thing. It must have been at least as big as him.

Grinning, Marnok said "only got the one. When we find some more we'll bring them in." Turning back the small fellow marched the monitor over to one of the holes and carefully slid it into place. He then pulled out a tool from his belt and started hooking up wires. Ko'lar came in, control panel under one arm. She dropped it next to Marnok. She turned towards the other three in the room.

"We're back. H'Trae is about ready to try the engines. The others are gathering in the command center." With that said she walked out into the hallway and disappeared.

"You guys go ahead. I'll only be a little longer here." Marnok's voice was muffled by a wire he was biting.

"Okay, we will head up to the command center." Tiy-sola left the infirmary with the other two close behind her. They went back down the hallway, past their rooms and up a set of stairs. The walls on this deck were slate gray, unlike the walls they had seen in the lower decks. The deck flooring didn't have the carpet that the other decks had. It was very basic, very plain. It was a workers deck. Tiy-sola walked them down the hall to where a set of double doors stood open. Entering the room it was evident that this was the command center. Several places around the room held control panels, or in their place, holes for control panels. There was more then one thick cord running from one panel to another. A few wires hung from the ceiling. The room held only two working monitors, Fay-ru sat at one. Walking over to her, they could see she was holding an ear piece up to the side of her head. She spoke a few quick words into the talker mounted along the edge of the ear piece before turning to them.

Smiling Tiy-sola asked "how's the work going?"

"Great. He's almost done with the engines. Everything else should be ready for lift off."

"Good. Now once everyone gets here we can decide where we're going." Tiy-sola took Linro by the arm and pulled him over to a side door. Strisa followed the two.

"We're going to be meeting in a moment. I need you to be ready to speak on the medical situation. Stuff like what we really need and can't do without. Also you can put in a bit about what you would like to see added to the infirmary, things that if we can get them it would be helpful but not really necessary."

"Medical supplies, medicine. Things like that?" He asked.

Nodding in agreement she replied "yup, things like that." She looked between Medi-aid and assistant. She then pressed the button to open the door. It rattled as it opened and they stepped through. A low table dominated the main part of the room. Chairs ran around the edge of it leaving little space otherwise. Brik and Ko'lar were already seated and were talking in low tones. As one they looked up to see the three standing in the doorway. Tiy-sola walked over to Brik and sat down, indicating the other two should follow suit. Linro pulled out a chair at one end of the table. Strisa took the seat next to him. The three scavengers walked in, dust covered their clothing. Linro noticed for the first time that the scavengers all looked the same. One was a boy the other two girls, but they all had the same dark red spiky hair. All three had the same red-green scaly skin. The two girls looked exactly the same. They sat in the chairs across from him and Strisa. Fay-ru came in next followed by Marnok and H'Trae. When they had taken their seats, Tiy-sola started the meeting.

"Okay, lets start by introducing everyone. I'm Tiy-sola and this is Brik, Tri-akka, Tri-dekka, and Tri-mekka. Over there is Linro, Strisa, Fay-ru, Marnok, H'Trae and Ko'lar." She had indicated each as she said their name. Taking a deep breath she went on. "Before we can decide where we're going we should review where we stand. H'Trae will speak for the mechanical stuff. Linro is our resident Medi-aid, so he'll bring us up to date on our medical standing. Marnok and the Tri's will tell us of the repairs that have been going on. Brik will speak for the rest of the students. As I see it, we here at this table are the crew of this ship, the remaining students are passengers. We have the know-how and the smarts to use them. We each seem to have our own little area of expertise. If we find others among the passengers that can help us then we will certainly find a place for them. Until then, it looks as if we are the ones to be flying this rust pile of a ship." She let her words sink in. Knowing she had the attention of the group she turned the table over to H'Trae. He stood up slowly. Clearing his throat he picked up a pad.

"Umm … okay. There's a lot on this ship that doesn't work. But we do have engines that will run. The air cleaner only needs power. The lighting in some areas will have to stay the way they are for now. The observation deck is totally off limits. The dome for the main part of that deck is missing. We will have proper power to the controls in the command center once the engines get going. The loading bay and storage area's have no gravity generators. The air cleaner ducts over part of the exercise and lounge deck is clogged. Lastly, some of the passenger cabins have no power what so ever." H'Trae spoke it all in one breath and quickly sat down again. Tiy-sola let everyone absorb the information for a moment. She then nodded in the direction of Linro. Getting up, he took a slow look at each one sitting at the table.

"Well, we have no medicine. To treat some of the injuries we will need a working medical bed, and proper equipment to go with the bed. Some basic medicine will go a long way. What we have left in my kit is almost gone." He paused to look at Strisa. She placed the kit on the table. Taking it he pulled out what was left. He gestured at the few small bottles and the one bone regenerator. He picked up the skin bonder and popped out the tube. He showed everyone that the tube was empty.

He continued, "That’s all we have. The skin bonder is out. One bone regenerator won't go far, and these bottles don't help us with the sort of injuries we have been getting. I've got about seven people that are really hurt. B'garr being the worst one. H'Trae I'll like to see you once we get the infirmary working, I need to check on that shell of yours." With that said, he took his seat again. Tiy-sola looked at Brik. The former instructor got up.

"We have a ship of students. Many of these people have lost friends and loved ones. Many are 'gone-away.' The ones that aren’t, are scared. We only have a handful of the staff left. Myself, Linro and two others are the only ones still walking and talking. The two that are not at this table are acting like this is nothing but a field trip. In fact everyone outside this room thinks that. We need to get these people out of here and off this planet." He broke off there. Collecting his thoughts, he went on. "We also need food, water. At the very least water." Sighing, he sat down. Silence crept into the room. Tiy-sola whispered something to the boy sitting next to her. Tri-akka? One of the scavengers anyway. Or should that be one of the Tri? Same thing I think. Shaking his head, Linro noticed his kit was still spread over the table. Being as quiet as he could, he slipped the stuff back into the bag and slung it over his shoulder. The Tri that Tiy-sola had talked to was standing now. His voice was soft in the still room.

"We got water. Filled the tanks full."

"Full." Piped up the other two Tri.

"Fixed gone-away room. Fixed it good."

"Good." Echoed the sitting Tri's.

"Working on hall now. Almost done."

"Almost." It was starting to get a little annoying having the two girls speak as one, repeating what their brother was saying. The boy Tri sat down. Marnok stood up, and addressed the room.

"Like they said, we got full tanks of water. We also have some food from the school. Not much but right now its better then none at all. The room for the gone-aways has been cleaned up, and we have moved them in. The infirmary has beds, all working. Only one monitor and panel though. There was that stash of cleaning supplies we found. What else was there?" Marnok looked down at the table. "Yes! That's it. That box of medical tools too. It should already be in the infirmary." Running out of things to say, Marnok took his seat again. Silence again. After a moment or two, Tiy-sola got up.

"There you have it. Our situation plain and simple. Does anyone have any comments before we go on?"

"I do." Ko'lar spoke up. "I would like to know why we have children at an important meeting like this." She glared at the Tri's, sweeping her gaze over to Strisa.

"Children! I'm older then you." Strisa returned the other girl's look. "I would have been finished at the school last cycle, but I didn't pass interstellar mathematics. I was taking it again this cycle. Can you say the same?" Strisa sat her little girl body down with an icy stare at Ko'lar. "My people don't age the same as yours. I will look this way for another 10 or 15 cycles."

"But … what … fine then! And I guess these three don't look their ages either?" Ko'lar sputtered.

"We are" started one of the Tri,

"What we" continued the next one,

"Look like" finished the last.

Marnok turned to Ko'lar. "They are about two cycles behind you in school. So they are a little on the young side of things, but they still help out. And we can use all the help we can find. Besides, they are really good at finding useful things. From what they have told me, they grew up on a small moon with very little in the ways of ... well, everything. They had to scavenge to survive. That sort of skill we could use more of here." No one said a word for a moment. Finally Tiy-sola broke the mood.

"All right. Anyone else want to say something? No?" She looked from person to person. "No one? Good." She slapped the table causing everyone in the room to look at her.

She spoke in a calm and even voice. "We have needs. Our needs are great, but few. Medical supplies and food being foremost. Should I assume we will need fuel at some point?" She glanced at H'Trae.

"Umm … I forgot about that part. We have about two rotations worth of fuel. I might be able to make it three but that’s all." The large bug-like fellow squirmed under the eyes of the group.

"So fuel can be added to the list as well. We won't get very far in this state. Now to add to our troubles I should tell you why we haven't started the engines yet." She made sure that she had everyone's undivided attention. "The little craft that the five of us used to search for this ship got shot down. Why? Because those men have a very large ship in orbit of this planet. It is the one that controls the other smaller craft. If we start the engines, that large ship will see us. It will send the smaller craft to shoot us down. What we need to do is get off the planet quickly. If we wait till the big ship is on the far side of the planet, we can lift off and get out of range of the smaller craft. Then we only have to worry about that ship. I say we head for the station. Once there we will dock quickly to let a small raiding party board. This ship will then undock. By keeping the planet in between that big ship and this one, we will have a chance to escape. The raiding party will grab the supplies we need. Then they can steal a supply shuttle from the station hanger bay. Once the raiding party makes it back, we can run for the central planets." Haven spoken her mind, Tiy-sola flopped back into her seat. Linro could see that she was nervous. Biting her lower lip, her eyes shifted from one person to the next. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Brik nodded his head in agreement. H'Trae followed soon after, then Marnok and the Tri. Linro looked at Strisa. She was nodding her head as well. Goddess, please guide us this day. He joined the others in agreement. Ko'lar was the only one who wasn't. Another long moment went by. Tiy-sola looked pleadingly at Ko'lar. With a sour face, Ko'lar gave in. A wave of relief washed through the room.

Sour look still plastered on her face, Ko'lar asked "so who will be going on this little raiding party of yours, Tiy-sola?"

"We will only need eight people I think. Myself and Fay-ru to hold off any soldiers. The Tri and Marnok to grab the supplies. Linro to point out what medical stuff to take and to be there in case of problems."

"So that’s the eight?"

"No, Strisa should stay here to keep an eye on B'garr and the others. The last person should be you, Ko'lar." All eyes in the room turned to watch Ko'lar's reaction. Her mouth moved but no words came out.

"M-me?" She finally managed to spit out. "Why me?"

"We will need someone to pilot the shuttle. This ship is big. Brik will be piloting it. All he has to do is keep that other ship on the far side of the planet. You, however, will need to take the shuttle from the station to this ship while advoiding that other ship out there." She pointed out the window for effect. In the distance, the glow of the fires raging in the city could be seen.

"Fine." Ko'lar hissed. With that decided, the meeting broke up. Following Strisa into the command center, Linro thought over everything that was revealed in the meeting. What they needed, what they had. His mind paused when he came to the plan to get what they needed. There are more then a one 'if' in this plan. If all goes well then we will be able to get to the central planets. That’s a really big 'if.' He took hold of his pendent. It has been said that goddess favors the bold. Hearing a high pitch noise reverberate through out the ship, he quickly kissed the pendent. Brik and Ko'lar were conferring over by one of the control panels. H'Trae, Marnok and his band of merry scavengers had left for the depths of the ship. Fay-ru was sitting at her monitor again, Tiy-sola looking over her shoulder. Linro made his way over to the two girls. The noise stopped. Shortly thereafter the deck made a violent move upwards.

"Hang on everyone!" Ko'lar called out as she keyed in something on the panel. Linro could see out the front window the piles of scrap metal fall away and the dark night sky loom up to engulf the whole ship. Rising up, the ship shook with effort. Just as Linro thought the ship would come apart, the shaking stopped. Staring at him from the window was the void of space. A wave of joy swept through the command center. Having been freed from the planet, the old starliner turned gracefully. Heading into the black, the ship made its way to the not too distant station.