Tasha faces a minor dilemma: while the Dainty Mauler is in the Star Sea, none of her solid-state electronic devices work. This means she has to fill people in on 'the big picture' herself, from memory. And Aaron insists she go back to when she returned to Abaddon after dealing with Lord Yama. It is sometimes daunting, especially with Shojo, Katherine and Liza giving her their full attention (and occasionally taking notes). Whenever she seems to falter dealing with a particularly emotional recollection, Aaron interrupts with a question, saving her some embarrassment. Hakeber helps by not looking too fascinated - at least for the parts she already knows.

She wasn't the only storyteller though - Old Ma liked talking about old battles and other things from her younger days, along with a few lessons about so-called Known Space that the Expedition species controlled. It was after one of these that Aaron pulled Tasha aside to ask her, "Have you ever met Willow and Sebastien Dack, of Kroz?"

"Nooo?" Replies Tasha, who is well in to lining up the details for her next story now that Old Ma has given her the time to do so. She seems in another world, which isn't far from the truth both literally and figuratively: The Star Sea may well be another universe and Tasha thinks she might have to repeat the story of the Hall of Souls which was definitely another reality. The young woman scrunches her face up as she switches ental gears, squinting. "Kroz is ... Kroz is that little country in sourtern Nordika, isn't it? Not a big trade destination for airships, being small and so close to Bosch. I think I saw it on the train itinerary?"

"Yeah," the Lapi says with a nod. "The Dacks are royalty, in charge of the Principality of Dack. They're the first Sinaians to take this route, and have been to Caltrop and Zion. Friends of Queen Jade-Eyes. I was at their wedding. After hearing things from your mother, I visited the Queen and got the whole story on how the Silent-One's leader was chosen.. which made me stop by Kroz to visit the Dacks. Anyway.. long story short: Willow is a Skreek and Sebastien is a Khatta. Not a Lynx Khatta, a regular black Khatta. The only thing that happened to them being out in the open on Caltrop was that the Khattans tried to sell them stuff. Being aliens didn't seem to cause an issue there."

"Hrum," goes Tasha thoughtfully, another set added to the gear train of thought. "I remember Kem asking me if I kept the Vartan-modeled look after the Niss, um, remodeled me temporarily. He didn't seem to be very surprised about it, either. Only our doctor was, probably because he didn't do it himself and wasn't informed. I think there's enough technology and medical know-how out there where a person can look like almost anything, even have non-organic -- that is, non-living, non-squishy -- parts like a robotic arm. I saw a few of those. Gabriel and Remy have told me stories about people with more, even experiments about making brains operate ships and devices, back when Terra was studying brain computer interface technological applications."

"What languages do you understand.. and of those, which would you say you could hold a conversation in?" Aaron asks next. "Liza and I are both fluent in Khattan, and she also knows Titanian. Katie and Mr. Invention understand Celestial and some Vartan and Eeee, but can't really speak them. Hakeber knows Bosch - not sure if anyone speaks that out here though. I know a bit of Eeee, enough to conduct business - and I can hear the full range if not speak it. Liza and I also know Skeek of course, which gives us a secret language the Galactics won't know anything about."

"I can usually get by with Silent-Sign, but I'm not very familiar with Formal Sign, since I generally dealt with tribal Savanites and.. Rephidim Savanites," he adds.

"I can speak Trade Standard, Vartan, formal Silent-Sign, and Olympian with a smattering of words and phrases from all over Sinai and beyond -- a lot of them curses and insults." Tasha's grin is wry. She gives a little shrug; Aaron knows what her life was like before she changed. "Formal's good for dealing with dignitaries, high ranking people, and for sounding important."

And then Tasha blinks. "Oh, that's right, I have an official Silent-Ones ranks of ... I think best translation is 'honorary circle-warrior of the People.' That is, I am a member of a circle of warriors and regarded as such. I also have honors for victorious combat against monsters and victorious combat against another Titan."

"Have you had much contact with Vartans or Silent-Ones out there?" the buck asks next. "The Titanians mentioned a Silent-Ones warship at our destination. So there should be a significant number of them at the trading post. I'm pretty sure they are allies of Sinai though - but your guess is as good as mine if they'll recognize your honorary rank. In a pinch, we could probably go to them for help. But, if they've been there for any length of time, someone else will be sure to add their own show of force, neutral territory or not."

Tasha cocks her head to the side; her grin is still wry. "A Vartan woman once told me to "Move along, barbarian," because she thought I was a Titanian child and oogling her master's wares. I was just getting a good look at them and what tehy were selling for reference." She then bobs her head. "I'm hoping we can just get to out business and be off before we have to deal with a lot of questions or, worse, be detained by one of the Galactics. That's us and the ship as a whole and us individually too. Any groups keaving them ship will be doing them together, in a big group, except for the people who already know the station like Gabriel and I. And even then, we better watch ourselves."

"The Karnors caused a stir last time, you said," Aaron notes. "Think it safe to say that Gabriel, Mr. Invention and Katherine are going to stand out? I can't imagine Hakeber causing a stir. Miss Necessity should be fine as well. You, me and Liza would be fine together - a group of body-mods. No obvious associations. That should probably hold true anywhere we have to go, right?"

"The way I handled things last time was to make up a story every time someone asked. Sometimes they were truthful, sometimes half-truths, and sometimes just whatever came to mind. The point is, it's hard to know what the truth is and being mysterious becomes part of my, um, style. Or presentation, maybe that's the word? Presentation. The ones to be careful for are the ones with real medical diagnostic equipment -- the doctor aboard the Ningyo saw right through Fud- Miss Neesa and I. That's where the real danger is. There are many, many different sorts of powers and people who will see us as something they can use if they know." Tasha shakes her head, elaning back. "So we can't stay too long. And yes, but then they always stand out. They'll just stand out more than usual."

"Nobody would dare use Life Magic.. or whatever equivalent they've got.. against anyone they thought was rich would they?" Aaron asks. "Because one obvious cover is that I and Liza are Khattans, and since we could afford full body morphs for.. our fetish or whatever.. then it isn't unreasonable that we'd have our Vartan bodyguard be body-modded as well, right? Plus you're short for a Vartan, and Khattans probably don't want their bodyguards looming over them too much."

"That does make sense. If you act entitled -- really study up on Khattan culture out here -- you can probably pull it off if no one really digs deeply enough. Or, maybe even if they do. Not finding an answer can be scarier to an investigation team than finding one that stands out. It takes a lot of power to hide yourself well in Galactic space," Tasha explains, hands spreadings apart. "I shouldn't have any trouble playing Vartan bodyguard. Find me some new-model body armor, have it modified for style to fit our looks, I'll paint it a bit, and give me some elegant Khattan weapons and I'll be fine. Not ugly weapons, but beautiful ones. A Khattan that went this far wouldn't have their guards have anything that compromised their look."

"I wish I had more Zolk with me now," Aaron says. "I've seen how Abaddonians react to it. Natural fiber fabrics are a luxury item there. I imagine it's even rarer in a far-flung trading outpost. My Abu-Dhabian Zolk vest should be enough of a show of wealth. What about your 'ancient' Vartan armor you got on Sheol? Wouldn't a well-kept antique be a sign of wealth? And you've got that fancy sword. I've known a lot of nobles who spend a lot of money to look old-fashioned. We'd look rich enough to be able to afford to.. not look fashionable."

"Plus, we'd just have our 'bodyguard' do the talking," Aaron grins. "How snobby is that?"

"It might work. We should consult the Library before we try it though, I'm sure it has a lot to say about fashion and culture." The young woman then taps her nose and she grins more genuinely. "I'll be sure to play it up, act self important too. After all, I'm representing people more important than whoever I'm talking to -- they should be honored I'm talking to them! If the mecenary and private corporate armies show status among Vartans, than a private body guard should be very high, especially if they talk. And who knows what exotic Khattan trade lords want or expect; people will be anxious and so they'll be polite." She pulls in a breath and leans back against the bulkhead, looking down at her navel, then nods a little deciding something. "I should have a real weapon though. Or two. Just in case."

The Lapi nods. "Good, I think this could work too," he says. "Mainly, I figured it would look less suspicious for the Terrans to all be in one group and us separate then all of us together."

"I know people were watching Gabriel and I, especially Gabriel and a 'Titanian child'. I'll see my armor is polished and ready to go. We can probably buy some weapons, or maybe them. The Niss can probably fabricate copies of anything the Library provides designs for, and the Khattans will use the Library for anything that isn't hand-crafted. It's part of their culture, both they and the Celestials rely heavily on the Library. As a bodyguard, so should I." The young woman looks up now, head tilted. "I think that's the plan then. Karnors with Karnors, the three of us together. If the Karnors have problems they can try traveling with Titanians."

"You'll probably think of more details," Aaron says. "You could talk to Gabriel about it before bringing it up to the others during the next Galactic Orientation lecture."

"That I can do," Tasha agrees. "Well, back to stories? You can't see her do it, but I'm sure Old Ma is glaring at us for not paying attention. Lets listen before she has the ship vent plasma on our tails or something." And with that the young woman scoots around to face the older.

Outpost Caltrop
Four glittering shards of crystalline material join together at a central point, forming a structure that, from a distance, looks like a strange and delicate structure, at once beautiful, yet sharp and injurious. Seen against the backdrop of the Lotus Nebula, one might imagine it as a pendant resting against a ruby evening gown of some noble woman, her features disappearing into the shadows of the starry expanse. This is no bauble, however, but rather a structure conceivably large enough to house a city, if its translucent interior were devoted to such a purpose. Instead, it serves as a docking port for gas-mining trawlers, and the occasional merchant freighter come out to the fringe of explored space, and home to the generations of creatures that service the visiting ships and depend upon them for sustenance.

The alarm comes as a surprise - Tasha hadn't heard it since the brief battle at the Broghram system on her first trip with the Titanians. The tactical display comes up on the Observation Deck, and seems more cluttered than usual. The huge cheetah-shaped Silent-Ones Mega-Titan dominates the display, but isn't alone. Surrounded by flashing red outlines are a group of very predatory avian styled ships. Two of them are as big as Mauler, if not bigger considering the wing-spans. Each of these has a smaller escort that looks even more dangerous. Off by itself in another quadrant is a large ship that it isn't stylized at all - it looks like a bat-winged serpent. Docked at Caltrop itself is another highlighted vessel - this one looking very blocky, as if made of individual modules lumped together. A toroid ring about its waist is festooned with docking clamps on the outside and fuel tanks on the inside.

"Shut off noise!" Bumper shouts, and the alarm stops. The two Lapis pull fingers out of their ears.

Tasha, used to noise aboard ships, is merely inwardly thankful. She makes her way to the tactics display as she had done once before, turning her heard this way and that as she regards the tactical map. "The blocky one looks like common TerraGens design, the snake-bat-thing looks organic enough to be a Confederate vessel, which means the bird shaped ships that aren't organic must be Vartan mercenary clanships -- those colors look very clannish." She places her hand son the edge of the projector, leaning forward for effect if not for clarity. "And the shiny giant Silent-One is a megatitan. It really is just a big Silent-One, isn't it?"

"Battleship on back," Bumper says. She points to the Vartan ships, and identifies them. "Command Ship, Battleship, two Destroyer escorts.. one for each looks like. Clan Erinyes and Clan Sulimack - experienced border skirmishers. Confederate.. Wyvern maybe. Heavy cruiser, likely. All Confederate ships unique, could be armed with anything. Terran Belter mothership, not usually.. hmmm.. no, that Dark Horse."

"Huh, wha-?" Tasha squints at the TerraGen-styled vessel. She's positive is's an actual vessel, if it were some sort of flimsy illusion there would ne no solid part to attack docking mooring to. Did her crew somehow find a old ship and reuse it? Did they steal one? The latter strikes her as unlikely given the crew amounts to three people plus a entire civilization in the shape of a small ball. If the ship was stolen, it would have been through sheer computational power and electronic trickery from the Niss. "You can detect the Hammer-metal from that ship? It's inside the belter mothership?"

"Yeah, also transponder say it the 'John Carter' which is Sol System ship with no Alderson Drive," Bumper claims. "So can't be out here. Faked, but good fake. Neat trick, if they not make it out of junk from old mining bases."

"I remember the John Carter," Gabriel says. "It was built in Mars orbit. I've been on it."

"The Niss's trick, they must have pulled it from the Library or old records found in the salvage." Tasha rubs her chin until Gabriel speaks up, then she turns and blinks at him, leaning back. "That was six-thousand years ago! That can't be a coincidence. It's a message for when we return. They're identifying themselves to us. Bumper?" She turns back. "Anything else included in that transponder code?"

"Hokay, lots guns pointed at us, nobody try take off safeties though," Bumper says. "Gotta get into a bar fight with Vartans though. Traditional." She then looks at the indecipherable Titanian script. "Uh.. drydocked status. That keep any Belters from trying to dock probably. Something else in code I don't know. More Belter stuff I bet. Terrans not be fooled by name, I think. Not famous one like that."

"The Niss might not know that. Their understanding of modern culture is different, they haven't been like us in a long time. The name could also be soem sort of modern TerraGens reference or joke if it was Kaa's idea. Whatever it is, it's some kind of message and it's probably for us. Maybe for us in one way an Terrans in another." Tasha scratches her cheek. Having brushed against so many cultures, she's never had tiem to learn the deeper aspects like in-culture jokes, humor, and references save for but a few. The code isn't aimed for her, then, but likely for Gabriel and the other Elites and possibly for the TerraGen fleets in general. The non-Niss crew are all Terran after all. "So what's the plan and which side of the barfight should I be on?"

"Part where you not there," Bumper says. "Get kicked off station. Also tradition. Like guns pointing at us. We go in, usual dock. Unload your shuttle and Titan. Probably lots of Vartan Titans down there now."

"We can't fly everyone over," Gabriel notes. "The shuttle is packed. Melchior isn't passenger friendly in freefall, and we don't have spacesuits for people to just hang on to the outsides."

Tasha's ears wilt once she hears she won't be participating -- she was looking forward to giving her mentor a piece of her mind (and fist) -- but go back up again once she hears a mention of Vartan Titans. "Titans huh," she says in tone a little too conspiratorial. "Well, what about the bubble-shooter thing we used on Sheol?" A nod to Bumper. "Rescue balls?"

"Bobbles bounce off Caltrop, need soft surface," Bumper notes. "Rescue balls.. just.. space-suit bag. Stick person in, seal it up, turn on life pack. Then tie together or use a net. Titan can carry them, so not get banged up on landing."

"I don't actually have any in-space manuvering jets, so I can't promise that no one will get banged up." Tasha pushes off and straightens, turning to grin at Bumper up until Gabriel notices, at which point she tries very hard to hide it. "Ahem. Well! I. Had better. Go get ready."

Since the most attention would be on the Dainty Mauler when it actually began to unload things, it was decided that the passengers would disembark a few hundred kilometers before that, when the cargo bay and Titan bay would be hidden from the various battleships (although one of the Vartan destroyers was already docked with Caltrop). Tasha and Melchior would be holding the fishing net full of friends - the rescue balls didn't have any way for the occupant to see out, which might be for the best. They also didn't have any kind of communications gear though. To minimize complications, people were doubled up in each ball: Mr. I and Miss Necessity, Hakeber and Katie, Aaron and Liza - with luggage used as extra padding. All Tasha had to do was kick Melchior out into space and wait for a tow-line from the shuttle.

To Tasha the manuvr feels a lot like kicking off the a ship in to space without a thruster pack. Without friction or another effecto to slow her down or change her cours she would be doomed to drift forever in the direction of travel, unable to do anything about it. It's not a sensationan avian creature likes to feel in an environment that seems more akin to sky than ground. Rather then risk anxiety and discomfort when her load is so precious she remains safely, comfortable, and machine-controlledly in the soundnesss of surface depth. "Titan away," she reports. "Angle of drift is good, we are ready for the line any time Gabriel." She resists the urge to say, "Sooner ir better than later."

"We can use the stator to alter our inertia if necessary, unless it is important to minimize our visibility," the Titan's AI reminds Tasha.

"Remind me to take you water skiing sometime," Gabriel replies over the short-range. "Just be sure not to snip the cable with your talons."

It'd still mean drifting. The fefct becomes more menaingful when impact and other changes are included. "We may need to if we come in too fast, but we should avoid drawing attention to ourselves and our stator if at all possible. The stator unit may be a rare or unique type and we have a lot of Khattan eyes out here." The young woman folds her arms, not needing them to pilot and this being a time when folded arms are appropriate. "Just get us all down safely and you can take me where-ever you want to. Do whatever you want with me, too!"

"Oh, I'll keep you to that promise," Gabriel says. The shuttle is running without lights, so it isn't until it passes between Melchior and Caltrop that Tasha sees it. The Mauler has already left them behind, there are flares from the surface of the crystal station that Melchior identifies as Titan launches. Not a swarm of them.. but more likely a few 'hotshots' daring to get close to the 'fishing boat' that may or may not still carry planet-cracking artillery. The cable does have a glowing light at the very end at least, once is starts to unspool towards Melchior.

Tasha waits to see if the line is projected to make contact with the hull of her machine before risking any manuvers and even then she runs them through simulation before actualizing them. Not so long ago she made a mistake holding a passenger that nearly cost a friend his life, she'll take no chances here. The caution is helped greatly by the sense of a lack of real control, the anxiety of having no thrust to manuver making here feel like a sitting duck with little to permit correction and defense. The Titan launches don't help, though she does at least track them by passive sensors for some sense of control.

Deep down tasha also wonders how Horus is doing. This will be the first time he's been near his creations in thousands of years. Not the strange and cutoff versions of Sinai, but those closer to Varta and modern Vartan life.

If Horus is aware of anything, there isn't any indication. Even Melchior is using 'minimal cognizance' to aid in stealth. The AI doesn't have any problem grasping the tow line though, while using the shaard mounted on his other arm to shield the ball-sack. "This is going to take a while," Gabriel radios. "Just going to nudge us with RCS away from traffic, until we've got the station between us and Mauler, then we can make our way to John Carter. I hope the others have plenty of barf bags. They're going to hate us when they get out."

"I did try to warn them it wasn't going to be vacations and fun-time!" With little to do herself, Tasha shifts ehr command seat to angle back, hands behind her head. There isn't any sense of lounging given freefall, but the motion and posture at least help to convey the idea of it and so help her relax a little. She turns her attention to watching the tactical display, this being one of the rare times when the Melchior's sensors show targets in many kilometers of distance, making an interesting and relevant test of their use in space. She also studies the vessels themselves, especially the Titans due to their proximity, getting a look at them and seeing what information crops up.

The antics of the Titans provide some diversion - it gives Tasha a good idea of what space-capable Titans are capable of. It's also easy to tell the Silent-Ones from the Vartans. Both styles are bulkier than what Tasha remembers from the /Themis-Skoll/ simulations though. The Vartan ones have Vartan heads on general humanoid bodies, while the Silent-Ones Titans resemble Lawbringers to some degree. It's clear that at least two of the pilots are trying to outdo each other, Silent-One versus Vartan. The Silent-One is actually keeping up - which is very impressive if the space-fighter Titans still rely on the pilot's own muscles, reflexes and unaided brain. There's enough /slop/ in the movements of both to hint that neither one is computer-augmented in that regard, but if they're manually calculating thrust it is /very/ impressive, given some of their maneuvers are using a dozen RCS thrusters at once. They seem to be more into one another than buzzing close to the Titanians at this point. Maybe the /Dainty Ma

Show-off, hot-shot pilots. Tasha grins; at least some things remain the same wheere ever she goes, so long as there are people. "Are you getting this Mel?" Of course he is. "Modern Titans in action. Maybe we can get a look at their equipment and techniques, try and repoduce of acquire them later. Maybe we can grab some modern training regimes and run simulations when I'm not busy."

"Modern or not, they cannot match me, I am sure," Mel replies. She should have brought his broomstick - but the other maneuvering thrusters should still be on Dark Horse.

Tasha considers the broomstick then discards the idea. Even if she had it, she'd have tried to produce as little a footprint as possible. Should any of the powers take a concenrrated interest in intercepting them she's doubtful they could do much about it in this vulnerable transition. It's possible they could think of an evasions, but even that would raise alarms and draw more attention. Sometimes, she decides, ... subtly is best.

Several hours pass as the Shuttle loops around Caltrop before bringing on its navigation lights and main thrusters. Gabriel still keeps acceleration light however, to avoid jostling people. Finally, Moka's voice comes over the comm saying, "Welcome home, Shuttle One. Dorsal bay doors are opening." Panels at the back of the John Carter slide open, revealing the slat-textured semi-permeable cover to the Dark Horse hangar - until that goes mostly transparent as well. "Tasha, you'll need to use Melchior's stator to land. I've got you lined up, but you need to let go of the cable in 30 seconds," Gabriel sends.

"I'm on it." Though by 'on it' she simply relays the designated action to the Titan's AI for proper handling. Now isn't the time to practice her special manuvers. Once that's done she keeps an eye on things, but otherwise turns her attention to the John Carter itself, mysterious vessel that it is. Did you miss me, my Horse? I'm sorry I've been gone so long, but I'm back now. I promise I'll be here for a long while yet.

The stator plays its tricks - increasing inertia to slow the Titan down, then reducing mass to make the landing lighter. To maintain balance, the shaard is held nearly horizontal and both arms brought in to cradle the rescue balls. One foot, then the other, a return of mass and a few more steps bring Melchior to a stop, followed by kneeling down to actually fit fully into the hangar. The rescue balls are set down safely, and Jonas and the two Jotoki enter the hangar. Jonas waves towards Melchior's pickups.

The Titan moves, pointing to the balls. "Hello Jonas, sorry I've been gone so long. Please see to our new passengers and crewmen, they may need medical support -- or just somewhere to clean up and change clothes. I'll be down in a moment. The Captain will be landing soon." And so the young woman stretches. "If I'm not down before he is, you all don't need to wait for me. I may be delayed in the cockpit."

The delay, of course, is Horus himself. He asked to be notified and so it's that time, not that Tasha is especially looking forward to it. She's found Horus to be like a father figure, but epic and all-encompassing. Not her's alone, perhaps only her's distantly, with legions of more favored children ahead of her in line for his affections. She is also his minder, perhaps one of his jailers, causing additional resentment only increased on by her own 'daddy issues.' Situation or not, she has a job to do and so begins the process of contacting him even as she has other systems shut down.

Once more the field of infinite white - the Sea Without Lees - spreads out around Tasha. And as usual, there's no sign of Horus's presence.

Not even a 'hi, Tasha.' As gods go, tasha thinks she likes Mel a lot more even if he is a fabricated sort of deity. Perhaps Vulcan will be better. Still stressed out from the long trip between ships, where she could do little and loose so very much, she isn't in the mood for games or excessive niceties, She greatly wants to exit the cockpit and set hoof aboad her ship, her veyr own ship, and finally relax. Say hello. Have a drink or two. She'll do her duty, she'll be polite, and then she will be gone.

"Horus, you wanted to be informed when we were aboard the Dark Horse? We just landed. The current situation is that the Horse is concealed within a TerraGens vessel, we are docked at Caltrop Station at the boarder of Sifran Space, and there are several military elements from each of the Galactic Powers having some sort of show-of-might contest outside. We're trying to avoid them." Tasha keeps her hands behind her back, neatly folded. Back straight, muzzle tilted slightly up. Professiona, no-nonsense, respectful without showing too much difference. She's see Gabriel use the same posture. "Do you have any questions?"

Bring my Marker into the ship with you, Horus says. After the ship has traveled to another system, return the Marker to this body.

"Sure, of course. Anything else?" Tasha takes a moment to look around, not expecting to see anything different. It simply helps the anxiety to do something.

"Then I'll be leaving this space. I ahve things to do, and I need to relax." She gives a nod, not really sure what sort of relationship they ahve and so not sure what good-bye to provide.

Once back into her own body, Tasha just has to move Melchior into 'storage' position to make room for the shuttle, and then it's finally out into the 'fresh' air of the hangar. There she can watch Gabriel bring the shuttle in, before the ceiling goes opaque again.

And so tasha moves her Titan, deciding to walk it herself in a kind of mock tradition feeling that she should go the last few feet herself to properly be at home. The vast machine is parked and soon the young woman is on the deck, hand running through her hair and Origin Marker of Vartans tucked under an arm. She turns to watch the shuttle approach, hackles twitching at the sight of what appears to be a hole in to open space, but really isn't.

The balls have been removed.. most likely to Med Bay, since nobody is threatening to shove Tasha into one yet. The shuttle powers down and the cabin door unfolds. Gabriel steps out, lugging the large portable hibernation case that Yue is in. "I don't see any torches and pitchforks," Gabriel notes. "The others must be isolated for now." He notes the marker under Tasha's arm, and raises an eyebrow.

Tasha nods her head towards the Marker. "Horus wants a look around until we enter another system," she explains, looking up at Gabriel. "Jonas and the Jotoki took the others with them in to the ship. Lets take Yue to the Med Bay for defrosting, then we can see what else we need to go." She holds out her free arm for Gabriel to take.

"Well, I'm sure Yue will want to supervise the unloading of her baby from the shuttle," Gabriel says, heading for side passage with the hibernation case.

Tasha follows along, holding Gabriel's hand, then she releases it so that he can pick up the awkwardly shaped unit. "Probably. You know how Terrans are," she says, trying for a joke but sounding just a little bit harried anyway. "Do you think the Galactics are on to us yet?"

"Doesn't matter.. yet," Gabriel says. "Until now we didn't have anything they could want." He glances back meaningfully to the shuttle.

"They don't want the impossible hybrids and species, the ship made of rare metals, the Marker, the ages-old Karnor genestock, the alien civilization, the books, the artifacts ... " Tasha trails off and looks to Gabriel in askance. There are so many rare and priceless items she begins to lose count. She strains her brain, then blinks. "Oh, that old node! I almost -- well, okay, I did forget about it but no one expects me to be handling non-Progenitor artifacts and databases."

"That should be brought to the Niss," Tasha realizes a second later. "You might even get a thank-you for something like this."

"We'll see if Yue is willing to part with it for that long, now that she has a change to get it working again," Gabriel chuckles as they make their way to Med Bay.