Episode 1: Every Mile is a Marathon

[Sidney Applebaum]

"The noodles!"

Sidney lurched forward and looked around. His ex-wife was gone. So were the Prime Minister of Londinium and his third-grade English teacher. It was an odd grouping for a dinner party and the fact that they all were huddled around as he poorly made spaghetti with butter and cheese sauce and making weird judgemental comments should have tipped him off it was a stress dream.

Though his present situation wasn't much better than the stress dream. He clutched his head.

"Never thought I'd have a hangover while being held hostage but here we are..."

Applebaum finally took notice of what Pool was reading. He made a face of disgust.

"Ughhhh!"

He threw his head back then clarified after making a gagging noise.

"The series falls apart after the 3rd book. I could never buy Prytta and Siegfried ending up together."

[Beth Williams]

It was only when the Captain raised his hand that Beth started to realise that she had blundered into the middle of something. Beth felt the flush of embarrassment rising up her face. "Idiot!" she chided herself. She would have turned away to hide her blush but it was obvious, even to Beth, that everyone's attention was on the communications and not on her.

Then she was captivated by the apparition on the screen; as disguises went, and she did assume that it was intended to be a disguise, it seemed... amateurish. Beth had missed Desmond's part of the exchange so the masked man's response didn't make much sense to her. The only thing that she did take from it, other than the threat, was that information might be moving rather than the ship.

"Is that a good assumption?" she asked herself, wondering just how much she had missed of what had been going on in the couple of days since joining the ship. Before she could take the thought any further she realised that the Captain had turned his attention back to her and her questions concerning Ulrich.

"Right, Ulrich."

It was just as well that he led in with context that enabled Beth to focus on Desmond before; if he had got straight to the heart of things she might have missed something important. His smile, though reassuring, did nothing to diminish the intense frown lines on her forehead.

"No idea, I haven't seen him either to be honest... He kind of just showed up after I won the ship, and came and went as he pleased. Always walks so damn quiet too. He's probably around here somewhere... Or he left as suddenly and mysteriously as he arrived."

Beth eyes widened a little and her frown intensified as she processed what Desmond was telling her. The arrangement seemed more than a little unusual, something she was beginning to suspect, albeit subconsciously, was more the norm for the ship than the exception. It was so very different from her previous ship except for the commonality of there being issues with the availability of the chief mechanic.

"I promise that he is the exception, and that I am much better at keeping track of the rest of my crew... When they aren't getting randomly kidnapped, at least...

Beth gave the Captain a wry smile. "Is Ulrich another kidnap victim?' she wondered but dismissed it because while he had been 'missing' for a similar length of time as the other two, there hadn't been any mention of someone claiming to have kidnapped him. "Probably on a bender dirt side," she rationalised.

"Anyways. You can go over the maintenance schedule with me instead, once we get this whole situation under control."

"Thank you, she responded.

Before she could say more, Rhiannon arrived with some news of information she had found and a suggestion, taking Desmond's attention away from Beth. "At least I am not the only one who bursts in," she thought but she had to admit to herself that Rhiannon's interruption was much more pertinent than she felt her own had been.

".... Unnnless you managed to get their location from that message they probably intentionally cut short so we couldn't track them, Gem?"

"Is there anything that I can do to help here? Or should I perhaps see if there is any trace of the...." she paused briefly for effect, "...alleged Ulrich ... on the ship? Or do you need me to ready the ship for flight?" she asked, not sure whether she wanted Desmond to tell her to stay to give her the opportunity to find out more what was going on, whether she wanted to have the certainty of knowing the status of the elusive Ulrich. Beth was reasonably sure that she didn't want the responsibility of the third option but the lack of a tangible evidence of Ulrich's existence was making it seem more likely. She hoped she didn't look as scared as she felt.

Dialogue Colour: Violet

[HumanHyperbole]

SHANGHAI - COCKPIT

The spinning wheel meant to indicate Gemma's request was still loading went round, and round. Finally, it transformed into an error message.

ERROR - CODE 1445A
This IFF code is invalid. Tap HERE for more information.

While the ship's computer couldn't make sense of the IFF frequency that his cortex message came from, a clever user might find more info after tapping that HERE button, including a list of three satellites the signal, bounced from. Pull those satellites from openly available map data, and they had a search grid of their own.

It wasn't their errant patriarch and purse's exact location, but it was a hell of a start.

[Gemma Pierce]

Gemma began to shake her head in resignation at the spinning wheel of death - however fate had other plans. Her head cocked to one side as the error displayed across her screen. She pursed her lips and mulled over whether or not to press the oh so obvious 'here.' One might err on the side of caution, who knew where that here would bring her....or, it could be the answer to all their problems.  The thought process that may appear to be taking a life time to one, in fact was a just a matter of seconds. Gemma tapped the aggressively bolded 'here' and read through the  list of satellites. The grey matter between her ears began to turn much like the wheel a rodent would spin, at a relatively increased pace.

Pulling up a map, Gemma added the points forming an image that slightly resembled a "grid." Proud of her work Gemma presented it with a lopsided grin full of optimism and hope, that she had in fact helped.

[Rhiannon Pool]

"Yeahhhh, nope. My overtly intimidating demeanor failed to... persuade them? Pretty sure think they still think we're going to be the ones paying. They sent a cortext address to send the "search grid" to though. I could always give them a sob story about being totally broke..."

She grimaced and eyed the handsome Captain with a dubious frown. All she'd asked was for him to distract a group of likely seasoned kidnappers, convince them to pay a reverse ransom, and intimidate information out of strangers. Was that so hard?

"Unnnless you managed to get their location from that message they probably intentionally cut short so we couldn't track them, Gem?"

Pool's daughter turned her head quick as a whip in Gemma's direction, her brows aloft and eyes wide with hope.

Pulling up a map, Gemma added the points forming an image that slightly resembled a "grid." Proud of her work Gemma presented it with a lopsided grin full of optimism and hope, that she had in fact helped.

"Hot dog!" Junior praised, using the wrong emphasis to get the meaning of the phrase across. She'd heard Sid use it once or twice, although she wasn't sure if he'd been using it ironically or not. "That was so cool, really, could you show me how you did that? Later, not now, of course," she asked, her eyes bright with awe.

"Is there anything that I can do to help here? Or should I perhaps see if there is any trace of the....alleged Ulrich... on the ship? Or do you need me to ready the ship for flight?"

Rhiannon, a grin pulling at her lips and lighting her eyes, turned to the shy mechanic and pointed at her with gusto. "Get the ship ready for flight! We're going to go rescue my dad!" and commanded, despite having just about zero authority to do so. Her hand lowered an inch or so and she faltered for a moment, "And Sid, I guess," she added.

With that order in place, the redhead turned in a slow circle on the bridge, then stopped and looked around at the available seating. There were only two seats on the bridge proper, but a peek past Beth revealed 3 open seats back in operations. It wasn't as close to the front as she would have liked, but she didn't think sitting on one of their laps or ordering them out of a chair was the right move.

Junior's smile returned and she slipped past Beth to sit in one of the empty chairs and buckle herself in, waiting patiently for them to take off. In her mind, there was no other option and she was sure they'd all agree with her.

Her gaze narrowed at a thought. Technically no one on board had been paid yet so she might not have technically been a client yet so they could have kicked her off, told her to kick rocks, and flown away from this mess. The redhead grimaced. No, Captain Desmond seemed too much of a bleeding heart to kick her out. The other one, Gemma? She might do it... Junior crossed her fingers and took a deep breath, hoping things went her way in this situation.

[HumanHyperbole]

They had a ship, they had a captain, and most importantly, they had a direction in which to race. The captain was working off the word of a teenager, who was answering to her father a former pirate, and a walking mid-life crisis. The newly arriving mechanic and pilot were able to get Shanghai airborne with ease. As Shanghai burst through the atmosphere the sense of common purpose had to be clear amongst the hastily assembled crew:

We better rescue these old-timers or nobody's getting paid.

They had five minutes left from Ximo's ultimatum. Send the search grid from the book, or go straight for a rescue plan. They had Sidney's scribblings from his junk-trunk, and the coordinates from Gemma's clever work tracing the ransomer's rough location. Or they could always just improvise something else. What could go wrong?

[Gemma Pierce]

. "That was so cool, really, could you show me how you did that? Later, not now, of course,"

Gemma was surprised by the girls interest in what she had seemingly accomplished. After all pilot wasn't exactly the "sexiest" job on the ship. But if someone was interested to learn she'd be more than happy to teach them.
"Sure, maybe when things have settled down a smidge." She provided an encouraging smile and watched Rhiannon run off to "ready the ship."  Gemma strapped down and began the sequence. On Des' order, and with Rhiannon's helpful prep work, she guided the Shanghai and her rather rotund derriere into space.

With the ship in the air she put it on auto pilot and turned to Des, who was presumably still in the cockpit. "Well, what's the plan, full speed ahead to the coordinates, or cave and send them what we have. Though, I think we both know the right decision here." She offered Des a grin as she waited for the inevitable rescue plan.

[Beth Williams]

"Get the ship ready for flight! We're going to go rescue my dad! ... And Sid, I guess,"

Beth looked at Rhiannon in surprise. "Is this youngster in charge? Have I missed something?" Beth felt that in the last couple of days she had more-or-less worked out how everyone fitted in to the scheme of things but her self confidence, or lack thereof, meant that she was never really sure if she actually understood things, especially where people were concerned. "You can't even find Ulrich," she reminded herself.

"Yes Ma'am," she replied quietly, keeping her tone as neutral as she could manage, and then blushed again as she realised that there was a good chance that the young woman would think that she was extracting the Michael.

"But Desmond is in charge, he is the captain, he is my employer, and I take my orders from him," was her next thought and she returned her gaze to him, waiting for an indication that she should do as Rhiannon had bade her to do.

It suited her, of course, because it took her back to things she understood, like engines, and away from people, who always managed to confuse her and often brought out the worst in her. Engines on the other hand, just were; for Beth, their language was, for the most part, unequivocal.

~~~

The initial 'order' might have come from Rhiannon but it was confirmed up by the Captain and Beth was soon back in her happy place, if Beth could ever be considered to be happy. Anxiety was there too; it was Beth's first time in charge of this particular engine room and the nagging fear that she would overlook something important egged Anxiety on.

She needn't have worried as much as she had, though Worry too, was a constant companion. There were no signs of mechanical or electrical trouble as the ship lifted from the surface and headed into space. Nevertheless she ran her checks multiple times just to be sure and then made sure that she was ready to respond to any requests for the unusual or even just a full burn.

She flipped open the comm to the bridge, "All running A-OK, Captain," she said into the microphone. "For now," she added with the microphone off; she didn't like to tempt fate too far.

[Desmond Holt]

Gemma turned to Desmond after getting them airborne and setting the auto pilot. "Well, what's the plan, full speed ahead to the coordinates, or cave and send them what we have. Though, I think we both know the right decision here." He grinned at her, and stared at their possibly fake search grid. Thinking for a moment, he moved to the navigation console and punched in the numbers. If it didn't immediately bring up an actual location he tweaked the entry until it did. Once finished he looked back at Gemma. "Why not both? Got a general idea of where they probably are. We send them this, and burn for where we think they are. If they accept the fake coordinates and give us back out paycheck-, I mean people, cool. If they don't, we can test out that breaching bore and execute our daring rescue!" He grinned.

Beths voice came over the com,. "All running A-OK, Captain," His grin remained and he punched the reply button on the bridge comm. "Thanks Williams." He switched to ship wide. "Alright ladies and gents, well, just ladies at the moment I guess... Anyways. Strap in. We're about to transmit the "goods", and then burn hard for where we think they are, as to be able to effect a daring rescue if the kidnappers dont like what they get." He looked back at Gemma and winked at her, punching in the potentially doctored "ransom" and hitting the *send* key.

[HumanHyperbole]

THE BOLIVAR - BRIDGE

Ximo threw his fists up in the air, then pumped them again.

"I told you the elephant mask would work!"

THE BOLIVAR - HOLDING AREA

The sound of triumphant whooping and celebration echoed into Sid and Pool's confines. The engines rumbled to life.

[Sidney Applebaum]

THE BOLIVAR - HOLDING AREA

Sidney's head jerked up. He was doing that incessant head nod people who are trying not to fall asleep do while sitting up. He looked around, he could hear the hum of the engine and the crew celebrating. A flash of relief washed over him, only to be rudely interrupted by a creeping worry: What did they give up as ransom?

"OH BALLS!"

Applebaum was off like a shot towards the door to their holding area, slamming against it in obvious futility. He smashed his fist against it, and he turned back to his partner with a look on his face he might not have seen before. Something CLOSE to steely determination.

"We CANNOT let them get to those coordinates..."

[Reinhardt Pool]

Pool had finally been relieved of his concrete clogs, but a reinforced, locked hatch lay between them and any escape. He had taken to just staring off into space and imagining all sorts of pain and punishment that could be doled out to Sidney for not only the mess they were in now, but for ruining his book.

Covered in honey and tied to stakes on the ground while ants get the scent and go to town on him.

Pool watched his cellmate jolt up- man that guy slept a lot- and rush the door like he was going to beat it down with his fists; an act of futility for even the strongest man and Pool had a chuckle at the idea of Sidney being the one to succeed. "Calm your cheeks, Applebaum. I didn't give them any coordinates. Just told them about your, whatever it's called, the grid thing. It's all bullshit anyway."

Hanging him up by his toes and throwing him in a spinning roaster like you see in Kebab restaurants.

He saw the look on Sidney's face. "It is bullshit, right? You told me you didn't have anything." Panic began to set in on the old man. Had he unknowingly given up the goods?

Sidney's expression of iron will slid back to a familiar one of slight embarrassment. He started to speak. Well, his mouth started to try and make words but then he stopped, to consider. Applebaum tried several more times to start to explain but then asked a seemingly irrelevant question. "You know how authors sometimes use real-world events to create works of fiction? Sometimes real people..." He trailed off as if Pool would know what he was ramping up to.

"What the hell are talking about?" Apparently the old man did not, in fact, know what Sidney was getting at. "Authors? What like the Avengement series?" He suddenly couldn't remember the name of the author. "Whatsername..." Pool snapped his fingers asking for help, letting it distract him from the problem at hand.

"K.K. Patterjack." He rattled off the name of the author. "No. Not her. Though I hear she's lovely." Sidney stepped in closer to his partner. He bit his lip slightly for a second then tried to make it clearer. This was awkward. "You know how there's people who write stuff on the cortex about famous characters and ... add things... sometimes... sexual things..."

"No! What? No. What? What are you talking about? What does that have to do with Avengement Saga? Or us. What?" Pool was fired up now and Sid was making even less sense than usual.

Sidney jerked back and blurted the rest out almost as if a single word. He needed to get it out. "I found the author of a series of romantic fiction novels based on your old crew and its extremely graphic but surprisingly thrilling in parts..." He took a breath. "The coordinates lead right to his little hideout..."

Pool stared at Sidney for what seemed like a long time. Someone had written books about him? Books about the Ebony and Ivory and her adventures he understood. She was an infamous ship. The legend of the exploits of her, her crew, and the dread Captain Meloy had pervaded the 'Verse since before she went down. But about him? Pool was but one of many crew and, until this very moment, Pool had thought he was the only one left. And only crew would know enough to write books about it. Books with graphic sex? "We're going to talk about this later." He turned to the door and started banging his fist next to Sid's, hollering to be let out.

Written with help from Human Hyperbole

[HumanHyperbole]

Ximo sauntered over to the screaming captives at his own speed. He'd already won. At least he felt like he was now a step ahead of the Shanghai crew in their quest for the pirate gold.

"Bark all you want little doggies! We already got your... treats... Yeah, we got your treats."

A buzzer sounded and the cell door slid open with a  loud CLANG.

"The transaction is over. You're free to go! Just you know. Not towards the treasure. That's ours now. Just go do something else. I'm sure you got other irons in the fire."

There was a brief pause their captor handed each of them their parting gift.

"You can keep these, just don't go to the feds obviously. Your crew violated a couple of state security acts by sending us the ransom so... you're in it with us now partners! We'll send you a bottle of champagne when we get the treasure. Really, its been great guys. I can't wait to work with you again."

-- TWO HOURS LATER --

The Shanghai reached the last position of The Bolivar they'd triangulated. But the Bolivar was already gone. Presumably burning towards the search grid, and an erotic novel author with a surprising amount of insight into the Ebony's lost treasure. However, there was a strange anomaly on her long-range sensors. It was reading alternatively as debris or a random piece of space-rock.

[Rhiannon Pool]

"Alright ladies and gents, well, just ladies at the moment I guess... Anyways. Strap in. We're about to transmit the "goods", and then burn hard for where we think they are, as to be able to effect a daring rescue if the kidnappers don't like what they get."

Junior's grip on the chair's buckles tightened and for a moment, her bravado and stubborn optimism was shaken by a deeper fear and anxiety. What if they messed up? What if she'd made the wrong decision? What if they didn't get there in time or they decided to off her dad anyway? What would she say to her mother and brother?

The girl forced herself to take several slow, deep breaths, coaxing oxygen back into her lungs and her brain. She'd need to borrow some more of her father's steely resolve for just a little longer.


Now that they were out in the smooth expanse of the black, Junior stood awkwardly in the threshold to the bridge. She stared out through the front port, arms crossed over her chest, her lower lip trapped between her teeth. There was no ship here. There was supposed to be a ship here. Her gaze flickered toward the pilot and for half a second, she wondered if the triangulating and mapping and confidence had been a sham. Just as quickly as it'd come, Junior forced the thought away and shook her head in disappointment at herself.

The young Pool inched closer to where Des and Gemma were sitting, her hands lowering to slide firmly into her pockets. "What's that?" she asked, freeing a hand so she could point at the sensor doing something on the console that it wasn't doing before. "Maybe a shuttle? Maybe they escaped?" she offered, staring forward again and squinting as her eyes searched for some kind of small space craft.

[Gemma Pierce]

"Aye Aye Captain." Gemma gave Des a lazy salute as she turned back to her console. "Let's see what your girl here can do." Setting the coordinates, followed by a few beeps and boops, Gemma looked back at Des with excitement and anticipation as she waited patiently for his announcement. It was only a few seconds later that he notified the rest of the crew a grin spreading across her face, she turned back to the console and pushed the Shanghai forward to full burn, her body slightly thrown back into her seat as she did.

------2 HOURS LATER ------

Gemma slowed the boat as it approached the coordinates. Her head cocked to one side as the long range sensors blinked at her. Something was always blinking, "Hey Des...Captain...Sir...man," She fumbled with her words still uncertain of how to address him, "Looks like they left us something..." Gemma's head nodded towards the results of the long range scanner.

[Rose Wickson]

Location: Sidney Applebaum's Cork-board Conspiracy Office & Sleeping Quarters

Rose felt completely useless. There wasn't really anything she could do to help with the rescue operation until they'd recovered the hostages, and even then, she hoped they weren't in a bad enough shape to require her care -- although it unfortunately seemed unlikely.

So she did the only thing she could think of to help bring them home; tried to ensure they had a home to come to. It was the same approach she'd adopted when her late husband Joshua had gone off to war, hoping that by taking good care of his belongings she was casting some kind of cosmic magic out into the universe that would return him to her in one piece. It had worked with Joshua, maybe it would work with Pool and Applebaum.

Rose assumed Junior was in charge of her father's things while he was gone, so she focused on Applebaum's belongings. His trunks had sat sadly in his room since being delivered, and so the doctor took it upon herself to unpack their contents -- only the things that didn't seem too personal for her to be handling. She had every intention of respecting his privacy, despite admittedly being quite curious about the wealthy core-worlder and what could have possibly motivated him to traverse the grimy edges of the known 'Verse.

She unpacked several journals and tucked them into the drawer of the nightstand without peeking. It was more difficult to completely avert her eyes from the large cork-board, which from a passing glance had something do with "ebony and ivory". Treasure, perhaps? Those were valuable materials. She hung the board on the wall, careful not to disturb any of the notes pinned onto it, or the web of red string criss-crossing between the pins. Then, resisting the urge to pry further, she turned her attention to other things.

Rose soon learned that Applebaum was an avid reader, or at the very least a book collector, a discovery that delighted her bookworm heart. Most of his collection appeared to be non-fiction, but at the bottom of the pile she glimpsed something that seemed out of place; a paperback with a cover depicting a rugged, heavily muscled man cradling a fierce-looking woman in his arms, her long hair flowing in the wind. It looked a lot like the romance novels Dr. Cohen had kept in her desk drawer. She'd told her they were the only books dumb and fluffy enough to help her turn her brain off at the end of a long workday. Rosie had never been particularly drawn to them, but now she felt compelled to investigate further. She skimmed through the pages, stopping to read a random passage:



O'Toole awakened to the sound of the door to the cabin creaking open. In a heartbeat, he'd grabbed the revolver on his night stand and pointed it at the intruder. His hand lowered upon seeing who it was. He'd recognize that silhouette anywhere; that tall, toned frame, with legs for days and curves in all the right places. Seraphina.

"How'd you track me down?" he asked, his voice hoarse from his restless sleep but also something else entirely.

"You ain't as sly as you think." Seraphina smirked that beautiful, foxy smirk that drove O'Toole wild in more ways than one. The next thing he knew, she'd thrown her duster on the floor and collapsed in his arms on the bed, her hungry lips finding purchase on his.

"This is wrong," he breathed out between the passionate kisses. He wanted to resist the charms of his fiery protege, but found his tongue was losing the battle for dominance against hers.

"Well, I aim to misbehave," she smiled against his mouth, sliding her hands down his rippling abs and towards his throbbing--



Mesmerized, or perhaps petrified, Rose kept reading, her face growing hotter with each line. This wasn't like Dr. Cohen's books at all! Or was it? How would she know? She'd never given them a try. Not that she judged anybody who was into this stuff. In fact, it was stirring something in her right now, but it was accompanied by mortifying embarrassment, like she was spying on a private moment she wasn't supposed to be witnessing. Which was silly. O'Toole and Seraphina were two completely fictional characters written for the specific purpose of smut, and not particularly well at that. Nothing to do with anybody she knew.

Snapping out of her trance, Rose slammed the book shut and stuffed it back to the bottom of the trunk where she'd found it. That was enough unpacking for one day. Applebaum could take care of the rest of his own stuff.

[Beth Williams]

Beth spent the entire two hours in the engine room worrying. Worrying about what she found previously; little things where maintenance was overdue or inadequate, which at the time had provided minor hope that her talent had come with her but now just left her feeling that she was missing something important.

It was quite a different situation from her previous, first, and only job: that one she had fallen into by accident when the ship she was a passenger on had developed engine trouble beyond the capabilities of that ship's nominal, alcohol-soaked engineer and she had discovered an affinity for space ship mechanics. This one she had sought out deliberately, masquerading as an actual ship's engineer without knowing if it had been a general talent or one specific to that ship; she feared it was the latter.

Despite Beth's fears, nothing seemed to go wrong though when the engine note changed as Gemma brought them close to their destination her first thought was that something had gone wrong. It took a couple of minutes of scanning the engine monitoring systems to reassure her that all was as it should be.

Dialogue Colour: Violet

[HumanHyperbole]

SPACE

"HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sidney screamed again into the vast starry void. He hyperventilated a couple of breaths then resumed his howling.

"HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The former banker panicked when his captors shoved the pair into the airlock of The Bolivar. He desperately tried to hold onto the side of the villains' ship and when it hit the gas, they flew off the side like a tick trying to hold onto a bullet.

Now Applebaum had them spinning around, the air tank they were both attached to becoming like the planet they orbited in an unstoppable spiral powered by the force of Sidney's mid-life crisis unraveling. They hadn't even gotten a ship yet! And here he was. Stuck in a death spiral in space, with little hope of rescue.

Why?

Why, oh why?

Leaving them stranded in space made sense to Pool. A bit dramatic, maybe. But common enough among the buccaneer type. Moonside Maroon, they called it. Ximo was an amateur and a bit of a dolt but he certainly got the details right.

No. The real torture here was connecting their radios. Pool had tried to ignore the panicked panting of his partner, sucking up their limited oxygen. He'd tried to calm Sidney down but the financier was too far gone.

And now they were locked in a slow spiral like a starlight slow dance. Pool was not amused.

"Sid. Sid. SID. Shut up for a second wouldja, and listen to me."

"I know there's a panic button on my helmet someplace but I can't reach it when we're spinning and we're in space because of me and we're spinning in space because of me and this was all my idea and now you can't see your daughter before we die from puking forever into our helmets and then eating the..."

The spinning void was suddenly swallowed up by something silently. They were spinning now.... inside a cargo bay of a spaceship? A vessel had simply coasted right up with the cargo bay open and vented out the air so they could just swallow them up like a whale on earth that was would swallow up a fish. At least that's how the books described it. The cargo bay door closed as they still helplessly spun in their eccentric orbit.

Then captain Holt ordered the reactivation of the environmental systems in the cargo bay. Flooding Shanghai's cargobay with air rapidly, gravity returned just as quickly. From a solid five or six feet up in the air, they both smacked back down to the unforgiving grated metal floor.

"Help..."

*Dual Post W/ NoSeatBelts

[Rhiannon Pool]

Location: Cargo Hold

"I'm goin' down there!"

The moment Captain Des and their pilot Gemma had worked out that, no, the little blips floating in a spiral weren't shuttles at all and had come up with a plan to scoop up the flotsam, Junior had sprinted through the ship as fast as her legs could carry her. Junior half fell, half slid down the ladder and nearly ate it going down the stairs to the lower deck. She braced herself against the med-bay door, stopping suddenly and growling when she didn't immediately see the doctor sitting in there waiting for her.

It took her another few minutes to find her back up the steps in what looked like Applebaum's room, looking through his things. Junior's nose scrunched up and her brows furrowed. Before she could ask the lady what exactly she was doing, she recalled that it really wasn't that important. Whatever, I'll ask about that later, the young woman snapped at herself.

"Hey! Doctor! Come with me to the cargo hold. We found 'em and they might be needin' a doctor," she told Rose, although really that was all speculation. Of course, it was a reasonable assumption, what with her father and Sid having being in the custody of kidnappers and tossed into space. She didn't figure that came without some kind of bumps or bruises or a loss of a few braincells.

Turning on her heel, Junior stomped back down the steps, sprinting again when she figured she was out of the Doctor's sight. She didn't want to look like she was panicked, even if she was. There was no telling if the two floating out in space were dead or alive, and they really hadn't been able to see for sure if they were in suits or not. Could have been they were out there in space, boiling from the inside. Her stomach churned and she tried not to dry heave. All she could do was stare out through the view port in the cargo bay door while Gemma and Des maneuvered them quite skillfully toward the spinning figures.

She watched them back up carefully, chewed on her nails when the exterior doors opened and the air vented, and held her breath while they slowly scooping up their lost sheep. The exterior doors shut, gravity kicked back on, Sid and Pool hit the ground, and she heard one of them speak.

"Help..."

They were alive! Well, Sid was at least.

"They're in!" she yelled through the comms up to the bridge, her hand slapping down on the internal door's button. Junior tried to be patient as it opened up, then she tried to yank it open manually. Finally, when there was just enough room for her to slip in, she squeezed into the airlock.

"Dad!" Junior shouted, dropping to her knees and pushing Sid off of her father. "Git!" the girl yelled at their financier. "Dad, you okay?!" she asked, grabbing at his helmet and turning his visor toward her. Her panic eased when he sat up and grunted at her in response.

He was fine.

[Rose Wickson]

"Hey! Doctor!"

"Nothin'! W-what?" Rose jumped and turned to look at whoever had just caught her red-handed. Or red-cheeked, as it were.

"Come with me to the cargo hold. We found 'em and they might be needin' a doctor."

Rose blinked, and in that blink of an eye her flustered demeanor was gone, replaced by a cool-headed determination.

"I'll get my bag," she nodded and rushed out of the room, making a stop at the infirmary on her way to the cargo hold. When the airlock doors opened to welcome Sid and Pool back, she was there next to Rhiannon, standing by with her bag in hand. The situation was completely surreal, and maybe later she would sit back and marvel at the thrilling heroics of it all. Right now, she had a job to do.

Since Rhiannon made a beeline to her father's side, Rose turned her attention to Sid first. Or maybe she did that because she felt guilty for stumbling upon his porn stash. Either way, Pool didn't appear to be in any immediate danger of hurting himself further, whereas the financier was quite visibly panicking. The medic struggled briefly with the space helmet -- not like she'd had to deal with those back at the clinic on Three Hills -- but was finally able to get it off. She helped Sid to his side in case he needed to throw up.

"Hey. It's alright. You're safe. Look at me." She gestured towards her face, attempting to establish eye contact. "Let's breathe together, alright?"

She inhaled and exhaled deeply and rhythmically, gradually coaxing Sid out of his state of blind panic. Unorthodox as their entry had been, their suits had likely cushioned their fall against the metallic floor. She was more worried about was whatever the men had gone through before being returned to them.