Chapter 22: Phaon

Leon said, "Ok folks, since I assume it's safe for us to wander around the ship now, I suggest the following: One, we ensure that someone keeps an eye on his Holiness here, to ensure that he remains resting, either someone stays here or we arrange for someone to come back regularly. Two, we wrap him up nice and cosy, get his feet out of the water so that he doesn't die of hypothermia while we're roaming the ship. Three, we split into groups, always keeping in contact with the com units, so that we can better search the ship in what time we've got left. We could split into maybe three groups: one to find this large teleporter and associated military equipment which on it's own should compensate for our expenditure on this trip, and should give us a fast way out of the blast radius if we fail to shut down the self destruct, another group to try again to shut down the self destruct, and the last group to have a wander around, to try and find these artifacts and other assorted goodies that we hope will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams." Leon paused and then added, "The group which goes to deactivate the self destruct should have someone who knows a lot about computers"
"Well that leaves me out..." Thorn shrugged
Leon paused again, then began again, this time in a sadder tone. "and me, because if we fail someone will have to try to manually take apart the self destruct mechanism attached to the engines and I volunteer since I have the least to lose, risking radiation sickness."
Leon looked around at his comrades, who in such a short time have obviously become so dear to him and added, with a faint smile "And other ideas? If not then I suggest we get going as soon as possible."
Joe spoke, slowly, as if he had to consider every word he said carefully, "What is it that made you so expendable? If someone should start hacking on those pieces of machinery, it should be the one with the most experience with it. Now, that would make Bug the obvious candidate, but somehow I have this feeling they don't have his size in A-Rad suits on board. I have some experience with electronic systems, but power systems are beyond me. With instructions, I guess I could try though."
"I think we will find that one can't take apart the self destruct manually, though. Virtually all advanced power systems require sophisticated computers to keep them running. If the computers for some reason decide to stop controlling them, anything can happen. In this case, if you disconnect the computer, they will most probably just become more unstable, and you have no chance of controlling them manually. And, no, taking apart a power reactor while it is running is not a very good idea."
"However, to get to my point, I'm not exactly feeling too well right now, so I guess I could stay here and watch the fanatic."
Joe shrugged and started looking for somewhere to sit down, a somewhat out of focus expression in his face.
Solo shook his soggy cigar stub off and said, "You know, Armored Exo-skeleton has lots of radiation shielding built in. <Game Mechanics note: Up to three levels if I remember correctly> And then again there is always Anti-Rad V. <Game Mechanics note: Up to five levels if I remember correctly> Combine the suit and the drugs you could practically walk into a sun and not singe your eyebrows. <Game Mechanics note: This gives 8 levels. Now assuming this works like the standard Mark #s, this gives the user a +40 bonus against radiation damage. That is how I use it in my campaigns. But then again it depends on the radiation levels my players play in ...> As I have been practicing in the Exo, I could go down there. I don't have much experience with Matter/Anti-Matter systems, but I could rig up some kind of bypass in the ODM conduits and then cross-connect the emergency coolant system from the Auxiliary power supplies or something ... you know, keep some coolant to the reactor."
Thorn interjected, "No no, Bill... you've only got one arm left remember. Might make things a tad difficult for you."
Tessa shook her head in partial agreement, "I am still not convinced about the reactor, if we have a couple of hours regardless, and we agree to let the ship blow, then let's forget about the reactor, and get going on our respective hunts". She looked toward Solo still thinking, "How long do you think, once you found the reactor, would it take to stabilize it? Perhaps we can go in three groups, and if you can work your magic on it before we are ready to leave then great. Otherwise as soon as we can leave this ship in a vehicle and whatever booty we got, all of us need to leave at that time, and forget the reactor and let this thing blow up, with us far away of course. Whatever we decide, we need to decide now, and get going. I am ready." She looked to the other party members for responses.
Listening to the others discuss "tactics" Thorn eventually got bored. "Well shall we get going? I'm not going to be stuck guarding anything again, that was a total bore. I say we send the techrats to see if they can figure out either the destruction mechanism, or find and activate that other teleport station. Then the rest of us can find some loot and leave Joe here to watch Rabastus." With that Thorn began to fiddle with her weapons, checking the blaster pack, the hook and pack of the powersword.
Tessa nodded in agreement. "Lets get going, I do feel bad about all those marines if the ship blows, but I don't see much of an alternative. Let's split up now into two groups, go find the teleport and vehicles, and I will take off to go find some loot, who wants to go with whom and where, Solo, do you still want to go find your tanks, and Joe, are you going to look after Rabastus? I say we should head out in the next minute or two."
Joe muttered to himself, "If only it were that easy ..." then sighed heavily again.
While Tessa waited for either debate or concurrence, she grabbed a medkit and any loose supplies she saw and stowed them with her gear, and readied herself to get going.
Joe nodded, "Yeah, I'll watch him. Just show me the tranqs and I'll keep him under. Let me know if you find anything, ok?"
"Thank you, keep in touch by radio, If he wakes, don't even try to deal with him, unless you're sure you can do so without harm. I wouldn't be too sure that you can count on our ties binding him. If he breaks free, just get out. I'm up for finding a way out of here, but I'm not above keeping an eye and a scanner out for loot. If we can get just one of these combots out with us, for instance, we're quite well set for the time being. So who's going with whom. It looks like Solo and Leon are planning to head aft, so the other group should forge out fore. I'll go that way. I'm going to plug in and see if I can't find a clue on the computer about where we're going, if the computer's defenses cause me any more drain bamage, haul me out."

Leon leaned over to Thorn and asked, "did you find anything interesting on the Medical display Unit?"
"Um, nothing... just curious is all. Never seen one of these before."

Ignoring her, Solo continued, "Maybe if I am lucky, I may be able to freeze the plasma injectors in place to prevent them from opening the whole way. That would keep the core in a steady state. And since the Margrave deactivated the SD and put it on the dead-man switch there, I don't think the computer will blow it up anyway. Think about it. He said he would wait three hours. The timer had less time than that if I remember correctly.
Even if he was lying, I think the computer is waiting on him to make a decision. But we do need to stabilize the reactor. I will need help though." With that, Solo raised the stub which used to be his arm. "And if you all think that is a crazy idea, I want to hunt for the tanks! I believe they will be near the skin of the ship maybe on the lower levels for easy access to the ground for landing operations. Why put all your hopes in a flaky piece of machinery. That kind of shit breaks down. I know I wouldn't want my tanks in a hold located in the middle of the ship with no way to get them to the battle."
Tessa listened intently on the conversation, showing frustration in the situation. "Leon, I am not sure we are thinking along the right lines. If we can leave Margrave here like this for at least a couple of hours, we can find those vehicles and teleport and get out of here, and.. it would be in our interest to let this ship blow up. There is all this military equipment, the frozen soldiers, and the coming rescue force that is certainly not too far away. I say forget about disabling the self destruct, lets split into two groups, find some artifacts and a few valuables that I remember seeing, get to a vehicle and transport out of here!"
She continued, "Joe, if you want to stay and watch him while you rest that will be fine with me, Solo and whoever can go look for the tanks, I am willing to go look for the artifacts and any other valuables that I come across, but I don't want to go alone, I might have trouble finding my way around this thing."
"As far as the Margrave here..lets hook him up to some monitor or something that will give us good warning when he is coming out of it, he is smart enough to fake being drugged, that wouldn't be good."
Raymont said, "I tend to agree that our primary concern at this moment is not with the self destruct sequence. Since the Margrave all but admitted to the presence of artifacts aboard this vessel, I propose we break into search teams and scour, each team having a section of the ship to search, and reporting finds to the other groups, and of course grabbing anything valuable. Should any of the groups find the second teleporter with the vehicles, and should said vehicles be intact, they should test the teleporter and report. While the artifacts could well be priceless, we could live quite well, all of us, off the cost of just one anti-grav tank, especially if it is to the level of technology evident in the rest of the ship. Oh, and anyone comfortable in the powered armor might wear it, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is it's inherent cash value. By the way, can anyone recommend a good neurologist, my head hurts."
After hearing out Solo and Tessa, Joe spoke again;
"You might be right about the armor and the drug - I don't know much about either. I think you will find your ... ermmm ... handicap a bit problematic though if you were to start working on the engine."
Turning towards Tessa, he continued, "In fact, I agree with you, Tess, we should probably forget about the reactor. As long as we can keep Rab here drugged, we're safe. We should be able to find some sort of medical monitoring device here _somewhere_ that could tell us when it is starting to wear off, and hook that up to a radio."
Addressing them all, he went on, "As much as I hate it, we are probably best off if this ship does blow up though. Now that Tessa's urrrmmm ... abilities ... are known to Rab, she is in real trouble if he survives and reports to his superiors. I don't feel right about leaving a couple of thousand people to blow up though ... I suppose if we just disabled all the teleporters and alerted the proper authorities after getting back to civilization we could avoid that. These guys wouldn't be able to get up and out until the Good Guys come to dig them up."
Joe sighed deeply as he sat down. As an afterthought he adds, "Of course, there is the DK rescue ship ..."
Raymont shrugged. "I think we have to leave these soldiers to their fate. If they are killed, it will be because of their faith and their loyalty to their leaders." Waving his hand in Margrave's general direction, "If that faith and loyalty is unfounded, they will die. If not they will be rescued. If the latter, I propose we are as far from here as possible, and despite the arguments against such a possibility, eventually, this ship will blow. Of course, the planetary defenses may have noticed the not insignificant heat and radiation source building up just below the skin of their planet. So I reiterate, we split into groups and search for the artifacts or the vehicles, whichever we find first we take and get out, we know we have one working teleporter, so we can get out in any case, it's just a matter of how far we make it. It may be possible, and I admit I have no experience in these matters, that the powered armor has enough shock absorption and antirad that, combined with the damping effects of a hundred feet of rock, we might be able to survive the blast so long as we are not directly above it. A ground blast produces a deep crater but devastates a much smaller area than an airburst."
At this point, Raymont announced that he was going to do a quick survey of the nearby areas of the Divinity, hoping to salvage more cutting equipment, such as had been found earlier. With the party breaking up into smaller groups, the two welder-cutters they had would not be enough, he figured. Making his way toward the bow of the ship, Raymont disappeared, though all of them could hear his noise as he progressed through the twisted wreckage.

Though Raymont was diligent in his efforts to explore the bow, after progressing some thirty meters, it was evident that this was probably the most damaged section of the Divinity and perhaps where she had taken the most impact damage. Thick bulkheads were twisted into a torn maze and in several corridors, wreckage blocked Raymont's progress altogether. Even making use of the severe damage to progress to other decks, any attempt to broach the upper decks of the bow section were ultimately met with more dead ends. In several instances, Raymont had to crawl through narrow gaps in the wreckage, getting caught in more than one instance. When he'd finally had enough claustrophobic instances for a life time, he turned around, making the tortuous journey back the way he'd come. On making his way back to the medical bay, even collapsed corridors with openings a meter wide seemed spacious compared to what he'd been through.

Taking advantage of Raymont's absence, the rest of the party continued their discussions or rested and ate, as they wished. All kept a wary eye on the drugged Dia Khoravic knight, Rabastus, as he dozed heavily in his chair. Some two and a half hours later, a very dirty and scratched and scrapped Raymont reappeared, looking very much worse for wear.
"Heavy cutting gear is going to be essential," he told everyone. "The forward portions of this ship are a total mess."
Solo nodded his head, "I may be able to modify one of these blasters if we can't find one down in engineering. By the way. Did you make it as far as the bridge?"
Raymont shook his head. "I didn't even get all that far. Additionally, we need to get someone with more computer expertise than I," he nodded to Joe, "Earlier, I found a terminal with what looks to be a lot of data and something called 'Genesis' which I didn't dare touch. It looks like they were trying to delete it when they crashed."
"I've been thinking," Raymont added, "If this ship was looking for the one which it's commonly known went down, and they think it's here, and NO ONE KNOWS A SHIP THIS SIZE went down here, then we're talking about some kind of SERIOUS black ops."
Solo pulled the shredded cigar stub from his mouth and looked at Raymont. "Maybe someone does know it went down here ... and are letting it sit here because of what it represents. I got to thinking, why would Onzlo not go the lawful route and just claim it for himself? So what if he had to share it with the miners on the site. He may be greedy, but Dia Shit! This ship is worth enough for any ten people. I think he decided to sneak it out because he didn't want anybody to know he knew what was really here. We may rag on Onzlo and his antics, but one thing I have learned is that paranoia breeds long life. And Onzlo is one paranoid Mother."
After Solo finished, he walked around the room while everybody though about what Raymont and he had said. After a few minutes he spoke again.
"Well, team. It appears we have reached a junction. Do we try and figure out what the hell is going on with the possibly of untold goodies and wealth? Or do we take what we can and call Dicey for rendezvous? Either one is likely to get us killed."
"Well, I know my job," Joe said. "I'll watch the Margrave. You all go ahead and do what you need to. Just remember to give me plenty of time to get wherever you're all at when we try to leave this place." With that, Joe began to look around the medical unit.

While the others were getting ready, Leon walked over to Joe and handed him a struptor rifle. It was set on stun.
"Think I'll need it?" Joe asked, taking the rifle.
"Let's hope not. But, keep alert. I don't trust Rabastus and I'd be surprised if he doesn't have something else up his sleeve."
"Kind of hard to do anything tranqued up like he is now," Joe observed.
"Just make sure he stays that way," Leon recommended. "And if he doesn't, use that," he said, pointing at the rifle. Leon walked back to join the others.

Solo said, "Yeah, I want to find the tanks. One point that wasn't brought up ... if we teleport out of here by ourselves, we can only take what we can carry. And I only got one fuckin' arm. If we get a large APV we can take what it can carry. As far as who I want to go with ... I would prefer someone who has two arms and knows a thing or two about heavy military equipment."
"I'll go with Solo," Leon said.
Solo smiled. "Just the fellow I was thinking of Leon. You and I can search out the tanks and APC's. Given what I've seen of you, you're the man to have if we run into a firefight."
Leon smiled, "Well, thank's for the confidence. Hopefully we will be able to find the tanks and nothing else in the way of surprises. Nothing is guaranteed yet. I was thinking though, when we do find them, I think everyone should immediately rendezvous with us. If those military transporters are still working, then we should leave immediately. I want to be as far away from here as possible in case the Divinity blows. And also, I think we should take as many vehicles as we have drivers. That way, in case anything fails or breaks down, we have a spare means of escape."
"Good points," Raymont and the others nodded. "Well, I guess me and the ladies here will head look for those artifacts and anything else worth salvaging. When you give us the word, we'll head for wherever you are, agreed?"
Again, everyone nodded.
"What about you, Bug?" Tessa asked. "You want to come with me, Thorn and Raymont?"
"No, I will go with Leon and Solo," the little alien said. "Maybe my technical knowledge will come into use. And as that is the most important mission, I agree that I do not wish to be anywhere near this place any longer."
"Alright Bug!" Solo patted it on the it's hard shiny head. "Hey, if we get into a shooting match, another three pair of arms will come in handy!"
"Shooting!?" Bug said, at once alarmed.
"He's kidding," Thorn reassured it.
Bug's expressionless compound eyes fixed themselves upon Solo. It's almost vertical eyelids closed to slits that approximated a human glare.
Leon handed everyone bags that he'd scrounged from nearby storage rooms. "Use these to carry whatever you find."
"I still think we're missing a golden opportunity," Solo said. "With Margy there out for the count, we can spend our time looking around and really making a haul."
"I'm with Leon on this one," Thorn said. "After all, I'd rather be guaranteed a few thousand credits and my life, then the promise of a million with a more than an equal chance of having it and me vaporized."
"Just making a comment," Solo said.
The two parties split up. Thorn waved back to Joe and they disappeared, heading back toward the less damaged sections in the rear of the ship.

After the others had gone, Joe found what he was looking for. It was buried underwater, along with a lot of other debris that had collected at the far end. Still, he was quite satisfied at having found a portable Medscanner, still apparently working despite having been underwater. No one would know from looking at it that it was still functioning, but when he turned it on, it registered. He tried it on himself and was generally satisfied with the results, though he was the first to admit that he didn't really know how to use it. He was only adapting his general knowledge of multiscanners, and though remarkable pieces of equipment, they were not the same as the unit he was now holding.
Joe settled himself into a long and lonely wait, closely monitoring both the sleeping Margrave and his comlink. As the shadows seemed to darken around him, Joe realized that he had taken the most difficult job of all. - that of waiting and not knowing. Occasionally, Raymont would call in, informing Joe of their progress or lack thereof. They sounded like they weren't having an easy time getting back down to the Margrave's quarters.
A couple of hours later, Joe heard Leon's voice coming over his comlink. "Leave it to Solo. We've found the tanks. It's a regular arsenal. I figure at least two hundred various vehicles. Solo's busy having an orgasm while Bug tries to find some power. It's time to pack it up people and head on down here. We've sent the cryoberths back up to the large barracks we found earlier. Look for two powered cryoberths with damaged covers. We had to dump the dead marines alongside, so just follow the smell. Press the symbol that looks like a dot with radiating lines and that will lower the berth to where we are now." Leon's voice signed off and Joe gathered his things, taking one last look at the sleeping Margrave. He didn't risk injecting another tranq and left as quickly as he could.

The two parties continued along the same route, but as Leon, Solo and Bug in tow, were intent upon heading back toward the cryobay housing the ship's marine contingent, Tessa led the other group down the rungs of an elevator shaft.
"Good luck," Thorn said to the others.
"And to you," Leon replied.

Solo solemnly looked at the crumpled remains of his cigar stub. There wasn't much left, certainly not enough to form any resemblance of a cigar.
"Why did you want to come this way?" Leon asked Solo, after having left the others.
"I was thinking that the marines must be located near to their transports. I mean, in a fight, you'd think they would have to be able to man their vehicles ASAP. I'm betting those tanks and APC's are so close by, that I'll smell them any minute."
"I doubt that the vehicles have any strong olfactory signature," Bug said. "But then, I'm no expert, not sharing that sensory ability with you."
"Really, I didn't know you couldn't smell anything," Solo said, surprised at the revelation.
"How else did you think I could stand your company, Solo," Bug said, it's expressionless face turned back toward the one-armed pilot.
Solo stopped, scowling at the alien.
"I'm kidding," Bug reassured him.
Leon started to laugh. Solo didn't, first offering Bug a scowl but then, grinning as if he couldn't help it.
"So, what're you going to do without cigars? This is the first time you've ever been without since I met you." Leon said to Solo.
Solo just smiled, popping his cigar stub into his mouth, chewing it like gum until it just dissolved away.
"That is truly disgusting," Leon said.
Solo ignored him, seeming more interested in one of the cryochambers - one of the ones which had been breached and whose occupant lay dead and mouldering inside. Gratefully, they couldn't make out the decayed individual since he or she was inside their armoured exoskeleton, but they could certainly smell the corpse. Solo looked enviously at Bug, who seemed undeterred by this dubious sensory feast.
Leon, lifting what looked like a bloody piece of bone fragment from a spot nearby commented, "This must be what's left of that Sergeant Garsya that Bug here and the others met."
Bug didn't offer any comment but gazed at the bone.
Solo ignored him, seeming more interested in the dead marine.
"Solo, you're not that hard up for a piece of armour, are you?" Leon asked, hoping that Solo wasn't going to try and don the dead marine's exoskeleton.
Solo looked around him, at all the rows of marines caught sleeping or dead in their cryotombs. He could see row after row, some berths suspended against the wall of the chamber above other berths. Gazing at them, he tried to imagine some logic in their placement, something that would give him a clue as to where the hidden tanks might be.
He was briefly distracted by a crunching sound. He looked down to see Bug's mouth plates crunching on Garsya's bone.
"Bug! You freakin cannibal!" he said disgusted, then realized that cannibal was perhaps, an improper term.
"I need the minerals," Bug said, without any hint of apology. "And my kind have been eating your kind for decades and vice versa. You probably hadn't been hatched yet when our people fought the last war. There were many such meals then."
Uncomfortable with the subject, Solo turned back to the task at hand. He spent more than an hour, studying the layout of the room. Leon also lent his observation skills, but nothing apparent came of it.
"Do you want to try somewhere else?" Leon asked.
"No, the answer's here," Solo insisted. "I'm sure of it. It wouldn't make any sense, otherwise."
Going back to the corpse that had so interested him earlier, Solo leaned over to look at the insides better. Leon and Bug could hear him trying not to retch. Suddenly, Solo grabbed the corpse with his good arm, and not waiting for Leon to help him, tossed the dead marine down into the floor. Then whatsmore, he started to crawl into the berth, as a perplexed Leon watched him. Bug didn't say anything, seeming more interested in the dead marine.
"Solo, what are you doing?" Leon thought that maybe the pressures had finally gotten to Bill.
Solo didn't answer Leon. Instead, he called out to Bug. "Bug! Can you power up this berth?"
Bug stopped trying to remove one of the corpse's greave plates. "Well, yes, that should be easy," it said. It almost sounded disappointed, having been interrupted.
"Well? What're you waiting for?" Solo asked, leaning out. "And leave that fuckin corpse alone!"
Bug clicked something in it's own language, making Solo wonder if Daks ever swore. Leon started to ask Solo a question, but Solo waved him quiet.
"Trust me," he said.
"Absolutely not," Leon replied. "I know you too well."
Before the two could argue overly long, Bug had spliced into the series of cables which he had used to awaken Rabastus earlier, at Garsya's insistence. The lights in the cryoberth came on. Catching his breath, Solo observed the symbols now lit up on a panel inside the berth. Leon hadn't seen the panel before, but now realized that all the berths must have them. Pushing one button, Solo felt a jerk and grabbed at the sides of the berth even as it lowered into the floor and disappeared, the floor sliding closed behind it.
"Damn!" Leon said, grabbing Bug and repeating Solo's procedure, having tossed a dead marine out of it's bunk while Bug powered the berth up.
Riding together, Leon pushed the button he thought Solo had used. The cracked lid tried to close and the whole unit disappeared into the floor. Everything was darkness. Then the motion stopped. A strong light shone upon them and Leon and Bug were greeted by Solo's voice.
"Now, isn't that fuckin great?" Solo said, obviously excited. Before they could even ask, Solo shined his beam at a wider angle, revealing row upon row of anti-grav tanks and armoured carriers as well as command cars, the first row of which were already parked on what looked like huge teleporter pads.
Solo looked at Bug. "You think you could find us some juice to power up those pads?" Meanwhile, Leon sent the berths back up and called the others to let them know what they'd found.
"Leave it to Solo. We've found the tanks. It's a regular arsenal. I figure at least two hundred various vehicles. Solo's busy having an orgasm while Bug tries to find some power. It's time to pack it up people and head on down here. We've sent the cryoberths back up to the large barracks we found earlier. Look for two powered cryoberths with damaged covers. We had to dump the dead marines alongside, so just follow the smell. Press the symbol that looks like a dot with radiating lines and that will lower the berth to where we are now."

"So, where're we going?" Thorn asked.
"Back to the Margrave's chambers for a start," Raymont replied. "I have a feeling that that is a logical place to look for what we want."
"Didn't you search it before?" Tessa asked.
"Yes, pretty thoroughly too, except for one room. Anyway, like I said, it's a good place to start."
Thorn, according to Raymont's directions focused her multiscanner on a narrow concentrated sweep, hoping to expose something anomalous.
Taking their time, Raymont, Thorn and Tessa wound their way through the maze of debris that led to the section housing the Margrave's quarters. Raymont and Tessa held up lamps while Thorn continued to monitor her multiscanner. Every now and then, Raymont contacted Joe, to make sure he was alright. Joe sounded like he was always happy to hear from them.
Having come that way before seemed of little help as Raymont found that they had to take a different route, often backtracking when a dead end or frightening shower of debris cut them off. Still, after more than three hours of sweat and painful progress, they were nearly there by Raymont's calculations. At that point, they received a message from Leon.
"Leave it to Solo. We've found the tanks. It's a regular arsenal. I figure at least two hundred various vehicles. Solo's busy having an orgasm while Bug tries to find some power. It's time to pack it up people and head on down here. We've sent the cryoberths back up to the large barracks we found earlier. Look for two powered cryoberths with damaged covers. We had to dump the dead marines alongside, so just follow the smell. Press the symbol that looks like a dot with radiating lines and that will lower the berth to where we are now."
"Well, that's it," Tessa said. "Time's up. Let's get back and get out of here. I'm more than ready."
"No, wait," Raymont said. "It's going to take us at least two or three hours to get to the cryochamber. We're better off if we make our way back to the Margrave's quarters and then use the teleporter to beam to where Leon and the others are."
"Through the ship itself? Isn't that dangerous?" Thorn asked.
"I think it's our only option. Do you really think we can afford to crawl back the way we came? I mean, we're going to have to beam through the ship anyway to get out of here."
Thorn and Tessa exchanged glances. "Well, I guess we have no choice," Thorn said. "Let's get on with it."
Raymont was right in that it wasn't that much farther to the Margrave's quarters. Another thirteen minutes and they were there.
The stateroom consisted of three rooms in all. In one there was the bedroom, with simple Spartan bunks, including the med unit. Off of this was a living area with a computer console and the strange dark platform, which Raymont identified as the teleport unit. And then finally, there was a temple or worship room, equipped with a holograph projector. the holograph room. The stench of a decaying body greeted them as they entered. Dried blood caked the floor, ticking their feet through the holes in their shoes.
"Who's that?" Thorn asked, pinching her nose and nodding toward the corpse.
"Meet Brother Antheus," Raymont told them. "Solo killed him before we got here. He's the cause of all our troubles, apparently."
"So, that's Antheus," Thorn said.
Tessa remained silent, gazing at the corpse with a look of pity in her eyes.
"Don't tell me you feel sorry for that fanatic," Raymont said.
"Alright, I won't tell you," Tessa replied curtly. "So, what're we looking for?" Tessa asked.
"I want to look around this room. You can smell why I didn't want to stay here to much before. I was thinking that Rabastus might have hidden something here."
Tessa shook her head. "No, I don't think he knew about the artifacts," she said. "I would have sensed it when I was in contact with his mind."
"So, what's it like?" Raymont asked her, "having your mind touch anothers?"
"I imagine, with a gentler, kinder person, the experience might have been better," she told him. "But it wasn't something I would like to repeat - at least not with him. He had a brutal psyche. He looked on us like annoying insects and he wanted nothing better than to squash us. It was more than hatred. It was raw violence, controlled, contained, but there nonetheless. I think pain was a sweetness to him. Dia help us if we ever meet his like again."
"Sounds like what I've heard of the famed Knights Templar. After the Imperial Guard, they're the most feared troops in the Galaxy. In some places, they ARE the most feared."
Thorn had finished her scan. "Nothing."
"Are you sure?" Raymont asked, disappointed.
"Look," she handed him the scanner. She was right. There was nothing. Rabastus was as frugal as his quarter's suggested.
"Shall we?" Thorn said, nodding through the open doorway toward the Teleport.
"Where else would those artifacts be?" Raymont asked, frustrated.
"They could be anywhere on this ship," Thorn told him. "And we could spend years and not find them. If they were in the front part of this tub, then they were probably destroyed in the crash. We could be just chasing moonbeams."
"Where would you hide the artifacts if you were the commander of this ship?" Raymont asked.
"With the Captain?" Thorn offered. "Or maybe some other officer - or maybe a priest?"
"A priest!" Raymont said. "I'll bet that's it. I forgot, archeology falls under church supervision. They probably had a prelate or other high ranking cleric onboard. He had knowledge of the artifacts. Even Rabastus didn't know about them. But who knows where we could look for them." Raymont sighed, obviously disappointed.
Thorn tapped him on the shoulder to remind him. "We'd better get going."
Leon called down to let them know a discovery of Bug's. According to Bug, leaving the time indicator on an infinite setting would keep the teleporter from recalling the transported subject back to the pad. It was a welcome discovery as no one wanted to leave the ship, only to be transported back in time for the Divinity's destruction.
Raymont set the coordinates for the cryochamber, as recorded in Thorn's multiscanner. Though he had played with the unit, this was it's first use on living subjects. All of them felt a queer nauseous feeling in their abdomen, then the room they were in seemed to dim, superimposed on the brightening image of an immense chamber filled with cryoberths. Then they were there, just like that, Rabastus room only a fleeting memory captured on their retinae. Still, the nausea was still with them.
"Thorn? Raymont?" Tessa called out to them.
They turned.
"You know, it's only a thought, but the room where I found the jewels I'm carrying and the lightsaber, it seemed to belong to an important person. He was wearing some sort of uniform."
Raymont and Thorn looked at each other.
Raymont asked, "Is it far away?"
"No, not really," Tessa told him.
Raymont looked back at Thorn. "It's worth a try," she told him.
With Tessa in the lead, the three of them made their way to the room Tessa spoke of. She was right. It wasn't far away. In fact, they had passed it earlier on their way to the elevator shaft. Inside, they found a uniformed corpse sitting at a desk, his body still in the disturbed state that Tessa had left it. Above the desk, a holographic projection of a planet floated fixed above the desk, obviously being projected from a plate in the corner. The planet was probably Phaon, judging by the continents. In fact, there was a pulsing red light in the holograph, approximating the current location of the Divinity.
Tessa pointed at the holograph. "That started when I first got here. I'm only glad that Jessine isn't here," Tessa said. "She wouldn't have remembered this place."
Raymont and Thorn thought that Tessa's having to share her body with another personality was decidedly unsettling, but neither commented.
"Anything?" Raymont asked Thorn.
"I've got a weird null reading," she said. "Otherwise nothing."
Raymont looked at her. "What do you mean by a null reading?"
"Well, like the same scan that Onzlo supposedly got when he found this ship. A nothing reading, like something's absorbing my scan. Something, about one meter square. I think it's under this desk."
They all exchanged glances. Then they tried pushing the desk. It didn't budge. Not to be undone, Thorn activated her lightsaber and with a few awkward sweeps, cut what was obviously an expensive piece of furniture into debris whose edges glowed with the heat from her sword.
Continuing downward, she cut through the floor and then threw her lightsaber away, crying out in pain. There was a hiss and looking toward her thrown sword, all could see that it was melting.
"Must've been some sort of feedback," Raymont announced.
Still, Thorn's efforts still had managed to reveal a small hole.
Feeling ballsy, Raymont reached down, half expecting his arm to drop off. Feeling something spongy, he yanked out a foam box, when opened revealed what looked like a piece of abstract pottery, something resembling a plate with upfolded wings. Though inanimate, the thing was definitely weird feeling and slimy, like having some sort of wet membrane. Feeling down again, he pulled out two more packages.
"There's more," he announced.
"We'll have to leave them," Thorn said. "Let's get out of here."
"No," Raymont protested. But then, trying again, he found that all of the remaining packages were too large or heavy to lift through the small hole that Thorn had made. Tessa tried her lightsaber too, but it also shorted out. She had to throw it away, useless.
"Well, I hope these things were worth it," Thorn said, sad at having lost her sword.
The three of them walked quickly back to the cryochamber.

"Solo, I swear you're going to lick that thing next," Leon said, observing Solo's glassy eyed stare as he continued to run his hand over the hull of the tank. Bug had finally restored power to the bay and was working on the teleporters. Now they were able to view the vehicles in all of their assembled glory. Solo had been right. Though teleport pads were the primary means of exiting the bay, a secondary egress, consisting of huge bay doors also were evident, consisting of the very floor under their feet. Obviously, such was blocked by the ship having been buried. Leon thought it was lucky this chamber hadn't been destroyed in the crash. Probably armour reinforced.
"What kind is it, do you know?" Solo asked.
"It's a Grey Panther, Robotic Hovertank. Four-hundred and fifty tons. That's an automated tank - no crew."

Leon didn't know why he knew this. He'd never seen this type of vehicle before. He was certain of that, but for some reason, he just knew.

"Oooh! What's this one!" Solo asked, running towards a new love.
"They call it a `Mouse.'" It was an obviously gross caricature. The mouse was a huge behemoth of a tank, bristling with weaponry. "Eight-hundred and fifty tons, reinforced crysteel hull, two Mark thirty laser cannons, missile launchers, etc.
"OH MY GOD!! I GOTTA HAVE IT!!!!" Solo ran over to an even more monstrous vehicle, his large frame made puny and insignificant standing next to the deadly machine.
Leon continued his lesson, "Patriarch Mobile Control Center: four-thousand, eight-hundred and fifty tons, fifteen mark fifty weapon mounts, fifteen mark thirty, ten mark twenty, and missiles and other assorted nasties.
"MINE!! YOUR HEAR ME!! IT'S MINE MINE MINE!!!"
"Get a grip, will you Solo," Leon sighed. "I was actually thinking of one of these." He pointed to a smaller tank, but only small in the sense of comparing it to the other monsters.
"Mercury Light Scout Tank: Hardened Steel hull, Mark-six laser, very fast and maneuverable. Only eighty-five tons. This thing will give us the speed to get out of here quick and maybe avoid any trouble later."
Solo looked at the Mercury, his nose wrinkling like he'd been made to smell a pile of shit. He patted the Patriarch. "No! This one! This one!"
"Solo! We'd be dead of old age before we got ten kilometers in that thing. We need something with speed! Lot's of speed! And what do you plan to do with that? You gonna just park it in downtown Darbyville?"
Joe made his appearance at this point.
"Nice toys," he commented.
"This one's mine!" Solo warned him, patting the Patriarch.
Joe ignored him, focussing instead on something that looked like a giant robot. "What the hell's that?"
Leon looked over at it. "Robotic Comboid. Can't recognize the model. Looks like a special job." They could see painted on the upper chassis, the name, `Rabastus.'
While the three of them argued which vehicle to take, Bug worked on powering the teleporters, which he was able to do only by the time Raymont, Thorn and Tessa made their tardy appearance.
"Solo! That thing takes a crew of twenty-five just to get it started! Give it up!" was the first thing they all heard, upon exiting the cryoberths.
"What's going on?" Raymont asked.
"We're trying to explain to Solo here that we have only one choice of tank we can take. The Mercury takes a crew of three. That means, with myself, Bug and Solo, we'll have the minimal skill, hopefully, to get that thing going and operated, with me manning the gun in case we get into something. He wants a bigger tank."
Thorn sighed. They wouldn't be leaving just yet.
Finally, Leon was able to convince Solo that time was pressing. Not only the question of the destruct, which was theoretically just a day and a half away, but the promised appearance of a Dia Khoravic rescue ship was enough to convince everyone that the time had come to leave. Setting the transporter time sequence to an infinity setting so they would not be automatically beamed back, Bug programmed the transporter and then hovered into the scout tank in order to help Solo fly it. Solo didn't seem very skilled at all. Bug, surprisingly, was able to compensate and together, they roughly guided the tank into place. There was a pulling feeling at their stomachs, not at all comfortable, though not as pronounced as the feeling Raymont and the others had felt earlier. Suddenly, they were on the surface. It was night.
Leon cast a fearful eye on the cold clear sky above him. "Let's get out of here, he called down from his weapon's mount. Down below, everyone was cramped into an uncomfortable box, while Solo and Bug worked together to fly the thing.
"What about supplies?" Tessa asked, thinking of Onzlo's stores in the cave.
"Forget them," Raymont said, also infected by Leon's concerns. He'd forgotten about the supposed rescue ship, and he didn't want to stick around. They had enough food to see them back. And they were all glad to be going.

Shallow plate with wings- statis, force grid. Totally impervious.
Fleet Mine - Blast radius of 1.03 AU. Statis field imbedded. no indications beyond growing heat.
Multi legged thing - manipulator - changes molecular pattern of objects within the field it is in. Used for sculpting and repair. Can also repair organic matter, but only when original tissue is still present.

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