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The arrival of the Albatross<\/em> in the local evening was cause for celebration amongst the Team\u2014their ticket off this snowball, in the form of a [coupling] to repair the broken jump-drive. Listening in to ATC radio traffic, they heard their captain declare they were looking for the Titanic VII<\/em> and wanting to know what happened; the colony director took the comm himself, and told them \u201cIt\u2019s complicated,\u201d and that they should look up the surviving crew once on the ground.<\/p>\n The next morning, the Albatross<\/em> was observed taking off, heading in the general direction of the wreck of the Titanic,<\/em> and returning some time later. Haank commed over to see what they had found; they reported that they had only found a little debris at the site, the rest presumably having sunk into the depths, but that was good enough to corroborate the report of the accident.<\/p>\n In the morning, Abe returned with a smile, to tend to the formerly-drunk (Luke had passed out in one of the passenger cabins), giving Ella a knowing high-five\u2014although her meeting had resulted in capitulation, with regard to the jump-drive parts, Ella would never actually<\/em> reveal what it had cost her. Some time later, Kaalii returned with an old, spare [coupling] that should do the trick, and assisted Buck in installing it; with Buck\u2019s expert touch (or good luck), they figured it might last quite a while. <\/p>\n So, finally, the survivors of the Titanic VII<\/em> were free to leave Kegena-Prime.<\/p>\n Haank immediately hit the network to pick up some freight and\/or passengers bound for Bevey. He found enough of both to fill the ship to capacity. Three cabins were spoken for already: Kella paid the standard-rate for a cabin (covered by her grant money), and Smith and Jones had already been offered a ride out of here. He avoided the Astro-Core freight, and put the leftover passenger cabins to auction, getting considerably more than the average\u2014a lot of folk were also desperate to get anywhere-but-here. It was decided to take on jump-fuel from the sea\u2014as Kegena was 90% water. Once the fees were taken care of, and everything\/everyone stowed, the Proud Mary<\/em> took to the Black once more, to leave Kegena-Prime in her wake; some hours later, without incident, she made the transition to jump-space, Bevey-bound. The Team took advantage of the week in jump-space to discuss their options, but they were all in general agreement that staying headquartered at Bevey would be less than desirable\u2014thanks to the iron-fisted government\u2014and that continuing in the employ of Neverfail, LLC (headquartered in Bevey), which would undoubtedly mean returning to Kegena, was also right out. There was also the matter of the ownership of the Proud Mary,<\/em> registered at Rhylanor; after some plotting, they determined it might be best to take her to Rhylanor and declare for salvage in-person, taking a bit of cargo on the way\u2014a chance to make some money first, in the event someone laid claim to her.<\/p>\n![\"CptStannis\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/CptStannis.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>The Albatross<\/em> set down next to the Proud Mary<\/em> on the clearing that served as the colony\u2019s landing pad. The Team went out to meet her crew, and invited them aboard to go over the situation. Seated in the passenger lounge on the top deck, drinking Buck\u2019s coffee, Ella told the whole story, from the asteroid-strike to the final showdown with Astro-Core. The captain of the Albatross,<\/em> Stannis, explained that they were chartered by the company to determine the condition of the Titanic<\/em> and get it running again, if necessary, and were not prepared for a total loss of the ship, nor authorized to render aid to its survivors. It was apparent that their captain didn\u2019t really trust the Titanic\u2019s<\/em> survivors, but Ella successfully convinced him to give their claims a serious look anyway. However, as she followed up with an attempt to guilt-trip him into giving up the jump-drive parts, he took offense and insisted the meeting was over. The crew of the Albatross<\/em> was escorted off the ship, and were thereafter observed being intercepted and picked up by an Astro-Core roller on the way into the colony. Afterward, the Team spent some time discussing their limited options, in the event the Albatross<\/em> refused to help.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>The Team was bereft of ideas on how to repair the situation, and by proxy, the jump-drive. Sam suggested they smooth over any raw nerves with copious amounts of adult-beverages; it might be a stretch, but the others agreed to give it a shot, taking the opportunity to do whatever it took to convince the Albatross\u2019<\/em> crew that they were worthy of a second chance. Almost-surprisingly, given the earlier encounter, the scout\u2019s crew agreed to come over. Over the next hours, Sam engaged their XO, Luke, in some lively drinking games (specifically, Battle-Shots<\/a>), while Haank and Buck cheered them on (Haank capitalized on Luke\u2019s inebriation to find out how their encounter with Astro-Core had gone; Luke admitted Astro-Core had tried to strong-arm them into not<\/em> helping get the Proud Mary<\/em> off the planet); Abe schmoozed up to Kaalii, their engineer, eventually following her back to her ship to spend the night; Ella took Cpt. Stannis to the bridge to talk, one-on-one. <\/p>\n