Pool Area and Trophy Display

[Merle]

So deeply sorry for your loss, Lastone.

[The Master]

I am so sorry Lastone.

[Qray]

You have my deepest sympathies, my friend.

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

[Boikat]

The feeling of infinite darkness faded, and Boikat shook his head to clear it, then asked again, "Why are you still smiling and waiving that memory core?"

Q, also shaking off the darkness, said, "That Star destroyer was on a mission to pick up a delivery, in a way." said the rogue with a mischevious grin.

"And that's better than looking for 500 metric tons of unobtainum, how?" asked the felid.

"Because I know where the goods are, but not the unobtainium." said Q as he turned to look for the navigation console. "Where's the nav-comp?" he asked.

"In these ships, they're sealed units. Why?"

Qray held up the Nav Comp memory core, "Need to get the destination coordinates." he said.

"I doubt it's compatible with federation tech." said Boikat. "We need to go to the PATD, so I can steal the Black Pearl III back from Merle and nomad, assuming they didn't pile it up on an asteroid...."

"And the Black Pearl's nav comp is compatible with the Evil Galactic Empire's nav comps?" asked Tipper.

"No, but the main cmputer has a Universal Interface Adapter, so we should be able to read the memory core."

"I like it!" said Qray, and made a stiff-armed chopping motion, "Forward! Nnnnever givvve up! Nnnnever surrrender! Aaa-aaah ahh!" followed by a few more chopping motions.

Boikat made his way back to the cockpit, and after twiddling a few knobs and pressing a few buttons, moved the throttles up, and the 737-9000 jumped into warp....



"PATD in about an hour.." announced Boikat.

[Boikat]

Merle had his feet propped up on the bar, and was busy racking up a new bar tab, and looked at the Black Pearl III, which was sitting alone on the parking slab outside of the bar...



He took another drink of ale....



and noticed something different....



"Now where did that come from?" he asked himself, and took another draw from the tankard...



Then noticed that something was missing...



"Hmm.... Well, the cat can't blame me if someone stole his stolen ship! Cloney, more ale!!"

[Boikat]

Once back behind the controls of the "Black Pearl III", and the PATD was shrinking behind the, Boikat turned to Q, "So, where to?"

Q put on his patented rougish grin, and placed the Nave Comp memory core in the Universal Interface port. After a few moments of beeping and flashing lights, and a final "Ding!", the UI sent the co-ordinates to the Pearl's nav comp, and much to Boikat's surpirse, the auto-pilot engaged and the small ship jumped into hyperspace.

"I half expected that." said Q.

"I didn't." said Boikat. "Where are we headed?"

"You'll see.." said Q.

Boikat looked over to Tipper, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat. "I hate it when he does that."

Tipper said nothing. She was studying the ship's instruments, specifically the nav display. "According to this, we're headed to an empty spot between these two spiral arms..."

"You're picking up the ol' co-pilot routine pretty fast.." said Boikat as he studied the display, "And you're right. Q, what have you gotten us headed for?"

Q only smiled back and said, "Trust me." then smiled again.

Veneno had entered the cockpit and heard the last bit of the converation and said, "I'll save us a little time and check the weapons now...'"

"No need." said Q, "Besides, if it goes wrong, weapons won't help." Then the rogue left te bridge before anyone could assail him with more questions.

"Oh, joy." said Boikat.

*************

Time in hyperspace is a funny thing. Just when you think you're going to go stir-crazy from all the tedious mucking about involved in hyperspace travel, you are at your destination...

*************

Boikat keyed the intercom, "Dropping out of hyperspace..." At tht moment, a burst of static came over the comm speaker. "Welcome to the Stand-by back-up Earth Mk IV, temporary headquarters for Magrathea Inc. If you are here for new business, lock on to becon 1. if you are here for old busines from before the economic down-turn, lock on to becon 2. If you are here to file a complaint lock on beacon 3."

"That would be Beacon 2" said Qray, as he entered the flight deck.

"Old business?" asked the felid.

Q held up a plastic card, "Yes, very old. I lifted this from the Star Destroyer."

"What is it?" asked Tipper.

"Sales recipt." said Q with a smile.

"A sales recipt from Magrathea can only mean a planet. Q, you already have a planet, Bob...." said Boikat, looking puzzled.

"Ah, to be sure..." said Q, and again, he smiled his rogish grin, ad left the flight deck without further comment.

Tipper looked at Boikat, "I hate that. Can I torture him..."

"No. At least not for yet...." said the felid as he scanned for "Beacon 2". After a few seconds, "Beacon 2 locked.... Hmmmm, seems to be some place in the Carribean of Stand-by Back-up Earth Mk IV, but not on an island..."

The "Black Pearl III" nosed down and followed the signal of Beacon 2. "We're still locked on Auto-pilot.." commented Tipper.

Boikat looked out the forward view port as the planet grew larger with increasing speed. "Don't you just love it?"

The ship nosed up and dropped speed, then began to fall almost straight down, then began to rock back and forth as it went into a high speed stall, then the nose pitched down again, causing the craft to pick up speed and stabilize, then it nosed up again, went into another whobbly high speed stall, then nosed down...

"If this keeps up, I'm gonna barf.." said Boikat.

Tipper didn't say anything since she was busy reading the instructions of the in-flight air sickness bag.

Luckly, the ship leveled out and maintained a slow and steady descent. "That's better.." said Boikat.

Tipper, looking a dark shade of green said, "Great. Now can I torture him?"

"No, look..." Boikat pointed, "A ship.."

Ahead of them, a large ocean liner sat on the horizon. Looking at the Nav display, Boikat zoomed in on the scale, "That's where we're headed, apparently."

The automatic pilot guided the small ship to a smooth landing, and stopped next to the liner. "Now what?" Boikat asked.

Q poked his head inside the cockpit, "All aboard that's going aboard!"

Boikat looked at the water. "Meow!"

[Boikat]

Boikat sat in the pilot's seat with a sour look on his face. "Water. Oceans of water...."

Q poked hi head into the flight deck, "You staying here?"

"Water." said Boikat, as if that said it all.

"Suit yourself...".

Behind him, he heard three splashes, and a few seconds later, he saw Qray, Veneno and WildCard swim past the viewport towards the ocean liner sized personal yatch of Slartybartfast.

"So, I'm guessing you don't like water." said TipperG.

"It has it's place. Given a choice, I don't touch the stuff." said Boikat.

"Feeling extra feline today, eh?" asked Tipper with a smile.

Boikat smiled back. "Meow!"

Half an hour past, then an hour, then another half hour.

"I am beginning to wonder what the Rogue is up to here..." said Boikat.

"Only now?" asked Tipper.

"Well....." Boikat began, but was interupted by a beeping tone from the comm. Boikat sat bolt upright, and studied the display.

"Mesage from Q?" asked Tipper.

Boikat listened to the irregular pattern of the beeps. "No. A distress becon. What's more, it's a Felid distress becon!" He glance at Tipper, "Secure the hatch. We're leaving!" and began flipping switches.

Tipper looked at Boikat, "But what about...?"

"They'll be fine. Secure the hatch then get back up here and strap in." Tipper left and Boikat busied himself with restarting the engines and then studied the comm to get a fix on the signal. Tipper reappeared and strapped herself into the co-pilots seat. "I have signal lock, " said the felid, "and some appropriate music...."

The "Superman" Theme" rolled out of the sound system.

"A bit austentatious, isn't it?" asked Tipper.

"Meh..." the felid shrugged. "Hold on to your hat..."

"But I'm not wearing a hat." said Tipper as she was pushed back into the acceleration couch as Boikat slammed the throttles full forward.

http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn10 ... ndaway.mp4

[Boikat]

Hours passed as Boikat kept his eyes on the nav comp's plot of their location while in hyperspace.

"You seem a bit... obsessed." said Tipper.

"A Felid distress signal. That's all i need to become obsessed." said Boikat with a slight edge.

Tipper sat in silence for a moment.

"Because thare are so few Felids?"

Boikat did not respond at efirst, then said, "Felids were once fairly widespred in the Orion Arm of the Galaxy, but then there was a war, a civil war of sorts, 'Civil' in that we didn't shoot at each other, but rather the Prides decided to distance themselves from each other."

"Prides?"

"Clans, factions, or guilds, call them what you will, but the traditional term was 'Prides'. Most of the Prides dwindled and died out...This was many thousands of years ago, by the way. Eventually only three remained. The Hunters, the Warriors and the Explorers."

"Which are you?" asked Tipper, having curled her long legs up into her seat.

"Explorer Pride. We are the most dispersed on the Prides, since, frankly, a large group of Felid showing up pretty much looks like a raiding party to most species. Because of that, we dispersed in our own way by taking on employment as pilots or crew for any ship that needed a pilot, or crewmen. After a few thousand years, that makes for a pretty spread out population. Any two Felids may run across another once every ten years or so, if they are lucky." Boikat was silent again, then said, "That's why this distress signal is so important. It's a distress code from a member of the Explorer Pride."

Tipper thought for a moment. "So, what do two felids do when they meet after being so dispersed?"

Boikat shrugged, "Tell lies, get blasted, then kick the ever livin' crap out of each other..." The nav comp "Beeped". "Coming out of Hyper... G581g... Never heard of it. Hold on..."

[Boikat]

Boikat continued to study the nav comp's display and adjusting the course of the Black Pearl III to keep it "on the beam" to follow the distress call to it's source. Tipper was doing the same, except she was corelating the origin of the signal to a surface scan of the planet and comparing it to a digital planetary atlas database.

"It doesn't look like this planet was ever mapped in any great detail.." she said. "Just general terrain. It looks like the signal is originating in an area simply marked as 'Eastern Desert". Tipper looked out the front view port, and at the building, more detailed, surface scan display. "The problem is, this planet is mostly desert."

Boikat glanced up, "Just our luck. I think I have a good lock..."

The felid nosed the ship down and increased power causing the Pearl to desend rapidly into the planet's atmosphere. After a few minutes, they could hear the noise of the air begin to buffet the small craft, and Boikat backed off the power and looking out the port said, "In that valley, up ahead. Go to narrow scan. See if you can spot the ship or beacon."

Tipper flipped a few switches and studied the display. "I see it. It looks like a medium sized freighter. It's up ahead next to those mountains. Switching to IR.. Nothing except a small trace... Probably from the beacon."

Boikat thought for a second. "Okay a quick fly-over, then we'll land a safe distance away and watch for a bit...."

By the time he said that, the ship was visible. "No sign of life, but still." said the felid as they flew over the freighter.



Tipper pointed, "That looks good, behind those hills. They look like volcanos."

Boikat nodded, banked around to get some turning room, and backed the power down slightly. After circling around and slowing, he lowered the gear and flaps, and let the Pearl settle to the ground with only a slight bit of bouncing over the less than flat surface, then came to a stop.

*********************************

A pair of yellow eyes squinted in the late morning sun from under the shadow of the hulking freighter. Looking out cautiously, a grizzled felid wearing a thread bare flight suit blinked a few time and saw a small black ship fly overhead and disappear behind a small line of hills.

"Ship!", he exclaimed, then turned and ran back under the freighter and up the boarding ramp. Once inside, he started yelling, "Mug-gee! Mug-gee! Wake up! Ship! Ship!" He continued running until he reached the bridge. "Mug-gee! Ship!" He stopped in front of the captains console. "Mug-gee! Ship!"

The name tag on the Captain's flight jacket said "Maggy". Maggy did not respond.

"Mug-gee, it's me, Tucker! I saw a ship!" Maggy still did not move. Tucker stood for a few moments, his eyes beginning to mist over. He blinked back what may have been tears, flicked his tail forward and grabbed it and began sucking of the fur at the tip of his tail, then said, "I guess you're still tired Mug-gee. I'll go back out and wait for you to catch up on your sleep..." Tucker turned and started to leave the bridge, but turned again before he left, "Please wake up Mug-gee!"

Maggy still didn't respond, her eyes remained closed, she did not breath a sigh of relief at the prospect of a rescue. She had stopped breathing almost ten years ago.

******************************

Looking dapper in their home-made desert cammo "Gilly suits", Boikat and Tipper inched their way up the small volcanic cinder cone until they caught sight if the derelict freighter. The felid put a pair of field glasses up to his eyes.

"Nothing."

Tipper reached into a small pouch and lulled out a small polished round quartz sphere about the size of a golf ball and held it up to her right eye.

"Oh? What's that then?" she asked.

"Where?" asked Boikat.

"There. Next to that landing strut thing.."

Boikat increased the zoom of the field glasses. "Ah! I see him! A fellow felid!" he said with a half smile. Then the smile dropped, "Something's not right with him though.."

"What do you mean?" asked Tipper.

"He's sucking on his tail. That's usually a bad sign. Felids never do that unless they are very young, like human children sucking their thumbs. Adult felids don't do that unless they're suffering from some form of shock, trauma, extremely frightened, or.. well, 'infirm'. It's considered a bad habit."

"Lone survivor? If he's been here a while, would that cause that?" asked Tipper.

Boikat looked around at the arid surroundings, "Around here, I can see that. Felids prefer foresty places, with trees and green." Boikat studied the figure some more. It was pacing and fidgeting, and continued to suck on the end of it's tail.

"Okay, you wait here. Watch, but stay here, uness something 'weird' happens, like if a bunch of little green carnivorous three-year-old berillium miners suddenly come pouring out of the surroundings. If that happens, don't spare the ammo."

"Huh?"

"Never mind..." said Boikat as he slowly rose to his feet and dumped the Gilly suit.

**************************

Tucker heard someone calling from a distance. A faint "hello!". He cautiously looked from behind the landing strut, and let the tip of his tail fall from his mouth. Still a distance off, he saw another felid walking towards the freighter. Again he heard "Hello!" drift across the dry ground. Tucker dithered for a second, trying to decide if he should walk out an meet the stranger, or go back into the ship and try to wake Maggy again. Finally, he decided to walk out and meet the strange felid.

Even after making up his mind, he had to force himself to take that first step. Flicking his tail, he grabbed it and stuck the tip back in his mouth, drew a deep breath, and stepped into view. The other felid didn't break strids, but instead held his arms open, level with his shoulders, swept slightly back. Tucker grinned and let his tail fall again. The gesture was the traditional Explorer Pride greeting, mimmicking the swept back wings of a flying machine. This was their greeting, since most of the Explorere lineage were pilots. Tucker returned the gesture, though his "wings" drooped slightly. Both held their arms in possition until they were about ten feet from each other, then each tipped their right arm and circled each other once as if the were fighter pilots sizing up an opponant.

Boikat studied the other felid. He saw the name "Tucker" on the name tag. Dropping his arms, he pointing to himself, he said, "Boikat."

"Tucker." came the reply.

Boikat looked at the other felid. It was obvious that he had had a rough time, and it showed. His mouth hung open slightly, and the left lower canine was missing. The eyes looked slightly dull, and his expression was mostly blank. In other words, Boikat saw a felid on the ragged edge of survival, maybe even on the ragged edge of sanity.

"I imagine you're about ready to leave this rock." Boikat said casually. "Anyone else on board?"

Tucker blinked. "Just Mug-gee. But she's sleeping right now. Then there's the rest of the crew, but they're up in the caves, feeding the Brains."

Boikat blinked. "Feeding the what?"

"The Brains." repeated Tucker. Boikat noticed a slight shudder when he said that.

"Felids?"

Tucker shook his head, "No. Hoomans."

"Humans..feeding the Brains..?" Boikat asked since he wanted to make sure he fully understood what Tucker was saying.

"Yes. Mug-gee saved me from them."

"But not the humans?" Boikat asked.

"She saved me then went to sleep." said Tucker. Boikat noticed that Tucker's eyes started to get misty, and with a flick, his tail whipped around, and the worn felid grabbed it, and started sucking on the tip. Boikat felt a chill run up his back.

"How long ago was that?" he asked.

"Uuuh, five or ten years ago..." Tucker said, looking towards the horizon, at the ground, at the sky, but not at Boikat.

"Don't worry about it, Tucker," Boikat said quietly. "I'm going to call a friend of mine, my co-pilot. Everything's going to be okay. Okay?"

Tucker nodded as he sucked on his tail some more. Boikat put his finger in his ear, "Tipper, it's okay here, but there's some caves I think we need to visit."

Boikat's com-cricket crackled, "Caves? What kind of caves, and what kind of visit?"

"The kind that may involve some demolition."

"So, you want something that goes 'Boom!' from the Pearl?"

"Just to be safe, dear." said the felid.

"I'll be there in twenty.."

Tucker listened to the one side of the conversation. then said, "Going to the caves? Going to save the hoomans?"

Boikat nodded, but thought to himself, "If there's any 'hoomans' left to save......" Boikat also noticed a distinct look of fear in Tuckers eyes, too.

[Boikat]

It seemed like hours, but after about twenty minutes, Boikat and Tucker heard the crunch of footsteps on dry gravel and saw Tipper approaching from the direction of the Black Pearl III, carrying a storage case.

As she approched the cargo ship, Tipper looked it over and saw the name "El Dorado" on the side of the hull. "Nice name." she thought to herself. It was a faily large ship, too. It made the Black Pearl III look like a toy. She could barely make out Boikat and the other felid in it's shadow.

As Tipper walked up, Boikat nodded and gestured and said, "This is Tucker. The other crewman, Mugee, is .. um.. sleeping at the moment. Sleeping, apparently for the last five or ten years... Tucker, this it TipperG."

Tipper set down the storage container and looked at Boikat, then at Tucker. "Tucker" she said with a nod. "Asleep for that long?"

Tucker sucked on the end of his tail again and nodded. Tipper looked at Boikat, then back at Tucker. "Is it okay if I take a look?"

Tucker looked undecided. Boikat thought perhaps Tucker new that Mugee was not asleep, but was doing everything possible inside his mind to avoid the obvious.

"Tucker, maybe Tipper and I should both take a look." and nodded to the boarding ramp. Tucker looked back and forth between the two a few times, then nodded. "Maybe she'll wake up if she hears visitors...." then walked towards the ramp. Boikat couldn't help but notice that Tucker seemed to be still hesitating in his walk, and felt sorry for the weathered cat.

The inside of the El Dorado was dimly lit, as if the ship was on emergency standby power. The inside of the El Dorado was also a laberynth of passages and intesecting corridors and ramps to other decks. The three eventualy made it to a cental corridor, and after what seemed like a quarter mile walk ended up facing a set of sliding doors. Tucker reached up to tap the "Open" button, hesitated, then pressed it. The doors to an elevator opened, and Tucker stood there, and with a flick, caught the end of his tail and began sucking on it again, then stepped in. Boikat and Tipper followed. Inside, Tucker looked at the control panel, but again, just stood there. Boikat looked at the panel and saw a button marked "Bridge".

"Mugee is napping on the Bridge?"

Tucker nodded.

Boikat pressed the "Bridge" button. The doors slid shut and the elevator lurched and started moving up. After a moment, it stopped, and the doors slid open. As it did, Tucker began sucking his tail again, and the look of fear played across his face. Tipper and Boikat stepped out of the elevator and into the bridge. They saw someone, another felid, sitting in the Captain's chair in the center of the bridge, facing away from them. Tucker seemed content to stay in the elevator. Boikat and Tipper shot each other a quick glance then walked towards the Captain, and circled around in front of the silent felid. Boikat did a double take. First off, Mugee was a she. Second, if she had been actualy dead for the last five or ten years, she was amazingly well preserved. Her name tag also read "Maggy", not "Mugee". Boikat had expeced a mumified corpse, but there was no sign of decay or desication. Boikat looked at Tipper.

Tipper had a strange look on her face, as if she were trying to hear something. "What is it?" asked Boikat.

"Quiet!" She leaned closer, then held her right hand over Maggy's head, and after a few seconds she said, "Dreaming."

"Dreaming?" asked Boikat, then looked at Maggy again. "You mean... But she's not breathing..."

"Yes." said Tipper, "She is asleep. But it's a deep sleep. I know she's dreaming, but it's a deep dream and slow. I can't explain it. It's as if she's been drugged or something. I think she's dreaming about what happened, but it's like it's slowed down and so deep that I can only see dim images..... She's dragging Tucker out of a cave...."

Boikat leaned closer to Tipper an looked towards the elevator, where Tucker still stood as he sucked on the end of his tail. "You don't think...."

Tipper seemed to concentrate as she continued to hold her hand next to Maggy's forehead, then said, "No... No.. somethng else, but I can't see it."

"Wait." said Boikat, "Tucker said something about a cave. Brains in a cave. The human crew were 'feeding brains in a cave'."

Tipper stood up and dropped her hand. "Brains in a cave?"

"Thats what Tucker said, which is why I asked for something that goes 'boom', earlier. Shall we dance?"

Tipper thought for a second, "If I can find out what happened, I might be able to wake her up. Dancing sound good."

The two went back to the elevator and once inside Boikat said to Tucker, "We'd like to see those cave you were talking about."

Tucker blinked, "You want to see the cave with the Singing Brains?" he asked.

"Singing Brains. I wouldn't want to miss that for the world." said Boikat.

[Qray]

“So, would you mind telling us what we’re doing here?” WildCard asked as her and Veneno followed behind a determinedly striding Q.

“I can't,” the rogue insisted. "It’s too early in the story for exposition."

“He almost sounds smug,” Veneno observed.

“I think I'm going to hurt him,” WildCard muttered

“It’s all about to become clearer,” Q insisted as he suddenly stopped and opened a cabin door.

“Well,” WildCard peered into the small space past the door. “Now it all makes sense. We came all this way to look at a mop.”

Q scratched his head as he closed the mop closet door. Producing a squeaking sound as he looked upward. “Huh, the Bridge must be one more deck up.”

[Qray]

Many minutes, and four decks later, Q, WildCard and Veneno found the bridge.

“So NOW we’re going to find out what we’re doing here?” WildCard more stated than asked. One of those “we’d better find out soon, Wonko” statements that it seemed she had to whip out more often than she’d like.

“Most assuredly,” Q assured as he whipped open the door to the cruise ship’s bridge. “Er...or not.”

Q’s sudden change of attitude didn’t have anything to do with once more discovering a mop closet. The trio had in fact located the bridge. And it was a fine bridge. With all the things you’d expect to find on a bridge, it looked very bridgsie. Except there was no one there. Which honestly didn’t take away from the bridge’s bridgsie looks. Which were all very bridgsie.

“How does a ship sail without anyone on the bridge?” Veneno asked as she let a hand slide inside her meticulously fitted suit coat to feel the reassuring grip of her Ruger.

“It might make sense,” Q muttered as he studied a deck plan bolted to the bulkhead. “The only question is where is he?”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s the ONLY question,” WildCard smiled. “Wait, where who is?”

“I can’t tell you,” Q again assured. “Far too early in the story for exposition.”

“That’s it!” WildCard’s smile suddenly faded. “I need a drink! Or something to hit you with. I need to have a drink and then hit you with the empty bottle is what I need.”

Q tapped the deck plan and grinned. “There’s a lounge halfway down the promenade deck.”

“Well then, let’s promenade!”