Saying goodbye to the crew

It was always going to happen someday. It’s only been a few weeks since we ticked off Hyperion by stealing their ship in the Wonderlands, but I feel somewhat attached to this giant space bucket now. The ship crew switched allegiances easily enough, credits made that easy, so I’m under no illusion that this is some sort of family situation here. This is business. Still, this huge slab of steel and bolts had become our home. I still remember that soldier being tossed into the engine and melting before our eyes! And that spot in the cargo hold that won’t quite clean up after we exploded a bunch of goblins all over the walls and floor. I’m not going to miss this vault, though.

Now it’s time for a little switch up! The gang was able to get a line on a new ship, something smaller, that we can use to keep going. That should hopefully also throw off any tails we might have, at least temporarily. The smart move would be to switch out the whole crew, but even on a smaller ship we are going to need some extra help. Zoe said Sparky would be coming along, helping out with the mechanical work on the ship. It’s a smart move, but I’m still not sure about Sparky. Both Sparky and Gibson showed up on ship at a very… convenient… moment. Going to have to keep my eye on these two. I wonder if Chef will be coming along? That mercenary crew needs a leader, but I think Fin would miss the “fine” dining.

Penny and I packed up our things, and it didn’t take long. Neither of us have much anymore that we can’t fit in a pack. A long way from the wooden porch, living room, and the kitchen neither of us knew how to use properly! I asked Penny how she felt leaving the vault here. It’s been a quiet few days and Penny hadn’t mentioned the voice in her head. Just to be safe, it was probably worth checking. Penny and I chatted about the move between ships, and her little friend in there. This wasn’t going to be easy, and it would be very obvious to Slug Thing that this wasn’t the right planet we had landed on. It’s a little like prisoner transfers… you can keep things a lot calmer if you explain what’s about to go down. That way there are no surprises or outbursts that you have to deal with. 

I asked Penny to try to talk to that voice in her head, you know, let it know that we were changing ships for something that could get us to Junpai-7. A slight delay, but one that would ultimately be better for everybody involved. Penny agreed, but I don’t know how these things work.

I was still not sure about the transfer… If Penny lost control, things would go south real quick. Penny was pretty sure that it would be okay to get to the new ship, but the real question was whether to slap the restraints on. The lawman side of my brain was telling me to go by the book, you don’t take the risk, you put those cuffs on and make sure you have a loaded gun ready. The part of me who had to pull out pieces of shrapnel from her shoulder after a tough track job was saying to trust her, because she saved your life more times than you can count. 

Once again, the lawman lost out. That’s been happening a lot these days.

Boarding the turtle

As we walked down the cargo ramp, the bright daylight struck us straight on. I raised my arm to shield my eyes, then lowered the brim on my hat. Kaylee took off to explore and stretch her wings. Poor girl has been cooped up, and it ain’t right for her.  It reminded me how long we’d been locked in that vault. The smell of the air on Hephaestus had that extra something that you just don’t get from the air recyclers on a ship. I filled my lungs and enjoyed the warmth of the sun. I was never made for being a spacer. Give me the early light of dawn cresting over the horizon any day over the dark, cold, expanse outside a ship view screen. 

Penny and I had walked slowly down to join the rest of the crew that were moving things over to the new ship. The biggest gun barrel I ever seen was sticking out the back of this thing. A fit like that said this thing was designed more for getting away from things than jumping into them. A couple of turret cannons also made it clear this little thing could defend itself in a fight. As we passed a cargo loading ramp, Fin seemed to be taking apart his birthday car, for some reason, and loading it piece by piece into the ship. I still don’t know what that was all about.

Before boarding, we had sidled up to the side of the ship where it seemed Fin had been scrawling something onto the hull. A call sign was printed on the side of the hull in bold, metallic, lettering: “SHELLY”. Fin had scratched over it with a marker and replaced the name with “GAMERA”. Wonder what that means? Probably something about birthday cakes or maybe a favourite balloon animal. 

Nearby there was a small onramp to the front of the ship where a balding man in overalls was reviewing a pad. A nametag on the overalls read ‘Boris’ and he reminded me a little of that Marcus guy we met in Brymstone, even down to the facial hair. This must be the trader the crew had been talking about. He had wished us good luck on our adventure to find a vault in the Promethean ocean. I tried to play it cool, even though that was news to me. I had smiled, thanked him for his discretion, and wished him good luck with his new crew for the starship. That seemed to remind him of something and he had rushed off to bark more orders at some of the mercenaries. I wonder what the deal with the Promethea vault story was? Must have been one of ours trying to throw people off our trail.

Hand-in-hand, Penny and I turned and headed for our new quarters. Walking aboard, the Gamera had a smell that was definitely different from the big starship we just left. It reminded me of the inside of a garage, but with an even stronger scent of steel, if that is even possible. But it had that same recycled air and industrial lighting that let you know you were about to be in the stars and far from the firm familiarity of land. I had wanted to take Penny on a quick tour of the ship, but I knew we were taking a big risk as it was. After we got to our assigned quarters, I told Penny I would be right back after taking a quick look around, and then popped on an advanced digital locking mechanism on the outside of the door. The quarters were fancier than the vault, nice and comfy, but it was still a cell. It tears at my heart to hear that locking sound as the system engages, knowing how often she must have heard that on Promethea in that place.

I tried to make it quick, though. A short tour of the halls showed the crew picked a real nice runner for the next leg of our trip. I found Zoe in the mechanic’s shop with Deathtrap, a giant grin on her face, which she quickly covered up when she noticed I was peeking in. The walls were lined with shelves and hooks with every gadget or doodad you could imagine. I couldn’t tell a spanner from a splicer, but I’m guessing there are at least two of each here. 

Zoe let me know the Gamera was decently fast, at least faster than the last ship. Apparently we had to sacrifice a little speed to go for something fully loaded with decent shielding. The firepower was not terrible either, and the ship could even go underwater. That is going to be a nice trick we might need, given the destination where we’re headed! Zoe had quickly gone back to checking out all the gear in the room, making sure she knew where everything was. I also caught a glimpse of Sparky grabbing something before they ran down the hall to the engine room. 

There seems to be a med bay too, with a few bio beds and some medical gear, and another part of the ship had what looked like a vault. The real head scratcher was the rec hall near the cargo bay. That was where I laid eyes on the Great Gibson for the first time.  His headshots did not do him justice! That suit! What an outfit. He must command a lot of respect, dressing like that. All fancy and high class! I wonder who makes those suits for him? I tossed him a nod and tip of the hat as I moved along back to the quarters.  

I found our captain going over the consoles in the cockpit and asked Min to help me out with our door. While we walked back to the quarters, I asked why we had added a rec hall. Min explained that Gibson would be using it to gather some income for the ship, paying for his travel with the crew. Maybe pay for some fuel too. Great idea to have a way to bring in credits that isn’t high-risk cargo transport! Once we got to the crew quarters, I explained how the security device worked and gave  her the combination and my shooters. Still trying to take no chances! 

The door closed. Back in the cell. 

It won’t be long before we land on Junpai-7, so before we get there I’ll have to get used to some of the stations on the Gamera. I’ve never worked anything other than some of the comms systems on the big starship before, but I figure I’ll just jump in wherever I can help. No surprise that Min would be piloting the ship, and obviously Zoe and Sparky would make sure the big turtle kept flying. Min mentioned that she was going to put Fin on one of the gunning stations, and that Gibson was going to coordinate from the co-pilot seat. 

I guess I’ll try my hand at the operations, see what I can do with the sensors and comms on this thing. I can always help out Fin with the the cannons, too, should the need arise. Right now, I just can’t wait for us to get to Junpai-7 and get that thing out of Penny’s head.
  

Image credit:

• Cover image: Ghtroc freighter from Star Wars Wiki (Sourced from: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/3/31/Ghtroc720-SotG07.png ) 
• Workshop: Babu Frik’s workshop, sourced from Twitter account @DroidBuilders (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmZMJfXXcAApi7P.jpg )