While en route during the several hours flight to Cleopatra Station from Outlaw Station, Osric had quite an unexpected interaction with the strange alien creature he "liberated" from the Battle Tower on Riot. Osric, attempted to communicate with the Hybrid Mergence, sprinkling it with some water, and trying to send out "positive" psychic vibes. The creature responded quickly, and before Osric could react it had scuttled up his arm, flipped around to the back of his neck, spread out its plantlike tendrils and ATTACHED itself to his spinal column just at the back of his neck between his skull and shoulder blades, a weird shiver ran through Osric's body, but he did not seem to be harmed, other than he was now completely freaked out and had some strange alien symbiote attached to him!!! Later in the flight, Osric eventually told his companions what had happened, half the party was intrigued, the other half considered spacing Osric and his new "friend". After determining that Osric seemed to be still in control of his mind and body, they decided to keep an eye on him, but to not "space him" for now... Varlo resumed piloting their small shuttle to their destination, wondering what he had gotten himself into. Varlo had no issues piloting the small system shuttle the rest of the way to Slough Feg. His background of piloting the cargo haulers back and forth between the Thieves Worlds, allowed him to be make the journey without any issues, thanks to his piloting skills, he was also able to bring the shuttle into orbit without alerting the Starch Orbital Traffic Control Station that did its best to monitor, track and control traffic in and around Slough Feg. Passing near Ahab Station, the crew noted the old Ahab Station was more intact than what the authorities had said on the news reports. Ahab Station, a simian control facility, had been the first casualty of the Ape Uprising a year ago, the apes had reportedly blown the station to bits, but the companions could see that while the command module was completely destroyed, much of the station was still together. The rumors about this station dating back to the Terran Mandate must be true after all, it's Mandate Tech construction had allowed it to remain mostly intact even with the loss of its main command & control module. Varlo picked up an official Thieves Guild automated beacon, warning all space traffic away from Ahab Station. Able seemed to be very interested in Ahab Station, and strongly encouraged the group to make a detour to "recon the wrecked space station. Able hinted he knew of some lootable tech onboard that could benefit the party. Varlo voiced concerns about delaying their job for Mr. Grimm, Varlo felt like Mr. Grimm wasn't someone to cross. The group decided that Grimm had stressed speed and efficiency on this run to Cleopatra Station, and a detour into who knows what on Ahab could cause all kinds of problems. Soon Cleopatra Station was in sight. Intact and functioning, although no communication signals emitted from the station, and many systems seemed to be shut off or operating on back up. Life support and gravity were functioning normally. Varlo eased the shuttle to the space station and automated docking signals and instructions emitted from the station, directing them to dock at one of the two docking stations. Cleopatra Station seemed perfectly intact, life support, gravity, all operating at normal levels. Power levels showed they were available at full capacity, yet no communication signals or radio signals of any kind were leaving the station, other than a few automated signals related to general station ops all was quiet...too quiet...
Cleopatra Station
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