Mickey shook his head in the pilot's chair, running his hand down his mouth and chin.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">No... we've got the logs.</span>He pointed at a list of information on one of the terminal's panels.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">Last thing that the buoy pinged was some large freighter. They're fairly common making runs to out-of-the way installations. Shit, if you can pick them up before they drop their payload at the location, its a good chunk of change. But there's nothing else. Nothing unusual.</span><br/><br/>Again he shook his head when Darion mentioned pirates.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">No... no there's no way. This doesn't have any fingerprints on it. </span>He rotated in the chair to look at the group behind him.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">First thing we do when we're hitting a site like this is knock out the buoy. It delays any comm traffic that could call for help... makes dealing with the locals a lot easier. Shit, its standard procedure, even among half-rate pirates. But like I said....</span>He turned the chair and pointed at the 2nd to last entry on the list.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">That's the freighter, </span>he pointed at the listing below,<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">and that's us. </span>He threw up his hands in dismay.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">There's fuckin' nothing else. Hell, the freighter's logged at about 6 days ago. Since then there's no pings, no relay checks... </span>He turned the chair again and looked around at them.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">It's like there's nobody there.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">We've got the site's location from the buoy?</span>Cantenelli asked, looking away from the increasingly large yellow orb beyond the cockpit's canopy.<br/><br/><span style="color: MediumTurquoise">Yeah.</span>Mickey responded with a nod, turning the chair back to the console.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">Just off the equator line in the northern hemisphere by about 5 degrees.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">Alright... put us in geo-synch above it. I want to hit that site with every spectrum scan we have. </span>He looked briefly at Maethia and Milenya. Ashana noticed the contemplation on his face as he debated saying the next part around them. He looked back out the window.<span style="color: Blue">Turn us into a ghost. I don't want us triggering a trap until we know it's there.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: MediumTurquoise">Wilco, captain. Stealth systems activating.</span>Mickey said, hitting various keys.<br/><br/>The ship hummed mechanically as it's profile shifted. The sound was becoming familiar to Firas, almost comforting knowing that they were nearly undetectable. There was a sense of safety to the sound that he had never really experienced aboard the Fleet's standard vessels.<br/><br/><span style="color: Red">Shall I bring us to combat alert?</span>Falkris looked at Cantenelli who shook his head.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">No. The crew needs its rest. I don't want them on high alert until we have a real reason for them to be.</span>He said. Falkris nodded in confirmation.<br/><br/>Ashana watched the planet slowly growing beyond the ship. There was an ominousness about it that it lacked before. To her a volcano was an image on a vid. She had never experienced anything like it before. But no one responding when there was no reason for them not to - that she understood only too well. She looked at the others, communicating her concern with the look on her face.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/><span style="color: Indigo">I have hair. But only on my head. None of that between my legs nonsense you humans have.</span>Shira answered, then cheered lightly as Kala finally removed her shirt.<br/><br/><span style="color: Navy">Now its a real game!</span>Taseer said grinning broadly.<br/><br/>Kala's hand finally came up on top. Shira, not having managed to win one yet, drunkenly laughed at her misfortune, and looked down at her suit to debate what to remove next. Taseer, who hadn't taken a shot yet finally reached across the table and poured herself a shot then hammered it down. The other members of the table all took made their choices, reducing one of the girls to her underwear. Shira'Va selected her other hand to be reacquainted with the open air.<br/><br/>The hand hand went to one of the crew, the girl who who had only her underwear left. Taseer nodded and said<span style="color: Navy"> Alright, alright...</span>and pulled her shirt off. Beneath was the solid frame of a mechanic. Her waste didn't curve in as much, and her breasts weren't spectacular. What stood out about her was the the well toned and used musculature of a woman who spent much of her time lifting heavy objects. She wore a grey bra that clasped between her breasts.<br/><br/>Shira set her visor down on the table and chuckled in dismay. She looked up, and propped her chin on her bare hand, pouring herself a shot from the Quarian liquor. The low alcohol having as profound an effect on her as the high alcohol did with the others at the table. She finished the drink and joined Taseer in looking at Kala for her choice.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>Ashana looked out the right side of the cockpit at Zeona, which now eclipsed everything in the view. The ship rolled left, or rather space seemed to rotate outside the window, positioning the yellow planet below them. The surface was largely massive sulfur deposits, though it was pock marked by black streaks of active volcanoes belching black smoke into the atmosphere, and blanketing the surface in black volcanic rock.<br/><br/>Mickey struck dozens of keys, the panels of his massive console changing, bringing up new sets of data as the ship began scanning the planet. The group watched the data, Cantenelli putting a hand on the back of Mickey's chair so that he could lean in closer.<br/><br/><span style="color: MediumTurquoise">Yeah... yeah there's the site.</span>He pointed at multi-colored image that was laregely shades of orange and red, save for a bright green and blue situated next to a massive fissure.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">High concentration of heavy metal deposits, some uniform electrical interference... not a lot though. And that's...</span>He frowned as the image became clearer with each pass of the scanners.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">Holy shit... that's the freighter!</span>He pointed at a three dimensional image of what look like a mostly flat plane with a large, rectangular raised portion.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrange">Why would the freighter still be here?</span>Sorv asked.<br/><br/>Cantenelli nodded slightly in agreement.<span style="color: Blue">Its not responding. It would have to be powered down. If they landed then whatever supplies they were carrying were big.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: MediumTurquoise"><i>Very</i> big. Dig sites usually have some pretty expensive tech. Good for resale on the black market.</span>Mickey pondered, looking at the image.<span style="color: MediumTurquoise">Ye know, that plane they're on is solid. A few subsurface holes, but nothing to worry about... </span>He looked at Cantenelli.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">Nothing to worry about...?</span>Firas looked at Cantenelli.<span style="color: Blue">You want to land?</span><br/><br/>The human straightened up, looking out the window, then at the scans.<span style="color: Blue">I have a crew that needs to be payed. If that freighter was carrying supplies for the dig, it could have value... as cargo or salvage.</span>He looked at Firas and the others.<span style="color: Blue">And, our only chance to find out what the hell this whole mess is about is down there in that dig site. Response or not. For all we know it may just be a downed transmitter.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Red">And it may not.</span>Falkris noted.<br/><br/><span style="color: Blue">Either way... its a risk sending you. Possibly a fruitless one. If we land and salvage what we can from that freighter, at least we'll pick up some credits for our effort. </span>Cantenelli said.<br/><br/>Ashana looked at the others for the reactions. As ominous as it seemed, Cantenelli was right. Their only hope of unraveling what had almost cost them their lives was on that planet.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>