<div align="center"><strong>-=Michael Corvus - GM - Pressing the Fast Forward button on his Cosmic Time Turner Remote Control - The Gamble and Crew now arriving at Albion=-</strong></div><br/>Three o'clock in the morning, Galactic Standard Time (GST). All remaining crew members and "guests" are fast asleep aboard The Gamble. Vince and Mae are snuggled lovingly in each others arms, nestled into the little love nest they've made for themselves in Vincent's bed. The opposing captain and her dark haired subordinate are sleeping, however uncomfortably, still gagged and bound in their makeshift prison. The resident stowaway and apparent big damn hero who saved Mae from her would be rapist stirs quietly in the bed of her stateroom jail, confined within under orders. The fact that she had saved Mae from a life changing and traumatic event certainly worked in her favor, sparing her from sharing the fate of Mae's attempted rapist.<br/><br/>After regaining his consciousness Dimitri was beaten within an inch of his life by Griff and Vince. Griff showed no mercy to the man, granting Vince permission to eject him into the infinite vastness of the black. Mae spouted off a long string of names, many of them vile while others Griff found downright silly... and adorable in a sick way, given the context of the situation. Vince's parting word were spoken through the intercom speakers on the other side of the air-lock doors; "Payback. Sucks, don't it?" Then, without a second thought, Vince punched the button, launching Dimitri in the cold, vast black.<br/><br/>That was two days ago. Now the ship was quiet, everyone fast asleep with the ship on auto-pilot, proximity alerts and the full suite of jamming technology arrays dialed up to maximum, a security blanket from the possible sweeping electronics of any positional threats. The only way they could be found out was to be spotted with the naked eye, and out here in the black, that was damn near impossible.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Griff stirred, restlessly. Sleep had been been a fragile creature for him lately. Ever since the split of his crew and the attack on Mae. Some might say the pressure and responsibility of everyone's well being was getting to him. Whether or not that was true remained to be seen. He'd been having a bad feeling about the split ever since they'd left. Something inside of him was telling him Si wouldn't make it and that Sasha would blame him. He genuinely believed he wouldn't be seeing her again, and that tore him to bits inside, though he wrestled with those emotions, desperately trying not to let the Mae and Vince become wise to the fact.<br/><br/>Reavers. They were inside the ship. They'd butchered Si, Anwar, Dani... and Sasha. He blinked hard, willing the horrifying images from his mind. Mae's screams echoed inside his mind as a flashback from his dream played, a trio of Reavers catching his young pilot in the infirmary. Her screams began to morph, soon becoming the ship's proximity klaxons. No one knew it yet, but they'd finally reached Albion and they still had eight hours to spare on the deadline.<br/><br/>He bolted up to a sitting position in his bed, a thin sheen of perspiration covering his body as he woke from yet another bad dream. He panted in ragged breaths as he blinked a few times, finally realizing where he was and that it had only been another nightmare. He took a deep breath, sighing loudly before he turned, letting his legs slide from the bed. Bare feet came to rest on the cold steel of the floor and he leaned over, his elbows coming to rest on his knees and his his hands coming up to palm the top of his head.<br/><br/><strong>"Now what?"</strong>He finally pushed himself from the bed, moving to his wardrobe and slipping into a pair or boxer briefs and work slacks. Quickly pulling on socks and his buckle boots, he grabbed a wine colored button down and slipped into it. He didn't bother to button it as he moved to the bathroom quickly gargling mouth wash before moving to the door.<br/><br/>