Chapter 2: The Wayward Wind

Seally smiles at the crewmen. She knows what it's like to employ people you trust. "Please do so, and we'll meet up with Savine Nguyen. In the meanwhile, we'll go back to our ship, the Wayward Wind. I need to get to a hospital ship. If you could flag one for us, we'll intercept them and see if they can keep me alive a little longer." She struggles a bit, and then asks, "Help me to the airlock?"

On the comm with the WW crew, she says, "Headed back to the ship. Need to get to a med ship pronto."

Jona does as you asks. Once you're back in the Wayward Wind, Zuzu comes running up to you. He can sense something's wrong, and is especially affectionate and protective of his human.

Jona sends you the coordinates of the closest medical ship, and gets you a comms uplink to contact them. Looking at the ship on screen, it looks like they converted and old Imperial Type M Space Liner and scrapped its Jump Drive. A receptionist informs you that they're all full up for weeks to come, but for an emergency fee, you can get in today: a mere Cr25,000. Jona also CC's you on the communication back to Nguyen Manufacturing and Logistics, Ltd. You get coordinates for the HQ, a relatively minor asteroid on the far side of the systems. They get back to you with an official, if terse, notice of appreciation and give you an appointment in two days' time.

Seally does her best to negotiate a good price for emergency care. She lays it on about good Samaritans trying to rescue a ship and passengers with no promise of reward.

(Insert batting eyelashes here)

As it turns out, the government does have a Cr2500 subsidy for Travellers injured while responding to distress calls within the system. The receptionist sends you the appropriate forms. It also includes an advertisement for a local armory called Guardian Arms & Armor that claims to specialize in "personal protection and self defense supplies for a dangerous galaxy," although pursuing their catalogue, you see their wares include all sorts of military hardware. They have an office and storefront in the belt on one of the larger asteroids, and they also offer free deliver within the system via shuttle for any order over Cr5000.

Alerio smokes the last two pirates herself.

"If I’m going to kill someone, I’m going to kill them. That way I know it’s done right."

Alerio was hard, deep down. The force hardens you. Seeing all that misery stiffens your soul. And then to be run out of town. Life as a colonist is hard. Forces your body to be strong and rigid. She didn’t like it about herself.

But systems were full of scum like this. If it wasn’t them, it would have been her. Doing it herself was at least… human, in a way. Responsible, at least.
Spacing someone was like trying to commit the act without all the guilt. Mechanical. Cold. Separate.

Once she’s back on the Wayward, she tosses her credits onto the table. The swipe containing all 50,000.

"Assholes. Let’s just pay em and get her patched up."

Fallon can't help but jump at the sudden bangs of gunfire. Then she's relieved she stepped back as blood and brain matter splatter the floor and wall. "I don't envy the person who has to clean that up," she mutters as she looks away feeling slightly nauseous. With that taken care of she heads to check on Seally.

Zuni was no stranger to death, either witnessing it or doing the nasty deed. Still, he flinched reflexively at the emotionless execution even though he knew Aliero was a tough cookie. It was sort of surreal but it was the right choice. Two less scum in the galaxy.

"Yeah, coordinates are set. Let's get Sealy to that ship. Are we interested in anything from the catalog? After Sealy is patched up, it's on to Nguyen Manufacturing and Logistics, Ltd?"

She croaks, "Armor, perhaps? If we're going to be rescuing ungrateful strangers as a hobby?"

Her attempt at humor may not shine through her wan pallor of approaching death.

"Comms. Medical. I’m sure we can find things that we didn’t know we needed." Alerio says, not wanting to replicate needing something and not having one handy again.

She tosses the two pistols she removed from the hijackers onto the table.

"Maybe we need to have some heavier stuff on-hand, too."

Fallon smiles at Sally's dark humor. She nods, "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea. But you should save your voice. We don't want any more blood filling up those beautiful lungs now do we?" She smiles.

Alerio turns on Seally then, too.

"I know you’re family is big on the…" she waves a hand about at her saber "… sword stuff. But do me a favor, would you? Next time, just shoot the guy with a damn shotgun."

Zuni forces a chuckle but really he's worried about the woman. Time is of the essence here and he is kicking himself for having wasted time. If she didn't make it, he'd never forgive himself.

"Ok. Armor, better weapons, comms and medical supplies. Make sense to me."

Zuni disengages the docking clamps and sets a course for the medical ship, and Seally transfers the fee from the company account en route. Fortunately, the Wayward Wind is as swift as they come, and they reach their destination in an hour. Zuzu doesn't leave Seally's side the entire time.

The medical ship is surrounded by a small cluster of shuttles and other ships. You note that two of the shuttles are armed and seem to be providing security. Even the medical ship is studded with multiple pulse laser turrets. Zuni docks with the ship and medical staff are waiting at the airlock with a grav chair. You have to fight to keep Zuzu from coming with Seally.

The interior of the ship glows with bright blue light, and the smell of antiseptic vapour is everywhere. They rush Seally to an operating table, where they activate neural anaesthetics. During the procedure, Seally is awake but feels nothing.



During the surgery, a man in a suit takes a moment to upsell you. "If you've ever considered augmentation, now's a great time since we already have the hood open, so to speak. If your line of work is dangerous, you might be interested in a Muscular Bridging procedure, or Subdermal Armor construction? Maybe an Internal Auto-Injector in case help isn't around next time?"

The whole procedure takes two hours (longer if she decides to purchase augmentations), and afterwards, Seally is taken to a special cryo chamber, where she is put into a medically-induced coma and hooked up to a number of systems. They administer Slow, a drug that accelerates a body's metabolism to allow a person to undergo a month of healing in a single day. Seally will be unaware of the passage of time, and will be out of commission for the next 24 hours.

"Welcome back, Seally. You had us worried there for a minute. Do you know we had to fight tooth and paw to keep Zuzu from following you right onto the operating table? Such a loyal pup. You're very lucky."

Zuni is truly relieved to see her alive and well and gives her an affectionate gentle squeeze on the shoulder.

Seally passes on the augmentations, she wants to save up every credit for ship repairs.

"Thanks Zuni. I'll see you and the girls in a day."