Rescue

Back At Union Central

"So, John, he contacted you, and what, the captain was fine with it?" Kelly asked, dumbfounded.

Isaac responded, "Mr. Malloy contacted me, Commander, on the agreed upon frequency and described what he needed and where to meet. I told the captain I needed to observe a unique star formation and asked that Lieutenant LaMarr take me there and drop me off, then pick me up when I was ready. The captain agreed."

"If this plan failed to rescue us, and you somehow get back to the ship, how were you going to explain your lack of data?" Ed asked.

"And explain what's in that container?" Kelly added. "I'm surprised you even agreed to this!"

"In point of fact, there is a unique star formation and I have collected the data for just such the scenario you described," Isaac responded. "I had equipment in the container that I set up to get readings before we left. Also, they were aware of the projection equipment as well, since I offered to inspect it while I was here before it was installed on the ship."

"Installed on the ship?" Ed queried.

John replied, "Yeah, we were thinking of maybe disguising ourselves as a Krill ship to get up close to one the next time they attacked a colony."

"Whoa!" Gordon reacted.

"Well, I guess you tested it," Ed exclaimed. 

"I'm still surprised you involved yourself with their plan," Kelly said to Isaac.

"When I was apprised of your being in captivity, it seemed imperative that your release must be secured," Isaac responded.

"Well, thanks!" Kelly remarked, as Ed nodded.

"You are welcome, Captain and Commander."

There were smiles all around.

Kelly asked, "Anything interesting happen while we were gone?" Her eyes went wide, looking at Alara and Gordon. "Uh, I mean after, uh, you know..." She looked sheepish.

Alara just smiled at her and added, "Yeah, so what's been happening?" Gordon just stared at the stars in front of him.

"Uh, okay," John said. "Well, Bortus had a baby girl and had its sex changed to a boy!

"Ugh, what?" Kelly said, remembering the egg. "Claire did that?"

Ed exclaimed, "I never knew they had girls! So, I guess the gender reassignment thing is fairly common on Moclus! That's a bit disturbing!"

"Well, Claire declined to do the surgery, and the captain supported her. It was a bone of contention for a while until the captain allowed a Moclan ship to take them to Moclus for the operation. There was controversy among the crew about it for a while," John recalled.

Ed grumbled, "I can imagine the captain was pressured somehow to let the Moclans take the baby."

John nodded and reported, "Then we saw a giant ship that had passengers who didn't know it was a ship. A couple of crewmembers got shot when we went over to tell them they were in a ship and were heading for a collision with a star. But we eventually convinced them!"

"Were they killed?" Ed asked, sounding worried.

"No, they pulled through!"

The shuttle came to a halt.

"This is where they said they'd be, right?" asked Gordon.

John answered, "Yeah." He checked his panel. "LaMarr to Orville, come in!"

No answer. He tried again and waited for a response.

"Oh yeah!" Gordon reached in his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a small block.