Caveship

14 || Escape from Torith

"Are you sure there's nothing we can say to change your mind?" Sophia asks, just as the group prepares to climb onto the awaiting shuttle. "It's going to be strange going back without you. What will we tell your family?"

Sarah looks at her friends, who are all staring back at her. "I don't know, tell them I appreciate everything they did for me, and..." She stops mid-sentence, trying her best not to cry. She takes a deep breath. "Tell my brother I'm sorry. That I'll be thinking of him a lot. And that I'm fine. Tell him not to worry about me."

Sophia frowns, moving to give Sarah a hug – one which she gingerly returns – before turning to climb aboard the shuttle.

"We're going to miss you. I know it hasn't been very long, but I think you're making a mistake by staying here," Darius offers, extending a hand out toward Sarah. "There's got to be more for you back home than here."

Sarah takes the hand and shakes it; it's about the least awkward friendly gesture she can imagine Darius choosing, since they don't share the same kind of deep bond that he, Nicholas, and Sophia do. "I'm sure about this, Darius. I'm going to be fine here."

With a slight shrug, Darius nods. "Then take care of yourself, and take care of T.K, too." He nods to the alien, before turning to head onto the awaiting starship docked nearby.

"You'll be sure to let us know how things are going up here, alright?" Nicholas steps up next, proving to possess a bit less tact than his best friend as he tries to pull her into a notably warmhearted hug.

Sarah returns the hug, surprising him with a tighter squeeze than anticipated. "Thanks for everything, Nick."

Satisfied with the response, Nicholas looks her over and nods, moving to jog onto the ship behind him to join Darius and Sophia.

Ava is the last to approach. "Look, I know things started out poorly between us, but..." She looks away, folding her arms beneath her chest as she tries to properly express her feelings. "...you turned out to be alright." Her gaze returns to Sarah. "Just don't go do anything stupid while you're here, get yourself killed or something. We need to hang out again."

"Winding up dead isn't really in my plans, but yeah. I'd like that." Sarah nods slowly. She smiles, remembering a time when she used to think Ava was the worst person in her new school.

The group now fully in the shuttle wave goodbye as it begins to slowly lift off. The door whines shut, and after a few moments, the spacecraft quietly begins to lift away from the landing pad. It doesn't take particularly long for the ship to pierce the clouds and disappear, and, once out of sight, Sarah turns her attention toward T.K, Gene, and Nal'rook standing nearby. "Okay. I'm ready. Let's go."

Nicholas looks out the shuttle's window down to the planet below, thinking about what had happened hours prior. He had spent some time with Sarah before their departure, just talking, sharing stories, memories. He wonders what will happen to Sarah out here in the cosmos.

Back on the planet's surface, Gene motions for the group to move to the nearby door, the one leading back into the Wortani building, and the four begin to walk back inside. "According to our sensors, the Caveship should be returning to Torith soon. We've already prepared for its arrival, and if you'd like, you two can be present for the capture process."

The doors swish open on approach, allowing all four to enter the building as before. "I'd enjoy seeing the technology Wortani Enterprises have developed to capture a ship as advanced as the Caveship," Tah-Kuell says, rubbing his hands together eagerly and lifting an eyebrow. "I take it that it's something new, state-of-the-art?"

Gene shakes his head with a chuckle, lifting a hand slightly to give Tah-Kuell pause. "Nothing fancy. The machine works in in two stages. It utilizes tractor beam technology to hold it in place far enough away that it can't use its phase beam to abduct its original occupants, and then disables its computers and AI with an electromagnetic pulse aimed specifically at its vulnerable points, with enough power to pierce through the hull. Once we've disabled the ship, the plan is to move it somewhere we can lock it down so it can't leave, and then get some of our engineers inside to look at integral systems."