Down the Rabbit Hole: Capter 13

[Karina Morris]

"Wow..." Karina put her feet down and looked at the viewscreen. "Another galaxy... huh... never thought I'd ever see this." she cocked her head slightly. "Wonder what passes for fashion in the Andromeda galaxy? Good thing I brought enough materials and such for our fabricators, since it's doubtful any of your kind have been seen around here." she glanced at Lilith. "Granted that Q seemed to trust that we'd make our way just fine but... I'm remembering the mission to that one colony on the outer edges of the quadrant, never saw a Terran and thought my team were ghosts or something because weren't inky black skinned like they were. We actually were painful for them to look at, their world was so out of the usual light spectrum, a communicator badge was like wearing a spot light."

[Arthur Talon]

Arthur grunted, "First contact is always dicey in the best of circumstances."

[Seraphina Morris]

"I find it entirely hilarious that you are worried about first contacts now... sis." Seraphina said with a smirk and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry about locking you out."

"I am so used to that now." Karina replied. "Andromeda Galaxy... Trinity never got that far!"

"We'll brag about it when we get home." Seraphina said as she looked at Arthur. "I'm sure your mom will be so jealous. She gave me the cold shoulder for a week when Ethan and I spent that week visiting those worlds that popped up from that other reality that crossed over."

"Mom's starting to realize that we're as old as she was when she first came here and that she isn't getting younger." Di said as she sipped her tea. "Of course, the Earth based assholes are also making her feel like she's been at war with Earth since she was born and she's old..."

"Technically we ARE the same age but i get your meaning..." Seraphina chuckled and hummed. "So Arthur... Lilith... that Earth ship with Astrid's brother, did they follow us all the way here? If so we really should find a better place to hide."

[Arthur Talon]

"Sensors are not detecting any other ships, and there hasn't been any wormhole activity since we exited," Arthur replied looking up from the readout on the captain's armrest. "But, I doubt we've lost them."

"Nor I," Astrid added.

"We should plan on resupplying at our earliest connivance. Our deuterium stores are down to twenty percent. The void was a drain on our resources." Lilith said not looking up from the helm. "Not to mention our fresh food stores are getting low, and we're going to have to resort to replicator rations."

[Alexander Calhoun]

"They aren't so bad." Alexander said as he walked out of the ready room with a large bag. "Not once you've managed to reprogram them with some decent analogues." he added with a smirk. "But I do agree, we need to resupply, the AliceCore and Synth-D generator can only do so much. I managed to get the last of the damaged internal sensors fixed... although let us truly hope that we can actually make first contact without running for our lives. This poor bird can't take another running battle."

"No faith..." Karina teased. "I thought you weren't a pessimist."

"Hey I spent an hour floating after that last fight until I could get internal gravity back to something normal." Alex replied. "Of course, you probably enjoyed it."

"Maybe I did." Karina replied and walked over and pecked Arthur on the cheek. "Don't kill Calhoun while I get dressed. Diana... let's keep the fireworks to a minimum until after we've had a chance to figure out what we're doing."

[Arthur Talon]

Arthur stood, "I'm going to head down to the astrometrics lab, and see if I can get a handle on our local situation."

"I'll go with you, " Astrid said with a smile.

Arthur nodded, 'Oh, and Lex don't be such a pessimist. This old bird has a lot left in her. I can't say we'd survive another running battle, but there's no guarantee that we won't."

"Why Artie that's practically glass-half-full," Lilith teased.

Arthur shrugged, "What can I say, Angel Ryder is my grandmother."

[Gale Ryder]

Gale arrived on the bridge and gave Astrid a sideways glance. "Going off alone together... if we didn't know better." he teased.

[Astrid Vogler]

"If you didn't know what better?" Astrid asked suspicion in her voice.

[Gale Ryder]

"That Art has no game when it comes it getting a woman alone to do whatever... " Gale said with a chuckle. "That and you and he have about as much chance of hooking up as I do with a Sally Foutain, the actress that won last year's Oscar for best actress."

[Astrid Vogler]

Astrid rolled her eyes, and wrapped her arms around Arthur's neck and kissed him square on the lips. Pulling away with a sly grin on her face. "Men. You act like you are the only ones that can make a move, and trust me I don't need to make up some lame excuse to get him alone."