Of all of the oddities aboard the Aegis, you decide to check in on Yasha first. You make your way back towards her quarters and knock on the hatch. Nothing. You frown and try again.

Yasha's muffled voice answers, "Just a moment!"

About three moments later, by your reckoning, the hatch cracks open and Yasha looks out at you. Her headband is in place, but her hair is astray and her robe is slightly disordered.You cock an eyebrow, "Am I intruding?"

Yasha blushes, and tucks a stray strand of auburn hair behind her ear, "not at all Tristan, what can I do for you? Please, come in and have a seat." She opens the hatch further and gestures to a chair not totally covered in stray books.

You take the indicated seat, lifting a heavy tome out of the way, "actually I came down to see how you were doing with all of your new books. Quite a library you've got started here."

Yasha takes the tome from you and puts it atop a precarious pile of other tomes on a side table, "Well actually. Much better than I have been in quite some time. Vir is doing well and is actually talking to people. Outside his duties I mean. And I finally got clearance to dig through some of the House Saurlance records on a personal project of mine, which is about half of the books scattered about the place. The other half, I'm ashamed to admit, are bad romances and flights of fiction."

"Bad romances? Why do I get the feeling that I am intruding after all?"

"Perhaps, but it is not entirely unwelcome..."

Fellowship Test Successful: Critical Success. Pancakes Ensue.

Several very pleasant hours later, you are rather rudely awakened by the strident chirp of a priority signal on your microbead. Half-awake, you grope for the thing, careful not to wake Yasha. You kill the alarm and open the channel, "Tristan here, what news?"

"Zheeves here Sir. The Mavros has just entered the system and is hailing us."

"I'll be on the bridge in five minutes Zheeves. Tristan, clear." You sit there for a moment before letting out a heartfelt "Fuck me."

Yasha stirs, "ready for another round already?"

You scratch her head, "The Mavros is here, and I'm needed on the bridge."

Yasha sits up, suddenly wide awake, "Well, Fuck me."

You grin as you get out of bed, "Later."

Five Minutes later...

You stride onto the bridge and tell Zheeves to replay the message as you sit down in the Command Chair. Zheeves puts the message through on a secondary display and you hit play. Lord Pyrus appears and begins speaking.

"Shipmaster Von Sebastion, good to see you again. I received your report on the Cambrian, and it ties into a... case that I'm working on. I do not feel comfortable discussing this over communications, even with the encryption that is at my disposal. I will be entering orbit in three hours, please arrange to receive a shuttle at that time. Pyrus, clear."

You glance over at Zheeves, "how are the arrangements to receive our guest coming?

Zheeves checks his dataslate, "everything is well in hand. I have arranged for Vir, Yasha, Morrigan, and yourself to be off-duty at the time. I'd prefer to have Jace available as well, but he is still hip-deep in some machine down in his workshop. Something about re-triangulating a homing beacon, I think he said. The meeting will be in Ventral Docking Bay Two, and I have prepared a conference module adjacent to the bay that should suit our guest.”

You nod, "I'll be In Ventral Docking Bay Two then, should anyone need me. Please arrange for the others to meet me there oh, fifteen minutes before our guest docks."

Zheeves salutes, "I'll do that thing sir.”

Three Hours Later…

You, Morrigan, Yasha, and Vir are standing in the conference room, awaiting Lord Pyrus' arrival. Yasha and Vir, mostly Vir, have given Morrigan the run-down on who and what Lord Pyrus is. She seems twitchier than normal, endlessly rolling a throne around her augmetic fingers. You can't blame her as you feel a tad nervous yourself.

Not soon after, Lord Pyrus arrives, introductions are made all around, and your group returns to the conference room. everyone takes seats around the round table, and Lord Pyrus starts revealing his case, as he called it in his message. In his rumbling baritone, he reveals only the information that he thinks you need to know, "I have been tracking a group of subversives, trading in forbidden technology like Artificial Intelligences. The description of the Cambrian matches construction methods that they use, so I believe there to be a link between the two. The problem is that I am easily recognizable, to say the least, and my superiors would prefer to get the entire group rather than drive them into hiding. Again. This presents me with somewhat of a problem, as I need to get myself and my team onto the surface of Vrenna unnoticed. The Aegis may hold the key. They know you, Master Von Sebastion, to be a reliable and helpful sort, and one who did not ask too many questions last time. They will hopefully request your aid again, bringing in more material for their new colony. When they do, you will insert myself and my team."

You lean back and scratch your chin for a moment, "instead of waiting, would it be possible to 'wander through' the system on another pretext? Like updating the Navigation Charts for the area, particularly in light of the damage the Cambrian took getting to the Outbound system? Getting down to the planet might still be an issue, but the Aegis could put in for a 'port visit' and at least have a reasonable excuse for sending down a shuttle or three."

Lord Pyrus mulls the idea over for a moment, "I had not thought of using such guile. Perhaps you are right Master Von Sebastion. I have at my disposal at least one shuttle with stealth capability that should be able to avoid sensors for a while at least. This plan would also allow the Aegis to remain on-station for some time. Certainly long enough for an extraction, should that prove needed. We will proceed with this plan, though it will take a day or so to prepare the equipment my team will need and transfer it to the Aegis. Would you mind if we continued to use this docking bay, and made it our base of operations for the duration?"

"Not at all Lord. I believe we have an adjacent cargo bay, and we could probably modify it for whatever ends you would need. That would take a little longer, but not much more than the day you specified.

Lord Pyrus nods slowly, "Then we are agreed. I will return to the Mavros to begin my preparations. May the Emperor guide you."

"And you, Lord Pyrus."