The last 3.5 (Absolom time, not Gavan) days were harrowing. Well, the first half was. We got very close to our ship. It was powerless, but thankfully I-9 was still operational, though on first contact he complained that “main power must be restored.” He says that about everything. We had to make him promise not to open a hatch for us just yet, as… simians… Chava… were everywhere, and too close, judging by where they left their mounts. After a horrific series of attempts to scare them off, most were still alive. We accidentally killed all their mounts (how were we to know they were just some weird cross between spiders and stampeding llamas? And were that flammable?), and their scout? Also, Widget tranqued a tree. He’s proud– it never had a chance!
Anyway, we got to the ship, and then to a little-used hatch, and successfully got in without upsetting I-9.
Then, we waited two entire days for enough power and an opening in the magic barrier to leave the planet. Chava were outside the ship, banging on it, for most of our wait. Thankfully, they were quite ineffective at getting inside. And thankfully even more– Brock was fine and just biding his time for enough power to manifest as a hologram– I-9 kept him on standby until we could power up.
It took us a day and a half in driftspace to get back to Absalom Station. We were just about to get our ship upgraded when we found out we were changing out our cargo bay for a giant aquarium. The Office of the Directorate, a place I only dimly recalled existed on-station, has made us Ambassadors of the Pact Words. Well, specifically Widget– I guess the rest of us just fly a ship. We are heading back to Vakpod to pick up a Celi delegation to tour the Pact Worlds. Apparently they’ve not decided whether they will join Azlanti, Vesk, or the Pact Worlds. We have, on our side, the fact that we killed off a hostile takeover from doppelgangers, not to mention saved the life of a Vesk ambassador and several submarine crew stationed on Vakpod, all while not having weapons. And we have Widget, whom the Celi have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with.