Count Rikovovich and His Crew - All Characters

Phineas was utterly thrown for a loop at the Count's manner. Not too long ago, his ship had breached the Sands with a missile and took them hostage at gunpoint, and now he was apologizing. Phineas finally mustered enough nerve to speak up.

" First things first: our friends, Captain Cheng and Hudak. They gonna be OK?"

When Ancient Sands surrendered to the threat of a missile, everyone prepared for the worst. The worst never came. There was a small series of sudden power surges as EMP Guns hit the ship over and over again to knock out complete power - even the repair device recently installed couldn't recover from the burst of attacks. It was impossible to tell but there was a lot of exterior noise. Pirate reinforcements must have arrived. Once the power was out until manual restarts could be done, three separate boarding crews approached. One came from the direction of the Companion's shuttle. Another came from the main cargo hatch and a third came from the main hatch. They waited outside the ship until a seal was setup between the Count's vessel and yours.

Count Rikovovich was a rather tall man in a black thermal space suit. He was wearing a sleek mask that protected him from the Black's deadly nothing. He looked at the Captain and Winston, but the Count's eyes lingered on Dr. Cross for a bit as if he recognized him from somewhere. He waved and immediately one of his men holstered his rifle, came over, and opened a Medi-kit and looked at Dr. Cross.

"I'm Specialist Green, sir. I'm not a surgeon but I can patch up bullet wounds real good. You want me to take a look?" It wasn't really a question. As Specialist Green took over the rest of the crew was rounded up (Hudak having be shot in the leg and knocked over the head before giving up) and escorted off of the Sands and onto Count Rikovovich's small but tidy ship. Hudak and the Captain followed, carried on stretchers, presumably to the medbay.

As soon as everyone was aboard the Count's ship, it broke free of Ancient Sands and sped off. After another ten seconds one of your guards ushered you all in the direction of the bridge, which was a wide open space at the very front of the ship. The walls seemed lined with all manner of computer gadgets. Two terminals were manned by young soldiers. Kieron noticed one was piloting and the other was imputing some kind of data into a scientific terminal. Everyone saw Count Rikovovich standing in the middle. He was looking at Ancient Sands in the distance. She was so small she could easily be mistaken for a large star or possibly moon. Once everyone was standing in a row, he turned around.

"I apologize for my rather rude introduction a few moments ago. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Count Rikovovich. I mean you no harm, but it is not safe for me to talk with you on your own ship." He paused, looked at everyone, and then continued. "I am certain you have questions and I have answers."