Yan, on the other hand, was enjoying their trip more than Nora and Luna were. At the moment, Luna was leaning over the diagnostic console of the tiny ship, attempting to figure out what was causing their propulsion to fail. She was not very good at mechanics, but she was far better than Nora, for whatever that was worth. Meanwhile, Nora was writing a standard protocol for the ship's transmitter to use in a distress call. Luna shook her head a little and stood up straight from the console. Nora was the first to speak.
"Any luck?"
"Define luck."
"Couldn't find anything, huh?"
Luna gave a silent shake of her head. Great, thought Nora grimly. Without propulsion, stranded in deep space, and neither of us knows how to fix it. Hell, my only option is to broadcast for assistance and hope that a qualified person is in the area. There was a good chance that another ship would be within communication range because they were adrift in a sector that was reasonably well-traveled. A repeating automated message with their vessel type (Etryn Ripple Runner), destination (Celyra Prime), current status (propulsion failure, cause unknown), and coordinates was sent out when she turned on the transmitter.
The simulator back aboard the Kyara was still in use. This time, Yan and Nayla were practicing a combat simulation. They were given accurate simulations of their real armor and weapons by the system. Upon registering a "hit," the computer displayed an incredibly lifelike holographic wound on the user's body. A 'killing blow' caused the computer to instantly immobilize the user by enveloping their entire body in force fields that were restrictive but innocuous. From the observation dais of the simulator, Kieran watched the match.
At the moment, Nayla was holding onto Yan's back with one arm locked around his neck and her preferred finishing move, the simulated edge of her dagger, pressed against his throat. Yan thrashed in vain, trying to get her to move with every countermove he knew. Kieran laughed out loud at the well-known scene. The communications alert chimed softly from a console behind the observation dais, but at first he was too engrossed in the display to notice it. To make sure that urgent issues weren't overlooked, important ship systems, such as external communications, were routed to displays even inside the simulator room. Kieran read the incoming transmission identifier on the now-glowing panel. An emergency call. Well, this could add a little interest to the journey, he thought.
"Nayla! Yan! "Stay simulation!" he cried.
The stifling force fields surrounding Yan vanished as soon as Nayla let go of him. "What is it?"
Yan rubbed his throat theatrically and gasped, "Yeah," "we really didn't appreciate the cough interruption!" Evidently relieved by the convenient pretext to put an end to his fictitious death, he gave Nayla a mock glare.
Kieran didn't care about the showmanship. "Call for help. I thought you might be interested in hearing it.
"Damn straight," Nayla instantly concurred. "Who is it?"
"Come see for yourselves." Kieran turned on the sound recording.
"This is freelance vessel registry unidentified, call sign Ripple Runner Alpha," the automated message read during playback. Asking for help. In relation to the Celyra beacon, we are stranded at coordinates X: 756, Y: 235, and Z: 102. The cause of the propulsion system's outage is unknown. Propulsion offline, repeat. The situation is stable and not in imminent danger. I'm asking the closest vessel to reply. The message is repeated.
"Automated beacon," confirmed Kieran. "No direct comm signal to lock onto, but the coordinates place them only a couple of parsecs off our current vector."
Yan thought, "Well, diverting wouldn't take long," as he stroked his chin. "And I suppose rendering aid is the... honorable thing to do." His concept of 'honor,' Kieran surmised, was ambiguous.
There was a moment of silence. Then, with her usual decisiveness, Nayla spoke. "Come on. It will be a pleasant diversion, even if they are not important."
"Agreed." Returning his attention to the navigation console, Kieran entered the new course. "Now, care to resume your... bout?"
"Gladly," purred Nayla, showing off her fake claws.
"Absolutely not!" Yan objected strongly.
Nora and Luna were growing impatient on the stranded Ripple Runner. For more than an hour, their distress beacon had been blaring, but they had received no response. It was annoying that inactivity was enforced. At the moment, Luna had withdrawn to the equally small co-pilot's berth, where she was absorbed in a datapad that showed an old Terran manual on Jujitsu, one of her favorite unarmed combat techniques, while Nora sat idly in the small main cabin, shuffle a battered deck of synth-cards. Abruptly, an approaching hail blazed on the comm panel next to Nora.
"This is House Ravy vessel Kyara, ripple runner alpha. Your automated distress call was received. Who am I speaking to?
Nora scurried over to the control panel. "This is acting commander Nora Rahmyn, Kyara. I'm happy to hear from you. To be honest, I believe we got a lemon when we leased this boat. We are unable to identify the cause of the dead propulsion.
"I get it, Rahmyn. We're getting close to where you are. Please grant me permission to accompany and assist.
"I give you permission, Kyara. And I'm grateful. We are grateful.
Five minutes later, when the Kyara had skillfully slid alongside the smaller vessel and lowered a docking tube, Kieran, Yan, and Nayla crossed over and first saw Nora and Luna. As the only person with substantial technical knowledge in the room, Kieran went straight to the engineering access panel of the Ripple Runner to examine the propulsion system. The other four huddled together in the cramped cockpit. The introductions started.
Nora took the lead. Rahmyn Nora. On the communications, you heard my name. Luna Trevyn is my partner and friend.
"A joy. Yan Zantara. Yan gave Luna a handshake and his signature endearing smile. Luna made no attempt to take his hand and just stared back, her eyes completely cold.
Yan's smile wavered as he slowly withdrew his hand. "Oookay... and this is my sister, Nayla."
Nayla said, "Good to meet you both," and gave a courteous nod. "And once more, I appreciate you stopping. We began to fear that we wouldn't be able to attend the tournament without..."
Just then, Kieran's voice resounded from the engineering access hatch where he had vanished. "Can someone hand me a universal sprocket wrench?!"
Near the hatch, Nayla found Kieran's abandoned toolkit, looked in puzzled, then picked up something vaguely resembling a wrench and tossed it to the ground. It was less than a second before Kieran's muffled yell returned.
"Who dropped that?!"
"Wasn't me!" In an attempt to conceal her mechanical incompetence, Nayla responded promptly.
"Yeah. Even this isn't a wrench. A pneumatic rivet gun, which Nayla had dropped, clattered onto the deck as it sailed back out of the hatch. "Just look for the instrument with the black synthetic-rubber grip and the forged steel head! It's about seven inches long! And this time, put it in my hand!"
Nayla found the right tool this time. Before the wrench struck the deck plating, she heard a loud thump and a yelp from below as she carefully lowered it into the hatch.
"Dammit!" With one hand carefully placed on his scalp, Kieran came out of the hatch with a start. "Alright, who dropped that one?!"
Quiet.