We're going Quantum.

A bit more time passed, as chief Ssss'lissssth spoke about his people. It was a long conversation, covering everything from the disappearance of their "God", their fighting with the cyborgs, and everything in between.

"There is no reason that you and the humans cannot work together." Kenneth said, expecting the look on the faces of most of the Huzzard present.

"You cannot hold the entirety of Humanity accountable for the actions of a few. Especially when the few you are talking about are not human." He continued. "There is a place not far from here that holds proof of this. This is where we need your assistance."

**

White Wolf limped down from the control room, getting strength back with every step. He reached the bottom where Jamie was.

"What's that smell?" Jamie asked. "Smells like-" he began, but White Wolf cut him off.

"It's nothing. The circuit burnt out a bit."

"But it smells very much like burning flesh..." Jamie argued.

"Then there was a rat or something in the circuit. Everything's fine."

Jamie shrugged that one off, it wasn't important. What was important was whether or not they had saved everyone. They tried to call Cass.

nothing.

**

"I am just spouting exposition again, I apologise." Kenneth said, ending his explanation of the data files he had found from Jay's discovery of the Sovereign. Humanoid lizards and humans working together on an experimentally propelled ship.

"Please, allow your strongest to join with us on a mission to save us all." the AI said, and stood in a heroic gesture suggesting marching towards the enemy, heads held high. His dramatic pose had caught a few of the timeless water droplets, which atomised on the hard light surface of his form, spraying mini rainbows everywhere.

**

"We should get up there, and see if we can help." White Wolf said, hoping to once and for all change the subject away from the horrible smell that was his own burning corpse.

They had got a couple of decks up when Jamie's radio kicked into life.

"We're on our way down to you. Prep a starbug with working weapons. We'll need to head out immediately." Jay said, his voice commanding.

The two about-faced, and headed back to prep one of the few working Starbugs. One they hadn't ripped into pieces for spares.

Further exposition was shared, as the Humans, Huzzard and Hamster piled into a starbug, and were soon on their way to the Sovereign.

"Ok." Jay said. "When I left it, there were a group of scavengers onboard. They may have already taken apart some of the things we need, so if we can kick them off, they'll have done the work for us."

The Sovereign loomed into view, amidst the asteroid field where Jay had found it previously. He expertly piloted the green ship between the space-rocks, keeping it out of sight of the Sovereign for as long as he could.

It was a narrow ship, tiny compared to the Blue Dwarf, but it's central body was bulbous compared to the rest, which was thin and streamlined. Jay aimed the ship towards the same landing bay he'd got to previously, and touched down silently. It was unlikely anyone onboard would know of their arrival. The ship was sleek, well lit, and had the atmosphere of an abandoned science lab - clean, sterile, and ready for work.

As soon as the doors opened, Kenneth directed the Huzzard to defensive positions in the bay, while Cass, Jay and Jamie headed for the computers to find out something more.

It wasn't long before Jay said to everyone "propulsion is still online." followed by Jamie saying "The core is more than big enough to power the Dwarf. It outputs more than our old one did!"

Then Cass said the worst news. "It looks like the original crew left due to a radiation leak caused by the new propulsion system."

"Ah." Jamie said. "The core is linked into that system. We can't take one without the other."

"Radiation shielding shouldn't be too hard." White Wolf said. "Assuming we can identify the type of radiation."

"That's just it." Cass said. "The propulsion system is Quantum Tunnelling. Who knows what long term exposure would do. They left it to float in space on the off chance it was dangerous. The overload they set failed, but it was too late to catch up with it."

"Ok." Jay said, interrupting. "We can still use parts from this ship. I'll take the Huzzard and Kenneth, and we'll try to take out the scavengers. You three stay here" he said, indicating White Wolf, Jamie and Cass "and see if you can figure out how to use it."

<Tag! Hope this reads ok! Artemis, if you want to have joined us, feel free to jump in about the radiation problem, didn't use you in case you had your own plans for your science labs.>