After everyone has eaten their fill and are seated comfortably around the table, Tale summons the server droids to clear away the dirty dishes and left over food. Then they bring out steaming cups of fresh brewed coffee and an after dinner chocolate treat, another specialty of Tale? As everyone sips on their coffee, Tale gets comfortable and settles in to explain the ship and how he came to be a part of it. (My inspiration of this ship is influenced by the story by the great George R. R. Martin and his wonderfully written series of short stories titled 'Tuf Voyaging.') So, Tale reviews his history before he encountered this huge ship. He was an orphan and scrounged around his home planet, barely surviving in the harsh environment. One day, he got a break and was captured by some pirates that were scavenging his planet for slaves. The captain of that group took a liking to young Tale and took him under his wing. He leaned how to pilot a ship and was, to his shame he admits, one of the best pirates the old captain had ever trained. But one day, they took on a prize more dangerous than they could imagine. It was a decoy ship sent by the guardians of that part of the galaxie designed to sabotage their vessel. They attacked the decoy thinking it was a prize passenger ship with a lot of loot but when they got on board, they were soon overwhelmed by armed troopers disguised as passengers. Most of the pirate crew was either killed or captured and taken away in irons. Tale managed to escape back to the pirate ship but the guardians had disrupted it so bad that it no longer functioned. It barely had enough life support left on it for one person. The guardians sent the priate ship floating out into space and fired a few practice shots at it as it drifted away. Somehow, the ship survived being completely blown apart but was damaged enough to satisfy the guardians. Tale drifted in space for about a month before things started to really get dire for him. His food supply was getting very low. The life support started flickering and he had periods of low or no gravity and moments when the air supply was interrupted. He took to wearing a space suit just in case. As his situation became more and more dire, he was on the verge of giving up and just letting nature take its course. Just when he was about to pull the plug, this ship appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The pilot of this ship pulled the derelict priate ship into the repair bay. To Tale's amazement, the pilot of this ship came aboard the pirate ship and after a short tour discovered Tale shaking and cowering in a corner trying to avoid discovery. Tale thought he was on board another guardian ship and that he too would either be killed or placed in a prison. But the pilot of this ship was a kindly old man. He was heavy set and a rather jolly person. He persuaded Tale that he meant him no harm and on the contrary, he wanted to help him. So Tale reluctantly followed the pilot out of the pirate ship and onto the repair deck, the same one that now houses Jake and Silo's spaceship. Tale continues his story. It took him quite awhile to learn to trust the old pilot, but the old man's kindness finally won him over. As he grew in confidence, his appreciation for being rescued was expressed in confessing to the old man all his bad history. The old pilot told him that didn't matter. What mattered was that if he wanted to, he could be a good person and make up for his checkered past. If he wanted to, he could work for the pilot on this ship and help him with his various projects as he traveled from planet to planet, helping solve local problems with the vast resources of this huge ship. As the old pilot trusted him more and more, he began to learn of the immensity of the ship and the incredible resources at the old pilot's finger tips. The old man showed him how to use the ships control terminals and he taught himself a great many things by their use. He and the old many traveled for many years together and helped many planets solve problems they thought were unsolveable. He grew to really love that old man. But alas, nothing lasts forever. Just a few weeks ago, the old man passed away. Before he did, he told Tale that he hoped he would continue using the huge ship for good and not be tempted to take advantage of any one in any way. With that, he handed the ship over to Tale, giving him all the access codes he had ever found for controlling the ship, and then he passed away with a smile on his face. Tale had a few tears in his eyes as he finished his story. Jorge and Janax were deeply touched by his revelations. Jake and Silo couldn't help but think there might be an opportunity here for them, but they expressed sympathy for Tale and his loss as well. As everyone was pondering what Tale has just told them, Red comes over and asks Jake if he would mind going to a more private place. Red says he has a message for him. Jake wonders what that could possibly mean, but he humors Red and they find a quiet room next to the dining room. Red tells Jake he has found he has another hidden application in his makeup that Mude discovered when he did a deep scan of Red's memories. It appears he is a fully operational sub-space communication system as well as all his other incredible and unbelieveable abilities. The Z44-XP models were a highly classified experiment by the military on the planet of his construction. There were only about a dozen of them commissioned. They were used in covert operations and once their usefulness was over, most of their memories were wiped and they were released to their own devices. Anyway, Mude reactivated Red's sub-space communicator app and after playing around with some of the frequencies, he stumbled across one of his fellow Z44-XP's that is still active on Janax's home planet. Red established communication with this droid and in the course of their visit, this other droid mentioned that he overheard a conversation by Jake's girlfriend and assumed fiancee. She seems to think that she will be married to Jake when he returns to the planet and that he will find enough treasure to set them up for life. At least that was what the other droid overheard her tell one of her friends. Jake is astounded by this news. 'Can you get in touch with your counterpart on that planet. If you can, have him tell Star that I am okay and that we are a bit delayed by circumstances beyond our control. But tell her I love her and that as soon as I am able, I will return and we will be married! Can you do that, Red?' asks Jake. 'I will be happy to relay that message. I'm also going to ask my counterpart to let Olivia know that Janax is alright as well and give her some of the details of our travels thus far. I suspect she is very worried about Jorge for some reason.' and Red trills a little chuckle at that. 'Sure! Go ahead! Do that if you can.' say Jake 'We sure have some adventures ahead of us now don't we, Red?' 'Oh brother, if you only knew!' affirms Red. Thank you for taking a peek! Your support is greatly appreciated!