XXXXXX

Wash, back on the ship, had strolled down to the engine room to see what Sanka was doing. And to get him to turn down his music. Opening the door to the engine room, Wash was blasted by loud Reggae music. He winced, and called out.

"Sanka!"

Sanka poked his head up from underneath the engine. "Oh! What is it, mon?"

Wash rolled his eyes at the brightly-dressed man. "Cap'n wants us to keep the engines running. Could you keep 'em warmed up?"

Sanka laughed. "Can a ship fly?" He got up from the floor and reached over to turn the stereo off. The music instantly died, saving Wash's head from a massive migraine. Sanka wiped his hands on a towel.

"You know, back on Earth-that-was, my great-great-ect. grandfathers only had things called "cars" to get around on. In fact, my family had a car called a "Beetle Bug". It was the type of car back then." Sanka smiled, remembering his family history. "And we didn't have to warm up no engines back then. It was just like a mule, you could go whenever you wanted! And our "Beetle Bug" was painted all nice and pretty like the colors I have in the engine room." He pointed to the brightly colored walls.

Wash nodded. "I'm very glad you told me. Now, warm up the engines, okay?"

Sanka waved his hand in acknowledgement as Wash turned to leave.

XXXXXX

Kane watched as Jade dissappeared into the smoke filled hatch. All stayed quiet and he did not hear anything over the microtransmitter in his ear to cause him alarm. For now, all he could do was sit tight.

However, while he waited he thought he might as well get some more of the crew into the act.

Speaking as quietly as he could into the handset and still be heard, Kane said, "Wash, I need you to get onto the Cortex and find out what you can a ship registered under the name "Aces & Eights." I want all the usual stuff on it that you can give me in two sentences. She looks a little more luxurious that Odyssey and probably twice our mass--maybe 6000 to 7000 tons."

Kane called off the ship registration number and a few other details that might help Wash. Then he ended the transmission, made sure the volume was down low enough and held it to his ear waiting for the report.

Good or bad, Kane was not going to wait here much longer. Jade was inside and the mystery of this ship and the distress call was not getting any clearer.

XXXXXX

Wash had been sleeping when the Captain called in. Starting awake, Wash managed to hear his instructions.

"Okay, I'm on it, Kane." Wash said as he typed in the name Aces & Eights. His eyes grew wide as he looked at the information that came flooding in. He reached over for the transmitter.

"Cap'n, the Aces & Eights is 6,000 tons. And it's got some type of armament, but I can't figure out where they're mounted.”

Wash continued to call out what the Cortex had given him. "The Captain is Maxx Williams, and it's owned by Jack Leland. They have other crew members, but it's not listin' 'em."

XXXXXX

Jade stepped inside the hulking ship, taking in her surroundings. She opened her mind, reaching out to touch whatever soul that she had heard over the intercom. She was not sure how many people were on board, or how many had survived the crash. She scanned the ship's floorplan, taking note of bridge's location.

Moving towards the bridge, she contacted Kane on the microtransmitter. "Kane, I've recieved a cry for help from the bridge, which is where I'm now headed. I've been 'sending' for others, but so far things are very cloudy and I can't get a good reading. I don't know if there are other survivors." Frowing, she added, "I don't need to tell you how big of a mess we have on our hands. This ship is little more than twisted metal."

Kane listened intently to the report from Wash, followed almost immediately by the update from his beloved Jade.

"Jade, hold tight," he said into his microtransmitter. "I am coming to join you."

He grabbed the handset and keyed it up, "Wash, find out what you can about the captain and the owner, boil it down and get it to me. Also, if you can't get names, get an idea of numbers for the crew. I am following Jade in."

Kane rose up from behind he cover and pulled his shotgun into ready position. He moved toward the door then inside. He saw the floor plan on the wall and contributed as much to memory as possible. He then turned to join Jade and make their way to the bridge. Kane took point, carefully checking each corner, niche and door as they moved.

Jade sensed no one else alive other than that one feeling coming from the cockpit. They both finally reached the bridge and the smell of blood assaulted their noses. They saw someone slouched in the pilot’s chair, hand on the ship’s intercom. Blood ran down the chair and ragged breathing could be heard coming from the figure.

"Ship's...log...please...help...them..." his breathing grew more shallow, and he coughed, blood dripping. "I...failed..."

Jade immediately moved to the injured man and began to check for vitals and the extent of his wounds.

XXXXXX

Wash was rapidly typing over the Cortex. He had found what Kane wanted, so he grabbed the comm.

"Cap'n, I found out some interesting things about the owner, Jack Leland. The last time he was spotted was at Boros, then he dissapeared. We're the first people to spot his ship for three months. It seems he let's a guy named Maxx Williams to captain the ship. They're a gambling crew. There are...hold on...six people on the crew. The names are listed. Jack Leland, Hwa Ling, Maxx Williams, Joe Henderson, Ramona Cortez, and a Rawhide. That's all the Cortex is givin' me, Kane. Sorry."

XXXXXX

“Thanks, Wash. Good work. We found somebody. I'll get back to you. Kane out."

While Jade began to diagnose the injured pilot's condition, Kane checked the screen on the console to see what information it contained. Things were starting to add up and Kane wanted to know which way things had gone. Either this man was a pirate and had stolen this ship, or he was all that was left of the 'Aces & Eights' crew and the others were in trouble. If it was the former, the contents of this ship would soon have new owners. If it was the latter, it looked like Kane would need to be the hero again.

Being a hero doesn't generally pay very well...he stepped over to the ship’s log to check it out. It started to show a long entry.

"To anyone who travels amongst the stars. For those who traversed the abyss, and journey through the hostile environment of the vacuum, to those who think space travel is a beautiful, if not dangerous adventure. My name is Captain Maxx. This is most assuredly my last time entering a log onto my beloved ship, Aces & Eights.

My ship is still beautiful, even after the crash. Everyone else thought it was a hunk of metal with engine nacelles attached to the hull with an ion drive welded to the rear. But this hunk of metal has become my home. We shared many adventures together. Shared many brushes with death. And in the end, our perils and adventures brought us closer together.

But now, my time with my crew and my ship has come to an end. Everyone else is dead. Murdered by that woman. I trusted her. I really did. And then she turns on us. I saw the Game Room. Everyone had died. Shot to death. And she shot me too. I’m runnin’ out of time.

For the one who read this, I sent out a message in Morse Code, hopin’ that someone will get it and decode it. I know it isn’t in use now, but, hopefully someone out there will know Morse Code. The instructions are in there. Please. Help. Them. Decode the message, please.

Time Bomb knows. Find him, and you’ll know too."