Crew of the Aliya part 3: Aftermath

The Aliya, ungainly and overloaded, dragging escape pods and cargo behind it, left the star behind as the wreckage of the Ghazali plummeted to its fiery doom.

No easy job this. With both the cargo pod and the drop ship to move, and without the power to manage both at once, the Aliya flew back and forth to accelerate each container away from the star and towards the nearest portal station.

Once out of the radiation interference from the star, Gurgeh opened up communication with the station, and Tahir sent a message requesting aid and also mentioning the Fatima's Bounty and the presumed contraband they were carrying.

A fleet of tugs appeared as the Aliya approached the station, and cargo pod, drop ship and escape pods were all collected and delivered to the cargo loading area, while the Aliya herself docked up. Alqadi, Shahim and Sayah emerged, hot and stressed, along with the other survivors and the box containing Suleiman. Alqadi had managed to contact a Legion representative, who had arranged for the pods containing Nekatra to be safely relocated so that nobody got eaten.

The crew reunited to deal with a particularly irritating bureaucratic type intent on inspecting the ship. Gurgeh had locked down the computer systems as much as possible while the survivors were being unloaded, and hoped it was enough. The inspector was finally allowed on, and wanted the entire crew off, but Tahir insisted at least one person stayed on the bridge. Shahim stayed, while everyone else talked to representative of the Colonial Agency, the group we'd been working for as part of the Ghazali mission. She gave us an inadequate award in exchange for the emerald disc recorder. We didn't mention Suleiman.

She also gave us access to the public baths, so we all headed off for a wash. Tahir and Lila didn't stay long, wanting to get back to the Aliya (and also give Shahim the chance for a bath.) The others stuck around for perfumed steam baths and massages, and also ran into a journalist keen to learn more about the Ghazali. Gurgeh immediately said that it had been attacked, although Alqadi and Sayah quickly backtracked to say that they didn't know what had happened, having been in stasis at the time.

With the official finally evicted from the ship with adequate paperwork, Tahir went to talk to the station Akbar, and Sayah went to visit the souk for replacement rugs and tapestries, bedding and cushions. Somehow, Tahir's fancy clothing had escaped the fittings purge - how had we missed his wardrobe?

With the ship redecorated, refueled and restocked with tea, there was just one thing left to do. Shahim and Gurgeh worked together to install the memory cores into the Aliyah's computer, and then Sayah joined them for the final installation and activation of Suleiman.

"Hello, Sayah," he said at last, much to everyone's relief. He complained briefly about how his new home seemed to be a lot smaller, but Sayah pointed out it had the major benefit of not being inside a sun.

The journalist reappeared, keen to do interviews with the heroic crew. Lila and Sayah declined, with Sayah in particular trying to keep her face off camera. Fortunately the new rugs provided plenty of cover.

Where next? While Tahir was all too keen to volunteer the crew for a follow-up rescue mission, the station was very keen to have at least some of the survivors relocated. If the cargo bay was filled with stasis pods, there was enough room for forty people including the crew. While many mysteries still remained - why had the Ghazali been attacked and where had the Fatima's Bounty with another forty survivors aboard gone being the main ones - it looked like our next port of call would be back on Kua.