You decide that the Cambrian can take the lead, although that means that Yasha will be following the path of another ship and Navigator instead of leading the way. It might be a tad more uncertain, but it makes Robert S. Pierre happy, and he is responsible for the most vexing part of the trip: dealing with the pilgrims. From remarks he has made in passing, you get the impression that they are particularly wearing on the nerves.

As the day of departure arrives and the crew starts filtering back aboard, you do note a couple of oddities and discrepancies have crept into the manifests. Most of these you either ignore or pass onto Zheeves and Morrigan to sort out, but two catch your eye.

Vir has a pair of small but ornately carved boxes stashed in his quarters. The smaller of the two is made of wood and might hold a ring or other such small trinket. The other is larger, perhaps the length of your forearm, and made of some sort of ivory, old and yellowed with age.

And Yasha has an inordinate number of older texts brought up. Most are badged with the House Saurlance emblem, and made of musty old parchment, but there are a few data-crystals here and there. You would assume it to simply be an updated version of a Navigator's Map, except for the fact that it filled the entire volume of a passenger shuttle and that Yasha personally escorted all of it into her quarters.

You rub your forehead as you enter the Aegis' bridge. Oddities and Things to Look Into have been piling up of late, and after this Contract is complete, you intend to sit down and sort through them. But for now it is time to depart. You start to give the usual orders, but pause when you notice Simo and Frank are both eyeing the Cambrian with some suspicion. It's not hard to guess why, as you take your first good look at her. Instead of the usual blunt prow, slab-sided cargo-box midsection, and bulky engine cluster you would expect of an Imperial Pilgrim Ship, the Cambrian is, well, strange.

She has the usual blunt prow, but her midsection is more stretched, looking almost like a shellfish or something that belongs in the deep sea, not space. Her engine block is long and lean, of a design you have never seen before. You promptly decide that Mr. Pierre has deliberately not told you everything, but the Aegis' position is below and behind the Cambrian, so you will be in position to take her under fire from an advantageous position if you need to. You go ahead and issue the usual departure orders, but follow them up with instructions to Frank, Simo, Jace, and Zheeves to keep an eye on the Cambrian in addition to any outside threats. As the Cambrian and Aegis settle down for the out-system run to the Translation Point, you decide to ask Vir a quick, but pointed, question over your microbead, "Vir, could you contact Lord Pyrus if you had to? I've a bad feeling about the Cambrian, she doesn't look to be of normal Imperial Construction."

"I could Sir, but only if we need to. He is working for the Inquisition now, so that complicates things."

"Of course, I just needed to know if that was an option. Tristan, clear." You rub your chin, but there is little you can do now, and you have no evidence as to Xenos influence outside of some unusual ship construction, and the Viking Port Officials have obviously cleared her, so she can't be too unorthodox. You can only shrug for now, and order Yasha to follow the Cambrian to the Outbound system.

The following Warp Journey is far more turbulent then the Aegis is used to, but Yasha and frank get the Aegis through without too much incident. The same cannot be said for the Cambrian. On returning to realspace on the outskirts of the Outbound system, she looks like something has chewed her up and spit her out. Literally. The port half of the 'clam shell' has a gargantuan bite taken out of it, and the starboard half is dented in. You can see the neat semi-circle of indentations that mark tooth impressions. The smallest of them must be fifteen meters across, and the largest is closer to twenty. She is shedding atmosphere, debris and bodies flowing into her wake from the holes in her sides. A slightly panicked call comes in, "Cambrian to Aegis, please respond. Cambrian to Aegis, is anyone out there?"

"Aegis here Cambrian, we can see it. What aid can we give you?"

"Oh thank the Gods. Aegis, we think we can at least seal off the atmo leaks, but would appreciate the extra manpower doing so. Can you send over Enginseering support?"

"Cambrian, help is coming but we need to match velocities to send shuttles back and forth. Head for high orbit over Vrenna, the planet in this system. We will match your orbit and send shuttles when you get there. Aegis, clear." As you close the connection, something dances down your spine with a million little legs. You have to lend aid, but who do you send? what do you tell them to do?