All was quiet on the ship after everything had calmed down and everyone was settled in. Emily was sitting next to Mikes' bed in Med bay, watching his chest rise and fall in even breaths. She'd had been watching over him for the last three hours, furious with him for being so stupid, but also happy that he was safe and sound back on the ship. When they first found the ruined ship, they didn't know what to expect from it. Both Emily and Jack suited up in their combat armor, readying themselves for the rescue mission. Mitch opted for staying behind on the ship, 'to watch their backs', Jack suspected that he was afraid, though he could see the logic of having someone on the ship monitoring the situation in case it got worse. Once the ships were docked together, Jack was first to cross over as the point man. He was armed with one large plasma rifle, and three pulse grenades. Emily brought up the rear loaded down with a hand held plasma pistol, a first aid kit, and her Breaker blade. Jack moved five meters from the air lock, sweeping his plasma rifle back and forth slowly scanning the area for any unfriendlys. The sound of her own breath echoed inside Emily's helmet. The lighting outside the airlock was dim to say the least; she activated her suit's menu and switched over to night vision. The once dim and shadowy hallway now became as bright as day, if day happened be lime green, that is. Still with the annoying color she could see very clearly. Emily switched on her comm unit and told Jack to switch over to night vision, if he hadn't already done it.

"Hey guys, there's a small containment field round the cargo bay, the scanners are picking up several life forms," commed Mitch.

"Roger," replied Jack.

"Check it out and try to keep the channel clear Mitch, you don't know who might be listening." Emily said. "Jack, switch on your stealth camoflage, we don't know what we'll find."

"Humph," was all of the reply that Emily heard, though she could have sworn that she heard him mumble, "Ya, mien fuehrer." For the time being she let it be, now was not the time to start a brawl. She was still surprised that there was still artificial gravity on board this piece of shit. They needed to find Mike quickly, before something else happens. Suddenly, Nightshade wailed like a banshee, Emily dropped her pulse pistol to the deck and tried to cover her ears. It was a futile gesture at best. First off, her helmet would have prevented her from ever reaching her ears. Secondly, the wail, was in fact, telepathic in nature. Not even the helmet, with its advanced technology, could block out this mental anguish. Sweat started to pour down her forehead, dripping into her eyes, the salty liquid stinging in her eyes. The wailing combined with the sweat was really starting to piss her off. That was slowly turning into rage, red hot rage, boiling her blood like never before. It boiled straight into her brain, bashing into the confines of her skull. Emily could only see red at the moment, everything else just faded away. There was only 'The Red' now, a vast endless vista, with no beginning and no end. In this moment, one which Emily would look back upon years later, as a moment when she understood everything that the Universe has to offer. Emily was pulled back from the brink of oblivion by something or someone.

"Emily, I need you, I don't know how long I'll last like this," Emily knew this voice, but couldn't see where they were.

"Emily, HELP ME PLEASE!!" pleaded the voice.

A single thought, more powerful then preserving one's self, she needed to help this poor soul. With all of her will power, Emily concentrated on getting back to reality. Instinct took over, and she imagined a bright sphere of light forming around her head. Slowly but surely, 'The Red' faded away into the ether, as her eyes began to come back into focus. Several large lumpy shapes came into her field of vision; someone was shaking her, almost hysterically.

"Alright, alright I'm up. You can stop shaking me now."

"Jesus mother-fucking Christ, you scared the shit right out of me, Em" exclaimed Jack, or the funny blob that looked like him.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Just under two minutes. I mean, all of a sudden you screamed, grasped your head and fell down."

"So, you didn't hear Nightshade screech at all?"

"No." was all the answer she got.

She started to take in her surroundings and noticed three people standing behind Jack. Jack explained that the three behind him heard her scream all the way from the cargo bay and when they came to investigate; they found Jack crouched over Emily. At first they thought he had attacked her, then, they realized he was trying to revive her. When he turned around, they recognized the combat suit and knew he was with the other one.

At the mention of the 'other one', Emily mind snapped back to the reason they were there. She clambered to her feet, gathered up the med-kit and her pulse pistol.

"Where is the other one, dressed like us?" she demanded.

The three strangers were taken aback by her abruptness. One sputtered that he had gone towards the bridge to call for help. Without hesitating, Emily turned and ran back the way she came. Jack, meanwhile, stayed behind to keep an eye on their new guests. Emily ran like her life depended on it, well more like Mike's life anyway. She only had a vague idea where the bridge was located. Any wrong turn could spell disaster for Mike. Emily was running on instinct, deciding which path to take, and hoping she was right. It appeared that luck was with her this day. She made a right turn and twenty feet along the corridor was the communication station. At first she didn't see Mike, but as she drew closer to the station she saw a pair of legs jutting from an open access panel. Emily began to run toward the panel, panic bloomed in her mind. She grabbed his legs and pulled with all her strength. Slowly but surely, more of Mikes' body began to reappear. When he was completely out of the access panel, she brought out the med-kit and ran the hand held medical scanner on top of his chest. The reading indicated that there was no pulse, no breath sounds, nor was there a heartbeat. She could do anything here, she had all of the necessary equipment, but there was no atmosphere in this compartment. The nearest one was all the way back at the cargo bay. She couldn't drag him all the way there; there was only one real choice at this point.

"Mitch come in please," said a panicky Emily

"Here, over." "Look, I need an emergency matter transport right now to the med-bay back on the ship."

"Shit Em, that's risky at best, I haven't tested that fucking thing yet. You two could end up spliced together or have your molecules spread across half the sector."

"Mitch just fucking do it! I don't have the time to worry about 'what ifs'. Mike needs to get into the med-bay right now."

"Alright, here goes nothing."

For a few seconds Emily felt tingling sensations run across her body, and her vision became kinda fuzzy. She had latched her hand on his forearm, so during the transport she would be brought along for the ride. When her vision finally cleared, they were in the med-bay. Emily did a quick check on herself to see if anything was missing or misplaced. Everything was as it should be; she glanced up to see Mike already on one of the beds. Emily start to remove the suit from his upper torso without much difficulty, then started the auto-doc. All she could do now was wait and see if the auto-doc could bring Mike back. The auto-doc scanned Mike's prone form, mostly centered on his chest area. The scans were sent to a monitor next to the bed, his brain activity was still high, but unless they could get him breathing again he'd be dead in less than five minutes. The auto-doc shocked Mike's chest, his limp body flailed for two seconds, and there was a single beep from the monitor, though there was no improvement of his condition. It went to a higher setting and shocked Mike again, this time there were two beeps from the monitor, than three. His heart started to beat on its own. A breathing mask came out of the auto-doc and attached it to his face. After two minutes of forcing air into his lungs, Mike started to breath on his own; the auto-doc stated that he would make a full recovery with only a two percent chance of brain damage. Emily plopped her ass down into a nearby by chair, tired from the excitement that had occurred. The auto-doc would inform her if there were any changes in his condition. All she could do now was wait for him to wake up. Finally after three hours of unconsciousness, Mike finally began to come around.

Mike was starting to rise out of this strange dream he'd been having, where everything was so simple. He opened his eyes to a bright light shinning overhead, it took him a few moments to realize where was. What surprised him most that Emily was sitting next to his bed, head drooping, eyes barely open. She looked like she was about to drop right out of her chair she was sitting. He reached out with a shaky hand and gently touch her shoulder, Emily jerked awake within seconds of his contact. Her eyes widened in surprise at first then she registered who had awakened her. She looked down on Mike and gave him a small smile that brightened her eyes like jewels. Then a stony expression passed over her face and she decked him with her right fist. To say that hurt, would be an extreme understatement. When the world reoriented itself, Mike was on the floor with his neck perched at an odd angle.

"If you do anything that stupid again, I'll have your guts for garters," said the fiery Emily. She then walked over to where Mike was prone on the floor, turned him on to his back, and took hold of his head. She pulled his face towards her and kissed him fiercely on the lips. Time seemed to slow down for the both of them, after a few second Mike began to respond to the kiss and took hold of Emily in a tight embrace. Mike started to stroke and caress her back, winning a soft moan from Emily. When he thought it couldn't get any better, it didn't. When she stopped the kiss she said "You better remember what I said before, or else." She released his head, let it flop back on to the floor with a bounce and got up and walked out of the room. Mike, to say the least, was confused as hell.

Later in a meeting; Mike, Mitch, Jack, and Emily were discussing the fate of the slaves. Several suggestions were made, but only a few seemed to be useful. They talked for several hours debating the points of these suggestions, weighing the pros and cons if they took a specific action on one of the suggestions, and finally eliminating the ones that were the most strenuous. After they were done talking they came up with three options for the former slaves.

Have their ship repaired and sent on their way to any destination of their choosing. Settle down on Earth as freemen/women, and get on with their lives. Or join up with 'Us' and work to protect this system from the dangers of the Universe has to offer.

While they were talking for so long, Mike had Sam send a couple of droids over to the other ship with supplies. Basically, medical supplies, MRE's, extra clothes, bottles of water. These items would improve their condition, until they got them in the med-bay for a full check up. Mitch thought it would be a good idea for the slaves to remain on their ship until they decided what they wanted to do. Mike went to the other ship and asked for a short meeting with the leaders of the small group. Xavier and Jax were the only ones to come forward, which didn't surprise Mike in the least. Mike laid it all on the line for them and explained their options. They seem rather pleased with what Mike told them, and then both men shared a glance that said more than they could speak. Mike couldn't figure it for the moment, but he gave them three hours to decide what they wanted to do. So he left them to it and went back to the ship to talk with the others. Mike went to the galley where they usually have their meetings, and started to setup some things for the meeting.

"Sam could you called everyone in a for a short meeting? We have some things to talk about." Said Mike.

"Yes, Captain. Right away." chirped Sam.

Three minutes later everyone started to shuffle into the galley. Mike noticed that Mitch was walking kinda bow legged and Jack had a smug look on his face. When Emily entered the room and made eye contact with Mike she blushed, her whole face looked light pink turning to a slight red until Mike looked away nervously. They all took a seat and Mike had them recount what he missed. Jack explained what occurred while Mike was away, both the good and the bad. When Jack got to the part about the 'Thundercat', to Mike's horror, it also brought back the idea of naming the ship. Mike turned to Mitch and gave a look that could melt glaciers; Mitch looked everywhere else except at Mike.

"You are never allowed to name anything ever again, do you under stand me? If, by some miracle you have kids some day we'll name them for you." An irritated Mike stated. Mitch on the other hand looked like he wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and not come back out for a year.

"All right now that everything is settled, our next order of business is naming our ship. Any suggestions from all people not named Mitch will be acceptable." Twin grins were seen on the others, with the exception of Mitch, who frowned and looked like Richard Nixon for a few seconds.

"How about Enterprise?" suggested Jack.

"Already taken," replied Mike, "and please no ship names from Star Trek, if possible."

"Oh, I got it. Rainbow Bright," said Emily. Everyone in the room just looked at her, until she blushed and lowered her head in shame.

"Alright, apparently I'm the only person left with good taste, so I'll name the ship." Mike was silent for a few minutes and was drumming his fingers on the tabletop thinking up a name for their ship.

"Hmm, let me think." Everyone was getting impatient, until it looked like a light went off inside Mikes' head.

Finally, Mike said "How about 'Dark Star'?"

Everyone looked stunned for a few seconds, and then agreed that it was a better name than anything they had come up with.

"Hey Sam, access ship designation, command override, seven-eight-blue-alpha-omega, Captain Mike Anderson changing ship designation to 'Dark Star'."

"Command verified, ship designation changed to 'Dark Star'." Stated Sam.

"Ok, now that that's settled, anything else that we need to discuss?" Mike said.

No's reverberated throughout the galley, which satisfied Mike. He checked the time and decided to check if their guests had made a decision yet. They had five minutes left and he figured that was enough, it would take that long to get over there anyway. He asked Mitch to get the med-bay ready for visitors, Jack to unlock some crew quarters for our guests, and Emily if she'd come with him. She still couldn't look him in the eye without blushing, which pleased him to no end. When they arrived at the cargo bay all was quiet. As soon as Mike stepped through the hatchway, a small cannon ball of flesh slammed right into his midsection, which caused him to stagger back a step or two. When he looked down he saw Cerelia hugging his waist fiercely, a wide grin plastered on her face. Mike smiled back at her and scooped her up to put her on his shoulders. She squealed in delight and held on for dear life. Everyone in the cargo bay was smiling at the laughing child. After a few moments Mike put her down, much to her disappointment and everyone started to move towards Mike as a sign that the meeting was starting.

"Thank you all for taking the time to ponder your choices. I know it is very difficult to decide your fate like this in so little time." There was a pleased murmur rippling through the small gathering.

"So what is you decision?" asked Mike.