Jon woke slowly, the realization that he been drugged came to the forefront of his thoughts. His crew and passengers were also out. Jon picked himself off the floor, checking the room he noted Asente was gone. She must have planned this from before they ever boarded. He only hoped that they been able to put a crimp in her plan. He should followed his instinct and not trusted her. The crew started to stir and JC made his way over, it was then Jon saw his clothes folded neatly on the table. A quick glance down confirmed he was standing there completely naked. A smirk crossed his face as he thought of what Stephanie would now do to the wedding planner. Although he wasn't worried about JC, Tess and Grace seeing him, it may embarrass Lillianne, Catie and Angela.

"Oh crap, Angela!"
The realization of his baggage specialist coming to in front of everyone would lead to questions about her. Grabbing his clothes, "JC, we need to get Angela to her room.. quick."

With that he slipped on his pants as they went to Angela's side carefully lifting her and carried her to her room. Seeing Tess and Grace stir, "Tess.. Grace , we need you to help here."

Jon sensed that Angela awakening as they carried her could trigger her defenses and he needed Grace to help calm her.

Seaching for Asente would have to wait until Angela was secure.

Catie had left the bridge still trying to consider all possible ways to resolve the situation for Liliana and the Winchester boys (and, of course, themselves), but there were just too many variables and too many unknowns. It was one thing to solve for "x" - here they had to solve for the entire alphabet ! Smiling a little at her clever analogy, Catie considered sharing it with the ship's engineer (she was far too clever, in Catie's estimation, to be called a mechanic) but hesitated. She still didn't have a full profile of the prickly redhead, and was pretty certain she was still under evaluation, too. Best keep on safe ground. Humour can go awry
In her mind's eye, she looked at her file folders of possible plans, and waved them away into the trash bin. The scientist in her may have preferred the precision of the lab, but she'd fled that life and had learned to live with uncertainty. Scientist, geneticist, government pawn, then waitress, short order cook and whatever else she'd need to be next to remain in hiding, it was about flexibility and thinking quickly. That would simply become their plan and watch for an opportunity to finesse. When science fails you, turn to art
Having put that matter to rest, Catie found herself in the galley. There was a meal to be prepared, and while she'd started doing this as way to make Liliana consider her as harmless as any servant from home, Catie had already decided to continue cooking for the crew and guests. Although she was ready to take up her other responsibilities of working with JC's prosthesis and the pure enigma that was Angela, it didn't make sense to begin either until she'd earned their trust a bit more, and without outsiders aboard.

She puttered through the cupboards and the cold storage, looking for ingredients to go with the lovely steaks Liliana had brought aboard. She assembled the rice and set the mushrooms in a bowl of water to re-hydrate while she considered the steaks and her options. The galley had a closed ring heat element for the large wok and similarly sealed flat top cooking surface, but these steaks really deserved grilling. After inspecting every inch of storage space in the galley, Catie admitted defeat and went in search of Grace.

OOC: Won't repeat the interaction with Grace - go find her post if you forgot )

Catie enjoyed working with Grace on devising a grill and coming up with the rest of the meal. She'd laughed at Grace's assertion about being able to burn water, but did so behind her hand to show she meant no offense. She was also careful to keep the conversation impersonal, letting Grace get more comfortable around her.

When the food was ready, she sliced her own portion of steak into bite sized pieces, suitable for eating with chopsticks and a rice bowl, but served the others as whole cuts of meat, and set down both chopsticks and forks and knives . The conversation at the table was light, and mostly centered around the food, and Catie amused herself by pretending to not notice Angela furtively taking pieces of steak from Catie's plate. Catie wasn't used to real meat, having grown up on fish and plant proteins, so she was more than happy to share her portion. She picked up a couple more morsels of steak to add to her bowl of rice and nudged the remaining pieces closer to Angela.

Her appetite and capacity is astonishing... metabolism must be in hyperdrive if she eats this volume all the time. I'm so full I can hardly stay awake... **slumps to the floor**

Some time later
Catie felt the press of the table against her face first; an uncomfortable pressure on one cheekbone and the side of her jaw. She straightened and frowned owlishly as she struggled to focus her eyes and clear her fogged brain. I've never dropped off to sleep like that before...drugs?
"Oh crap, Angela!" Catie heard Jon exclaim and she swiveled her head to look at him and just as quickly swiveled her head back again. Why is he naked? Am I naked ? A quick look down at herself reassured her that she, at least, was still clothed, so she scanned the rest of the room.

"JC, we need to get Angela to her room.. quick, " Jon ordered and Catie scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, barely avoiding tripping over the Winchester boys.

"Mmmph...I mean, Captain. How can I help?"

Angela had tried to follow the discussion on the bridge, but there were too many "maybes" and "how abouts" and nothing concrete to hang onto. She'd start to nod at a suggestion, beginning to work out what she could do, but when someone suggested a different path, she'd start thinking about that option and then what she planned for the first option started getting mixed in with the second option and then somebody'd come up with another idea and Angela wanted to cover her ears.

"I'm just gonna wait ‘til someone tells me what to do," she muttered to herself and looked over at Tess. At least Tess arguing was still interesting to look at, what with all the feathers and charms and bits tied into her hair.

One blue-green feather in particular, tucked in behind Tess' left ear, would shimmer with iridescence as Tess nodded or shook her head, and Angela could not help but stare at that feather. First it was blue, then green and at times,was that a deep purple? Black, maybe? It really was a most marvelous feather and Angela know that having such a feather could not help but make her marvelous too.

The discordance of voices had faded to a dull roar as Angela took in the wonder of that feather, and it was with shock that Angela realized she'd moved up to within inches of Tess' back without realizing it. Tess seemed oblivious, too, so she must have been really quiet. She realized her hands were raised as if about to snatch the feather, so she hastily stuffed them deep into her pockets as she stepped back, looking down and scowling as if deep in thought.

The discussion appeared to have reached some consensus, as folks were leaving the bridge. Angela still hadn't been told to do anything, so she followed Grace to the workout room. Grace hopped onto the treadmill almost immediately, leaving Angela to pick up the skip rope and move to a spot clear of the foam flooring around the exercise equipment. There was a spot of burnished metal; clearly someone skipped rope here often to have worn away the non-skid texture.

There was a piece of paper taped to the wall facing the spot with the words "Angela's current record: 18,000 skips". Angela liked a challenge, so she smiled and undid her coverall to slip out of the top half, revealing a white tank t-shirt and well-muscled arms. She tied the coverall sleeves tightly around her waist and began to skip, counting under her breath.

At 7,597 skips, Catie came into the room and spoke to Grace, but Angela couldn't hear over the "whisk-thump" of the rope and the beating of her heart. The two women left, but Angela continued, a light sweat just beginning to make her face and neck glow.

At 19,898 skips, Angela was beginning to feel winded; breathing in through her nose and out her mouth wasn't giving her enough oxygen. She took one last inhale through her nose when it hit her: a mouthwatering scent that tickled her nose, made her tongue tingle and went straight to her stomach. Her stomach clenched with demand and she stumbled forward out of the skip rope's arc, not even noticing as it tangled her and nearly sending her flying.

"What is that smell?" she asked out loud and was embarrassed to realize her mouth was flooded with saliva. She swallowed hastily but her mouth filled nearly as fast as she could swallow. She half closed her eyes and followed her nose to the galley, where Catie, Grace and Liliana were puttering around a rack covered with sizzling, crisping,.things.

"What is that?" Angela asked,"Why do I want it so badly?" The ladies laughed at her, but Liliana kindly explained that they were beef steaks, and she'd have some as soon as she washed up for dinner. Angela beat a hasty retreat to clean herself for dinner, wondering if this was something she was always told to do and always forgot.

At dinner, Angela paid scarce attention to the conversation; all that mattered was that she could cut up pieces of steak and put them in her mouth. Chewing was delightful, the taste was amazing and her big slab of meat disappeared before most of the others were more than halfway through. She noticed Catie didn't seem to like it as much as Angela did: she'd pick up a piece or two at a time for her rice bowl, but chewed for a very long time before taking the next bite. Maybe she wouldn't mind if Angela took a few pieces,.it was a shame for this amazing source of yumminess to not be appreciated.

"Urp! Excuse me! Did anyone not want all of their,*yawn* steak? I'm still a *yawwwwwn* little hungry and ,."

Angela dropped her fork and knife, surprised she was still holding them. It didn't seem to be a good idea to sleep with them,funny, she never went into the box fully dressed and,.











The woman dove deep, strong arms and legs propelling her deeper into the blue waters off the coast. She wore little besides the net bag around her neck and the oyster knife clenched in her teeth. The tourists that swarmed the wharf looking to buy freshly harvested pearls sometimes wanted something more as a souvenir of their trip, and she'd been instructed to catch the eye of one tourist in particular. A skimpy bikini and wild island hair full of shells attracted many offers, but not the one she needed to be a good girl.

She reached the bench of pearl oysters and she worked quickly, using the knife to cut the oysters loose and put them in the bag. It was always a battle - the number of oysters versus the ache in her lungs. Her bag filled, she pushed off the bench to the surface. Maybe he'd be here today and he'd notice her. She broke the surface of the water and immediately began scanning the crowd applauding her ascent, drawing a deep breath,




,before dropping the small distance from helicopter cargo door to the ground. Ming settled the weight of her automatic rifle in her arms before nodding to the men around her. "Ok, let's go, people,this ain't a drill. We go in fast and we go in hot. Bosses want this area cleared and ‘dozed by the end of the week, so we're serving eviction notices."

The man fanned out and began to move forward, Ming taking lead as she always did. She had the reflexes and the eyes; enemy soldiers only had to move the least bit and she'd spot them. Spot them and clean them out. Clean,.




,the kitchen, too. My men left it a mess and I'll never hear the end of it from my wife," the small man in his quiet, sad voice, and she nodded. He was a nice boss, soft spoken, but she knew you didn't disappoint Adlai Niske. She'd only been there three weeks but the staff kept warning her to be careful and not see anything she shouldn't. She straightened her maid's apron and picked up the cleaning caddy filled with spray bottles and cleaning cloths, leaving the luxurious living room to enter the kitchen.

There was blood everywhere in the white tiled and stainless steel room. She stopped dead, eyes wide and took in the scene. There was the old fashioned butcher's block she'd just scrubbed and bleached not a day ago. It was so soaked with blood that it looked to be rosewood, not the golden pine it had been yesterday, and were those three fingers among the gore? She stuffed one hand into her mouth to stifle a scream ,





,and her face was pressed into the chest of the man carrying her. The arm around her legs was warm and supported her with a rough gentleness, but the arm around her back and shoulders was different. Cold, hard and unyielding, yet with the smallest vibration that was unrelated to the swaying of his rapid walking. She kept herself rigid, eyes closed, desperately trying to remember how she'd gotten here. And where the hell here was.
The arm beneath her jerked, then shuddered and she felt her upper half begin to fall as her legs were held even tighter. She arched her back to force herself downwards to the floor, hands planting solidly to allow her to pivot, jerking her legs free. From the backspring, she rose, backing warily until her back was to a wall, looking at the people around her.

"So many memories, " she rasped, voice hoarse as if she had indeed been screaming," They can't all be mine..what the hell's going on? Who the hell are you?"

Jon scoped up Angela in his arms, her head lulled against his chest and JC stepped in to support her back. Gingerly but quickly the two whisked this female enigma from the galley. If they could get her to her room where her memory aids were before she woke her secret would remain safe.. and so would they.

But as was Jon's luck just as they approached the tiny storage room turned Angela's living quarters, JC's prosthetic arm spasmed and then failed dropping her backwards. Instinctively Jon clamped his hold on Angela's legs so as not to let her head fall to the gangway.

The shifting of weight of the falling body turned into a lightning speed move. His baggage specialist dropped to a handstand, back springing free of Jon's hold and pivoting into a defensive stance with her back to the wall. An intense cold stare sized up Jon and JC, "So many memories, " she rasped, " They can't all be mine..what the hell's going on? ,,Who the hell are you?"
Backing away and placing an arm across JC's chest to keep the PR man from stepping toward Angela, "Angela..you are safe,I'm Jon Brown..your Captain!..You're part of my crew." He saw doubt on her face. "There is a journal in your room,in your hand writing.. that will confirm it. May I show it to you?" Jon kept his hands held high and plain sight, he hoped Angela would comply or that Grace would catch up. Grace seemed to have some kind of bond or understanding with this girl that he really needed now. The fact that Angela had remember something was lost on Jon as survival was the priority of the moment.

Once upon a time Grace used to eat in the finest of restaurants and had the most talented of chefs to cook her dinners. Plates had been small, with each dish neat and beautiful, morsels already cut to bite size pieces so all one had to do was savor the food.

So one could only imagine how much childish glee Grace got from eating instant food and combining flavors that would make most chefs physically cringe in horror. Throughout the whole meal, Grace mostly ate everything out of her rice dish, taking large forkful that were by no means little ‘morsels'of food. The only food she wasn't eating whole was the steak which she kept cutting thinly (a habit from the war. Nothing tricks your stomach into thinking its full better than eating slowly. Also works as a way to check for ‘surprises' in the larger pieces of food). Only problem was that Angela kept swiping the slices when Grace wasn't looking, meaning Grace started spending a part of her meal defending it, rather than eating it.

However instead of feeling any annoyance, Grace felt unusual,content and sleepy. Like she was curled up on her bed in her room rather than at the table eating. When Lilianna slumping down in her chair, Grace just stared at her in dazed confusion, her brain not quite connecting the dots. Then when Catie dropped, that when Grace realized her own mistake. Drugged! She drugged the steaks! Gorram it! I should have known!
The two brothers jumped up to catch her but ended up crashing on the floor unconscious beside her. JC tried to move quickly away from the table, going to attack Asante, but he too could not keep from going under and fell to the floor. Grace clung hard to consciousness, her mind desperately doing math problems to try and stay awake. The value of pi is 3.141592653589793238462,
"Urp! Excuse me! Did anyone not want all of their,*yawn* steak? I'm still a *yawwwwwn* little hungry and ,." Angela managed to let go of her fork and knife before falling asleep. A warning rang in Grace's sleepy mind, but she was struggling to keep her thought process

,64338327950288419,716939937,5105820,974944,592,30,
Grace gripped the edges of the table, hoping the body's chemical response to pain would clear her head. Only in her drugged state, she either couldn't feel the pain or she couldn't grip the table hard enough to hurt.

7816,4062,8620,899,862,803,48,
Realizing she couldn't fight it, Grace used her ace card, her last trick. She slammed her arm down violently; making sure every button on her multiband was hit, to activate the override. Then the black blanket of sleep covered her, and Grace slumped, the last of her numbers counting her to sleep

25,34,21,17,0,6,7,


Slowly Grace stirred awake and looked around blankly, confused as to why she was on the kitchen ground and not in her bed. Then she remembered Asante and jerked into alertness,and got an eyeful of her Captain that she really did not need to see. She shut her eyes quickly while rubbing her forehead.

"How long were we out?" she muttered. Grace pulled herself to her feet, now starting to feel the humiliation and anger that had been here when she realized the trick. Yeah, Grace you are a real genius, that was one of the oldest tricks in the book and you fell for it. Why not just give her your 108 character code next time?
"Oh crap, Angela!"

Grace snapped her eyes open to see Jon kneeling by a sleeping Angela, thankfully now wearing pants, wait, Angela asleep? Gorram it! She was going to wake up terrified if they didn't get her to her room. Jon scoped up Angela in his arms, her head lulled against his chest and JC stepped in to support her back. "Tess,Grace, we need you to help here."

First help Angela, then check ship for damage, and finally chew J.C out for letting the wedding planner out of the room
"This way Captain," explained Grace as she raced to Angela's room. That video was the best way to help Angela, and it wouldn't work without the override code. Grace held the door open for the two men and as soon as they were in, Grace turned the system on trying to find the file that Angela used. But as they approached the tiny storage room turned Angela's living quarters, JC's prosthetic arm spasmed and then failed dropping her backwards.

The shifting of weight of the falling body turned into a lightning speed move. His baggage specialist dropped to a handstand, back springing free of Jon's hold and pivoting into a defensive stance with her back to the wall. An intense cold stare sized up Jon and JC, "So many memories, " she rasped, " They can't all be mine...what the hell's going on? ,,Who the hell are you?"

Backing away and placing an arm across JC's chest to keep the PR man from stepping toward Angela, "Angela...you are safe,I'm Jon Brown,your Captain! You're part of my crew. There is a journal in your room,in your hand writing... that will confirm it. May I show it to you?"

Grace glanced away from the screen to help calm Angela. "Don't worry, Angela, this are people you can trust. The journal is actually in your bag but if you give me a second, I can show you a video you made for yourself."

Finally she was at the part where she could put in the override code; she started to glance at her multi-band when she heard Angela say "You're,Grace, right?"

Grace tried to smile reassuringly but it might have been a little strained, "Just a sec, Ange, I just need to put the code in." Grace looked at her watch function and froze.

The override code was her own personal algorithm that changed every five minutes based on what time it was.

In order to activate that, Grace had to press all the buttons of her multiband at once and in her drugged state, she had slammed her wrist down hard enough to break her multiband time

Grace had no idea how long they had been unconscious or what time it was.

"Umm, anyone got a watch on them?"

Despite being put to sleep and waking up in a different room, Angela managed quite well to adjust and once she started watching the vid of her explaining life as she knew herself, the rest of the crew calmed down and Grace was able to put in her 108 digit code to unlock the ship's computer and navigation.

"You're,Grace, right?"
The statement was not lost on any member of the crew. A simple recognition but for Angela, this was a huge step even if she did not realize it. but there were pressing matters that had to be attended to and they could not be put off. Stephanie asked Catie for assistance to get blood samples from all the crew and take samples of the remaining steak as well. She wanted to know what hit them and how.

The passengers were coming to now and were equally upset at being drugged. JC searched the ship (along with the Brothers and Seth if he is willing to have their help). Asante was not on board but a space suit was missing from the lockers and the upper hatch near the shuttle had been opened about an half hour after you all were drugged. All her personal possessions were left behind except a make kit and clutch bag (based on JC memory of the contents). Searching the contents, you find that many of her shoes had break away heels with devices hidden within. As well, her bag had a hidden bottom with several compartments, now all empty.

Tess confirms that a signal was sent during your down time from a device in the ship. It was not long and most likely Asante signalling her ship.

Stephanie and Catie worked their samples in the lab and discovered a number of things. The drug in the steak is a designer one that is similar to Byphodine that slows the metabolic rate to the point of seeming dead. This one was genetically enhanced to work quickly and not as deeply. Catie Stephanie theorize that this is why Angela might have remembered something because it doesn't induce sleep patterns but keeps the mind on a "standby" mode. The drug was activated by heat so even if you checked the steaks before, chances are you would not have caught it.

Grace made a discovery in the engine room though. The panel door to one of the electrical panel was not closed properly. It had a bad latch but Grace was so used to pulling it up and closing that she did not replace it, but she never left it open and it was now. Once she investigated, she found a small device like the tracker you had found before but this was a small explosive with a timer set for 24 hours. Had it blown, it would have meant stopping to rewire the system which would have delayed you.
\

The man with the mechanical arm said nothing; in fact, he looked like he'd rather be anywhere but there at that moment. The woman was not fooled by that, he was clearly the biggest threat. The man wearing only pants knew it, too - he put his arm across the other man's chest as if to bar his way and spoke.

"Angela...you are safe,I'm Jon Brown,your Captain! You're part of my crew. There is a journal in your room,in your hand writing... that will confirm it. May I show it to you?"

The woman scowled in confusion and tried to place his face...how could she know someone that handsome and not know it? She put put her clenched hands around either side of her head as if it was going to burst under the pressure of remembering.

A redheaded girl brushed by the three of them as if they weren't there and started fussing with a screen in the small room. It seemed out of place, a screen in a storage room. The redhead glanced away from the screen and smiled distractedly .

"Don't worry, Angela, this are people you can trust, " she said, her voice resonating to the woman as SAFE - FAMILIAR . "The journal is actually in your bag but if you give me a second, I can show you a video you made for yourself."

The girl turned away again and something about the way she tossed her hair unconsciously also struck the woman as familiar. Almost in tears from confusion and fear, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, and the faintest traces of synthetic motor oil and degreaser tickled her palate.

"You're,Grace, right?" the woman heard herself say, and the sound of the name solidified the nebulous recollection. Grace , she repeated to herself. That's Grace and I have to listen to her. I'm very silly but she stops me from doing anything too foolish. I must be silly if I can't even remember my name is Angela...
Grace tried to smile reassuringly but it might have been a little strained, "Just a sec, Ange, I just need to put the code in." After a bit of confusion, the screen started to show a video of Angela herself, and she was happy to be gently lead to her cot where she sat down to watch herself explain things.

She found herself nodding as the video went on...the more she saw, the more all seemed familiar. It was strange that it could all just vanish from her mind like that, but hey, she remembered Grace, didn't she? The others left once she was settled, and later Catie (according to the last entry in her notebook) came and asked permission to take some blood.

Angela was happy enough to help but was a little puzzled. "You think my blood will tell you what happened to my memory?"

Catie shook her head but smiled so nicely that Angela didn't feel like it had been a silly question.

"We're testing everyone's blood to see what made us sleep and see how much is left in our systems," she paused as if she was about to say more but had checked herself. She glanced at the notebook but politely did not try to read the open page.

'I am in there? You didn't have to ask who I was...do you also know we have passengers? Do you remember our mission?"

Angela nodded confidently. "Yup...gotcha noted and we have a bride to deliver, then save, and her boyfriend to find, and also save, and a gun to find for the Winchester fellas.... but I didn't get around writing down how we are going to do that? What's the plan?"

"I'll let you know as soon as I do," Catie promised with a touch of grimness.

Jon knew any plans they'd worked up were now Jao Gao,( "spoiled cake."). Asente had heard all of it and now she was out there ready to stick her foot in it. The only thing that was remotely good was that somehow Angela had not gone completely blank from the drug induced sleep. Maybe there was something to help her.

Jon rambled to himself as his headed back to the mess after finding that there was a pressure suit missing and the hatch had been used. "Dao-Gao-Yee-Chi Moh-Gao-Yee-Juhn.*Well our plan never was that solid, so what's a little more fluidness going to do?"

(*"the solution advances a yard, the problem advances a
mile.")

Catie had tried to keep up with the Captain and JC, but they knew the ship and could move around, even burdened with a slumbering woman, better than the newest crew member. She caught up with them just as they were entering Angela's room, and she skidded to a halt at the sight of Angela ignoring several laws of physics to twist herself free. Like a cat twisting in mid-fall to land on its feet
She'd been warned that Angela woke with different moods, seemingly at random, and this one was clearly angry, frightened and therefore dangerous. Catie held back, knowing she'd be in the way , and more than a little intimidated by what she's seen of Angela's abilities. If she ever saw Catie as a threat...

Grace arrived and with the same careless competence she showed with everything, she seemed to engage Angela where Jon couldn't. Catie noted Angela's body language change as she looked at Grace, and the scientist in Catie saw how Angela's inhale preceded the spark of recognition. Scent! Our most primal sense! This needs further study....
She also noticed how quickly Angela switched from wary and suspicious to happily docile; her sudden trust of Grace and, by extension, the others, seemingly absolute and complete. Catie supplied the time to Grace distractedly; she was almost ready to start taking Angela's vitals to see if she was truly as calm as she appeared, and if any trace of the fight/flight reaction remained. Of course, how much of it was the remnant of whatever had sent them all to sleep...

"Gao yang jong duh goo yang! Please excuse me...we better find out what knocked us out, " Catie exclaimed as she hurried back to find Stephanie. The doctor had already been of the same mind; after ensuring none of the passengers suffered any ill effects, she'd gathered up what was left of the steak and taken it to the med bay, and had begun prepping syringes and vials to get blood samples from everyone.

"We may not be able to identify the drug from the meat, but if we can detect the by-products in the blood, we may be able to narrow the search, " Catie nodded approvingly and gathered up her share of syringes and vials.

OOC: The DM did not specify who took blood from whom, so I'm focussing on Angela, since I'm developing Catie's research into Angela's unique qualities. If anyone else posts an interaction about having their blood taken, I can back-post a reaction.
Gathering samples was easy enough, most were eager to know if they should expect ill effects from the drug, but just outside Angela's room, Catie paused. Maybe she should have asked Stephanie to take Angela's sample. Someone more familiar would be less likely to trigger Angela's fight response. This is silly. Can't study someone from a distance.
She slipped the last syringe and vial into a pocket, along with the medical gloves, and peeked into the room. Angela was sitting on her cot, watching herself on a vid onscreen, nodding as if what "she" was telling herself made sense. Catie entered the room slowly, making eye contact and smiling and, getting a smile in return, joined Angela on the cot. She watched the vid with interest, noting that it didn't include her, but Angela also had an open notebook beside her. Catie glanced at it, remembering Jon's words earlier, but made no attempt to read it. She had to establish trust.

"Angela, I'd like to take some blood from you, for analysis. May I do that? It won't hurt...I'm pretty good at this procedure, I promise."

"Sure, Catie. You think my blood will tell you what happened to my memory?"

Catie shook her head, smiling, a intrigued with the egocentricity of her subject. Much like a child, Angela assumed everything was about her...unless she didn't really recall what had happened earlier.

"We're testing everyone's blood to see what made us sleep and see how much is left in our systems," Catie replied, and was about to explain that she wanted to run more tests on Angela's blood in particular, but realized now wasn't the time. She's the subject, not my lab partner .

'I am in there?" Catie indicated the notebook with her chin while she deftly tied off Angela's arm with rubber tubing and inserted the syringe into a vein. " You didn't have to ask who I was...do you also know we have passengers? Do you remember our mission?"

"Yup...gotcha noted and we have a bride to deliver, then save, and her boyfriend to find, and also save, and a gun to find for the Winchester fellas.... but I didn't get around writing down how we are going to do that? What's the plan?"

"I'll let you know as soon as I do," Catie promised, with a touch of grimness. She saw the vial was full and removed the syringe, holding a small cotton pad over the tiny wound one handed while she secured the vial and syringe with the other, long practice making her movements smooth. She patted Angela's arm in farewell and headed back to the medical bay with her precious cargo.

The doctor's lab was decently provisioned for emergencies and ongoing care of normally healthy crew, but Catie made note of some additional equipment and supplies she'd need if she was going to ever be able to counter whatever had been done to Angela and the hack job someone had made of JC's cybernetics. With some substitutions and creative workarounds, Catie and Stephanie were able to identify the drug - a variant of Byphodine. From that, they realized that the crew would be physically rested from their time out, but mentally, they had not slept, only been "paused" from a cognitive standpoint. Catie had already started a file on Angela, and made some quick notes to investigate later:

* A would not have reached REM, where brain re-orgs mem via dreams
* Some agent/implant/conditioning acts to erase mem during REM?
* Not hungry after being asleep 8 hours - met rate def affected by drug
* Scent as a memory trigger - establish sig scents for crew

She would have noted more but knew Stephanie was impatient to let the Captain know their findings. She accompanied the doctor to the bridge, but let Stephanie be the one to explain. She'd realized the captain and doctor had a complicated relationship, but were now using the formal structure of crew chain of command to manage the awkwardness - and Catie knew she was a junior member at best. For now, she'd wait to hear how their plans would now change before she jumped in with questions.

The system was back online but that didn't mean Grace could relax. As soon as Angela's video was turned on, Grace raced off to see how much possible damaged the wedding planner could have done. A suit was missing but that was to be expected. Next Grace ran to the engine room, making sure that Asante hadn't left any surprises for her, The redhead wasn't staying still, running from room, eyes darting around for any possible problems along the path to the engine room.

Along the way, Cattie tried to stop her, something about blood work, but Grace was a little too busy so she just kept walking,

"Is that electrical panel loose?" asked Caite suddenly

"What? Where?" asked Grace freezing on the spot. She glanced around just as Caite stabbed her shoulder with the needle.

"OW!"

"I told you I needed to do the blood work. If you stopped moving around and actually relaxed, it wouldn't have hurt"

Grace grumbled but didn't run off until Catie pulled out the needle (she wasn't dumb enough to run with a needle in her arm), before racing back to the engine room. The engines were still running, easing some of her tension, until she spotted the panel door of the electrical panel was not closed properly. It had a bad latch. Grace was used to pulling it up and closing that she did not think to replace it, but she never left it open. Here we go, I knew she was going to pull somethingGrace looked closer; she found a small explosive with a timer set for 24 hours. Had it blown, it would have meant stopping to rewire the system. Grace was too angry too curse, her face went read as she grabbed her tools to try and disarm the small device.

You drugged my friends,you made me look like an idiot,and you THREATENED MY SHIP. This. means. WAR.
Still working away on the device, Grace hit the comm link before saying "Captain, I need you and Tess to meet me in the bridge. Asante left us some surprises and I need your help to find them all."

For JC the whole incident with Angela was a first for him. Though he had been told little about her past he knew about her going to sleep and waking up with her memory blank like a computer's hard drive. As he and Jon moved her towards her room his left arm picked just that moment to fail almost dumping Angela to the floor. However coming awake JC watched as she arched her back landing downwards on the floor, hands planted solidly allowing her to pivot, her legs free. Then from the back-spring, she rose, backed up until her back was to a wall.

"So many memories, " she rasped, voice hoarse as if she had indeed been screaming, "They can't all be mine.. what the hell's going on? Who the hell are you?"

Before he could do anything Destiny's captain placed an arm across his chest to keep the PR man from stepping toward Angela,

"Angela.. you are safe,I'm Jon Brown.. your Captain!.. You're part of my crew." JC could see the doubt on her face. "There is a journal in your room,in your hand writing.. that will confirm it. May I show it to you?" JC watched as Jon kept his hands held high and plain sight, clearly trying to keep Angela calm.

Then Grace was beside them her voice a calming port in Angela's storm "Don't worry, Angela, this are people you can trust. The journal is actually in your bag but if you give me a second, I can show you a video you made for yourself."

"You're,Grace, right?" To JC this was a very good sign he thought remaining quiet.

Grace tried to smile reassuringly but it might have been a little strained, "Just a sec, Ange, I just need to put the code in." Grace looked at her watch function and froze.

"Umm, anyone got a watch on them?"

"Ahhh here, use mine",,,,,,,,,,,..... Handing her his watch. By the look on her face the gunfighter knew he was in for it from her.

MUCH LATER
With Asante's gifts mostly found, the gunfighter was going to have words with the bitch as it was his fault she was loose. Though in the back of his mind he thought the meat was already poisoned from the start Asante having prior access to it. After this run was done if they had no other contact with her he'd start checking his underworld contacts for word of her. There were people JC still knew that for the right price or promise of a favor could find anyone or anything and JC was still owed a few himself. For now it was best to concentrate on the run and Asante later. Moving to back to his room he waited for their next move.

Destiny Day Three of Journey. 3:00 am ST
With the threat of a bomb, no matter how small it is, the crew is put into intense search mode. The passengers are kept in the galley under the eye of Dr. Stephanie as Jon, JC, Grace and Angela search the ship for any other surprises while Tess ran through the feeds of the cameras that Grace had on the ship to determine the path Asante took. Grace insists that every section of the ship is searched three times by a different set of eyes.

As it turns out, it was for the best that you did. Two more small devices were found, one in the cockpit and another on the hull of the ship on the EVA hatch. None of them would have endangered the crew but done enough damage that you would have had stopped to fix the wiring or disengage emergency bulkheads.

Grace is able to disarm the devices and with two of them, reset the timer to standby so that she could use them herself in the future. They were sophisticated, and very advanced technology. She talked about putting her 108 character passcode into a lock for the vacuum suits until someone points out that in an emergency you might need access to the suits fast.

Seth wants to call the Baron to warn him of Asante's betrayal but Lilianna doesn't want Seth to say anything to her step-father as it may endanger Daniel. The brothers are a bit worried by the events that have happened and that Asante may warn Templeton of their intentions.

JC sends out some waves and messages to friend he knows that may have had contact with Asante. The first round of inquires comes up with nothing as she doesn't seem to be a underworld type but some say they will look around and see what they can find.

OOC: I will backpost if you chose to contact the Baron or make other actions

Destiny Day Five of Journey. 9:00 am ST
The few days in the black are uneventful other than your planning for this moment. JC got word back from a friend who thought this Asante might have been the one who he heard did the Bosco job. Company named Bosco had made a made a food supplement that put the Blue Sun protein bars to shame. But when they tried to get the formula and product to alliance labs for testing, the ship disappeared. No one was ever found and the product vanished. Word was that there was a woman who cam e on the ship a few days before as passenger, and got off a day before on a stopover. Only Feds could never find her again and the trail went old. The picture they were circulating looked like the woman JC described. The ship that carried the Bosco people was a Firefly and never seen again, nor the crew.

Destiny approaches the Cruise liner Rim's Dream and makes its presence known. They are informed by a pleasant Yeoman that they were expected and to dock on Bay 4B near the stern of the liner. You are then barraged with a liturgy of warning about weapons and that they are not allowed in the liner at any point. Guns, knives, sticks with nails in them - you name it, they were not allowed and there were screening points at all docking bays. Only one warning would be issued any after that, anyone caught trying to bring a weapon onboard would be banned for life.

After this riot act was given to you, the liner asks for a list of all crew and passengers that are on your ship and tell you that someone will be awaiting your arrival.

Grace's paranoia was a two sided sword but it had again proved its benefits. Because of Grace's insistence to double and triple check everywhere. But they had found the other traps Asente had left to slow them down. It was very likely now they would still get to the cruise liner before the wedding planner. With the information JC dug up about her Jon felt she was up to more than just getting the mining rites. He had heard the Lillianna was afraid to let Seth tell the Baron about Asante, but they need to neutralize any stories she might spread if she got to the liner. the bodyguard Seth would also be allowed to carry weapons on board and it would be really good to have him on their side. So before they reached the cruise liner Jon took time to find Seth and have a heart to heart. Seth had shown himself to be an honest man, Jon knew the body guard would be good to his word to the Baron but also believed in what was right. Daniel's safety may be better served if the Baron knew someone was trying to take his mining rites away from him. Steele had more connections, more money, more power and was more likely to double cross anyone to get what he wanted. If the Baron would start to distrust Steele it could help thing unravel. Jon couldn't be sure that Seth would warn the Baron but it was what he had to work with. Besides Jon would have to explain why the wedding planner was missing.

When Destiny got in range of the line they were hailed and given instruction which included a complete warning to not bring any weapons on board. As much as he hated leaving his side arm on board there would be ample items that could be used if needed. Then when the Yeoman said they needed to supply a passenger list he knew it was showtime.

Keying the com back to the Rim's Dream, "This Captain Jon Brown ,..We need to get a message to the Baron.. the wedding planner drugged the crew and attempted to kidnap Lillianna, but failed.,She has escaped and is no longer on board. Our manifest is otherwise unchanged,. We would like to talk to the Baron about helping Seth to provide additional security, Asente may have others onboard."

When Jon released the comm he knew events were about to go spinning.

Angela had let Catie take the blood sample...something told her this was something she was used to...though maybe not with Catie. She frowned a little at that thought, but Catie was every bit as good about the procedure as she said, and soon enough Angela was left on her own again.

The video had finished, so Angela was as clear on who her friends were as she was ever likely to be. She glanced through her last entries about the passengers but saw nothing about what had been passing through her mind when she'd woken up. She flipped back through the earlier pages and didn't see anything about pearl diving or helicopters....or ...

"Ming," she said aloud, trying the name on her tongue. She looked at the polished metal plate she used as a mirror and studied her mismatched features again. She didn't look like a "Ming"...maybe she knew one. I think Ming protects me, or used to...but why would I dream that I was her ?
It didn't make any sense, and trying to think about it made her head hurt, like a buzzing that warned you away from a live wire. The dreams were already starting to get mixed up in her mind, so she opened her notebook and jotted down what she could before it all blurred into one confused moment.

That done, she left her room to see how she could make herself useful. She wasn't tired, but a jolt of coffee, or s'pro seemed like a good thing to clear away cobwebs.

BACKPOST
JC had sent out a number of inquires along with Asante's description to most of his underworld contacts had gotten nothing back. He had to admit that he was stumped at her ability to keep off everyone's radar until he got word back from Bucky Barnes. Barnes a med level contact from his days in the Triad thought this Asante might have been the one who he had heard did the Bosco job. When he had inquired about said job Bucky had sent him back details of the ‘possible' heist

Company named Bosco had made a made a food supplement that put the Blue Sun protein bars to shame. However when they tried to get the formula and product to alliance labs for testing, the ship disappeared. No one was ever found and the product and details for the making of the bars simply vanished. Word was that there was a woman who had came on the ship a few days before as passenger, and got off a day before on a stopover. Only Feds could never find her again and the trail went cold. The picture they were circulating looked like the woman JC described. The ship that carried the Bosco people was a Firefly and never seen again, nor the crew.

As JC sat, his chair up back against the wall, he went back over his contact with Asante. Little by little he started to see a possible pattern of her memorizing the layout of the Destiny more so then a normal passenger. Damn! how had he missed that he thought to himself as he gathered his notes. Collecting the full info packet from Barnes he went to find Jon relaying all the info to the Captain.

PRESENT
As JC stood behind Jon as they approached the Cruise Liner Rim's Dream His mind was on a way to get at least 1 weapon on board the liner. It was a sure bet that anything metal was out; he might even have problems getting on board due to his arm yet was there anything else. Perhaps a plastic shiv? Maybe hidden inside his cyber arm? As he thought of ways to smuggle it past screeners he listened to the Captain's hail.

"This Captain Jon Brown... We need to get a message to the Baron. The wedding planner drugged the crew and attempted to kidnap Lillianna, but failed.,She has escaped and is no longer on board. Our manifest is otherwise unchanged,. We would like to talk to the Baron about helping Seth to provide additional security, Asente may have others onboard."..........................