FRAWD Investigators: Owendoher’s Revenge | Scene 7

Lilly and Lief come tromping down from the control room. “We’re in pretty bad shape,” Lilly announces.

“Aye,” Imogen gasps out, “we’re going to have to rest a bit or something before we take on these pirates.” Lief reminds them that there is an injured one bound in the field outside. Imogen admits she does not have the energy to conduct an interrogation, but she does think it would be good to get some recent intel about Jackson’s Revenge. It has been a while since Lilly was aboard the battlecruiser, and things might have changed. She looks to Lilly to do this.

Lilly listens to Imogen talk, but she hears the rattling and gasping more than the words themselves. I wonder if that guy is a medic, she thinks. She heads outside to get Kofi, and Lief hurries after her to show her the way. This all would be so much easier if Imogen can do the talking. I’ve done enough of that for today. Look where it got me. Unfortunately, Kofi is still unconscious, and Lilly is unable to wake him. They drag him back inside the ship, now that it is no longer producing sickening fumes. Lilly wants to be able to keep eyes on him.

“So,” she says to Imogen’s relatives, “do either of you have medical skills?” Aiden and Lief shake their heads. “Or know someone who does?” she looks pointedly at Aiden.

“What, a zerg?” he asks. Imogen snorts in amusement.

“Or have medical supplies?” Lilly continues. Imogen tells her they were unable to find anything useful in the medical closet, but Lilly decides to go look for herself. Aiden volunteers to help her go over the whole factory ship, feeling guilty that his sister is in such poor shape because of him. They scour the place. Lilly feels a little better about the whole situation while she is doing something, but they find nothing useful. Back in their FRAWD days, Lilly reflects, Imogen would have taken these people to task for violating safety standards. She does come across one last can of Cold Fusion, which she pockets.

They reconvene, and Lilly wonders aloud whether they can trick anyone on Jackson’s Revenge into giving them medical treatment. “You’re leaving a trail of burnt flesh behind you everywhere you go,” Imogen exaggerates. “I don’t think bringing the pirates down is the best idea right now.”

“Can you call for any help?” Aiden asks.

Imogen shakes her head, discouraged. “Help from where?”

Lilly wonders aloud, “Who owes us favors?”

“Nobody in Umojan space, that’s for sure,” Imogen replies.

“How close are protoss?” Lilly asks. That perks Imogen up a bit as she considers for a moment. Protoss space does abut on the Umojan Protectorate, and some of those systems are associated with the tal’darim. Lilly continues voicing their options. “Or you. You guys live here!”

“Aye, but we can’t call out to the Queen,” Aiden counters. “That’s—”

“No! Owendohers! You guys have family and contacts, right?

Imogen acknowledges as much but points out that Uncle Leo told her Aiden took the family’s main ship. “Aye, the pirates have that ship,” Aiden confirms glumly. “Put it on my tab.”

And their last experience with one of Uncle Leo’s contacts was not overly positive, though it did work out eventually. Imogen begins, “I suppose we could try calling Uncle…”

“But you can’t tell him I’m alive,” Aiden interrupts.

“We just need a supply drop,” Lilly insists.

Imogen stares off a bit, running some calculations, then announces, “Protoss ships are much faster than terran ones. I’ll need to use Saffron to boost the comms, though. This factory is not made to do anything truly long-range.”

Aiden is nervous about bringing in a protoss, worried at the friction between that people and the zerg. “So you know a protoss, do you?”

“I’ve been around a bit more of the sector than you, Brother.”

“I’m just saying, a protoss might not take kindly to your friends and family,” Aiden continues.

“Why?” Lilly asks.

“Because they’re dumb,” Aiden replies petulantly.

Imogen smiles grimly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not going to be a problem. He’d hate you even if you were just a normal terran. But it’s fine; his bark is worse than his bite. And he’s not in with any group, so he has no sway.”

“How’s he going to help, then?” Aiden demands.

“He potentially has access to things we don’t. It’s worth a try.”

“Fair enough,” Aiden agrees. “But best I not be around when you’re talking to him.”

“Well, you can be having your little chat with Snowball about the quality of the treatment he has received,” Imogen shoots back.

Lilly raises her eyebrows. This is the first she has heard about that. Oh, wait… Imogen said something about this earlier a couple of times. And he is kind of zergy… Lilly really does want what is best for Snowball, and this seems like the right play. If Imogen trusts Aiden with this, so will she. Lilly nods in agreement.

“Aiden’s a vet now, too?” Lief wonders aloud, thinking of the lyote he got a peek at in Lilly’s room.