Episode 2: Pie-th-on
We open with The Carl hurtling towards the edge of Persephone’s gravity well so that it might begin a full burn towards its next destination. The crew, sans the Engineer and his wife, sit around the large table in the lounge, at the aft end of the ship. M is attempting to keep the details regarding the child in the crate quiet. However Dr Yuan-Qi has very strong feelings about protecting children from harm and demands answers. The private eye finally reveals that he is reuniting Zenith with her mother and knowing any more would put them all at great risk. Zenith’s reaction to M seemed to corroborate this, she was happy to see M and is currently resting in his cabin.
Grace and Valentine quickly grow tired of the conversation and make to leave the lounge. The lounge doors refuse to open, apparently malfunctioning. As they investigate the issue the crew begins to feel effects of low oxygen. The pilot proceeds to remove and bypass the door controls while Valentine goes to the small cargo bay hatch in the corner. He jams the buttons stuck while trying to work around a lock-out protocol.
Bobbi keeps her focus on preparing treats for young Zenith in the kitchen area, knowing there isn’t much she can add to the rest of the crews efforts at the moment. The crew tries the intercom, attempting to contact the engineer in his quarters but that system is locked out as well. Joleen focuses her reading talent and realizes there are one or more unfamiliar minds aboard the ship.
M locates an access panel in a closet that may provide an egress out of the lounge. Meanwhile the Doctor sits back down and cautions the crew to remain calm to conserve the dwindling oxygen supply. Grace manages to crawl through the wall and in to a storage closet near the starboard airlock. Everything she can see on the rest of the deck is locked down and suffering from a lack of oxygen as well.
Valentine refocuses his efforts from the keypad to the circular floor hatch itself. Using part of an electronic burner from the stove and a few other small items he heats an oft repaired hinge and manages to weaken it enough to kick the hatch cover open. All his dramatic and martial passages through the hatch have finally paid off. The crew is initially disappointed, having hoped for a gust of fresh air from the large cargo bay. After a moment though they do feel a little less light headed.
Bobbi takes a break from her culinary activities to slide down the ladder into the cargo bay and retrieve something from one of her very well stocked tool cabinets. Meanwhile Joleen attempts to focus her mind on the intruder(s) but discovers that there is a very disciplined and resolute mind shutting her out. M is showing serious signs of concern over the situation and keeps a close eye on the crew, not sure if someone might be about to do something drastic. Bobbi hands the hydraulic spreader she recovered to Grace at the exit of the lounge and the pilot uses it to easily force the doors open.
Doctor Yuan-Qi heads through the open doors directly to his medbay for certain medications he requires for stressful situations. He then utilizes a command terminal he had installed in his expanded lab area to start wresting some control of the ship’s systems from the bridge stations. Valentine is now able to activate the intercom panel in the main cargo bay. He broadcasts a ship wide message, ominously quoting ancient wisdom to intimidate the unwelcome party.
Bobbi and Grace haul the “can opener” up stairs to the bridge level and prepare to open the door to the cockpit.
In her cabin, Joleen takes her focus pills and is able to get a solid read on the two men who’ve taken control of the ship; The brothers Winston and Philip Karsten. Winston, the elder, lost his promising career as a computer tech in the Alliance Navy when his former gang associates strong armed him into providing them with classified Naval intelligence. Winston is a very serious individual who quickly took to military life thriving on the discipline and purpose. With that path closed off to him forever he returned to the Violet Dragoons. He and Philip were to lock down the ship while the Dragoons dealt with the crew, so the ship could be sold off later. The tech turned hacker had his own plan; to take the ship as a mobile base of operations for a new career as a self employed information broker.
The younger brother, Philip, felt abandoned when his brother left for the Navy. He was alone with the Dragoons as his only family. He is fiercely loyal to his gang and is having a hard time finding parity between his brother’s plans and his ties to the Dragoons.
As the crew rushes to take back the ship, M is thoughtful enough to remove Zenith’s pie from the oven. Grace manages to pop the cockpit doors open just as the Doctor’s Command terminal locks out the bridge computers.
The opening door reveals a very fit young man covered in tattoos, wearing a red armband, and brandishing a very high end machete. In a blur Valentine slides past Bobbi and Grace to engage him with his sword, quickly leaving Philip on the ground bleeding from several serious wounds.
The older brother ignores the commotion behind him as he makes one final bid to lock down control of the ship and give himself the only bargaining chip that matters in the black. With her massive kitchen cleaver brandished Bobbi demands he surrender but Winston is not the least bit interested in giving up what might be his final chance for what he considers a decent life. However, Joleen is able to use the intimate knowledge she has gathered against Winston, distracting him from his task.
At the crowded cockpit entrance Valentine stands over his fallen foe with a look of severe disappointment on his face, Bobbi considers if she will turn her cleaver on the man in the pilot’s seat, and Grace attempts to clear the narrow passage of herself and the massive can opener. Suddenly a pie, hot and fresh from the oven, sails past them all to strike the hijacker in the face. Immediately thereafter, the thrower, M. Tildew follows. He tackles Winston out of the seat and to the ground.
In the blueberry aftermath the Doctor stitches Philip back together but implants some insurance for good behavior in both brothers. Graden and Carlotta are rescued from their quarters, and the crew is able to stop Winston’s aggressive hacking software package and return the ship to its proper course.
