At the edge of the Sol System, our “heroes” set a course for Mars, plunging headlong toward the inner system. Scanners picked up three bogies interested in the Redshift Rapture. One, an Ares Marshals system ship altered course to intercept. The other two, Sol Defense Force vessels continued on their course but keeping an eye on the Rapture.

iZac decided to plot a course to mask the ship in a large gravity well and headed for Saturn. En route the crew searched deep in the hyperweb for any Sol System group that might pose a threat to the Marshals and that they would be able to use as a distraction while they headed for Mars. They found the name of an obscure terrorist group and hard-vacc hyperbike gang called the Sons of Hera rumored to have a secret asteroid base in a deep high-elliptical orbit of Jupiter. Figuring it was better than nothing they decided to find the group. Once on the opposite side of Saturn, iZac altered course for the Jupiter system, initiated a heavy burn, and then shut all the Rapture’s systems down to run cold. The whole crew suited up for survival and their hearty passenger, Ki’kist’ac, went into a light hibernation.

In the dark void between the two worlds Kit-Kaat pondered his group’s place in the grand scheme of things, repeatedly posing the question, “You guys, are you sure we’re the good guys?” BAM!! The ship went into a hard wobbling roll throwing the lot of the crew against the port walls. iZac had not accounted for a small asteroid in his course plotting. the synthetic managed to power up the ship, stabilize it losing minimum velocity, and avoid detection.

At Jupiter orbit sniffing around with sensors and exploration eventually turned up the Sons of Hera’s asteroid base. Carved to vaguely resemble a human skull and bristling with weapons, the base was menacing as the Rapture approached. A gruff voice via hyperwave instructed the pilot to land in their landing bay and not try anything funny on threat of death. Once in the bay the team exited the ship to be greeted by five heavily armed scoundrels and their slilan leader who barked, “Welcome to our base, now what the hell do you want?”

iZac coolly replied, “I believe we have a mutual enemy. How would you like to take a stab at the Ares Marshals?”