Pepper had to take a small break from Vanessa's lips, otherwise they'd never get anything done. "Lena, tell the ship you're in the airlock, and that there are humans aboard, and you're trying to communicate with them. Make sure nobody else comes over. When that is done, have Miles help you to the med bay."

"Just what have you been up to Pepper?" Nessa asked her lover while trying to kiss her neck.

"I'll show you!" Pepper promised. "But first we're going to get your body used to the gravity." Pepper picked up Nessa in her arms, and carried her gently to the medical bay, laying her on the bed. "I have to take your suit off, then there is going to be a little burning sensation. I hope it isn't too bad for you, but I think it will stimulate your muscles."

"Mmmm, I thought that was your job!" Vanessa couldn't stop teasing, she was just so happy to have seen Pepper again, she never wanted to be apart from her.

"It is!" Pepper said, stripping the rest of the suit off and running her hands up Vanessa's leg. "As soon as you're out of this we can talk more, ok? I'll be right here next to you."

"You're sure this will work?" Vanessa asked, as Pepper began to close the lid.

"I'm sure. This saved Miles and I."

"I trust you Honey, and I love you."

"I love you too Nessa." Pepper smiled as she closed the lid, pressing the start button. Nessa yelped once, but otherwise seemed okay in there.

A few minutes later, Miles was carrying Lena in, and they went through the same routine. Lena didn't even make a sound when the bed was turned on, she was so happy. Once they were in the capsules, and getting their muscles rejuvenated, Miles went and grabbed a few meals from the sled and shared them with Pepper. They weren't warm, since they hadn't had a chance to search the new ship for any galley spaces, but it was still edible. After almost two days of not eating, they each gulped down a pair of meals and multiple water pouches while talking to the others.

Pepper watched the little lights march across the status bars of the capsules, it looked like this was going to be a much shorter process since they weren't having to deal with whatever injuries she and Miles had incurred. In under two hours, each of them was out of the beds and jumping up and down, testing out their new muscles.

"Fuck, this is the way to fly!" Lena exclaimed happily.

"You should see the bridge, damned thing even let us fly it," Miles crowed happily.

Lena just ran to go see it, moaning as she ran her hands over the instruments. "You know, this is kind of crazy. Like my Aunt Harley, she used to tell me a story when I was younger that she and her wife switched bodies when they were back in school. She told me it helped them fall in love! I used to think it was all drugs, but now that I've seen all this stuff on this trip, I'm beginning to think I owe her an apology. Maybe when I get back to Earth, we can give her a ride!"

"Wait, don't press anything! We want to keep those lights on so they can't see us," Pepper reminded her, ignoring the story. Lena would always be Lena.

"Oh, don't sweat it. When we were on the bridge, we couldn't see shit in here. We thought we were gonna get blown up," Lena assured them.

Vanessa pulled on Pepper's arm, taking her off the bridge so Miles could show Lena around. "Honey, where's my dad?" she asked nervously, already knowing the answer.

Pepper just pulled her into a hug, squeezing her tight in support. "I'm so sorry Nessa, I wish I could have saved him."

"I know Pepper. I knew something was wrong as soon as we got on the ship, but I was afraid to ask. Can you tell me what happened? If we're being all secretive, I have to guess Brody did something?"

"He did, yeah. I'll tell you and Lena together. There is even a video to show you. Even Miles hasn't seen that since we lost our comms antennae," Pepper explained. "Come on, let's go grab Lena and we'll talk about what we want to do next."

It took a bit, sharing the sim card with Vanessa's helmet so they could all see the video, and before long there was a general consensus that Brody was going to pay.

"What is the law out here on that?" Pepper asked.

"There isn't one," Lena stated clearly.

"There is babe," Miles corrected. "The country that owns the craft gets to investigate it."

"I agree," Lena nodded. "But the problem is twofold. One, a country didn't launch our ship, a corporate entity did. Second, the crime didn't even happen on that ship, but that big ass wreck, which no country on Earth has jurisdiction on. Though, with all of us being U.S. Citizens, I'm sure they could try to claim jurisdiction wherever we are."

"Damn Lena, are you getting all lawyerly on us?" Vanessa joked.

"Hey, I'm not saying that you have a lot of time to read while you're on bridge duty in the middle of nowhere, but I'm pretty sure I could pass the bar exam at this point," Lena smirked back.

"I have to agree based on that argument. So, we know he's guilty. At a minimum two counts of attempted murder, and one of murder. We could probably toss in conspiracy too." Miles was checking off counts on his fingers.

"Can we please just launch him into orbit?" Lena asked with a grin.

Pepper looked over at Vanessa who was sitting and staring at her lap. "Nessa, he was your father, do you have any idea what you'd want as a punishment?"

Vanessa looked back at her with tear-stained cheeks. "My dad got what he deserved, trying to get Brody to kill you. I'm more upset that he almost took you two from us. Lena and I have been a wreck the last few days." Lena could only nod in agreement. "We got so lucky, more than I can believe in fact, that we're all together right now."

Pepper scooted over and pulled Vanessa into her lap, while Lena hugged Miles from behind as well. Miles and Pepper had been so worried about getting back to their partners that they hadn't even considered how much pain the others were in. But now they knew, and it made them even angrier.

"I'll save us all some time. I'm going to kill him." Lena stated clearly. "They're expecting us back on the ship, and I'm going to just fuck that little boy right the hell up."

"Wait. Don't do that. By your own argument, if you do something over there then we're in murky waters with a corporate owned ship," Miles pointed out. "But if you bring him here, he's fair game."

"And we can all have a piece of him!" Pepper said with glee.

"Lena, go on over and ask if anyone else wants to come over. Tell them we're having trouble understanding them. He'll jump at the chance," Vanessa suggested.

"Oh shit! I almost forgot!" Pepper screamed. She pulled up the picture on her video feed of the word over the screen and showed it to everyone.

"Is that what I think it is?" Vanessa gasped.

"Yep, it is," Pepper assured her. "Ἀτλαντὶς is how you spell Atlantis in ancient Greek."

"What am I missing here?" Lena asked cautiously.

"Okay, so this is my crazy theory of the day," Pepper started.

"Bearing in mind, that every one of her crazy theories have been right so far!" interrupted Vanessa with a smile.

"Whatever!" Pepper snorted. "Anyway, the story about the city of Atlantis sinking and all that has a ton of theories, and locations. But the basic idea is that the city was a wonder unseen before, and that an act of hubris angered the gods. Well, if not gods then a volcano or some other natural disaster, but whatever. Anyway, that act of hubris caused the destruction of Atlantis, and almost nobody survived."

Miles looked at Pepper incredulously. "Are you seriously saying that Atlantis wasn't a city, but a ship?"

"I am, and I'll tell you why. First, there are the Greek letters everywhere. We can all agree this ship wasn't built by ancient Greeks, so the language had to come from here and go to Earth. Second, that ship was indeed destroyed by vengeful enemies after a cowardly attack. And the other half of the ship fell into the planet's atmosphere, which sure as hell looks blue like an ocean. Last, if we go back to the fox alien ship and look at the radar simulation, at the very end of the holo replay, a tiny blue speck detached from the big blue part. The hanger bay we got this ship out of was still sealed up, so nothing came out of it, but I bet an escape pod or two could have been launched. If so, they probably didn't have a lot of equipment that they could take while abandoning ship, but they could bring their knowledge. Alphabets and language and all."

Everyone sat in silence to digest that for a few minutes.

"Shit, that sounds like a pretty good theory." Lena finally said while looking thoughtful.

"Oh, and one more thing! On the door to the med bay here on this ship, there is a symbol, a snake around a rod. Anyone care to guess what the Greek symbol for medicine is?" Pepper added with a flourish. Vanessa just shook her head in admiration, she'd never get enough of Pepper's brain. Or the rest of her once they had some privacy!

"I'm convinced," Miles finally replied.

"Fuck, me too!" Lena agreed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to distract from the Brody revenge, I just had forgotten all about it and needed to talk through it. Let's go get that fucker!" Pepper reminded them with a grin.

***

A/N - Thanks for letting me borrow Aunt Harley JoBlackheart Harley is in Jo's book Swap, which is a fun read if you find the time!