When we last left our courageous heroes, they were being held at spear point by vicious(?) masked savages in the deepest jungles of an unknown world ...
After regurgitating the details of where we left off, the group decides to play it cool and hope these are just hairless Ewoks (insert evil laugh here). They holster their weapons (Nav: hey where's my gun?) and after a short game of charades are taken captive. After several hour's march, past more totems and strangely adorned scarecrows, they are led to a large clearing bordered by a sheer rock wall. Behind a rough hewn log barricade, is the mouth to a large cave.
With a lot of stone age pomp and circumstance, the chieftain comes out of the cave to examine the day's catch. Pilot notices his crown is what's left of a vacc suit helmet, the top broken through and stuffed with feathers and junk. Painted crudely on the helmet is a Scout Service emblem (you could now see all the tumblers clicking into place). The Chief approaches the group and examines them closely, he seems particularly interested in Nav, giving her a generous grope.
At this point, I am reminded about nine times by Pilot that he is in a surplus flight suit with patches still intact; to which I roll dice and ruffle pages for about two minutes to make them all squirm.
A ha! The Chief seems to notice that one of the gang carries the same adorning symbol as he does! Could they be potential ursurpers (roll, roll), avatars of his god (roll, roll), or mana from heaven (roll, roll, roll)?
After a grand proclamation, entirely in gibberish, the group is cut free and their belongings returned. They are lead through the barricade and to a large fire pit in the mouth of the cave. A large feast is prepared and eaten, then the "slide show" begins. An old hag with a lizard's foot in her hair appears from the back of the cave. With her are several young women, each carrying a clay pot piled with junk. The pots are emptied and items are passed to the Pilot, Nav, and Eng one at a time. All are easily recognizable parts and pieces from complex machines. Eng notices most are parts to common shipboard items. One is a data cube, which Nav tries to pocket, only to be caught by the old hag. A scuffle ensues and only after a heated conversation between the Chief and the old hag, does the hag give up trying to get the data cube back (so much for Nav becoming the new Reverend Mother). Eng starts fiddling with an old portable spotlight and using a power cell from his pack, manages to create light! The women and children all scream and run to the back of the cave.
Pilot decides now is the best time to start learning their language. He holds up several of the items to the Chief and gets the same response each time he states the objects name. He then tries fire, stick, man, woman, rock, and dirt. Eureka! More impressive to the Chief is when Nav takes off her jacket, as they didn't bringing any recording devices, and starts writing down the language on the cloth with a charred stick.
Finally, they all led to a quite spot in the cave and given woven mats to sleep on. Animal noises keep them up most of the night.
The next morning Nav wants to return to the ship and decipher any information that may be left on the data cube. Unfortunately, their new found friends do not understand why everyone is leaving so soon. Finally, despite much discouragement by Pilot, the Chief and his entire entourage insist on coming with them. Armed guards are sent ahead to clear the trail and off they go. After several hours and several breaks, loud hooting and hollering is heard ahead. This jungle outing has just turned into a turf war between the neighboring tribes. Eng and Nav smile deviously as Pilot steps up to defuse the problem.
Next week: Hey, what did they do to the ship?
