Contact, Wait Out

> Vadric: *"It is... strange to imagine. Worlds and peoples and wars within this… distant light. From here, it looks so very…* neot*?"*
> Meds: *"Small."*
>
>

***Contact, Wait Out*** is the second episode of Volume 3 and the eighth episode of Season 1 of *The Sojourn*.

## Synopsis

Following a distress call from expedition vessels lost deep in the Sanctum, Vadric accompanies the Guin crew on a daring rescue mission.

## Summary

In the evening on Advar Primaris, Cindra brings Empress Valendra her evening meal. Valendra, having been shaken in her faith in the preceding months, questions how her ward can maintain her belief in the sacrifices made in the name of Advar. The Empress confides in Cindra her greatest worries about the outsiders - that they fly in the face of foundational elements of Advari existence, and put into question what the very purpose and nature of the Advari species even is. Cindra waves off her questioning.

Meanwhile, Castian Vadric is visited in his cell aboard the *Avalon* by Director Ancelet. Elizabeth happily reports that they may have found food he can properly digest after many months, and also presents Vadric with a gift for all his help in learning about the Advari - a photograph of the Tantalus Cluster, taken shortly after they arrived. She asks Vadric why he sought out the Avalon Expedition Fleet in the first place, but the inquisitor is reluctant to answer, the reasons being personal. Just outside the cell, Elizabeth finds an awaiting Admiral Redfield, and they discuss Vadric's true intentions, and if they're as pure as they may seem on the surface.

Aboard the *Guinevere*, Croft urges Meds to visit Vadric in his cell, though Meds finds the whole concept of gawking at him odd. Cass enters, looking for an old LS-31U Carbine to take down to the shooting range for Liz to try out. Once she leaves, Croft asks who Liz is, with Meds trying (and failing) to help him understand, subtly.

At a staff meeting, Redfield pushes for the expedition fleet to begin combing the Nebula for the remaining Gatehaulers, especially the one lost during battle with the Advari. Shortly after Cass arrives, the *Avalon* receives a strange, artificial signal. Croft recognises it quickly as an old Merician warning trick, and is able to decipher it.

As it happens, two Treasure Ships - the Friendly Expedience and the Swift Conveyance - along with one of the Gatehaulers, under the command of Captain Maxine Blake, are responsible for the signal. Recognising that the chances of three civilian vessels surviving so long is slim, but still well worth looking into, the *Guin* crew are prepped to fly and check it out. However, Elizabeth gets an idea on how they might navigate such uncharted space.

Elizabeth and Cass show Vadric some navigational data of some local star system, asking if he knows of it. He names them the Diaconate Reaches, a place he was on his way to visit when he was to meet with the Cloak of Mercy many months before, but he encountered them before he reached the planet, something he was disappointed by. Thus, the pair decide to offer him freedom from his cell, given how helpful he's been in the preceding months. However, they offer said freedom only if he would provide navigational aid the crew of the *Guin* in their hunt for the Merician flotilla. Vadric readily agrees to this arrangement.

Vadric is welcomed onto the *Guin* - warmly by Croft, and awkwardly by Meds. As the crew settle in and ready for their long haul, Cass and Elizabeth briefly reminise on lessons learned from the past, with Elizabeth this time wisely choosing to stay behind on the Avalon. They share their farewells, which is interrupted by Vadric. The crew cast off, Croft excitedly talking up the *Guin* to Vadric as they head to the nearby Lauralyn Conduit.

Meds finds Vadric alone in the Guin's avionics lab; although at first she thinks he's being suspicious, he quickly explains that the lab is one of the few quiet places aboard the ship. Vadric has his photo of Tantalus, which Meds asks to see, realising she hadn't looked back at all in the months since they'd arrived in CDC-41-G. Meds explains where she's from, which Vadric finds existentially ephermeral. He questions how so much could happen - distant wars, civilisations, *lives* - in a place that appears so small.

With only two systems between them and the Merician Flotilla, the *Guin* quickly arrives at the first system, which contains the planet of Deacon's Post, an apparently important world in the Holy Advari Empire. However, upon arrival, they quickly find the system to be empty. There was perhaps once signs of civilisation on the planet according to atmospheric scans, but the planet itself has long since died. This flies entirely in the face of what Vadric had been taught, as the planet was supposedly visited by hundred of clerics each year. The *Guin* moves on.

After decelerating towards the next conduit, Croft and Vadric relax in the galley. Vadric speaks on the faith a bit, and Croft brazenly asks if Vadric believes in it too. He quickly apologises, but Vadric waves him off. The inquistor then asks about the ships they are searching for, and if they're of Croft's people, which the pilot confirms. Vadric points out that being estranged from home appears to be a commonality about the *Guin*, and questions the life of a spacer. Croft explains that to Mericians, living out in space *is* life, but also admits he should probably call home to his family more often than he does, thanking Vadric for the reminder.

The *Guin* finally arrives at the gas giant they've been searching for, finding it significantly larger than expected from the scans - larger than any gas giant they've ever seen. They discover the signal again using the same trick as before, only to then receive a garbled warning cry from the signal's source. Coming to a full halt, the Guin is practically grazed by an Advari Lightship, with Croft quickly executing a small gas burst to push the *Guin* out of the ship's path, narrowly avoiding them. Then, the corvette flies into a dense cloud of isotropic interference at one of the gas giant's poles, finding the missing flotilla and making contact with Captain Blake. Vadric is told to stay on the ship.

They board, updating the Mericians on the situation, with Croft and Blake quickly bonding over their shared heritage. However, things nearly go awry when Vadric suddenly pops up, having hoped to get a look without being seen. Croft vouches for him personally, and Blake tells her men to stand down.

In a private ward room, keeping Vadric away from the rest of the crew, Blake explains their situation; shortly after sending the distress signal out, her escort craft was destroyed by an Advari Lightship, now prowling around the system. Her science teams have had an inkling of the Lauralyn Conduits for months, which Cass confirms as true. She also explains that the *Avalon* and it's fleet are still alive and (mostly intact), but Blake's is the first new survivors they've seen in months. Captain Blake explains how they would've made a run for it, if it weren't for how slow they were.

She also explains that a few months back, the Lightship left, and then returned severely damaged. In that time, however, the ship's hull seems to have knitted itself back together, and the ship is now in just the same condition it was as when it had left. Vadric wasn't aware of this ability of the Lightships, and Meds points out that he seems to know a lot less about his people than one might expect. Meds recommends taking as much of the flotilla crew away with them as they can, but Blake is adamant that they all leave together (and with the Gatehauler), or not at all. Blake does have a risky plan they'd cooked up in the months they've waited, involving a lot of coasting on delta-V accured whilst within the gas giant's shadow, but they never went for it because of how dangerous it'd be. With the *Guin* providing distraction, however, it might just work.

They begin their escape, but things quickly go awry when the Lightship ignores the Guin's distraction. With little else to lose, Croft proposes a daring alternative - flying deep and close to the gas giant in a slingshot maneuvre. The other ships in the fleet, however, aren't rated for atmosphere and would be torn up in the coast, but Croft devises an immediate solution, suggesting the *Guin* goes in first and fast, cutting a wake through the atmosphere for the Merician ships to ride. Although incredibly dangerous at such high speeds and within atmosphere, they pull it off, Vadric losing consciousness in the process.

Vadric wakes up, groggy but glad to hear the fleet successfully escaped. They agree that Vadric isn't built for these kinds of high gravity burns, with Meds advising him to avoid them wherever possible - something Vadric quickly agrees with. Upon their return to the *Avalon*, Vadric - now free from his cell, visits the bar with the rest of the crew. He drinks for the first time, before finally opening up to Liz about why, in part, he has come to the *Avalon*. Cass points out that it sounds like Vadric came all the way out to the Callandra Nimbus just because a girl he likes told him to, which is entirely the truth.

Back at the Imperial household, Valendra is visited by Lord Cardinal Arvannis. Cindra confides that she has always found the Cardinal unpleasant, which Valendra explains in hushed words is mutual, before sending her away. Arvannis delivers the news of the day, before speaking on the important of the Imperial throne as a symbol. Valendra snarkily suggests it may have been given by Advar himself, amongst other jabs at each other that the two take, before Arvannis swiftly leaves, needed for other duties.

## Cast

### Main

* Larissa Thompson as Captain Cassandra Farren
* Emily Serdahl as Director Elizabeth Ancelet
* Ben Prendergast as Mathias Croft
* Laura Faye Smith as Tamara 'Meds' Melari
* Stephen Trafford as Inquistor Castian Vadric

### Supporting

* Lelia Symington as Empress Valendra the Sixth
* Matthew Kaufman as Lt. Cmdr. Jasper Ravi
* Tim Parker as Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis
* Amy Kay as Cindra Tacira
* Tarek Esaw as Ensign Arin Bankole

### Guest

* Jimmy Lockett as Admiral Winston Redfield
* Angela Tran as Captain Maxine Blake

### Additional Voices

* Dave Beamish as Merician Guard
* Katte Noel as Marine Corporal

## Trivia

* According to UrbanDictionary.com, a 'Contact, wait out' is a term military personel use over the radio to report enemy sightings/attacks. "Contact" means that the enemy has been identified or that you have already been attacked. "wait" means that you have no time to explain the situation right now. "out" means that you are about to end transmission and will call back later.

## References

1. ↑ *Contact, Wait Out* Transcript
2. ↑ https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Contact%20wait%20out