Lemon Copper BBQ

I wake hurting all over. My mind is ready to go, but my body needs caf! I am in medbay for some odd reason and there is a mouse droid that has a hypospray and appears to have been doing medical procedures on me. I can hear voices and after a quick check to make sure I still have all of my body parts, I swing my legs to the side and slowly sit up. I turn my head a bit and see both of Lady Zaye's children and Bishop with their heads leaning in the door. They all giggle a bit and one claims they won a bet since I wasn't a popsicle! I hear Lady Zaye sigh heavily as I slowly stand up. She checks to make sure I am good and then suggests I start dressing while she catches me up on events.
 
Apparently when all of the ships entered the wormhole event horizon, something happened and everyone on all of the ships fell into a deep cryosleep. No one is really sure why though there are a lot of theories. I decide that keeping my part of piloting the group of ships into the safety of the wormhole is the better part of valor. For some reason, the planet we are now caused the autopilot on the ships to decelerate and enter the system. I was also told that Danar piloted this ship in as he was part of the group that woke up first (seems to be tied to a energy web formation that was either to prevent any ships from entering the space around the planet or to destroy or severely cripple them once they did enter) and by shooting strategic bots as they were creating the web were able to get down to the planet surface and land. Then it was realized that none of the pilots were coming out of the cryosleep. Lady Zaye decided that trying to use the method of waking up those who used low berth sleep for travel might be the best option and started all of the ships to attempting that. For whatever reason, I was the last to waken.
 
I'm dressed so we walk and talk as we head to the bridge because I want to confirm that the ship is really okay. All systems show correct which does relive my mind somewhat. Then I remember that orb in the cargo bay and head there. I am feeling that it has to be at the bottom of this problem. Maybe it is what actually caused the ships to enter this system. When I enter the bay I think for a second that nothing has changed and then I realize that the orb is not rotating anymore. It is still floating, but no longer moving and the symbols on it almost seem to make sense. My minds skitters away from that puzzle and I turn as I hear someone come up the ship's ramp. It is Hicks! He reports that So'Zen, Danar, Vanpadoran, and someone else that I haven't met have left on a shuttle to go over to the closest town to check about bartering for food, fuel, and repair materials. Hicks tells me that all of the 15 ships in our group need something, though this ship only needs fuel. When I ask why we didn't land at the populated city, both Lady Zaye and Hicks tell me that the group decided it was smarter to not appear to be attacking.
 
I huff a bit in frustration that I had been unable to pilot the ship in or be a part of the deliberation, but I cannot fault the logic. I slowly turn and look at the ruins we are in the middle of and notice the wild vegetation and wonder if it is what caused the cracks in the walls of if it just took advantage of cracks created by war or some type of strife. I really hope this is not a holy city where the locals will get very upset if a piece of trash is moved. I also wonder if - since this is a landing pad - there might be tools or spare parts in some of the storage areas. I turn to Hicks and can see that he is contemplating the same thing. I ask him how many able bodies are available to help with the search and caution him that thebuddy system is a must. No clue what might have moved in since no one has been living here for a long while. Hicks goes to set up search teams and also provide an overwatch team that can sit in a ship with ion blasters on the ready. I also ask him to hurry back so the two of us can start investigating to see if we can discover what happened here.
 
We head deep into the city and see massive skyscrapers and flying buttresses. This really does not look manmade - more organically grown. As we get deeper into the town, the buildings appear to have bubbles hanging from the sides that might be living quarters. We decide to investigate a building and pick one at random. We walk around a few times until we see a indenture that should be a door and I place my hand against what might be a palm reader. Nothing happens at first and then a hand appears on the reader, but it only has two fingers instead of four. I change my hand around to fit in the outline and then the door opens slowly. We go ahead and enter and find something that looks like a meeting room. There is a door with stairs to one side and a closed door on the other side. There is some writing on the door and I scan it to see if there might be a translation. Hicks continues to wander around the room and finds another door on the other side. He hypothesizes that this might be a mess hall or a ready room with maybe the door we can't open as a commander's quarters or maybe a training room. I suggest that this might be more of a hotel with a meeting room and there should be a bar around here.
 
We decide to go up the stairs instead of opening the door down here though I do add that writing to the translation program. We head up the stairs, well more of round the stairs as they don't go straight up, but follow the curve of the wall. We arrive on the next floor and it is a open space with several doors that open with another stair that also curves up the wall in counterpoint to the first staircase. I assume the correct hand position and attempt to open random door. The panel turns red so I move on to the next one and it opens. We enter and find a bar. There is a curved bar top on the wall against the tower inside a giant egg shaped room. The floor is solid and straight (thankfully) and there are a lot of tables and chairs scattered around the room. Noticeably all of the chairs have three legs and an indentation on the right side of the back. I immediately say that the original people group had tails. Hicks and I then have a conversation about reptile versus avian and I vote for avian.
 
Hicks continues to check out the room while I go to the bar. I find a bottle and pour a shot. I have the datapad to check it out and it determines it is a mild poison with an alcoholic base. I verify that Hicks has a stim pack and drink it. A burst of lemon hits my tastebuds first and then a coppery aftertaste with a finish of BBQ? It is so weird that I have to get Hicks to try it too. I don't think I made him happy, but it was so worth it! We both wonder back into the kitchen area and see cabinets and storage doors. The handles are bigger than we are used to, but still work. Hicks goes to pull out a jar and jerks his hand back saying that he felt a stasis field. I reach in myself and feel the field, but pull out a jar. I open it to find what looks like seeds. I have a bit of trouble opening the jar, but get it open to see seeds. We each try one and decide they have a texture like watermelon, but taste like oranges. Weird again! Then my datapad chirps and it thinks it has a translation for that first door: Fall Out Shelter.