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| Pandora's Box; No blue people allowed. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 29 2011, 02:10 PM (3,712 Views) | |
| ~Alissa~ | May 29 2015, 02:36 PM Post #71 |
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The wallet had most of what one might expect to find in it, receipts from that days’ supply purchases, fuel, food, and parts. His ID, his old military ID, a few credit cards and a few photos clearly often visited, and creased. The first showed what looked like a very young Alex in the uniform of an Ensign smiling at the camera with three other people in the frame. An older man who could be no one other than Alex’s father stood with his arm around Alex beaming with fatherly pride, a woman whom Hannah clearly took after and a teenage Hannah smiling with clear bright blue eyes to match her with the rest of the family….a good day. What was missing in Alex was the anger he carried with him now, the fatigue that seemed to be just behind his eyes, and the worry. There were other similar photos, one of his parents, one of Hannah on stage in some Ballet for years past, they all carried the theme of life before. There was also a news clipping detailing the atmospheric disaster after an accident at a chemical plant poisoned what was otherwise a quiet farming colony. How scientists were struggling to understand how the cascade had happened, and of how it would be decades before the air was breathable again, much less the planet was habitable. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ “You dropped this back at the pub” Alex stood holding his wallet looking to Grace quietly for a moment before moving to drop the wallet back into his pocket “Thank you” he said at last, he didn’t believe for a moment that he had dropped it, and to think about it when she helped herself to the peacemaker it would not have been too difficult for a practiced pickpocket to lift his wallet. “Good hunting” he said at last turning to walk up the ramp into his ship Sam lingering on the ramp a moment longer locking eyes with Grace quietly a moment before smirking and turning to head back into the ship. The big Merc came in to see Alex quietly emptying his wallet in the galley, checking its inventory as well as searching for a bug. “Good….thought you were losing that healthy skepticism for a moment there, was considering knocking it back into you” Alex looked up from his investigation a moment smirking at Sam “that right there is reason enough to hold onto it.” he looked through the now empty wallet a bit longer flexing it back and forth quietly before sighing and tossing it to Sam “do me a favor and make sure that stays on the station” Sam nodded turning to do as he was asked, Alex gathered the contents and headed toward his quarters pausing outside Mike’s room pounding on it. “I want sky under my feet in 30 minutes….those engines better be ready to go slugger” He put the contents of his wallet in his quarters for the time being safely stowed in his desk before heading to the bridge slumping into the copilot’s seat. “So…..Mike got into a bar fight” Hannah said with a bit of a smirk Alex nodded chuckling a bit “yeah he did” “How did it go? Cat said Vega didn’t show” Alex sighed “Vega’s not calling the shots on this outing, just along for the ride by the sound of it, which is not to say that can’t change” “You come to an understanding with that Grace woman then?” Hannah asked beginning the startup sequence as the computer notified her that the engines were warming up. Alex nodded “yeah….I think so…this crew though, they sure as hell aren’t like the gangsters we are used to dealing with” “Want I should let it slip to Talia that they got really close to depriving her of her Calculus tutor?” Hannah asked with a bit of a grin which drew an odd look from Alex before he shifted putting his feet up on the edge of a console “That I think would be unwise….we can’t predict what Sergi would do…and I like the way things are now, he doesn’t see us as in debt to him, we should keep it that way” Alex said at last “How was church?” he asked looking over to his sister, their mother’s silver cross around her neck. “It was fine….I lit a candle for mom…her birthday is coming up” she said sounding a little sad about it “I wish you would come with me….it would ha…” “Nothing for me in there Hannah….not anymore” The siblings fell into silence, a short time later the Persephone was leaving the station making a much better speed toward their goal. |
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| ~Emperor~ | Jun 3 2015, 07:15 PM Post #72 |
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((OOC: Kinda long post, it's been a while. If there's something wrong with some of the details just let me know and I'll fix it. I'll post up important character profiles a bit later. )) It had been several weeks since the first broadcast from Bellingham. Damian Karzen took in a deep breath at his ship’s tiny control room, his face illuminated by the hideous orange glow of the control lights. He hated those lights. Despite his best efforts to chip away at the accursed thing, there was only so much he could do to make the stolen space pirate ship more inviting. On the outside, his efforts had paid off, as it looked more like a tiny junky freighter than an advanced stealth ship. Stealth was their game, after all. A small, thin man, Damian looked young and had short clipped hair. His face was without scars, and his eyes were a murky grey color. At the briefing in Bellingham, he had taken care to be as indistinguishable as possible; the ship only had enough room for a few permanent occupants, and Marcus had stayed behind to guard it. As far as their benefactors were aware of, it was just of the two of them, and they barely had barely anything to show for it. Hardly anyone had given them a second glance. Of course, the Silent Ibis wasn’t the only ship in their game. No, a small pirate ship was not any kind of match for the firepower he had seen there, but that was where the Nightfire came in. Captain Avery Vishik and a whole crew controlled that frigate, and were fully armed to the teeth in case anything went south. Once he had been debriefed, the frigate had begun speeding toward Valhalla from a different trajectory than the others, away from any prying eyes. He sighed, staring at the orange colors. They were giving him a headache. “Argo,” he finally spoke, half regretting asking the AI for anything. “I’ve asked before, can’t you do anything about these lights?” A hologram flickered to his right, blurring briefly before settling into a geometric shape. “Like I told you before, I can’t. They’re hard wired to be orange. Because space pirates like orange for some reason.” Damian mumbled something, and glanced out the window, watching as the stars streaked by. “How is our fuel usage now, anyway?” He suddenly asked. The shape seemed to blur again, and then reformed, this time into a familiar human figure. “We won’t need to refuel if that’s what you’re worried about. Our course is on track for the coordinates given, with enough fuel to get out afterward. If there’s one thing this ship has going for it, it’s efficiency.” Damian snorted. “Okay.” He grew quiet, thinking to himself. If they didn’t need to refuel, they were probably right on track to beating the first ships from Bellingham. It would be a quick steal if the capsule was still in orbit, followed by a tense moment of extraction by the Nightfire. But despite the armaments he had seen from their competition, he doubted they would want to enter a full on assault with the frigate. If the capsule wasn’t in orbit though, things got more complicated. “Hey don’t blame me for trying to find something interesting,” Argo said suddenly, misinterpreting his silence. “I’ve got nothing to do here. I don’t know why I was dragged along for this, honestly.” Damian blinked, clearing his thoughts. “Those were the captain’s orders. This ship isn’t as complicated as the Nightfire, yeah, but you’re not the main AI there anyway.” “It’s so unsanitary in here though,” Argo protested. “Even with the few replacement systems I don’t like it.” “Well tough luck,” Damian said, his voice very irritated. “It’s not every day the Obsidian Group gets its hands on a group of stealth ships, pirate or not. You best get used to them,” he added, idling flicking a key. “Because I’m one of the few of us who can pilot these things, and we’ll need you again.” “That’s not fair,” Argo replied, and shrank back into his hologram again. A quiet moment passed as the AI sulked. “Do you even appreciate what I do back there?” Damian rolled his eyes. Here we go again. “You know I-“ “Do you?” Argo’s face in the hologram, still tiny, had twisted into a serious expression. “I mean for god's sake, we’ve been partners with the group for how long, and you still treat me like an annoyance? And then I get put here, away from the Nightfire, and you wonder why I’m on edge. You do know what being away from there is like, right?” “Yeah okay. Can we argue somewhere else?” Damian muttered, feeling apathetic. He usually sympathized with Argo, but not now. “I need to get the expected communication to the captain regardless of your complaining, please open a channel to the ship and relay my next message.” Argo scowled. “Fine.” The console in front of him beeped, and the hologram disappeared. Damian cleared his throat and began speaking into the comm. “Captain, this is the Silent Ibis reporting in. For now, our initial plan is on track and ahead of schedule. The only big concern is the exact location of the capsule. But given our ship’s status and speed, we should be able to beat the others there. Extraction of the object should be straightforward if still in orbit, with no unplanned for involvement needed. And it’ll be a well-earned win for the Obsidian Group after that last predicament…” His eyes glossed over as he strayed from his direct briefing. “To think, all those bounty hunters and their expensive ships and gear, might be outmatched by a simple stealth- “ he paused as his eyes noticed a gleaming red light on the panel, and the words died in his throat. A moment passed, and the light gleamed away. Foreign letters were engraved on the nearby metal, along with a hastily printed label that simply said ‘BROADCAST’. “…Oh for shit’s sake Argo.” He brought his fist onto a button near the light, ending the communication abruptly. He felt anger rise in him as he stared down at the panel. That was not a personal communication he had just sent out. “You good for nothing AI,” he snapped, and pounded away at a key in an attempt to figure out what the broadcast settings had been. Argo spoke from a nearby speaker. “Good for nothing? Really? Well I guess I opened a broadcast comm by accident, my apologies-“ “Yeah okay, accident. I don’t believe you.” “To be fair, you were being a prick earlier. And this ship is still so weird, I sometimes get confused you know.” “MARCUS,” Damian yelled suddenly, his anger quickly replaced with fear as several realizations hit him at once. “Marcus, do something about Argo, I think he just sent out my communication to this entire sector. ‘Accident’ or not.” The aforementioned Marcus wearily wandered through the open door, his face registering displeasure. An older man than Damian, Marcus was stockier and had an air about him that spoke to his past as a soldier. His eyes flickered from Damian to the console and back. “Argo, seriously? Did you send out a full broadcast?” He finally asked. “… maybe. But it’s not the WHOLE sector. Just our immediate vicinity. I think. Probably.” Argo’s voice came from a speaker near the door. “But come on, there’s barely anyone here. We’ll be there before them anyway. And we’re far enough from Archer station that…” “Before them? Does that matter if they know where we are?!” Damian took a breath. “And did you forget? The top level broadcaster still has pirate fingerprints over what it sends. You can bet anyone who gets that will listen… and probably be able to track us easily.” He put his hand to his face in exasperation. “Why do you have to take everything so personally?” “Because I’m not a ‘useless AI’,” Argo responded. “I never asked to be like this, back then. I think I might have preferred to be dead now if I had the choice.” “Really…? You know I can turn off your brain, right?” “Yeah?” Argo’s voice grew condescending. “Except I’m backed up in the cloud, Damian, and any time you turn off my brain I know for sure I'll be there another day.” “… the cloud you can only access when we’re near communication stations.” “Alright, enough you two.” Marcus spoke up suddenly. “We don’t have time for this. Really." He looked to the top of the console. “Argo, please do something to try to throw people off our trail.” The speaker beeped an affirmative, and the AI was silent. Marcus turned to Damian. “…you should probably send a message to the captain that our stealth plans may have just been ruined.” Damian let out a long breath. “Yeah. Probably.” He pressed several buttons on the console, his hands gliding over the keys as he attempted to set up the communication himself. This time though, he checked the broadcast light first. Edited by Emperor, Jun 3 2015, 07:19 PM.
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| ~The Boss~ | Jun 8 2015, 12:05 AM Post #73 |
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Native Son
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The room wasn't anything special, just a small suite with a couch and a kitchenette, a fully stocked mini bar and a single king bed. Just enough for a comfortable night or two. Off to the side on the room service tray sat the remains of a hamburger and an empty bottle of scotch. On the bed next to Jimmy lay a young blonde named Kandi to his right. To his left, a redhead he was pretty sure was named Jodi (Josie? Joni? Jolene?). All he needed was a brunette to complete the picture. But when the door burst open and a brunette came charging in, it wasn't exactly what he'd been hoping for. "Alright sluts, time to go," Grace snarled as she ripped the sheets off the bed. "Who the hell-" Kandi started to say, before she was cut off by Grace sticking a gun in her face. "Out. Now." The ladies both gasped and rushed to put their clothes on. "That means you too, Jimmy," Grace said, lowering her weapon but not putting it away. "Put some pants on and let's go." He glared at her for a moment, groggy, angry and confused all at the same time. They weren't even supposed to leave for another three hours. But he knew there was nothing he could say to her now. Best to just get dressed and not argue with her. ............................. "Where have you been, young man?" Nick asked mockingly as Jimmy and Grace came up the ramp into the ship. He and Ronnie were either already drinking or simply hadn't stopped from the night before, having gone through several beers from an ice chest. They'd tried and failed to get Derrick to partake with them. Instead, he just lay on his bunk, trying to sleep. "So what's the story?" Jimmy asked. "I hear there's been a change of plans." Before anyone could say anything, Grace walked right past them all and grabbed the young bounty hunter by the hand. "C'mere Derrick," she said, dragging him into the cockpit with her and shutting the hatch behind them. "Ok, what the hell are you doing?" Derrick asked, even as Grace took her shirt off. "What's it look like?" she said, kicking off her shoes and stripping down to her underwear. "Whoa whoa! I... I can't do this." "Why not? You married? Gay? Equipment don't work?" "Well... no, I just... in case you forgot, there's a guy back there who wants me dead, and I don't think fucking his girlfriend is gonna help matters much." "Do you know where Jimmy was just now? He was up in his room having a sleepover with a couple of little whores who he did not pick up himself, by the way. They were sent up there by one of the big shots who runs this place. Cause anyone who's anyone in the underworld knows that the way to Jimmy Vega's heart is through his penis." Derrick had nothing. Absolutely nothing. This entire trip had been hands down the most surreal experience of his life, and this was a man who'd hunted down twelve-eyed alien worms bigger than a school bus. But Grace was proving to me more insane than anything he'd seen on the far reaches of the galaxy. She didn't seem to operate according to any of the rules that governed normal human behavior, marching totally and completely to the beat of her own drummer. "Look, this is a game we've been playing for years. He racks up large quantities, I retaliate with quality. Which means whoever would piss him off the most. I struck out with Captain Powell - hell, I didn't even get up to the plate with Captain Powell - so that means it's either you or Ronnie, and I am not going down that road again." "Again?" "Just shut up and take your pants off." ............................. Nick twisted the cap off another beer, his fourth so far. He and Ronnie were kicking back, enjoying the show, as it were. Jimmy was less amused. "She always this loud?" Nick asked, listening to the screams and moans that were audible even through that heavy bulkhead. "She's faking it for my benefit," Jimmy said. He was so not amused. "You sure about that?" "Of course I'm sure. I know what she sounds like when she's faking it." But Jimmy did not look or sound sure. Soon enough, the door opened, and Grace came strolling out, hair frazzled and a very satisfied grin on her face. "Thank you for that Derrick," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "That was wonderful." Nobody said a word as she stared Jimmy down. Nick and Ronnie had been here before. They'd seen the back and forth between these two more times than either of them cared to remember. Not that it stopped being entertaining. "Ronnie, would you kindly fly us out of here, please?" Grace said, her eyes still locked on Jimmy, and that grin still plastered all over her face. "Sure thing." He chugged the rest of his beer and grabbed another bottle, somehow drawing no concerns about his drinking while about to step into the cockpit. "Hey, you wanna be a bit louder next time? I don't think they heard you on the Persephone." "Well, considering they fact that they've got us bugged, I'm sure they did." ............................. It had been unusually quiet on the ship for the last couple of hours. Derrick had fallen asleep on his bunk, prompting more than a few jokes about exhaustion. Nick was still drinking, though he had moved on from beer to whiskey. Jimmy, for his part, had gone through about half a pack of cigarettes since they had left the station. It was his silence that was by far the most disconcerting to everyone aboard. "We're making good time, Jim!" Ronnie shouted back, trying to break the tension a bit. "We should hit Valhalla by Sunday, just like you said." Jimmy came into the cockpit, leaning over the pilot's chair and studying the screens and instruments carefully. He only had a basic understanding of what was going on, not like Ronnie, who despite his total lack of togetherness in every other aspect of his life somehow had an intuitive feel for the ship. "How long till we catch up to Powell?" he asked. "That's what I'm worried about." "Oh hi there, Jimmy," Grace said cheerfully as she sat in the co-pilot's chair, rolling a joint. "I didn't see you there." "You proud of yourself?" he said, trying not to let it get to him too much and failing miserably. Grace flashed a big smile at him. "Very." "Should be caught up to them in about an hour or so," Ronnie interjected, doing his best to keep things nice and peaceful. "Oh hey Jimmy, that reminds me," Grace said. "What's the Obsidian Group?" "The Obsidian Group?" he repeated. "Wow, that's a name I haven't heard for a while." "Well, who are they?" "Political dissidents, or at least that's how they fancy themselves. In practice, they're just another band of raiders, albeit a large, well armed, and highly motivated bunch." "And you did the arming, I take it." "Not just me, but yes... why are you asking about this? How did they even come up?" "Oh, there was a broadcast earlier, when me and Derrick were in here." Already, Ronnie did not like where this was going. "Some guy bragging about how the Obsidian Group was way ahead of all of us, and they were gonna get the package before we did." All the calm drained away from Jimmy's face in an instant. "What? How could... they weren't even there at the..." His face hardened into a scowl. "You don't think you could've mentioned this earlier?" "Not really." "You think this is funny?" "I think it's hilarious." That was too much for Jimmy. After everything that had happened, after Nick and Ronnie going behind his back; after the stink bomb; after the ill-fated attack on the Persephone; after all the setbacks and insults he'd suffered and everything else, something finally snapped in his head. He grabbed Grace by the arm and yanked her out of her chair, slamming her up against the wall and sticking his gun right in her face. "Whoa, Jimmy!" Ronnie shouted, starting to get up before he got the gun pointed at him next. "Shut the fuck up!" Jimmy pointed the gun at Ronnie until he sat back down, then back at Grace again. Nick was at the doorway now, not coming any closer but ready to pounce if he needed to. "Now Jimmy, calm down now," he said. Behind him, Derrick had awakened and sat up in his bunk, looking unsure of what to do. "I've had about as much of your bullshit as I can take," he said, ignoring Nick. "You insult me, you undermine me at every turn, you steal from me, and on top of all that, you humiliate me in front of everyone! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your brains all over that wall!" "Because you love me." Grace smirked at him. Shaken though she was at Jimmy's outburst, she'd lost none of her cockiness. He wanted to hit her. He wanted to hit her so bad. It took everything he had not to smack the shit out of her right there. But Nick wouldn't stand for that, and neither would Ronnie. And besides, that wasn't who he was. In fact, he'd once put one of Ronnie's guys in the hospital for beating up his girlfriend. So instead, he grabbed Grace by the hair and yanked her head back as hard as he could. "Don't you fucking get smart with me!" he shouted. "Now tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now! Tell me!" "Fine," Grace managed to mutter through the pain. She chopped him in the neck then grabbed his gun hand, twisting his arm as hard as she could. Then she punched him right in the face. She moved fast as lightning. A few more blows and she had him face down on the ground, standing over him with his own gun pointed at his head. It was over in a matter of seconds. "You wanna know why you're not gonna kill me?" she yelled. "Because you can't. Because you don't have the ability. Because while Henry was teaching you how to be a cold blooded gangster, he was teaching me to be a goddamn ninja assassin, cause he knew I had the moves and you didn't! You think you're so fucking smart, you'd be dead if it wasn't for me! Every lowlife scumbag in New York would've taken a piece of your ass a long time ago! I'm the woman behind the man, and don't you ever forget it!" She kicked him in the side, then again for good measure. There was stunned silence in the ship. Nick and Ronnie had seen these two at each other's throats for years, but neither of them had ever thought it would actually come to this. "I love you, Jimmy," Grace said. "I've been madly in love with you since I was fourteen years old. If said let's get married, I'd say yes without any hesitation." She ejected the clip form his gun and dropped it on the ground beside him. "But you ever do anything like that again, I swear to God I will straight up fucking murder you, you got that?" Jimmy said nothing, just rolled over on his back, holding his bruised ribs and trying to catch his breath. Grace sat back down in the co-pilot's chair, satisfied that he'd gotten the message. "You get all that, Persephone?" she shouted into the air. |
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| ~Alissa~ | Jun 9 2015, 04:35 PM Post #74 |
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(ginormous post! its huge, please let me know if something doesn't work They had been learning the rhythms of the longsword, the ebb and flow of the moods among the crew. The mercurial nature of whether or not they all seemed to like each other. They were in the end what seemed like one big dysfunctional family. It seemed to the crew of the Persephone that everyone over there was the midst of some sort of power play, each trying to gain some sort of advantage. With the notable exception of Derik who was the one person on that crew who should be trying to do that. They had also learned what the preamble of sex on the bridge sounded like, in its various forms. Though they were much more accustomed to Jimmy and Grace; regardless they knew when to turn the feed down for about twenty or so minutes. Though they had heard the lead up, Mike was currently holding his stomach laughing, eventually reaching up to wipe a tear from his eye. “She struck out with you….” Alex looked less entertained “I don’t do crazy mike….” “Oh really? Cause I recall leave some years back and this one girl…” Alex cleared his throat loudly and Mike stopped though now it was Hannah’s turn to laugh as Alex put an abrupt end to Mike’s story “don’t you have an engine to work on? I know this isn’t our best speed” Mike stood up heading for the hatch giving his best fake Scottish accent “Aye capn’ I’m given her all she’s got!” before dropping his scotty impression “repairs are burnin’ in, new parts…I don’t want to push things too hard till I’m sure everything is playing nice, I’ll push to 90 in an hour or so, and once I’m sure we won’t all die in a fiery explosion you’ll have full power” “Incoming transmission…” Hannah interjected “Captain, this is the Silent Ibis reporting in. For now, our initial plan is on track and ahead of schedule. The only big concern is the exact location of the capsule. But given our ship’s status and speed, we should be able to beat the others there. Extraction of the object should be straightforward if still in orbit, with no unplanned for involvement needed. And it’ll be a well-earned win for the Obsidian Group after that last predicament…” “To think, all those bounty hunters and their expensive ships and gear, might be outmatched by a simple stealth- “ “…Oh for shit’s sake Argo.” Silence….it hung in the air of the bridge for a solid 30 seconds “You know…..I’d kinda forgotten there was anyone other than the Vega show after this” Hannah said at last glancing toward the audio feed that still showed signs of…recreation. “Obsidian group….” Alex said quietly “I think they were on my to do list before I got discharged….never got the briefing….mike you ever heard of them?” Mike shook his head but it was Cat that spoke up “I have….” Something in the way she said that let silence settle back in. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Alex, Sam, and Cat sat around the table in the galley, each had a cup of coffee (last of the day at this point). Sam and Alex studied Cat who was keenly interested in her Coffee. “Ok….so why do you look like you’ve been sent to the principles office?” Alex asked at last looking at his gunner. “Cause….it has to do with why I left home, why I’m out here in the first place” “Runnin from somethin’ ? “ Sam asked somehow sounding less threatening than normal though his nature had not changed at all “No….well I guess in a way…but no one is after me or anything like that, just….” She sighed taking a deep breath. “I grew up on an outer colony like you did “ she said looking at Alex “except we didn’t have a fed training facility close, or corporate security, or anything like that…we had a martial…some police I guess, but we didn’t need more than that, was mostly farmers and people wanting to get away from the fed. No one bothered with us cause we didn’t have anything worth bothering over.” She took a drink from the coffee and took another deep breath. “Dad was a martial…retired but people still treated him like he was…and he helped out too, sometimes raiders would come, he’d help keep people safe” there was a note of pride in her voice. “So the Obsidian group comes to town….talks with the mayor and city council and sheriff. Says they can protect the colony from all the bad things in the universe, all we gotta do is give them twenty percent…of everything, crops, ore, profits from both, whatever else we got” she closed her eyes for a moment before she continued “We told them to take a walk, we had it handled and what not” she sighed “Dad had a history with them too….before he came to the colony, helped a few others run them out of town, guess he had a reputation by then. They left….” “They didn’t stay gone?” Alex asked as Cat shook her head “it was….bout a month later they came back, all guns and explosions…really stirred up the hornets’ nest. Dad went to help, told us to stay home and protect the farm, I grabbed his riffle and followed him to about the property line and set up” She took another shaky breath before continuing “I could see dad talking to them through the scope, they didn’t look happy. Seemed like he was telling them to leave again, he turned his back on them and they shot him…right in the back” she said closing her eyes a moment “he was lining up to shoot him again, so I shot the man…right in the head” she said closing her eyes “and six others before they ran” She wiped at a tear on her cheek before opening her eyes “Dad lived….the guy shot him in the hip if you can believe that….he walks with a cane now, none the worse for wear I guess. He said I did the right thing, said he was proud of me….but he never looked at me the same, no one did…hell I don’t. I killed seven men and the law says it was the right thing to do.” Alex and Sam sat at the table in silence for a while before Cat spoke again “I’ll be off when th-“ “No you won’t.” Alex interrupted glancing to Sam a moment before leaning forward “You were protecting your family and I see nothing wrong with that, Killing isn’t supposed to be easy, it changes you, no two ways about it” Alex said leaning back “Can’t let it own you though” Sam added “can’t run from it, can’t hide from it, and if you try to ignore it and it turns you dead inside. Only thing for it is to accept that it happened, right or wrong and decide how to respond the next time.” Alex blinked looking toward Sam having not expected anything that profound from the old mercenary. “your part of this crew, plain and simple” he said at last standing up “most of us on this ship know what you are going through, you gotta deal though Cat….hesitate out here and you won’t be the only one dead.” He sighed standing up and moving toward the Galley “why don’t you hit your bunk for a while, you got bridge duty this evening” After Cat left Sam stood shaking his head “well shit, no wonder she won’t stay put” Alex looked toward Sam a moment “not throwin her off the ship cause as a kid she did what I would have done” Sam nodded “not suggesting you do…bring her in, make her feel like family, she needs to accept it though….like it or not, that little girl is a killer….everyone remembers the first time…but seven on the first time out, I mighta been scared too.” _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- A few hours later the siblings were sitting on the bridge, the feed from the longsword was back on at a low level. “poor girl….how old was she?” “17….” Alex shook his head, he’d killed people in the service, he hated it but he had training, cat had none of that. “What is that you are working on over there” Hannah seemed rather engrossed with a series of screens with what looked to be some rather complicated math on them. “Orbital calculations….” Hannah replied “are you going to make me ask for what, I doubt it is for us….” Hannah sighed and turned to face her brother giving him a look of amused annoyance “based on the information we have, star charts we have access too, understanding of the capsules orbital plane and so on I am calculating how long till it de-orbits….because I think our new friends are rather optimistic that it will still be in orbit when we arrive Alex looked to his sister a moment “by hand?” he ducked a pad of paper that was thrown at him “ the computer is checking my work” was Hannah’s reply as she returned to the screens “but so far we are in agreement, we should be in orbit Sunday evening once Mike turns the engines to full power, I suspect the capsule will re-enter the atmosphere sometime mid to late Saturday. I would plan for a planet side retrieval at this point. From there the siblings returned to listening to the Vega show. |
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| ~Emperor~ | Jun 10 2015, 10:41 PM Post #75 |
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“I hope you realize what this means.” Captain Vishik was clearly unimpressed, and his bearded face showed an expression Damian rarely saw - and that momentarily had the pilot at a loss for words. He couldn’t stand the captain’s disappointment, and glanced off to a corner before clearing his throat. “I’m aware, captain. We’ve lost the advantage of surprise now, along with our cover...” Vishik nodded. “Not just that though. There are two other important things, Damian, and I need you to bear with me.” He looked further into the view. “You too, Marcus.” Marcus nodded. “Two things. First, there’s a reason I wanted to keep this effort under wraps. We’re not in friendly territory here – and while it’s not Fed space, it’s not much friendlier. And with officers like Slater having pissed off enough people lately, I really wanted to avoid being in the public eye.” He paused for a breath, seemingly much less angry than Damian anticipated. That was cause for concern. “Things aren’t as bad as when Silvers was still around though, so that’s an upshot.” Silvers. Damian paused, the name vaguely familiar. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that he should know who it was, and yet, he didn’t know. “Er... who?” He instantly regretted showing his ignorance, but it was too late now. Vishik’s eyes widened momentarily. “You don’t remember what Silvers did?” He looked behind Damian to Marcus, who was not as surprised. “I suppose it has been six years, which… was before you joined, wasn’t it?” He closed his eyes for a split second, his expression suddenly weary. “Ask Marcus then. I don’t want to get into it.” “Yessir,” Damian said quickly, glancing to Marcus, who gave a disinterested shrug. “Onto the second point, which is more important. ...I’ve been told there’s no way around this, so I regret that I have to say that The Nightfire isn’t going to be able to make our planned rendezvous time.” “We can wait,” Damian said quickly, and Vishik shook his head. “It’s going to be at least a half day delay.” Damian gaped. Marcus was silent. “Wait, what? Why, did-” “I’ve been told the situation is fluid,” the captain interrupted, and Damian shut his mouth. “We’ve been experiencing engine problems, and I’ve got the crew working on it. It is very disappointing though.” Vishik folded his hands and Damian looked down. “That changes our plans then," Marcus said suddenly. An understatement, Damian thought to himself, but cleared his thoughts before speaking. “Okay, so… we’ve pretty much alerted everyone close by, captain. With all due respect we really need The Nightfire’s support once we start tracking the capsule.” “I agree.” Vishik eyed Damian. “But if we wait longer we’ll lose the prize, so you see the predicament. I have a plan though. It’s a little risky, but it’s better than sitting out here doing nothing.” Damian nodded as Vishik continued. “I’ve got the schematics of the capsule’s tracking device from the first briefing you sent. Lance is working on figuring how to disable the tracking, and I’ll send you his latest efforts shortly. With that, if you can disable the capsule tracking you'll be able to be cloaked for the rendezvous, which will hopefully throw off any pursuers.” “Okay…” Damian mulled that over. “That leads a lot of factors up in the air though. We’re still not sure whether the capsule will have deorbited by the time we get there, in which case…” “… you’ll have to retrieve it from the planet, yes. Without our support. Which is why it’s crucial that we be quick about this.” Damian scowled, but he couldn’t see any other way around it. “And our rendezvous point?” “That depends on how fast you get the capsule. Preferably, we won’t even have to meet around the others.” “I understand sir.” Damian chewed over the options, but didn’t like the possibilities he was seeing unfold in his head. “One last thing,” Vishik spoke suddenly, and Damian froze, expecting a reprimanding. “Not for you. Argo.” “Yes?” The AI had been quiet this entire time, and spoke slowly. “Don’t make another mistake like this again.” “It was an accident, captain. Honest.” Vishik paused for a long while. “I believe you. But only because I’ve known you long enough to know that, despite your near-constant bickering with Damian, you wouldn’t jeopardize his and Marcus's life like that.” “… thank you captain.” “Don’t do it again though. I mean, don’t you have a manual for that ship? Or something?” A momentary silence filled the ship, and Damian bit his tongue. “…I… maybe…” Argo finally said, and Vishik chuckled. ~~~ “So, this Silvers officer…” Damian looked to Marcus. It had been a while since the communication with the captain, and Damian and Marcus both sat in what counted as the ship’s longue, tiny as it was. “Jack Silvers.” Marcus spoke quickly, and then suddenly stood up. “Give me a second.” “Wait, where are you going?” “To get a beer. Because I’ve had to deal with you and Argo literally, all day long.” “I… yeah, okay. “ Damian glanced at a wall panel, inspecting the blinking lights with only the faintest of interest. Marcus returned shortly after, a can in hand. After popping the lid with a snap, he settled back into telling the story. “Right, Jack Silvers.” Marcus took a drink from the can. “Jack Silvers was a pretty big shot officer back in the day, but also…” He paused. “How do I put this..? He was… a massive ass, and made it clear that he cared more about the money and guns than helping people. If he weren’t so good at what he did he’d have been kicked out long before then. If you think Slater’s bad enough with the raids he’s done, you didn’t know Silvers. Huge asshole.” Damian shook his head, trying to imagine the thought. “Around that time he started getting real cocky and greedy, and pushed his luck too far when trying to make a deal with one of the far flung colonies. They didn’t buy his crap, and – this is where a smarter person would have left them alone – directly threatened him. But of course, Jack couldn’t deal with that, and a month later he went back to try and force them over with more ships – a stupid move.” Marcus paused for another drink. “He wound up getting himself killed along with a quarter of his main crew as a result.” The two were quiet for several seconds. “Most of them were taken out by the daughter of the marshal there, a sharp shooter that nobody would have guessed would be a threat. You can imagine the shitstorm that caused.” “His daughter? How young was she?” “I don’t know. A teenager. Young enough that nobody could have seen it coming. “ Marcus paused, his face suddenly contorted. “I get angry thinking about everything that happened after that. People were out for blood. Quite a few people liked Silvers, somehow, and his actions led to a lot of infighting about what to do. Personally,” Marcus added, “I think he had it coming with the way he was acting. He pretty much single-handedly sunk our reputation at the time. Made us out to be like thugs. Turned away too many possible allies with his heavy-handedness, and gave the Feds way too much ammo for their propaganda.” A few pieces clicked into place for Damian, and he frowned, but was quiet for a few seconds. He had only ever worked with Captain Vishik, and it was a fact he was growing to appreciate more and more. “What did Vishik do?” Marcus drained the rest of his beer. “Vishik was in the midst of the arguments, trying to reconcile things and hold back the idiots from attacking the colony - or worse.” Marcus turned his head slightly. “Nobody ever told you how conflicted the council was because you joined the crew in middle of the fallout of it.” Marcus absentmindedly shook his now empty can. “Things are better now though. Several officers left, and it’s for the best that the worst we have to put up with is Slater.” He looked Damian in the eye. “Trust me.” Edited by Emperor, Jun 10 2015, 11:28 PM.
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| ~The Boss~ | Jun 25 2015, 11:10 PM Post #76 |
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Native Son
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Nobody on the Longsword had said much for the past few hours. Most of what had been coming over their feed was music, alternating between Ronnie's hip hop and Grace's jazz. It provided a nice smooth flow to things, despite the fact that conditions aboard were anything but. Grace had been flipping through the photos she had scanned from Powell's wallet, particularly entranced by the picture of Hannah performing in a ballet. It was only a single still image, but she could see in her mind the young girl's fluid, graceful movements as she twirled and pirouetted across the stage as Tchaikovsky played in the theater. It made her smile to think that this wheelchair-bound girl had once danced so beautifully. But it was a sad smile, knowing that it had all been taken away from her. It made her think of her own high school days, playing on the girls basketball team. She still hit the court every chance she got, even when Nick and Ronnie weren't around for her to embarrass. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose her ability to play. "Hey Ronnie?" she asked in a wistful voice. "You ever wonder if we're doing the right thing?" He gave her a look like she'd just asked him to jump the ship directly into a star. "Of course not. I mean, c'mon girl, we're crooks, remember? When have we ever done the right thing?" "You know what I mean. Within the context of being crooks. Are we doing the right thing?" Ronnie looked over at the screen in front of her. "This is about her, isn't it?" "It's why he's doing this. Not just this job, it's the whole reason he does what he does. It's all for his sister." She gazed at the picture again, still seeing the performace in her head. "Henry always said, don't ever go after someone who don't deserve it. Don't be like the Brotherhood or the Russians." She saw Ronnie's expression change, and immediately regretted bringing it up. "Sorry Ronnie." "Don't worry about it," he said, doing his best to make it seem like he was totally focused on flying. But Grace knew he was replaying the memory in his head, or whatever it was that his vivid imagination cooked up when he thought of his father's death at the hands of the Russians. Just collateral damage in their long war against the Triads. "My mom died when I was twelve," she blurted out before she even knew what she was saying. It seemed like the right thing to say though. "Really? You ain't never talked about her before. Not to me, anyway." She looked away from him for a second, completely unsure of what to say next. It was true, she had never talked much about her past to anyone. Mostly to Henry, probably some to Jimmy too, but not a whole lot. As far as most of them were concerned, she just showed up out of thin air one day, a teenage runaway who picked Henry's pocket, something nobody should've been able to do to the former Deadliest Assassin in the Galaxy. Far as they knew, she didn't have a past. "What happened to her? I mean, if you don't mind me asking." "She um..." Grace stared off into space for a bit, quite literally in this case. It wasn't coming out and she didn't know why. It wasn't like it was a ssecret or anything, and yet she guarded it closely, as she did every other detail of her life before she came to New York. Force of habit, she guessed. Impulsively, she lit up, as much out of reflex as anything else. "She took a couple sleeping pills, drank a glass of wine, and... drowned in the bathtub. I came home from a baseball game and found her there." Ronnie thought he saw a tear well up in her eye as she took a long drag, but she never quite got to full-on crying. "I was still in my Little League uniform and I had cops and paramedics crawling all over my house, asking me all kinds of questions. And I'm just sitting there holding onto my bat and scared to death that they were gonna take me to Child Services, or that they'd find my mom's hidden safe full of guns and money." She stopped herself there, surprised that she had even gotten this far. She almost never revealed anything about her past, feeling that it was a necessary part of protecting herself. From what exactly, she wasn't always sure. But the notion had been so deeply ingrained in her that she could never let it go. Still, even without getting into specifics, Ronnie got the idea. "So you ran." He understood. He totally understood, and didn't question it. "Seems like everyone's got a story, huh?" "Yeah, well people with normal, happy childhoods don't usually do what we do. Takes a special kind of fuck-up to live this life." Ronnie laughed and stole one of her cigarettes. "I would've liked to have met your mom," he said. "Bet you get your looks from her. Bet she was a real wild child too, wasn't she?" Grace smiled the same sad little smile she'd had on while looking at Hannah's picture. "You know, you guys may think I'm one of a kind," she said, "but the truth is I come from a long line of crazy women, going back to when we wore feathers in our hair and lived in teepees." She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling, slowly exhaling a long column of smoke. "God help you guys if I ever have a daughter." "Hey... even worse," Ronnie said, "she'll be a Vega." Grace burst into laughter, unable to hold it back and soon Ronnie was cackling right along with her.. She knew it was true. No sense in pretending otherwise. Soon enough, they calmed down, having gotten their giggles. Ronnie let out a masssive yawn, exhausted from the events of the past few days. "Get some slep, Ronnie," Grace said, a sweet concern in her voice. "I'll take the helm for a while." "You sure?" She replied with a nod, and Ronnie reluctantly got up, stretching his arms as wide as he could first, then made his way to the back and collapsed in his bunk. Shutting the hatch behind him, Grace went back to looking at the pictures. It stirred something in her, something that had probably been stirring for a while now, she just hadn't been paying close enough attention. She grabbed the com, opening up a channel. "Come in, Persephone." |
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| ~Alissa~ | Jun 26 2015, 02:16 PM Post #77 |
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Time was a relative thing in space, some ships kept the time of a home port for an illusion of normalcy. Others would set their ship time to their next stop to catch up in transit. The Persephone was set to the siblings’ home, a sort of memorial to the past….which meant it was either quite early or late depending on one’s point of view. The ship was asleep for the most part, there was generally no danger in transit, in the space between stars there was no reason to keep a full watch, or even really keep a person at the helm for the fullness of the transit. Hannah however was often there; sleep was not something that came easy to her in most times. She refused to take anything to help her sleep and so long as it didn’t negatively affect her health Alex left her alone about it. This meant that Hannah was often alone on the bridge when no one else was up. “Come in, Persephone” That was the long sword…..Grace. What could Grace want now? Was this some sort of strange new mind game that the woman was attempting to play with her crew. Hannah had hoped with the reminder that they were in fact not the only crews after this prize. After a moment she signed and reached over turning on her own com. “Go ahead longsword” she said at last, wondering what grace wanted. |
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| ~The Boss~ | Jul 12 2015, 01:08 PM Post #78 |
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Native Son
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"Hey there," Grace said over the com. Her voice was soft, dreamy, clearly she was under the influence of something. "As you're probably aware, we have a new player in this game. Now, I made a deal with your brother. These people aren't part of the deal. Nice little loophole, right? I mean, they claim the prize, both of us are left holding the bag, and you guys get to go home free. "Only Jimmy won't see it that way. He'll hold you to the deal, and he'll come after you with everything he's got. You'll have the worst of the worst chasing you from one end of the galaxy to the other. Maybe you can handle that, you guys have been pretty resilient so far. But trust me... win or lose, that man is very good at making peoples' lives miserable. It's trouble you don't want. "So... I think the best thing for everyone is to take out the Obsidians first. Once that's done, we can get to killing each other like we intended." Grace doubted if Hannah would trust her. She'd built her reputation on deception, after all, and so far had done little to refute that notion. She wouldn't trust her, either. "Hey..." she said, after a long silence, her voice drifting off into that dreamlike state again. "I found a picture of you, in your brother's wallet. You're dancing in a ballet, you're wearing white... you look like you could float off the stage if you wanted." She stared at the picture, nothing making any sense anymore. "What are you performing, if you don't mind my asking?" |
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| ~Alissa~ | Jul 20 2015, 07:33 PM Post #79 |
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Hannah blinked at the question, not about teaming up to deal with the new competition. Because if she was being honest the reason each crew was behind the new player was the other's fault. Somewhere in there they had launched a sort of way of delays on each other that gave this other crew the advantage. Neither crew was being professional and it had almost bit them both in the ass, the universe though has a sense of humor and decided to remind them what they are in the game to do. No the question that caught her off guard was about her dancing, there was a long long pause on the other end of the com and when Hannah answered next her voice sounded a little think “umm....do I have feathers in my hair or am I wearing a tiara” she waited for the response....tiara, that brought enough of a smile to her that it could be heard over the com. “That was sleeping beauty” she said keying up the photo album that the image belonged too “I didn't know he had that with him...” she grew thoughtful for a moment, reaching up and whipping the single tear that ran from her eye away quickly. She could not understand the impulse that came next. “That was....my audition....Alex filmed it for me, my parents wanted me to goto university....to be an engineer or something like that...hell if they had their way I'd probably be midway through a third Phd or something like that” she sighed a bit. “being the prodegy sucks you know....everyone has these goals for you?” “Alex was on leave at home, just before he shipped out....that was from opening night, he filmed the whole thing for me, and helped me transmit it to Julliard so my parents wouldn't find out...I had this dream of being a dancer....I had a lot of those then but at the time that was what I wanted more than anything, I figured I could go back to being a super nerd girl after I was done...” there was a silent longing in her voice that she likely was not aware of. “I didn't really expect to get in anyway...I mean...Julliard, earth...New York! I'd never been father than short flight up. But I wanted it, and I was so excited, we sent it off, they said it would take a few months to hear back a best.” she flipped through the stills quietly on her end “mom found out....I don't know how but she did, I thought she was going to be angry at me, they were always on me about 'living up to my potential'....but she just smiled....said to do what made me happy” there was another long silence “I skipped work that day....I was interning at Praxis R&D, they had this huge plant near our town, I got an internship there as part of their quick-launch program....the next day was the accident...if I hadn't been behind from the day before I would not have been in a bunny suit....I'd be dead like everyone else” she almost laughed but there was not an ounce of joy in it “I was accepted....the day I got that message....was the day the doctors told me they didn't know why I couldn't stand on my own any more, that I would have to be in this chair for the rest of my life” she whipped her sleeve over her cheeks which were wet with tears. There was a long long period of silence, the line was still clearly open, but neither of them spoke. “why....why are you trying to help us at all?...no one helps us. Not when there isn't anything in it for them. And if we win you guys loose out big...” the subtext was there 'whats the con? How is this going to blow up in our face?' since they started there had been an endless parade of crooks like Vega and crew....how in the universe they lived in could they actually be different? |
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| ~The Boss~ | Jul 23 2015, 11:38 PM Post #80 |
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Native Son
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Hannah's story both warmed Grace's cold black heart and made her feel even worse at the same time. It really was tragic, to think that this girl's life could have been so radically different. Ronnie was right, everyone had a story, and none of them were particularly happy. Then she asked why Grace was helping her. "Because fuck Jimmy, that's why," she replied. "I love him... but he's an asshole. And he deserves to be taken down a peg." As soon as she said it though, Grace knew that wasn't good enough, no matter how true it might be. She looked at the photo again. Sleeping Beauty. She didn't even know that was a ballet. The memories were obviously painful for Hannah, even if at the same time it sounded like they were her happiest. Once again, Grace couldn't help but think back to her playing days. "Do me a favor," she said. "Look up a video called 'High School Girl Drops Double Nickel.' That's me, number four. Starting point guard for the St. Catherine's girls varsity basketball team. That's in New York City." She threw that in, remembering how excited Hannah had been at the idea of going to the Big Apple. "That was the night I hung fifty-five on those haughty bitches from Immaculate Conception. God, I hated those stupid whores." The clip itself was an amateur video shot by someone in the bleachers, edited to show just Grace's highlights. If one looked carefully, they could see the back of Henry's head in the front row. And there was Grace, seventeen years old and tattoo-free, running circles around the girls from the other team. She was clearly on a completely different level, a vastly superior athlete and a dead-eyed shooter from anywhere on the court. She drove into the lane past nearly every defender and laid it in with incredible ease, launched threes from way behind the arc, crossed them up with ankle-breaking moves, and unleashed a wicked spin move that drew oohs and ahhs from the crowd. "That game more than any other got me a full athletic scholarship to Rutgers. I did pretty well my freshman year, and we made the tournament, got to the Sweet Sixteen. Sophomore year, I was the starter. We made it to the Final Four, but we got knocked out by Notre Dame. Going into the next year, we had the best team. Everybody was coming back, and we had the best point guard in college basketball - me. We had all the makings of a juggernaut, and we were the favorites to win it all. And I was gonna be the number one pick in the draft. "Then I got arrested. Me, Jimmy, and Ronnie, all together. And then Nick later in the day. There was a gang war going on, our boss Henry versus Gio Carsolinni, the biggest Italian mobster in New Jersey. It was nothing but a shakedown, the Feds trying to make it look like they had a handle on the situation. I was never charged with anything, but it didn't matter. The damage was done. I was kicked off the team." Her voice had turned somber, but there was a kind of edge about it as well. She was clearly angry, but not at the Feds. And not at Jimmy, at least this time. No... she was angry at herself. "You know, for most people, becoming a pro athlete is a ticket to fame and fortune. For me, it was my once chance for a normal life. That was my chance, and I blew it, cause I couldn't stay away from the toxic people in my life. Namely the people on this ship. "So you wanna know why I wanna help you? Cause for once in my miserable, wasted life, I wanna actually do the right thing." |
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2:55 PM Jul 11