SC - Fugitives

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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Though Miranda had gotten the treatment she needed, Ava did not want to leave just yet, and not only because staying afforded the opportunity to talk to the one person that had been recommended to her to deal with to get off this rock. It was also because Miranda was still not back to her old self yet and Ava would take it out of Fat Frank's hide if things didn't end smoothly. Ava wanted to kill the pig of a doctor as well, to cover the fact that a ghost was here... but if he was Mira Han's lapdog, then... that might not be the best course of action. Still, Ava did not trust his loyalty even to this pink-haired woman. There were still pretty good chances he would think he could make some money by calling in... someone from any faction if he thought he could make some money from the tip or gain favours.

When Mira confirmed her identity, Ava gave a single, small nod. "You can call me Skadi." she said in reply, her voice flat through the mask. She smiled to herself though beneath it, at feeling the woman's confusion about the mix of technologies that Ava sported. At least it proved her own statement about having no loyalty to either faction. Ava barked a laugh, short and sharp. "The only witnesses are those right here, in this room..." she answered with a shrug. She did have them all within easy distance should she decide to do as most ghosts would. And she didn't need her knife or guns to do it all either. Cloak as she threw her knife at the one that looked the fastest, as her Psionic powers took down another and drawing her gun while moving... No, this group would have no chance if she felt the need to attack.

She glanced over at Miranda though, at the mention of non-ghost companions, then back to Mira. "I am not here to kill anyone, though I am not adverse to defending myself... or my companions if need be." she answered. She paused at the quip about the Dominion. Her mask made a frustrated sound as she breathed out heavily. "They are no different than the Confederacy..." she muttered out loud.

Her masked head tilted as Mira Han began to fill in the gaps in the information about the attack at Deadman's Port. Interesting. So not only was there a power struggle going on from here, there were other internal battles being fought on this planet. So much unrest. This could never have happened on such a scale back on... But it had. To even worse extents. Millions had died on Tarsonis because of a petty power struggle. It seemed to be a constant in Terran society. Was it even worth trying to help people?.... Ava thought about Alexander and his family, about Nick and what she felt for him.... about others on Kalisti. Yes, yes, it was worth it. Not all people were bad.

She made a grunt sound through the mask. "Those pirates were holding a little girl hostage for ransom, a terrified, little girl they cut the finger off of just for proof.... but that is not what the other faction from Deadman's Port was after, was it..." she said in more of a statement than a question. She had gotten that little girl out so if the other faction had gotten their hands on something, it was something else. That group of pirates had apparently been busy. No wonder they had so much security. Mira Han was assuming that it had been Ava and her group that had been there as well during the attack and the ghost felt no reason to deny it. If this was a woman with scruples, it wouldn't hurt to let her know they had scruples too... and hadn't liked to see an innocent child harmed just for money.

Ava sighed and then shook her head. "Sorry." she answered the request. "Conscious or even dreaming, yes.. but, not like this." she explained. "The mind is just a dark well in this state..." She paused, thinking back to when they had come in. The man had been delirious in agony, his consciousness slipping... but.... Ava had been picking up on that. There had been a rush of minds plus the pain that she had put anything else to the side at the time when they came in, but now she could sort through it. Inside the mask, she closed her eyes as she focused, feeling that nobody in the room was currently aggressive towards her or her companions.

The injured man had been in abject pain but... there had also been a desperation that he could not complete an objective. Ava's eyes shot open, her head snapped up. The woman before her had been about to turn away, but caught the sudden movement. "Before your scout fell unconscious, he was delusional, in agony.. but he had wanted to tell you something... something he was unable to physically bring himself to do in his state." Ava said to the pink-haired woman. Oh god, was it true? The man truly thought it was... The very item that had been Mengsk's instrument for murder on a planet-wide scale, his instrument for destroying Ava's sister.... Should she tell this woman that she didn't even know?

It couldn't be the same Psi Emitter. Without a ghost, it was useless, unless it had already recorded the neural imprint of a Psionic, but unless it was THAT one, that was doubtful. Even had this woman wanted to use it, it was highly doubtful she had any Psionic strong enough to use as an ally. Should Ava tell her? If her man survived, she would find out soon enough... Then again, there was the option of killing him.. which meant killing Mira Han and all her associates present as well. Then again, she could tell them the intel they sought and be able to read their intents about the device and decide on that.

That was the best tactic, she decided. "I did passively pick up on what your man had found out before he passed out. I just had to sort through everything I had picked up on at the time to find it." her masked face started at the glowing red, cybernetic eye of Mira Han. "They pirates, and now this other faction has a Psi-Emitter." She let that hang in the air as she actively scanned the woman's mind for reaction, for what thoughts that would bring up.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

Mira didn't outwardly react to the fact the pirates had taken a girl hostage. Ransom and kidnapings were a common trade on this world. She herself didn't really deal in it, but it didn't mean she was harmless. Her people were ruthless once they got paid to do a job she approved of and her way of acting generally left her with a decent, but ruthless reputation. Basically never broke contract once it was established no matter the reason. But it was true she didn't like stuff like taking hostages for ransom or slaves and drugs really.

At first the mercenary leader wasn't happy that it was impossible to read the mind of the wounded man, but then she began listening to the fact that Ava might have actually gleamed some of the information before he passed out completely. She listened carefully, until Ava revealed the information. Mira's eyebrows creased as she heard the words' Psi Emitter'. It wasn't entirely familiar word. After all Mengsk did the emitters deal in secret. Ava knew, but she knew because of Miranda and the ghost academy. Most people out there didn't even know the thing existed. It was Mengsk's secret card to take to power, no way was he letting the public know that the device existed or that he used it. Still Mira had gotten some news or snippets of rumors about it. Still she hardly believed it, more than just that a rumor, apparently not.

"You are telling me, those things are real?" She asked, eyes narrowing at the prospects of that device fallign into the hands of someone like O'Banon. She herself had a few ideas of what to do with such a device, but honeslty she didn't really want to have it. It was power yes, but power impossible to control and even she didn't think they could control the zerg. In teh end of the day, she held to her opinion that these psi emitters were better left just as a rumor, sadly it was not." Where did those lowlife pirate group get one of those? How many of those things are out there even?"

"...before the fall of Tarsonis, there were maybe a dozen or two complete and ready to use devices build." Miranda's voice suddenly echoed across the room, causing Mira Han to suddenly shift her attention to the newly awakened woman who still seemed al il groggy." a number of them never left the labs, so they were taken out by the zerg on Tarsonis. Doubt the Dominion had time to restart production or if even they've had the schematics for it for the moment." Miranda explained, and threw a look around, eyes lingering on Fat Frank for a moment, before moving on Mira." Some were used to lure zerg to the outer colonies for studies. Psi Emitters are one use piece of tech though. It's impossible to recover once the zerg arrive to it."

"For one to appear isn't impossible, but it depends on if it's tuned to the wave of a psionic. Chances are it isn't, safety feature to assure it doesn't attract zerg before it's required. It was probably being transported around on a dominion/confederacy cargo ship without them ever knowing what it was, because of the chaos in the supply systems during the change of leadership." The doctor added, rubbing her head in vian attempt to lessen the drum beat seh felt in it. It was pulsating heavily.' Skadi... that thing needs to be secured. We cannot leave a Psi Emitter out loose. It has to be either destroyed or secured better than a nuclear weapon.' Miranda send a thought to Ava.

In the meantime Fat Frank was already having a whirlwind of thoughtso f all manners going through his head, especially when he heard Miranda speak. This had gotten out of proportions. He was trying to now sneak away, but before he could make it 5 steps away to the door leading to his bedroom which also housed the panic room, Mira Han's hand had already pulled her gun and shot him 3 times. Two at the heart area of the torso and one in the headm before he could even fall to the ground. This is how Fat Frank met his end. Letting him, his backstabbing nature and his babbling mouth escape with what he just heard was incredibly dangerous. Especially since Mira didn't actually want all the planet fighting over that ticking time bomb." You sure it's not operational?" The pink haired woman asked, recieving a nod from Miranda.

"It shouldn't be... all the zerg in range of it would have headed this way if it was taken out from the safey container even for a moment and I doubt the pirates cared for safety or even knew what they actually had..."
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

The reaction to the revelation of the Psi-Emitter was not what Ava had expected. At least, though, it was a preferable reaction. These people knew so little about the devices that they weren't inclined to want to take it for themselves, and what little they did know only told them it was dangerous beyond reason. Perfect. No need to elaborate beyond that, no need to tell them what.. or whom actually 'powered' such devices... She cast a glance over at Fat Frank, feeling his mind. He had no more idea than the others what a Psi-Emitter was... but he was thinking that a valuable device like that could make him a lot of money, especially if the Dominion wanted it back. Ava decided that she would see him dead, one way or another, before she left this building.

She gave a slow nod to Mira's question. "They are real." she answered with almost a growl. "I'm sure you heard about Tarsonis' fall to the Zerg... That was a Psi-Emitter." she explained, refraining from mentioning that it was at the hands of her sister, or any details of HOW it was used. She could say one thing though, sensing Mira's wondering about how this ghost knew that. "I was on Tarsonis at the time. I could FEEL the device when it was activated..." She was about to answer her ignorance at the next questions, and give her very strong suggestion on what to do with the device, but a voice behind her interrupted.

Ava spun around, seeing Miranda conscious for the first time in hours. The ghost moved quickly over to her friend, forgetting the Psi-Emitter topic for a moment and helping her to sit up as the other woman spoke to Mira Han. She probed Miranda's mind with her own, trying to feel any abnormalities that Fat Frank had warned about... but it seemed.. all right. As far as Ava could tell anyways. 'Are you all right?' she sent psioncally.

Her concentration was returned to the topic as Miranda continued explaining and broached on a fact that Ava had purposefully avoided mentioning: the use of a Psionic to get it to work. As far as Ava was concerned, the less people that knew that, the better. At least there still was the issue of getting a strong Psionic to use in such a device. Almost all strong Psionics in either the Dominion or Umojan territories were ghosts or shadowguard respectively. It would be very hard to find let alone coerce one into use to power a Psi-Emitter.

Despite the pain drumming in Miranda's head, Ava was just able to pick up the message from her. 'It needs to be destroyed. Not secured, destroyed. Completely.' she sent back adamantly. In her mind, there were no if, ands, or buts about it. It was too dangerous for either an amateur to have or the Dominion to get back. It used, USED people like herself, it had used her sister... and it had destroyed worlds, millions of other lives too in the most brutal and feral of fashion. There was no redeeming feature of such devices, as far as she was concerned.

Ava stood up suddenly, spinning around again, her eyes searching for Fat Frank. He was planning to sell out the information on the Psi-Emitter's location back to the Dominion. By the time, Ava had her pistol trained on him though, three shots rang out. Ava glanced over to the source of the shots. Mira. The ghost smiled beneath the mask. Well, at least that complication was out of the way. Ava glanced in Miranda's direction for a moment as she replaced her own sidearm, before she decided something. She turned back to Mira as she took off her mask and pulled the hood back off her hair, letting the mercenary leader see her as a person for the first time.

"The Psi-Emitter isn't active." she said, her voice so much more human sounding now that it was no longer filtered through the mask, her tone softer, almost sad. "I'd be able to feel it if it was." She took a deep breath. "The Zerg are psionic too. If they can feel it, sense it that far away, I'm sure you could guess what it would be like for one such as me on the same planet... I can assure you, it's non-operational at present."

She let out a deep breath. "Now, if you want it to stay that way, I would advice making sure that device gets destroyed as soon as possible." she said to Mira. "If the Dominion finds out that there is one here, they will stop at nothing to get a piece of technology like that back." she said gravely. To be honest, she didn't know one way or the other if the Dominion would think the device worth the risk; it could be they could easily make more when they wanted... or perhaps it was one of the last remaining copies and therefore priceless to the monsters that ruled. She just didn't know. But she needed these mercenaries to want it destroyed too.

As she spoke to Mira, she directed a mental message to Miranda, trying to catch her friend up on what was going on, what they needed. 'I got all of the captives.. and the hostage to the dropship. We are now at a city called Paradise, several hours from Deadman's Port.' she explained. 'Issue is, we have a lot of people onboard the Sessrumnir, too many to get very far without running out of supplies. I was advised by both Nick and one of the former captives, Mark...' she continued, sending Miranda an image of Mark so she'd know who the other man with them was. 'I was advised by both of them to seek out one Mira Han, who was.. well the lesser devil on this world to deal with. She sort of ran into us here as you can see but... I believe she is our only means of really helping the former captives.' She paused. 'I... would not know what or how to negotiate about that though...'

She turned back to Mira. She had felt, earlier, the other woman's thoughts... concerns even about the Psi-Emitter. She could tell Mira Han did not want it and understood how dangerous it was. "Help me find where the Psi-Emitter is being kept, give me some support to get me in there... and I will guarantee that it will be destroyed." She gave the pink-haired woman a hard look as she read what she could from the woman's mind. It was already clear that this other faction was no friends of Mira's; she had tried to infiltrate them and they had nearly killed one of her people. "This other faction, it would help you if they were to be crippled, yes? While I'm in there, I can plant bombs, take out some key people... I can hurt them, and help you in the process too..." she offered. "I just need some intel, and maybe some support."

She paused again for a moment. "You already know that I am a Ghost. I have the training, the gear.. and I am the weapon." she added, her green eyes staring sharply at Mira's one natural and one cybernetic eye. "I was trained in assassination, infiltration and sabotage. Help get me what I need for this and... like I said earlier, I can help you."
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

Miranda nodded at the confirmation that the psi emitter wasn't active. This was good. Not all created and sent out were configured and attuned to the psi waves of a ghost. Lucky to notice this one was one of those ones and not a done and ready to deply one. That could have been real bad real fast. Dead Man's Rock might have been just a mix of lowlives and criminals on general, but no one deseved to be swarmed by the zerg. She returned to her attention at Ava's mental messages.

It took her by a surprise how it had transpired after she went unconscious. She did feel the distinct sensations of the fast healing caused by nanites though. So they had found a nanite healing on this hunk of rock. After studying the location they were at, she nodded. It appeared a mixture of jurry rigged parts and proper tech. 'Mira Han?' Miranda asked and focused on the pink haired woman. She had heard of her, nothing concrete, but had heard of her and it was a mixture of good and bad things.

'I see, guess she would be the best course of action in this case then. As long as she doesn't try to backstab us or anything, but I too have heard that as long as a deal is made, she's very punctual about not breaking contracts despite being a relatively smaller merc crew right now.' Miranda replied to Ava. The doctor was quite certain that Mira Han in a few years was going to be running one of the biggest Merc Crews in the sector. Right now she was competing with the rest of Dead Man's rock. She had a decent control of Paradise, but even that wasn't completely under her. Deadman's Port was a whole different beast. Once the things that limited her were gone, she'd expand rapidly. Question was if she'd be a decent influence in the sector or the next crazy to spread chaos. Time would tell.' Alright, I will take it with the negotiations from here, but I'd say given the fact you two've been talking until now. Guess you've been learning. Soon you shall be negotiation all on your very own. My Ava's growing, I'm feeling lonely *sniff sniff*' Miranda send an additional message to Ava in a light hearted joking tone.

"No offense, but even a ghost wouldn't' be able to cripple their operation that fast by yourself at a reasonable amount of time." Mira replied to Ava with a frown." O'Banon's operation is massive, near planet scale with many ships out in orbit or 'working' off world. If you can stay for a few months I'd be willing to believe you can cripple htem enough, but I'm getting the feeling you wouldn't be willing. You cannot criple his entire operation, but I suppose you can prove useful on a smaller scale though. With reasonable time investiment for both of our groups and rewards." Mira added, thinking the situation over. It was going to be near impossible to get to O'Banon, but there were other things that Ava could help with.

"That depends." Miranda suddenly spoke out again, pulling hte mercenary leader attention." We also need a favor to deal with an issue of our own." Miranda spoke with serious and authoritive tone, showing she had the qualifications to negotiate here.

The mercanry leader narrowed her eyes as she looked at the doctor who was unconscious just earlier. She didnt' carry any visible scars, but her voice did have the proper for the task vibe to it. In fact she liked these two women. Still both of the groups were benefitting from dealing with the psi emitter thing. O'Banon could very well sell this to anyone and from there a nightmare could be unleashed." I think that me helping your ghost friend get to the device and properly supply her for the duration of that task, should be more than enough of a equal deal." Mira stated flatly.

"True, but without HER, your people won't be able to get to the device and destroy it. So it seems to me that we are taking more of the work here. Besides, we can honestly do it ourselves as long as we locate the lab where they will be keeping it." Miranda replied and thus the negotiations began. It wasn't the fastest thing and Mira and Miranda, or the two M's went to Fat Frank's former office to talk in peace, but through Miranda, Ava could very well hear the entire negotations as if she was there.

Negotations basically broke down to them trying to settle up what and who is doing more of the job and what favors and payment would be required for each side for this task. All in all about half an hour later, Miranda and Mira walked out of the office having reached an agreement." Alright, we got a deal." Mira stated as she walked and signaled her guys to pick up their formally injured comrade who was healing up rather nicely, but was still unconcsious, but stable. He had passed over the critical juncture.

Once Mira and co were out of the building, Miranda sat down on a chair heavily and looked at Mark and James. The deal was done and Ava knew what it was. Time for the other two to learn the gist of it." She agreed in exchange of Skadi helping them destroy the Psi-Emitter and dealing some targeted damage to a few operations of Deadman's Port, to provide us with a transport ship, passengers one and enough supplies for all the people that were rescued back then to get to the nearest inhabited system. In exchange Han will collect all the goods that come from the additional few tasks Skadi will perform in the duration of the deal." Miranda explained, those additional goodies were basically a few different warehouses and storages that Mira's crew was going to use Ava's skillset to raid and completely empty out. There was the MAIN deal that they had a huge argument on. Ava's skills were going to be used to take out the captain of a Battlecruiser in O'Banon's control. Mira actually had a person pretty high in the hierarchy of that ship, should the captain leave the scene, the ship's alliegences would be changed rather fast afterwards. She already had a battlecruiser in her command, but kept it away from the planet, as to not get jumped by O'Banon's goons and destroyed. With 2 of them she could be the one who does the pincer attacks off world instead.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava gave Miranda a quick glance. 'She's not even considering backstabbing us in this. Not with what we've told her. She understands the danger here and she wants the Psi-Emitter dealt with just as much as we do.' the ghost sent back. She could feel the pink-haired mercenary's mind and there was nothing deceitful about it. In fact, it was rather.. blunt. This was not a woman who beat around the bush but told things as they were and took what she wanted, when she wanted. That much, Ava could sense. Ava's head cocked suddenly, her formerly emotionless expression turned into a boggled one. While she had understood Miranda's joking tone, Ava.. didn't want be a negotiator. 'No, no... you can keep that job...' she added hastily. 'I'll stick to the killing, infiltration and sabotage...'

While she could definitely see how a Psionic could have a major advantage at negotiation, she was just not trained for it. Hell, she was still trying to learn normal social skills and was uncomfortable with people she didn't know, at least when not.. working. Even to most of the people of Kalisti, she was still the quiet, shy yet intimidating new young woman. She knew they were good people but.. any time in groups, Ava hung back quietly, watching and observing rather than interacting. A part of that game from the lack of life experiences that others had. Others could tell stories and anecdotes of their past. Ava's few stories of her past were... not pleasant ones. A negotiator had to be able to be on the same level socially as those they were negotiating with and Ava did not feel she was even remotely close to the level of... well, anyone.

Her focus turned back to Mira, frowning at the merc's frown. This woman underestimated the effectiveness of a ghost. Being able to read minds made it rather easy to find out information she wanted, namely finding the highest level people of the organization who were planetside.. and taking them out. Yes, this might not cause the whole organization to fall, likely it wouldn't but it would cause chaos in the short term. But perhaps what Mira meant was that SHE did not have a big enough force to be able to capitalize on such chaos. This O'Banon's group would be able to re-organize more quickly than Mira Han could work to take advantage. That made sense. Ava took a deep breath, giving a quick glance over at Miranda before turning back. "I have.. other obligations." she confirmed to the mercenary woman. "In a short period of time, perhaps I cannot cripple them, but... like I said, I can hurt them, even if its only for a short time." she added. "Still, I CAN hurt them... You know more about this planet and its politics. If you chose the right targets for me, well... I'm sure there are some that can help you in the long run as well...."

Mira, of course, started to agree to the deal of the support for Ava going after the Emitter but thankfully Miranda stepped in. Ava had thought that was the fair deal but, Miranda turned it to their advantage. And that was why Ava hadn't wanted to negotiate. Miranda's argument though was more than valid. Ava really was the key in this. Then again, it would be a lot harder to get into O'Banon's operation without Mira's support. But not impossible. It would be impossible for Mira to go after the Psi-Emitter alone though. And it was true also, in the end, it was Ava taking all the risk.

When Miranda took Mira into the former occupant's office, Ava elected to stay in the treatment area with Mark and James. Oh... that wasn't a good feeling.... Her wide eyes went straight to the younger James. "Get him over to the sink!" she yelled out at Mark. Too late. James had been staring at the dead body of Fat Frank on the floor and, could not hold it in any longer. He vomited all over the tiled floor. Ava sighed, watching the older man help the younger. James may have seen a lot being held captive, he had seen the dead, but seeing a hole through a dead man's head with brains and bone and blood all over the floor and wall... that was a bit more than he had experienced before. Poor boy, she thought, then gave the body a quick look over. If only that was the worst she had ever seen.... If only. She looked over at Mira's men, at their looks, giving them only a shrug in response.

Thankfully though, about a half hour later, Mira and Miranda rejoined the rest of them. Ava had gotten some play-by-plays from Miranda throughout the negotiation, not to mention some questions and getting her opinion asked on certain topics, so she had a good idea of what had been laid down in the other room. She had opted to stay out of that more to support Mark and James out here and not leave them feeling alone, and also to keep an eye on Mira's men than anything else to be honest. Mira collected her injured man and they and the other men left. Finally, they were alone with only allies. And one very dead pig of a man.

Mark's eyes were wide at hearing the results of the deal. "So you can get us off this world, after all?" he asked in surprise. "Mira must really want you to get this device destroyed if she is willing to offer you a ship. Hell, she must have liked you in fact...." he said with a bit of a laugh.

Ava, though, was not in such good humour. Her mind was already considering details of what all of this would entail. The taking out the captain of a battlecruiser mostly. It had not been stated if they could get said captain off the ship and on planet... More than likely, it meant Ava getting onto the cruiser, with the mole's help... That wouldn't be bad either though, nor would the actual act of killing the man. It was getting off that ship that concerned her. In such a closed environment, things could go wrong. What if Mira was wrong about the crew's loyalties? There were a lot of unknowns. Unknowns Ava could deal with, of course... she had been trained for such things, but unknowns she could try to get in front of by thinking ahead.... Her mind was in work mode now.

She looked up sharply, only now realizing that the others were looking at her. "I... think we should get back to the Sessrumnir..." she said, uncomfortable at being the centre of attention for the moment. She clicked on the comm unit. "Skadi to Sessrumnir. Things are five by five here. We are on our way back shortly." she said into the device.

There was a slightly delay before Nick answered back. "Good to hear, Skadi. We had a bit of an issue here though... I think it's been dealt with for now? I think you all really should get back as soon as you can though...." he answered, the tenseness in his voice pretty clear.

As the comm line shut off, Ava looked over at Miranda with wide eyes. "I don't think I like the sound of that... That's the other thing I didn't get to mention..." she said, giving a small look out of the corner of her eye at Mark. "I had concerns about a few of the captives..." she admitted. "I asked Nick to keep a very good eye on them... but I.. think we need to get back quickly like he asked..." she said as she began pulling her hood of the suit back up over her hair, and then slipped the mask back on.

( If you write us getting back, 1 of the former captives is dead, Nick stabbed her with a bayonet on his gun, and he is holding 2 more males at gun point though the 2 look like they might snap at any moment. The other 10 captives are all huddled together in a corner in the dropship. )
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

"I guessed so too. I think she took a liking to me and Skadi." Miranda replied to Mark's comment with a tired smile. Her head had cleared up somewhat during the negotiations, but it was still pusling a little." Your name was Mark, right?" Miranda asked as she looked at the older man who nodded at her question." Thank you for the help you gave, Skadi with bringing me about. I also think you're a good man." She had a decent feeling about him. With that she slowly got up and walked over to the healing machine while Ava was being busy contacting Nick.

Miranda didn't take long in locating the storage for the rest of the nanites that Fat Frank had stored up. It really wasn't that much. Honestly creating nanites was a bothersome task, and the big case that the man had here, would be enough for a whole lot of uses. From this case alone, she could set up more than 50 different healing procedures. It was worth a small fortune and Mira Han left it to them, well Miranda was going to make use of it. Especially since it was her duty as a combat medic to be prepared for this. If she had a proper Combat Medic CMC, she'd have all needed surgial tools and more plus nanites injectors on the fly. Closing the case adn locking it tight she returned just in time to hear Ava's news that something had happened.

Mark seemed a little displeased." Must be those ones." He mumbled as if he had some people in mind, but didn't elaborate. THey were all going to see what had transpired anyways. As they were leaving the place of Fat Frank, there was actually 2 people in CMC outside. Their armors looked customised to appear more dangerous. Sharp spikes and edges and the like. They introduced themselves as people who worked for Mira Han and that they will be taking over the facility from now on. Miranda nodded at them, they clearly saw her carrying the metal case, but didn't mention anything as they entered the building.

The old former slave had a weird expression as he watched Fat Frank's place getting into the distance. Miranda looked at him and James and wondered. Finfally she walked up to him." So, what was the story between you and that fat pig?" She asked calmly, with voice and expression cealry showing it was fine not to reply.

"We... used to be part of the same crew." Mark replied slowly." Used to be a trader back when, before the Guild Wars. When we got into deep troubles, it was him who sold me out. I got ended as slave while he bought this place with the money he got off betraying me." Mark replied, feeling that well... vengeance was overrated. He had dreamed about killing Frank for years, but eventually gave up on the idea. He didn't want to give in to the hatred. Weirdly now that someone else killed the pig, he felt... weirdly neutral about it. Over the years of slavery and servitude, he just realized, he no longer cared about Frank or what happened to him.

~~~~

When they finally arrived back at the ship, it was clear something had transpired. Mark had a really angry expression on his face cause this could endager all of them, what if Miranda, Ava and Nick didn't help them leave this planet? Miranda's eyes narrowed and were cold as she studied the situation. One woman dead, stabbed by Gauss rifle Bayonet. 2 people at gunpoint and the rest of the former slaves huddled at a corner of the dropship. She rubbed the bridge of her nose for a moment.

"Alright, what happened here?" She asked, throwing a look at Nick. She doubted he would have killed anyone unless it was called for. There was a high chance they tried to pull something stupid like taking over the ship or the like. She was going to listen to 2 sides of the story. She had Ava to serve as a truth detector anyways." Njor you explain first, then I will hear from one of thosetwo also. I want to learn what exactly transpired here and WHY."
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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava cloaked as they left the medical building, not to so much to keep an eye on her comrades this time as merely to just not be noticed. Letting unsavoury eyes around here know that there was a ghost present only would invite trouble. At least the journey back was less eventful than the one out had been; two men with an injured woman had been much more of a tantalizing target than a group of three health individuals were. As much as Ava longed to run ahead, to get back to the dropship as fast as she could though, she felt bound to keep close to the others, being the unseen guardian just in case.

By the time they could see their dropship though, Ava was able to feel Nick's mind and was relieved at what she felt. It was tense all right but currently feeling like a stalemate. That could change at any moment but at least they were almost there now. As they got to the ship, Miranda punched in the code to descend the ramp and Ava flew up it even before it was fully on the ground. There was a lot of high strung emotion going on in the small ship. Anger, fear, sadness... And on the floor was one dead woman. Nick had another two men at gunpoint. As soon as Ava heard the hatch doors behind her begin to close, she decloaked, her rifle was up, aimed at the two that Nick was covering. As soon as Miranda asked what happened, Ava was picking it up from Nick, even before he explained.

Nick gestured with the barrel of his gun at the two before him. They were both currently kneeling, with their hands on the back of their heads. "These two here jumped me while the woman tried to sneak past and get into the cockpit..." he answered. "I could have been a lot more harsh with these two but I didn't realize what they were trying to go for at first, I didn't want to hurt any of them.. But then I heard them call out to her to get into the cockpit.... With these two weighing me down, I didn't want to take any chances. I stopped the woman...." he added. "These two lost the will to fight after she went down..."

One of them, with a feral, wild look in his eyes spoke up at that, seeming to be the leader of the two currently under guard. "You were lying about helping us! You are just keeping us captive just like those others! What else were we supposed to do?!" he nearly screamed. "We had a to take a chance. Carol died for it but... at least we tried to take control!"

Mark came forward angrily. "Ben, you idiot! They ARE helping us to get away!" he yelled back. "You just got Carol killed for nothing and maybe even jeopardized our means of getting out of this hell!"

Ben turned his wrath on Mark. "Or maybe you turned traitor on us... Are you collaborating with them now? I knew we should have never trusted you! You know as well as I do that this ship can't take all of us anywhere! They are just going to use it to sell us off to someone else on this planet!"

Mark's face just read of disbelief at what he was hearing now. "Ben... they just negotiated to do some dangerous work in return to get a ship that can get us all away from here...." he stated flatly.

"Like we can trust you!" snarled Ben.

Mark turned to Miranda and Ava, looking helpless. "I'm sorry, Idunn. Ben and Dwight's beliefs are not what the rest of us know to be true. Please don't let their actions hurt the rest of these poor people..." he said sincerely.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

The more she listened, the more Miranda's mood fell. Just as she saw some improvement in the situation this happened. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and goraned when the story finished being told." So that's what happened." She nodded and threw a look at the dead woman and her two acomplices again. She had a vague idea where the two of the man and the woman were coming from. They were probably feisty and new to the whole being a slave thing. Probably weren't one long enough to teach them patience and the like." Morons..." Miranda mumbled.

"Don't worry, Mark. You and the others are still getting off this rock. The deal was made, so no one is backing out on it. In about 2 weeks tops the ship will be at our hands to bring you and the others away from Dead Man's Rock." Miranda reassured the man and looked at the two who tried to steal their ship.

"As for you two morons, you got your friend killed for nothing. We were well aware that this ship wasn't enough to bring the rest of you off world to the nearest safe enough planet out there." Miranda stated to them." In fact we only saved you as a side activity. We were there to save the girl, you all just benefitted from our kindness at the moment. While I was healing earlier, we found someone to lend us a passenger transport ship so we can take you all away from here. So yeah, you just got your friend killed for absolutely no reason. As for the reason why we kept you in this ship why we were away, did you even happen to ask for it? It's because this place isn't any safer than the rest of this planet, you fucking idiot. There are more than enough drug dens and potential slavers and pirates here that if you all had simply went off the ship to your own devices, you all would have been in chains or drugged or whatever by the time we could return. A safe closed ship with an armed marine was the best protection we could offer." With that Miranda stopped talking and looked at Ava, Mark, James and Nick in turn. Then at the other former slaves who still looked concerned, but having heard that a transport was arranged they seemed al ot better.

Now Miranda had a big issue at hands and judging by Mark's expression he realized what it was. Ben and Dwight attempt at taking over their ship was pretty much a sin she couldn't ignore. She didn't really want to kill them, but letting them leave now was just as dangerous as keeping them. Hell they could try to see her ship, her, Ava and everything else to the first merc crew or pirates or slavers as an attempt for revenge and also some good pay in the process." What are you going to do?" Mark asked finally, as Miranda closed her eyes.

"Damn..." She mumbled. There were no good options here, only bad ones. For the safety of the people she cared for, she couldn't let those two off the hook. Easiest way to deal with it was to kill them. A hand was already resting on her revolver, her eyes staring holes at them. After a good while, Miranda finally decided on something." N'jor, get on the communications and get me Mira Han on the line." Miranda asked the man in powered armor. She then looked at Ava, Mark and the two who tried to rebel here. Ava could hear her thoughts, but hse better explain it to the rest.

"Most of us will be stuck on this world for the next 2 weeks. My associate will leave to bring the young girl to her father. In the meantime, me and Skadi will be staying on the planet along with the rest of you. A safe location shall be arranged for all of you to live, food provided. You will NOT be made to work unless you want to. We have a deal with Mira Han to provide us with that ship in exchange for some favors. Once the deal is over with the ship is ours which will be about 2 weeks as I said give or take a day or 2. " Miranda explained what was happening, there was no need in lying to these people." As for the two of you... I will ask for the two of you to be put under lock for the time being. You shall be set free when we are leaving this world and it will be your own responsibility to get off world. We won't be bringing you with us. From there do whatever you decide to, be it join mercs or anything. Honestly the cleanest way to deal with this, would be to kill you two and be done and over with. This is my last piece of mercy I will give you two, because of the situation you found yourself in and your desire for survival. If you violate even it, there shall be nothing more to do. I will personally put the bullets between your eyes." Miranda stated with calm expression and dead serious eyes.

"Don't test my patience... Skadi isn't the only one dangerous here, never forget that." She stated. She then reached out with her mind to Ava, not looking at her, making sure not to indicate they are communicating to the rest present.' What are thay thinking about now? Will they try to case more problems or simply wait it out?' She asked the ghost. Honestly she was ready to kill the two of them. It wasn't going to be a long term problem for the doctor. She might have put an oath to save lifes, but saving lives sometimes needed others to be taken instead. She wasn't kidding when she told them this was their last lil bit of chance for survival.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava didn't need to hear the other side of the story; Nick's version was more than enough to know the veracity. As he recited it, he was going through it all in his head and she could see that directly from his mind. What she could also feel from him was his anger. Anger that he had had to kill someone who... wasn't really the enemy, just someone doing something really stupid. Ava could understand that. Perhaps that was part of the reason they seemed to be such a good match: Ava could understand having to kill but still being remorseful about being forced to take a life. She could understand it more than most, being able to feel that life slip away, sensing the final thoughts of the person, understanding on a visceral level just what she was ending. But even still, that remorse did not make either Nick nor her any more hesitant about taking lives when the need was enough. They were soldiers, of one sort of another, and sometimes killing was the only way.

Ava watched Mark sigh in relief, feeling it as well at Miranda's assurances. Miranda then turned on the two living attempted-mutineers. The words made sense, were logical... but only one of the true truly listened and took them to heart. Ava could feel the other, the ringleader, Ben, was having none of it. He truly believed the words were merely lies and he was blaming not only Nick, but Miranda, Ava AND Mark for Carol's death. His mind was refusing to see reason. More than that, his mind seemed... twisted. It was a mass of seething anger, hatred and loathing. But right now, the barrel of a very big gun was staring him in the face and that was the only thing keeping him from lashing out.

The other man, though.... Dwight, he was different. Now there was remorse. He was angry too but it was directed at Ben now. Ava looked at him more closely. A slight man, younger but his face was marred by burn scars on one side. Something that had happened in the past as they were well healed but... they still gave him a savage appearance. Unlike his cohort, this man knelt there on the ground, his eyes staring at the ground. He was... not prepared for, but was accepting that he might die for his part in the attempted takeover.

Ava could feel Miranda being conflicted over what to do with the two men. In Dwight's case, she could understand it but... Ben was a rabid dog that should be put down. Her rifle was trained on Ben, just providing backup to Nick's at this point. For safety, should Miranda order the deaths of these two, the pistol at her hip would be used instead but... she kept her rifle trained on the one whom she knew was the true danger. Truth be told, Ava would probably have chosen just to kill both of them, both because of the risk and as a lesson to the others. Order had to be kept.

Thankfully, what she could feel from the minds of the other captives wasn't fear of their rescuers but relief at knowing that the plan to leave the planet was moving forward and... even relief that Ben had been singled out away from the rest of them. It seems this hadn't been the first incident started by him. He was unstable and had been for a while. When Miranda ordered Nick to call Mira Han, Ava moved over to him, giving his armour a friendly slap on the chest plate, unable to give him the smile she wanted through her mask, before she turned her gun once more on the two men.

Nick nodded at Miranda's order and headed up to the cockpit. Ava had felt Nick's anger melting away, more from Ava's friendly gesture than anything else. As Miranda began to explain though, Ava felt Nick's mood sour, hearing the plan. If he hadn't been working on contacting Mira Han at the moment, he would have been objecting. Or at least, he would have been wanting to object. Ava knew that he knew that it was the only logical solution to all of this even if he didn't like the idea of leaving the two women on a planet like this, not to mention working for Mira Han doing god knew what sort of dangerous tasks.

Ava grunted quietly at Miranda's silent communication to her. 'The one on the right with the burns, Dwight, will not be a problem. He regrets what they did and hates Ben now because of it... and hates himself for listening to Ben's lies...' she answered. 'Ben though... is unreasonable... unstable.' She was about to stay more but she picked up on Ben's thoughts. In an instant, her rifle had switched hands and her knife was drawn, pressing against Ben's throat hard enough to draw a thin line of blood as he had just begun to push off from his kneeling. The movement he had accomplished was hardly more than a shift in his weight but she had sensed what he had intended. He froze at the feel of the razor sharp metal though. 'Continuous threat to his life is the only thing keeping him at bay right now.' she sent as she began to speak out loud through her mask.

"Sit back down." she ordered him harshly, watching as he complied. His eyes were that of a caged predator, looking for any opening. It would be only a matter of time where even threat wouldn't be enough to keep him quiet. Eventually, he would try a suicide run. Ava held the knife tight against his throat, as she glanced over at Miranda, the mask giving the gesture a threatening, inhuman look. 'One flick of my wrist and he is dead...' she offered psionically.

To the side, Dwight finally broke down, tears streaming from his eyes. "I'm sorry... I let him talk me into it... I let him talk Carol into it. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." he sobbed, not asking for mercy but just truly remorseful that his friend, a woman he had actually kind of fancied was now dead because of their own stupidity.

During this, Nick had returned, but hadn't wanted to interrupt. He moved near to Miranda, leaning down enough to whisper to her. "Mira Han is on the comm, on hold, waiting on you when ready..." he said, keeping his eyes.. and weapon on the two men, one of them being very close to Ava at the moment.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

Miranda was staring coldly at the man called Ben. This went beyond simple distrust and from what she was hearing and picking from Ava's senses, this man was going to find a reason to try to take the ship even if they hadn't killed the woman. Sadly the woman and the other man got drawn into his stupidity. He appeared way more than simple crazed person and that was not something Miranda was approving off. She was starting to feel there was a story about him here, a story they weren't knowing. There was a few ways to deal with him and as she had mentioned the most direct one was to simply kill him. Though she had an idea.

'Just knock him out for the moment. Since he doesn't see reason, got another use for him. Whatever you sow, that you will reap.' She stated flatly as she walked out of the room, gaving the dead woman a quick glance, noting that there was a weirdly low ammount of blood for a dead body. She didn't think much of it at the moment as she headed to talk with Mira Han.' Kill him if he proves to be a hassle to subdue.' She added as she casually hopped out the door of the cargo area. She went and sat down in the pilot's seat, pulling on the headset.

"You called rather quick." Mira hand mentioned as she spotted Miranda on the screen.

"Yeah, got a little bit of a thing going on here. The arrangements are done?" Miranda asked as the mercenary leader nodded.

"Yes, a building is beening emptied and prepared to house your...people... for the duration of our deal as we speak. It will be done within the hour" Mira han confirmed as some data was delivered. It was a set of coordinates." This is the location of the base you should head to. It's one of mine, less populated, but it's clean of bad influences such as slavers and drug dens. Area has been some of the first we secured. It's low priority now because it's been rendered a lot more harmless. There's a food depot there where you can buy supplies for the stay." She added.

"Good, alright" Miranda nodded and threw a look back towards the door. Since they will get a whole building, it wouldn't be hard to lock the mutiniers under lock and key, but if Ava didn't kill the Ben foon, he would be a problem." Say, I've got a guy here. Very mutinous, honestly I'm not sure if he won't be dead by the time we arrive at the location. You think you got a use for someone like him? I'm not going to be leaving him alone in either case, too much of a danger." Miranda asked of the mercenary leader who just frowned for a moment as she thought.

"Sure, if he's still alive by the time you arrive, my men will pick him up. Got use for men like him, if he's like you describe him." Mira Han nodded." A little time in the brig and the 'scrambler' and he will be as good as new."

Having arranged a fate for Ben, should he survives at all, Miranda nodded and informed Han they were goign to be heading for the facility in short notice. Miranda then closed the channel and left for the cargo area to check what transpired there.

(So, I've been thinking if we might make it the woman was actually magically still alive. She was dying but very slowly and bleeding with very slow pulse appearing nearly dead. SO they could safe her life. Leaving this choice to you actually. either way works. Same with Ben. If he dies also fine if not, we can just give him to Han. She's going to scramble his noggin and have a nice lil footsoldier xD)
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