SC - Fugitives

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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

"Roger" Ava responded to the ETA. Two minutes wasn't bad at all in this situation: they had safety up on the rock so it was more of an extrication than a combat evac. She turned back to the snivelling boy, giving him a long stare, slightly in disdain. The fear he was projecting wasn't pleasant, especially with her still-recovering mind, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. The crying though.. the crying she couldn't understand. There could be time for grief once they got to safety but... now wasn't the time to sink into a dejected state. What did they teach these kids anyways? Obviously not how to handle themselves, how to be strong, she thought in annoyance.

The kid finally noticed her masked stare in his direction, breaking him out of his sobbing again. He rubbed a fist against an eye before studying Ava in return. "I haven't seen anyone with a suit like yours." he said finally. "Where'd you get it? Nobody 'round here has a mask like that either..."

Ava wasn't sure how to answer that but she was saved from the attempt by the sound of the dropship approaching. Though invisible at first, Ava could feel it's location by the feel of the minds on board, so she wasn't surprised when it decloaked directly over the spine of rocks above. The kid though, already freaked out about the sound without a visual source, started once the ship appeared, nearly falling backwards off the edge of the rock. Ava was nearby however and grabbed him by the back of the shirt, using her enhanced strength to just about pick him clean off the ground. She glanced up, spotting Nick as he began to lower a rescue harness. She held tight to the back of the panicked kid's shirt as he continued to fight to try to get away. "Be still, kid." she rasped through her mask, gripping the back of his shirt even tighter. "We are helping you."

Her words did not seem to even be heard but it didn't matter. She had far more strength than he did. As soon as the harness made it down to her, she grabbed it, fastening it onto the kid one handed, until he was secured in it. At that, she opened the comms. "Bring the first one up, N'jor." she sent to Nick and only let go of the kid as she felt the line on the harness begin to pull the boy upwards. In almost no time, the harness came back down. Rather than secure herself in, she merely put a foot in one of the arm holes and held onto the rope manually, giving the command to bring it up once more. Reaching the top, she pulled herself into the ship. She gave Nick a thankful pat on the shoulder as she passed him at his controls, the door now closing behind her.

Seeing the door closing, the still-panicked kid bolted for the door, seeing the last glimmer of what he knew closing off but Ava was ready for him. His mind was an open book. As he tried to pass her to get at the door, her armoured arm snagged him around the waist and she pulled him too her in a bear hug to prevent him from a getaway as the door finished closing. She spun him around to face her as she knelt, her hand holding his head still and looking at her. "Stupid kid. Why the hell did you try to jump? The fall alone would kill you from this height, even discounting the worms out there..." she said.

Nick came up behind her, putting a hand on her arm, gesturing for her to relax on the kid. "He's in shock." he said gently. "Take off the mask, hm?"

Ava did as told, pulling off her mask and pulling down her hood once more and sighed. "Kid, we are taking you home now, okay? Sit tight and you will be with your people again." she added. The kid was more still now, but whether that was from Nick coming over, Ava taking off the intimidating mask or just because there really was no escape route now, she didn't know. Probably a bit of each. She watched as he nodded woodenly. Miranda's voice popped on the comms and Ava turned away, letting Nick deal with the kid for now. "Yeah, I know. Not really much other choice though. They can't object too much after having saved him... We can just make it clear that we are only passing by." she answered.

She turned back to Nick and the kid. "How about you show him the cockpit?" she suggested. "He can watch us headed to his home." Nick nodded, urging the boy to the cockpit and Ava followed. As soon as they were up there, the kid's jaw dropped. He had probably never seen this level of tech before. Ava sat him in the co-pilot's seat but stayed close, keeping a close eye that he didn't touch anything important. Soon enough the kid was pointing through the viewscreen, jabbering about that being the town ahead.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

Having picked the kid, Miranda sighed, sending Ava's sensations about the whole deal. She sighed and shook her shoulders that gotten a bit stiff. Soon afterwards the the ghost and the Kid appeared in the cockpit." Hey kid." Miranda called him as she pulled something from a pocket of hers." Here have a candy bar." She stated and gave him a candy bar. Nothing too special, just a regular one from the ration packs. The child actually appared rather confused, shocked and well... he had the look of a kid in a toystore as he was busy looking at everything, viewing the entire ship as something profound and unearlthly. Well Miranda didn't find it surprising given the situation.

"You will be home in no time, kiddo." She added and ruffled his hair a bit. She gave Ava a smile and resumed her focus on the flying deal, while the kid as busy with the candy bar and looking out the window, unable to believe he was actually in the air. Eventually soon enough they saw the town in the distance. She ran a scan on the surface, there were no giant carnivore worms within the vacinity of here. It seemed theoritically possible one might be able to draw this close, but generally what the sensors picked said hat the soil layer wasn't really that deep as to allow big worms to freely come and go. Not impossible, but unlikeley and it would be very obvious. How lucky, if these things were on many of the other planets in the sectors, it would have been a nightmare. Then again... they had burrowing zerg already... not that much different from a swarm of those.

As the town got closer and closer, Miranda lowered the speed. From distance there didn't appear to be any static AA defenses. There weren't any defense towers to be found, at leat none of importance. There were rather obvious sentry guard towers... that required people to man and clearly no radars or detection from any kind as far as it could be seen. The Confederacy had really done a number of this world during the guild wars it seemed because she recognized the sentry tower, it was a repurposed husk of a Missile turret tower. That said they were already noticed. Even though it was hard to notice a dark flying object in the gray greenish sky of this world, it wasn't impossible for the people who actually knew what to look for, which she assumed the guards in the small town were because by the time she took to landing not too far from Town, there was already a welcoming comitee forming." Alright, time to deliver you to your folk, kid." Miranda stated as she stood up and headed for the hatch. With the kid in tow, she sent a message to Ava. ' Just be ready in case something goes wrong, no need to actually kill anyone here. We are the unwelcomed guests to begin with, no need to burn bridges.' She explained. Miranda was actually thinking this world would make a fine hide out point, just like Kalisti. Granted she didn't plan on hanging out here, but in case of emergency it might do. No one would search for htem here.

Swiping her hand at the hatch controls, it opened with a swush and she walked outside. About 20 meters away from teh ship, there was a group of maybe 20 men. Dressed in a rather simple fashion similar to the kid, they were weilding mostly improvised melee weaponry, though there were a few firearms scattered among the group on people who seemed to be the proper guard. THe others were probably just townfolk, spooked by the ship." Greetings, fair folk." Miranda called to the group, noting their tense expressions." We mean you no harm with our arrival." She explained and gestured her hand for the kid to follow her off the ship." Look, my friend found him stranded on a rock ridge off the edge of the forest with those worms crawling all around." The doctor explained how they ended up with the child. There was a distinct spike of murmors and whispers.

Suddenly a woman burst from behind the group." Marric!" The woman looked about as horrified and afraid as one could be and Miranda right away recognized that expression and emotion. This was the kid's mother. She nodded her head and nudged onwards for the kid to get going.

"It's fine, Madam, he's alright." Miranda explained." Just a bit shocked and scared."

"What about Darren? Isn't he with you?" A voice from the crowd came and Miranda looked at the kid and then at Ava.

Finally she shook her head." Only he was on the rock when he was found by my friend." She added, hearing a gasp from the people. Not the most ideal way to meet, but not the worst either.

As the growd was confused on how to proceed, an old woman walked from behind the group, using cane to support herself." Hmmhmm... What brougth these benefactors to our little colony?" The woman asked, looking at Miranda, the ship and the others." We haven't had visitors for over 15 years..." She said in hoarse voice." Has the Confederacy, finally decided to finish the job? Are you here to scout our numbers so you can abduct our able folk and leave hte rest to die out like you did in the past?"

"We aren't with the Confederacy..."
She tried to say, but was met with skeptic gazes. Not surprising given the fancy looking ship and just the fact htey were on the planet." We used this planet as a resting point on our way elsewhere. The sector has changed a lot in the last decade and a half, but I don't think this is the best place to talk about this." Miranda smiled.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

With Ava feeling the need to keep a close eye on the kid while in the cockpit, as they were landing she realized she hadn't even considered how these people would react to a ghost in their midst... After the ship had made touchdown, the group headed back in the ship, going for the ramp and Ava made a quick detour just to grab her duster jacket and remove her amoured shoulder plates and gauntlets. It wasn't complete concealment of her skinsuit and the rest of the armour but.. it was something at least. In compliance with Miranda's warning thought, Ava decided to leave her canister rifle behind, keeping only her combat knife and a sidarm. She also undid her ponytail, leaving her hair flowing more freely, looking more informal.

As Miranda opened the hatch, Ava sidled up close to Nick, her shoulder just brushing his as she stared out the opening doorway. Meeting new people was always stressful for her, especially when it in larger numbers. She still wasn't comfortable socially plus the influx of new minds and with how her own mind was still recovering... she wasn't looking forward to this. Okay, her mind wasn't that bad feeling anymore, more sore than really painful, she acknowledged to herself but.. she would have rather been in peak condition for something like this ideally.

As the hatch finished opening and the group of colonists came into full view, Ava could see that many of them had weapons, some with projectile weapons. She slowly raised her bare hands up to shoulder level, palms out, showing she had no weapons hidden there though she did this carefully, in such a way that the front of her jacket kept mostly closed, hiding most of her garments. She let Miranda take the lead, as always, her and Nick following behind as Miranda led the kid down the ramp. The emotions from these colonists were.. fairly intense, ranging from caution to outright fear and defiance.

Suddenly a wave of even stronger emotion nearly swamped Ava, feelings of terror and... and.. something... A need to protect? It was almost feral emotions as a woman's voice called out a name and she came running for the boy. Ava nearly took a step back just at the feelings and she did shudder as the degree of what she felt nudged some of the sore nerves in her mind. She barely heard the other voice speak but as the boy, Marric, returned to his mother, but she felt the growing concern that burgeoned into denial and fear. The crowd gasped when Miranda answered someone that only Marric had been found, but when he added on that he had seen the other child taken by the worms, the emotions, especially from the other child's father, did overwhelm Ava. She staggered this time, backing into Nick and almost falling over. She would have had he not helped stabilize her as she cringed, feeling a bit dizzy.

"What's wrong?" he whispered to her.

Ava shook her head, trying to shake off the feelings that weren't hers, shake off the grief that wasn't hers. She finally gave him a small facade of a smile. "I'm kind of wishing I had thought to bring my psi screen right now... Not pleasant feeling the grief..." she answered back just as quietly, wiping the smile off and looking back to the crowd, trying to appear normal despite the feeling she was trying to deal with. That much grief was affecting her and she had to fight not to break down in tears herself, had to keep reminding herself that it wasn't her own emotions and to keep them separated. It was difficult. She had learned from being around Miranda just how hard people took the death of a child. Well, some people anyways. There had been children who died at the Academy, she knew, and there were few people who mourned them. Nick put his arm around Ava's shoulders then in sympathy and to help keep her from losing her balance again.

The questioning turned from the children then to why the little crew was on the planet at all. Ava was a bit surprised to hear Miranda ask to talk about it somewhere else. The ghost glanced around, wondering what the issue would be with answering the questions here. It wasn't like they feared anybody else other than these colonists overhearing them. Ava's mind was a little too tangled with the strong emotions though to really centre in on Miranda's more subdued mind at the moment though to find out.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

Miranda didn't even need to turn to see Ava's obvious state from the presence of the people here. She looked at the griefing family and the woman and her child that were reunited. With a slight twitch of her eyes she turned halfway to Nick and Ava." You two, return to the selected landing location. I will be staying over for a little bit." Miranda said with a smile to her companions. It was mostly to send Ava away from the rather obvious powerful emotional influence of this place." I will call for pick up when I need it, so don't worry." She added with a reassuring expression and turned to the old woman who was obviously someone of influnece in this settlement. At remote very devolved locations like this, it was likely the old woman was a wisewoman almost... the oldest one in the settlement and as they said, with age came wisdom. Her having survived to this age on this rock was rather impressive.

'Go back to your vacation. I will take care of things here.' Miranda send a mental note to Ava, making a gesture for her and Nick to get going. Afterwards she walked closer to the locals who clearly got a bit on edge. Miranda just very slowly pulled her guns off her holsters and holding them by the barrels handed them over, but by the ways she was handling the weapons, she made it obvious she really treasured these things." Here as a gesture of my intentions, I'm leaving this to your care while I'm here, so I'm unarmed." This did improve the mental condition of the people around." THough I'm seriously taking those back when I'm leaving later... Those thigns have sentimental value..." She did warn for them to not be getting any ideas.

"Mm... very well... let's talk. Your people can pick you up later..." The old woman replied, still eyeing Nick, Ava and the ship with slgihtly narrowed evaluating eyes.

Miranda gave a final wave with her hand to her people and walked off with the locals. She looked rather obvious and easy to spot among their ranks with her clearly better clothing even. What's more her general body condition was miles ahead of all of them, be it the health of her skin or even just the fact she didn't have the distinct traits of lack of nutrition. They weren't malnurished too much, but it was obvious that their diets were likely not too good overall. Probably an effect of a barren world that barely had anything edible to begin with... if anything. Hell the local settlementsl likely were in a very delicate balance with the nature around this world.

Miranda was led to the biggest house in the settlement by the old woman. Judging by the building materials and the wear and tear on it, it was likely this building was older than her... probably older than the old woman also. In any case, they were obviously maintaining it with great efforts as it was in decent enough shape. She was rather surprised that there was fresh concrete slabs that were drying at a few places, likely the locals had found materials to make cement of some kind. Human ingenuity was a grand force. Inside the building, the old woman led the way to the main hall that lacked any real furniture. In the center of the room there were some weird pillows and rugs that she struggled over to sit down on one with the help of one of the younger men who were escorting them. Miranda in turn sat down on another, facing the old woman. The escorting people all found seats around the room. Miranda studied hte place for a bit, maybe it was a sort of conference room or the closest they had to it? Maybe it was tradition or culture for it to be such at this point. She ran her fingers across the rugs, finding them rather coarse and dry... it wasn't fabric or furs. it was actually a plan fiber weave of some kind. Likely from the forest area? She couldn't quite tell, same for the pillows. Just plant fiber 'cloth' filled with a tangle of dried up straw like plant. Given she hadn't seen a single fur bearing species on the world it wasn't surprising and also the weird type of vegitation around. In the end she chalked all the pecularities under the way the colony's culture developed and their unique way of adapting it to the enviroment. Hard to make leather and fur clothing when none was avaible and hard to make cloth when there probably wasn't a proper plant to serve as cloth resource like cotton or the like. Still the people's clothing wasn't too terrible. So they clearly had at least some way to produce proper cloth. Conclusion she reached was that cloth was likely reserved for hte important things in other words clothing where rugs and pillows were made of the shabbier materials.

"Okey... let's hear it. You said you aren't confederate and that the sector has changed in the last decade and some." The old woman stated, looking at Miranda with serious eyes.

"Mmm... well it started some years back... now it's well... an empire in control? They call themselves the Dominion, pretty much the same deal as the Confederacy, but iwth a singular head of state rather a ruling council of families." Miranda sighed as she started to explain.

The old woman didn't seem to amased at first, but she listened as Miranda got into the general way the events unfolded in the last days of the confederacy and how Mengsk wrestled control. She added the attacks of the zerg and the protoss also. The talks were likely to continue for hours though. There was a lot of ground to cover.

"Before I continue on, allow me to ask a question." Miranda said and looked around." Shouldn't the colony have at least a communication array? What happened to it for you all to be secluded here with basically no contact?"

"... When the Confederacy raided us during what you call the Guild Wars it seems, the communication array was destroyed. In fact much of our remaining tech from the settlement days was destroyed, including our only defense tower instalation. You probably saw it's husk outside, turned into a watchtower instead." The old woman sighed.

"I see..." Miranda replied and nodded in understanding. It was a pretty common MO. You didn't want the news of raids being publically spread through all colonies afterall. And a remote place like this didn't even have the spare parts to repair something as complex as a communication array likely after some poitn in time when parts ran out or a critical component was missing. Well by the looks of it, the long talks would continue for a while. She figured that she might as well use the day or two, while Ava's play survival games in the forest, to get to know the lay of the land among the settlements. While it looked like this barren rock had nothing to offer, you never knew. Deadman's port was a barren rock and crime aside there was a lot of activity there. This place could very well become at least a rebel hub eventually and their group would always be in need of more hideout planets where htey can lay low.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava sent a mental objection in Miranda's direction at the order to head back to the ship and leave the town but the doctor's mind was firmly made up it seemed. The ghost glanced around, studying all of the town's inhabitants, one by one, judging threat levels. There were one or two that were borderline hostile of the presence of the strangers but the majority seemed to just fall in with what the old woman directed without issue. Feeling eyes watching her, Ava caught the gaze of the man that was the father of the boy that hadn't returned and from him she could feel his anger, directed at her. Why hadn't she saved that boy too? Marcus came back alive but Darren hadn't... Why couldn't they have saved Marcus too? Ava grimaced, stepping backwards at the force of that directed anger. She backed up into Nick, who put his arm around her protectively, following where she was looking and seeing the man too.

Nick was about to take a step towards the man but Ava stopped him, shaking her head. "No, let's just do as Miranda asked.." she pleaded quietly. "I think the kid told him that it was me that found him." she explained, and though true, she wasn't positive that his anger might not redirect after she left. 'Watch the father of the boy that didn't make it back.' she sent to Miranda. 'He is very angry and not thinking straight... His actions could be unpredictable...' she warned before allowing Nick to lead her back towards the dropship. 'Oh, there are another one or two that are hostile of strangers being here but I don't think they will act on it since that woman you talked to accepted you being here...' she added as an after thought.

As they drew away from the crowds, Nick leaned in closer. "What was that about?"

Ava sighed. "The father of the boy that didn't make it back. For some reason, he got it in his head that I only saved one of the two boys... That it was my fault that only one made it back..." she explained. "His mind was too grief-stricken to understand that when I got there, there was only one...." She took a glance over her shoulder at the people in the distance before turning back to Nick. "I wish I could have gotten there sooner..."

"It's not your fault, Ava." Nick answered. "They are lucky that even that one managed to make it back..."

She took a deep breath. "I know. The kids shouldn't have been out there. I don't even know where the other kid went down... I just... feel the father's grief and wish I could have been able to make a difference..."

Nick gave her a half-hug as they walked up the ramp into the dropship. "It must really suck feeling what those people back there are feeling..." he said after a moment.

Ava was about to nod in agreement but then stopped herself. "Actually, the mother of the boy we did save... She was very, very grateful for our presence... but an odd thought passed through her mind..." she replied. She turned a curious expression towards Nick. "Something about naming her next kid after one of us? I don't get it...."

Nick chuckled at that. "Well, amongst a lot of people out here, naming a kid after someone is honouring that person they took the name from. Paying a tribute to them, giving them a form of permanent legacy." he explained.

Ava turned to frown at Nick as he closed the hatch behind them. "What if the kid turns out to be a jerk?" she asked in all seriousness. "I wouldn't want someone like that to be named after me..."

Nick turned back to her from the console, frowning for a second as he took in her deadpan expression. She was serious. He made to answer but then just started laughing.

"What? Would you want a jerk named after you?"

Nick put his hands in the air in surrender, still laughing. "You're right... you're right... It can backfire... But it's the intent that counts?" he answered between chuckles. After Nick's laughter had calmed down, they made their way up to the cockpit, taking the seats and Nick began to heat up the engines so they could move the ship away from the town.. for now. "So, where did you want me to put it down so you can continue your hunting?" he asked as they rose into the air.

Despite what Miranda had said about going back to her 'vacation', Ava hadn't really thought about going back to hunting. Her heart really wasn't in going back out there alone right now just to kill things. She could also feel Nick's resignation at being left alone on the ship. He didn't want to be alone as much as she didn't. A thought struck her though. "How about back where you dropped me off, on the other side of the forest from the town." she said, feeling his feelings about it. "We stay on the ship for the rest of the day though." she added in finally, feeling his pleased surprise at the change in plans. "And if Miranda isn't back tomorrow morning, which I don't think she intended to be, well.. you have your CMC armour... we can go out and explore the forest together." she said, giving him a smile, feeling his mood drastically pick up once more.

( So if Miranda is returning sometime the next day, whenever she contacts them, I'll have them out poking around the forest XD though not TOO far from the ship in case they are needed in a hurry. )
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

Miranda only returned a brief confirmation to Ava's warning before they got out of contact range for the telepathy to work. Though, Miranda already realized that, you didn't have to be a telepath to see those emotions in the man's eyes. Miranda knew those eyes very, very well... she had the same eyes in the past as well. Maybe even worse, in fact sometimes she'd still get the old emotions, though nowdays she was able to maintain a lot more self control. Ava's presence helped for a variety of reasons.

After that, the talk with the locals actually continued for a quite the long time, it was clear that Miranda was going to be staying the night here so she radio-ed in to the ship to warn them. Her guns weren't returned right away, but they were left in the care of the old woman. Their discussion covered what transpired in the sector in the last dozen or so years and how the settlers fared before and after the confederacy raided this place. In difference from other smaller colonies, this place didn't even have enough facilities to maintain their original tech or rather the planet lacked the resources to allow for it. Still in the end she and the old woman reached an understanding.

Finally after hours on hours they reached a conclusion and an agreement. If Miranda could deliver a replacement or at least a repair of their communications arrays, so they can at the very least keep track of hte news in the sector, the colony would provide shelter and a place to hide out if needed. It wasn't an overly complex contract or anything, but in the process of it, Miranda had learned there were some potentially useful resources on the planet if used correctly. Still by the time she and the locals finally stopped the discussion, the planet was completely pitch black with nary a night around. There wasn't a moon to deliver moonlight upon the surface and the locals didn't use their generators or light to light the outside of their old homes. In fact as Miranda showed herself out of the presumed by her townhall, she realized that all houses were already dark, meaning people had long since went to sleep. Led by two men with lamps, she was brought to a house just like any other and settled in. This was to be her housing for the night, she was also politely asked to not wander about the place.

Left alone in the darkness, Miranda pulled her flashlight and looked around the place, there was an old lamp of some kind, looked handmade to run on some kind of fuel. She carefully lit it up, basking the small metal and concrete house in orange light and mildly unpleasnt odor from the lamp as it was burning whatever it was using as fuel. It wasn't too bad, but might take a bit of getting used to. She put the lamp on the nightstand by the bed and after confirming the state of the bed, first sat and then laid down on it, pulling her datapad from her coat, fiddling with it. She had a bunch of data to organize, but before she continued, she blew out the fire on the lamp to not waste it's fuel, instead working in the dark on the lit datapad display. The colony had a bunch of small settlements scattered across the surface, but not across teh whole globe, this was the original settlement for the colony, crafted by using the parts pulled off the ship. Well it meant that at the very least the other settlements could be reached by the locals within reasonable efforts.

When she was done arranging the data, Miranda put away the datapad and looked in the darkness above her. SHe started at the pitch black room, unable to even see the lines of the ceiling when she heard a sound of someone trying to enter. The doctor had an idea who it might be so she sighed as a figure got into the house, using a small lamp not too different from the one she found in the house. The man was startled when he found her quite well awake and looking at him. He had seen teh house dark and used to the local way of life, expected her to be long since fallen asleep. How would he have known that out there in the wide space, going asleep as soon as it got dark was a nearly impossible to do thing.

What followed in the night was a quick scuffle and then the man was tied up in the corner of the room to calm down. Then he and Miranda spend a night of talking, until the man's wife arrived in search of him after she had realized he was missing. It wasn't dawn yet, but as devastated as she was, she realized what he might have tried to do in horror. So when she arrived with one of the guards, they found Miranda and him( still tied up) Sitting on the floor of the house, leaning on the wall and chatting. He was in tears and his emotions was still a general mess. Miranda didn't explain anything she just expressed her condolences as he left with his wife and she rested in the bed again, to take a quick nap of a couple of hours. The guards explained they dindt think anyone would try anything so they left to patrol the perimeter for critters. Now one of them was left behind to guard her door properly.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

It was the middle of the planet's night when Nick awakened. He opened his eyes groggily as he tried to figured out what had awakened him. It had just seemed to sort of work out that the planet's day/night cycle was pretty close to the cycles they had been holding on to. The ship was quiet, no alarms going off or anything, he told himself as he did a mental checklist. Ship was cloaked on on the other side of the forest from the town again so it wouldn't be any locals or anything sneaking in. And Ava was right beside him, sleeping too. Nothing then. His eyelids closed and he began to drop off to sleep once more... until Ava jerked suddenly.

He realized that that's what had awoken him. She had jerked before, enough to wake him up. He half sat up, looking over at her, realizing that she seemed to be dreaming or something as she began to squirm and fidget, then pushing and kicking in her sleep as if she was trying to fight something off, nearly pushing Nick off their shared cot. He gently shook her while at the same time trying to stave off the ineffective strikes from her limbs. "Ava. Ava.... Ava!" he said in increasing volume.

Ava came to wakefulness with only the general but overpowering sense that she was being attacked. Through blurry vision in the half dark, she saw a form looming over her and lashed out with a fist, catching it in the face though only in a glancing blow. The form fell back and her name being called once more brought the ghost fully awake. Her eyes shot open as she realized that the form she had attacked was Nick and she jumped up, going over to him where he crouched just beside their bed, now completely worried and afraid. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean....." she began as Nick flipped the nearest light on. "Are you all right?" she added as she saw him holding a hand to his cheek.

Nick laughed, rubbing at his cheek and wincing, obviously in some pain but nothing serious. "Remind me never to get into a fist fight with you, Ava." he said. "Must have been some dream you were having..." he half joked. "I'm fine but.. ow... think I might end up with a black eye..." he added with a bemused chuckle. The chuckle died away as he noticed Ava's expression become distant.

Ava was relieved that she hadn't done any real damage and the combative feelings she had been getting were only an echo now but... hmmm. It hadn't been from a dream. She could feel Miranda's mind even from this distance, feel that the doctor was awake, alert and ready for anything. From Miranda's mind she picked up remnants of the scuffle and realized that, in her sleep, Ava had picked up on what had happened, had absorbed it into her dreaming state. "Miranda had a situation..." she said distractedly out loud, while at the same time, keying into the doctor, making sure that everything was all right now. With Miranda's assurances that they were, Ava pulled her mind back, relaying the message to Nick and what had happened in vague detail.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling the pull of sleep once more now that everything was calm again. She let out a loud breath. "This was one reason that we often used psi-screens... and even the inhibitors, back at the Academy." she explained. "Psionics too easily pick up each others' thoughts and emotions. It's even worse when we are asleep without the ability to consciously do anything about it." In the low light, as Nick sat down beside her, Ava gently turned his head so she could see where she had decked him. She touched it lightly with a fingertip, along his cheekbone where it was already starting to turn colour. "You're right, this is going to bruise up." she said, frowning. "I'm so sorry...."

Nick flinched at the touch but didn't pull away. He just put his hand on Ava's. "Not your fault. You sure Miranda is good now?" he asked.

Ava nodded, doing on more quick mental check. "Yeah, Miranda says she has guards watching her now and she is going to get some sleep too. We should probably try to get some more too." she answered as she drew him back to lie down once more in their cot, so they were face to face. Before she completely lied down though, she paused to gently kiss the growing bruise. She realized too that they had left the small light on. Without really thinking about it, she reached out with her mind, flipping off the switch, and then lay back down into Nick's arms. It wasn't long before they were both asleep again.

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NEXT DAY
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An invisible shape crept quietly through the forest, only the slightest flicker and distortion of the air betraying its presence. Nick followed it, safely clad in his CMC armour as he hunted Ava. Hunting the creatures here had become pretty easy early on and the two had decided to play around in a different way while they waited to hear from Miranda. Ava had flipped off her friendly IFF tracker and had told Nick to try to follow her, to find her, to hunt her down as she moved through the forest. All of her gear was designed to see something like his armour, not to mention her psionic sense gave his position away easily but, he trying to track her was most definitely a challenge.

He thought he saw her move behind some trees across a clearing and he began to follow, trying to be as stealthy as the bulky suit would allow.. which was probably not very. Something felt a little off about the armour though... it wasn't balancing quite right. It was starting to feel really top heavy, but he persevered. He'd get Alexander to look at it back on Kalisti when they got home. It was still controllable, he just had to compensate. "I'm going to find you this time!" he called over the channel to Ava. All he got back from her at first was laughter which made him stop in his forward progression. "What's so funny?"

"Aw, keep going. I was having fun riding around on your armour." Ava answered back, still laughing as she jumped off the back of the CMC suit, decloaking as she did and moving around in front of Nick. "You didn't even notice me there."

Nick sighed before answering. This was the third time he had so completely lost her location, that she had evaded him well enough to easily flank him. "Nope, Knew exactly where you were!" he lied as he tested the suit, realizing that what had made it balance oddly was Ava's extra weight. It felt normal again now though.

Ava's mask face tilted to the side, not buying the lie. "You know I can read your mind, right?..." she answered, amused. "One more time?" she asked, cloaking when he answered affirmative, wanting to redeem himself. She laughed over the comm again, knowing that he really had no chance to beating her in this.....
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Re: SC - Fugitives

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Miranda did grab a few hours of sleep after which she was woken up in the morning... if it could be called that anyways. This world was generally very depressing with pretty much everything being shades of gray.. the ground, teh skies... everything. Only the weird forest in the distance was putting some difference in the monotone. Whats more at night it was pitch black while at the day it was dark gray, not really a lively picture. Kalisti for example while it was nearly a constant snowstorm, it was white, during the days it could get bright white through the clouds at time. When it wasn't snowing, everything was a rather picturesque scene of white as far as eye could see. Way better than this shithole. She recalled the worms... well she had seen worse... the zerg.

Pulled off her dark thoughts, she realized the place luckily at least had some water supplies going on, apparently underwater sources did exist even if the surface didn't have much water. She got to wash her face and then meet up with the village mayor... elder? The old woman who ran the place. To her pleasant surprise, her guns were returned upon the meeting along with an apology about the event from last night. In the end they reached an agreement after all. They would help the locals repair their communications equipment, or rather they will send in a small crew from the irregulars to fix it. In return, the Irregulars and any of Miranda's group could take shelter here in the case it's needed, in return for help should the locals need help against the Dominion or Zerg. Or in other words if they need evac.

It wasn't really a terrible deal all things considered. Miranda knew they weren't going to be getting too much in the way of resources from this barren world that more or less lacked minerals even, but it was a very good hideout location. Miranda hoped they would be able to repair the communications equipment without need for a repair crew, but when she inspected it, she found it was... smashed pretty good. Like... a bunch of people in CMC using it for kicking practice good. So yeah, she'd have to mention to Cid to send in delivery of new communication equipment and maybe generators. It wouldn't hurt them too much for a single set." Come pick me up." Miranda called over the secure communication channel. She didn't know if Ava wanted to hang around and spend more time in the forest, but she was done with the town for the moment. If they were still to stay on this world, she'd spend hte rest of the time in the ship.

"What's this?" Miranda asked in confusion as the old woman led some men, pulling a cart of some kind with a a few big pieces of... ehhh wood? She wasn't sure, but the coloring reminded her of those trees in the forest. She was confused as of why all those men were struggling with pulling a cart with a few big logs on it. Then she noticed how the cart wheel axels were basically bend from weight...

"Think of it as a gift... and apology." The old woman stated, holding her cane." And an old woman's offering in hope of a better future for once." She added as she tapped the wood with the cane. THe sound made was rather curious." This is... the local flora. The 'trees' that you see in the forest area. These are some of the few logs from that forest that we've ever found. They got damaged during the Confederacy attack when the defense tower shot down one of their ships and it exploded in the forest. We don't really have much use for it, it's too hard... too dense. Our tools don't have the needed strenght to even scratch the logs. It's denser and harder than many a metal. Maybe you can do something out of it."

"Thank you." Miranda mentioned, having learned a curious detail, wondering now if Ava did keep her promise in mind and take notes of the different flora and fauna she'd encounter in the forest area. The doctor was going to have to ask in a while when she arrives. As for the tree logs in the cart. Well... the inside of the tree was rather dark and at the density it was at, it was closer to metal than appear like wood. What a weird thing. If it was truly that hard and sturdy making something for protection would be great. Or maybe a projectile... the canister rifles were designed to shoot customized ammunition. If this was that heavy and sturdy, it would make a good armor piercing, albeit at reduced range, though she suspected such a round would literally blast through a crowd of zerg causing very much damage to everything it touches rather than simply clean piercing through. She would have to leave to Alexander to check the possibilities. There was enough on these few logs to maybe make a pretty big shield and have enough left over to mess with other experiments.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

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Ava watched Nick, cloaked, as he headed in the wrong direction... again. He had been a bit tougher to evade this time, but only a bit. What she hadn't told him was that this time, she had brought her psi-screen with her, more as a just-in-case thing but she had decided to use it in their game just to make it not too easy for her. As it was... it was still pretty easy. If they had been in close quarters, a ship or something... and without his CMC on, he might have fared better at trying to following the slight distortion in the air that could give away a ghost, but sometimes technology just made things a little harder to see with the naked eye.... and the forest around here with everything to distract the eye wasn't helping the poor man much.

She watched him suddenly spin a circle, obviously lost on which direction even to look in now. With her standing still, there was pretty much no distortion to follow. By sheer luck though, he stopped spinning facing almost towards her. Ava almost felt bad for him. She had a feeling though that she could evade someone in CMC armour even without her cloak in these settings.... When it came down to it, being trained from early childhood at being a ghost was just too much of a head start. She switched off her psi-screen, confirming her suspicions. Nick, while facing in her direction, had no idea she was in that direction.

Suddenly Miranda's voice came to life on the comms, asking for a pickup. By the tone and by what she could feel of Miranda at the distance, it was a perfectly calm request, nothing going south there. Ava turned on her comms to reply. "Roger that, Idunn. We will be there shortly." she answered and then uncloaked, watching as Nick's armour nearly jumped at her sudden appearance. She keyed the communication directly to him now. "So close... yet so far..." she told him with a laugh. "Come on, let's get back to the ship. I'll race you!" she added, taking off.

"No fair, Ava!" Nick replied over the comm. "This suit is heavy... It can't move like you can!" he complained, yet still, he tried to keep up. He pulled for a shortcut between a couple of trees, knowing he was going to have very little clearance but he was sure he could make it. Just as he did though, one of the bug creatures from this planet jumped down out of the foliage at him, causing him to react, trying to jump out of the way... and hitting full bore into the nearby tree with his shoulder pauldron, spinning the CMC armour and sending him crashing to the ground.

Ava glanced back, feeling the sudden surprise from Nick, just in time to see it unfold and see him hit into the tree. The tree seemed to win.. easily. Hell, if it could stop a canister slug, a marine in CMC armour wouldn't fare much better... From Nick, all Ava could feel was pain and disorientation, worrying her as she turned back and ran for him. As she did, she pulled her rifle and shot the bug that had startled him before it could start in on his suit with any sort of acid spit or something else worse. As she reached him, the suit was on its back. She jumped on the chest, knocking at the visor urgently. "Nick?!" She heard a groan come through the comm, before the opaque cover to the visor opened.

Nick groaned again, wincing. "I'm okay... mostly. I think." he answered finally. "Think I hit my head when I got spun around but don't think it's that bad. My shoulder is killing me though..." he added with another groan.

Ava stared down at him, studying him, or what little she could see of him anyways. She was more studying what she could feel from him. "Think you can walk? I mean, I could try to drag you back to the ship but... might take a while..."

With his disorientation beginning to subside, Nick began to try to get up but quickly stopped. "Well... I could if you got off my chest...." After Ava apologized and did so, Nick slowly pulled himself up. Everything seemed to be working but his left shoulder which screamed in pain at the slightest attempts at movement. Trying his best to keep it immobile, Nick stood up and they made their way back to the ship.

Once inside the ship, the doors all closed, Ava pulled off her mask quickly and started to help Nick get out of his armour. Stripped of it, she began to take in his injuries. A touch of blood on the side of his forehead but.. minimal. A very small, shallow cut. By the way his left arm hung though... She carefully helped him out of his jacket and shirt, not only feeling bad at when he cried out in pain at a movement, but she felt the pain too. With the shirt off, it was more than clear what was wrong. "You've dislocated it." she told him. She sighed. It would hurt like hell but it wasn't really emergent. If they had been in the field, she would have tried to reduce the arm herself, getting it back in its socket, but they weren't... and she was sure Miranda would want to see to it herself to make sure no nerve damage was caused by field-level first aid. "Can you deal with the pain for ten or fifteen minutes?" she asked. "I'd rather Miranda deal with it.."

Nick was sweating from the pain he'd felt from taking this shirt off but right at the moment, it wasn't so bad... as long as he kept it still. "I can manage till we get her. Can you manage with flying the ship? Damned bug..." he added in a mutter.

Ava nodded. "I can manage.... Wait here for a second.." she added suddenly, running off into one of the back areas, coming back with a roll of bandage. She moved Nick's arm against his chest despite the pain that caused and began to wrap his arm against his torso, making it really immobile. When she was done, she looked him over. "Sorry about that. Just think that might help for now..."

Nick chuckled though still clearly in pain. "Now I know why you are a ghost.. and not a nurse...." he said as she urged him towards the cockpit.

In the cockpit, Ava pointed Nick at the co-pilot's seat and took the unfamiliar pilot seat for herself. She had had some lessons in the ship and had flown it before but.. it hadn't been often. Still, she learned quickly and kept that knowledge. Taking off was pretty safe if not the smoothest ride and it wasn't long before she was touching down where they had parked the ship before at the edge of the town to wait for Miranda. 'Whenever you are ready, we are here.' she sent psionically to Miranda. 'Um... Nick's had a bit of a spill. Nothing too serious but I think you need to take a look at it...' she explained. 'Think it's a shoulder dislocation?' she added.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

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Miranda patiently waited for the ghost and Nick to arrive and sure enough, the sound of the ship's engines filled hte air as they neared. What caught the doctor unprepared were the radiating thoughts and feelings from Ava, she sensed something had happened before the ghost even mentioned it as it usually happened.' How... you know, never mind I can guess already.' Miranda replied with a sigh and a shrug. She was certain one of few possibilities happened. Either ava did it by mistake while playing, or they got carefless from frolicking in the forest and a big beastie spooked them or something... Given the way Ava's thoughts were, it wasn't too terrible though, so luckier than the other possibilities from what they've learned about this cursed world so far. She wondered if it was even worth it for the locals to remain here when it might be better to just relocate the colony to another planet... one with less deadly creatures and more fertility and sunshine.

'Anyways, I will look at it, you come over with the grav cart when you land. The locals are sending us a bit of a gift, some of the wood from those 'trees' in the forest. Seems so heavy that the cart they are using to pull it is basically breaking from the weight, better use the grav one we have for the ship. Otherwise we won't even be able to pull it in.' Miranda stated. Ava's psionic boosted strenght and the grav carrier would allow her to carry the logs well enough with some struggles, but generally it was way easier to pull and push even very heavy things once stuff like friction weren't a thing.

As the ship landed and Miranda headed in, she right away saw Nick's state." It hurts?" She asked him in a half joking manner as she went by him to check the arm condition from up close." Mm... seems... pretty serious... as far as..." She mumbled her hands carefully moving around his dislocated shoulder as if to assess the degree of damage of a very delicate and fragile treasure. Then she suddenly grabbed hte shoulder and with a trained push and pull and the sound of moving bones, it was put back in it's place."... dislocations go." MIranda finished her sentence and walked over to the medkit, pulling a small injector and a few pills." Now don't move..." She stated and enjected him with a clear orangy substance." Just in case, and drink these over hte next 12 hours, one every 4 hours, by tomorrow morning it would be all fine." She finished her prescription and put the excess medicine stuff away. A dislocation like this was nothing to what htey taught the students back at the academy... The old Devil Teacher herself would be proud if she saw her now. She'd probably wipe a tear in her eye and then order Miranda to fall for 20 push ups before running for 2 miles with a full combat medic gear for being 2 seconds slower on setting Nick's shoulder back in place.
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