SC - Fugitives

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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Miranda's steadying arm was a real help as Ava was led back to the habitation area of the ship. The room was spinning and she was relieved to be able to sit down on the edge of her bed once they got there. As Ava began to take off her armoured gloves and boots, Miranda handed Nick, who had followed them back, a towel and instructed him to hold it against the wound, which made it harder to try to get her gear off. She pushed him away in frustrated a couple of times but he was persistent.

"Instead of doing that, can you just help me get this gear off?" she asked irritably, indicating the chest and shoulder pieces she still had equipped. She just wanted to get it off and lie down, to make the room stop spinning.

"You need to get the bleeding to stop.." Nick scolded back.

"Well help me get this off and then you can hold that towel to my head all you want!" she answered, more angry sounding than she meant to.

Nick sighed. "Doctors and soldiers.. the two worst kinds of patients...." he muttered as he dropped the towel for a moment, helping Ava to unbuckle the remaining armour, dropping it all into the pile beside the bed, before reapplying the towel to Ava's head.

Ava sighed in relief at having that extra weight gone for the moment. She glanced down, watching the trailing lines of light move around her skinsuit. It was helping the dizziness a bit... but not the headache. She was just about to try to lie down when Miranda returned, toting a medkit. The ghost grimaced as Miranda moved Nick back and began to swab the wound with disinfectant. "I only hit it IN the ship!" she complained at the stinging pain from the chemical. "Isn't it clean enough?"

She closed her eyes tight for a moment as Miranda began to ask questions, trying to centre her thinking and ignore the dizziness. She already had a headache right now and didn't much want to think back to the near-constant headaches she had had while down on that planet, even if this was a different sort of headache. She took a deep breath, still keeping her eyes closed for a long minute. "The park.. was kind of nice... But other than that, there was nothing there I couldn't get out of a place like Kalisti." she answered back, her voice much more calm now. She opened her green eyes again, looking at Miranda. "And what I disliked? The people. And no, I don't mean picking them all up psionically... I mean... all the hidden political games in the neighbourhood. All the lies and subterfuge.." she explained.

"On Kalisti, sure people keep things to themselves but.. nothing important. They are all working together so there is an understanding, a sense of... teamwork there." she continued. "Back on that other planet though.. that neighbourhood, it was like they were all in competition for who was best, who could brag the most... you know?" She frowned. "I missed the sense of comradeship that I could feel on Kalisti.. or even when we were with the Irregulars..." she added. "The feeling of knowing that the person next door was an ally and that all our lives depend on that bond."

When she paused again, Nick chimed in, arching one eyebrow. "And?" he prompted, giving her a look at Ava glanced up at him with a frown. When it was clear she didn't want to answer, he did for her, with a teasing half-smile. "And she missed using her combat talents. Hunting, stalking... What did you say it was there, Ava?" he teased. "Boring is the word I think you used." he added with a chuckle.

Ava grimaced. "Well, it was!" She grimaced again as Miranda started closing the wound on her forehead now with steri-strips. It was better than actual stitches but with Miranda having to hold the wound closed while applying the sticky strips, it hurt. When that was done, Miranda went through the standard tests, checking Ava's eyes to begin with with a light. Ava winced at the bright light but did as she was told. She grimaced a third time at being told that she was being benched for the next 24 hours. "Once the room stops spinning, I'll be fine to do things." she objected, attempting to stand up.

Nick pushed her back down. "No. I am not losing my coffee because of you!" he said back deadpan.

Ava looked up at Nick in a coquettish manner. "You would pick coffee... over ME?" she asked.

Nick didn't even flinch. "You will stay in bed even if I have to tie you down there. I am not losing my coffee." he answered back.

He hid it well but Ava could sense it. Nick would disown coffee if the choice came to her or it in a second, but he was adamant that he was going to follow Miranda's orders for Ava, to keep her well. Ava chuckled, holding up a hand. "Fine, fine... but if I'm stuck here, you have to stay with me and entertain me." she said finally giving in and lying back on the bed. It felt good to rest, actually.

But something else had her attention too right now. Miranda had said she was going to go and see their captive. The dog, she had said. That interested Ava. With all they had done to get this guy, the ghost was curious now. 'What are you going to do to him?' she asked, sending it psionically. They probably.. needed him alive but that didn't mean they needed him in the best of health and Ava was curious what Miranda's intentions were.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

'Things that kids your age shouldn't really learn about.' Miranda replied casually in a joking manner as she stopped in front of the cage where the unconscious man laid. He certainly wasn't aging well. Then again he looked like a troll even back in his active years.' But then again, we aren't really regular people. Need to make sure he's not too annoying during our few weeks journey.'

With that she pulled out her medicine case and carefully pulled out an ampule from it and a syringe.' I can kill him right here and now, but it would kill hte point of everything of course. So I will have to limit myself from doing what I really want.' She carefully drew a precise dose of the liquid drug and stabbed it into his neck with a very sadistic glee, imagining herself doing so with Mengsk.' A bit of poison to weaken him further, make his muscles feel weak and frail. Render him practically unable to walk. With regular small dosage of antidotes can keep him in that state nearly indefinately. If we had a proper surgery setup, I would have cut off a few parts of him that he's not needing, but given we don't, we don't need him dying of infection. '

Some would have given him at least a measure of dignity, however not Miranda. He was going to live like dog for the next few days and she was going to enjoy his torment. And just to make herself feel happier she pulled back a bit and kicked him in the nuts through the openings in the cage. He groaned and reacted to the pain, showing he was coming around from his unconcsiouness, but it must have been quite the wake up call. As he was groaning she pulled the medicine case and drew some sleeping drugs and administered a good dose of it to keep him properly out of cuasing them problems for the next roughly 24 hours. So they can get a decent rest without caring for his sorry ass. With her job done, she pulled a blanekt and tossed it over the cage, obscuring him from view.

"I'm going to be at the cockpit, will contact our Umojan assosiates to arrange the drop off." With that she left the pair of lovebirds to their devices. Ava needed her rest and Nick was going to make sure she stayed in bed, better than she herself could. So that was good. What wasn't as good was the very odd sense that something was going to happen soon. It wasn't a bad feeling per say, more so it was concerning due the uncertainty of it.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava, half the ship away, grimaced at the age jab. 'You'd know better than anyone that I probably learned worse at the Academy.' she answered back. She added in a sense of agreement that they weren't just regular people, though she wasn't quite sure if she was proud of that.. or resentful. She paused on that thought a moment but then mentally shrugged it off. She wasn't normal and there was no way to change that; she just accepted it as it was.

She listened dispassionately to the mental commentary that Miranda was giving her. Her whole upbringing at the Academy had shaped her to accept all the bad things that went on. Drugging a captive was nothing exceptional to her in the slightest. And that it was a lackey of Mengsk's only made her enjoy the knowledge of what Miranda was doing in addition, though what Miranda WANTED to do was a bit of a different story. While Ava would never have stopped the doctor from crossing into torture here, had Miranda actually decided to, Ava just saw no real purpose in it. To her, this man was only a means of hurting Mengsk and perhaps helping their own standing with Umoja.. as a means of eventually getting TO Mengsk. That was her only goal, her only desire here.

The ghost was reaching out with her mind when she felt the echoes of the sudden pain their captive felt and she jerked back on her bed, nearly losing balance with the dizziness she still felt. The captive must have just been close to consciousness at that moment, enough to really feel what Miranda had done. Nick caught Ava's arm to steady her. She knew what he was about to ask, could feel the worry, so she stopped him short. "I think Miranda just kicked our new guest.. in the..." she trailed off.

Nick grimaced, looking almost like he had been the one kicked for a moment, until Miranda passed by, telling them she was heading to the cockpit. Ava started getting up but Nick pulled her back to a sitting position on the bed. "No." he said sharply. "Miranda said rest. That means you rest."

Ava formed her mouth into a pout. "But she is going to go talk to the Umojans. I want to see what they say." she objected.

Nick stood up, looking down at her. "You are going to lie down and rest if I have to tie you to that bed." he warned. "You are not going to make me lose my coffee." he added, the tone a bit more joking now but just as stern.

Ava was about to object again, to disobey in fact, but she stopped. Even though she knew she was fine, despite the headache and dizziness, she knew he and Miranda were concerned for her. They were only looking out for her. It was the emotions she was getting from Nick right now more than anything which made her shoulders relax and finally she nodded, pulling her legs up and curling up on her side on the bed. She would be a good little ghost and obey orders, she told herself with a bit of a smile to herself.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

~~~~~~ a few days later ~~~~~~
Miranda rubbed her eyes, hopelessly trying to make the headache that was following her the last few days go away. It started the day they executed their escape, everything was fine at first, but the initial niggling feeling of foreboding gradually grew into a migrane that hadn't left her since. It wasn't bad per say, she had worse back in teh day during her colleage days even, but it was rather uncomfortable and was making her irritable. At least the exchange time was about to happen, she really wished that waste of space off their ship as soon as possible, they were in fact due to arrive at the exchange point. The point they chose to do the prisoner transfer at was this little space station at the border of Umojan space, it allowed them to make a hasty retreat if needed and for the most part was safe of Dominion forces because Umoja protected their borders with zeal, besides Mengsk had bigger problems to deal with, slowly, but gradually Zerg presence was picking up again, chatter on the radio was that the blasted things were getting reorganized once more. Seems the cerebretes were teaming up and forming alliances or something.

"Ugh...." Miranda made a sound of irritation as the pain came back right away after a momentary respite. She wondered if this was how Ava felt back in the colleage. Then she began wondering if it was the earring she was waering causing it. It was a Khaydarin crystal after all and they were known to affect, focus and sometimes boost psionic powers, protoss templars were seen wearing and using trinkets made of the stuff in their psi-casting in the field a few times. Eventually she reached the conclusion maybe it was so, but it hadn't affected her for a really long time since she started wearing it, been months since that point, it amde no sense for it to randomly begin now, unless there was some other reason to trigger it. Since it was a sense of foreboding, she wasn't discounting the possibilities that it was a type of sixth sense that was being boosted by the crystal. She hoped it was just a simple migrane though, stuff would be so much easier if it was so.

After taking another few moments to steel herself, she decided that after this drop off and the exchange, they were taking a few weeks on Kalisti. They all needed the vacation and their little slice of frozen landscape would be the perfect place to hide away in peace and rest. She had stuff she wanted to work on with Alexander anyways. One final temple rub later she pulled the comms." We are approaching the station, everything ready?" she asked. They were going to be doing a prisoner transfer, but hnestly Miranda wasn't trusting Umoja as far as she could throw em. They would work with em, but trust? Hell no. Since they were landing on a civilian station a CMC might attract a bit too much attention, so she had already changed into the enviromental suit she used with a coat on top of it for good measure and a mask secured underneaht the coat in case she needed it in a haste. The others would be along the same lines really and of course their nice passenger that was nicely chained and tied up.

She left the cockpit, letting the autopilot get htem teh rest of the way to the station for the time being as she staggered back to the main area of the ship. Staggered being the key word as she nearly tumbled down the last few of the steps of hte stairs. She muttered a string of curses as she managed to catch herself on a locker nearby, keeping herself standing, though it was rather clear she wasn't feeling well." Alright... ideally this will be just a quick drop and go type of event. We drop the waste of space, get the credits and leave before anything happens... that said, I've got a hunch something might go wrong anyways, so keep an eye out."
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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava sat, legs stretched out, on the deck of the cargo area of the ship, stretching forwards. She could feel the muscles complain as she did so, first reaching out to one foot, the the other, trying to work out the kinks in her muscles. With this past mission, not counting the quick scoop-and-run, and the flight since, she was feeling a bit off her edge. It had been too long since she had had real combat. The past few days being cooped up in bed under Miranda's orders because of a little bump on the head didn't help either. A ghost had to stay in the most prime of prime condition; something that had always been drilled into her.. and one of the few things from her Academy days that actually made sense to her. This was a dangerous world... doubly so for a ghost.

She glanced over at the sleeping prisoner in the inhumanely small cage across the way and grimaced slightly. Not for his sake, but because despite her own muscles complaining from sitting around in bed, she could only imagine how they would feel if it had been her in that small, little cage. She was happy too that Miranda was keeping their guest sedated as well; that way Ava wasn't picking up any discomfort he would have been feeling had he been awake. After the couple of weeks on the last planet, the ghost was just basking in the mental quiet. Well, there was Nick and Miranda of course but.. she didn't mind the stream of awareness she picked up from them. Being so used to their presences, it was much easier to tune it out. It was something akin to having quiet music playing in the back ground to her, unless she made an effort to pay attention.

She stood up, stretching bit by bit, higher and higher till she was standing on her tip-toes, arms up as far as she could reach, stretching every muscle in between. Relaxing after a moment, she let out a sigh. Just before her stretching session, she had completed a good run, around and around the cargo bay. Not the best of scenery though. It would be nice when they finally got home. Finishing, stretching her neck to the side to try to work out another kink, she headed for the sleeping quarters area. Glancing in to the area she shared with Nick, she saw him sound asleep in their bed. He had gotten off shift at the helm of the ship a handful of hours ago. The coffee he had been drinking had been the only thing keeping him going by the time Miranda had come to take over for him. When he had entered the rear of the ship and Ava had seen the state he was in, she had taken great pleasure at being able to order HIM to get some rest for once.

She glanced at the chronometer on her wrist. Let him sleep a bit longer, she decided. She turned to move away, looking in the direction of the cockpit with a frown as the focus of her mind shifted. She found feel something was off with Miranda. Had been for a few days now but the doctor had brushed aside Ava's concerns, even dismissing them outright. It wasn't just the pain she could tell her friend was experiencing, more so the odd sense of tension that concerned her more. Being psionic, Ava had learned to trust such feelings more than the average person might.

Even before the comms stuttered to life with Miranda's voice, Ava had already picked up the gist of where they were. Even as she hit the button to open the comms on her end, she was moving into her room and getting her ghost gear ready. This time, she wanted to don the full gear, armour and all. At least, being Umojan ghost gear she had picked up previously, it wouldn't be quite as... alarming as if she had used her old Dominion-designed gear, but Ava had concerns about this and she wanted to be as ready as she could be for things going south. "Prisoner is still sitting pretty and waiting to go and visit his new home." she sent back over the comms. "Ready as can be."

Armour on, she nudged Nick a few time, finally getting a groggy response as she began to secure her hair in a ponytail, then bring her skinsuit's cowl up to cover it. "Come on, sleepy head. Time to get rolling. We are almost there." she told him.

He groaned, putting an arm over his eyes. "Already? Didn't I just fall asleep?" he complained.

Ava slung her rifle over a shoulder and grabbed for her mask. "You've slept almost six hours. I told you that much coffee was going to come back and bite you.." she answered. When he didn't move, she slapped his leg again, being careful not to do it too hard since she had her armoured gloves on now. "Come on, get up!" Nick groaned again but sat up and began stretching. Ava glanced over her shoulder before turning back to him for a second. "I'll meet you in the cargo bay. Hurry up!" she added before turning and heading out.

As she got out there, she found Miranda at some of the lockers. Ava frowned, seeing the doctor. "Miranda..." she said, the name almost a tone of warning. "Are you.. all right?" she asked slowly, having learned from experience, especially in the past few days, to be cautious in this. Doctors really were the worst patients. She frowned more, decided to hell with being cautious. This time. "Don't lie. Any other time you are feeling like crap but you said you are all right, fine. But this is a mission. Our lives are going to depend on each other. I don't trust the Umojans. You don't trust the Umojans. Who knows what other threats there might be here. Hell, if the Dominion ever found out we have our friend here, the might decide to show up unannounced." she began. "If our lives might be on the line, we all have to be at our peak. I need to know if you can HONESTLY do what you need to do today." she said adamantly.

( Nick will have just walked into the cargo bay here being Ava just at the very end of that. Also, Ava is just assuming she is going to go in in full gear.. Dont know if Miranda would have objects to that but Ava is going to be pretty adamant about going in full armed and armoured XD At least it might look a little bit official with an Umojan looking ghost along. )
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

"I..." She scowled for a moment, halting her reply and looking at Ava. Well this was a awkward, quite so. She was supposed to be the bigger adult in this weird family dynamic the trio had going. Suddenly the thought came to mind and she chuckled, the act caused the pin in her head to spike again." No... I'm not fine. I've not been fine for the last few days. It started shortly after we escaped... weakly at first, but it's been getting worse." She finally replied, grimacing and rubbing her eyes and temples.

"I'm not in state to do this. I don't think I'm even able to walk off the ship without falling or tripping over my own feet, much less acting calmly in front of trained killers and other agents from Umoja in my state." She admitted, noting Nick's arrival. Miranda really didn't want to send these two alone to deal with Umoja. Nick wasn't anywhere near used to these types of underground and spy dealings and Ava was well Ava. She was a good young woman, adept combatant and infiltrator, but she was not used to dealing in this either. The spike of headache returned, the sensation of pins stabbing in the inside of her skull and she groaned, pulling a mild pain-reliever from her medicine case and swallowing it. It was the same ones she was handing Ava back on campus. It was helping some, but not much. Instead she just pulled her own datapad and handed it to Ava. Handing it over was a major display of trust in Ava's capabilities to do this herself, especially since it served as Miranda's way of managing pretty much everything on their ops. The only way the thing could have been processing more data was if it was a adjutant. It also housed a number of the infiltrator software that Miranda used to hack and crack things automatically. It was getting dated some, but for the most things it still did the job even if a bit slower than before.

"You two will do this then. Don't get pulled away from the spaceport for anything. Exchange happens and ends in the port we land at." Miranda instructed." They will try to invite you, further business talks and propositions. Probably also try to stall the payment to have us spend more time around them, allowing them to fish for information and anything of use they could get on us. Unlikely to try anything overly hostile, but it doesn't mean it cannot come to bite us in the asses later. Nick you will be waring the psi-screen." The doctor added, narrowing her eyes on him." Expect at leat one psychic present, a telepath. vPossibly even a shadowguard. Ava, you've gotten better on the whole defending your mind from intrusion, so you should be good, Nick however wouldn't if they target him. In any case, don't let them learn where our bases of operations are located. The contact will reach you over my datapad when it's time for the exchange. In summery, go there, do the job and return as soon as possible, accept credits only in cash, no bank transactions. DOn't allow them to stall for too long and don't let information slip and they WILL try to fish for information." She also pulled a syringe autoinjector with a blue liquid inside. The injector was in a nice transparant case that she handed over to Ava." This's the antidote for what I've got the guy dosed with. If they demand him awaken on hte spot as confirmation he's not permanently braindamaged or something, use it on him. This will bring him about in about a minute. I will keep the ship's engines primed and ready just in case we need to leave in haste for whatever reason"

Having finished her instructions on the two junior agents to be, she looekd at Ava and Nick once more." You two ready? If so, get going because better be there on time and not late."
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Keira Kelly
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava's expression showed no hint of surprise as Miranda revealed how long she had been not feeling well. The ghost's mind echoed the lack of surprise. Being a mind reader of Ava's level and in such close quarters, it would have been nearly impossible to really hide that fact. She did frown though at truly hearing just HOW bad Miranda was. That much she hadn't grasped, having at least tried to give the others on board some private mental space. Hearing what Miranda was admitting worried Ava greatly. If a doctor couldn't fix herself of such serious symptoms.. what would anyone expect Ava or Nick to be able to do?

Ava's head turned slightly to the side, keeping her eyes on Miranda, but the gesture at least acknowledging Nick's arrival. That was as much as she was going to give; she wanted to keep her focus on the issue going on. "We can't do this then. We let this guy sit on ice while we go get you some help...." she began but trailed off as Miranda handed her her datapad. Ava's brow furrowed, her mouth dropped open slightly as she began to shake her head in negative. "I... I'm not a negotiator..." she began to protest, clearly sensing Miranda's intent towards her. It was also more than clear that Miranda was going to accept no objections.

She listened intently, though frowning, as the doctor went over the whole plan for the exchange. The ghost would have rather gotten Miranda help first and dealt with all of this later but.. she knew that her friend was too stubborn to accept a change like that. Finally, she gave a small, sharp nod in reply. "They try to delay, I will tell them that we are walking WITH the prisoner." She paused upon hearing that Nick was going to be wearing the psi-screen. Ava surely wouldn't have accepting donning it in this case, but it would be odd having Nick wear it. And she wasn't exactly keen to hear that there was likely to be Umojan psionics present. Not surprising but... she still didn't like it. She scowled slightly, glancing down at the skin suit and armour she was currently wearing. This is what had come out of her last encounter with an enemy shadowguard. She wasn't looking forward to another one if things turned sour. Not that she couldn't handle herself but.. a fight between two psionics was tough on the mind to say the least.

She took the case with an injector in it when Miranda handed it over to her as well. Ava glanced at it curiously as Miranda explained what it was. She gave a slow nod, her mind jumping from tactic to tactic, possibility to possibility at what might happen and how best to respond to anything. Truthfully, Ava would have preferred to keep their captive on the ship or at least near the ship until the money was transferred but that was not likely something the Umojans would agree to; hell, if things were reversed she wouldn't agree to that either. It wasn't ideal but they would do what they could. Truth be told, if things went really bad, Ava was prepared to let the Umojans have that piece of garbage. She really didn't care about him, about what he had done specifically, not like Miranda did. She didn't really care about getting paid for his capture either. What she cared about was the Umojans getting something out of the man that could hurt the Dominion. Hurt Mengsk. But she had to be careful to keep that to herself and not let the Umojan delegates catch wind of that. It would provide them with too much leverage in the negotiations.

Ava nodded slowly again in reply to Miranda's question. "Ready... but.. are you sure?" she asked in turn. She let her mind ask the rest of the question. 'Are you sure you are all right enough to take the time to let us do this?' she sent. She knew what the reply was going to be even before she asked but she had had to. She glanced down at her chronometer and nodded again, letting out a sigh. She glanced back at Nick for confirmation before answering again. "We are ready."

She turned back to Miranda. "You take it easy while we are down there. I know you'll be ready to get us out of here quickly but.. take it easy too. Be safe." she added before she turned back to Nick. "Go get our captive ready to move out. I'll meet you at the cargo bay doors in a minute." she told him as she turned and headed out towards the sleeping quarters. There, she threw her trench coat on over her ghost armour, it barely fitting over the shoulder pauldrons and large armoured gloves. She kept her c-10 rifle on her shoulder though. It didn't matter if they questioned how she had a ghost gun, she wasn't going into this without proper firearm power. She stuffed her visor into one of the jacket's interior pockets. The other thing she grabbed was the psi-screen before she quickly made her way across the cargo bay. As she reached Nick and the captive, she gave him the screen, watching him put it on. Instantly the sensation of his mind just.. disappeared. Ava grimaced at that.

Nick noticed the look on Ava's face and frowned. "What?"

Ava gave him a small, lop-sided smile intermixed with the grimace. "Can't feel you. Your mind. It's just.. weird since I know I'M not wearing the screen." she answered. She lightly tapped the side of her head carefully with her armoured glove. "Just used to feeling you in here." she added with a shrug. She shook her head as if to clear it, trying to focus only on the task at hand. "You're going to be in charge of our friend here. Keep him in back of us as much as possible. In a place where we can defend him if it comes down to it." she told him.

"I know, I know: he is the VIP. We protect him. He is the important bargaining chip." Nick answered.

"No." Ava replied immediately. "WE are the important ones. If things go south, we are leaving him and getting ourselves out. Let the Umojans have this murderer." she told him in no uncertain terms. "It would be nice to have the reward but it's not worth our lives and... well, if they can hurt Mengsk from what they can get from him, well.. that's reward enough for me at the end of the day." she added, waiting until Nick nodded.

She turned, hitting the button to open the door as Nick slung the unconscious captive over one shoulder. Ava glanced over, appreciative at the strength that manoeuvre required unaugmented. Ava could do that too, but she had her skin suit and her psionics to boost her own strength; Nick was doing that simply by muscle power. Ever since he had chosen to join them, he had adopted to Ava's workout routine and it seemed to be well paying off. With a slight, amused smile, she turned away and began heading down the ramp, noting that the auto-pilot had chosen a fairly remote and isolated landing location. All the better with them carrying a body around.

-------------

It had felt like forever waiting for the call from Miranda's contact. They had decided to spend the time in a seemingly unoccupied corner of the station, not far from the landing bay, both Ava and Nick going over some of the details in Miranda's datapad, including the base layout. They wanted to be sure that whatever location was chosen, that they knew at least some of what they were stepping into. Eventually though, the call came through, giving a location and about ten minutes to get there before the meeting was to commence. Not the most tactical location for them but it was not too far. If things turned bad, that meant less ground to cover to escape.

Just before they reached the spot, Ava connected back to Miranda on the comms. "We are just about to head over to meet them." she told the doctor, wanting to keep her in the loop.. and try to keep a remote eye on her friend's condition at the same time. "I'm going to keep this comm channel active so you might want to mute your end, so you can listen in." she explained.

Waiting at the meeting spot was a handful of people, outnumbering her and Nick nearly three to one. Four men and one woman. Ava quickly went about assessing each. The woman and one of the men were clearly the muscle, hired, from what Ava could tell. One other man seemed.. a bit more important but not the one in charge here. Maybe military ties, but this being a civilian base, he wasn't at the top of the ladder. She could clearly pick out the too-well dressed man in the forefront as the leader here. A civilian, someone important on this base. He was anxious, cautious.. scared even. Probably explained the reason for the muscle being there.

The last man Ava had no trouble telling what he was. Her green eyes met his gaze. She kept her mind as blank as she could, immediately sending his psionic potential. Not as strong as she was. Not nearly... but still powerful enough. She could feel his attempt to reach into Nick's mind, then felt him start to attempt to probe hers. Turning back to the civilian man in charge, she released a small.. very small, bolt of psionic energy into the other psionic's mind. Just enough that he let out a small cry and staggered back a step. Nothing, harmful, nothing incapacitating, just enough of a shock to teach him not to go there.

She focused on the leader. "We have the cargo you are seeking." she began. "You know the price we want for it. Do you have it?" she asked.

The civilian leader glanced back at his party, specifically at the psionic and the military representative for a moment before turning back. "Um.. it's a lot of credits you are asking for. It's taking time to gather it. This is only a small civilian outpost, not a capital planet or anything.." he began to explain. "If you just give us a day or two, we can get it all for you..." He frowned slightly, gesturing at the form that Nick was still holding. "Besides, we have to verify that is him. Verify that he isn't.. damaged and can actually be of use to us." He frowned more, squinting to try to look more closely. "Is he even alive? If we can't get anything out of him, he isn't worth anything..."

Ava reached into her jacket. Two guns came up, the muscle reacting to the movement very quickly. Ava held up her other hand, making smooth, slow movements. "I'm just getting something to wake up our friend here." she explained. When the muscle merely held their poses, she slowly drew out the case Miranda had given her. Opening it up, she retrieved the injector and, having Nick sit the captive on the ground, injected him with the antidote. After only a minute or so, as Miranda had said, the captive was wide-eyed and struggling against Nick's grip, being rather wild. Ava gripped the man's throat, getting his attention as she knelt down beside him. "Sit here quietly or else I will go back for your family. Your sons. If these people here ask you anything, you answer them truthfully or your family will pay the price. And it won't be a quick death." she whispered with as much threat as she could muster. The man went slack, only giving the barest of nods that he would comply. He didn't know where he was so Ava would use that against him to keep him more sedate for the moment.

She stood again, turning back to the civilian negotiator. "See? He is fine." She glanced down at the captive. "Gregor, tell his nice man who you are." she said.

The captive looked over at the civilian. "My name is Gregor Brivadi. I am the head of the college on Shiloh, shortly to be Minister of Education..." he began until Ava kicked him with her booted foot, prompting him to stop.

"What he forgot to mention was he was the former Confederate kill squad commander, commander of the Jackals. A name I'm sure you Umojans will recognize." Ava added. She could feel the shuddering fear emanating from Gregor as he realized suddenly his past was catching up with him in a big way. She looked back at the other negotiator. "Satisfied?"

The other man turned to talk to his military compatriot for a moment in quiet whispers before turning back. "With his identity." he answered slowly. "We know who he is. But the money.. like I said.. it takes time..." he began.

With that, Ava gripped the back of Gregor's shirt, hauling the man to his feet with a strength someone of her size shouldn't have been able to muster so easily. She began to turn, pulling Gregor with her as she called back over her shoulder. "I was assured you would have the money, in physical cash, ready. If you don't we have other people who are more than willing to pay for this sorry scrap of skin..." she growled.

It didn't take long for her bluff to pan out. "Wait! Wait... maybe.. maybe we can get the money here sooner." When she didn't stop, the man continued. "Ten minutes, we can get it here in ten minutes..." he added. He glanced at his psionic, who still seemed a bit discombobulated. His glance at the other military man prompted a nod of agreement at what he had said.

Ava stopped, turning slowly to stare at him. "That is a much more acceptable time scale." she said after a long moment, drawing out the man's anxiety.

"In the meantime, maybe we can get to know each other a little better?" the man began, rehearsing a script that had been given to him before this meeting. "What's your name? Where are you from?" he asked.

But Ava wasn't really listening. She was frowning, looking off to the side, not at anything directly. Hopefully not too far from the dropship... 'Miranda?' she sent, hoping the doctor could pick it up. She reached out and gripped Nick's arm in warning as she continued sending to Miranda. 'Miranda? Something.. doesn't feel right... What's.. going on?'
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

The moment Ava and Nick were off the ship, Miranda's legs completely buckled as she couldn't even get up from her position. It was a very unpleasant experience that felt like countless needles being pushed into her cranium and she was officially certain this was a psionic effect of some kind. Felt really similar to a few other instances of psionic brain attacks she had felt in the past, only a few times stronger. Either whatever was causing it was stronger than anything she has encountered so far, her perception was stronger or maybe even both.

With pulsing head she pulled herself a pill from her medkit and chewed it, making the pressure and pain recede some. This was a bad idea... very bad idea... she just knew this was a really bad idea. The doctor practically had to craw her way over to the cockpit of the ship because she needed to start the engines and be ready. She had just done so, when she felt Ava's mind reach out to her. The headache was at it's peak once more and even the painkillers weren't helping.' I don't...' Miranda began to return a reply when something invaded her mind.' AVA RUN, ZERG!' She barely had the time to shout out as she realized what it was that she had suddenly sensed in the moment before it invaded her mind.

'I FOUND YOU' A powerful presence slammed against her mind.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHhH!" Miranda's scream filled out the entire ship and psionic link between her and Ava, as her head felt like it was being split open from the sudden pressure from the familiar voice that still haunted her nightmares at times. Her body was thrown across the cockpit of the dropship as if slammed by an unseen ultralisk.

~~~~ Station Control 10 seconds earlier ~~~~

In Station Control, everybody was working busy with an overseer from Umoja itself, regulating everything and making sure all was going fine without a hitch. Most people who lived and worked here had no idea what was going on and knew better than to ask questions. All they knew was that some kind of exchange was being made and officials were beign dispatched to make sure everything went without an issue. Naturally it didn't take a genius to figure that the heavily unsual ship that had landed earlier with priority clearance and private landing pad was the one they were here for. Guys at radar control and scanners had picked up some unusual readings from it, but the entire thing was immediately slammed with top level security warnings and he lost access to the files.

Now however the entire Control Station systems went red with alerts as a massive rift opened out in the space by the station and what appeared to be countless zerg creatures swarmed out of it. Small, big and even giant. There was everythign that the terrans had seen so far and even some they never had. A truly gargantual creature had made it's way through as the station defenses opened fire what little defense ships were avaible scrambled also. Explosions of gore filled hte space followed shortly by explosions that rocked the staiton itself as the zerg began relaying volley after volley of bio weapons fire at them, taking out the defenses with terrifying efficiency. The mutalisks and scourges were already tearing what little defense ships were avaible too.

As the final defense weapons ewre dealt with, a truly massive, beyond the size of any terran vessel zerg flew over, it was bigger than the station itself as huge tendrils shot out of it and smashed into the station. Moments later the reports of zerg invading inside came to the Station Control room. They were just about to order a redeployment of the security personel when one of hte tendrils smashed through the station and through numberous walls and at the same time blasting into the station control room. Dust, smoke and shrapnel filled hte air before the growls of zergling and hissing of hydralisks appeared and all the station control went silent across the station, before security bulkheads began slamming shut, effectively putting the entire thing into lockdown and isolating everybody from possible escape routes to escape pods or any of hte docked ships.

Sound of high heels clanking across the metal floors filled the now silent Control Room as clawed hand lightly pressed itself on one of hte terminals and bright glowing orange eyes locked into one of hte monitors that displayed an image from the security cameras, one of a certain red headed woman. Bright glowing eyes narrowed before she walked away as an organic growth began taking over the control room. The zerglings and hydralisks swarmed around her and into the corridors in front, as she walked and vanished into teh darkness as the lights began to go out, leaving only the two glowing orange dots.
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by Keira Kelly »

Ava was really beginning to fell on edge and she couldn't quite put a finger on it. There was an intense mental.. pressure. No pain or anything in particular but a heaviness that seemed to be growing by the minute. She cast a glance at the people they were dealing with, seeing and feeling no suspicious activity as she kept one hand clamped on Nick's arm, waiting for Miranda's answer to her mental call. When she had touched Miranda's mind, she did feel pain there, quite a lot of it, enough to greatly increase her anxiety to full on worry. Finally came Miranda's answer.. or part of it anyways. The answer quickly turned into a dire warning. Ava's green eyes opened wide, her grip tightened painfully on Nick's arm, enough to make him cry out.

"Zerg!" she yelled out for all to hear, interrupted some inane small talk from the civilian leader. She only half realized what she was doing to Nick at this point and let go, a split second later, she fell to the floor with a scream as a psionic power of a level she had only ever encountered once or twice before pounded into her mind along with Miranda's mental shriek. It took a moment to recover and she found Nick crouching over her, almost frantically trying to see if she was hurt. Ava pushed his hands away as she got up. Warning sirens were springing to life now as she went up to the still kneeling captive and planted a booted foot on his back, kicking him across the floor towards the Umojans. "Take him!" she yelled at them, turning her back to them. To hell with the butcher. There were worse things here now.

She brought her rifle off her back as she gestured to Nick to follow. Explosions and impacts could be heard echoing through the base and lights began to flicker, some sections going out entirely as, it seemed, the base power systems became damaged or compromised. "Run!" she screamed at Nick, breaking into a run herself towards the direction of the landing bay. They had to get back to Miranda. Not only with the zerg here now, was their ship the only way to get away, but what she had felt from Miranda at the last moments before all hell had broken loose had her worried. When Nick didn't move fast enough, Ava put a hand behind his back, pushing him into a faster pace. He had been doing his best, which was by far above average, but he couldn't match what Ava could do with her psionic ability to boost herself.

Suddenly the wall blew out right beside them. Ava used her enhanced strength to push Nick as far ahead as she could, basically launching him off his feet and further down the hallway as some sort of fleshy mass came out of the wall. It came with such speed that it blocked off the corridor before Ava could do anything else, cutting her off from Nick. With her momentum, she hit into the mass, knocking her back with enough force to knock the wind out of her lungs. She found herself on the ground, gasping to try to get a breath in, finally able to do so after a moment that felt like an eternity.

"Ava?! Ava!!" came Nick's cries from the other side of the flesh mass which blocked the hallway from the floor to the ceiling.

"Get to the ship!" she yelled back. "I'm all right! I'll find another way around and meet you there!" she promised. She could feel his hesitation, his rush of thoughts of some way to get through or around the thing blocking but finally acceptance.

"Don't die!" he finally called back. "I'll race you there! You lose, I'm going to make you wear a dress when we get home!" he added.

Ava winced but was smiling just a bit as well at that. "Go!" she yelled again, finally feeling him obey. She turned around, intending on going back where she had come from. She had studied a layout of this base from Miranda's contact and she knew which corridors she would have to take to circumvent whatever the hell that was back there. Some sort of zerg thing. As she started running again, there was another impact ahead of her, another of the massive tendrils crashed through the wall a distance away, blocking off that exit too. It seemed like Nick had a pretty good chance of winning that race now....

The ghost paused, reaching out with her mind, trying to pinpoint what she was sensing now. It had seemed like nothing but a clamour when she hadn't been focusing on it but now she could recognize hundreds, maybe thousands of zerg minds. Beyond that though was the fact that it was zerg minds held in check. They were not openly rampaging as they had back on Redstone I. These ones had a purpose and that purpose was being controlled by one mind. A mind she knew. One that she had cut herself off from not long after her escape from the Academy.

'Your mind is strong. Almost as strong as mine was.' came the mocking tone in Ava's head. 'You are nowhere near my equal anymore though. The zerg remade me stronger.'

Ava glowered at nothing in front of her, reacting to the internal conversation. 'They turned you into a monster!' she countered.

Harsh laughter filled Ava's head. 'I was a monster long before the zerg found me. The Dominion and Mengsk saw to that. There was a reason the old Overmind decided I had a use for the swarm and didn't kill me.'

--------------------------

As Nick ran away from what had cut him off from Ava, he was cursing. He hated having to leave her but she was right: there was no quick way to get through that thing and staying still, they were just sitting ducks. And he didn't even have a CMC on. At least she had her cloak and her skin suit. She'd probably find a way around and back before he could get to the drop ship. As he came around a corner, he slowed to a stop. A solid metal wall stood where the open corridor should have been, where it had been. A security door. He stopped, slamming his hands on the door in frustration, adding in a kick as well against the solid metal.

"Damn!" he yelled through gritted teeth. His brow furrowed as he thought to his run so far. Somewhere around the last corner had been a maintenance area.... He turned, running back, just as a few zerglings came around another corner. He blasted them away with his rifle and headed to the closed doors into the maintenance area. Pausing at the door panel, he brought up Miranda's pad that he still held from when Ava had handed it to him earlier. He had seen once or two tricks this baby could accomplish before and proceeded to type in a few commands as he held it near the control panel. After a moment came a beep and the door opened for him. He slid inside quickly, closing the door behind him in case more zerg showed up to party.

Once inside, he looked around at the dimply lit room. It wasn't big and definitely wasn't any sort of maintenance control centre... It was more like and access point to a number of maintenance shafts, all leading in different directions. He picked the one that went in the closest direction towards the landing bay, packing Miranda's data pad back behind his back as he crawled into the shaft, pushing his gun before him as he went. It wasn't long before he encountered what should have been a barrier. In the event of security doors coming down, there were ones even for these shafts... but it seemed some of the zerg tendrils or whatever they were had passed by. He could see a portion of it encroaching into the shaft through shattered metal, not enough to block it off, but... it happened to be right around the security door. It had torn the door apart, leaving the shaft open.

He picked his way carefully around torn and ragged metal, only incurring a small gash on a knee, before making it past the mess. It probably took him the better part of twenty minutes to crawl through the rest of the long shaft but eventually he found himself in another access point. He quickly opened the door, looking out carefully and taking his time to figure out where he was. Very close to the docking bay. He sprang into a quick run, killing zerg when he saw them, trying to avoid groups that were too big to deal with, but eventually he made it to the bay.

The doors to the bay were torn open though he didn't see any zerg for the moment. Gun up, moving slowly enough to keep watch all around him, he moved slowly into the bay, sticking close to the wall but moving in the general direction of their dropship as he keyed in the comms. "Njord to Idunn. Come in Idunn." he called softly into the device, knowing it would amplify him on the other end. "Idunn, are you there? We have a little problem.."

( Okay, we did decide we are at the point after the first overmind is dead right? I was trying to give kerrigan a bit more of her personality from brood war there for the little bit I put in. Also Im thinking of having kerrigan... um Sarah that is, confront Ava in person? but wanted to see where we are going with this and if there would be a way out of that if I did XD Also, did you want Nick to get to the dropship to check on Miranda or have something else in mind? I have him approaching but... well, can figure that out. Also, how is this colour for sarah? its 80BF00, most left column, 14th from the top )
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Re: SC - Fugitives

Post by rivaan »

The swarm was unleashed like flood across the station, zerglings and hydralisks were moving in great numbers as htey were being delivered by the giant flesh tubes of the massive spaceborn zerg 'vessel' for a lack of better words and all the same time biomass was already growing and spreading within the station itself as the process of infestation had already been started for the structure as a whole. People were being killed everywhere and the guards that were present weren't able to really put up an effective defense. Some escape pods and evacuation ships were attempted to be launched, but they never made it far since the flying breeds that were swarming the space outside the station destroyed any ship attemping to flee. Scourges and mutalisks just tore them apart. THen after a little the bodies of the dead and dying began vanishing, dragged to the unseen depths of the now infested station. It was all happening so fast, minutes, that's all it took for everything to become absolute chaos and devastation as the zerg showed their efficiency when it came to killing.

Meanwhile Miranda was laying, crumbled by the wall of hte cockpit, blood dripping off her nose, eyes and mouth. Her unmoving form as still as death and the only indication she still lived was a very faint movement of her chest that was steady becoming more stable and strong. The doctor had taken the full brunt of a psionic attack from Kerrigan. She was honestly lucky to be alive, or maybe it was a display of her sheer force of will, or maybe it was the color of her bra today, whatever the reason was, the doctor was gradually coming back around as hte pulsating sensation in her head from earlier was gone, replaced by a different type of pain... pain across her whole body and pain in her very brain as if somebody tried to tear it apart.

She vaguely noted something was calling her... somebody was calling her. She groaned in pain in reply as a sudden rush of adrenaline cleared her mind, her eyes snapping open and she took a deep breath. The Khaydarin crystal on her earring glowed slightly, before dimming once more and Miranda was left panting hard as she pushed herself into a sitting position, noting the blood that was coming out of the various features on her face." Hells... who unleashed the unltralisks to trample me..." She groaned and pulled herself a bit together, activating her comms. " This is Idunn... I'm here... was out for a bit." She replied and let out a serious of coughs that spat out a good deal of blood that was slowly coagulating in her throat. With that gone, breathing actually felt a bit better... almost releaving. With that she dragged herself up to the pilot seat and ran a check on the ship. It was miraculously intact... especially considering the fact that the ships around were rather damaged... then she recalled hte last thign she did before she was almost killed was to trigger the cloak. It was still draining the ship's power, but it would hold for a while more, especially since it wasn't actually flying and the engines weren't draining the generators and energy banks." Get your ass to the ship... what happened? Is Skadi with you?" She asked, in a hurry as she ran a quick check on the usual frequencies, noting the lack of emergency signal, meaming the station's automated distress beacon was long since taken out and what she saw on the wall outside the cockpit's window made her narrow her eyes. Biomass was gorwing there..." Shit... Njord, beware of swarm within the hangars... there's enough creep and other biomass growing that I wouldnt' be surpirsed if zerg static defenses begin appearing also. I will provide you with covering fire via the ship's guns once you get close if hte need appears." She warned him.

The Dropship's twin chainguns would shredd most things and with light zerg units it would be like putting paper into a shredder. She looked at her reflection in one of the conlsole screens, she looked absolutely horrifying right now. THere wasn't time to go freshen up though, Nick would be here any moment and she was already arming hte weapons.
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