Special Branch: Santos

POSTED BY: NEEDY
UPDATED: Thursday, September 11, 2008 19:24
VIEWED: 24961
PAGE 1 of 1

Here is the latest thread for the "Special Branch" story.

Previous threads:

1.Special Branch: Unbound
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=20504

2.Special Branch: The Chasing Of Wild Geese
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=21730

3. Special Branch and the HUGE Hospital Bills
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=23302

4. Special Branch: The Living Dead
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=24558

5. Special Branch: Motherhood For Heroes
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=26599

6. Special Branch: Secrets and Lies
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=28546

Guide to SPECIAL BRANCH:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=29509

A lot has happened recently, here's my best attempt at summing up the important recent events

Previously:

Our crew have recently crossed paths with a ruthless enemy whilst trying to help a drifting ship.
Initially, The Dwarf seemed simply a ship belonging to a small family, but there was much more to it than that. The ship itself was a presidential vessel, intent on delivering "the weapon" to its final destination. "The weapon" was a man, who seemed to possess the power to bring down the Alliance and its influence once and for all.
But the Dwarf also had another secret. The wife of the captain, Ciaran, was a woman with a hidden agenda. She was allied with a group known as The Expendables, and one of her aims was to collect the bounty on the man they called Soul.
Not only that, but she manifested the remarkable ability to appear as someone else entirely, making her a very dangerous woman indeed.

Using her skills, she arrived on board our crew's ship "The Epsilon" and wasted no time in taking control, stealing it and leaving the majority of our crew still on board the damaged vessel "The Dwarf."

Meanwhile, the relationships between our sleep-deprived crewmembers begins to fray.
Safe, who had been effectively been elected leader, starts to buckle under pressure. He even goes as far as violently taking his anger out on Liam, the rather innocent captain of the Dwarf.

Needy, under the influence of the being, realises things are falling apart and decides to act on his own. Joined by Milton, he manifests more supernatural abilities by creating a wormhole, instantly transporting the pair of them to a storage room on board The Epsilon.

ScorpionRegent too realises things aren't as they should be and that the only thing that was keeping him there - his love for Seryn - was unreciprocated. Unbeknowngst to the others, the time-traveller quietly slips away by himself and disappears. A final message scrawled in grease on a mirror remains the only evidence of the fact.

Moments before, Wisp - witness to the ship being stolen - bizarrely enough, instructed Vixen to knock him out, which being the dear that she is, she so kindly obliged to.
Returned to the astral plane, he is reunited with his guide - the ethereal spirit. Wisp demands the strange being intervenes in some way, to help them stop Ciaran. Although he is denied the power to do it himself, instead Vixen is sent across the stars, arriving in a flash of light on board the Epsilon.
Wisp, remains unconscious in the real world, and its only a matter of time before his dream state takes him away from supernatural beings and talk of destiny, to the luxury of a poolside setting with a beautiful woman.

Whilst Milton, Needy and Vixen work independently to stop the machinations of Ciaran, elsewhere on The Dwarf the crew finally start to unite.

Seryn, motivated by the love for her child (who, along with the other children, is helpless on the stolen ship) takes command and insists the crew move to action.

Soul discovers evidence of Ciaran's plans, as well as the secret the crew of the Dwarf were hiding. He demands Liam fills in the gaps for him, the truth about "The Weapon"
Whilst seemingly alone, Soul pays a visit to the room which holds the answers - the secret place The Weapon had been hiding. Only he isnt alone. Kyra had followed him to t

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Wisp struggled into consciouness with a deep and painfull groan, his head was bandaged beyond belief. He pulled up some loose threads so he could get a clear vision of the med bay celing. He tried to move his head but a wave of agony passed over him.

"hello? Anybody here??" the noise shattered through his ears like gunshots. He waved his arms hoping this silent gesture would be more effective- his brain obviously wasnt on form yet.

OOC- oh what story! ill try and get Wisp back in fighting shape soon enough


www.myspace.com/didxl

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OOC:
He's alive. ALIVE!!! Sorry, Frankenstein moment.
Glad you're back up and running!

Just a thought about this thread.
Since this part of the story (with the crew of The Dwarf) seems to be coming to a conclusion, I thought "Santos" would be a good way for the crew to re-evaluate where they're heading and, in essence, what stories we want to explore next.
Soul's still got a lot of issues to deal with, but there are a lot of characters that haven't been explored, or at least not recently.
Safe, Seryn, the children (haven't heard from you Aprilise for a bit, hope you're ok), SR (if he wants to come back right now - if not with the crew, then revisiting his story at Stalingrad), Rosie... plus many more
There's lots of places to go
There are some pertinent questions to explore too
What has Sykes been up to? Presumably he's on the Epsilon too looking after Fin.
Where are the rest of the crew that haven't been heard of for a while?
Perhaps they could meet up with us at Santos.

Perhaps y'all could throw in some ideas about where you want the story to head.
Of course there's plenty of the recent developments we can incorporate into that - the loss of SR, the death of Milton, the journey of Clayton and Kurren.

Interested to hear what your thoughts/ideas are


-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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OOC: Holy sh**!!! Erm... I suddenly feel like I'm writing with crayons after reading that. I have to echo Wisp, this is a GREAT story! And everyones contributions just make it richer.

I've got a few ideas or thoughts kicking around but as I just walked in the door after driving 12hrs, my mind just doesn't seem to want to cooperate. I'll be back...

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC: Ok, here are some ideas.

- Continue to explore Soul's background. The Expendables and Ciaran storylines are way too intriguing to pass up.

-A story similar to the Drive concept where figures from Seryn's past send the crew on wild goose chases/capers holding the possiblity of Seryn's dead husband being alive and being held as a 'prize'.

-Flechette joined the underground because of what the Alliance/Blue Sun did to her sister. She still is looking for answers holding out the possiblity of undoing her condition. Possible guest appearances by the BDH.

- Kurren's Quest... need I say more?

- A family reunion for Wisp? Could make for an uncomfortable situation with less gunplay and more angst. Parent's want him to finish schooling, and refuse to listen to Wisp's 'reasons'.

- Search for home for Ghost and her siblings.

- Visit Rosie's home world only to find a sinister presence has taken control of the plant beings.

Sorry I don't know enough about SR's background or motivations to suggest anything there, I'll leave that to his capable hands.

Plus I think if we look back, there were some other ideas worth exploring.

Remember, these are just my takes on situations and as such, may be way off base.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC- eventually Im gonna bring In Caged Sparrow and Project:Einstein but not quite yet

Vixen is gonna try and go straight and narrow the hard way.

But lets ride the wave!


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OOC: Ooh I like! All those ideas sound great and worthy of being explored. Let's hope they get rolling soon.

"What was that?" Amy shot up.
Ghost flinched as the woman called out, stirring from her otherwise peaceful sleep
Flechette stroked the young girl's forehead, easing her back into her peaceful state as she whispered to Amy "What?"

Amy, the growing anxiety clearly straining across her face, moved away from the seat she had been forced to sit in.
"That noise. It sounded like..."

Flechette stood up slowly and walked towards her friend "What noise?"

"It was a... someone calling out, shouting"

"I didn't hear anything" Flechette replied but she could see it was of no use, Amy was making her way towards the locked door. "Amy, get back here" she called in a whisper.

The young woman had her hand on the lever, ready to go after the sound she thought she heard when Flechette's hand landed on her shoulder
"You can't go out there"

"I heard something!" she cried, the tone disturbing the other children too, causing Shadow to stir this time.

"Keep it down" Flechette ordered whispering. "Look I didn't hear anything but even if I did... we can't go out there, not yet, we can't leave the children on their own. Its not safe, for any of us"

"I can take her" Amy said, pulling the lever this time and opening the door a fraction - a fraction before Flechette's other hand stops it.

"Amy..." Flechette begins, before looking at the children. "Just give it another minute. And if... we'll go. Just give them a bit more time"

Amy's face was no longer filled solely with worry, but had an equal measure of anger too. Anger at Milton for allowing him to persuade her to stay and watch the children, anger at herself for not being there with him. But mostly her anger was directed at Ciaran - a woman that had brought so much trouble.
"I should be there" Amy thought to herself "standing side by side with him against this woman"
"Please" Flechette uttered, her words drenched with concern, enough to melt some of the anger from her friend's face.
With that Shadow was awake, sitting up in her bed across the other side of the room. Even from there, she could feel the tension in the air, she could see the tears in Amy's eyes that told her all she needed to know about something not being right
"What's going on?" she asked

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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The Dwarf drifted closer and closer to The Epsilon as it prepared to lock.

Inside the Dwarf, Safe loaded the automatic pistol, and slipped it into his side holster before grabbing the sonic blaster and clutched it with both hands.
The weapon had been given to the team by Liam - a means to disable the target without killing them - and it was certainly a bold and generous gesture considering how the captain had been treated.

"Ok then, are we ready?" he said to the team assembled
Seryn shot him a glance as if to say "I've been ready all my life" but no words came out.
Instead Maxine jumps in with "Sorry, I really gotta pee"

Safe and Seryn exchange looks
"Now she goes?"

"Nervous bladder" the mechanic calls back as she disappears into the toilet
She is barely in there for a few seconds before her face pops out again. "Hey, you might wanna see this"

Safe's face drops to one of quiet disgust. "Er... no you're alright"

"No. You've gotta see this"

The two of them walk over to her as she continues "I don't know what it means but..."

Safe peeks in first and stops suddenly.
He is quiet and does not seem to want to let Seryn in. This only makes her more agitated as she pushes by him.

There on the mirror is a message left for her, scrawled by a man she had been ignoring for too long. And now maybe it was too late.

The message "Deal me out" burned through her eyes and into her heart.

Just at that moment, The Dwarf jolted and clunked as it connected with the crew's stolen ship.

OOC: Okay, so I left it fairly open with regard to who was going with the team - so far its just Maxine, Safe and Seryn I mentioned, but there could easily be others prepared to retake their ship. So feel free to include them (I didn't want to assume which others were going)

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Vixen woke suddenly, catching her breath in her mouth as her head flinched back. A flash of light was there in her eyes and thenit was gone again, disappearing as the dark pupil of her eyes swallowed it whole.
She blinked a few times as she ascertained her surroundings, and tried to remember what had just happened.

She was in the medi-bay, mere feet from the cockpit.
A bent metal tray lay on the floor beside her and droplets of blood speckled the doorway.
She shook herself and felt the discomfort of what could only be a heavy brick in her head where her brain should be.
She slowly lifted herself from the floor and gained her footing.
There was something familiar in her memory that she couldn't quite place. Something she needed to remember, but couldn't reach.
Then she saw it. A shoulder leaning against the side of the doorway, still.
She staggered towards the cockpit and reached for the body.

"Needy" she said with a dry voice.
The male companion was unconscious and his breathing was shallow, but he appeared to be alive. Blood splatter covered his shirt whilst his chest was scarred with small little pock marks.

Familiar. Something. Something she couldn't quite remem...

She looked up and was hit with the sight of another body, laying just as still on the other side of the room.

She lumbered over to Milton, overcoming the noticable pain in her ankle as she did so.

"Hey" she croaked, as she crouched beside him.
She felt afraid as she stared into his lifeless eyes, still open but drooping. There was nothing there, no response, not even shallow breathing. Just a bruised neck and a look of lost hope.
She pressed her fingers against his neck and felt for a pulse but she knew it was hopeless. There was no pulse anymore, just like there was no breath nor future residing in the body of this young man.

She collapsed to the floor beside him and bit her lip to fight back the many emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.

"Remember." She pleaded with herself. "Remember."

Then, all of a sudden she did.
She had seen it all.
The three of them were beaten.
She didn't quite know how, but Ciaran had done it. Blindsided them all.
First she shot Needy, weakening him to a point that he was no longer of use.
Then it was Vixen's turn. She gave as good as she got, but ultimately Ciaran beat her aswell. Would have finished her off too if it wasn't for Milton.
Milton, the poor soul who only wanted to do the right thing... he suffered the most.
Vixen couldn't do anything. She was barely hanging on, but before she blacked out she saw it.
Ciaran had shown no mercy as she slowly took his life.
The last thing Vixen remembered before passing out was Ciaran turning towards her, looking at her with her dark soulless eyes. And that was it.

Why she didn't take her life, she didn't know.
But it was the last mistake she'd ever make.

The door leading to the hallway was ajar, and Ciaran was no doubt stalking the halls, looking for a place to wait whilst her backup arrives.

Well, if Vixen had anything to say about it, the traitor will be long dead before her friends arrive.

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Seryn stared at the words, then simply erased them from her attention, she couldn't wasn't going to deal with this now. Objective one was Find Fin, objective two, shoot the f*** out of the monster who had caused all of this trouble.
She paused on reaching the airlock doors, turned and looked at the assembled company. Tooled up to the nines, toting more weaponry each than the average ship more than likely, and formed something of a plan... well, close too... maybe.

"Ok, everyone, guns down - shoot no-one, not leathally anyway - think, think! No crazy antics, you two, and you, head to the back of the ship, funnel everyone... the paused and thought, but it had to be done... including the children, into the front of the ship, you others cover their backs.
Get absolutely everyone in the same room, that way she can'tduplicate one of us, or be somone else. Soul? Get to the front of the ship, you know what to do."

And agonised look crossed her face, she had to be with them, she couldn't go off on personal missions.

"I'll help with the rounding up."

They looked at her, she grimaced - "ok with that?"


on the Epsilon

Sykes rounded the corner cautiously, back pressed against the bulkhead, and froze as he heard movement ahead. She moved arrogantly, slight smirk on her face, and she seemed completely wrong he'd long ago learned that gut instinct was a useful tool, and hoped that she would go elsewhere, leaving him to carry on his business, but no such luck.

She approached and saw him in the shadows only moments before his arm wrapped around her throat, pulled back against his chest with her legs kicked out from under her, it shouldn't have been possible, but somehow Sykes found himself floored, the wrenching pain in his shoulder outdone only by the blinding pain in his head. Still, he hoped he'd done some damage to her - she was limping at least as she moved away down the corridors.
He pulled himself to his feet, trying to ignore the odd angle of his shoulder, and made to follow her, but she'd gone. Groaning he made his way to where the children and those two wommen, the chatty ones, waited.

ooc - hello, long time no see, sorry, i just haven't been in a good place recently, but hope this helps, and it give some hint of what Sykes had been doing (lurking and waiting basically) and gets Seryn back in the thick of it.

As for ideas for the future, I did have a few ideas, i had been trying to set up this secret hideout place as a place for the crew to recuperate and for some quiet drama as opposed to action, and i had thought of something along the lines of investigating Seryns past, but figured i'd lay a few seeds soon then leave it till Needy and Soul had done what they wanted.
But i agree that Santos seem a place to do all that - plus i want to hear more about Kurren etc.

And.. HELLO!

Isn't sanity really a one trick pony, anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking! But when you're good and crazy...ooh hoo hoo hoo... the skys the limit!
http://www.myspace.com/seryndippyt

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“You guys ready?” Versa spoke though the earpiece coms she and Wisp had whipped up.

Safe looked around at the boarding party.

To his immediate left was Jack who, like he always did before a mission, had lost the goofball persona and was all business. He nodded curtly to Safe.

In the center stood Soul who, unlike the others, all of his weapons remained holstered or sheathed. He looked not so much like he was about to walk into a hostile situation as he was going to take a walk in the park. Safe found Soul’s calmness to be a bit unnerving.

Maxine and Liam flanked Soul. These two, Safe was unsure of. Maxine, he knew, had military background and as such, knew the drill but Liam… Safe neither liked nor trusted the man, so he realized his take on Liam’s competence might be a bit skewed. He’d have to keep an eye on him. Safe would’ve preferred, one hundred times over, to have the youngster Wisp there instead.

To Safe’s right stood Seryn. She never failed to impress him and her handling of the situation was no different. Weaker women and even men, would be inconsolable with grief, panic and fear at this point, and while Seryn showed and bit of them all, her overriding emotion was grim determination.

“We’re ready.” Safe responded.

“Wisp will track your movements via the new coms. Safe, Jack, Soul and Seryn, yours come equipped with small cameras. Sorry Maxine and Liam, we ran outta time and parts. Stick close to someone with a camera.”

“Ok, here we go! Docking in three, two, one…”

There was a resounding clang as the Dwarf docked with the Epsilon. Safe punched the button and the airlock hissed and opened. Soul took off at a dead run before the door had opened completely.

“Soul!” Safe called after him. “Crap. Ok, lets do this by the numbers. Like Seryn said, guns down, safety’s on, there are children aboard. Trust no and remember the password.”

They all nodded in unison.

Safe held his handgun with both hands; barrel pointed at the floor, his safety off, and entered low, Jack mirroring his movements. The others followed shortly thereafter.

OOC: Hulloo right back, Seryn!!

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Wisp sat in the Makeshift bed/recliner chair in the middle of the bridge. His head was heavily bandaged and mildly restrained but he could survey the array of monitors arranged in front of him. He could see the Epsilon in front and was slowly guiding towards the docking hatch. A dull thud echoed as the two connected and vibrated through both ships. As Wisp overode the docking clamps Vixen felt the sound on the other ship.

She was stalking the halls lookin for The thing. Her head was still pounding and her vision swam. But she was determined to avenge her friends.

'Friends'?? There was a word she didnt use. Were these people her friends??

As she contemplated her new social situation. Wisp opened the door of the airlock

"Happy Hunting Folks"


www.myspace.com/didxl

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OOC: Hey, how's everyone doing? Seems like we've all dried up of late, and although I'm not really in the mood for writing, I figured I'd contribute something.
Oh, and glad to have you back Seryn, hope you're feeling a bit better. Can't wait to see your story develop on Santos.



As Needy remained unconscious, indistinguishable whispers plagued his mind.

---

"Hey sweetie," Flechette said feigning a smile

Shadow was not so easily deceived, the young girl could see something was amiss, even if she didn't know exactly what it was.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked

"Nothing's wrong honey" Flechette responded in a calming tone.

Amy's face betrayed her friend's words though. Fear and anger were etched on her face as deep as a scar. There was no use denying anything was wrong, even to a ten-year old.

"What's going on?" the girl asked a second time, raising her voice.

"Nothing" Flechette replied in a whisper, gesturing to her to keep quiet.
Then, when she realised this simply wouldn't do, she went on to explain.

"Listen, you can't wake the others. Nothings wrong. We're just about to land this ship, but the grown-ups just want to make sure its safe first, safe for us to go out there. So they've asked us to stay in here for now. It's no big deal."

Shadow seemed unconvinced

"You trust me right?" Flechette said "It's nothing to worry about. I just thought if your sister knew she might get scared"

Shadow looked at her sister, who still slept peacefully blissfully unaware, then back at Flechette.

"We can keep this between us can't we?"

Shadow smiled and nodded, buttoning her lip

"Good. Now me and Amy are..."

Flechette stopped herself as an unnerving feeling came over her.

She turned slowly and soon realised that whilst she was talking to Shadow, Amy had quietly slipped away, the door still slightly open.

---

Amy strutted down the length of the corridor, making her way to the bridge. Things seemed quiet now, but they wouldn't be for long. She couldn't just sit around. She had to do something.

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Wisp was restless. Being sat bandaged into a chair while your friends risked their lives didnt have the endless fun youd expect.

He reminiced of a time in the Academy when he'd been involved in a shuttle accident. Bed rest for 4 weeks while they prodded needles in every orifice. That was the first time He met Vixen actually. Shed been in a fight surprisingly enough and was having her nose patched up while a tall white haired admiral gave her a dressing down. She was however paying absolutely no attention to what he was saying.

It seemed like so much had happened since those simple days. Now it had ended up like this.

"Can someone talk to me please??" Wisp said to the empty cockpit.


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OOC: Thanks for the prod, WYSB! I was drawing a blank. This helps immensly. I'll try to post something shortly. It may not be much, but hopefully it'll move things along.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Safe paused at the corner of the secondary compartment. They had entered through the rear hatch, passing through the shower and storage area. The secondary compartment they were in now had, in its original configuration, been a troop seating area but these ships had been popular amongst the core planets as essentially space motor homes. As such the secondary compartments had been converted to resemble train cars from ancient Earth-That-Was, and consisted of a central square of passenger compartments with corridors along the outer hall walls.

Up ahead the corridor turned right and met up with the corridor from the opposite side. Safe and Jack had taken the left corridor while Seryn lead Maxine and Liam down the right corridor. Each team was to check the two rooms down each corridor and meet up at the entrance to the medical/computer room and onto the cockpit.

While Jack watched both corridors, a gun in each hand pointed at an angle at the floor, Safe reached up and touched his head set. “Safe here, what’s up Wisp? Are the cameras working ok? From all we’ve heard, we can’t trust what we’re seeing. You and Versa have to be our eyes.”

Safe looked around. “I know it sounds redundant, but relay everything you see back to us. Have you located Soul yet?”

OOC: I'll post an updated floor plan for the ISSCV shortly.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC: Uh...serious writers block here. I can't figure out what Soul ran off to do!

______________________

Soul, Security Chief of the Sereni-Tree, Captain of Destiny.

Mantichorus: "So is there a reason they call you 'Soul'?"
Soul (after a long pause): "Yeah. Because I have one."

I'm blogging about the novel I'm writing! Stay informed, and keep me inspired! Please!

http://havenofsouls.blogspot.com/

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OOC: I'm suffering from word constipation right now too, but I'll give it a shot

A thin strip of light gleamed on the corridor wall across from the cockpit. The door to the control area was only slightly open, but it was enough to welcome in the light that reflected off the circle of Santos.

After having stormed her way through the ship, determined to find out what was going on, her pacing had since slowed. She didn't know what to expect. If "Ciaran" had been stopped, then Milton sure had been a thoughtless hundan to not come and tell her sooner. But what if she hadn't? What if so far they'd failed?
Well then, Amy would have to prepare herself. She was no fighter, not really. But then again, neither was Needy, nor Milton she suspected.
But everyone does what they can. Right?

The ship was silent. The engines had stopped running and not even the purr of them could be heard anymore. It was as if all power had been shut off, and the only thing that made a sound now was Amy's own breathing.
Or maybe that was all in her imagination.

Reaching the doorway, she paused, listening intently for any sound that might be emanating from the room.
Nothing.
At least none she could make out.
She could tell herself the place was empty, and just walk back to her room. She didn't need to step inside only to find out that there was nothing there.
"Ciaran" had probably been stopped and was unconscious, locked up and currently stored somewhere in one of the storage rooms.
There was no need to check.

Only, Amy knew this was just her mind telling her what she wanted to hear. Truth be told, she didn't want to know. She was afraid of what she might find. Maybe "Ciaran" was still causing trouble... maybe she was on the other side of this door, waiting for the young woman to make the fatal mistake and enter.

Amy pressed herself close to the door and peeked through the open gap, hoping to discover what lay on the other side.
It seemed normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. But to be honest, she couldn't really see a whole lot. Merely a glimpse at part of the window and part of the control panel.

She stepped back again, defeated. She'd have to do it. She'd have to go in
Then she sighed and closed her eyes, building up the courage to do what she needed to do.
"I need to know" she realised, and with that she pulled open the door in a swift bold gesture, and thrust herself into the room.

OOC again: How's that, I just wrote a load about nothing. Kinda like Seinfeld. Only not funny

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Safe felt Jack tense up more than he saw it happen.

Dropping to a crouch in front of the door he was about to open, Safe brought his gun up, the grip cupped in both hands, the sight un-wavering.

A figure had rounded the corner coming from the med-bay.

"Stand where you are!" Safe called, then hissed into him headset, "What do you see Wisp?"

The figure looked at the two men a mixture of confusion and annoyance clearly written on her face.

"Not another step Vixen! I ain't lie'n, I'll drop you where you stand!"

Vixen raised her foot, for the fateful step, Safe and Jack thumbed back the hammers of their guns simultaneously when Wisp's voice over the headset broke the tension, “SAFE!! STOP!! That’s Vixen! I see Vixen!!”



_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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On the Bounty Baby:
A day and a half flight from Santos

Kurren sits in the pale glow from the Cortex screen that washes over the room. On the screen are dossiers of the people who escaped from the 'Medical Facility' with Needy.
Captain Franklin, or Safe to his friends and surviving soldiers, was an excellent officer with a promising future until an undisclosed disagreement lead to the death of a commanding officer. Probably over a woman Kurren pondered, He did file for divorce shortly after enlisting.
The files on William Spacer were more colorful. Kurren had to go through several databases to find one that had not been hacked and altered to display nothing but favorable content and renaming himself 'Wisp'. He's certainly skilled with electronics When he finally found an unaltered file Kurren couldn't help but smirk with a little satisfaction. While young Spacer excelled in academics he had, on more than one occasion, 'fought the man' which gave him no end of trouble. The section entitled Project:Einstein explained why Spacer was so skilled. "So he's been boosted...Interesting. He'll have to be approached with caution."
Seryn was a highly decorated Fighter Pilot, apparently braking a few records and setting a few of her own. She served for a little over 10 years then disappeared. Seryn left behind only a sketchy note of resignation that alluded to something sinister within the ranks. That might call for more research...but some other time
What discomforted Kurren the most was that no matter how hard he searched he could not find any information on the man known simply as 'Marshall'. He was a ghost on the net just like Kurren. Which told him that Marshall must have been involved with parlimentary affairs at somepoint in his life.
"That's quite a crew you've teamed up with Bernard." Kurren moves away from the screen and increases the speed of his ship. "This makes things much more interesting."

In the distance Kurren and see the speck that willl grow into Santos and the anticipation of actually seeing his Target for the first time makes his hair stand on end.

OOC: Sorry for the recap on a few of the crews background. But I just wanted to show Kurren's reaction to a few of the people he might have to deal with.

---------------------------------------
Mystery Man on the Sereni-Tree
Navigator on Destiny
Kurren, Bounty Hunter

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OOC: No need to appologize, Jazaf, that was excellent! The anticipation you created with that is killing me!

I'll post more soon. I'm currently in panic/planning mode. I'm hosting my baseball teams end of the year BBQ this weekend.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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The bullets ploughed through the air as Vixen rounded the other corner of the medbay and found herself watching herself get shot. The obvious shock of seeing too Vixens was visible on Safes face for meerly an instant. He finished unloading into the first Vixen then withdrew his backup on the second.

"Thought you could pull a fast one on us eh??" Safe said with conviction. "try and kill your old buddy Wisp then team up with the bad guy. Well guess what sugar lips this is the end of the line"

Wisp was desperatley fighting his brain cells. He couldnt remember what happened when he was knocked out but this all felt wrong somehow.

'Think damn you! Think!' Wisp screamed into his own head. (I dont know if youve ever screamed into your own head after having several holes drilled in it, but not only is it difficult its rather painful)

"Fine shoot me if you want" Vixen spoke, Her voice and face showed no glimpse of the fear rapidly growing in her. "But i didnt sell you out. And I only hit Wisp cause he was asking for it"

"Asking for it??? I thought you were friends" He hissed back at her

Then in Wisps mind it all clicked the beings the visions the mojhito on a cliff top beach. It all returned on a screaming rush of sodium ions.

"I WAS!!!" He bellowed into the headset" I was asking for it!!. Shes still on our side!!"

A puzzled look fell over his face as he lowered his gun.

"Now were all not shooting me you might wanna shoot her??"

The being on the floor was now in a running limp towards the escape pods. It was changing rapidly from person to person as it slipped away during the distraction of attention. Safe turned and fired several rounds into her legs and watched as the blows through her to the ground. He calmly stepped up from his knee and walked over, Reloading with a patient ease as he went. as He reached the body he rolled it from its back using the toe of his boot to stare into its eyes. The figure's face was mixing and blurring into a million different people.

"Who are you?? Really."

OOC- hope i havent stepped on too many toes but its been dragging out something rotten in the air so I wanted to get us planet side asap for a bit of proverbial and fictional fresh air"


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Quote:

---

Originally posted by WashsYoungerSexierBrother:
The being on the floor was now in a running limp towards the escape pods. It was changing rapidly from person to person as it slipped away during the distraction of attention. Safe turned and fired several rounds into her legs and watched as the blows through her to the ground. He calmly stepped up from his knee and walked over, Reloading with a patient ease as he went. as He reached the body he rolled it from its back using the toe of his boot to stare into its eyes. The figure's face was mixing and blurring into a million different people.

"Who are you?? Really."

---

Seven Years Ago

"I asked you a question." The man asked.
"Ciaran" looked up at him and smiled slyly
"Who the hell are you?" he repeated, briskly walking towards her.
Mr Chambers was a heavy-set man with a beer belly and an appetite for revelry. Most of his women were afraid of him, his unforgiving manner and blunt fists meant that nobody crossed him.

"I told you before. I'm whoever you want me to be."

Chambers was right up against her now, staring down into her eyes in an attempt to intimidate her.
It wasn't working

"I can be your best friend, your colleague..." She ran her long slender finger down his chest, whilst her leg rubbed in between his own "...your lover"
The bulky man was no fool, and he'd had enough of being used, a fact made abundantly clear as he violently pushes her away with the palm of his hands, knocking her to the seat in the corner of the room.

"Who do you work for?!" He demanded

"Who do you want me to work for?" she whispered.

"Tchen wah" he muttered as he moved towards her again, grabbing the ornamental statue of Sihnon that had, for years, been a staple of his desk and office.
"You'll talk" he threatened, as he swung the blunt object towards her head.
She was too quick for him though.
"Ciaran" kicked him hard in his kneecap, sending the large man crashing to the floor in a scream of pain.

The ornament clanged as it hit the floor, the replica of the planet breaking off from its marble stand, and rolling under the desk.

"Ciaran" stood up and muttered insulting profanities under her breath.

"You had your chance Chambers" she growled "you had plenty of chances. But my employers are not happy with the way you continue to run things"
He tried to get to his feet, but the woman instead planted a hard boot in his gut.
"Who the hell are you" he managed to utter as he gasped for oxygen.

"I told you. I'm whoever you want me to be."
She bent down to talk to him more directly.
"But for you... I'm your worst enemy"

Just then, she grabbed what was left of the ornament - the priceless marble brick that had once held the globe in place - and thrust it at his head, lodging it deep into the back of his skull.

As the man slumped down, "Ciaran" rose to a stand, and walked over to the desk, retrieving the files she had been interrupted from taking.

Stepping over the body of the man, she left the office, nodding to Chambers' assistant on her way out. The assistant smiled - the boy sure was cute.

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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A series of beeps tells Kurren that he has received a message. Once again he sets his ship to autopilot and checks his Communication Log.
"Good. My Parliment contact found something."
The first file Kurren opens pertains to Marshall, the only other ghost on the cortex:

Expendable Security Agent #7423
Codename: Soul

"The ESA?" Kurren had heard of that organization before. They did not exist, at least not officially. They were the guys who would go where the Feds could not and do what was needed. But the agency was exposed and dismantled some five years ago. After that, The Operatives were installed.

Skimming the text, Kurren finds no less than thirteen death certificates. But there were no autopsies, apparently the body would disappear from the morgue. Marshall would then call in from a different location and appear no worse for wear. "They must have faked his death to protect him from his enemies." The file goes on to mention that Soul is an excellent marksman with small firearms and that his other natural talents make him near impossible to be hit.

"Bah! Lousy fairytales!"

Kurren moves from the file to a recording of Needy's interview during his stay in Boros. He turns off the sound so it won't distract him and focuses on Needy. He watches as the main interrorgator pulls out a small device and then crumples to the floor a smoldering mess. It seems almost surreal as the guards walk in, notice the body, level their weapons towards Needy and then are simply torn apart.
Kurren replays the scene with the sound this time. He hears the interrorgator flaunt his power only to have it backfire. He listens to the panicked inquires of the gaurds before they meet a gruesome end. But more importantly, he notices a change in Needy's appearance.

Just as the gaurds rush into the room Needy's stature changes, even his speech at that time was different. Though whatever Needy said to the gaurds were to low for the microphones to pick up the overall tone was different.
Kurren watched that recording six more times, all the while staring at Needy.
"What are you?"



---------------------------------------
Mystery Man on the Sereni-Tree
Navigator on Destiny
Kurren, Bounty Hunter

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Quote:

---

Originally posted by WashsYoungerSexierBrother:
The being on the floor was now in a running limp towards the escape pods. It was changing rapidly from person to person as it slipped away during the distraction of attention. Safe turned and fired several rounds into her legs and watched as the blows through her to the ground. He calmly stepped up from his knee and walked over, Reloading with a patient ease as he went. as He reached the body he rolled it from its back using the toe of his boot to stare into its eyes. The figure's face was mixing and blurring into a million different people.

"Who are you?? Really."[

---

As Safe slammed the clip home, Seryn eased around the corner from the opposite end of the hallway, her gun gripped tightly in both hands and held shoulder high.

“That’s enough Safe. Back off.”

Safe put his hand up in the air in compliance; the other slowly holstered his gun. “Easy now Seryn.”

Maxine and Liam followed Seryn around the corner, Maxine dropping to her knees to see to the wounded Ciaran.

At the same moment at the opposite end of the corridor, Soul rounded the corner from the med bay at a dead run. Seeing Jack at the last instant, his gun still trained on the real Vixen, Soul drops to a slide taking Vixens feet out from under her and catching her as she fell. Jack’s shot past harmlessly over her head.

“Whoa Jack! It’s me, Soul! Hold your fire!”

There is an audible sigh as the tension bleeds out of the air.

“I need a vacation…” Seryn says lowering her gun.

“Let’s get her to the med-bay…” Safe and Seryn say in unison.

Safe smiles at Seryn. “She’s no good to us dead. She’s got a lot of questions to answer. Jack, let’s finish the sweep of the ship. Let’s find the others and land this ship.”

OOC: Sorry if this is a bit weak, I've been writing for my creative writing class and doing the script for a short CG film and frankly I'm a bit brain drained.
This story continues to be my favorite. Excellent posts all!

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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There was silence as Soul drew the curtain shut around the bed containing the woman who had appeared to him as Ciaran. Soul had requested time alone with her, and the others had withdrawn. For a long few minutes, the two simply stared at each other; one with a look of look of scorn and guilt, the other a blank slate. Soul had long ago mastered the art of keeping his emotions in check. In fact, if the person in the bed had not appeared to him as Ciaran, he would have never reacted the way he did.

"Show me," he said, more of a command than a request.

"Show you what?"

"Your true face."

On the bed, "Ciaran" turned away. "Please don't ask me to do that."

"I'm not asking."

There was a momentary pause, and then the face contorted again, swirling, until it settled on one face. In that moment, two things happened. First, on the bed, "Ciaran's" shoulders visibly relaxed, as if the weight of decieving everyone with false images had finally been lifted. Second, every barrier Soul had erected to keep his emotions in check crumbled, and he nearly fell over.

"No. That's not possible."

He stared down at the figure on the bed, and it took him a moment to register the face. The dark brown hair, the emerald green eyes, the lips that always seemed to be smiling. A face that had had haunted his dreams for years, and this time, Soul knew it wasn't an illusion.

"Ciaran..."

A tear streamed down her cheek, her skin worn and tired, but still flawless. This was the Ciaran he knew, not the perfect image she had projected earlier, but a face that had been through nightmares and came out on the other side unscathed. He kenw that this wasn't another illusion. One look into her eyes told him the truth.

"Why." It was all he could ask.

"Marshall, I'm sorry." She began to cry in earnest now, and Soul nearly crumbled as his name, his real name rolled off of her lips. It was a sound he had been dying to hear for a very long time.

"You died. I watched him shoot you, and I held you when you took your last breath." An image of the tattoo on the arm of the shooter flashed through his mind, the same laughing skull that always ended his dreams.

She looked away. "Its complicated." A series of coughs racked her body, and blood soaked the sheets she lay on. It took that for Soul to realize the fact that once again, the woman he loved lay before him, dying.

"Please," he begged. "I need to know why all this is happening."

She looked at him long and hard before responding. "You don't know what you started. All of you. You started something bigger than you can imagine, and I don't think you can stop it this time."

"What are you talking about?" He bent down and grabbed her shoulders, only to be greated by more coughing.

"I...I'm sorry, Marshall. I don't think..." She was cut off as her body arched in pain, and she cried out, the multiple wounds finally taking their toll.

"Ciaran!" he cried, tears finally falling from his eyes.

"They are coming for you," she whispered.

"Who?"

"The...Expendables. They found you."

The news struck him like a ton of bricks, but it was something that he could deal with later. "I can handle them."

"There's more. The Parliament has activated another Operative."

Damn. The news kept getting worse. "I can deal with him, too."

Ciaran smiled up at him, and then her eyelids began to droop.

"Wait!" he cried out. "Please, you can't leave me like this again! I need to know what you were trying so say last time...the last time I held you. Please."

Her eyes opened for a fraction of a second, and her lips parted with a whisper so soft, Soul almost missed it.

"I'm like you."

And then she was gone. He pondered the words for a moment, and then turned away, oblivious to the tears now streaming down his face. Once again, the woman he had loved long ago was gone. He walked slowly towards the door, keeping the curtain pulled around Ciaran's body.

It would be said for a long time to come by everyone there that they had never seen a more haunting sight. Soul's face was re

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Verbena was a barren desolate piece of rock. After the war the Alliance had levelled what had once been an strong independants industrial world leaving those who survived with little but misery. A very public message of rebuilding was spoken by the alliance with little actual aid being given. It was highly ironic that on this exindependant backworld that the alliance had one of their most advanced research labs.

Located underground in the middle of a huge rocky desert The IronHoar centre dealt in everything from ships to science. Huge rooms constructed and experimented ships of unbelievabe complexity while the people on the surface starved and died.

It was in one of these labs where Project:Einstein had been born, and it was in this lab where the first succesful stage 3 was being shown off.

"We have spent years designing the perfect mind" the proffesor spoke, He was wearing his best crisp white lab coat. His usual one was covered in various organic matters which tended to put off members of parliament. He really didnt care anymore but was dedicated to his research no matter how twisted it had become.

Proffesor Trepsil had been a biologist from birth. As a child he collected samples and specimens eventually going on to becoming one of the verses best neurologist. Einstein was his brain child, originally to combat mental illness by increasing neurone capacity. But as with all things the alliance funded the best intentions fell by the wayside. In order for his good deeds a price of morals was extracted and it lay before him.

"A mind like a razor faster than any computer yet known. Capable of outsmarting the best minds"

"And what does the perfect mind need to balance it???" General Mation had stepped from the shadows. A towering man left over from a time of war. "A body to match"

"Behold" He pressed a console on the wall and the mirror behind him faded into a window exposing Project:Einstein phase III.

A machine in the rough shape of a man stood there towering at 8ft and at least four wide. Its hands consisted of 3 claws and articulated fully better than a normal arm. There was a stump for a head with a series of plates that must have been sensors.

"Twin Vulcan rail cannons, 14 inch armour plating, Flexible terrain movment, 1700Mv pulse cannon, Twin retractable rocket pods. THIS" He said with a sweep of his arm "Is the future of warfare"

A round of applause swept through the room. The only people Not clapping were Trepsil and a Politican at the back. "You dont seem happy Mr Liven, Is something wrong??"

"Whats happening with caged sparrow?" He replied in a stern cold voice.

An invisible bead of sweat appeared on the general for less than a moment. "There are 2 phase IIs locating him. We should have his field readings soon"

"Be sure you do. This entire project cannot be Publicised until he is dealt with. If the Phase IIs fail" He paused contemplating his own wickedness with pleasure "Send him"

Trepsil turned away with terror "I am Frankinstein. This is my punishment to the world"


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The crew of both ships crammed into the Dwarfs cockpit around Wisp in his hospital bed turned control center. Soul was absent, he was still downstairs with the prisoner.

"We need to finish our mission" Maxine adressed to the whole group "Im grateful for all your help but we cant afford to delay any longer"

"I have to disagree" Safe and Maxine seemed to speak for the rest of their crews and were the focus of all attention "First off we need to resupply from santos. Secondly she brought us here for a reason, and I think its in all our best interests to see what that reason is"

"But we might be walking into more danger! Theres no point risking our lives or the mission"

"Your mission wouldnt be worth a pint or horse piss if it wasnt for us so I suggest You accept our opinion. The Epsilon is good to go, Anyone who doesnt want to land is welcome to stay on there but THIS ship is landing."

Maxine put up a stare that could blow off a zombies head but Safe was having none of it.

"Wisp. Take us down in 5"


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OOC: Really excellent writing guys, I'm loving the twist and turns.

----

Earlier:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by safeat2nd:
“Let’s get her to the med-bay…” Safe and Seryn say in unison.

Safe smiles at Seryn. “She’s no good to us dead. She’s got a lot of questions to answer. Jack, let’s finish the sweep of the ship. Let’s find the others and land this ship.”

---

Amy sat on the cold hard surface of the floor, overcome with paralysis.
It started as soon as she entered the cockpit, a sucker-punch to the heart, knocking the breath out of her. The sight of an innocent sitting close to the door, his back resting against the wall as his head drooped forward. The body was still, soulless, dead.
She knew who it was, even though she couldn't see his face. Yet still she went over to him and lifted up his chin to see his eyes.
She felt for a pulse though she knew it was useless.
She called out his name though she knew he was long gone.

That's when the weight of her body suddenly became too much for her legs and she collapsed beside him.
"Milton" she cried out through instant tears, putting her hands to his chest in an attempt to stir him.

She had acknowledged Needy was across the other side of the room, sitting just as still, but she hadn't called out his name. She didn't want to face the possibility that he was dead too. She couldn't handle two of her friends being dead.
But now she whispered his name "Needy."

Maybe he could help him. Maybe he had powers that could bring back this man, this young man she had fallen for.
They had only just begun their journey.
It couldn't be over. Not yet. It was too soon.
They hadn't had enough time together, so many things they hadn't done.
Too many things had been left unsaid.

Needy didn't say anything.
Neither did Milton.
And neither did Amy.
She just sat there. Cradling the young man in her arms, wishing for a future they could no longer have.

*****

Soon, Jack would find them, Safe too, but they wouldn't know what Amy felt. Flechette will try to console her, some will try to physically tear her away from him, but in the end, they will just let her be. Give her time.
That's all they can do.


Later:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SoulOfSerenity:
There was silence as Soul drew the curtain shut around the bed containing the woman who had appeared to him as Ciaran. Soul had requested time alone with her, and the others had withdrawn.

---

Amy watched from a distance, her eyes red with grief, witnessing her fellow crewmembers give Soul time alone with Ciaran - the woman responsible for taking Milton's life.

Needy was in recovery, his condition stable, but he seemed to be muttering words in a language nobody could understand. At least he didn't have to be here for this, Amy thought to herself, to see Milton's killer treated as a patient.

She didn't know why they let Soul do what he had to do, but she prayed to whatever god that was out there that he was giving her hell right now. Making that bitch suffer the way they had all suffered.

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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"You're a better man than that" Kyra tells the man she had been sitting with for over an hour.

"You sound like him" the man replies to her. Until now he had only been referred to as The Weapon, but he was known by another name, in fact he had been known as many other names over the years

"Who?" the reporter asks

"Marshall. He always thought he knew me better than I knew myself" the man smirks, remembering times past

"Well I don't know about that, but it's true, you are a good man. It takes a man of remarkable courage to do what you're doing."

"I just do what I can" he responds, downplaying his role in what could be the greatest expose of all time.

"Even so. It's what this verse needs..." she tells him "Change. And you can make sure that happens. As soon as this is over with, I'll make sure this crew gets you where you need to be."

She smiles and places her hand on his, realising what he's been through - what he's had to sacrifice to get to this place. "They seem a good crew, they'll help you get it done"

"Thank you" he sighs "You're a good woman"

The words hurt her more than offer any reassurance. She can't accept them - she knows what she's done, the people she's hurt to get where she is. She was selfish and cold. Forgiven or not, she wasn't a good woman. She just wasn't.

Without realising it, she shook her head

"You are. To come out here and help us like this. It takes a person of courage and strength"

"I guess" she utters out loud even though inside she still doesn't believe it.
"You're wrong" she wants to tell him. "I'm not strong enough"

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*Bump*

OOC: By the way, how far from Santos are you guys? I'm trying to make a post to coincide with your arrival on the planet. It's hard not knowing how far off you are.

---------------------------------------
Mystery Man on the Sereni-Tree
Navigator on Destiny
Kurren, Bounty Hunter

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OOC: So how badly did I screw up people's plans with my post?

______________________

Soul, Security Chief of the Sereni-Tree, Captain of Destiny.

Mantichorus: "So is there a reason they call you 'Soul'?"
Soul (after a long pause): "Yeah. Because I have one."

I'm blogging about the novel I'm writing! Stay informed, and keep me inspired! Please!

http://havenofsouls.blogspot.com/

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OOC: HAHAHA!! Not at all Soul. Just am up to my eyeballs writing with my class and a project. My assignment is due Tues. so I should be able to post something after that.

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC: Bump!
Don't worry Soul, no screwing up of plans here.
I wold like to contribute but I'm in the middle of decorating my room this week.
Hopefully I'll be done by Friday and can get something posted

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OOC: Jazaf - I'm under the impression we're just about ready to land the ships. Well I hope we are, cos that's what I'm about to do

*****

The sky above Santos thundered as two ships broke atmo.

The Epsilon, a moderately sized ISSCV cargo vessel entered first, followed by a larger craft, ironically called The Dwarf. Once used by members of the presidential office to travel from planet to planet on "important" excursions, The Dwarf had since been stolen and was now transporting a family, and a handful of crewmembers, on an even more important mission - a mission to bring down the parliament itself.

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Kyra held onto the steel handle of the door as the ship rocked back and forth.

She'd been on ships before but she'd never got used to the turbulence, and usually she was sitting down.
Ideally, that's where she'd be right now, sitting (or possibly even laying) down, but instead she was waiting. Waiting to see if Soul would be returning yet.
It had felt like hours since he'd left her alone with "The Weapon" - left her whilst he and his colleagues attempted to regain control of their stolen ship.
And it had been even longer since she had last seen Needy and Milton, but they apparently could take care of themselves.
Truth was, she was fine. Travel sickness aside, she was fine being on her own in a strange new place, it came with the job. Hell, she'd been used to new places since she was fifteen, when she left home and moved in with her boyfriend six years her senior.

She wasn't worried now, she just wanted to know what was happening. The elusive Mr Sykes had passed by earlier, telling her that maybe she should stay onboard as opposed to heading over to The Epsilon to find Soul. It seemed he was deaing with a personal matter over there and didn't need anything else on his mind just yet.
The reporter in her told her to go over anyway, and she would have done, but her promise to the man inside that room told her she should remain, standing guard as it were.
Nevertheless, the curiousity of what was going on exactly was killing her.
If only Needy would show his face, he could at least cover for her whilst she took a gander.

"Hey!" she shouted out as she caught a glimpse of a man passing by the corridor
A second later and the man's head popped back around.
It was the crew's captain, Safe, looking quite pensive and impatient.

Realising she was never going to get him to come to her, she took a chance and left her post by the door, staggering down the corridor as the ship continued to rock back and forth.

"What's going on?" she asked

"Look, we're taking the ships down, so find a seat and sit down." he states clearly.
Too short with her, he thinks too himself as he shakes his head. "Don't want you to get hurt" he adds, a genuine statement but one which unfortunately doesn't lessen the impact his inital response had on her.

"Hey listen, I've been the quiet observer for long enough. I know I'm not one of your crew but I wanna know what's going on dammit!"

Safe lowers his shoulders and his head, he doesn't want to tell her, not like this and not now that he's just upset her as it is. He can't kick her when she's down. But he has no choice. He can't lie

"It's under control. We've got the ship back..."

She reads his face and years of experience in interviewing people tells her that there's something he's not saying. "But?"

"It seems Ciaran... we didn't stop her in time" he divulges under his breath

"What are you talking about" she manages as another shake of the ship rams her shoulder into the wall.

Safe holds his hand out to stabilise her but it's unneccesary. Already she has regained her balance and is continuing to stare at him, awaiting for a response. "What is it?"

"Needy and er... your friend"

"My fr... you mean Milton?" she asks, not understanding where he's going with it.

"Yeah. She got to them before we could." Safe tells her, looking around for someway to leave the conversation before it gets ugly.

"What are you talking about? They didn't even go with you"

"No but apparently they found a way on board before we did"

"Wh... how?"

"I don't kn.."

"What happened?" Kyra butts in again "What is it?" Her glazed eyes reveal she fears the truth, but she needs to know.

A warning sound blares throughout the ship. Apparently they weren't having the most successful landing, probably some trouble with the ship's attitude.
Safe begins to leave before he realises Kyra is gripping his arm tightly

"What is it?" She repeats, stressing each individual word

"Needy's unconscious, doesn't appear to be responding. He's in the ship's medi-bay"

That's all

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*waves to everyone

Hi Hi Ya'll

If someone would tell me where Shadow, Truth, Ghost, and Spider are that would be great, or I could try to create a new one. Sorry for being away so long :)

April

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Hey Aprilise! Its good to hear from you

Well last time the children were mentioned, they were onboard the stolen Epsilon. But the ships have docked since then, so they could be on either right now. In other words, they're wherever you want them to be.
The ships were about to land last we heard


-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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OOC: Sorry I've not posted of late, not been feeling great, bit under the weather. I was kinda hoping others would continue but we seem to have hit a mental block. I'll try to get us back up and running. Seryn, hope this helps in leading into your story. And Jazaf, I expect we'll be hearing from Kurren soon?

---

The dust settled around the two ships as the rumble of their engines calmed to a mere hum.

The landing yard was located on the outskirts of Fairholme, a homely town which itself was within a day's journey of Santos' Central.

Quite why The Dwarf's renegade crewmember Ciaran had led them here was anybody's guess, but they did need supplies. And with one of their passengers dead, the crew of The Epsilon needed to take care of the body, as quietly and unofficially as possible.

It was highly likely Santos Central would be crawling with Alliance officers, not to mention other unseen foes, foes all too eager to cash in on the capture of members of the resistance.

For the crew, business needed to be taken care of as quickly as possible, without raising too many eyebrows.

Safe walked slowly down the ramp extending out of the Dwarf, savouring the moment of breathing that fresh air once more.
As much as he enjoyed space travel, there was nothing quite like breathing in real air, feeling the gentle breeze against your face, and being bathed in the warm sunlight.

Stepping out of the shadow of the ship, he realised it wasn't going to be one of those days.
A superstitious resident of the town would tell you it was an omen, that the sun was afraid and that bad things were coming, but Safe didn't believe in that. Nevertheless, the outlook was dull, and the wind was strong and harsh - blowing sand in the faces of those foolish enough not to cover their eyes.

Rushing behind him out of the ship, a young woman, hiding the grief that lay behind those lying eyes, hurriedly walked to the other ship located on the opposite site of the yard.

The Epsilon, looked a lot smaller on the outside than you would have thought. It had comfortably housed a handful of rebel soldiers for months, perhaps even years, and yet looking at it sitting there in the yard - a insignificant passenger vessel, dwarfed by numerous larger ships in the nearby vicinity - you wouldn't have imagined it had seen much at all, let alone wars.

Its history to Kyra though was merely trivial, a list of mundane facts that didn't count for anything when it came down to it.
Maybe it was because she wasn't a traveller or the stars - she was used to having her feet on solid rock - but to her the ship was simply that, a vessel. It didn't matter. What mattered was its passengers. And she'd already lost one friend, she was damned if she was gonna let the man she loved die too.

The Epsilon:
"Jack we're not gonna last more than a month if we don't get a replacement." Seryn barked at the man standing across the way from her "A new one would be nice but I'm not expecting miracles"

Kyra brushed by the newly revitalised and invigorated warrior as she stepped on board The Epsilon once more.
Seryn watched as the reporter who was, might we add, a guest on the ship, rudely ignore the woman that was quite clearly running things right now.
"Looking for something?" Seryn called out as she ran her fingers down the list of supplies they needed. No repsonse. Figures

"I guess Safe told her" Jack muttered

"What's that?" Seryn said, looking up at him.

"About Needy and uh... the kid"

Seryn stared at him. "Did you get my gorram parts yet?"

"No" he responds simply

"Then get on it soldier or you'll be needing some replacement bits yourself"

"Yes ma'am" Jack replies with a cheeky smile and salute

Seryn shook her head, disguising a smile. But something was bothering her. Something felt... off. She'd felt it for a while now, and the feeling only grew stronger now that they had landed. She couldn't quite place what it was, but something... something weren't quite right.

Making her best attempt to shrug it off, she put

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“She’s more likely to respond to you, she’s known you longer… looks up to you…”

Safe pauses in his conversation with a bandaged Flechette, as he catches sight of Jack.

“Whoa, Jack! What’s up?”

Jack changes direction, approaching Safe and Flechette.

“Seryn’s got a list of stuff she needs, organizin’ for repairs and such. I never thought it possible Safe, if she weren’t a woman I’d say you had a twin.” Jack flashes Safe a grin, punching him in the shoulder before giving Flechette a quick kiss on the cheek and rushing off.

“I seriously don’t know how I continually put up with him.” Safe mutters under his breath.

Turning, he locks eyes with a glowering Flchette. Apparently he had used his outside voice.

“Ummm… I ahh… need to find Wisp and errr… Soul. Ya, that’s it, gotta find Wisp and Soul, plus wouldn’t hurt to have a talk with Seryn.”

Safe finishes the last part as he hurries away. Flechette just shakes her head, a small smile playing across her lips.

“What’s so funny?” Versa asks at Flechette’s shoulder, causing her to jump a bit.

“'Lord, Versa! How do you move around so quietly?”

Versa shrugs. “Good shoes? You still haven’t told me what was so funny.”

“Men…”

Versa looks at Flechette confused.

“Lets go find Amy and put her to work tidying and fixing these ships. Busy hands will give her no time to dwell.” Flechette puts an arm over Versa's shoulders and lets the other woman lead the way.

The dizziness would pass, she just couldn’t let Safe and, most importantly, Jack see that it still bothered her.

OOC: Sorry about being absent. 10-400 word writing assignments and a ongoing script tend to clutter ones brainpan.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

I hope you have a warm and safe holiday, as you all have deserved it.

I apologize for my absence, but I discovered a hidden talent thanks to you all and am actively pursuing it.

I sincirely hope this thread continues on as the thought and talent here should never be allowed to fade.

Thank-you.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Am I dead?

---

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.

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I dunno. How do you feel?

Do you feel dead?

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Dunno.

How does dead feel?

---

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.

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HAHAHAHA!!!

I would imagine if one were dead, one would feel coolish, kinda blah, not a lot of get-up-and-go.

Do you have a an unquenchable hunger that can only be slated by... I dunno... brainsss?

Merry Christmas C.

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Quote:

---

Originally posted by citizen:
Dunno.

How does dead feel?

---

OOC: Was gonna save this for a bit, but guess I can post it now, since you mention the "dead" thing.

---

A thousand voices called out to Needy in the blackness.
They were distant - mere whispers in the wind - but they were getting closer. Louder but not yet more distinct.
Then certain words and phrases could be made out (“portal” “Dr Benis” “Serenity”) but not before they were drowned out by more.
It was getting louder and more chaotic now. Words were being spoken over other words. Soon, nothing could be distinguished.
It was just noise, shouting at him, driving him out of his mind.
Then all of sudden it was silent.

Instead now he was in a void, though he couldn’t confirm it. After all, what does a void look like? Is it a black space devoid of light where time didn’t seem to exist? Because if that’s a void then gorram it, that’s where he was.

There was no breeze, no sound - nothing.

Was he dead?

No.
Death didn’t feel like this.
He’d been dead.

Death was feeling everything and nothing at the same time.
Death was lying in the mud, your shirt covered in warm blood as pain washes over you like a tide. Again and again it drowns you, wearing your senses down, eroding your strength and will to live until there is nothing left of you but open eyes, eyes staring up yearning, praying for it to be finally over. Death was then getting that wish and finding yourself somewhere else entirely - somewhere familiar, but at the same time alien – a feeling of unease settling in.
Death was finding out your life had ended, but the pain would continue, that you would continue.
This wasn’t death.

Death was far more interesting


Maybe this was purgatory.
Or even worse, maybe this was hell.
No fire, no demonic creatures, but torture nonetheless.
An eternal existence in the dark pits of Hades. Trapped in a senseless prison with no breath nor sound. No history, no future. Nothing.
Just one man. Alone. Forever.


-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Happy New Year Special Branch-ians!!

"Death was far more interesting"
What a truly excellent line, Needy!!

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC-Sorry for my absence ive been on a drug fuelled bender for weeks! Unfortunately Ive been making them rather than taking them which makes the overall effect less fun

"Your not going anywhere!!" Maxine shouted from the medbay doorway. Wisp was pottering around on crutches trying to put on a pair of jeans. He was struggling so much that if he hadnt just had holes drilled in his skull you could have laughed.

"Look" He said between wriggles "Im walking, Im talking, my wounds healing, and im going GORRAM crazy staring at these 4 walls!" He managed to finally pull them on and did up his belt with a sense of pride. Then however he saw that the shoes in the medbay were his boots and dreaded the prospect of trying to lace them up. "Im going outside for a walk, fresh air, change of sceneary and all that jazz. Now you cant stop me unless you knock me round the head, which would probably put me in a coma again, so can you go to my bunk and grab me my sneakers?"

Maxine was not happy at her medical opinion being ignored. Although she had to admit his recovery was remarkably quick, most people who recieve such head trauma take months to start walking. Some never even talk again. His brain activity was remarkable. "Fine. But your going no where alone. Ill find Vixen and she can help you around" Wisp made a quick mouth movment to complain but was shot down before any air escaped "FINAL"



Vixen was sat alone in the mess hall. Despite her heroic attempts to save the ship the crew still didnt trust her nor like her. They blamed her for Wisps tryst with death and still thought she was in league with the enemy (even though at present 'the enemy' was a purely theoretical term).

"Vixen" said a voice from the doorway, Maxine stood there holding a pair of shoes and looking forlorn. "Can I ask a favour??"

Inwardly Vixen jumped with glee at being included and trusted. "You can ask. I cant guarantee anything" she replied with a cold indifference.

"Well Wisp is adamant about getting out and about, so I was wondering If you could just go with him, keep him out of trouble and that?"

She paused for a noticble moment. Of course she was going to do it, she had kicked him in the head and all.She needed to apologise and try and make things right "Fine". She stood up and walked to Maxine taking the shoes from her hand and heading to sick bay.

"What a bitch" Maxine says aloud as shes left alone.


www.myspace.com/didxl

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OOC: Hey all! It's been too long. Been ill of late (since holidays really) hence me not posting much. Hope you're all doing well and have had a good christmas and new year. (Can't believe its 2008... only 7 more years and we'll finally be getting those flying cars we saw in Back to the Future 2 )
Btw, loved your post WYSB.
Let's see if we can get the story up and running again

---

The Dwarf's Medibay was a quiet and cold room.
Situated mere feet away from the bridge, it had, only hours before, witnessed the worst type of treachery.
Now, the man that had murdered one of his closest friends in cold blood seemed to be resting peacefully. But appearances can be deceiving. Truth is his state is much more than mere unconsciousness. And his friends, who knew neither of his betrayal nor the cause of his condition, had no clue as to what the young man was truly going through. That, whilst his body remained still and calm, his mind dwelt elsewhere - trapped in a world that others dare not even imagine.

Suddenly, a young woman rushed in, desperate to see the man she loved and had already lost once before.
Kyra stopped as she caught sight of him, suddenly the absolute terror finally hitting her. The thought that, maybe this was the end, that he was at deaths door, seemed all too real now.
Slowly she approached him, instinctively reaching her hand out and placing it on his arm as she reached his side.
It was strange, she'd been in hospitals plenty of times, and seen people in cirtical condition. But that's not what this looked like. There were no tubes going into his body, no IV drip, he was not hooked up to any of the machines sitting nearby. The only clue he was not merely taking a nap in there was down to the round green cardiopad that stuck to his chest, a thin lead running to a small box shaped machine sitting on the trolley - a steady heartbeat manifesting itself on the screen.
"Needy" she whispered his name, stroking his arm with her hand. "Can you hear me?"
When he failed to initiate any sort of response, she suddenly became very self-aware, almost foolish. Then she realised she wasn't alone.
"We don't know what's wrong with him" Soul uttered softly from the doorway.

She turned to face the intruder and wasted no time in voicing her thoughts.

"Who did this?"

Soul sighed softly, he'd expected the question, albeit maybe not so soon. Had it been the love of his life on the table though, he would be asking the very same question.

"This Ciaran woman?" she persisted

"We don't know exactly" he replied calmly

"Where is she? Is she dead?" Kyra didn't care how it sounded, the woman who did this didn't matter.

Soul fought back his emotions, bottling them up as he had done a thousand times before. She didn't know the truth, and she didn't know his story. All she knew right now was anger, anger and pain. He couldn't hold what she said against her.

"Yeah" he uttered "she's gone."

"Good" Kyra thought but no words came out. Instead she realised she had been clutching his arm too tightly and the impression had left a handprint on it. Gasping softly, she began to stroke it better like a caring nurse "I'm sorry" she whispered, though it may have been of little consequence.

Soul started to walk away, recognising their need to be alone, before he stopped and, with hesitation, asked "Our man... is he ok?"

Kyra suddenly became overwhelmed with grief though she did not show it, keeping her back to the man standing in the doorway. The weapon, the story, the reason she wasn't there by Needy's side to begin with. If their paths hadn't crossed this never would have happened. That gorram ship and its crew. She couldn't dwell on it. She just couldn't
"He's fine" she managed to rattle off quickly

"Ok" Soul replied quietly, and with that he took his leave.

Finally alone, Kyra completely breaks down, clutching Needy's hand and holding it close to her face, using it to catch her tears.


-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http

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I'm still not sure where the kids are or I'd try...I haven't been keeping up with this thread unfortunately.

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Needy, that was... fantastic!!

Good to see you again April, but then I'm one to talk. I've been away a while. Too many projects all at once and the one I liked the most is the one that suffered... this thread.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Wisp clumsily hobbled down the cargo ramp while Vixen walked a step behind and to the left of him. Whenever he slipped a little bit she didnt even flinch just offered encouragment like

"Cant you walk straight cripple?"

Wisp breathed deep when he reached the very last step. The fresh air, the sunlight, it was an intoxicant to his space deprived senses. As he smelt the air he noticed an odd smell: was that sulphur?

"Where do you think your going there Soldier???" Boomed Safes voice from across the hangar.

"Fresh air to do me good. Doctors orders" well technically it was against doctors orders but he didnt know.

"You sure you feel up to it??"

"Im goin stir crazy in the medbay, Id crawl out here if i had to"

Safe walked towards them and looked at Vixen. "You sure you need the piece?" he pointed to the pistol on Vixens hip.

"Uh-hu Doctors orders" He voice cut like a razor of sarcasm over Safe's face as she grinned sadistically at him.

"Lose it, or put it in a shoulder we dont want everyone here thinking were bandits"

Vixen attempted to stare Safe down but even she couldnt break him down. begrudgingly she removed her belt and jacket. With a few strap alterations her hip holster had become a shoulder which she hid under a small red denim jacket. She then lay on an overly cheesy grin of disdain and walked off into the world.

"Take care" Safe said turning to leave but Wisp shouted after him.

"Boss, one more thing" Safe turned back "theres a sulphur smell coming from the port side, we could have burnt out the stabilising cables on entry"

Safe laughed. Hes on crutches and still try to fix the ship "Ill get somebody on it, You enjoy your walk"

"will do" He strutted towards Vixen then headed into town.




www.myspace.com/didxl

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Safe watched them go with a mixture of regret and admiration.

So young to have been put on this path and yet... the conviction he showed was uncharacteristic of one his age.

Safe chuckled again and mentally added the port thruster to his list of things to do.

He turned his attention skywards and tried to will his eyes to see past the atmosphere, catch a glimpse of something he knew wasn't there.

A futile effort, he knew. The Dagger and Destiny were miles from here. He couldn't speak for the crew of the Destiny but he knew his old crew, the first sign of the Alliance and they had left for safer skies to wait until things settled.

Pushing aside wistful thinking, Safe walked up the gangplank and almost right into Seryn.

Her head was down as she studied the clipboard in her hand. She was on a mission.

"Whoa... where's the fire?" Safe smiled at Seryn, but quickly swallowed that smile under her whithering glare.

"Looks like a requisition list." He quickly added.

"Mr. perception..."

Safe cleared his throat, "Ok, I deserved that. Wisp said something about..."

"Sulphur smell from the port side? Ya, it's on the list." Seryn finished and stalked off.

"Ok... I'll find Soul and find out what he got from the 'passenger', and then check on Needy..." Safe called after Seryn.

Safe turned and stalked the rest of the way up the gangplank. "Yeesh, everyone's so touchy..."



_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Quote:

---

Originally posted by Aprilise:
I'm still not sure where the kids are or I'd try...I haven't been keeping up with this thread unfortunately.

---

OOC: At the minute, all the kids are safe and sound on the Epsilon (possibly being watched over by Sykes). Currently, both The Epsilon and The Dwarf are parked in a landing yard on Santos.

Hope that helps

I'm gonna try and update the guide, kinda left it hanging, and try and post an update of events for the thread

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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OOC: LOL, great stuff, loving the character interaction... with all the action stuff, seems like ages since we've had some good old fashioned snarkiness
Btw, sorry if this post is rather long. But figured its about time we knew a bit more about who "The Weapon" is.

Seven Years Ago:

The young man sat quietly in the lab, waiting patiently for Styx to return. He remained still on the gurney, wearing nothing but his assigned grey trousers, whilst his shirt, socks and boots sat across the room by an empty chair.
Fifteen was his name now. He was nothing but a number. An operative chosen for a special mission. A weapon.

Fifteen looked at his body and smiled. Even now he still struggled to believe that it was his own. He'd come a long way from being the weak little kid in school.
He was well built but he wasn't a giant, his muscles were well-toned but not bulging. He was intended to blend in, but he could take care of himself if need be. A few years ago and he couldn't take care of his pet rabbit, but that was then, and this was now. Things had changed. He had changed

Fifteen looked at his arm and studied it. On his upper right shoulder sat three silver pimples forming the shape of a triangle on his skin, like little bulbarians that had been fired into his arm - the result of the final injection he had been given three days earlier.
The tests were finally complete and he was now well qualified and prepared for the task at hand.
Infiltration was the name of the game, a game he had played all too often, only this time it was long term. Three years was a long time to spend undercover but he was ready for it. He was determined to get it done.
This mission was the only one that mattered -Styx had told him as much - and he truly believed he was the man for the job.
The Expendables were doing important work, they wanted to change the verse, and Fifteen was about to make that a reality.

Just then two men entered the room. Styx, followed by another man - a face he'd never seen before. The man was significantly taller than his superior and younger too, looking to be in his late twenties, early thirties. He was serious though, and his eyes looked as though they had witnessed more than was possible for a man his age.

Fifteen jumped from the gurney and saluted.

"At ease soldier" Styx said as Fifteen lowered his hand. Meanwhile, the younger man stepped from behind Styx and held out his hand to the young operative.
Fifteen stared at the hand for a brief second but soon grasped it with his own, shaking it, despite the feeling that it was strange for an superior to introduce himself this way.

"Operative Blackout," the man said "it is an honour to meet you. I've heard a great deal about you and your success."
Fifteen hesitated upon hearing his new name, all too often his name had changed from mission to mission and all to often he was the last to know exactly what his new name would be.

"Thank you sir but the success is not due to my own talents, but those which you have given me."

"Truer words have never been spoken" Styx laughed, patting Fifteen/Blackout on his shoulder.

"Don't sell yourself short now" the man replied, "it takes courage to do what you're doing."

"With all due respect sir, any fool can be courageous, this job requires faith. And I truly believe The Expendables are doing good work"

"That they are my boy, that they are" Styx smiled and continued to laugh, proud of the loyal agent he has created.

The other man smiled softly, feigning a showy display of pride in the operative's faith, but in reality, the words he spoke chilled him. If the organisation could create such willing warriors, then truly they were a force to be reckoned with.

Marshall smiled and saluted, reciting the group's motto "For the greater good"

"For the greater good" Fifteen/Blackout saluted back.

---

Now:

Soul approached the door to the scorched room on The Dwarf once more, his hand hovering over the handle as he recalled his first meeting with the individual inside. It

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OOC: I've decided to go back to the Special Branch Guide, hoping to update it and realised how much story we have written.
Aprilise, I've written a brief summary for the Carson children (though its incomplete) but have included where they are currently
I'll try to stay on top of this, but gotta re-read the other threads first so I can recall what's happened.

Guide: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=29509

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Wisp hobbled into town with Vixen at his side. It was busy but not crowded. People walked the streets at lesiurley pace, Shopkeepers chatted to customers, dogs peed on lamposts. It was a Town that didnt see a lot of trade but just enough throughfare for a man on crutches to escape all attention.

"hey lets do some shopping" Wisp said freely as he turned to face Vixen "my wardrobe is looking a little too bullet ridden for my liking"

"Negative"

"Im sorry what was that?"

"Shops are too dangerous right now. We're probably on several government watch lists and we'll be retina scanned if we enter a shop. Besides the streets give us a better line of sight" Her voice was methodical and cold. Although she didnt say it she was also looking at all the dark allyways nearby and all the wealthy people that could be tempted into them and mugged. Wisp also knew what she was thinking but put it to the back of his mind. He was happy to be outside again.

Real air was just one of those things. You can be cooped up in space for 6 months just wishing for a lungfull, then as soon as you get it your ready to get right back up there for 6 more months.

The pair of them trotted round in silence, Wisp trying to relax and look normal while Vixen peered at every doorway with suspicon. As they were turning one street corner a startled horse bolted from a nearby bar. It ran crazily across the street in a zigzag rearing up at every surface. Wisp dove for cover off the road his head spinning at the sudden altitude loss. Vixen however watched its motion and pattern and with a smooth movment grabbed its reigns as it charged past. She half held, half let it slide past but the horse halted without restraint. As soon as it was stationary she left it and dragged Wisp off the floor.

"How the chuff?" Wisp asked in awe as he was frog marched away from the scene.

"Fight of flight reaction" She replied casually "it can be averted by instilling normality"

"Where did you learn that?" He was the smart one, how did she know all these fancy psychological terms

"Oh you know" Without changing tone "Prison"

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

Coded signal

Source Santos

Sparrow has been spotted in flock

2 Barrels loaded

Shots at dawn

End


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OOC: Ooh, ooh ooh. Got me excited WYSB!


-----

How do you track a tracker? A man with such great expertise in his line of work that he knows better than to leave a trail of his own.

Clayton Payne contemplated this as he sat quietly, out of sight, on the bridge of this vessel, watching his hired pilot punch in keys on the computer.

The bounty hunter that had taken an interest in Needy and the crew of rebels had left him in quite the predicament. This hunter, a man known simply as Kurren hadn't got much from the reporter, but he'd got enough. Now Clayton feared that the life of his former partner Kyra McTaggert was in danger, that she would be used to get to the companion turned fugitive.

Clayton was left in the dirt, with seemingly no means to track the hunter after he left.
At least, that's what Kurren would have thought.
But Clayton, being the obsessive reporter that he was, was always prepared.

"This is it" the pilot uttered in a monotone.
Clayton stood up from his chair and walked to the window
"You sure?"
"Damn sure, if that locater is as reliable as you claim it is"
Clayton looked at the planet below. There appeared to be no ships flying nearby. It was as he feared, Kurren had already reached his destination. He only hoped that he hadn't made his move yet.
"Where are we?" the reporter asked his dazed pilot.
Looking at his computer once more, he punched a key on the pad bringing up on the screen details of the planet below.
"Santos"

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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If Safe had been a man of faith or even one that put stock in psychic abilities, maybe he, or any of the rest of the crew, would be forewarned. Maybe they would have a premonition of the things to come, but as it was, he was blissfully unaware of the storm clouds gathering on the horizon.

He had always prided himself on his clarity of vision, his common sense, his instinct during battles. These traits had accelerated him through the ranks, had kept him alive and, to his bewilderment, inspired loyalty in others. He was never one to seek attention or higher status, much to the chagrin of his ex-wife. He just did his job to the best of his ability.

To him it was a simple matter of assessing the situation and being prepared even for the unexpected. Nothing ever went as it should nor as it was supposed to go. The best course of action was to accept that fact. Roll with the punches.

Finding Soul was part of that process, gathering facts, assessing the situation.

“... both of them. Their time is over.”

Safe approached the burnt-out room on the Dwarf where Soul leaned against the doorframe.

“Whose time is over?”

Soul and the ‘weapon’ look at Safe, identical guarded expressions molded their features.

Safe felt like he was being measured. Even though he counted Soul as a friend, he supposed he couldn’t blame them, it was something that came with the territory for every Alliance soldier or officer. And he was, after all, an ex-Alliance officer, hell, for that matter he was an ex-cop, an ex-pilot an ex-husband… seemed he was ex-everything.

To be truthful, there were Alliance soldiers and officers that deserved the publics mistrust, and then there were those like Safe and Jack that were just doing a job. Who, maybe, had a rose-coloured perspective of the Alliances original ideals.

Safe stared back unflinching; waiting for an answer.


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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It was dusk when the Bounty Baby managed to finish docking procedures at one of Santos' major cities. Kurren didn't mind the wait, he knew that the intel he intended to get would be good. Weaving through the streets he made his way to a brothel aptly named 'The Wanton Missus'. He circles around to the side of the building and ascends the staircase. A lone guard halts Kurren's progress at the top of the stairs.

"Don't no one come through this door unless they show me the boss' approval."
Kurren ignores the guard and moves toward the door but is roughly shoved away. The guard stands between Kurren and the door with his hand against Kurren's chest.
"You deaf? Show me your brand or get lost!"
Kurren's reply is swift, he grabs the oppressing arm by the wrist with his right hand and pulls the arm over his shoulder while the left shoulder dips in between the guards' legs. Before the guard can protest, Kurren hurls him down the stairs.
------
A nervous stick of a man enters a room of pre grandeur. Armed guards are posted at several doorways, scantily-clad women dance for threemen in the center of the room. The nervous man walks hurriedly to the back where a single man studies several screens and hesitantly calls his attention. "Boss?"
Irritated about the disturbance the man replies sharply, "What?"
"T-theres a fella outside says he needs to talk with you."
In a condescending tone the boss asked,"Did you happen to find out why I should consider talking to him?"
"he s-s-ssaid that his tattoo of a skull with a jester cap on a diamond background would be reason enough." The boss became visibly shaken and his face flushed. He grabbed the messenger by the collar and shook him.
"That ruttin' pup is here?! Don't let him in here!"
A voice came from the opposite side of the room, "Too late."
"Kurren!" the boss clapped his hands three times. The dancers and their three patrons left the room, the guards remained ready to remove the unexpected visitor.
"What brings you to my humble little establishment?"
Kurren chuckles as he closes the gap between him and the boss. "Why else would I come Percy? I want information and I know that you can give it to me."
"Could you please not call me that infront of my men?" Percy whines.
"Why not? It's the only name I've known you as."
"I have other names, and a fantastic title. They call me 'The Lord of the Borough' in these parts."
"You'll still be Percy to me" Kurren grins. Percy's face flushes again.
"Have you noticed my guards? I could have you killed."
"We both know I could end your life and that of two of your guards before they even unholster their guns." Kurren states.
"But there is no bounty on me."
"I'd consider it a Public Service." Kurren's tone suggested to Percy to end the current dialogue. Percy offers a smile and raises his hands in mock surrender.
"What do you want?"
"I'm looking for a ship."
******
OOC: How great it is to be back! Man! I lost my train of thought for this story but when I started writing it just came out. hah! I was trying to write about a fireman's carry when Kurren threw the guard down the steps, I hope it was clear enough.
edited Feb 22
---------------------------------------
Mystery Man on the Sereni-Tree
Navigator on Destiny
Kurren, Bounty Hunter

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"You want what??" maxine asked incredulously. Never in all her years as a medic had she heard anything like it.

"Stem cells" Wisp repeated quite calmly "I was looking through the Epsilons manifest and they have any emergencey Organ repair kit which contains stem cells"

"Ok but would do i do with them?"

"You dont do anything with them but ill need a sample of my bone marrow DNA inorder to specify the cells for my body. I need you to take a bone marrow sample"

Maxine paused for a moment in thought "so thats why you walked in here with that strange needle and a power drill?"

"Yup, you need to drill a hole in my shoulder, pull out some bonemarrow, then you inject that into the IV bag and by tommorrow i should be walking again...or riddled with cancer"

"Is this safe?? Like at all?"

Wisp laid down on the bed and removed his tshirt. "safe is such a vague word. Nobodys ever died from this procedure before. But then again nobodys ever attempted this procedure before"

Maxine gulped heavily as she began to sedate Wisp.


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Quote:

---

Originally posted by safeat2nd:

“... both of them. Their time is over.”

Safe approached the burnt-out room on the Dwarf where Soul leaned against the doorframe.

“Whose time is over?”

Soul and the ‘weapon’ look at Safe, identical guarded expressions molded their features.

...

Safe stared back unflinching; waiting for an answer.

---

Soul looked at "the weapon" then back at Safe, clearly ill-prepared for such an intrusion.
Walking up to his fellow crewmember he whispers to him "Look I'll explain everything, you've just got to give me a minute"

The Weapon watched from a distance, unable to discern what was being spoken. Marshall, or Soul, whatever name he was going by now, had his back to him. The weapon could no more read his lips than he could his mind. The voice in his head that told him not to trust the ex-agent was now more trustworthy than ever - and the secret meeting these two men were now engaged in did nothing to bolster his confidence and trust in the crew.

Safe looked over at the weapon as Soul made his request, the stowaway was looking blankly at them both. Safe couldn't read him and he didn't feel comfortable in relying on his instincts in this case.
Sadly, he felt he couldn't fully trust Soul either. So much had happened and the fact of the matter was, Soul had been involved with the woman responsible for this mess. Who was to say he could be trusted? Maybe he was more involved than any of them dare imagine.

"No, you're going to tell me now." Safe said loudly, this time The Weapon could here the conversation loud and clear, but was it a ruse, solely for his benefit?

"What is this? I want the truth!" Safe demanded, his voice echoing down the hallways

Soul stepped back a bit, quite surprised by Safe's outburst. He knew he was capable of it, but it did seem out of character. Clearly, the crew's elected leader had had enough of the lies.

Soul prepared himself to divulge what he knew, but he was too slow. The Weapon, this man that had got by many names and had seen so much, was also tired. Tired of being kept in the dark, shutaway from the rest of the civilisation.
If the ship's captain wanted a story, then he was sure going to give him one. The whole bloody epic tale.

"Fine. You want to know the truth?" The weapon stated, taking Soul by surprise. "I'll tell you the truth. I'll tell you everything."



-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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OOC: its a bit of a long post, hope you dont mind

Quote:

---

Originally posted by NEEDY:

Clayton was left in the dirt, with seemingly no means to track the hunter after he left.
At least, that's what Kurren would have thought.
But Clayton, being the obsessive reporter that he was, was always prepared.

---

Earlier:
"I need your help" Clayton uttered quickly as soon as Robert Wu had opened the door to his modest but respectable downtown apartment.
The words "What are you doing here?" were on the tip of Robert's mouth but he never actually spoke them. Not that it would contribute to much anyway, Clayton knew full well what the man was thinking even though, unlike his friend, he was devoid of any "special abilites."
He knew that what he was doing was against the rules, but the rules didn't apply anymore, or at least not right now, and one man's privacy was worth less than a two-bit sparrow, especially when lives were at stake.
"I made a mistake" Clayton confessed walking into the heart of the man's home - the large space wherein the man often attempted to find some peace.
Robert pushed the door shut after the unwanted guest and slowly followed him into the living space.
"You didn't use the bug?" he asked
"Yeah, I used it" Clayton answered. The Bug in question was a chemical imprint, usually rubbed on a surface using the palm of one's hand. Kurren had denied a handshake during their meeting together but their minor scuffle had been enough for the reporter to mark the hunter's clothes. The Bug, like a lot of the resistance's technology, had been taken from the Blue Sun corporation itself. It wasn't available to the public of course, but the resistance had their sources, and Clayton had Robert.
"Then what's the problem?" Robert asked, his mind already distracted by another unspoken concern.
"You're the problem." Clayton snapped "The man's gone and I don't have transportation. You said you'd be there at Rollins'"
Rollins, of course. Robert had been distracted, so distracted that he had completely forgotten about their arrangement.
"Sorry Payne but there's been developments" Robert said, without a hint of actual genuine repentance in his statement. He was far too busy scanning his own room.
"What sort of developments?!" Clayton replied, his tone still excited over his own situation.
Behind the man, a thin brown briefcase sits open on the armchair, beside which lay printed documents. Robert rushes over to them, seemingly ignoring the reporters question.
Clayton turns, following the man with his eyes as he spots the papers and the strange devices housed in the open case.
"What sort of developments?" Clayton repeats, only now he fears that his own problems may be insignificant to a greater worry.
"Special Branch" Robert replies, shutting the case carefully and handing him a dozen or so sheets of the documents.
Names listed in random order, followed by serial numbers and a small barcode fill the papers, page after page.
"What is this?"
"You were right. It wasn't just the one team. They were hacked. All of them"
"What are y... Special Branch?" Clayton looked at the list, names he didn't recognise, but each and every one important to the furtherance of the resistance movement.
"When the Alliance raided the facility it wasn't a lucky break, it was the beginning of the end. Now they've got them all under lock and key, and it's only a matter of time til that sword of Damocles falls"
Clayton continues to scan the pages, hundreds of names, hundreds of heroes that had selflessly risked their own necks in the hopes of a better verse.
"Why now? I told you before we should have done something"
"A plan hadn't been formulated" Robert stated simply
"And now?" Clayton asked
"Now is the time. Now we move"
"No, this is crazy" Clayton objected "Now isn't the time! There's a bounty hunter and he's going to..."
"What?" Robert asked
"I think he's going to kill them. I think he'd kill her... if it meant getting his bounty"
"I'm sorry Payne but I can't help you, not based on "if's" and

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OOC: HOLY S***!! Needy, that is fantastic!!
I know I haven't contributed much lately, but I am still around and haven't forgotten.

Nice posts by WSYB and Jazef as well!!

I will try to add something soon.

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Do you know how wonderful it is to tie your shoe laces? I mean the feeling of bending one knee lowering your back and having the dexterity in your fingers to tie a double bow in some string?

Wisp would have told the maker himself that it was better than sex with 3 girls at once (an experience he had actually had) that day. After serious brain damaged, haemorage, and skull fractures he woke up and was fine. Better than fine actually he didnt have a scratch on him, the straight out of the shop look. His radical stem cell treatment had done exactly what he intended and he was ready to get back in the swing of things. That was as soon as Maxine actually let him leave.

"Im fine honest" Wisp interjected as He was poked proded and probed as he tried to dress.

"I dont care how perfect you think you feel yesterday you could barely walk and today your in perfect health" she flustered around him checking his bone density with a handheld recorder which she kept jabbing him with.

"look youve scanned me 18 zillion times with that thing, youve run blood cultures and a neural scan and everything says im fine"

"yea well im not trusting that neural scan, according to that you have double the normal brain activity of anyone, the machine must be broken"

Wisp looked down at his feet admiring his handywork. A smirk travelled across his face, It quickly disappated when maxine forced herself into his eyeline

"Im telling you, you should get at LEAST another days bed rest"

"Look im not going far" He took his worn brown flying jacket off the hook in the corner. It had sat there teasing him for days as he lay in bed. He embraced the feeling of the denim as it brushed over his skin and flexed his fingers in the air. "Im going for a walk round the ship. I might sit on the ramp and get some fresh air. Im not going outside i dont need an escort"

He took hold of the door handle to leave the med bay. How long had it been since he opened a door? It would have been when He got on the Dwarf. The simple things in life give the most pleasure. He opened it and stepped into the hall.

"I promise ill come back for another check-up before i get in my bunk"

She crossed her arms and huffed as he wandered off down the hall.

'That is one stubborn young man.' she thought to herself 'just 19 and he cures himself of a Broken head and wanders off round the ship'

"Wait a second, his bunks on the other ship and he said he wouldnt go outside! The lying little..." She banged her probe down on the sideboard and began cleaning with liquid frustration.


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"Surveillance reports call for the plan to be redesigned" 63 said as he entered the Abandoned Warehouse. What he meant by surveillance is what he just saw with his own to eyes, But Phase II's didnt think like that. They were sort of programmed in stage II. Project:Einstein stage I's were given the first level of Neural advancment to see how theyd cope, but Phase II's were put through rigorous training. They were more like machines than people. They had no social life, they didnt feel the need for luxuries, they didnt love or hate. The experts told the politicans they didnt feel fear either but that was a lie. They just called it a different name.

Odds. Statistics. Chance. They evaluated their own worth as a cost to the alliance so avoided death that way.

"Explain" 27 was tall with short dark hair and bland pale features. 63 could be described exactly the same. They were given make overs and surgery to appear generic. They couldnt stand out even if they tried.

"Target's injuries are completely healed. Current plans invalid" They both had IQ's double even the smartest scientist so they had lost the use of basic grammar structures in favour of more efficent speach. Like a computer.

"Frontal assault too dangerous. Chance of injury to target too high"

"Federal law enforcment presence. Chance of injury to target too high"

"Wait for opportune moment. Chance of success High. Risk to target Low. Risk to strike team medium"

The two of them then picked up their single rucksacks and headed out the door. 27 lit a flare and placed it in a pre-arranged flammable location. The two of them disappeared into the night, and an abandoned warehouse burnt down.

OOC- been out of the action for too long so just wanted to lay down some work


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OOC: Excellent posts WYSB, can't wait to see how the story of Project:Einstein pans out
Think I might entitle the next thread Special Projects, what do you think?

Well without further ado, lets get back to the story

****

"I wasn't looking for attention. And I didn’t have any grand plans of infamy. I did this because I truly thought it was the right thing to do”

“And what’s that?” Safe asked without hesitation.

“I volunteered”

“For what?” Safe said, staring into the man’s eyes, willing to see past the façade of a poor stowaway, and the truth that hid underneath, some deep dark secret no doubt.

The man laughed and shook his head. “You don’t get it, I’m not who they say I am”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about” Safe replied whilst Soul looked on in silence. “Why don’t you tell me who you are, what you’re doing here. Then I’ll decide where we take it from there.”

The man shook his head again. “Well I’m certianly not like you. Alliance right? Or at least you were. You certainly look the part, standing tall with your head held high as if you’ve nothing to be ashamed of, meanwhile you’re standing on the very rug that you just swept your dirt under.”
Safe bit his tongue, he’d let the man have this little dig at him, he was ignorant, didn’t know the first thing about him, his past, nor his former dealings with the alliance.
“I was nothing special, didn’t have a military background – my mother was a priest and my dad spent most of his time working down at Eavesdown. I thought I was gonna turn out to be a mechanic just like him, didn’t have any aspirations otherwise. But I was chosen. Chosen for the training program that the group offered me.”

“What group?” Safe asked

“The Expendables” Soul muttered to his friend, whilst The Weapon nodded his head.

Safe glared at Soul and clenched his teeth. He wanted to draw his weapon and hold it point blank against The Weapon’s forehead. The group were dangerous and one of their agents – Ciaran – had just killed one of their passengers, whilst leaving another in a critical state. But Soul had also been one. He didn’t know if that should make him want to give the stowaway the benefit of the doubt or whether he should just throw both him and Soul overboard.

“Don’t worry, I’m not with them anymore, and you can trust me on that”

Safe didn’t care what the man said, he wasn’t putting blind faith in anyone anymore

“But I believed, hell in a way I still do, that they’re not all bad. That they do have our best intentions at heart. They are trying to do good work. They are trying to improve the verse, trying to take that power the Alliance so mercilessly holds over everybody else, and turn it against them. It's only then that things can change.”

“Okay,” Safe butts in “first of all, The Alliance are doing good things too, or at least they're trying to. Maybe I do look at them differently to the rest of you but it doesn't mean I'm not right. They’re in over their heads, for sure, but they are not the evil corporation you make them out to be. And without that government in place, the human race probably would have destroyed itself years ago.”

Silence descended upon the group of three, each giving thought to their own standing on the matter.

“Maybe you’re right” The Weapon broke the silence “but it was The Alliance, not The Expendables that did this to me”

“I was trained to be the best” he continued “until it got to the point where I was the ultimate soldier. But others were doing their own experimentation, experiments on innocent civilians. These ones weren’t chosen or asked if they wanted to take part, they were dragged off the streets. I don’t know how many died before we even got wind of the news, but when they wanted to send an operative in, I made sure I was on the front line. I volunteered for that. To shut them down, once and for all.
Only... I failed. They found me out and before long I was subjected to the same experiments. I became their soldier. It d

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Kyra woke suddenly in her chair, her body jolting from the empty gurney upon which she had rested her head.
The room was coloured an Alliance blue, cold and disconnected. Upon the walls sat white cabinets, each containing a variety of tablets, glass beakers covered with warning labels and several vials containing what looked like blood. Meanwhile, aseptic surgical instruments sat placed atop the metal trolley, close to where she sat.
“Bernie” she muttered under her breath, still attempting to discern her surroundings.
“Yes” a voice replied.
Her vision blurred and then came into focus again, whilst she stared at the figure standing before her in the doorway.
“Bernie” she called out again “you’re okay?”
Her voice sounded slightly different in her head, as if she was listening to the words playback to her on a recording. She certainly felt disconnected from reality but she ignored it, choosing instead to focus on the miraculous recovery of her lover.

“You need to help me” the silhouette of the man stated in a calm and collected manner.
“What are you talking about” her own voice uttered in reply.
The man may have had his back to her and she was still clearly “out of it” but she knew it was him.
“Remember. You need to help me. Before it’s too late”
“Too late?” she replied, standing up slowly from her chair “Too late for what?”
“Korangar”
“What?” she asks walking towards him, her steps seemingly taking a lifetime to complete

“Master of man of beast and of monster, traveller of stars and walker of skies…” Needy began to utter. The meaning of the words were lost on her but he continued anyway, rattling them off in a monotone. “...Devourer of hearts, making mischief of mistletoe, murdering man with deception and lies”
“Bernie” the young woman called out as she finally reached him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
In an instant and with no discernable act of turning, the man was all of a sudden now facing her, grabbing a firm hold of her hand without warning.

Kyra gasped as she looked up at the man’s face in horror. The sight churned her stomach but she could not look away. The man she loved was barely recognisable from the form that stood before her. Needy’s face was that of death – his features had long since deteriorated so that barely any flesh remained attached. His face was that of blackened meat burnt to a cinder. His eyes were sunken whilst his open mouth revealed his tongue to be sliced down the middle.

Kyra wanted to scream but the power to speak had been stolen from her.

Instead the voice that had uttered nonsensical phrases now spoke once more. It was Needy’s voice, but the lips of his deformed mouth did not move. “He’s coming” it announced, once again in a monotone.
Kyra tried to pull away but it had her in its grasp.

Then, something changed.

The dark lifeless eyes glimmered with hope and his mouth moved as if to say something. And say something they did. The inflection had changed and the words sounded muffled, but it was without a doubt Needy’s voice – his true voice, and not some monotone mumbling. His mouth slurred and the words rolled off his disfigured tongue “Help me”
A tear rolled down Kyra’s cheek, one last tear and then suddenly she felt the life drain from her.
She collapsed to the floor in a heap, unable to move. She tried to lift up her head but she couldn't even do that. Couldn't even look at the man that was standing there by her feet – but she knew he was still there. And worst still, somehow she knew the man inside him had departed again. There was nothing left there but a husk, devoid of all humanity.

As she struggled to move her arms, her legs, anything that would respond, a loud screeching bellowed forth from the man’s mouth. It wasn’t human, it was barely recognisable as an animal’s scream, but she couldn’t shut it out, couldn’t cover her ears. The man’s pain became hers, and just when she thought she couldn’t handle anymore…

Kyra woke up.
Her eyes were bloodshot and somehow her ears were still ringing.
Her lover still slept beside her in the gu

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OOC: Sorry, I’ve been neck deep in research for a new story I'm going to write. The more research I do, the more complex the story gets. Suffice it to say the summer of 1816 in Geneva is more than a huge influence. And that's all the hint you get until I get something substantial down, sorry, you'll just have to wait...
As a further update, I heard from two more contests in which I did not so much as place. bunch of hack judges What do they know anyway?

Safe walked down the loading ramp of the ISSCP, cup of steaming coffee in hand.

He paused as he watched the beginnings of todays planetary traffic start to arrive, silhouetted by the rising sun.

It had been a long day yesterday. Old friendships tested, new info come to light and a plan set in place for the upcoming days. It was the vote scheduled for this afternoon that troubled him the most.

It wasn't so much the information that was to be revealed, as it was how the impact said information was going to affect the crew that troubled him.

He kinda suspected contents the information, how the others would react was the wild card, and he didn't like gambling.

He was surprised to see Needy sitting on a crate at the base of the ramp, also silently studying the sunrise. Almost too intently, like it was going to offer up answers to some questions Safe wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Safe took a sip of his coffee and cleared his throat, trying to get Needy's attention.

Needy never moved nor even acknowledged his presence.

Safe descended the gangplank and walked right into Needy's line of sight, nodding. " That's a sight I never get tired of, the sunrise that is."

Needy continued to stare off into nothing.

"Listen, I've been meaning to talk to you." Safe took a swallow of his coffee. "Everything alright? You've been a bit... distant lately."

Still no response.

"to tell the truth, we've all been a bit different lately. What with Soul seeing his deceased wife and Seryn wanting to find a quiet space for her wee one. I suppose everyone gets a bit space crazy after a while."

Safe takes another sip of coffee before continuing, "Hell, I haven't seen Wisp since we landed. I hope he can handle that girl of his..."

He looked back to the crate where Needy had been sitting only to find the spot vacant.

"It figures..."

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC: I saw a post here briefly by Needy before the crash and it hasn't reappeared.

Just wanted to throw out an idea here. Seems this story may have run its course, sadly. Do you all think maybe we can develop a proper ending for it? Doesn't seem right to leave such a great story unfinished.

I know, I know, I'm guilty of not being around much and I have nothing to say in my defence except excuses. I have kept tabs on this site but RW has had a way of... how shall I say... taking precedent.

I'm back off to school in Sept. to further hone my writing capabilities. (night courses) And hopefully will be submitting more stuff to contests and such.

This is some of the best stuff I've read in a long time, seriously, and if it ends here, well then it ends and I have to thank all of you for the experience.

Please keep me in mind if you all plan on starting another story along these lines or continuing this one.

Thanks again.



_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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bump


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC: Bumpity bump

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been fairly busy and to be honest writing has been put on the backburner.
I hope this isn't the end of the thread because, like you said Safe, it's been really great.
It was my hope that this thread would see a resurgence in the story, taking the cahracters in different directions but like has been said, things seem to have run out of steam.
I'm up for keeping the story going, if others want to just throw some ideas in here - I know both Jazaf and Wisp seem to have a bigger story they want to unleash, it'd be a shame if it just got lost.

If it does all come to a head then I personally would still like to continue Needys story in fanfic form, but what I loved was what everybody else contributed - most of what I wrote was inspired by other people's posts

If it is a matter of finding time, then perhaps one final thread for everyone to sum up their stories would be in order... but its my hope that we could go on further than that

... my two cents

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Seryn straightened, grimaced at the clicks all the way up her back and then grimaced again at the sight of her oil stained arms and clothes. In a sensible, practical space in her head she knew that it was time to eat, to sleep more than an hour together then to face what had to be faced... including the fate of her son. This was no life for a child, she'd proved that he wasn't safe here. But for Sykes...
Speak of the devil. Though she wasn't surprised, he'd been turning up every hour she'd been working, Fin in his arms, eyebrow raised. He'd witnessed her adrenalin fueled burst into the quiet room. And her pause in front of Fins' makeshift crib.
Space - Special Branch as she guessed she was becoming - was no life, not for a baby. Picking him up, continuing to form a bond would just reinforce something that shouldn't exist. Sykes had pressed her, but apart from the odd oath as she helped him reset his shoulder she'd said nothing. What she was trying to do was form a request for him to take Fin, and any of the other children as wanted and find them a new life on Santos. It seemed like the best thing.

Sykes cocked a hip and leaned against the bulkhead, his his tall skinny frame and weathered skin jarring with the soft pastel baby blanket.
"You are an idiot"
"Sugaring the pill just a little there aren't you? Don't hold back darling - I tan take it"
"you are a f****** moron then. You virtually chewed down the walls of a ship, ordered everyone about including the captain of the ship and possibly one of the most dangerous men who ever lived and now your too chicken to risk getting attached to him? Moron"
"Its not fear, its... what, its practicality! Do you want him to end up like you? Like me? fugitive, broken, scarred and bitter?" Great, I'll keep him, and you can make a nice video diary of just how badly we screw him over!"
Sykes grinned "you grew up a cosseted pampered spoiled little rich girl - you married your prince and you lived in a world literally of your own! And you're still a twisted old cow. According to that logic keep him here and peaceful bliss is assured! You don't know how this will turn out, take him, do you best and see what comes."
Seryn raised her hand, palm in his face the most basic sign that she wasn't interested. Annoyed at he walking away from him, Sykes pushed away form the wall, stumbled and started to pitch forward, Fin rolling down and out of his arms...
Instinct driving her movements Seryn dived and rolled, catching the bundle and rolling onto her back, cradling the child against he chest. Fin giggled softly, and Sykes, balance perfectly recovered, snorted. " You're telling me you can't look after him?"
He started to walk away, smugness carrying his every step. Seryn twisted herself round, scissored his legs and flipped him on to his back in the door way "Jackass".
Fin giggled again, a soft bubbly sound, a clean smell wafted up to her and she watched his tiny hand explore out and clutch at her jacket. So he was staying now, she knew it. staying and she just had to do her best.

Right now her best was a shower, changes of clothes and several hours sleep. After that, this meeting would tell them all what the score was - they would find out what was happening, and they would do something about it.

I can't believe its been a year since i last posted regularly. I'm really sorry for dumping you all like that, As i said last time i had a rough time of it. my mind just wasn't in the right place for anything, Its not been so bad lately though, and i'm hoping that i'll be here regularly in the future. Its been great reading everything, thank you all for the great handling of Seryn and Sykes while i was away - in one way i'm glad you all had writers block as it meant i was able to get reasonably up to speed!
I really hope you're all going to continue, i'd like to see what does happen.
What I would suggest is that we streamline it a little though, it was quite fatiguing keeping up with all the characters! I've decided i'm going to drop Seryns back story, but if we do want the secr

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Nice to see you again Seryn!! Excellent post too.

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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OOC:
Seryn! It's great to have you back, and what an excellent post to come back with.
Sorry you've not been having a great time of late but glad to know things are looking up somewhat. Hope thing are a lot better soon enough

As for your story, well I know you've been meaning to introduce your secret hideaway for a while now and I think it's a great idea - the introduction of "the randy uncle" could certainly lighten things up.

I'd agree that maybe there's been too many characters to keep track of of late (I was hoping the introduction of this new crew could spark off new stories, but it seems to have only confused matters)
I'd like to suggest streamlining things in the next thread too. Seryn's backstory wouldn't be much of a problem, but certainly focussing less on peripheral characters and more on the main crew might help in bringing focus to the story, at least for the time being.

So, any other ideas for the next thread people?

I thought we could, along with Seryn's suggestion, also focus more on Project Einstein (if WYSB is up for it) and what affect it has on both Wisp and Vixen. And also there's also the little matter of Kurren and his quest.


-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Marked. Post to follow.... (Needy's input no credit to me

Safe walked briskly through the halls of his ship, well aware that his announcement on the comms that he was holding a meeting in a few minute had been largely ignored.
In all honesty, the crew had become a lot larger than he'd ever imagined, and it was difficult to keep track of them all at the best of times. Certain ones, he'd have to admit, he hadn't spoken to properly in weeks. He'd seen them in passing, sure, but he had no idea how they were doing, or even where they were at this given time.
It had bothered him, slightly, but he couldn't dwell on it. After all there were more important things needing to be dealt with right now.

“Citizen!” Safe called out, entering the room of his less-than-reliable pilot. The man was sitting on the floor, his back propped up against his bunk – his body still and lifeless.
“God.” The captain cursed to himself as he rushed over to where the man lay unconscious and immediately pressed his fingers against Citizen’s neck, checking for a pulse. Safe breathed a huge sigh of relief as he felt the gentle rhythmic beat coursing through his veins. “You’re okay” he uttered, relieved of the fact.
The man remained still and unresponsive, prompting the captain to at least attempt to stir him. “Citizen” he said, gently patting his cheek. “Hey”
Safe checked the back of the former pilot’s head, and briefly scanned the rest of his body. There appeared to be no major injury and it was his impression that at the very worst, Citizen had suffered a minor concussion. But he was not a qualified doctor, and there was no telling if there were any internal injuries.
“Sykes” Safe said clearly into the octagonal device he’d unclipped from his belt.
After a few seconds, a voice called back over the communicator “Yes, Mr Safe.”
“I need you in Citizen’s room as soon as you can” the captain instructed
“I’ll be right over” Sykes called back.
Safe placed the device on the floor as he continued to kneel next to his crewmember. As he did so, he felt a cold liquid soak his fingertips. Just as he was about to turn his attention to the floor, Citizen let out a soft groan.
Immediately, Safe called out his name again, examining the man’s condition. Apart from being unkempt, with growing stubble and scruffy hair, Citizen didn’t appear to have any major injuries. But then the man’s lips parted ever so slightly. It was as if he was about to speak and Safe waited intently for such an answer. But no words followed. No declaration. But instead what proceeded out of the man’s mouth was a sudden and unwelcome belch.
The captain flinched back as the gaseous contents of the man’s stomach was unleashed upon him. And just then, he turned his attention to where he had been kneeling and the liquid that now soaked his knee.
Feelings of anger rising up in him, Safe reached his hand under the bed and pulled out the cause of Citizen’s fall from grace – an almost empty bottle of Brown’s Smooth Whisky.
"HEY!" he called out, louder this time, waking the inebriated pilot instantly.
"Yeah" he slurred
Safe rolled his eyes. "So much for that new years resolution"


_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Seth Franklin had never wanted this command. It had never been his goal to captain a ship like this, one made up of a eclectic mix of people, each with their own history and all too apparent problems.
But he'd accepted the responsiblity nonetheless, and now he had to gather his crew together, hoping that as a unit, as a team, as a dysfunctional family, they could perhaps come to a decision regarding their current situation.
They all had a voice, even the young children who, he'd have to admit he hadn't spent much time with of late.
As far as he was concerned, they all contributed something to the group. Well, most of them at least.

Kyra McTaggert strolled down the corridor with a determination in her face he'd not seen before. If he was to be brutally honest, he never particularly warmed to her. Maybe it was because despite living under his roof, she'd barely said two words to him, or any of the other members of the crew, with the exception of Milton and Needy of course.
But now she walked towards him in a manner like she owned the place.

"No doubt you've heard, but we're meeting at The Dwarf in 5 minutes" Safe spoke before she had a chance to.

"Not interested" she replied instantly, intent on passing him without saying another word.

"It's not optional" he replied simply, all warmth drained from his voice.

Kyra stopped in her tracks. Her eyes were still red from crying and she couldn't shake the memory of her nightmare. The truth was she couldn't remember what the nightmare was about, only that when she woke, she knew she had to help him. Had to save Needy, just as he saved her from herself.
"What do you want from me?" she said all of a sudden, her back to him.

"What do I want?" Safe repeated the question

"Look I'm not of you" she snapped, turning to face him. "I'm not one of your crew, never have been, and I'm tired of you pretending that I am or ever was"

Safe remained reserved and controlled himself from snapping back. "Where are you going Kyra?"

The young reporter's eyes glazed over and she had to force herself to remain cool. "I'm going to help Needy" she said, her voice faltering ever so slightly, then with a firmer tone she repeated "I'm going to find someone that can help him"

"So you're going to go out there" Safe responds "but what if trouble comes for us? What if we need to leave right away and you're not here? We will have to leave, you know that. There's kids aboard..."
"And you don't want to put them in danger," Kyra interrupts, finishing his thought. Then she adds "You've been putting them in danger every minute you had them under your care"
"Listen..." Safe starts but Kyra won't let him finish.
"No, you listen! You can't get up and leave. You can't take him away from me, not again"

"This is my ship" Safe declares
"And we're what, you're slaves?" she retorts quickly
"You're here for one r..."
"Yeah I know," she stops him. "I'm here because Needy wanted me here. And you know what? Now he needs our help. If you are in charge here then he needs you as his captain and his so-called friend to do something about it. To help him!"

"Don't you think I've tried?" Safe argues
"No. I don't"
"We've got more urgent matters at hand here" He reasons

"Fine." She answers, calming her tone somewhat. "I can understand that, maybe. But there's always something else isn't there? Don't you understand I'm not leaving on a personal vendetta here. Its for Needy, for your friend. I'm doing it cos nobody else seems willing to"

"We have tried" Safe sighs
"Fine, you've tried," she says "But that doesnt mean you've tried everything."
Safe lowers his head, all to aware that for once, maybe she's right.
"You must know that I need to do this. I need to help him" she says earnestly.
What can Safe do but merely nod?
"Then you know that you can't leave me here just for trying" she says, reaching out to him.
She's right, Safe thinks to himself, nodding his head once more as he begins to

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New Thread:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=11&t=34804

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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