Firefly: Opportunity

[Mistress of Whispers]

Xiao entered the cargo bay's catwalk with Ronon. She had offered to keep him company while he exercised, but he hadn't replied yet. Possibly he was still contemplating her offer, or he hadn't heard her - Xiao had a very quiet voice and it wouldn't be the first time that someone missed what she was saying.

 

She glanced at the cargo bay below. Her shuttle was in its usual position, with the hatch facing away from the walkway, and she now noticed the fitness equipment in one corner. Xiao stood silent for a moment as she decided which direction to turn in.

[Mousia]

After answering all her waves with a notice that she had already found a captain and that no one else's services were needed. No 'thank you's were exchanged. She was a simple woman, no time for embellishing her rejections with politeness. It gave the same message.

In her bunk, Lyra sighed and picked up her darts, continuing her game from before. It was a boring game to some, but it helped her train her eye so she wouldn't get soft and lazy. It was imperative that she could protect her passengers if it ever became a necessity.

 

(Do any of y'all wanna just go ahead and skip to their landing on Lilac?)

[Mistress of Whispers]

((Luna is currently inside Xiao's shuttle and for obvious reasons I'd like to know how that pans out. Can we skip to Lilac after?))

[Mousia]

(Mhm. Sure. Does anyone else have interactions they wish to finish before skipping?)

[Narath]

((OOC: Sorry, I'll make a post with Ronon sometime today. I cant right now because I'm a bit busy. Again, I am sorry, but I will post today.))

[TotallyDrow]

((Don't know if Khallayne wants her character to interact with Ezra (both in the mess hall)... apart from that I don't mind))

[Narath]

Ronon

 

"Sure, if you don't mind." Ronon said as he walked down the stairs. "If you have something to do already, then I won't push for it."

Ronon wasn't even sure what they would talk about if she did go with him. All he really knew of was guns. However, he guessed that if they did talk it would be better than just sitting around by himself.

[Mistress of Whispers]

Nodding her assent, Xiao turned from the direction of her shuttle and followed Ronon to the exercise area. She wasn't certain how long she'd stay or what they would talk about - the weapons' master seemed no more talkative than she was - but for now she was satisfied with just the company.

 

 

((That should give Luna the room she needs to either leave or explore the shuttle more thoroughly .))

Edited October 28, 2013 by Mistress of Whispers

[RainDash]

Moving to the bedroom and opening Xiao's closet revealed more Core World items. Dresses and skirts and shirts. Understated, but definitely elegant. Moving the dresses revealed a safe, with more customized locks. Similar work, it seemed. Either she was rich or she held some hacking skills of her own. It took a minute, but Luna managed to crack the lock again. She pried open the safe, hoping for something exciting. She went for the leather envelope first. Pictures of browncoats. Should have expected that. She thought, putting the pictures back into the safe. More pills… Luna thought, sorting through the unopened bottles. She looked at the identity papers for Xiao, and decided that they were new, mostly due to their crispness. A year old, maybe two.

 

Luna moved to the cockpit, carefully watching out the window for Xiao. A few special changes, like the non-functioning weapon system. She couldn't use this to escape if they started firing. She checked logs, and it only went back a few months and found nothing of interest. Sighing and leaving the cockpit, Luna snagged a few more papers from the desk and ducked out of the shuttle. She managed to re-lock it before she left, but she knew Xiao -if she knew about electronics- would surely notice the fact that Luna had been inside. Luna just hoped she hadn't stumbled into some kind of assassin…

[Mistress of Whispers]

Xiao was largely silent as she watched Ronon lift the weights onto the bench press. Rather than try to make small talk - which she knew she was no good at - she simply sat down on a nearby bench and enjoyed the silent company of another human being for a while.

 

((Narath, I don't think they'll do much talking? Shall I have Xiao return to her shuttle in my next post? That way she can discover the theft and we can all time-skip to Lilac as suggested by Mousia.))

Edited October 29, 2013 by Mistress of Whispers

[Narath]

Ronon

 

When Ronon reached the exercise equipment, he began to load on weights. When he was satisfied with the amount on there, he laid down on the bench and started to lift them. He glanced over at Xiao as she sat next to him.

"You sure you don't want to do a bit yourself?" He asked. "It'll do you good."

 

((OOC: Yea, I'm alright with that.))

[Mistress of Whispers]

Xiao shook her head, smiling lightly, as she made her way to her shuttle. During the work-out, Ronon had asked several times if she wanted to exercise herself. She hoped it was merely his way of making conversation and not a comment on her physical state - she knew she was rather petite, but she did not consider herself unfit.

 

She was still smiling when she pressed the security console on the shuttle and entered her access code. Accepting the code, the lock beeped to let her in. Xiao's smile dropped - the beep had been a fraction off-key. The difference in frequency was nearly imperceptible and most people might have missed it, but Xiao's sensory perception was almost as infallible as her memory.

 

Pulling up the lock's subroutines, she did a quick search of recent alterations - someone had tampered with the lock, bypassing its security successfully. Xiao cautiously entered her shuttle, her eyes sweeping around her small living space and comparing every minute detail to the scene stored in her memory. Her teapot was facing the other way, her pen was in a different spot and her papers had been rearranged.

 

They had found her, then. But who? Alliance or Browncoats? The question answered itself almost immediately - Independents would have killed her on the spot, so that left only the Alliance.

 

Moving closer to the desk, she saw that the drawers had not been broken into - that was a small relief, at least. Now that she was closer to them though, she noticed that the papers had been rearranged. No, not rearranged: some of them were missing. For a moment, her heart stopped and panic threatened to overwhelm her. She reached for her desk, blindly searching for the pills she knew to be there. Grabbing the bottle, she wrenched the top open with shaking hands and poured an unknown amount onto her hand, quickly downing them. Slowly, her heartbeat returned to normal and she slumped down on the chair as the pleasant soft haze from the pills flowed through her.

 

It dawned on her that she should check the rest of the shuttle to see what else the intruder might have taken. Checking the bedroom, it was soon clear to her that this area had been searched too. Without hesitation, she went to the safe and sadly noted the off-key beep as she opened the lock. Disregarding the identity papers and, to her surprise, the pills, she immediately reached for the leather envelope with pictures. Rifling through them, she was relieved to see that none had been taken - the pictures of her squad, though they were barely recognizable underneath all the dirt, were a token of one of the very few episodes in her life that she could actually be proud of.

 

Clutching the pictures in one hand, she continued to the bathroom and finally the cockpit. The ship's computer had been searched, but that didn't bother Xiao - she erased her logs thoroughly every few months and she never kept a new flight plan recorded. Not that it mattered - they had found her now.

 

As she returned to the living space, she wondered who the Alliance agent was and why they hadn't revealed themselves. Perhaps their orders had been to find her, rather than bring her back immediately? In that case, she might still be able to make her escape on Lilac. Her mind meticulously replayed the events aboard the Opportunity; carefully reviewing any encounters with crew and passengers, as well as people who could have had the chance to break into her shuttle. She had coded the security locks herself and whoever bypassed them, must have been good. The mechanic Ravioli sprang to mind, as did the technical scientist Luna and the Jill-of-all-trades Tas. Still, it was also possible that someone was hiding their true skills - perhaps she should have spent more time getting to know people.

 

She was still considering her predicament, who the agent might be and how she could escape on Lilac, when her eye fell to the ever-present papers on her desk. Names were missing; names she had painstakingly collected and reunited. That would not do. She had time to figure something out before they reached Lilac, but right now she had a greater injustice to correct. Taking her pen and a blanc sheet, she began reconstructing the stolen names from memory.

 

Davids, Miles 11-21-2475 - 07-18-2510 / Wife Davids-Preston, Carol-Anne 05-18-2478 - 07-18-2510 / Children Davids, Michael 01-05-2493 - 07-18-2510, Davids, Jamie 12-21-2495 - 07-18-2510, Davids, Carrie 03-05-2499 - 07-18-2510, Davids, Jack 08-30-2504 - 07-18-2510 / Grandchildren Davids, Connor 01-27-2508 - 07-18-2510 ..... The list went on.

 

 

((I'm good to time-skip to Lilac if that is still the general consensus. Thanks for being so patient!))

Edited October 30, 2013 by Mistress of Whispers

[Mousia]

(Skipping to the landing. )

 

The landing jarred some. Lyra'd had passengers before who'd puked all over the floor and so she learned to go around with a bucket shortly before landing, collecting all the people with a history of that sort of thing and those who felt the nausea early. She ran around shouting for those with nausea, but either no one responded or she just moved too fast to hear them. When they finally touched down and she stood in front of the door. When they had reached the ground, she shouted. "I'm gonna go out to check if it's safe stay inside until I give the okay. Close the door if anyone strange approaches." That was her standard warning upon most landings on dangerous planets or moons. Most people took it lightly. So did Lyra.

Exiting the ship, the captain realized she still had that stupid bucket in her hand. Oh well. She could do a quickdraw still, right? No. Though her gun was holstered on her hip and loaded, she would no be expecting that enemy...

"Lyra Benjamin, in the flesh. I've been looking for you... All these years and you haven't changed a bit. Still that same angst and anger on your face." The voice was deep and rich and the same one that narrated her nightmares. "Rob...?" The woman's voice came out in a mangled whisper. "That's exactly right." Shrinking away from the man who appear before her, she looked around. They were beside the ship, not very close to the door. No one could see them. No one would there to help her as she stood, rooted to her spot. "Don't worry. I'm not here to kill you. I only have one bullet. I'll shoot, and if you don't get shot, you shoot me. Fair?" Lyra nodded shakily. It seemed surreal. The shot was fired and she raised her bucket up it front of her. Lo and behold, it worked. The bullet was deflected. "I win then!" the woman half-shouted excitedly. But the gun was still pointed at her. As the shot went off, his words echoed, loud and strong. "You trust too much, Miss Benjamin. Learn to read my bluffs." And when the bullet ground itself into her chest, her hand immediately flew up to cover her wound before she fell. The pain from the shot was already unbearable, but the jerk from hitting the ground as she fell aggravated her pain even more. That was all she could feel. All she could see. All she could hear. And as she closed her eyes, all she could think was that she hadn't told the crew to close the door...

 

Rob, after shooting Lyra, vanished like a ghost, not to be seen by any of the crew. Her shooter had gotten away with it...

[Narath]

Ronon

 

Ronon felt a bit disappointed as his companion left. He hope his asking if she wanted ago didn't bother her, as he was just doing it to be polite.

As the ship landed, a bit more bumpy than he expected, the weights shifted and he nearly got stuck under them. With a grunt, the large man pushed them off.

As the captain walked out of the ship, she didn't seem to notice him as she passed by in the cargo bay. Suddenly, as he was fixing his setup, Ronon heard gunshots. Rushing out the bay doors with his gun at the ready, he spotted Lyra on the ground, bleeding. Ronon cursed as he ran to her side, swiftly picking her up and taking her to the shelter of the ship.

"I need some help here!" He shouted as he shut the bay doors.

 

(OOC: Mistress, why do you have to make me sad?))

Edited October 30, 2013 by Narath

[Biologist]

When Jay saw on his instruments that they were nearing Lilac, he notified the Captain. He checked the systems again, just to be sure. Even though he had flown the Opportunity rather efficiently, the fuel level gauge fluctuated, which didn't sit well with him. Hopefully, it was just a fluke, but there might be a fuel imbalance between engines left and right and that could make landing a bit difficult.

 

As they neared the little dustball moon, he checked the sensors regularly, to make sure there weren't any other vessels coming out of the black. They were dangerously close to reaver territory. Any vessel from the outer vectors was suspect. Thankfully there were no blips on his screen and he prepared for entry into the atmosphere.

 

This would be a perfect time to test the inertial dampeners. As the rough ride already told him, they were a little out of alignment. He'd have to see into that. He set the old lady down on the sun baked dirt of the blisteringly hot moon as gently as he could, glad that the fuel had held, but the ship made another jolt anyway. Jay smiled. You've got a temper, old gal. I like it. It would be quite some time before he would be able to fly her as smoothly as he would like, but their initial acquaintance had been a pleasant one.

 

He kept the engines on stand-by, for he had heard the captain remark she wanted to be off again within the hour. It would give him time to check on the fuel and re-allign the inertial dampeners. When he was satisfied he could leave the bridge, he made his way to the engine section to see the engineer about the fuel. As he did, he passed the cargo bay...

 

(about ten minutes after touch down)

Edited October 30, 2013 by Biologist

[Mistress of Whispers]

((Narath, I don't want to make anyone sad! But Xiao's story is just not the happiest ever...))

 

 

Absorbed in her work, Xiao never noticed the captain going around with a bucket - not that she would have needed one; she had been on far bumpier rides than this. She was still writing down names and her hand was cramped in a painful claw-like position from holding a pen for so long. The more rational part of her mind urged that she needed to get her pre-flight checks done so she could leave the ship as soon as they landed, but her obsession overrode such rationality. The names HAD to be united, no matter what. It wasn't until the Opportunity actually touched down with a slight impact - considering the skill she knew the new pilot to have, she guessed that Jay was still getting used to the controls - that she was shaken from her reverie.

 

She was just making her way to the shuttle's cockpit when she heard Ronon shout for help. For a moment, she stood transfixed. There was an undertone of urgency to the weaponmaster's voice and he did not strike Xiao as the type to worry needlessly - the situation must be bad indeed. She could still leave, she mused, it wasn't too late. But what then? Go back on the run and collect her names. The project was important, yes, but did... Here she had a chance - an obligation - to make a difference for the living rather than stand vigil for the dead. Casting one last chance to the shuttle's navigational controls, she closed the cockpit door and made her way outside to the cargo bay.

 

The loading ramp was up and the bay doors was closed. The heavy scent of iron was already mixing in with fresh air let in just moments earlier. Ronon was sitting near the doors, bent over the unconscious form of the captain. Scanning the cargo bay, Xiao spotted a medkit in its customary place near the back - all Firefly class vessels she'd ever been on had kept a standard kit there and apparently the Opportunity was no exception. Hurrying to pick up the kit, Xiao then made her way over to Lyra. If the Alliance came for her afterwards, at least she'd done one right thing.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Mistress of Whispers

[Mousia]

Lyra was slightly conscious of the events going on around her, though it was hazy. Ronon's voice echoed loudly in her ears and she willed him to shut his mouth, but her body didn't want to move, didn't want to flinch away. She was still and helpless. In those moments, though, it felt almost like it did in the black... She almost felt as if she was floating on air. In her mind, she could see herself from someone else's eyes. But at the seconds scraped by, she felt herself growing impatient. "Hello?" Yet her lips could not move. Would not move. She was as silent as space, yet just as unbearably loud. When alone with her own thoughts, it was as if she was going mad. And perhaps she was. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't see. All she could hear were muffled noises that sounds vaguely like the people she knew. And, God, the pain. "聽我說。我需要知道我還活著。" The only thing that outweighed that pain was the crushing sensation that she was burning in hell, or even trapped in limbo. Hearing and seeing and feeling all the pain that she was due. "Save me!" And her lips only quivered...

 

(聽我說。我需要知道我還活著。(Tīng wǒ shuō. Wǒ xūyào zhīdào wǒ hái huózhe.) - Hear me. I need to know I'm still alive.)

[Narath]

((OOC: Hey, there's no problem with making me sad. I think that if writing can get to your emotions, it is very good writing. For example, JK Rowling's Harry Potter, and the Deathly Hallows, and Christopher Paolini's Inheritance.))

 

Ronon

 

Ronon looked up after he laid down the captain on the floor. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to move her yet, so he'd just keep her there until they needed to move her.

"Li, do what you can for her!" He said, leaping up once the girl arrived. "I need to get a few things in case the ***s that did this come back."

That said, he bolted up the catwalk, and headed to his quarters, nearly running over Jay along the way.

 

((OOC: Look out, muscle man coming through!))

Edited October 30, 2013 by Narath

[RainDash]

Luna didn't hear the commotion until she left her room. People were running this way and that and she could barely keep up. Something about the captain, and the cargo bay? Luna ducked back inside her room and snagged her laser gun and regular gun. She had a feeling that she might need them. She rushed downstairs, and stopped dead in the cargo bay.

Lyra was shot.

Any moment now she was going to die, and there wasn't anything Luna could do. However, she remembered the moment of her escape. When she took her escape back home, she held this pistol and... and... The fear wouldn't allow her to finish the thought. Not again. I didn't pull the trigger... I didn't pull the trigger... She reminded herself as she tried to coax herself into trying to help.

[Biologist]

Jay was rather surprised someone came running towards him. For a moment his combat reflexes kicked in and he readied himself for a confrontation, his mind registering the tactics for fighting in a cramped space with an opponent bigger and stronger than him, and possible escape routes. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he sidestepped Ronon and was relieved the other ran past him without incident. "What's wrong?" he called after the big man. It was obvious there was some kind of emergency and he planned to help.

[Mistress of Whispers]

Xiao noticed that the captain's lips were moving, though it was impossible to make out any words. You'll be fine," she told the injured woman, even though at this point it was too soon to tell - Xiao had found that people often took comfort in such assurances.

 

Opening the medkit, she was somewhat dismayed - though not surprised - at its meagre contents. Between rotating passengers and crew using the kit, there wasn't much left of it. The morphine and aspirin were gone, of course, as were the emergency hygiene blanket and suture kit. She remembered that the latter two had been popular objects of theft in the army too, since the blanket doubled as an thermal cover and the suture kit was often used to repair clothes. Half of the bandages, band-aids and wound-disinfectant was gone too - probably in legitimate usage - and for some reason, possibly to go along with the suture kit, someone had removed the scissors too. That left Xiao with a handful of bandages and pressure pads, a half-empty bottle of disinfectant, a pair of tweezers and sterile gloves.

 

Putting on the gloves, Xiao carefully slid a hand under Lyra's jacket and up her back; it came back coated with blood and she breathed a sigh of relief - those tweezers looked much more suited to pulling splinters from fingers, than bullets from torsos. Of course, that did mean there were two wounds that needed to be stopped from bleeding. Grabbing several packets of bandages, Xiao ripped them open and pushed them up Lyra's back to cover the exit wound, before settling the woman back down. Hopefully, the captain's own weight would keep pressure on the wound and that would allow Xiao to focus on the entry wound.

 

She was working on the captain's clothes to get a look at the wound, when Jay entered. Perhaps we can catch a break, Xiao thought. "I need your medkit," she shouted to him. The army had supplied all of them with small, compact kits carrying all necessary supplies in case they were injured and cut off from their squad. Xiao herself had lost hers over time, but she was fervently hoping that Jay had held onto his. She also hoped that he heard her before he ran after Ronon.

 

She also noticed Luna entering, but the woman stood transfixed. Could it be that she was unaccustomed to the sight of blood? Xia wondered, though she dismissed the thought as irrelevant. "Luna," she called out, "I need you to see if anyone has an intact medkit." Remembering what she knew of Firefly vessels, she added "There should be one in the cockpit." Since the cockpit likely had less people walking in and out, she hoped that kit wasn't quite as pilfered as the one in the cargo bay.

[Biologist]

Jay heard Xiao call out to him. He looked over the railing to see her kneeling besides the captain whose coat had a dark stain. I don't have a medkit anymore, sir. he thought, but he ran back anyway. There was an infirmary with, hopefully, a well stocked medicine cabinet. There might even be a stretcher he could bring back, to carry the captain to the medbay. He made a list of things to grab as he ran towards the middle of the vessel. He found something to carry the captain on and eh glanced at the table in the centre of the room, hoping it was clean enough to operate on. He opened several doors to look for the things he wanted: gauze, needle and thread, disinfectant, pain meds, and grabbed whatever he could find.

 

With the folding stretcher and an arm full of stuff, he ran back towards the cargo bay. When he arrived next to Xiao, he put down the bottles and boxes. "I don't have my medkit anymore, but I got this from the infirmary. We can transport her there if she can be moved. I hope these will do for now, though. How can I help?"

 

[Narath]

Ronon

 

Ronon did not hear Jay as he ran past the man. When he arrived at his room, he dug around for some more weapons. He took a knife, two grenades, extra charges for his gun, and a scanner before leaving his room.

As he entered the cargo bay, he saw nearly everyone around Lyra, but not everyone was helping. Luna was just standing there, stark still.

"I'm going out of the ship." Ronon said, checking the charge on his pistol. "Someone shot the captain, and I'm not waiting around for them to come back to finish her off."

When the charge checked out, Ronon changed it's setting to 'kill' with an audible chime.

 

((OOC: Just curious, has anyone figured out the reference I am making with Ronon?))

[Mousia]

(No. I'm actually terrible with pop culture references, so there's a slim chance I would even connect the dots. )

 

Groaning audibly, she regained some of her hearing, which had been screwed up from the gunshot noises, Lyra assumed. She heard the words more clearly, but her ears hurt from all the noise. People were yelling, yet all the captain wanted to do was laugh. Laugh at them for caring. She was just a bitter, angry, mean young lady. And yet they moved and were trying to find her shooter. You won't find him, though. He's gone. And he wasn't trying to kill me neither. If he wanted me dead, he'd shoot me dead. But I'm alive. He was sendin' a message... Givin' me somethin' I wouldn't forget. She tried to clench her fist, but it just ended up being a slight twitch. Why can't I move, God damn it? Alone with her thoughts, it was terribly lonely. And as she started to feel a tingling throughout her body, the woman immediately regretted wanting to move. All the nerves made her feel pins and needles and, eventually, after a long enough time, she felt her senses recovering. Yet she was still tired and her voice was a rasp. "He...won't...kill me...until he's seen me suffer." Smiling dully at Xiao, she tried to chuckle, but coughed a bit instead. "I don't think...you'll be leaving...too soon now... I'll hire you out as a...medic if you want. Maybe I'm...dumb, but I'm not blind. You've either done this before...or you've wanted to." Looking over at Ronon again, she wanted to tell him to do the job they'd set out to do, but she felt terribly tired with what she'd already said, so she resolved to stay quiet and rest a little, maybe take a little nap.

[RainDash]

Luna barely registered the words. The captain was her ride, and she couldn't be dumped on Lilac. Luna took a breath and ran for the cockpit, looking for the medkit. She searched, tossing things as she went, panic overwhelming her common sense. She found it and carried it back down to the cargo bay, clutching it close. She needed it to save Lyra because Lyra was a decent captain.

 

She wasn't going to let her die, regardless of browncoat status or not. Lyra was still human and so she deserved to live. Luna had to do this, she had to because she was a decent human being. It was just... there was so much blood. Did humans really have that much blood in them? It just going flowing out... Luna held out the medkit shakily. "I... I... I brought it." Luna choked out, trying to stifle the urge to vomit.

Edited November 2, 2013 by RainDash