'A Better Title.' Part 2
POSTED BY: ebonezer
UPDATED: Thursday, May 12, 2005 14:20
VIEWED: 17383
PAGE 1 of 6
Continued from the Shiny NEW take turns writing. It was getting so that it took to long to load.
OOC: Ah, EMP got it. Like the big thing in the van in oceans 11, yes?
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Ebo and Teela trotted down from the bridge and out the airlock into the morning sun.
Suddenly there was a large explosion off to their left as the second aliance fighter smashed to the ground. "Gaaa!" Ebo screamed, jumping back and falling on top of Teela.
They scrambled up, "Wow! That was cool!" Ebo shouted.
"Did it hit my ship?" Teela asked.
"Naw," Manti said, "Its all clear."
"Too bad," Ebo said, then quickly jumped away from Teela before she could smack her.
Glico's flighter landed a little ways off and Glico jumped out and jogged over.
"Nice flying," Soul complemented.
"No, that was falling with style," Glico responded, "My fighters in bad shape."
"Sidere is too," Ebo added, "She's gonna need some hard-core fixering."
"Fixering?" Teela asked, "I don't think thats a word."
"Sure it is."
"So what now? Fix the ship or make the trade?" Manti asked.
Teela sighed, "Probably gonna hafta make the trade first to get the cash to fix the ship. How happy is this guy gonna be that we played with his toy?"
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Four out of five dentists reccomend calling Ebo a girl.
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"'He' is a she." Mantichorus gently corrected Teela. "At least, it is if it's the person I'm thinkin' of."
"How so?" Glico asked.
"While Soul and I were constructing the EMP gun, cannon, whatever y'wanna call it, I noticed the name on the package: T. Locke. Ran with a group a while back, and one of its members was a Tiffany Locke." Mantichorus explained. "Nice group. Don't like the UAP much, but..."
"...Not many do, at the moment." Soul supplemented.
"They trustworthy?" Teela asked.
"I'd trust them with my life." Mantichorus solemnly replied.
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A/N: UAP is the Union of Allied Planets, as they are refered to in Ariel.
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"To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation." -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Aphorisms.
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"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact." -George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such.
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"All right, I'll get ready." Glico walked back into her now smashed up fighter and grabbed a .45 and strapped it to her hip.
"Ready, Manti?"
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No plot advancement.
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Soul sauntered back inside Sidere and emerged a few moments later, pulling on his grey duster coat overtop the plethora of guns that he now had strapped to his body. As he reached the bottom of the ramp, he noticed the trio of Teela, Ebo and Glico staring at him.
"What?" he asked. When none of them responded, he added, "never hurts to be prepared." He saw Glico give an approving nod.
"That's more true than I care to admit," Manti added as he strode out behind Soul, himself armed as well. "We may have lost that Alliance ship, but this is a backwater world, and trust me, it has it's unpleasant suprises." He turned to Teela, who was still staring at Soul with a slight grin on her face. "So what now, Captain?" he asked her.
______________________
But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.
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"I'll guess we'll go then. Where we meeting 'em Ebo?" Teela asked.
Ebo pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and read it aloud, "Um...Lorence district of town, little bar called...well, it doesn't actually have a name, so to speak, says there's a big plastic horse out front though," She eyed the weaponry on everybody else, "Hey, who wants to loan me a gun?" She asked hopefully.
"Is your shooting anything like your flying?" Manti asked.
"Everything I do is exactly like my flying."
"Then no. No guns for you."
"Probably keep 'er away from knives too," Soul added.
Ebo stuck her tounge out, "Are you guys my parents now or what?"
Teela rolled her eyes, "If you guys are done, we got some perfectly ligitamate business to attend to."
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Four out of five dentists reccomend calling Ebo a girl.
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Mantichorus ran up the ramp.
"Where're you going?" Teela asked.
"Gotta get m'coat." Mantichorus muttered in reply.
"Tch." Teela sighed, crossing her arms. "How in the good gorram am I gonna get any buisness done like this?"
"Sorry." Mantichorus said, sprinting down the ramp. "Best to be prepared." He pulled his brown overcoat on. "OK - listen for the names Tiffany, Claude, Sid, Vince, and Barry. If I'm right about our contact, anyone of those names will lead us right."
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A/N: I'm sure at least Soul'll get that... Sorry Square-Enix...
Oh yeah, gotta few ideas about where I want to take my character on planet, so at some point could we split up on this rock? Cheers for bein' accomidating.
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"To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation." -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Aphorisms.
--------------------------------------------------
"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact." -George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
OOC: Nice FF7 reference there, Manti! 
If you feel the need to saunter off on your own, it's fine with me. Just come back to us!
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Teela led the group at first, but as they neared the town, they all began to move closer together as they approached the first of the run down buildings.
"What happened here?" Soul asked as they began to pass husk after husk of burnt out buildings.
"Whatever it was, let's just pray that it's over now," Glico responded.
Ebo stared at the written directions in her hand, turned the paper upside down, then squinted at it, until Teela grabbed it from her. The Captain glanced over the paper for a few seconds, looked around her, and pointed off to their right. "This way," she stated confidently.
The group turned as one and followed Teela further into the ruins of the town. Soul kept one hand on the butt of one of his revolvers and saw Manti and Glico doing the same.
At least we'll be ready if something bad goes down here.
______________________
But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.
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Ebo eyed the armed members of the group keeping their hands on their weapons. She wasn't one for weapons as a general rule, but now that she didn't have one, she wanted one. Sort of like the flu shot shortage of 2010 on earth that was, people that had never had any need of flu shots before had been poinding down the gates to get one once they wern't to be had.
She twisted the ring on her right hand, at least if she hit someone it would hurt, her mother had told her never to hit a person with a closed fist, but it can, on occasion, be hilarious.
She looked up, "Hey, there's a red plastic horse. Cute, in a rigid kind of way..."
Teela gestured to the other side of the narrow street, "Theres another one over there too, only white. Directions say which one is the bar we're looken for?"
"You took over the navigating, remember?" Ebo jestured to the paper in Teelas hand.
"Your handwriting is terrible."
Ebo snatched the paper back and read it over, "I think its the red one."
"You sure?" Manti asked, skepticly
"No. Someone spilled coffee on that part. I think I remember writing 'red horse' though."
"Oh good. This should go reaal well..."
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Four out of five dentists reccomend calling Ebo a girl.
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Mantichorus squinted. After being on the ship so long, he was having difficulty re-adjusting to natural sunlight. He spotted movement. It was only an old man... so why did he feel as if hell was about to open it's mouth and swallow him?
"Hey!" He called out to the old man. "You gotta idea which of these is Tiffanys, old timer?"
The old man's head shot up. "You know Tiffany, son?" He asked suspiciously.
"Sure do. She told us that she had set up on this rock, and said to stop by the next time we were in the area. Unfortunately, she just said her bar had a horse out front." Mantichorus gestured helplessly at the two horses.
The old man chuckled. "Yeah, it's confusin', ain't it? Another bar opened up, and copied the horse. Hers is the red."
"Ha! Told you!" Ebo smirked triumphantly.
"Thanks for the assist'." Mantichorus smiled at the old man and nodded.
"Don't think nuthin' of it." The old man held up his hand and shook his head.
"Let's go on in." Teela said, and the crew of Sidere sauntered into the bar.
* * * * * *
"Can I help you?" A female voice asked as the crew of Sidere entered.
"I think it's more of if we can help you." Teela said. "Are you the T. Locke that ordered something from Jerry on Dayton?"
There was a pause. "Yeah. You must be Teela, right? Jerry told me to expect you."
"Hi, Tiffany." Mantichorus said abruptly.
There was a second pause. "Manti?! What the go-se are you doin' here?!" A woman in her early twenties stepped out into the light.
"He's part of my crew." Teela replied. "Helps keep my ship flyin'."
"I see..." Tiffany replied, nodding her head. "Long time, Manti."
"Yeah. How're yourself and the others?" He replied.
"Fine, fine. Barry's retired. His brother and sister-in-law were killed in an accident. He left to take care of his niece. Zoe, I think he said her name was." She sighed. "Sid's got engaged, but he's still gonna fly us from place to place."
"What do you need an EMP cannon for?" Soul asked abruptly.
"What...? You OPENED it?" Tiffany's cheeks turned red with fury.
"No choice. Alliance bearin' down on us, needed to see what they wanted." Ebo shrugged.
Tiffany sighed. "We're startin' to actually FIGHT the Alliance on it's own terms. We're collectin' a petition of planets who want to remain Independent of the UAP." She replied quietly.
"Noble cause." Glico nodded.
"I think we can do business." Teela said, almost asking Tiffany if she disagreed. The other woman smiled and nodded.
"This way."
* * * * * *
"So... what pieces do we need?" Teela asked.
"Not so much pieces as oil." Mantichorus replied. "Machinary needs lubricatin' more than anything. One or two odds 'n' sods needed otherwise."
"How many credits do you think you'd need?" Teela asked bluntly.
Mantichorus looked into space as he did some quick mental arithmatic. "Two hundred should be more than enough - we'll get it cheaper here than a core world as it's not entirely legit, so I can haggle it down."
"As cheap as you can." Ebo said concernedly. "That only leaves us about two hundred credits for food."
"Thrift is my middle name." Mantichorus assured her.
"Jeez, your parents were cruel." Ebo joked.
"Here's the money." Teela said, and handed Mantichorus the cash. "We'll meet back at Sidere in a few hours. Dong ma?"
"Completely." Mantichorus nodded. With that the crew dispersed. None of them saw the man step out from a doorway across the street. He looked in the direction that Soul had gone, then the route that Mantichorus had taken. He lifted a radio to his mouth.
"This is Herald: I've sighted the target. I've also spotted ex-operative Soul. Please advise." There was a pause.
"Follow Mantichorus. The target takes priority. Dong ma?"
"Completely." Herald replied, and set off after Mantichorus.
* * * * * *
Mantichorus turned down an alleyway. He'd been stuck on this rock for a month once, and had learnt all of the twists and turns of it's stre
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"...crrk...Manticho...crrk...authority of...crrk...stand down..."
Soul stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the voice. He spun around, drawing his gun, but there was no one there. Then where had the voice come from?
His eyes widened as he raised his free hand and rubbed a spot behind his left ear. Was it possible? Did the implant still work? He knew that when most Expendables were "retired", the implant was removed, but then again, he hadn't exactly left in the normal way.
If it was the implant that he was hearing, then that meant that there was an Operative nearby. The implants only worked within 500 yards of each other. But what was it that he heard? Something about Manti?
He closed his eyes and prepared himself to do something that he had determined to never do again. Something that while it would help him find Manti and the Operative, it would also let his former superiors know exactly where he was. Then again, if it really was an Operative here, then odds were that Soul's presense was already public news.
Keeping his eyes closed, he concentrated hard and reached within his mind. At one time, Interfacing had been second nature to him, but after neglecting the implant for so long, he was a bit rusty. Still, after a few seconds he felt the all too familiar rush as his mind connected to the implant and from there he mentally Interfaced into the Cortex.
What was the Earth-that-was expression? "Just like riding a bike." Yeah, that was it. He searched for the link that would connect him to Ballard's orbital satelite network, and finding it, he called up a 3-D layout of the area 500 yards around him and began a search for the source of the signal. Within seconds the source had been triangulated, and Soul called up a closer view of the area. It was coming from a street just three blocks over, and from the looks of it, the signal was stationary. He was about to pull out when he took a closer look at the signal and noticed the I.D. code and-
Soul's eyes shot open as his mind pulled back from the Interface. Herald? Here? His thoughts swam with the possible implications, and then-
Manti! Oh God, no! Not again!
He pulled out another revolver and broke into a dead run.
______________________
But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.
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