Special Branch: The Chasing of Wild Geese.
POSTED BY: seryn
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 13:25
VIEWED: 17628
PAGE 3 of 9
On the Epsilon:
The Officer’s eyes widen in shock then recognition.
Anticipating this reaction, Citizen sidles up to the Officer, disguising his intent with a cocky smile and a pat on the Officers back. This movement hides the opening of Citizens jacket to deliberately expose a vial of what is unmistakably explosive.
Safe looks the Officer in the eye. Recognition flashes briefly across his face as well, but it neither inspires him to uncross his arms nor relax his stance.
A tense moment passes and then the Officer gives an almost unperceivable shake of his head. Safe uncrosses his arms and lets them hang at his sides, his hands empty. Citizen looks at Safe confused.
“Let’s do this quickly. Your boys are getting a mite twitchy.” Safe says quietly to the Officer. The three young guards indeed looked like they suspected something was up. Their eyes keep flitting from the officer to Safe and back again.
The Officer clears his throat “Please step up to the scanner sir”. Safe obliges this time, but when the scanner obscures the Guards view of his face, he closes his eyes.
The word ERROR appears on the readout. The Officer presses a few buttons and it is erased quickly. “Thank-you… Mr. Smith.” He says winking at Safe. Turning to a still confused Citizen the Officer says “I’m sure we’ve wasted enough of each others time, Mr. Citizen. All seems to be in order. You have a safe decent to Boros.”
“Ok men; let’s go see why one of our cruisers is sending a distress signal.” The Officer turns and levels an accusing stare at Safe and Citizen as he waves the three still suspicious guards out of the room.
Citizen shrugs his shoulders innocently and Safe grins back at the Officer then salutes him.
The Officer returns the salute with a warm smile then turns and walks out of the room.
“What the hell happened back there?!?” Citizen exclaims as Safe pilots the Epsilon away from the Alliance cruiser. “I thought we were humped for sure!”
“That was my old flight instructor, Cliff Richards”
“But he’s still Alliance! It’s been my experience that all Alliance were the same… Why’d he let us go? I thought you were wanted.”
“The Alliance wasn’t always what it is today” Safe says sadly. “It’s good to know there are still some decent people in there.” Shaking his head to clear his mood, Safe shoots Citizen a sideways look. “I’m ex-Alliance. Would you clump me in with them?”
“Well… ummm…” Citizen actually seems flustered and quickly changes the subject “Why are we going back to Boros?”
“I’m not looking to get Richards into any more trouble. He said that was our destination, so that’s where we’re going. Besides, we need to find a “quiet” garage to hire repairs. I’ll radio Soul when we’re planet-side to see if he’s heard from Seryn yet.” Safe says struggling with the controls as they break atmo.
“Leave the shop to me.” Citizen says.
Safeat2nd, Chief Handyman of Destiny
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“I’m sorry Kyra, I don’t think I can” Carl speaks softly to the screen in front of him.
On the other end of the call, Kyra starts to get angry – the one person she thought would come through for her was letting her down. “What do you mean you can’t? You said if there was anything, anything at all that I needed… well I need this now”
“It’s not as simple as that…”
“It’s certainly not about having the authority, you’ve bragged so many times about your friends in high places. Where’s your influence now?”
“Kyra. Listen to me. This is completely different. You’re talking about setting a criminal free, one of great importance apparently.”
“Firstly he’s not a criminal, and secondly he’s not all that important. The only reason the Alliance want him is because they’re looking for a renegade crew or something. Milton has nothing to do with it. He’s being held there for no reason, just so the Alliance can say they have a suspect in custody.”
“There you have it, he is a suspect, innocent or not. Even if I could somehow influence Leon down at Helo to let him go, it’d just cause more trouble. And might I remind you that I can’t afford to have Alliance breathing down my neck. I could lose my job, if not worse.”
“There you go, always thinking of yourself”
“Dammit Kyra, you know I’m not thinking of myself. I have a family, a newborn girl. I’m not going to throw it away so that you can feel better about yourself. Make amends some other way.”
“It’s not right what they’re doing to him”
“No, it’s not. And I’m sorry. But I can’t get involved.”
With that, Carl disconnects the call, leaving Kyra furious as she finally leaves the prison grounds.
-----
Needy. Male Companion:
First Boy Whore of Destiny
Incredibly Confused Companion of SereniTree
-----
www.myspace.com/needsalt
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
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Clayton Payne alternated between scratching his ear and looking at his watch as he waited for Kyra to return.
Time was of the essence and she sure was taking her sweet time. What the hell is taking her so long? he thought to himself as he glanced again at the time.
Visiting Helo wasn’t his idea but knowing Kyra’s personal connection to both Milton and the missing companion, he didn’t have the heart to tell her no.
But now, the visit could be costing them discovering the truth.
Only ten minutes ago, Payne had received an unexpected call…
“Hello?” he had answered it.
The caller on the other end was a young lad named Steven, someone the two of them had interviewed not too long ago. Steven may have only been thirteen years old, and some would hesitate to believe him, but the story he told was not one Kyra and Clayton could afford to ignore.
He had seen the rebels arrive, long before they made their presence known – they had practically landed at the back of his parent’s house. His testimony and descriptions of the rebels in question had proven valuable to the pair of reporters… especially since he had not divulged the information to the untrustworthy Alliance.
“Mr Payne…” the teenager started, before hesitating as he thought about how to continue
“What is it Steven?”
“I think they’re here again”
“Who?” Clayton had asked with concern.
“Them… the ones you were looking for”
Clayton paused as he considered the full implication. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Same thing happened like before, only…”
“What?”
“The weird stuff that was happening in the skies the past few nights. I think it was them trying to get back. And it’s not just me – others have seen it too”
“Where? Where are they?”
“They keep moving. Some say they’ve stayed near the campsite, but they must have moved again”
“Why?”
“Cos I’m not at the campsite, and look…”
Clayton had watched whilst Steven clicked a button on his mobile cortex which brought up a short clip of recorded footage. The video had showed a ship taking off to the skies. Although the footage was shaky, the image was clear enough to make out – the ship that was taking off was the same cargo ship that had been stolen on the day of Needy’s disappearance.
“I don’t understand.” Clayton admitted. “Has the ship left already?”
“Maybe, I haven’t seen it again since, but its not the only ship they’ve brought.”
“What?”
“There’s two, maybe three, more that arrived with it. We’ve just spotted one, looks like a fighter, flying over Apollo’s Bank. We’re heading down there now”
“No Steven. It might not be safe.”
“I’m not missing this”
“Just wait Steven. Wait till we get there. We’re on our way now”
“I’m not waiting for you. I just wanted to let you know they’re back. I might see you down there”
With that, the boy had hung up.
-----
Needy. Male Companion:
First Boy Whore of Destiny
Incredibly Confused Companion of SereniTree
-----
www.myspace.com/needsalt
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
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“C’mon Kyra” Clayton muttered through clenched teeth.
Just then, he spotted her leave the building and head towards him.
“About time too” he told himself, as he got into the pilot’s seat of the Copter.
She began to jog towards him as she noticed his impatience.
“C’mon we gotta go.” He told her
She heard him but then turned her head back to look behind her.
“What?” he asked
She frowned as she struggled to make a decision.
“What is it?” he repeated, this time sounding more annoyed with her hesitance.
“Milton. I can’t just leave him here”
“What are you talking about? You said Perry would take care of that.”
“Obviously not. We’re on our own.”
“So, what? You gonna break him out?” Clayton asked incredulously.
“Maybe”
“I was joking”
“Well, I can’t leave him there.”
“He’s not going anywhere. But we’ve got to move.” He told her plainly
Kyra looked up at him with sombre eyes.
“This may be our only opportunity to find the evidence we need.”
A story was the last thing on her mind at the minute, she was too worried about what was to become of Milton. The Alliance are not forgiving, especially when they are made to look like fools. If Milton was assured of one thing, it was that they would come down hard on him, make him an example. She couldn’t live with that. She needed to do something. “Screw the story.” she resolved as she looked away again, towards Helo.
Clayton could tell she was having second thoughts. He knew that ever since the companion had been kidnapped, and his apprentice arrested, her mind had been elsewhere. Her job was secondary to her search for answers, her search for redemption. Finding the kidnapped companion and making amends with the past was her main goal now.
“He could be out there.” Clayton blurted, knowing full well that Kyra would understand who he was referring to. “Yes it was a cheap shot” Clayton thought to himself, “but the companion-angle is the only way she’ll come. And even if he isn’t there, these rebels that took him will know where he is”
Her eyes glazed over as she was overcome with emotion. But a reporter doesn’t show emotion. A reporter needs to be cold and merciless. Feelings get in the way of telling the story. That’s probably why she was a bad reporter.
A tear rolled down her cheek as a whispered name floated off her tongue, “Bernie”.
Quickly wiping her face with her hand to hide evidence of emotion, she turned once more to face Clayton.
“Okay… let’s go”
-----
Needy. Male Companion:
First Boy Whore of Destiny
Incredibly Confused Companion of SereniTree
-----
www.myspace.com/needsalt
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
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Needy?
NEEDY!
He looked better now, but his silence was still worrying her.
Against all her better instincts, she'd sat quiet and behaved, It was beginning to make her antsy. She hoped she'd hidden the Nandi well enough. it wouldn't stay hidden from detectors, but hopefully from casual observance.
mind you, that was useless.
Needy was still off the hook, and though Vixen was awake, her enitre hide was slowly turning purple. she struggled to crwl, so running wasn't going to happen.
she crossed to the bars, stared at her gunbelt locked in a mesh cage, the device Safe had given her to recall them dangling from it.
(ooc - i'll complete this later, i have to go!)
Your robot reminds me of you. You tell it to turn it stops. You tell it to stop it turns. You ask it to take out the garbage it watches reruns of Firefly.
http://www.myspace.com/seryndippyt
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OOC:
Sorry for the delay. The power has been out for the last two days due to the storm and work is crazy busy. Plus the nights I'm not playing softball, my girls are playing soccer.
Now that the power is back, I'll try to plug away tonight. I was hoping Citizen would post first.
Safeat2nd, Doing his best headless chicken impersonation and failing miserably...
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Hours seemed to pass, but she knew they hadn't really. Deputy doofus has only suggested food twice.
She wished he'd shut up. he at least had the option of walking out and getting something.
Vixen had managed to get herself up, and was sat on the low bench next to Needy. They'd attempted converstaion, but it hadn't lasted. There wasn't much to say. Wisp was lost, they were stuck here at the pleasure of the local police force.
"do you think we could get something to eat? we're starving in here!"
Doofus grunted. The sherrif looked at her then sighed.
"Sure, what do you want?"
"oh? Baked jacket potatoes maybe, cream cheese, maybe chinese dumplings?"
"give me a few minutes"
He disappeared, the heard the shifting of boxes in rooms off the corridor, then he returned. She'd already fixed her unamused face in position. "har har".
He grinned, shoved the foil wrapped ration bars through the cell bars.
She turned and threw a couple to Vixen who tore the wrappers off vigorously. "Say, when i get out of here..."
"if..."
"when i get out of here, how would you feel about meeting up?"
"meeting, you trying to proposition me or something? if you think thats going to get you lenien...."
"oh don't flatter yourself chump, I just wanted the fair and equal opportunity to really hurt you."
He laughed, a scoffing, disbelieving laugh "you? hurt me? He looked her over "you'd be no more trouble to me than a gnat"
"yeah, gnats can bite"
"well, we've already had enough proof of that ability. but i don't think you have anything else to add."
"oh you never know, when i loath someone enough..." as quickly as she couldshe brought her arm back and attempted to punch him low in the kidneys, her eyes on the key chain on his belt. Quicker, her caught her hand and forced it back against the horizontal bar.
"Enough! What will it take to get us out of here?"
"You are free to go, the md isn't pressing, just as soon as i've finished those papers over there, you're a free woman."
"and the others?"
"the lad can go with you, he 's done nothing" he looked over at the seated companion "literally.
The girl is goig to an Alliance holding facility, some of her adventures were outside my jurisdiction"
"you can't do that! She's a petty theif gorramit! Alliance don't concern themselves with petty criminals! You have to let her go!"
He held his hands up and walked away. she could have screamed.
She turned to Needy and Vixen, "we have to get out of here! now, you go to alliance holding theres no hope of getting you out. Needy! Needy wake up!
Vixens eyes widened, and the clank and screech of the cell door made her turn. Doofus stood in the doorway. "Ms Vixens ride is here."
With out even realising, Seryn launched herself at the guards, blind panic muting all thoughtt except one, that the Sherrifs name badge read A. Huxley, and it glinted slightly as he swung to knock her out with the butt of his gun.
She awoke later. The door stood open, Needy knelt over her, worry in the tone of his voice.
"Vixen?"
"on her way to the holding facility"
"we have to get her out."
"yes, we do."
"Why. Why do we have to?"
"because it sound like the sort of stupid thing we would do."
She shakily gained her feet, and they walked out towardsthe desks.
Staring the sherrif in the eye, she retrieved her belongings from the table top.
Slowly she buckled on her gunbelts, using the movements to press the recal device unnoticed.
At the door she gave up fighting the impulse, and turned round. It was stupid and childish but it had to be done. "You are so dead"
The sherrif just grinned.
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Once the Epsilon broke atmo, Citizen set to work finding an off-the-beaten-path shop for repairs.
After some considerable negotiations, Citizen disconnects from the cortex and wearily slides the headset off his head.
“Well I found one…”
“Yeah?” Safe says through gritted teeth. He didn’t dare look over at Citizen. It was taking all his effort to keep the Epsilon on an even keel.
“Yeah. He does good work and doesn’t ask any questions, but…”
“But? But what??”
“It’s not gonna be cheap. Luckily for us, though, you two have something in common.” Citizen stares pointedly at Safe.
“How’s that?”
“You both owe me...” Citizen leans back with a self-satisfied smirk, linking his hands behind his head.
Citizen’s smirking is interrupted by a chime and a flashing light on the consol. He starts upright in his seat.
“What’s that?? Are we crashing?? Please tell me we’re not crashing!!”
“No, We’re not crashing.” Safe grunts “That’s Seryn’s signal.”
“Oh... I knew that. So no emergency, no crashing right?”
“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t expecting to be signaled so soon.”
“You think something’s up?”
“I hope not, but my instinct says otherwise”
Safeat2nd, Better late than never right?
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A blue light flooded the hospital room. Two Neon tubes were held aloft on the roof of the room giving off an uncomfortabley bright aura.
The rooms only patient though didnt mind.
Three doctors walked into the room and the first (obviously the superior)Picked up a tablet computer from the end of the bed and scanned its contents.
"Dr Chou Your presenting"
"John Doe roughly aged 18. Brought in coding but was ressucitated. Broken bones have healed however patient is still in a coma"
"why is he JD?? Doesnt the core have his records???"
"Classified level 5"
"Well,Very good he's breathing on his own so just watch in case he comes round "
The doctors left leaving the young man with dark hair and a scar on his left cheek.
ooc-Not back yet but closer loving the plots
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A bottle of rum sat on the rough wooden table. At least the bottle said it was rum. She had a sneaking suspicion it was actually sheep dip.
But at that point in time, she couldn't care less.
She wasn't good with head injuries. Fainting wasn't all that fun if you wern't wearing a pretty dress in a room full of cute firemen, and she figured that staggering drunk was eisier to deal with than staggering sober.
Perhaps it was the pirate in her talking.
Needy leaned over the bottle and took a sniff, recoiled, and went back to his own drink. She couldn't remember what is was. Well, of course she couldn't remember, as she'd not seen what he ordered.
For the last hour she'd been laid out on the bench of a dingy little bar, the table blocking her view of everything but the butt cleavage of some guy accross the room. Needy was sat next to her, doing a wonderfull job of monitoring her boots.laid as they were, accross his lap. A bemuses smile lingered on his face, but he didn't say anything.
The boots were important. She'd once managed to loose them while drunk.
That was not to happen again.
"How long since we got out of the jail?"
"Several hours"
"And since we pressed the recall button?"
"Also several hours, i don't know, i didn't really monitor the clocks."
"Should we have gone back to the Nandi after all?"I don't know why i thought it was a bad idea now."
"No, i think we should stay here. The idea of leaving town now didn't seem right to me either"
"I wonder what became of Wisp."
He looked down at her, and tried his best encouraging grin "we'll find him, i don't believe he's..."
"Are my boots still there?"
He sighed "yes, they're still there, they're fantastic boots, really, i'm taking good care of them"
"thank you, you are wonderful...
could you just check inside and see if my feet are still there?"
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