Special Branch: Santos
POSTED BY: NEEDY
UPDATED: Thursday, September 11, 2008 19:24
VIEWED: 24855
PAGE 1 of 8
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!
www.myspace.com/didxl
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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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