VFF The Book Continues Part 6
POSTED BY: Colt99
UPDATED: Friday, June 3, 2016 04:01
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PAGE 14 of 15
"Twister? You've been talking to Twister?" Colt said.
Abbey took a step back. “I…I should go.”
Colt stood “Now wait a minute. Who died?”
Abbey hung her head. Why had she said anything? She thought. “He mentioned you had told two girls in the past that you…you loved them, and after you told them they died. So you felt cursed”
“Oh he mentioned that did he?” Colt could feel the anger rising inside him. “Anything else you two discuss? Maybe how my cat ran off when I was a kid, or the time I had to flush the gold fish that died. Abbey he played you.”
“No…what?” Abbey stood there confused and feeling that sinking sensation in her stomach.
“Christie Lee.” Colt stated.
“Who”
“Christie Lee. Met her at street dance when I was 16, my first love, told her as much on our second date. She broke my heart three months later. Then there was Maggie, we went on for nearly a year. Last I heard she was married living on Boros with a passel of kids. Abbey I’ve been engaged twice. Sure some of the women I’ve known have died but that’s the way of things.” Colt took her hand.
“Then why...” Abbey started.
“That’s what I intend to find out” Colt said walking to the door.
“No” Abbey said tears filling her eyes “Why haven’t you told me?”
Colt stopped. He locked the door to the leading to the cockpit. He looked at Abbey. She looked so beautiful. He took her hand and led her down the stairs to the storage area in front of the consoles. They sat on a small couch. “Abbey…you’re stubborn, head strong, argumentative and…and the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.” Colt took her hand. “I never said it because I didn’t want to spook you.” He dropped his head. “All of this happened so fast, you’re respected gamer, ties to money and all that. I’m struggling to keep this boat afloat. I figured I add that pressure to you and it might send you running.” He met her eye and brushed a tear from her cheek. “Of course I love you.”
“I love you” Abbey said softly and they kissed.
Colt broke of the kiss and went back up the stairs, checking the coarse twice he set the auto pilot and joined Abbey again.
“This couch is filthy” Abbey said softly.
“Did I mention your little uppity” Colt said before kissing her deeply.
Later
The two laid on the old couch covered with a blanket, staring at the stars through the port windows.
“Why do you think Twister said those things?” Abbey said.
Colt stirred “Huh…What?”
“You’re supposed to snuggle after not fall asleep.” Abbey joked.
“I was shot, I thought it was a pretty good performance considering”
“Eh” Abbey said shrugging her shoulders and smiling
“Eh?” Colt said smiling back. “You were saying something before you insulted my masculinity?”
Abbey ran her hand over his chest “Twister. Why do you think he said those things?”
“To cause trouble most likely, it’s what he does best. He say anything else?” Colt said kissing her hand.
“No he just came in sat down and started telling lies”
“Wait he was in your shuttle?” Colt leaped up and pulled on his pants.
“Yes but just for a couple of minutes” Abbey said concerned.
“He’s armed!” Colt said taking the stairs two at time he grabbed his pistol and opened the door.
Twister stepped out from the side of the bulkhead and leveled his pistol at Colt head. “Been out here near an hour, not bad seeing how your shot and all. Drop the piece.”
Colt laid his pistol on the floor and backed up. Twister followed him in and relocked the door.
“Hello gamer” Twister said nodding to Abbey.
Abbey cursed under her breath. He sidearm was lying on top of her clothes out of reach. She pulled the blanket up to cover herself.
Twister motioned Colt down the stairs. “We’re going to do a little detour before we board that ship.”
“That a fact” Colt said.
“Yeah” Twister said “I had no choice but to drag you into this. Niska has my daughter. He planned on snatching her to leverage against you.” Twister said motioning towards Abbey “Before that man ape merc of your started tossing grenades about.”
“You’re ly
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Oops... Wrong Person...
*Curses the fact that she has very similar e-mail addresses.*
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Quote:
Originally posted by Colt99:
“Not too late to change your mind and run”
abbey thought about whether or not she should run like Colt may have just suggested, but she knew that if Twister was telling them the truth, Niska would do everything he could to get her in his clutches. Things were complicated already. Adding one more thing would be unfathomable. She decided against it right away.
Quote:
Originally posted by Colt99:
“Oram would miss me, and all my stuffs here.”
They resumed kissing, pulling themselves closer to each other with each one. She pulled back after a few minutes.
“I love you,” she told him again. She wanted to make sure he knew that she just didn’t say it earlier as a whim. She meant it. By God, she really meant it. “I love you Colt.”
He stopped and looked into her eyes.
“I love you too,” he whispered.
That just sparked the fire inside them even more. They got back to kissing hungrily as abbey worked to relieve Colt of his pants. Some time later, she laid on his chest, looking into his face as he looked out into the black.
“I was just kidding earlier,” she said to him. His eyes snapped down to hers in a flash with a slightly hurt expression. “Oh NO! That’s not what I meant! I meant it when I said I loved you. I was talking about your technique earlier. Maybe you should get shot more often.”
“Hey!” he retorted. “I don’t think we need to go that far… We do well on our own.”
She smiled as she drew lazy circles on his chest.
“That we do.”
She thought some more.
“I was thinking about Twister,” she started.
“Lady, you really know how to make a guy feel good,” he teased her as he looked down at her. “We’re here like this and you’ve suggested I should get shot up more often and now you’re thinking about another man? It was bad enough Twister stood outside the door earlier while we were... you know... but now you’re thinking about him too?”
She slapped his shoulder lightly and looked up at him as her expression sobered a bit.
“What would we do if Niska had our child? How far would we go to make sure that no harm came to them?” she asked him. Colt wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Because I will do anything to make sure that little girl doesn’t get hurt.”
She paused for just a second.
“Do we have a plan yet?” she asked. “How are we going to do this?”
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“Tell me again why he had to come along” Abbey said quietly motioning her head towards Rune.
“Would you rather I sent him with the Doc?” Colt said “Could be worse, Twister could have come with us. Besides I’m still not sure he’s not in bed with Niska. Best to keep him close.”
The crew sat down on Shinon two hours ago. Abbey had no problem getting them the landing clearances. Spot’s had lined up a buyer for Grayson’s hover, which Colt, Abbey and the new guy, Rune were handling. Mobbex and Oram had gone to stock up on the essentials while the rest of the crew kept a close eye on Twister.
“This is Shinnon not some backwater moon. You don’t need the extra firepower.” Abbey said half believing and half covering her uneasiness that the merc had joined them.
“Spots lined this up through a broker. We don’t know these folks meeting us so I’d rather have him along.” In truth Colt would have rather had Abbey stay on board for the deal, but she dug in her heels.
“I told you I could have found us a buyer in the Tryon Parrish. The Gamer Guild has connections we could have used.” Abbey argued.
“We’re selling a stolen hover, to replace a shuttle we plan to use to sneak aboard an Alliance base station, to embed a program into their secure servers that will allow Niska to steal any shipment they have in the quadrant, not such a good idea getting your guild wrapped up in this. Better to do it on the whore side of the planet.”
“They prefer being called Companions” Abbey interjected “I did study with them for quite some time”
“That where you learned that trick with the feather?” Colt said grinning.
Abbey blushed and slapped him playfully.
The sound of the shuttle approaching cut off the banter. It came in fast and low. Before it even touched the ground the door sprang open and two armed men leap to the ground. Colt drew his pistol and grabbed Abbeys arm pulling her towards him. Before he could get her behind him Rune stepped between the men and Abbey, rifle at the ready.
There were a few tense seconds and each side readied for the other to fire, and the shuttle landed. Then the engines shut down and a third man stepped from the shuttle. He was large Hispanic, with a scar running from his temple down his neck and disappearing under the collar of his shirt.
“You must be Colt” The man said.
“And you’re…” The man cut Colt off.
“Louterio Ocho” he said said stepping forward and waving for his men to lower their weapons. “I was wondering if you would show. Not many like dealing on Shinon. Lots of heat here.”
“Lots of coin too” Colt said.
“That is true” Louterio agreed. He let out a whistle as he eyed the hover parked behind Colt. “I’ll need to inspect it, but if it’s as good on the inside we can deal”
“I’ll have to do the same” Colt said. Rune started towards the shuttle but Colt stood him down with a glance. “You can see my hovers empty. I expect the shuttle to be the same before we step on her.”
Louterio locked eyes with Colt. As soon as he did that sinking feeling hit Colt in the gut, he’s trying to screw us. Colt’s realization must have been easy to read. Louterio smiled and nodded. Before his men could bring their guns up Colt snapped off a shot drilling one of them in the shoulder as he shoved Abbey to the ground. The second opened fire but his aim was off, due to the bullet Rune had put into his leg. Colt turned from them expecting Louterio to shoot him in the back any second. He was stunned to see Ocho, hands raised high. He looked down to see Abbey lying on the ground with a pistol aimed dead center of Ocho’s chest.
“Easy easy…It’s cool. We can deal. I don’t need to inspect it. I take your word.” Ocho said frantically.
Colt looked back at the shuttle. The men had dropped their weapons. Ocho let out a whistle and another man came out of the shuttle tossing his rifle on the ground. Rune quickly checked the men for hideouts and moved them away from the shuttle. He took look inside. “It’s clean” he reported then stepped back outside covering the bandits.
Colt helped Abbey
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abbey was uneasy when Colt had Rune come along. Why couldn't he have picked Mobbex? She knew Mobbex. She trusted Mobbex, at least as far as she could throw him, but she knew what she could expect with him.
But Rune? Rune was a wildcard. abbey didn't like it.
She asked why he came along again.
Quote:
Originally posted by Colt99:
“Would you rather I sent him with the Doc?” “Could be worse, Twister could have come with us. Besides I’m still not sure he’s not in bed with Niska. Best to keep him close.”
So Colt had Spots, Wash and Brit keeping an eye on the unwanted passenger. That made her feel marginally better.
But this was Sihnon. Shouldn't their job and transactions go better in a Core environment?
Quote:
Originally posted by Colt99: “Spots lined this up through a broker. We don’t know these folks meeting us so I’d rather have him along.”
She knew he was right, but she still had to come. She didn't know why, but she wanted to be the voice of sanity should Colt piss off their buyer. If the guy was a proper(-ish) businessman of Sihnon, then the Captain seemed to have ways to tick off a person like that.
She reminded him of the option she had presented. Something a wee bit less risky.
Quote:
Originally posted by Colt99: “We’re selling a stolen hover, to replace a shuttle we plan to use to sneak aboard an Alliance base station, to embed a program into their secure servers that will allow Niska to steal any shipment they have in the quadrant, not such a good idea getting your guild wrapped up in this. Better to do it on the whore side of the planet.”
Then she went and blurted out the fact that she studied with the Companion Guild for a bit. He turned it into a sexual reference faster than fast. She blushed readily as she looked at Rune. She didn't trust him, but that was gorram personal!
The shuttle landed without much fanfare, but thing started going south when two armed men leapt from the shuttle door. As fast as fast could be, Colt had grabbed her arm in order to protect her and put himself between her and the armed men. But then a most surprising thing occurred.
Rune took that position himself. How odd... a show of concern from a man who worked for slavers.
Another man entered the scene. He introduced himself as Louterio Ocho and then stated that he was surprised that Colt had shown with the heat of a Core world would have.
Louterio inspected the hover. Colt gave him a broad threat, explaining that he expected things to go off without a hitch. Or else.
Apparently Louterio had other plans, because all of them had guns drawn and she found herself on the group. Colt had shoved her down to keep her under the line of fire.
She landed just right of her abdomen and the pain lit up her insides. It hurt worse than she expected, but the pain went away. No harm, no foul.
Bullets were fired and abby actually did her part. Now Colt should be able to see why she insisted on coming. No one would have expected the pregnant lady to be packing heat. And that definitely fit Louterio's reaction.
Louterio backpedaled as he realized he was out gunned.
Quote:
Originally posted by Colt99: “You ok?”
She muttered something about her dress being torn and the fact that she liked it, but most of all, she couldn't help but shoot him a zinger.
"And you didn't think I'd be able to contribute to this little soiree," she said. "And lookee here, had to go and save you butt again."
She got up and dusted herself off. With a smirk on her face, she went inside the shuttle to give it a looksee.
Somehow, they had managed to close the deal, grab the coin and get a bunch of weapons.
"Are you getting a little better at this?" she asked. "They didn't even shoot you this time."
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Although the market was on a core planet, small stalls for ones who didn’t want to be noticed seemed to materialise before ones very eyes. Shifting her backpack, Oram was able to keep ahead of Mobbex ignoring his mutterings of being a mule or something. The sun was high and hot and Oram could feel the sweat start to trickle down her back as she made her way through the smothering crowd.
“Don’t see why Colt had to send me with you,” he grumbled. “Can’t have sent that new bloke, he seems to enjoy your company.”
“One; you need the exercise,” she threw a smile over her shoulder to show she wasn’t serious, “and two; we don’t know him well enough.”
“What’s the worst he’ll do?”
“Well, seeming as *I* have an accumulative total of the money for the ship at the moment?” Oram let the sentence hang.
“It’s not that much,” Mobbex scoffed.
“Enough for medical supplies, food and ammo.” Oram shrugged. “Then you can commandeer a ship or even kick the crew, sans pilot and mechanic, off.”
“You’ve thought that through.” Mobbex stopped and a few people bumped into him. “You ain’t gonna act on it any time soon.”
“Only if my shooting aim improves.” Oram joked darkly.
They wandered around the different market stalls for a while, buying necessary inventory for the ship and people. Not in a rush to get back to the ship and not worried as they had their comms turned on, both took the opportunity to enjoy the sun, crowd and something that wasn’t a mind-numbing task.
“What the hell…” Oram said in surprise.
In the middle of the crowd a young boy held an old and frayed leadrope to a Buckskin horse, who stood with his head drooped in boredom and a leg cocked in rest.
Knowing no harm would come in looking Oram went ahead to have a look. Back home she had a paint she hadn’t seen in a few years and she missed him along with the long, and sometimes wild, rides they’d go on.
“You like horses?” The kid, trying terribly to be a grown up, asked.
“Grew up with them.” Oram replied, noticing the rough coat even though it wasn’t winter. “He’s a bit far from any grass.”
“Dad told me to sell him or give him away.”
“Hmm.”
A look came over Mobbex’s face. “No!”
“We can let him free on the next planet!” She pleaded.
“Uh huh,” he said, “what’s in it for me?”
“Rest of my whisky stash.” She said without hesitation.
“Colt get pissed at you?” he said to be a smart arse.
“Shut up.”
Giving the boy the required money out of her own bag, they made their way back towards the ship, Mobbex being forced to carry a bale of hay that Oram had also bought.
Colt stood on the ramp, looking at them with a dumbfounded look.
“Hey Captain!” She called brightly, giving the animal an affectionate pat. “I got myself a horse!”
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Colt tried to put the shuttle through the paces on the way back to the Book. Clearly out of his element Abbey took over the controls. The ship dipped and dodged through the busy airspace of Shinon. Abbey made a comment about it handling better than her own. Colt felt a sense of satisfaction that was few and far between these days. The job had gone south as they seemed to do, but with better than average outcome. Rune had pulled his weight and they had snagged some extra coin in the process.
As they dropped to the deck to dock with the Book, Colt noticed Abbey wince. “You ok?” he asked.
“It’s just…think the little ones squirming, that’s all” Abbey replied.
Docked and locked the group exited the shuttle. Twister and Spots met them at the door. “Bout time you got back.” Twister popped off “You mechanic did a fine job birddogging me while you were gone.”
“Glad to hear it” Colt shot back then turned to Spots “Give the shuttle a look let me know if there’s anything wrong with it.”
“Sure thing Captain” Spots said, relieved to be off guard duty.
“The others make it back yet?” Colt added.
“Not yet.” Spots answered before disappearing into the shuttle.
Abbey moved past them and waited at the top of the catwalk. Rune stood next to Colt. “Want me to take over the watch?” he volunteered.
“Hell I can’t even take a piss without an escort” Twister interrupted.
“You can go back to being confined to quarters if you like?” Colt said.
“Didn’t that work out sorta poorly last time you tired it.” Twister smirked.
“True it did that’s why I’ll be sure to tie you up personal this time.” Colt stood staring at Twister until Twister thought the better of it.
“Guess you’re the new guard dog” Twister said to Rune and started down the hall.
Colt joined Abbey on the catwalk. ”So we’re trusting Rune now?” She questioned.
“Trusting? No. But he did put himself in harm’s way to protect you, so that buys him something.”
As Colt and Abbey made their way to the cargo hold they saw Doc and Mobbex returning. Colt froze in his steps as he saw the doc coming up the ramp.
“Hey Captain!” She called brightly, giving the animal an affectionate pat. “I got myself a horse!”
Colt stood dumbfounded. “I don’t recall that being on the supply list” he said quietly. He shook his head and regained his senses. “What the hell you have need of a horse for?”
Mobbex stepped up slinging the bale of hay to the deck “I told her it was a moon brained thing to do Colt, she just wouldn’t listen.”
Colt moved beside the horse and ran hand down its neck “Doc, we can’t be taking no horse on. Aint natural to keep a horse in space. Where the hell did you even find it? We’re miles for what passes as rural on a core world.”
“I found it in the market and I understand we can’t keep it. I’d just like to find it a better place to run. You said yourself. This ain’t exactly the rolling plains. We’ll put it off on Persephone, hand to God Colt. You won’t even know it’s here.” Oram said.
“That were the case we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Colt looked at the animal. “We already picked up a couple of strays, in Rune and Twister. We got a time table to keep. The horse has to go.” Before Colt could make it an order Wash squawked in over the com.
“Captain getting a lot of chatter about some stolen goods.” Wash said “Talking about locking down the dock and doing ship searches”
Colt cussed. “Ocho must have sold us stolen shuttle” He grabbed the lead rope from Orams hand and led the horse up the ramp, hitting the door switch as he passed. “Wash get us in the air now” he said into the com. Turning to Oram he said “You can build a pen out of the cargo boxes and that railing we store on the wall. I don’t want to as much as smell a horse dropping much less see any on my deck.”
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The spare boxes provided well enough for temporary fencing to house the horse in, though he was tied up to the side of the ship so as to prevent him getting lose and causing havoc. Finding another two discarded containers (that had yet to be thrown) she filled it with water and the other with lose hay and other foodstuffs.
For a moment the horse seemed to consider the door, possibly waiting for it to open and freedom to be given, but since it was a grazing animal and had ‘opportunistic greed’ in its DNA he turned to his bucket and began snuffing and grinding the stale food bars to his contentment.
Oram watched as he steadied himself to the rising of the ship as it exited the atmosphere and went right back to munching, occasionally taking deep drinks. His ears swivelling to her voice as she spoke soft nonsense words to keep him assured no danger was lurking in the shadows.
“Just hope none of the crew throw me out of the airlock over you,” she murmured more to herself than to the horse.
The horse, in question, continued to munch his food none too quietly.
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Rune smiled as he watched the Captain and abbey banter back and forth during the job. As much as they fought, you'd think they'd be at each other's throats, but they actually seemed to enjoy it.
It was funny when abbey pushed Colt out of the way in order to push the shuttle to it's limits. Then she threw the zinger in about how it handled better than hers. He nearly laughed out loud. These two were more entertaining than a cortex comedy.
Then they got back to the ship and as soon as she winced, he noticed it too and frowned a little.
Quote:
Posted by Colt:
“You ok?”
Quote:
Posted by abbey:
“It’s just…think the little ones squirming, that’s all”
She had been knocked down kindly hard. Rune made a point to keep tabs on her. To make sure she was OK.
But there was something else about her... Something was itching at the back of his brainpan. She looked so familiar...
Then there was Twister and Spots. Twister was being combatant, complaining about being babysat.
I might be a little ticked off too, if I was in that situation too, Rune thought.
Colt asked about the others and Rune looked about, noticing that the Doc wasn't around. He wanted to talk to her and see what she had planned for later, but for now that would have to wait.
So he volunteered to watch Twister. As he got closer to the guy, he noticed abbey looking at him from up above the catwalk. She didn't trust him. He could see that plain as day, but the Captain seemed to be more comfortable around him.
That was good.
Quote:
Posted by Twister:
“Guess you’re the new guard dog”
"Guess I am," Rune answered as he walked the man back to him quarters. As he watched Twister being all sour and complaining, he thought about abbey.
God she looked familiar.
"So the Captain's woman?" Rune asked Twister. "You know much about her? I mean, you and Colt seem to have some past connection, but what is her story?"
Rune shrugged a bit.
"She just looks so gorram familiar. Like I've seen her picture somewhere."
He kept an eye on Twister though while he talked.
"But I was on Ezra for a while. This is the furthest I've been in a long time. It's just driving me nuts."
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abbey nodded slightly in agreement with the fact that Rune did indeed put himself into harm's way to protect her. But she still didn't trust him. He made her nervous, especially since she knew where he came from.
abbey was jolted from her thoughts when Colt stopped dead in his tracks. She followed his shocked gaze to see Oram and Mobbex entering the cargo bay.
With a horse.
abbey giggled softly as Colt went down to question her about their new "pet."
Colt balked at the idea of a horse on board, but it seemed to make Oram so happy. And she promised to put it off on a planet more suitable for a horse. Mobbex was just as sour as Twister was, but then again, Mobbex was usually grumpy when he was paired with the good doctor.
Then Colt moved beside the horse and ran hand down its neck. abbey realized that Colt had a familiarity with horses. A new facet to him. She'd have to ask him about that later. In that instant, she thought he might actually enjoy having the animal around, even if it was just for a little bit.
Then Wash's voice over the comm returned them to reality. They had to make a hasty departure... again.
Colt led the horse inside and gave Oram some last minute directions before heading off to the bridge.
abbey followed after him.
"You didn't get shot, but we still have fallen our pattern of having to do the hasty exit," she jabbed. "And here I thought I might actually get to go shopping or something."
Once on the bridge, she slipped her hand in his.
"I'll be needing some new clothes soon. These are getting a little tight."
Then she got an impish grin on her face.
"And a refresher class at the Companion Training House would have been good."
If he was going to poke fun at her, then she was going to sling it right back. And it worked, because he had changed his gaze from out the window to her.
"They have those?" he asked wide eyed.
She just giggled and stepped forward until she was behind Wash.
"How's it looking Wash? Are we clear?"
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