GR RP "Adventures in Gunrunning" ACT 21
POSTED BY: CapnRahn
UPDATED: Thursday, October 14, 2004 13:08
VIEWED: 20054
PAGE 2 of 10
Rowan’s Move
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
Taking out the hand-held, Rowan sets up a new audio file and sets it to record. In a sub window, she pulls up a note file and uses a stylus to begin jotting down notes. Observation, possible Troy - Academy refugee.
MERZ: Examination shows some evidence of cranial intrusion in the past, but well healed and not of particular note at this time. If causing this distress, is beyond my ability to alleviate. No visible or hidden trauma detected other than the slight scrapes on her knees. Those I will clean now. Unable to find physical reason for her misery. I lack the … understanding … of …
ROWAN's NOTES: Almost autonomic knowledge of anatomy and first aid. Approach is more similar to a mechanic's attitude toward the workings of a hover trans than a human.
MERZ: She and I do not really understand one another. I thought you might comprehend her better.
Merz approaches the cabinets and locates some swabs and disinfectant, and busies herself cleaning the shallow wounds on RIVER’s knees.
ROWAN: "Oh, I don't know about that. I have a feeling you two might have a lot more in common than you might expect."
Glancing up, Rowan sees River lying quietly on the bed as Merz takes care of the knee scrapes. Braiding her hair like that, with the singular self-distraction more reminiscent of a small child than a teenager, Rowan can't help but feel animosity to the all-powerful THEM that put her into this condition. What Merz said about the cranial intrusion only leans Rowan toward the confirmation that River is indeed a victim of the Academy. Rowan would, however, stalwartly disagree that it is "not of particular note at this time," as Merz so succinctly put it.
FLASHBACK
She walked into his office while still reading the data sheet in front of her, and didn't notice how the conversation stopped the minute she stepped in. "I finished the next wave if you want to take a look at it. I think I managed to find that angle we were…"
Realizing there was another person in the room, she looked at Robert and realized. "Oh, sorry, I'm interrupting."
He looked over at Robert and the two shared a significant look that made her frown.
"What's going on?" she asked.
He picked up a data sheet from the desk and held it out for her. Moving forward, she took it and saw that it contained the latest intelligence information about the Alliance institution called The Academy. Thinking of Ru, she smiled at first and pictured her brother there as a star student impressing the hell out of the academic community. That smile faded as she read on, and eventually felt the frown form.
"This can't be right," she said. Looking up, she met his eyes and seeing bald truth, switched to Robert. He had the same look. "My brother went there when he was sixteen."
He got up from behind the desk and moved around toward her. "Rowan."
She ignored him. "That means they've had their hooks into him for over a decade."
He tried again. "Mêilì Long."
"Gûnkai," she replied succinctly, and switched to Chinese. "Look me in the eye and try to tell me my brother has not been changed into some kind of monster. I defy you."
He couldn't do either one. He could only stand there, looking at her. He wanted to say he was sorry, but knew she wouldn't accept that from him either. So he held out his arms to her instead. Rowan wanted to scream, she wanted him to fight with her, to help her exorcise her rage. Instead she went to him, held on to him and crumpled that datasheet in one hand as she sobbed silently into his strong shoulder.
END FLASHBACK
ROWAN: (inwardly): And it's happened all over again, hasn't it?
Rowan swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in her throat. It helped work through the stab of p
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JAYNE'S move
LOCATION – CARGO BAY
ROWAN
"You can try to be as bad as you want to be, Jayne Cobb, but you and I both know when it comes down to it, you know where you stand. That is indeed a rare thing."
Jayne doesn't know quite what to make of that, and is content to just mull it over in his head as Rowan disappears from the cargo bay. Ah, soon they'd all be gone and everyone could settle down again, all nice and normal.
Now, where was he? Right, the work. Jayne breathes deeply, powers up the stick welder, and continues his work.
Jayne quickly becomes lost in the welding again. The sweat of his chest and back shimmer in the light of the welder, and he starts humming a tune his father taught him.
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MERZ move
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
ROWAN: "Merz, I've been having some pain I can't identify. Are you by any chance able to identify narcotics in the blood stream with those magic fingers of yours?"
MERZ just looks at Rowan with her head tilted to one side.
MERZ: "I do not have the skill to perform a chemical analysis in the same fashion as a physical assesment. If you do, I would appreciate being shown the technique. I can do a simple assesment by taste and smell - if it is something I am trained to recognize, that would be sufficient. For anything complex or uncatagorized, I would want to use the equipment. Let's get a blood sample."
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress.
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LOCATION - MALs DORMS
As ...
BOOK
"You have much on your mind. And you obviously haven't slept in far too long."
Reaching down, Book opens a drawer and sets the gun inside. He raises his eyebrows and looks questioningly at Mal
"I'll have Inara bring you something for your head. She has quite a stockpile of soothing teas."
Mal hold up a hand, indicating he wants Book to 'hold on'.
MAL
his voice drops deeper - constricted
"Wait ... si ... I mean, Please Sit."
Mal continues, unheeding of Book's response. Through his clenched jaw with barely constrained furor, Mal's words course. A veritable palette of raw seething emotion paints these softly spoken words. Crimson anger boiling in the forge of known and potential betrayal. A vile fog, the shade of puce, layers the shades of emotion as a veil of indecision. Mixing this miasma, a muddy brown tide of frustration swirls and distorts the other feelings within Mal. Neon green flashes of lightning hold the presence of Inara and Mal's unsettling connection with her. Darklighted on the fringes of all this burning, a shadow flits and flashes. Hopelessness seems to devour the other sensations a tiny particle at a time. Book is nearly set back on his heels from the non-verbal onslaught. In all the conversations, spoken and otherwise, Book has shared with Mal, he never sensed the full force of these brutal flares of loathing and depression.
MAL
Eyes locked on Book - hard and flinty edged in challenge, as if expecting ... more
"Is a man supposed to pay for his past sins in the here-and-now or in the afterlife?"
EOM
OOC
Pretentious, ain't it! 
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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The DeepRED suddenly gives off a warning:
POWER LOW! RECHARGE!
The fuel cells in the biologics body whould have lasted for several years more. But the combined distortion of the initial EMP attack and the accelerated generation of a new nanyte brood have drawn heavily on the mutated biological soup that generates energy.
The DeepRED reviews data on the power cells. Spheres, with energy "poles" at opposite ends. These poles collect energy from the carefully cultured bacteria. The bacteria is similar to the bioluminescent bacteria from Earth that Was. The bacteria was tailored to generate a more effecient energy type than light itself. If drawn at a set rate, the bacteria will keep itself maintained and create enough power to maintain, and will even charge at times to have a backup when neccessary. However, the bacteria, if drained, will "dim," and eventually go out unless an electrical surge is maintained for twelve minutes. The DeepRED considers options, and reviews the reports from the scouts. There is a terminal nearby, with its own power source. The nanyte brood, now numbering 17,823,402 units, begins to collect at the back of the neck, forming an umbilical. It slowly grows, slithering like a dying man to water, towards the terminal. . .
We can't all be heroes, since some of us have to sit at the curb and clap as they go by.
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River
River lies on the medical bed, lost in thoughts and memories of Simon. If she could only know that he'll be alright... She soon drifts into sleep.
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY
After dropping off the cleaning supplies in the engine room, Damon makes his way down to the cargo bay. Mal is still talking to Book, which is fine. Damon's not in a hurry to get in there, Mal will call again when he needs to.
Looking down from the catwalks, Damon sees Jayne hard at work. By the looks of it, he's been working a while. Damon makes short work of the stairs and walks over to Jayne.
"Hey, Jayne, how's it goin?"
(pause for Jayne's answer)
"Need any help 'fore I get started on my next job?"
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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JAYNE'S move
LOCATION – CARGO BAY
More clattering of feet. Jayne turns his head to see who it. He sees absolutely nothing directly in front of him, temporarily blinded as his eyes adjust. It's a big guy, though, and the unfamiliar gait tells Jayne that it may be Damon.
DAMON
"Hey, Jayne, how's it goin?"
JAYNE
"Makin' progress", he says plainly. Damon's features finally become recognizable.
DAMON
"Need any help 'fore I get started on my next job?"
JAYNE
"Ya found more work ta do? Well, I was gonna get you to look into how we can drop this here load for Thorne, but I guess I can..."
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Book's Move
Location: Mal's Dorm
--------
MAL
Eyes locked on Book - hard and flinty edged in challenge, as if expecting ... more
"Is a man supposed to pay for his past sins in the here-and-now or in the afterlife?"
--------
"Some believe... that the here-and-now and the afterlife aren't so very different." Book, who had been standing next to Mal's cot, sinks down onto it, the hard pad very much like the one in his own quarters, the blanket coarse. "Heaven or Hell or whereever you end up when you die, is what you make of it, and so is this life. A man's guilt will haunt him forever. If you don't accept responsibility for your sins and allow them to be taken from you... they will keep you from what you want."
EM
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Damon's turn:
LOCATION – CARGO BAY to INFIRMERY
JAYNE
"Ya found more work ta do? Well, I was gonna get you to look into how we can drop this here load for Thorne, but I guess I can..."
Jayne pauses long enough for Damon to step in.
"Kaylee's already a few steps ahead of you. She asked me to braid some bungee cords for the drop. I think I might be needin some help though so lemme go find Merz."
Damon turns and heads for the passenger dorms. He didn't see Merz anywhere on the upper deck so he assumes that's where she's got to be. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a protein bar he picked up on his way through the galley, pulls it free from his wrapper and takes a bite. Not as good as dinner was, but food just the same. He almost discards the wrapper on the floor but thinks better of it and pockets it instead.
Halfway through the common room, he comes to a stop when he hears Merz's voice drifting out from the infirmery. He walks to the doorway and finds her talking to Rowan with River lying on the medical bed between them.
Merz
"...if it is something I am trained to recognize, that would be sufficient. For anything complex or uncatagorized, I would want to use the equipment. Let's get a blood sample."
Damon takes another bite of his protein bar as he walks into the room and throws the wrapper in the garbage when he frees it from his pocket.
"Jus stick a Rapiheal patch on it- I hear they work wonders."
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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