Viper was overtaken by shock, taking several steps back in response. "Sorry-How?" Viper mumbled in confusion, first feeling a strong sense of relief but was extremely puzzled.
"The Bomb...There was..it's-" Viper said again in utter confusion before coming to the only realistic conclusion, this was some joke played by one of the major powers. An morbidly plank to let their guard down, no way could someone or something could have survived an bomb that leveled an entire station.
"Impossible..." Viper said quietly as it turned to face this metal abomination of the crew's former comrade. Readily it's claws and talons to shirke, solidifying an defensive stance towards this mechanical imposter.
The Sanghvi started to pace around this cruel joke, bareilly holding it's anger as this....Forgery of the Captain's best and most loyal comrade, dared to stand next to the him where lived his final moments.
Viper was hitting an boiling point with it's emotions as the rain poured down on top of two before hearing the sounds of an engine blasting and spraying water over the Sanghvi cold shell.
The implant flashed to warn Viper of Yanim presence nearby, afraid of soft-carbon's life due amount of loss the crew had suffered today, Viper couldn't bare to lose anyone else as very possible scenario flashed though it's hard-silicate head.
"Yanim, retreat." The Shanghvi said over the private comms through it's implant, "I'l be able to handle this...thing myself." Viper added.
Varn was getting himself together. The crew needed someone to help and him going berserk wasn't going to do that. He breathed heavily as the sedatives flowed through his blood.
Adrenaline level: 50%
Warning: Unknown signatures spotted
Adrenaline levels :80%
The crimson bastards were back for more. Well, he wasn't gonna give them a chance to surprise the crew. He unsheathed the blade in his arm and started walking towards the hooded figure with the unknown signature. When the figure pulled his hood, Varn froze in place. It couldn't be. The dead don't just come back like this.
It looked like Yanim and Viper had the same idea. Varn stood back and watched as events unfold.
Lion held up his hands. "Easy! It is me, your eyes are not deceiving you!" Said Lion to both Viper and Yanim.
He slowly reached for his poncho and let it fall to the ground, revealing his familiar robotic body with the only difference being that all the white plating had been replaced by black one.
He looked towards the ship. "Dwan! Need some help here."
As Dwan sat in the Ranger, wondering what's going to happen, he hears Lion calling for him. He gets up and looks out, seeing Yanim, Viper and Varn confronting Lion. He rushed out of the ship.
As he walked to Lion, the three could see a small man, fully armored in Lion's LWA armor and carrying a multitude of weapons. Dwan stood next to Lion and then took off his helmet, showing his face to the others. He holds his helmet to his chest.
First Lion, then Dwan. "[It's really you... you're back. You shouldn't be back.]" There wasn't any logical explanation, aside from one. Earlier that day, Yanim wouldn't have accepted it; but now, with her foundations broken and her vitriol rising, she reveled in it. "Hye hye hye..." she lowered her rifle, laughing despite herself in utter despair, echoing Damya's twisted cackling. "...Where did you go, when you left to defuse the bomb?" Yanim's stilted laughter continued as she backed away, as Viper instructed, climbing back onto the ATD.
"...You slipped away with the blackjackets, didn't you?"
The bike roared to life, and Yanim was gone.
Hercules had shot a few blasts at the mysterious figure who had struck Sledge, but had ultimately hit nothing. He instead turned his attention to Sledge who was laying on the ground unconscious, blood streaming from his nose and forehead. He licked his face, his tongue unintentionally flash-freezing the blood and stopping the bleeding. He then managed to finagle Sledge's body onto his armored back before trotting back to the hangar, hoping to find some of those nice people who keep patching the two of them up.
...
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xjir3YSUA8[/media]
Back in the medbay, the droids were at an impasse. The structure of Sledge's skull had more or less been demolished. It was a wonder that he wasn't brain damaged, much less dead. In order to survive, he would need a 79% bone structure replacement. A few of the droids had already begun debating whether to go with a plastic or ceramic prosthetic, but one stood opposed to both standpoints. Being programmed for logistics, the droid was overly sensitive to the frequency at which Sledge had to visit the medbay. It simply wasn't economical to give him anything less than the most durable material they had to offer.
The debate, which had lasted nearly two full seconds, came to a conclusion: Sledge's skull would be rebuilt from a neigh-invulnerable titanium alloy. His eyes would be replaced by more durable digital counterparts. There would be no impact this man's skull couldn't take. Deep in the bowels of the medbay they forged a formidable visage for our hero. The molten metal was hammered and formed and quenched and polished [url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c8/c4/ca/c8c4caa7c9debd8442d4479b58cfd4ad.jpg]until the deed was done[/url].
Carefully, but masterfully, the droids set about the task of replacing Sledge's skull with the much more durable titanium alloy. This was surely the most delicate surgery to be performed on the Archius so far, and the droids spared no effort. After nearly half an hour, the skull had been entirely replaced. Synthetic skin was layered over top and synthetic hair implanted to mimic Sledge's visage exactly. It was time to bring him out of anesthesia.
A quick injection brought Sledge to consciousness. His eyes fluttered open to reveal that his irises had become crimson and luminescent. Slowly, he rose to a sitting position.
"My head hurts," he said, slowly.
One of the medical droids answered, "That is normal. Please try to relax."
"There's no time to relax. Not anymore. Tell me what happened after I was knocked out."
The droid recounted everything that had happened in monotone. Sledge listened intently. The news was conflicting. The captain and two others had been killed, but Lion and Dwan were alive? What the hell was even going on anymore...?
He wanted to see for himself, but the droid bade him to stay in bed.
"Fine, but I need something in the meantime."
"What is it that you require?"
"I need to be stronger than I've ever been."
"I don't--"
"Listen. Whatever medical voodoo shit you have to do... I don't care. I never want to be defeated like that again."
"Then... Then I assume you accept the risks?"
"Fuck the risks."
"Very well, but I must tell you: We cannot put you under for what's to come, nor can we give you any painkillers. You must endure this entirely on your own."
"I eat pain."
"Understood. Med-droid 343, please soundproof emergency room number one."
Before Lion could respond to Yanim and Viper went away on her ATD. He looked at Dwan. "Well, looks like they need some time to cope with our return."
He looked at Varn. "You good Varn? You look a bit twitchy?"
[Viper's still there, only Yanim left I think? ]
((I think he just accidentally a word))
When the auditors vanished, the creature infront of Iska let out a roar and turned into dust.
She lowered her shield and deactivated the plasma blade. Putting away her equipment, she looked around to see the damage that had been done. She began walking over the captains corpse when she noticed a familiar figure talking to viper.
Iska ran over to what seemed to be Lion and gripped him by the throat and lifted him up.
Tightening her grip around his neck she looked into his eyes. "You are ghost", Iska said between her teeth.
Viper tired to retract and stop Yanim but the soft-carbon had already driven off before the Sanghvi could so much as a say a word. Distressed about Yanim state but felt that the best course of action was to left the Kanad to short out it's emotions and watch her status from the implant, hoping to speak to her later after dealing with two very important matters that at hand.
As the Sanghvi slowly turned to face the two rain began to die down, it begin to think, was it really them? Viper thought as it started overlooking Lion and Dwan, inspecting them with its eyes before being taken off guard by Iska charge.
Iska had what may or may not be Lion in her gasp, Viper had rushed and was at arm's length to Dwan. Already staring down the soft-carbon before he could react.
The Sanghvi was it's talons drawn and claws at the ready when it's made eye to eye contact with him.
"Ghosts or living, we will find out soon. Until then though, you're going to Brig." The Sanghvi said to him as it loomed over him, staring him down. "Now, put down your weapons." Viper commanded the soft-carbon.
"You good Varn? You look a bit twitchy?"
Varn took a deep breath and answered. "I'm...fine...just...angry..." He was silent for a few seconds and looked at them letting out a small laugh " I'm glad you're back, but you two have a lot of explaining to do."
That's when Iska jumped on Lion. Varn tried to help Viper separating them.
"Iska, it's me. Ghosts don't carry guns." Said Lion while being held up by Iska. "Is the brig really neccessary? We're still the same two crewmates."
Twelve kilometers from the Archius, Yanim was approaching the trade post Heidrov at maximum speed, streaks of water freezing to ice across her body and ATD. It barely made any difference to her, as her race was as naturally resistant to the cold as the Khergians. The world here was mostly flat; her mind was free to wander away from the ride and onto the past and the future, both frustratingly, heartbreakingly intertwined.
She remembered the last time she turned her back on the crew, at the Privateers' hidden meteor base. At the time the thing she wanted most in her life was a group she could belong in, which would understand and respect her. Iska, [I]sekadera, the understanding one,[/I] was the first to really accept her. She was a foreigner to the humans as well, and a denizen of the frozen planet Rigel which felt so familiar to Yanim; they had much in common. But the racial divide between khergians and kanads was equally wide, and much deeper, than the one which existed between humans and kanads. Yanim's future could not be on Rigel any more than it could be in this frozen wasteland.
Terra was not far- it offered far greater prospects, but Yanim found humans deeply complicated. She had idolized Lion more than anyone else for his professionalism and selflessness, and yet, her very reason for leaving the crew was the insurmountable conclusion that he and Dwan (whose listening ear gave him more knowledge about the crew's personal lives and secrets than anyone, friend or foe) had been bought- and had abandoned the crew and the Archius while escaping with their lives at the exact moment the ship appeared doomed. It should come as no surprise then, if they have signed a mercenary's contract, that they have returned to finish the job after the ship unexpectedly survived the attack.
According to Lietenant Rask, the officers involved with the mission were dredged up from the bottom rungs of highblood society- he was a suspected terrorist and Damya a suspected murderer, and he acknowledged his disposable status when he remarked that they probably would have killed him if he tried to quit his job. Only Colonel Vorokar knew the truth about the mission, and he took his own life, or at least appeared to do so. Lion was the only witness, and even then, the Vorokar that died may have been a clone. It seemed likely that Vorokar's death, fake or not, was a cover for a mission which was designed from the very start to ensure the destruction of the Archius after the skimming of databanks and the theft of valuable technologies.
The only question remaining was why the Black Fleet hadn't finished the job. Perhaps it was because the stealth ship which had locked onto them was never "officially" there, allowing State Security a better chance at covering up the operation as a terrorist attack of some sort. Perhaps there was an even grander strategy involved. She couldn't know, it was all wild guessing. Trying to guess who Lion and Dwan were really working for was an equally fruitless question. They attacked the Crimson Son, probably to prevent them from collecting the bounty they were working for. State Security was a possibility, but their role seemed redundant given the bomb plot- unless Lion was the one who was really in control of the bomb the whole time, and Vorokar himself was another pawn.
Yanim screamed in fury at the thought.
There were too many possibilities, and all of them were disgusting to the core. She connected remotely to the Archius through her implant and began the process of removing herself- her engineer's logs, her personal information, biometrics, medical records... all of it was erased in a single purge. She had wanted so badly to protect the crew and become one of them weeks prior, but the dream was finally dead. The best of them were the worst of them; if only she could have known and warned the captain. If only he were alive to accept her apology.
The roles were reassigned. Maintenance duties were placed under Pippen's control. Reactor work was left to Kr, and general design work was left to Iska (as Yanim had never been informed of her intention to return home.)
There was one more secret task she issued before resigning her position and signing out of the system completely.
---
The smell inside of Rask's cell in the brig was steadily worsening. By now, the other blackjacket, a sergeant named Virin Rozel, had regained his senses and untied Rask. They spent a few hours discussing the attack, the Archius crew, their backgrounds, and their intentions if they survived this imprisonment. Damya's corpse was a nearly unbearable sight. Sometimes they would shout for attention which never came, and sometimes they sat in silence in the back corner of the cell, quietly awaiting their deaths, which also never came.
There was odd "click" which echoed through the silent brig. The door slid open; no one walked in. The two men were terrified at first, but as time crept forward and no threat emerged, they cautiously walked toward it, wondering whether they were being set free or set up. There was no one in the hall and no one in the security room. Only one person was watching on the security feed, and she made sure the connection could not be monitored by anyone else. A message appeared on the security console:
[quote=%Profile Missing%]Your superiors intended for you to die in the attack. The crew intends for you to die in your cell. I have use for you. Meet me at Heidrov. Bring Damya's possessions and uniform.[/quote]
The door opened into the Armory and both officers flinched, but they were greeted by a drone which presented them with a set of OBV rifles and VRI pistols from the captured stock. They rushed back down into the brig and retrieved Damya's items, ignoring the disgusting nature of the job. This was clearly their one chance and they weren't about to question it. Soon they were in the lift, going down, unsure of what planet they were on or where they were actually going. Doors unlocked, the camera feeds went encrypted, nothing stopped them as they entered the hangar bay. The drone lead them to a pair of ATDs which had been assigned to Zarbon and Saint.
They first indication that anyone received that the two prisoners had escaped was the twin roars of the repulsor engines, followed by the rapid descent and turn of the bikes away from the scene of the battle. In a flash they had accelerated to beyond 100kph and disappeared into the inclement weather.
[Note that Arthur was standing next to Lion when Vorokar shot himself.]
((My mistake. I'm just going to roll with the idea that Yanim didn't know about that detail.))
Dwan didn't know what to expect when Lion called him over. Iska rushing over and gripping Lion by the throat he didn't expect. As he slowly started to back away from Iska, Viper rushed over to Dwan, looming over him menacingly.
"Ghosts or living, we will find out soon. Until then though, you're going to the Brig. Now, put down your weapons.", Viper said to the two. "A-alright.", Dwan responded, as he slowly started to put down all of his weapons on the floor. Instinctively, Dwan put his hands behind his head.
"Is the brig really neccessary? We're still the same two crewmates.", Lion said. "Lion, if they feel like putting us in the Brig, we should let them. They don't trust us anymore.", Dwan whispered to Lion in a somber tone, as he started to regret the decision of returning to this universe. "At the very least, may I request to be put in the same cell as Rask? I'm not done with that bar-breaking ball-blasting son of a bastard's bitch!", Dwan requested, hoping to at least do that.
"You have a point." Said Lion while still being held up in a chokehold by Iska. He slowly let the Peacemaker fall to the ground with a loud thud-sound.
"There, happy now?"
Iska nodded with a frown still on her face and threw Lion next to Dwan.
While Dwan helped Lion up, Iska had reloaded the LMG and was now pointing at them.
"Move" she said with a determined calm in her voice, gesturing for them to move into the hangar.
Lion nodded and began walking slowly towards the hangar with his hands on his head. "Can you at least my park my ship in the hangar if you're going to put us in the brig?" Asked Lion with a calm voice.
She tilted her head a bit, "Iska will get ship, after you are locked up".
Iska walked behind the pair and escorted them to the brig.
When they entered the hold, Iska realized that all the cells were open.
She quickly put Lion and Dwan into the same one, and locked the door, a small siren sounding and the gate sliding shut.
Iska turned to the two gentlemen and inspected them before going over to the cell where Rask and Rozel had been kept along with Daymas body.
Noticing it was empty she walked past Dwan and Lions cell, "You play nice, Iska has work to do", she muttered and hurried up the stairs.
In the hangar, she quickly started Isoro up whilst radioing Varn about the escaped prisoners.
She noticed that Zarbon and Saints ATDs were gone, strange since they were both stone cold dead.
She put Saints ATD on her tracker and rode out into the waste.
:snip:
Lion looked over to Dwan. "Don't worry, I'll handle the explaining when the time is due." He said as they sat in the cell.
"You better!", Dwan told Lion in a slightly aggravated tone. Not only does the crew not trust them, at least one of them thinks they work with the SS! This is one of the many possible ways the crew could've reacted that he expected to happen!
"I hope that the open cells don't mean what I think they do. Because if that's so, I'm going to flip!", Dwan said to Lion.
Lion nodded understandingly. "As long as they'll hear our explanation everything will be fine and believe, they're gonna want to hear how we're back all of a sudden."
Varn stood outside coordinating the med team, retrieving the bodies and the engineering crew retrieving the tank. The latter was salvageable, but you can't bring the dead back to life. At least that's what he thought until Lion and Dwan showed up. He was wondering if he had lost it, that this was one long hallucination before his death. He was brought back into reality by Iska's. He couldn't stop her, even if he tied her to the tank.
"If you think you can capture them, be my guest, just be careful. We buried enough friends today. I'll tell Viper about this and keep a look on Lion and Dwan." Varn switched frequencies to Viper "Sir! Two of our prisoners have escaped on ATD's. Iska is in pursuit of them. I'll watch over Dwan and Lion in the brig." By the time he was finished Varn was already in the Brig.
After a few minutes inside the brig Varn suddenly entered. Lion nodded to the dried up pool of blood on the floor. "Did someone die in here while we were gone?"
Varn looked at the dried blood. "That's either Damya's or Rask's blood. Both were in a bad shape when I left them." he turned back to face Lion. "Before I continue I need to know it's really you. I'm gonna ask you something only you know. Same goes for you Dwan. Lion, what's the serial number of the LWA BoomBox? Dwan, back when Lion hanged the the Screecher queen's head in the bar, I had a comment about it. What was it?"
"There is no serial number, all the weapons I make are custom made for each of you." Said Lion firmly.
Dwan thought for a bit after hearing Varn's question. "You said you never thought you'd have another queen bitch's head over you again, if I recall. It's been quite a while and so much has happened, so if that isn't it, I'm sorry.", Dwan said.
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