"Charlene, I couldn't move that body myself if I wanted to. Truth be told, the reason I'm sitting here holding a light for you is two fold. One, I have at least three cracked ribs and doubt I can get up if I could. Second, I think I'm concussed and I need someone to watch me." She blinks a bit, clearly feeling out of sorts. "And truth be told...if I'm going to die. I'd rather be close to somoene I care for."

"Y'r not gonna die, Kyoko..."  Charlie muttered, twisting the pin again, leaning up and propping herself on one elbow.  "Only two types'f people get th'privledge of dyin' around th'people they care 'bout.  Folk who don't leave home'n folk who don't love nobody.  Ask the Cap'n, he'll tell ya."  She couldn't look down at Kyoko, trying to remain focused on the task.  Her words about being close to someone she cared for brought the thoughts of Rhaef into the back of her mind, and it was the last thing that she needed.  If she was going to avoid crying, the only way she could do so was to just try to push back all her emotions...the ship was at stake her, after all.

"I envy him." She whispers as her eyes droop a bit. "He got to be with you. The companion says with a bit of a slur in her voice.

"You..."  The word came out through gritted teeth, her hands stopping for the moment as Kyoko's words cycled through her mind.  He got to be with you.

"A'right, Kyoko, y'want t'stay here?  Y'gotta stop it.  He got nothin'.  He held m'heart in his hand'fer a year, an'ya know what he did?  Second he had it, he went'n threw it 'gainst a wall.  Then he left us all 'cause I kissed him, an' all'f a sudden, ah was this tender lil'thing that he had'ta protect.  No carin' about me, jus'bout him.  Jus' like everyone else, lookin' out for who's gotta be important."  Charlie let out a sigh, pulling out the locking pin which sent the fuel filters loose, and she pulled it off the engine.  "God knows ah'm not gonna do that 'gain.  Carin'bout people jus'means that it hurts more'n anythin' when they leave ya."

Kyoko blinks. "I know..that was why I stayed.." She leaned her head against the massive bulk of metal. "That was..his big mistake. I knew we'd never work.. you would accept who I am.. the rich heiress who is a spy for the companions council. She closed her eyes and savored the feeling the metal gave her. "Finish up your work Charlie..we need to get out of here when the Captain returns.

There was a long moment of silence from under the engine as Charlie worked the filter from the inside, popping the pirate lines that the saboteurs had put there in the first place.  "Wouldn't work 'cause you're rich, or that'cha are a companion, or what'ver ya say'n such.  Tha's funny, thinkin' that just what'cha are makes things all sorts'f obvious."  Charlie slid the fuel filter back into place, reaching up to find where the locking pin once was, sliding it back into it's spot.  "I'm flyin' with a failed war cap'n.  Ah'd been in love with someone who'd been an assassin'n a murderer.  Y'think who people are r'ta givin' any sort'f council here?  Y'think, on this ship, it matters that'cha are rich'r any'f that?  None'f it matters."

Charlie reached her other arm into the engine, sliding the oil line into view so she could see where they penetrated it.  "Ah woulda said no, accountin' fer th'fact that ah'm just not...not in 'fer all sortsa, y'know...women."

Kyoko nods, her eyes sparkling as she opens them for a moment. "There is that too. I figure you could handle an heiress to the company that made the engine you're working on more than the woman part." she says softly before closing her eyes again.

Charlie muttered something under her breath as she slowly pulled the fuse line out of the oil streak, sending a spray of oil over her hands and arms as well as her face.  She closed her eyes, closing it with one hand as she fumbled back at where the silver box was, pulling off one of the clamps and winding it back onto the line.  She could taste the murkiness of the fluid from where it rolled into the corners of her mouth, trying to spit it out as she used her hands to put the oil line back in place.

"Ta ma de!  Gorram f'n zse..."  Charlie muttered as she finally felt the oil line click back into place, and she slid out from under the engine, wiping her oil-covered face with oil-covered hands...which in actuality added to the mess, but allowed her to open her eyes.  "Where'n ruttin' hell...ship can be goin' life 'gain."  She tossed the silver box to the back of the room, letting out a sigh.  "Intercomm's dead, bein' that th'ship is total dark n'all.  Y'gonna be okay if ah'm t'go tell'em?  Can't be yellin' through th'whole thin' here..."

Kyoko doesn't asnwer, merely leaning against the massive engine and looking for all the world like she's asleep.

Charlie looked over at Kyoko as she slept, letting out a sigh...figured that all this "excitement" would wear her out.  She slowly got up, running her arm across the back of her face, trying to get more oil away from her eyes and depositing it mostly in her hair.  "Whassa matter, hun...ya figure nearly all sortsa things, all that thinkin' get t'ya?  What'ver."  She was tired, she was covered in oil, and Kyoko hadn't made it better by trying to play with her emotions like she had.  She knew she had been hit in the head, and that maybe it was the concussion...Charlie'd been through worse.  With a sigh, Charlie left the room with the door open, leaving Kyoko slumped next to the dead body both illuminated by candlelight.  It was time to get things turned back on.



---------->To Bridge

From the Bridge --->

"Kyoko, you okay? Its Ren and Acacia." Ren said as he pushed opened the door to the engine room. He shuddered slightly at the tarp in back of the room, knowing what was under it and that he'd have help move the bodies for disposal soon enough. They reached where Kyoko was standing/leaning against the engine. "Acacia, that don't look too good? What do you want me to do?" Ren asked trusting her judgement and orders.

Acacia followed Ren in, crouching down next to Kyoko and turning her head so that they were face to face, snapping a few times as she patter her cheek.  "Well, if she's got a rib problem, we'll have to get her to the infirmary...I can't treat that here.  Can you carry her?"  She brushed the blonde hair out of her face, patting her cheek some more.  "Kyoko, honey, are you okay?  Can you hear me?  We're gonna move you out of here, so just hang on...this is probably going to hurt a bit."

Kyoko's face is wan and drawn, her breathing shallow and when checked her eyes are dilated to different sizes. Clearly she's not well at all, and when checked there is a good sized goose eygg with blood on the back of her head.

Ren nodded to Acacia, "Yeah, I've got her." Ren answered and he collected her body and picked her up as gingerly and carefully as he could. "I take it we're going to the infirmary then." Ren answered holding Kyoko's body, waiting for Acacia to lead the way and open the doors.

"Yeah, straight to the infirmary...we'll get her looked at in a minute.  You're gonna need help getting rid of these corpses, and Charlie...she looked a little uncomfortable being around these types of things."  She crouched down next to the tarp-covered body, lifting the edge to see what had happened...how unsightly.  "You just take her, set her down at a table and come back.  They're just ribs, they'll take weeks to heal regardless of whether I work on them right away or not...this is more pressing right now."

Ren nodded at Acacia, he couldn't help the small smile that hit the corners of his lips - even in the midst of disaster like this he still couldn't help but admire her.  She was so cute when being all professional.  He looked at Kyoko then though and his smile vanished.  He held her gingerly, trying to be as careful as possible.  Kyoko shouldn't have had to fight that man - and now she was hurt.  Even when Ren tried to take action he couldn't protect everyone ... let's face it - he just wasn't cut out for that line of work.

Kale, Rhaef, Geoff ... leave the shooting to them.  After this Ren just wanted to lock himself up in the cockpit and never come out.

[To Destiny: Infirmary]

Acacia sighed a bit, biting the inside of her cheek...a stab wound to the stomach, that was the obvious wound.  It wasn't a pretty way to go, and it was most likely painful.  Hopefully he had been wicked enough to deserve it.  After a moment, she rolled the body over once, allowing it to become more tangled in the tarp to make it easier to carry out.  There would be blood, and while she wasn't accustomed to having to dispose of bodies in such a manner, everything be damned if she's going to let something like this ruin her life with Ren...

[From Destiny: Cargo Bay]

Ren entered the engine room to see Acacia fixing the tarp over the body, "Acacia, get away from him ... ya don' ... ya don' need ta be seein' that..." he immediately felt stupid for saying it.  Acacia was a doctor - it wasn't like she hadn't seen a dead man before.  For some reason it hurt him though that she had to see that.  He moved the tarp to completely cover the body - he didnt' want to see it either.

"Babe, don't be so squeamish about it...it's nature.  I'm gonna look like that one day...so are you."  She stood back up, getting on her toes to give Ren a kiss on the cheek.  "That's why I have to love you so much, it's all about the time we have until then.  It's why I won't let a day go by without telling you I love you."  She smiled, stepping to one side of the tarp and picking up the edges, looking back at him.

"Now let's get this thing out of here before the others come back."

Ren laughed half heartedly, shaking his head, feeling more then a little stupid, "Right, right, I know.  We all live an' die, yeah?" he looked at Acacia's beautiful face then, "Yer not ever gonna look like that though ... too manly." he joked.  But inside he still felt ... something.  Something he couldn't quite name.  All he knew is that he loved this woman before him and he never wanted her to hurt.  Not ever.

"I love you, bao bei.  I love you, I love you, I love you." he kissed her once between each sentence.  On her forehead, her nose, her lips.  Then picked up his end of the tarp.  "Let's get him out of here."

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]

"Stop being such a flirt, hun."  She smirked, following him out as they lifted the body.

------>to Cargo Bay

Charlie stepped into Engine Room 2, ignoring the spot of blood that has collected on the floor as she reached into the engine, trying to find the forward thrust manifold to attatch it back to the straight drive.  She'd left it unattatched after she fixed the engine to give a chance for the toxins to drain out of the pipes, had any gotten in...but they didn't have the liberty of time until they were out of atmo, at which point she would give them the chance to drip out the excesses.  She finally felt the pieces connect, and with a tug to make sure they weren't going to come detatched, she stepped up to the intercomm.

"We're right's rain, baby bear.  Sounds right'n ready, take us t'tha black..."

After successfully delivering the stamp to the Professor and despite the loss of their first mate, the crew of Destiny headed back into the black.  Back to work.  A few jobs later has left them with a crate from Xiaygin to be delivered to Torrance Station.  They've just docked at the space station located on the rim.

Its now been almost a month since the museum job and Rhaef leaving - the wounds are healing but they haven't been forgotten yet.

After their daring escape from Torrance Station the crew of Destiny was left broken and beaten ... and one crew member short.  The mourning had just begun for the crew but they had to press on.  They dropped the young boy which Kale, Geoff, and Wei-Li had saved off with his father and then turned to Paquin for Ren's funeral.  It was a short trip that left all of them with heavy hearts but Ren's death had effected no one as hard as Acacia.  So two weeks later found the crew of Destiny on Osiris saying goodbye to their doctor.

And although he was millions of miles away, as Destiny and her crew suffered ... so did Rhaef ...

The crew of Destiny has finally managed to get itself back on its feet.  After a trying past few months things are starting to go back to normal.  The absence of Ren and Acacia is still felt but the ships newest members have begun to find a home on board the old freighter.  Most relationships have been mended and although there are still some unanswered questions between members of the crew life has been peaceful.

However, after a few months of excitement and trials the crew has discovered that the cash flow has come to a sputtering halt.  The crew needs a job and soon.  First rule of the black is to keep flying.  Fortunately, one of Kale's contacts managed to put him in touch with the infamous Sin Twins.  The girls are probably the most ... unpredictable of contacts, one can never be quite certain what they're getting into when dealing with them.  But one thing is for certain, the pay-out is always good.  The crew has set up a meeting with the twins in a casino on Santo to get more details about the possible job.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:44, Fri 25 Apr 2014.