The room looks at though its been deserted.  Against one wall lies a bed that has been stripped of its sheets.  A few books lie scattered about that its occupant has read so many times that they're all worn around the edges.  Pictures cover all the wall space.  Tons of grinning people smiling down on an empty room.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:00, Sat 22 Apr 2006.

((From: Passenger lounge.))

   Lei backs into the room and slides into a sitting position against the back wall. She watches the door swing half closed when Charlie stops standing in the doorway and wanders off.
   After watching the doorway for a half minute, Lei creeps up to it with the infirmary blanket wrapped around herself, and quietly pushes it shut. Maybe she was quiet enough so that the giant didn't notice... She sits on the floor, leaning against the door, and listens for a while...

   Lei leaned back against the door, and closed her eyes. She wasn't tired, she just wanted to concentrate on what she could hear for a while. The sound of the ship's engines humming in the distance washed over her, and she started to mentally filter out the noise. She was listening for smaller things than that, and less constant. After several minutes of listening, and having heard no tell tale footsteps approaching the door, Lei figures that the giant of a man was going to leave her alone. It didn't concern her that he was obviously out there watching the door or that she might be trapped in the room with no other way out, after all, she was used to bieng trapped in a single room.
   She stood up and examined the door. Something was different from it than she expected... For the first time that she could ever remember, the lock was on the inside of the door. She gingerly reached out, and quietly slid the bolt to the locked position, shutting the rest of the world out from the room.
   Lei draped the blanket around herself, and slowly walked to over to the bed, stepping carefully so as to not trip on the half of the blanket that was trailing across the floor. She curled up on her side upon the bare mattress and stared up at the pictures covering the far wall, idly wondering who all the people were, and recognizing a couple of them from in the cargo bay earlier. After a while she got bored of the photos, and leaned down to grab one of the books from the floor. She started to finger through the pages, only shifting her position to get a little more light to the book. Immersing herself in the text was far better than trying to work out anything about her current situation. It was the only thing that kept her from losing herself and breaking down crying again.
   Several hours later, the book slips from her fingers as the last effects of the adrenaline slip from her system, and Lei falls into a reasonably deep slumber.

   Lei woke up with a start. While she was still drowsy, things started registering in her mind. The light was too dim, the walls were the wrong colour. In fact, the walls seemed to be covered with pictures, and not the stark white she was used to.
   She slowly sat up and peered around. She was alone in the room.
   A room with a lock on the inside to keep people out. Not on the outside to keep people in. This wasn't the place with all the whitecoats who kept prodding her with sharp things.
   Lei smiled a little. Wherever she was, she wasn't there.
   She stood up, and wrapped the blanket around herself like a makeshift toga.
   Creeping across to the door, she held her ear near it, listening. The background hum she heard earlier was still there, and there were some distent voices, but it didn't sound like they were in the next room.
   She reached up and gently slid the bolt back, and let the door slowly open a couple of inches. Looking through the thin gap, she peered into the other room.

   The giant was still there, right where he was when she last saw him...
   A big man, like the big men she remembered who were always at the white place. They were always standing at the large doors that the whitecoats came in every day, there to make sure none of the kids got out. This one looked the same. He was dressed differently, but he still looked the same. Big and muscly and mean.
   Lei quietly lowered herself to a kneeling position, and sat there staring at him, considering what to do. Maybe if she was quick enough, she'd get past him. There's only one of him, and he's on the far side of the room...

   ((Moving to passenger lounge thread...))

   ((From: Passenger lounge))
   Lei rushes in and slams the door behind her. Fumbling a bit, she has some difficulty sliding the lock, but she manages to lock the door eventually. She goes over to the room's small closet, and steps into it, pulling the door shut behind her. She sits wedged in the corner of the closet, with her mouth clamped shut trying to control her breathing... Too loud... they'll hear me. too loud.

Having precured the meds from Londinium all onboard Destiny have been vaccinated.  The recovering crew took refuge on the Gypsy planet Paquin where they buried the two children, Sephone and Tate, who were lost on their last mission.  Now that everyone is back on their feet Destiny is looking for work once more, while trying to avoid a very angry Cortez, Alliance patrols, and Bosik's men.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:57, Sun 29 Jan 2006.

Geoff entered the bunk slowly and walked to the bed to place Lei on it. He laid her down gently and covered her with a nearby blanket before sighing lightly and looking down at her with a fond smile. He wondered wistfully if perhaps this was what it felt like to have a kid of your own, but he shook his head lightly and laughed softly at the thought.

It wasn't a fitting thought for a thug like him and it sure as hell wasn't one he would admit to having. So he just patted Lei softly on the head, moving a bit of stray hair out of her face as he did so, before turning away and heading out of the bunk. "Sleep tight, Little Lei.", he remarked softly as he headed out into the passenger's quarters and towards the cargo bay once again.

----------->Cargo Bay

   ((From: Cargo bay <- Caravan city docks.))

   Lei stirred slightly after Geoff put her on the bed. She rolled onto her side, and tucked her legs up near her chest, pulling her head in partially under the blanket that he'd draped over her. When he was leaving, she mumbled something incoherently, and then was lost to the waking world.

   Lei was still asleep when the captain's message blared over the intercomm, but woke up quickly. She sat up, bleary eyed, and started to look aropund for something else to wear, the clothing she fell asleep in still smelled of smoke from the bar they'd gone to last night. The clothes that Geoff had bought back from town last week for her should be around here somewhere...
   Once she was dressed and ready, she wandered out of the room. Something had woken her up, and she wanted to know what. Besides, Lei's stomach was telling her it was time to go get some food, anyway.

   ((To: Dining hall, via cargo bay.))

After getting their ship back the crew of Destiny began to pick up the pieces that Kyron had shattered.  Against most of the crews wishes Kyron was kept alive - although no official plans had yet been made for what to do with him when it became apparent that Wei-Li was falling into critical condition. Destiny needed medical help and fast.  They made way for the nearest planet at the time - Orisis.

After the fire fight at the Grand Yacht Party Kale worked out an arrangement with the Caddigan's.  Conveniently, the crews good friend Kyron Bates footed the bill with his bank card that he accidently dropped during his hijack attempt and which Wei-Li luckily found.  So finally the crew returned home ... back to Destiny.  Although slightly worse for wear.

They had been out in the black for a few days when Kale recieved a wave from his good friend and old professor, Walton Squires.  It was a pleasant surprise to recieve an invitation to his home on Regina and also to hear that he had a job for them ...

---> From Dinning Hall

Lei settled in on Charlie's bed with her book. She went back to reading the book, but the thought of Geoff's reaction messed up her thoughts. She wondered what she had done to upset him. Why he had bit himself so much that there was blood.

She gave a sigh as she moved through the papers with some sadness. She hoped that he wasn't mad at her. If she just knew how she had upset him, she would never do it again.

COMM:"Hey, little lady. I ain't gonna be able ta be talkin' ta ya 'bout...uh....that...right now. Gotta go out an' earn my keep. I'll be back later ta talk ta ya 'bout it though. Ya take care while I'm gone."

Lei looked up at the comm on the wall as Geoff's voice came through and then sighed, her small shoulders rising and falling.  She knew Geoff had to do his work though, there was a big job going on.  Lei had heard them planning in the dining hall.  Their plans weren't completely efficient, Lei had more then a few alterations that she would have made - she had worked them all out in her mind, leaving room for the variables such as the guards actions and security measures that they had not anticipated - she was sure that she could rob the museum with ease.  But it was not her job.  So instead she continued to pour over her papers.  That was until her ears picked up the slight sound of someone out in the cargo bay.

Usually she'd have paid it no mind, the crew was often going in and out of the cargo bay ... however, they never took the caution to step lightly. And these footsteps she could barely hear.  They were hardly footsteps at all.  She rose cautiously to her feet and slipped the door to her room open slightly - just wide enough to peek out in the hallway and the cargo bay beyond.  There were two men in there ... men that Lei did not recognize ... no, no she did recognize them and fear gripped her.  They were the bad men.

They don't belong here. came the thought.  She shut her door again soundlessly and then reached up to the comm on her wall, "The bad men are back." she said as she comm'd the bridge.  She couldn't say anymore as the fear crept up her spine. She wanted to run ... but where?  She was trapped.  Like a rabbit in its hole.  There was no way out, and if they came in ...

Ren was able to slip down the halls undetected, or at least so he thought, he reached Lei's door, and whispered, "Lei, its Ren, the pilot. Nobody's with me, I'm coming in." He slung the shotgun over his shoulder, and quietly opened the door slipping into the bunk.

He slipped inside and saw the girl. "Lei, do you think you can make it to the bridge? Acacia's hiding there and she'll let you in - its probably the safest place on the ship. If you get in trouble, just tell her Kyron is with you. If not, she'll let you in."

Ren hoped the girl would understand and not panic, because to be quite frank, he was on the edge of gorram panicing, this was Kale or Geoff or Rhaef's job, not his.

Lei heard the footsteps in the hall just outside her door and a thrill of fear coursed down her spine and she curled up into an even small ball in the back corner of the room.  The voice that followed however was familiar.  Lei didn't really know the pilot much, but he was crew and Geoff said crew was family so she figured Ren was okay.

Then he asked her to leave the room, Lei's eyes darted to the door, she didn't much like the idea of having to go out there in the cargo bay where the bad men were but she knew that was the only way to the cockpit.  In her head she quickly calculated the exact distance from her bunk to the bridge - her memory was impeccable and she knew from just the image in her mind about how long each wall and staircase and room was on the way there.  She then calculated how quickly she could move and added this to the equation.  She came out with one minute and thirty-five seconds.  That wasn't a very long time.  She nodded her head slowly, _{"I can make it."} she said in a tiny voice, barely audible.

Before waiting for Ren to say anything more she dashed out of the room, through the cargo bay, the dining hall and the passageway to the bridge.

[To Destiny: Bridge]

Ren nodded to girl to go. She was a brave child, he did not if he could done that at her age.

When she was gone, he cocked the hogsleg, and began to stalk slowly toward the Cargo Bay.

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 17:43, Fri 25 Apr 2014.