"Don't know baby, but I don't want to be too careless. Get yourself out of sight and stay hid, til I tell you its okay." He walked over and kissed her on the forehead, "Do this for me, please." He couldn't stomach another repeat of the events with Kyron.

"I know, I know...stay put.  Let the men do the hard stuff.  Go make sure that we're still safe, baby."  She stood up from the chair, patting the door.  "Why don't I just lock this door behind you when you go out.  You can comm if you need to be let back in, okay?"

"Fair enough, thank you baby, if I see Lei, I'll tell her the same thing, and tell her to tell Kyron's with her if there's trouble." He paused and kissed her quickly, but deeply, "I love you."

With that Ren slipped out of the bridge, and her the door seal behind him. He crept toward the bunks, trying to keep his eyes for the trouble.

---> To Charlie's Bunk

She kissed Ren back, walking to the door with him.  "Be careful, hun."  Once he stepped out, she shut the door and turned the heavy lock behind it, letting out a sigh.  Hopefully, it was nothing...but there had been a few supposed "nothings" that had turned out to be "somethings" in the past few months, and it never hurt to be over-prepared...

[From Destiny: Charlie's Bunk]

Lei sprinted up the few steps and her knuckles rapped quietly on the locked door.  She waited, then realized that Acacia didn't know who she was and wouldn't let her in if she didn't.  Summoning her voice - which she felt had been scared away - she said, "It's me, Lei.  Ren told me to come here." she wanted to get inside the room and now, this hallway wasn't safe.

Acacia hadn't moved far from the door when she heard the knocking.  There was a hesitant moment as she stared at it...would Ren say anything?  She was smart enough to know not to open the door without him saying something, especially if things were in trouble...the only way the ship could be piloted off the ground was from here, and it was an important place to keep closed off.

When she heard Lei's voice, however, she switched the lock off and slid open the door wide enough to Lei to slip through, waving her in.  "Come on, sweetie...we have to keep things closed off here."

Lei nodded her head and slipped inside the small opening.  Once inside she moved as far from the door as possible, curling her feet up underneath herself in the co-pilot seat.  Nervously she bit her lower lip, "I wish Geoff was here ..." she said quietly, almost more to herself then to Acacia.

It felt like ages that Lei sat curled up in the co-pilots chair, staring anxiously at the door - but in fact it was only eleven minutes and fifty-five seconds.  Her heart pounding as she heard the gunshots and her small fingers grasped the sides of the chair.  This wasn't good - not at all.  She waited almost two minutes after the sounds of fighting stopped and slipped one foot slowly from the chair and stood up.  She took no mind of Acacia as she walked silently to the door and pressed her ear against it, straining to hear into the rest of the ship.  Feet were moving about in the cargo bay and none seemed to be running.  The vague sound of voices floated up to her ... and she waited, before whispering, "I think the bad men are gone ..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:19, Wed 30 Aug 2006.

[From Destiny: Cargo Bay]

He reached the bridge and pounded on the door,  "Acacia, baby, let me in. Its Ren, the intruders are dead, but we've got other problems."

"You think they're gone?"  Acacia turned to speak to Lei from where she stood.  She'd been pacing back and forth for the past several minutes, waiting for any kind of sign of what was happening...nothing being revealed to her until the last moment, just like it always was.  "Sweetie, we can't open up just because you're having some sort of premonition...there are bad men out there, and if they get in here, then we're in for all sorts of trouble.  So just understand when I'm not so ready to-..."

Acacia was cut off by Ren pounding on the door, looking back.  Alright, maybe she was right...but that didn't mean anything.  Acacia headed to the door, unlocking the magnetic bolt and sliding open the door.  "Ren, baby...what's wrong now?"

Ren collapsed against the door frame, and leaned slightly on Acacia, as he caught his breath. His mind was swirling. If Kyoko was telling him the ship needed to go black, then Charlie had found something majorly wrong.

"O God, Acacia, I don't know. There's something wrong in the engine room, and we need to shut everything down....And Kyoko's hurt...and two men are dead...and I killed one of them..."   The gravity of the situation finally hitting him, he pulled Acacia close, and held her tight, kissing the top of her head.  "Just hold me, baby, just for a sec."

"Ren, you...shh.  Shh, take a breath."  Acacia nearly had to stand on her tiptos to come close to Ren's height, but she held him close, running her hand along his hair and whispering into his chest.  "It's okay, hun.  Just take a breath.  It's almost over, you're here, everyone is okay.  No one's hurt, right?"  She tried to comfort him as best she could, speaking softly into his ear, much like a mother would console a child.

Lei had stepped calmly back from the door a few seconds before Ren knocked having heard his footsteps heading their way.  She stood alone, her arms at her side, her head cocked slightly to the side as she watched Ren and Acacia embrace.  They loved each other very much - this much she knew ... but she didn't understand.

From a scientific standpoint it was merely the acculmation of three physiological emotional categories: lust, attraction, and attachment.  Estrogen and androgens are associated with the lust stage - the human body chemically craving to mate with another on the most basic human levels.  Attraction limits the human interaction with just one person this effect normally associated with monoamines such as seratonin - attachement the hardest to pinpoint on a chemical level but having some neuro-correlation ... but watching Ren and Acacia ... it didn't look like just chemicals and equations.

Lei bit her lips slightly.  Geoff said that they were a family.  Families loved each other ... where was the physiological emotional catagories in that?  And did she love?

Lei suddenly felt very alone and very scared in this big world that made no sense.  Did she love?

Ren having got the emotions out of his system, straightened up. "You're right, hon. Thanks, I needed that." He paused and kissed her deeply and passionately. "Kyoko says she's got cracked ribs, but nothing else. I have to shut the ship down, so you'll have to wait to patch her up."

He turned to Lei, "Hey Lei, stand on the bridge for a bit okay, we're going complete black, and its not exactly safe, okay?"

He jumped into his seat, and punched the intercom, "Okay folks, we're going dark. Interior lighting the system to go off line. Charlie, get you tools. Kyoko, open the cargo bay door a bit, we'll need the fresh air."

With that Ren began flipping the switches that would shut the ship's systems, probably five minutes from the ship would be completely dark.

"You're right, I will need power to do that.  Make it dark, babe."  Acacia stood next to Lei, brushing a hand through the girl's hair as she watched Ren power down the ship.  Hopefully it wouldn't be too long...there was no telling, though, unfortunately...

Lei held her breath as power to the ship was shut down.  It was dark now.  She looked up as Acacia ruffled her hair, the womans features still perfectly clear to her eyes - even in the darkness.  "The bad men hurt Destiny?" she asked.

"I don't know, honey."  Acacia spoke softly, soothing Lei's hair more to make herself feel comfortable than the girl  "If they did, I'm sure Charlie's working on it.  She'll have everything right in no time."

After several minutes of the darkness, Charlie came up to the bridge.  She looked around somewhat anxiously as she stepped in, her face and arms covering in black oil.  "Hey, y'can turn th'power back on, Bear.  Got th'device pulled offa th'block."  She turned to Acacia, letting out a sigh as she wiped the back of her neck with a hand, spreading more oil there as well.  "Kyoko's passed n'tha second bay.  Y'all okay?"

Ren turned to Charlie, "Okay, Charlie, sounds, powering the old girl back up now. Starting with life support and  lights first." He brought the ship slowly back online with a little trepidation. Slowly the ship blinked to life, he began reading the reports and responses. He turned back to Charlie, "Any thing I should favor or now about?" He paused and turned to Acacia, "I'll help you get Kyoko to med bay, and then I need to get rid of former guests. Charlie, can you stay up here for a bit? Make sure there's no problems?"

"Yeah, ah can stay up here'n make sure we're all runnin' pretty."  Charlie stepped into the room, sitting down on the floor so she wouldn't get the grease she was covered in all over the seats.  "Best'f luck."

"I'll go check on Kyoko, make sure she's okay.  You said she's hurt, right>?"  She looked at Ren, asking him.  "Bullet wounds, knife wounds, anything you can give me so I know what to get from the infirmary?"

"Thanks Charlie," he said wearily, "and Charlie, you might want to steer clear of the cargo bay for a bit too."

As they moved to exit the bridge, "Kyoko said her ribs were cracked, she did not say how. And I ain't smart to try to guess what happened."

---> To Engine Room 2

"Cracked ribs...I've seen worse, hun."  Acacia smirked, following Ren out.  "And knowing this ship, there's probably a story in it that we'll get when it's all over..."

[------>Engine Room 2]

Charlie got up from where she sat, letting out a sigh.  She heard the others running up...it would be time to get back to work.  More importantly, however, she'd want to stay out of Ren's way when he got back to work.  She slowly stood up, heading out the door and back to the cargo bay.

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

---> From Cargo bay

Ren flew back up the cat walks to the bridge, practically diving into his seat. He saw Lei, "Geoff's back, Lei. But we're talking off right quick, so best go get strapped in."

Ren began switching any number of switches and dials, getting Destiny ready for flight. His mind wandered where was Rhaef.

He hit the intercom, "Captain, everyone aboard and accounted for?"