Geoff grinned with feral glee as the man fell and was about to pounce on him and pummel him repeatedly when he heard Lei's voice. He turned to her and smiled warmly, more glad than he thought he would be to see her alive and well. He would have said as such, but there was still the guy in front of him to deal with. So he took the offered gun from Lei with a nod of thanks before pointing it to the man on the ground.

"Close yer eyes, Lei. You don't need ta see this.", he said before giving the man on the ground a grin,"Didn't I tell ya 'bout takin' what didn't belong ta ya? Now ya gotta pay fer it. Nobody ever listens to me." With that, he fired three times into the man's midsection before lowering his gun a bit, still cautious but not entirely as much as he should be.

His lack of worry at things was evidenced by how he turned to Lei with a wide smile and a laugh of relief and he grabbed the girl to hug her tightly to him "Ha, ha!!! Gorramit, it is good to see ya!!", he said as he lifted the girl clean off her feet in his one armed bear hug.

Rhaef's mouth formed a smirk, "Aren't you supposed to be in jail? Wei and I got out of the hospital, and long story short, Kale, visited some old enemies, got us disappeared from the system, tried to rescue Lei who kicked both of us hard, and then joined here, trying to stop the Hand from robbing the folks who might have the old girl."

Kale laughed at Rhaef's comment and then listened with slightly wide eyes at his account of what had happened.  "Hell I got off easy this trip looks like." he said, although he was mentally kickin himself for landing his crew in so much trouble while he danced at some fancy party.  Now wasn't the time for one of his infamous guilt trips however.  "We gotta find Kyoko an' get the folks who got the papers ta my ship outta here."

As Geoff noticed Rhaef and Wei Li, he smiled even wider and put Lei down on her feet with a pat to her head and a tousling of her hair before heading over to the two. "Hey!! Y'all ain't dead!! Ya ain't even remotely dead!! Yer all alive and such! Damn glad to see that!", he said and clapped the captain on the back as he moved past hm,"See that, Cap'n? They're alive Ha, ha!! This is great!"

He moved past the captain and to Wei Li, grabbing her and hugging her as tightly as he had Lei. "Gorram glad ya ain't dead!! Gave me a scare and such when I saw that report! Thought ya were lost!! Couldn't stand that. All sad and such. Damn glad yer not dead...", he said in an enthusiastic tone and nodded as he then turned away from her and moved to face Rhaef with his arms outstretched,"RHAEF!! Come here, ya not dead lug ya!"

Rhaef allowed Geoff to hug him, in part because the large man was drunk and was doing whatever he wanted, and in part because he saw one of the last Hand snipers, targeting Geoff, as Geoff reached him, Rhaef ducked one arm under Geoff's forearm and plugged the man in the heart. "Um, Geoff, I'm as glad as anyone to not be dead, but let's wait for the celebration til we get the ship back." Then he paused, the ship, the crew, Charlie... "Where's Charlie? Is she okay?" As exhausted as he was, Rhaef was not sure he was able to completely hide the concern in his voice and eyes.

Geoff smiled a wide and almost stupidly happy smile as he clapped Rhaef on the bck. "Damned if ya ain't right! Wait 'til we get ta the ship! Let's get the ship and such. Yeah!!", he said and then nodded as he mentioned Charlie,"Charlie? Yeah, we gotta go tell Charlie yer not dead! She'll be so happy. She was all sad and such too. Had ta drink ta take the edge off. She's outside now. We gotta go tell her yer alive!"

Kale laughed as Geoff went around and began hugging everyone in turn.  "I'm glad ta see ya too." he said, casting a look over at Rhaef and Wei-Li as the huge man hugged him.  He noticed that he kept rambling on about everyone being dead though, "Geoff, what in the gorram hell are ya talkin' 'bout?" he asked.

Geoff looked to the captain with a sudden look of realization upon his face, realizing the captain didn't know anything of what had happened. Geoff would have to explain it to him. Unfortunately, being drunk as he was, that would be a bit of a roundabout endeavor. But it was too late to stop him because he was off.

"Oh, Cap'n! It was a helluva a day! It's like this, right? Me an' Charlie left like ya told us to, right? Took that car o' Kyoko's and left. That's a nice car, by the way, Cap'n, we should invest in gettin' one. It outran that cop that chased after me and Charlie really well. Took those corners and such like a pro. Anyway, we got away from that there cop I mentioned by climbin' up a buildin' and such. Ya shoulda seen Charlie. She's a trooper, she is. Didn't pause or falter or nothin'. Went right ahead and found a way out o' that alley we were in and such. She was a good choice ta go with me.", he said with a nod.

He continued onward with his story from there. "But, right, from there we went walkin' ta where Lei was s'posed ta be last. We got there and there weren't nobody there! So Charlie looked at that there tablet thing fer directions, but she saw some report that said that Wei Li and Rhaef were killed! Yeah, in an accident or some such stuff! She broke down right there and I felt real bad, Cap'n. I mean, Wei Li is a good gal and she's easy on the eyes and such and Rhaef...well, ya know, he's Rhaef. But, in any case, I still wanted ta find Lei, right? But then these two fellas came by talkin' 'bout some girl they found on the fire escape and that they finished off and we had seen a scrap of Lei's dress on the fire escape. So I done put two and two together and, damn, I felt bad. I thought I had lost everythin'. It was bad, Cap'n.Real bad..."

He shook his head and looked slightly disturbed from the memory of how he had felt when he had thought Lei was dead, but went on with his story. "So, 'cause we didn't know what else ta do, we came to this here party ta find ya and tell ya 'bout the unfortunate news. The two guards outside wouldn't let us in though. I guess we ain't exactly fancy party material, ya know? But, eh, screw the core world party. Ain't no fun....normally, anyway. This one seems better than others. But, anyway, we couldn't get in so we went ta find somewhere ta wait. Luckily, we found a liqour truck! Ain't nothin' better than liqour when ya think everybody close ta ya is dead, if'n ya ask me. So we drank...a lot....a hell of a lot. But then all the crashin' and shootin' and such starte over here and I saw Lei sneakin' aboard so I came rushin'. Ya know, to the rescue and such. Uh...and well, ya know what happened from there..."

Kale just nodded his head along with Geoff's story not even knowing what to say, and not really given any chance to interject anyway as the man rambled on.  There were more then a few points that he would be wanting clarified later, but for now it was enough to know that his crew had been through a whole hell of a lot since they had touched down on Osiris and now it was his job to get them off this damn rock and back home.  Back onto Destiny.

"Geoff, Rhaef get Wei-Li and the lil' one outta here an' go find Charlie.  I'm gonna get Kyoko and see what we can do 'bout gettin' Destiny back right quick.  An' they core worlds are pleasant ..." Kale scoffed as he shot his way to the side hall where he had seen Kyoko disappear down earlier.

"Gotcha Kale," Rhaef replied, eager to get out the door and find Charlie. He paused, "Kale, here. You might need this more than us," he said as he handed Kale one of his guns, this way he'd have two or he could Kyoko one, if they ran into to trouble. With that he holstered the other gun. He turned to Wei-Li, Geoff, and Lei, "I'm going to find Charlie, make sure were covered outside, don't know if Larry's got any more Hand minions hanging around, and I don't want to get surprised."

With that, Rhaef took off down the main gangplank.

Rhaef left the party, and saw Charlie at the edge of the lake, and his heart jumped. He was so happy to see her alive and okay, but he also felt a wave of guilt, he had not expected any of the crew to see the wave about the crash, and he certainly had not meant to upset any of them.

As he approached her, he wondered about something Geoff had said about her crying when she saw the wave. Rhaef steeled his mind, trying not to get his hopes up, remembering their discussions when they first set out on the Destiny three years ago.

He reached Charlie who was sitting on the edge of the lake. He looked around to ensure that none of the Hand were waiting to surprise them, and then sat down next to her, placing his arm around her shoulders, and spoke quietly. "Hey Charlie, are you okay?"

"Yeah'm..."  Charlie began to spoke, lifting up her head when someone came close.  At first, she thought it was probably Geoff, coming back from the boat...but that wasn't likely, and he wasn't this soft.  It had to be Kale, hearing the news, checking up on her much like he has on several occasions.  But it's not Kale's voice...no, it's someone else's voice.  She would recognize anyone else in a heartbeat.  She turns her head slowly, making eye contact with Rhaef, her eyes watering again...although it looks like she hasn't stopped crying in a while, her cheeks wet with her own tears (and flush with alcohol).

"Rhaef, you're...m'god, I'm drunk, you're...you're dead."  She spoke softly, reaching up a hand and touching the side of his face, her touch light as if she were afraid that he would disappear at the feeling of her fingers.

A few tears escaped Rhaef's eyes, his first sign of real emotion, in many years. He gently moved his hand to Charlie's face to wipe away the tears on her cheeks and in her eyes. "No, Charlie, I'm alive. I'm so sorry you had to see the wave, I never meant for you to, never meant to hurt you..." His voice trailed off, not sure what else to say.

"...oh god, you're alive!"  Charlie exclaimed, a smile cracking out of the sides of her mouth.  It seems to be a weight lifted off her shoulders once she realizes that he's not a drunk vision, and her eyes continue to well up more tears as the smile lights up her face.  She nearly tackles Rhaef as she finds her footing, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into his shoulder, letting out another sob.  "I thought you were dead'n...'n Geoff an'I...an' we looked, an', an'..."

Words seem to finally fail her as she pulled her head away, not giving him a chance to respond before she kisses Rhaef.  Charlie held onto him tightly, as if she were afraid that if she let go, he would leave...

Kale ran down the hallway.  Where had that girl gotten to?

"Kyoko!" he called out, periodically as he passed by the doors which assumed contained rooms for passengers.  "Kyoko! ... Lady Monroe?" he called with a slight smirk on his face.  He'd found that new title fun and interesting ... he'd have to get her to tell him about that sometime.  Kale's gun was still drawn but all this seemed to be doing was leave a trail of frightened party guests in his wake, all thinking that he was one of the bad guys.

Kyoko's presence registered a second after the touch of her gun was felt in his back. She sighed as she stepped back a step. "I'm sorry Captain, didn't realize it was you running around like an idiot yelling my name, I thought it was some of the hijackers." She says as she eases the hammer back down and looks at him. "Given your.. expeditous manner, I'm assuming we're saved?" she asks as she glances back and forth down the hall.

Kale froze for a second as he felt the touch of Kyoko's gun, then she spoke a grin broke out across his face.  "Nah, no hijackers, just me. although you best be careful, I may start takin' yer insults personally ... hurt my feelin's an' all." Then he glanced around.  "Where's the Caddigan's at?  We ain't exactly saved, but we did our fair share of damage an' I'm thinkin' its time ta get off this hear boat an' back onta ours.  Assumin' we got one ta get back onta." Kale said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're fine, I sent them to hide. I hinted that with you risking your life and all, that it might be considered fair to continue your payments for the Destiny to them and let the difference be their way of saying 'thank you'." Kyoko says as she puts away her sidearm. "The thugs, I take it, are taken care of?"

Kale nodded at Kyoko and offered a smile of gratitude that she had talked with the Caddigan's while he dealt with the mess in the ballroom.  Now was not the time for a friendly chat however.  Things were still going south back in the ballroom and Kale was pretty sure he and the rest had managed to tick off the men in masks.  "Bad guys ain't all gone, we gotta get out of here, grab the Caddigan's and lets go." he said, glancing back up and down the hall.

Rhaef is a bit stunned by Charlie's reaction but as she tackles him, he wraps her protectively in his arms. This was reason he did what he did, there was not avoiding it. This is why he fought so hard to get back to the ship.

Then Charlie kissed him.

Rhaef gave moment's pause, not sure to actually believe this was happening, and then felt the softness of her lips against his, and new it was real. He returned the kiss with equal passion. When they broke, he continued to hold Charlie close, as he brushed the hair from her eyes, wiping the fresh tears away. He was at a loss for words, and stammered, "Wow, Charlie, Wow..."

Charlie pulled her head back, breathing slowly and keeping her eyes lowered for a second.  Her smile was still at the edges of her lips, though her mouth was still slightly parted from the kiss.  There's a moment where all she can hear is her heart beating in her ears, the alcohol simmering in her blood and seeming to make the moment all that much more surreal.  Slowly, the smile took back over her face, not looking at him as she turns slightly more red.

"I...thought that, y'know, y'were gone n'all."  She spoke in a whisper, her fingers playing with the hair at the back of his head slowly, more an unconscious action than anything.  Whether it was the need to be close or just the alcohol, she tilted forward, her forehead touching his.  "I had th'thought of losin' you...and, Rhaef...I-..."  Her words choked in her throat, and she finally made eye contact with him.  "Rhaef, ah'm...I've always-..."

Rhaef allowed himself to be lost in Charlie's eyes, and listened to her speaking, a part of him could not believe this was actually happening, his rational mind suggesting it was the alcohol and the emotion of the moment. "Its okay, Charlie. I have too, for as long as I've known you, I have too." He paused, "I just was never sure about how you felt..." He lifted her chin and kissed her again lightly on the mouth.

"Rhaef..."  She managed to say his name just before he kissed her, as her mind began to take on the ecstacy of the moment.  She was tucked safely in his arms, and his body was warm in the cold night.  She kissed him back lightly, moving her head back onto his shoulder, her nose nuzzling the side of his neck.  "Ah...ah just feel so...you're so warm...you're, y'know...so safe..."  Her words were beginning to drift, the excitement and relief and all finally wearing her body to the point that she can't fight the intoxication.

And by the time she's uttered the last word, her eyes have closed and her breathing slowed.  Rhaef can feel her body relax in his arms as she passed out, letting out a soft moan as she exhaled...

Even as he held Charlie close, his mind was already spinning, "Safe? Warm?" He thought to himself and began to wonder if he'd made a gorram fool of himself. That it was the emotion and the alcohol talking, and they both got overwhelmed by the moment, and it did not mean what he hoped.

Just as the crew of Destiny left the Grand Yacht Party and headed to Kyoko's flat to regroup the authorities finally showed up.  Although Larry and Curio's plan to get all of the parties guests money had failed, they had still succeeded in their main goal.  The Alliance now had the largest lead on the Burnt Hand organization they had ever had and as Destiny took back to the black, the Alliance systematically destroyed and imprisoned the remnants of the Hand.

But Larry was not there to see what he had worked so hard for the past few years ...

Lying on the pier Larry eventually passed out from the pain and loss of blood from Rhaef's bullets.  He did not see the authorities show up ... he did not see the van pull up alongside him, nor did he awake when four strong hands lifted him from the docks and shoved him unceremoniously into the back of the car.

The van drove through the streets of Osiris until it came before the gates of Blue Sun Corporation, a place very few ever entered.

Larry woke up hours later.  He squinted his eyes against the bright light focused down on him where he was lying on his back ... someone had bandaged his shoulder and leg.  He tried to reach up a hand to touch the white cloth but found he could not move.  His hands and feet were strapped securely to the table he laid upon.  Larry struggled for a second but found it did nothing but increase the pain in his leg and shoulder.  "Hey!" he shouted, suddenly realizing that he could speak, "Get me the hell outta here!"

The crisp click of shoes against a tiled floor greeted his ears.  They moved slowly, methodically from the far side of the room and were coming near him.  "Ah, you are awake.  That is good.  I was afraid you would sleep for a long time and then my job is no fun.  You understand I'm sure." a man's voice said.  Larry twisted to see where the voice was coming from but it seemed that the rest of the room did not exist for him.  It just faded into darkness.  Only he, and the table and the spot of light surrounding him seemed real.

"Juh Shi Suh Mo Go Dohng Shee?!" Larry uttered, "Who are you?"

"That is of no importance to you." the voice said.  He was very close now.  "You made an arrangement with a certain organization Mr. Ducket.  We trusted you, put our faith in your returning something of infinite value to us." the voice let out a long, low, disappointed sigh, "It seems that you were no good on your word.  This does not make us happy, Mr. Ducket.  No, not happy at all." he stepped into the light then and Larry could make out a tall man.  He was clean cut and smiling down at Larry.  But what drew Larry’s attention was his eyes … they were like two vacant holes.  The smile on his lips did not reach them, they were dead eyes.  Cold, hard, uncaring.  It was then the fear set in.  It held Larry speechless as he looked up at those eyes.

The man above him chuckled, this was a response he got often.  “Now, you and I are to have a friendly chat.” the man continued.   “I ask you questions, and you answer them.  There is a catch, oh yes.  It’s what makes the game fun.  When you give an answer I don’t like then-” the man plunged a blade into Larry’s already injured shoulder and Larry screamed out in agony.  The man waited patiently for Larry to quiet down before speaking again, “That was just an example, Mr. Ducket, no need to get so excited so quickly, they’ll be plenty of time for screaming later.” he could have been speaking about the weather.  “Now, the girl, what happened?”

Larry gritted his teeth against the pain in his shoulder, “I don’ ruttin’ know!”

“Wrong answer.”  the man plunged a second blade into Larry uninjured shoulder and Larry screamed again.  “Where is the girl?”

Larry closed his eyes against the pain and the man hit him hard across the face.  His eyes snapped open and suddenly he knew exactly who to blame for his.  He knew exactly who had done this to him.  “Sorandash …. Rhaef Sorandash ….” he said.

“See … now we’re getting somewhere.”