Morgan looked up in surprise as Wei-Li strutted towards him.  His look of surprise quickly shifted to an expression of amusement and pleasure however.  His eyes trailed up and down Wei-Li's body, a slow smile spreading across his face.  "Sure do." he said.  He cast a quick glance over the car to where Larry stood, but found that he was almost out of eye sight at this point ... he grinned even wider as he pulled out a cigarette and handed it to the lady.

"So what brings a pretty lil' thang like you here? I'ma guessin' ya ain't here fer the fancy party." Morgan chuckled.

Rhaef marveled at the young woman's courage, and prayed they would not regret not going with plan one, he slipped quietly around the back of the car, very thankful that the stealth skills Curio had taught him had not been lost over the years. His eyes followed Morgan's to Larry, and the man seemed be walking further away, a few more minutes and every thing would be okay. He quietly drew one of his blasters, and flipped it over, to use like a club, and waited. Wei was in no man's land for a few more minutes, while he waited for the right moment to spring their trap.

Wei-Li gave a throaty laugh at his question.  She took the cigarette and gave him a coy look as she ran a finger down his arm.

"I don't think I'm dressed for a big party like that.. but..." she asked placeing the tip of her tounge on the outside of her teeth for a moment as she looked him over.

"Maybe.. a slightly smaller gathering?"

Morgan's jaw dropped, almost loosing his cigarette before he noticed.  He took it in hand and smiled, moving closer.

"I have a smaller party... " he offered hopefully

At that moment, Rhaef saw that Larry had moved far enough away to spring the trap, he moved with lighting speed, almost a blur in the deepening dark of Osiris. He sprung from behind the car silently and brought down his gun on the man's temple hard, knocking him out cold and holstering the gun, he slid to his side to help ease him to the ground as he collapsed into Wei-Li. He immediately searched the man, found the communicator he was using to stay coordinated with the other, turned off the mike, and placed in his ear, so he could listen to Larry's plans. Then he found the cars keys in the man's coat pockets. He looked up at Wei-Li, moving the mike away from his mouth to be sure, "Get Lei."

Wei-li smiled coyly at Morgan turning her head to the side.  When he fell into her she gave a slight gasp and then eased him to the ground as much as she could.  She gave Rhaef a relieved smile and took the keys.

She took a quick look around the lot to make sure the coast was clear and reached for the knob.

Lei closed her eyes against the pain, not even attempting to hold back the tears however.  Her head was still ringing from the blow when the man stepped out of the car.  She had to get out of here ... and she didn't have much options.

Lei quickly positioned herself with her feet pointed at the door.  The second the man opened it again she'd kick him with everything she had in her and then make a run for it ... or at least that's what she hoped.

Geoff and Charlie finally came to the docks of Lake Ceaurel.  The moon shone high overhead casting a shimmering ray of light onto the silent lake.  The boat where the party was being held stood out against the dark sky and symbol of beauty, wealth and power.  These docks just reeked core world ... nothing like Geoff and Charlie were used to.  A small expanse of wooden planking led aboard the boat where two men stood.  They were both elequontely dressed but were huge, and held themselves like armed men.

It was a bit of a trek to make, but Geoff and Charlie finally made it where they needed to go. The sight that lay in front of them was quite awe-inspiring and impressive and Geoff would normally have been gaping quite openly at the elegant and rich looking surroundings. But, at this moment, he didn't care. All he wanted to do was find the captain or, failing that, find something strong to drink to erase a few brain cells and make things hazy.

He looked about and spotted the wooden planking that led up to the boat. He noted the two men that were at the end of the plank and aboard the boat, but he didn't care much about them. He knew that they probably wouldn't take kindly to him and Charlie trying to get into the party, looking as out of place as they did, but he didn't care about that either. He had to find the captain and that meant getting onto the boat. So he walked slowly to the wooden plank and started up towards the boat at a slow pace.

"Geoff...they're not gonna let us just walk on'n."  Charlie spoke softly, seeing the guards as they walked.  She let out a sigh, looking around the boat...no other way on.  "Jus' promise me one thing, y'know?  This isn't gonna get any sortsa violent.  There's been enough'a that today..."  It's said almost more like an afterthought, looking back at him.  And this is as it was, it seemed.  She let the silence drop betweent he two of thme, letting out a sigh as she pushed on.

They came in distance of the gaurds, and while Charlie felt like it should probably be her doing the talking, she keeps her mouth shut.  In truth, not only is she dressed in greasy overalls, but she still had rosy cheeks and blurred vision, and could easily break out into tears at any moment...

The two men at the door eye Geoff and Charlie suspiciously as they approach.  Their appearance alone makes it very evident that they do not belong at a party such as this.

"Do you have business here?" one of the men state in a deep, hard voice.  The other takes a step in front of the door, blocking the beautiful candle lit room from view, as though Geoff and Charlie weren't even worthy enough to lay eyes on the spectacle.

Geoff didn't respond to Charlie's words. He only continued up the plank until the guards stopped them. Geoff looked up to the two men then, his eyes cold and hard and his expression blank. "Kale Galway....and Kyoko Monroe. Gotta talk to 'em. They're in there and we gotta talk to 'em.", he said in his low monotone,"So we gotta get in there. ....That gonna be a problem?"

The men just stared at the two of them increduously for a few moments, looking back and forth from one to the other.

"You two stupid or something?  Of course you can't come in here."

His friend was stifling a laugh beside him, "Yeah, but if you leave a message after the tone we'll be sure to get it to them." he said, still laughing.

"Get outta here." the first man said, casting a stern look at his friend.  "You can talk to them once they get out and not a second before.  Now get."

"C'mon...we can always be catchin'em when they're outta th'dance, n'all."  Charlie let out a bit of a sigh, pulling on Geoff's arm.  "Les' you feel like swimmin' up'n about r'something, I'm thinkin' we've not got any better sorta ideas.  I mean, ah'm sure that you'd be able'ta knock skulls 'til they're all clear'n sorts, but they're tryin' t'get Destiny back.  I'm not thinkin' it'd be th'best of a plan t'be muckin' that up..."

Charlie's words were ignored for a moment as a red hot flash of anger rushed through Geoff. He felt like taking the two bastads in front of him apart piece by piece with his bare hands. He felt like just dxrawing his pistols and riddling the two with bullets right then and there. He glared at the two men with murderous intent and he clenched his fists tight, nearly trembling with rage. He was just a hair's breadth away from letting himself go and letting the consequences be damned.

But, almost as soon as the feeling came, it drained away. He couldn't bring himself to care as he normally would have. It didn't matter. Nothing much mattered right now. He sighed as the brief fire that had been in his eyes left, leaving behind a dull and glassy gaze, and his body became slack as anger gave way to indifference and depression. "Yeah....sure. Whatever ya say, Charlie.", he replied to her in a soft tone before looking to the two men again"Look...if ya could just tell 'em that Geoff an' Charlie are here an' waitin'. That's all I ask. Ok?" With that, he finally gave in to Charlie's tugging of his arm and turned to walk away, his shoulders drooped and his stride slow. He looked altogether more defeated and weary than aguy his age should look or feel.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:27, Fri 31 Mar 2006.

One of the guards laughed, "Heh, ya ... right." he said as Geoff and Charlie walked away ... he had no intention of hunting down people for those two.

The rest of the docks were pretty vacant at this time.  Again a huge contrast to the docks that Geoff and Charlie were used to seeing that were normally just coming to life at this hour.  There were a few trucks parked along the side, none of them were being watched ... and one had emblazoned across the side: GEORGIAN BREWERY - MAKING FINE LIQUOR FOR THE PAST 500 YEARS.

Geoff walked away from the men and the boat without much of an aim at all. Where was there to go? He didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do. Everything of importance to Geoff was gone now. He didn't have anything left. And that's when Geoff noticed the unattended brewery truck. It seemed that he did have something left, after all. There was always drinking. No matter what happened, drinking would make it better. It always had before so why should now be any different.

He nodded to himself at that and moved toward the truck at a faster pace than he had been walking before. He was going to get blind drunk and forget about everything. That was what he was going to do. Hell, that was all he had left to do. He reached the truck and looked around to see if there was a driver or a worker nearby before trying to open up the back to check out what there was.

There was no one near by ... damn core-worlders were so used to everything being safe and secure in their pristine little world that they couldn't even be bothered with locking the damn doors to their vehicles.

Geoff was grateful for the fact that there was nobody around and even more grateful that the doors were unlocked. Stupid of them to just leave things unattended and unlocked. If Geoff had been in better spirits, he probably would have taken the whole truck so he could take all of the liqour in the truck for later consumption. Probably take it to Kyoko's place and try to talk them into believing that it was Kyoko's liqour so that people would help him unload it into her place.

But he wasn't in better spirits. He wasn't even in slightly good spirits. Soi all he wanted to do now was drink. He didn't care what it was he would be drinking or the fact that he was stealing the liqour. He just wanted alcohol and lots of it. Considering it was a whole truck full before him, it seemed he would get just that. Geoff opened up the doors to get to the liqour inside. He didn't care what it was or how it was packaged, he was going to get it and drink it. He looked to Charlie then and gestured toward the open doors of the truck. "...Ya gonna want some o' this? I'm drinkin' it either way, stolen or not, so I figure ya might as well take it while ya can. 'Cause, I don't know 'bout ya, but drinkin' is the only thing that's gonna be keepin' me goin' fer a long while...", he said and then moved to climb up into the back of the truck for better access to the liqour.

Charlie stood outside the truck, her arms crossed as Geoff began breaking into the truck.  The context of the action never really passed her mind, about it being wrong or that they could easily get caught.  All she could feel was her heart sinking in her chest, and the sadness that was becoming greater and greater.

"Geoff, I-...yeah."  Her mind turned around, leaning up against the edge of the truck.  "Somethin' strong, if it's in there."

Geoff dug through the back of the truck and took an armful of bottles with him as he moved to sit on the edge of the truck. He put the bottles down by him and passed one to Charlie as he opened one for himself. He hadn't looked through the bottles. All he had cared about was that it was liqour. If it wasn't strong, well....quantity often made up for quality in the long run. At least in his way of looking at things. At the moment though, his way of looking at things could be considered a bit skewed. As he drank deep and long from the bottle, it seemed that it was going to become even more skewed if he had his way about things.

He finished the first bottle fast and tossed the empty away, flinging it hard and far away, not caring about where it landed so much as he cared about the sound of it breaking. That's what he wanted to hear. The sound of something breaking would make him feel better. It always did before. And, if it didn't this time, there was always more liqour. "Yeah. Always more liqour.", he muttered as he took another bottle from the pile he had next to him.

Charlie took the bottle handed to her, looking at the label for a second.  Truth told, her eyes hurt from crying, and were turning red at the edges...she was having trouble making out what it said.  Nothing that looked like it would indicate poison, surely, which was good enough for her at this point.  She couldn't handle the pain like maybe some of the others could, surely enough...it wasn't what she was good at.  Fixing things was what she was good at.  Sometimes, though, things required a quick fix as opposed to one that actually worked.

Charlie screwed the top off the bottle, tilting her head back and taking a long pull...it burned the entire way down, leaving a trail of fire from her throat to her stomach, and the taste wouldn't leave her mouth.  However, she followed suit from Geoff, and if he could finish a bottle, then why couldn't she?  She leaned her head back, drinking and swallowing as long as she could, finally pulling it back when there was about two fingers at the bottom of the bottle.  "Gorram...that's...tha's horrible stuff.  Wha's this?"  She spoke as she breathed, feeling the burning of alcohol all through her mouth and throat.

Geoff was already tossing the second empty bottle away as he answered Charlie with a shrug. "Dunno. Don't rightly care much either. It's liqour. That's enough fer me...", he said as he grabbed a third bottle. Geoff didn't know what he was drinking at all, but he didn't care, as he said. He just wanted the alcohol in him. He just wanted the haze. That's all. The stuff was hard though, and that was good. That was real good. The harder it was, the faster he didn't have to think so much anymore. The faster everything became a blur, the better. The thought of a drunken haze actually brought the ghost of a smile to his face, but it was shortlived. It would take a lot more liqour before he was even able to fake a smile so he'd have to work on that. So he got started on the third bottle right then and there, chugging it down as fast as he could.

"Yeah, I'm sure...enough fer th'both of us, yeah."  Charlie nodded again, finishing the bottle and taking a second one.  Much like Geoff did, she stopped caring about what it was, and just gave into it.  She opened the second bottle, shaking the liquid in the bottle for a moment, and then began to drink.


...several bottles later...


Charlie sat on the ground, holding the half-finished bottle in her lap, her back against the back of the truck.  Tears were sliding down her cheek, but she had some remnants of a smile on her face.  "An' another thing..."  She spoke, squinting her eyes as she focused on the words.  "I mean...ah'm guessin' we're never gettin' off this rock, at this point, y'know?  Guess we'll hafta...wha's people on Osiris do?  Doctorin'?  I could do that..."

Geoff tossed his next empty away from where he was laying down on the edge of the truck. He took a new bottle up, but didn't quite open it yet as he looked to Charlie and nodded, a slight smile on his face. "Ya betcha, Charlie. Yer...smart an' such. Ya could do any o' those....fancy-schmancy jobs these core worlders could do. I mean, I'd letcha do the doctorin' ta me. I trust ya more than...any o' the core world docs. Screw 'em, I say!", he said with an emphatic nod.

He then looked wistful as he opened up the next bottle and took a sip this time. "Ya know, if'n we're stuck here, I don't even...even know what I'm-a gonaa be doin' fer...uh..one o' those things....a job! I don't got much in the way o'....pro...prof..profitable skills.", he said with a shake of his head,"...Maybe I could be a companion. I think I could do that. Do...do they even have companions that're fellas? Naw, screw it. I could be the first. That'd work out gooood..."