Geoff watched, not liking the blind dead end.  It wasn't exactly a dead end, but they were just standing there, like fish in a barrel.

"Good ambush site." he muttered under his breath.

Connor nodded to agree with Geoff's assessment of their current situation. This looked like a perfect place for them to get ambushed.

And then he realized two things. Number one, the lock was automated, meaning computers...and two, he was good with computers. Huh, funny how that worked.

"Wong Ba Duhn..."*

Connor inched forward, producing a small metallic device from his pocket.

"Captain, lemme take a shot at this one..."




*_{Son of a bitch...}

Kale frowned at Geoff's comment because it was all too true.  But if there were going to be an ambush he was fairly certain it would have happened by now.  Still he couldn't stop himself from eying the corridor behind them before looking back to his crew.

When Connor spoke up he nodded his head, "If'n you think you can get us through that door then you give it a whirl.  We won't be savin' no one if we're stuck out here in the hall."

Connor nodded to Kale, sliding by him and Wei-Li as he made his way up to the keypad. He snapped into focus and all of his attention went onto the lock. Connor studied the make and model, it was very interesting...to him.

After about a minute, Connor nodded and put away the first metallic object he had. He turned back to Kale.

"Interesting...our villian here has made some interesting modifications, such as an electrical surge that will shock anyone who tries to bypass this door by prying the padlock off and working the wires in between, you can tell because he used a special type of micro-insulation around the edges...but I digress..."

Connor pulled out a second metallic instrument, one that was thin, but large enough to cover over the keypad.

"Now the real fun begins. I'll work as fast as I can, captain..."

Connor wasn't entirely sure how long "fast as I can" would end up being, but he'd give it a shot at being quick.

Before Connor had barely touched the lock there was a hissing sound and the door began to slide open.

Kale raised his eyebrows.  Connor had barely turned around when the door began hissing open, "You weren't kiddin' 'bout workin' fast." he said.

Bored with the whole lock mechanism thing, Geoff waited for something to do.  And then he got his chance.  As the door started to open, he dropped to a knee, bringing up a pistol.  He wasn't taking any chances.  The second he saw their surprise guest, he'd shoot.  He began to squeeze the trigger.

Connor looked at the door in shock, then back at the Captain. There was no way he'd been able to do it that quickly...

Still in place at the front of the group, he turned his head back to Kale.

"Pretty sure...I..."

Whatever Connor had to say it was cut off by the soft hiss of the door opening.  The tension in the small corridor skyrocketed as everyone braced themselves for the ambush that Geoff had predicted.  If Connor hadn't opened the door ...

They all waited with bated breath as it rose from the ground up, first revealing a set of feet and slowly moving upward.  Geoff, however, wasn't hesitating.  His finger compressed the trigger and took aim at the persons legs.  He had barely a seconds notice to change his aim wildly in another direction as Kale said softly, "Charlie?"

The bullet hit the ground only a few inches away from where Charlie stood, the door now fully raised to reveal the crews mechanic.  The sound of Geoff's gunshot echoed through the maze like corridors.

Geoff pulled his shot and just barely missed the woman.  "What the gorram hell..."

He was stunned for a moment, but shifted his attention to Kale.  "No time.  That shot was heard.  We gotta move."

Turning to Charlie, he continued.  "Where's Rhaef?"

Charlie hadn't moved as the bullet ricochet passed her by, her expression tired.  There was a glimmer in her eyes when she saw the others, but it wasn't much, a faded shot at the joy that her heart was trying for.  She only managed a weak noise, looking back at the direction she came, motioning out with a shaking hand.

"Rhaef..."  She spoke the word through a shaky voice, nodding slighty.  "He'....back'tha way'n'all.  Ah'm...yea."  She cleared her throat, looking back between the three, almost ready to collapse.  "Curio'n him....y'know, all...guns'a...ah'm n'sure, y'know, I...yea."  The words were seeming to confuse her, as she could feel her heart start to beat faster.  Charlie placed a hand against the wall, nodding again and pointing up at the ceiling, the exposed cables and piping showing through the meshwork.

"Follow th'green ta...u'ta th' steam line, the'ya follow that.  S'all y'gotta do."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Sun 16 Nov 2008.

Kale let out a relieved sigh when he found it was indeed Charlie on the other side of the door.  The poor girl looked worse for wear though.  Kale felt a pang.  He'd put the crew through so much these last few runs but it had been hardest on them that had been around the longest and Charlie had been there since the beginning.

"Yer alright.  That's good." he said, but Geoff was right, they didn't have time for a reunion just then, "Stay close." he told her, "Let's do what we came here for." he added to the rest of the group and proceeded down the hall.

It took Wei-Li several minutes to catch her breath and process everything that happened.  When Geoff spoke she nodded and offered Charlie a hand up before turning back to the others.

"Let's go."

Connor walked over to Charlie as the group got ready to move, his shotgun shifted over to his left hand as he dug into his coat. He produced a 9mm handgun.

"Hey, take this...you might need it..."

He shifted the shotgun back over and continued to follow the captain, who was clearly going to finish this one way or another.

God help the men that stood between his group and Rhaef...

On hearing ten, Rhaef moved quickly and fluidly, and with a practiced precision, his hand flew to the gun, drew it and shot to kill, his former master or not, the man across from his threatened Charlie, and was prepared to kill him.

Trusting his aim, he fired only one shot and then dove for the desk, for cover against the likely hail of bullets that would come if his shot rang true.

"Ten."

Both Curio and Rhaef fired but only a single gunshot pierced the air and the sharp pain in Rhaef right shoulder let him know that it wasn't his.

"You gorram son of bitch, I should have known." Rhaef snarled through the pain, as he dove behind the desk. His days were numbered now, all he could is that Charlie made it back to Kale and they got out of here.

Even as the pain burned through his shoulder, his thoughts were about buying Charlie and Kale more time, and how he could do it. He'd come this far for her, he was not about to fail her now.

Curio laughed as his bullet hit home and Rhaef made a dive for cover, "Oh come now, Rhaef, its only fun and games.  I've never known you to get this touchy about a little bullet wound.  We never set any rules about playing fair." Curio laughed again, "You took the pistol from my desk.  All of my personal firearms are finger print encoded, only my hand may fire them.  It really was a sloppy mistake." Curio made a tsk, tsk sound as he slowly approached the place where Rhaef was now ducked down behind.

"Come on out, Rhaef.  I won.  It's time for you to come home."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:56, Thu 20 Nov 2008.

Rhaef rose and shurgged, "I should have known you not play fair, Curio." Even as he moved, his mind was still focused on buying time for the others, knowing that his life at this point was forfeit.

"Problem is, Curio. My only home is leavin' this planet shortly, and this gorram dump will never be home again." He hoped the element of surprise that had helped him before in bar fights would help him here. Curio had the wealth to code his guns, but everyone of his men, they were expendable and that was expensive.

He dove at the man nearest to him, and struggled to get his gun.

"Actually, it might take us just a tad longer ta leave the planet." Kale said as he entered the doorway, a pistol in both hands and ready to take it as it came, "We had someone we needed ta pick."

He and the rest of the crew had heard the gunshots from the hallway.  Kale hadn't hesitated on high tailing it to the room they were now at.  Perhaps not the most strategical plan in the world, but he hadn't been planning on waiting around to find Rhaef dead.

Wei-Li dove through the door, trying very hard not to think about what had happened the last time she'd done something like this.  Still, this time, like the last, the lives of the crew were in danger.

She moved without thinking hoping to roll to cover, but more importantly to cover Kale and the others.

Rhaef heard Kale's voice, and there hadn't been a more welcome sound in the world at the moment. "Kale, can't say I didn't warn ya, but I'm glad you came back, and I could really use a gun that works 'bout now."

Action.  Geoff loved action.  As such, he made short work of the trip down the hall and into the stand-off room.  Bursting through the door, he slid to a halt behind a pair of Curio's goons.  With an all-too-cheerful-but-somehow-malicious grin, he grabbed each man by his outside shoulder, intent on doing the impossible;  He was going to make two people occupy the same physical space at the same time.

It was possible.  Wasn't it?

Charlie looked down at the gun that Conner put in her hands, held like she'd hold a mug or a bowl, cradling it.  She hadn't held a firearm in months, and the last time...well, that was when Kyron had stowed away on the ship.  She shuddered a bit at the memory, her heart starting to pound as she slid a hand on the handle, swallowing hard.  She stayed behind Connor the entire length towards the room, looking down and counting her breaths, trying to remain calm.

Then they happened; gunshots.  Kale had run ahead, followed in par by Geoff and Wei-Li, bursting into the room that she'd come from.  She didn't follow, freezing up, her eyes starting to water on the sides.  This is it.  This is that moment that it all ends.  One gunshot was a 50/50, but two more than likely meant both hit.  Charlie leaned against the wall, holding back in the hallway instead of following, closing her eyes and letting out a slow breath.

If I see it, I won't be able to walk back...

Connor was just about to burst into the room with Kale and the others when he caught Charlie hanging back out of the corner of his eye. The last thing they needed was for anyone to get caught from behind.

Connor wheeled himself around, positioning his shotgun to guard their backs. He looked over to Charlie.

"You all right?"