Rhaef seemed to drift momentarily in and back out of consciousness, but he did not fight Kyoko's attempts at assistance. On occasions he even tried to stay awake, but the pain and blood loss would pull back down into the oppresive black. It was like drowning, he could pull his body up for air for a few moments but then the current and the waves pulled him back down.

Kale was about to say something about Kyoko barking out orders to him and the rest of his crew but decided against it.  For once he was just not in the mood to get into it with the hopelessly confrontational companion.  A quarrel was truly the last thing they needed right now.  So he set to work seeing if there was anything at all at the controls that he might be able to get up and running - praying to whoever would listen that they got out of this and that Kyron hadn't already killed Ren, Acacia, and Charlie.

   Lei was still looking over the sabotaged shuttle controls. She didn't know much about all their functions, only the basic ones, but she could tell that most of the controls weren't working the way they should. Everything was broken.
   Something towards the back of the shuttle caught her attention, so she quietly  walked away from the consoles and towards the rear of the shuttle, keeping away from where Rhaef was unconscious on the floor. She approached one of the crystal growing units that was still there from when Wei-Li was working on it, and crouched down next to it, pressing her ear to it's case. Something was happening, the unit was emitting a rythmic beep.
   "Geoff? What's it doing?"

Geoff had only been standing silently in the same spot while Rhaef bled slowly to death while Kyoko tried to save him. He didn't know what else he could do so he just stood, feing a little useless. No need for a guy like him at a time like this. In fact, he was more of a liability now, his larger size and lung capacity therin surely not helping their chances of survival. Hesighe d lightly and was actually kind of glad when he heard Lei speak as it distracted him from his thoughts for a bit.

"What's what doin'?", he said as he turned to Lei and gave the case she was listening so intently to a bit of a quizzical glance. He walked slowly up to it and mimicked Lei, crouching down and pressing his ear against it. Sure enough, it was beeping. In Geoff's experience, beeping is either really good or really bad. He was really, really hoping it was some good because they had all they could take of bad. "Uh...Cap'n? This here thing is beepin' at us and I don't rightly know what to do about it...", he said as he stood up and gently pulled Lei a bit away from the case, worried it could still be something of the explosive type.

Kale stared down at the controls not even really seeing them anymore.  He could feel control slipping away again and he hated that feeling. Nothing up here worked, and Kale just didn't know enough to get things going again.  Then he heard Geoff's voice and turned around.

"What's that?" he stood up and started walking towards where Geoff and Lei were standing and grinned.  "The units!" he said, "Of course, Ren musta activated the beacon - he'd be the only one with it and I can't imagine why Kyron would have- they must have ... done somethin'." he knew he might be getting excited over nothing but he couldn't help it.  It was the only logical explanation - someone must have stopped Kyron.

At about the same moment, Rhaef came too, and forced himself up a little bit to look around the cabin, his voice raspy, he tried to get Geoff's attention.

Geoff had nodded to the captain's words about the units, hearing them but not understanding a single one. Beacons and units and such. Geoff didn't know anything about that. He did get that the captain was suggesting that Ren had don something, which meant they might end up saved, after all. He grinned about this and turned away from the unit to go back to where he had been standing. It was then that he noticed Rhaef sitting up, looking to him and apparently wanting Geoff's attention for some reason.

Geoff shrugged lightly and walked over to the first mate, kneeling beside him with a questioning expression on his face. He had no idea what the man wanted, but it must be important if he was getting himself up from his blood loss induced stupor to say it.

Rhaef looked at Geoff and despite the pain and blood loss, there was fury in his eyes. "Geoff, if you all get out of this, make that gorram son of bitch suffer. Make the hell you send him to feel like heaven after what you put him through. That's an order." His piece said, Rhaef collapsed again, but still awake his eyes darted to the crew. He sensed a new hope. Maybe they'd be rescued. Well he hoped for their sake, they would be - none them deserved to die.

   "They're coming to get us?"
   Lei stayed in Geoff grasp, she could still hear the beeps from the box from here. Then Rhaef called Geoff over, leaving Lei free again. She went over to the other unit, and pressed her ear to it. This one was beeping too, playing out a different pattern. She leaned back against the unit, and stayed listening to the music that meant the difference between life and death for the people on the shuttle...

Geoff couldn't help the short laugh that escaped him and the feral grin that came to his face at Rhaef's words. "Oh, don't ya worry. I have plans fer him and all of them involve plenty o' pain. Death is too good fer the likes of him. I'm gonna make him hurt fer what he did. I guaran-damn-tee you that.", he said in a low tone and clapped Rhaef gently on the shoulder. It seemed like there were sometimes that even he and Rhaef could see eye to eye and making Kyron suffer was most definitely something they could both heartily agree with.

"He's not afraid of us, Geoff, I say we let those he is afraid of have him. Here, hold this compress in place while I see if we got any more kits on board." Kyoko asks as she works. "Personally I'd like to see him spaced.. but I always favored the traditions of the spacers."

Geoff did as she bid him to do, holding the compress in place. "Oh, I don't need him to fear me. I just need him to hurt. Ain't nothin' more honest than pain. The ones who want him can have him after I'm done with him, more than likely in a small box with broken limbs.", he remarked with a nod.

"There are ways to inflict pain without having to stoop to violence.. however appealing it might be at the moment. I personally think that the regulations and rules on pilot certification are cruel and unusual things to have to read. Kyoko says as she returns with a pack of instant gel and uses it to seal Rheaf's wound.

Something very large appeared off of the starboard bow.

Kale turned his head and let out a sigh of relief - he had never been so happy to see anything in his life.  There was Destiny.  He quickly made his way to the controls - the engines were still on and Ren couldn't scoop them up unless they powered down.  His fingers hit the controls and turned off the engine - they were going home.

   Lei let out a startled yelp when the huge object appeared out the window, she had gotten used to the view bieng one of nothing but the black, and a smattering of stars. Then it disappeared, and a short time later, there was a jerk, and scraping from the side of the shuttle.
   Lei picked herself up, and looked over to the door, waiting to see who came through it.

Kale watched intensly out the front windows as Destiny came alongside the small shuttle and began to match her speed.  Come on, Ren, get us home. Leastwise he sure hoped it was Ren in the cockpit, and that everyone was still alive on Destiny - well except for Kyron, he could be dead for all he cared.  Soon Destiny was pulling the shuttle in and they were back.  Kale immediately ran to the door controls and opened it letting the light of the cargo bay flood into the tiny shuttle.

"We're back on Destiny." he said, and went to try and help move Rhaef down to the infirmary.

Geoff had to breathe a sigh of relief as he saw they were being brough back onto the ship he had started to think of as home. He knew that Kyron would never have let them be retrieved so he must have been taken out somehow and the others would be safe. Everything seemed like it would turn out just fine.

He moved quickly to help the captain lift Rhaef up to move him to the infirmary. Now that he was back on the ship, he felt like he could be useful again and wanted to make the most of it.

"Now let's get out stubborn patient to a REAL medic.' Kyoko says as she takes his other side to help Kale get him to medical.

   Lei cautiously followed the others through the hatch into Destiny. The other one was probably still there somewhere, and she didn't want to run into him suddenly. Once through the hatch, she took a couple of deep breaths. The air was so much nicer here, she hadn't realised how stale it had got on the shuttle.

   ((To: Dining hall.))

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 ...

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.