|
|
Post by Magdalen Verena on Sept 28, 2009 18:06:35 GMT -6
It had been a few hours since she’d left Solomon in the main cafeteria. Considering the short amount of time that had elapsed however, she’d accomplished a great deal at a very steep cost.
Because she knew there were likely still a few of Cain’s men loitering about the docks, she decided to play it safe and remain a few yards away from the ship until the rest of the group rounded themselves up and spotted her. From where she was she could clearly see Reese but decided not to approach just yet. Before she did anything else, she needed to speak with the captain and rest of the crew, just because everyone had to be on the same page or it’d all fall apart in such a situation.
She could still feel her head ache from when it’d started during the interrogation, rubbing at her temples as she attempted to dismiss the memories that had resurfaced as a result. There would be plenty of time for her to grieve afterwards. Right now she had to stay strong and focused, if not for herself then for Cassandra.
“Come on guys,” she muttered under her breath. “Where are you?”
Perhaps they were already on board the ship conversing? After all, the questioning she'd suffered through had taken far longer than had been anticipated.
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Sept 28, 2009 22:08:03 GMT -6
Sol had filled in the gathered crew members as they headed back to the docks, summarizing as well as he could all that he knew about the situation with Cassandra. He would be lying if he'd said he wasn't worried what it meant for his ship and the safety of his crew, but at the moment his worries rested directly on Magdalen, who was in the biggest danger of them all. He told her he wouldn't leave her behind, and he'd meant it. But suddenly her decision to protect Cass had put so much more weight on the ship's reputation. He was really beginning to regret coming back to Antheia.
No. That wasn't right. He should never have even left Antheia. Life had been a lot easier when he'd been on his own. Just him and Olive. Magdalen wouldn't have been dragged into this mess, and Cassandra would have been someone else's problem. Was it cowardly of him to think that way? Maybe. But people sure would have been better off without him getting them all involved with one another.
As they exited out into the dock area, he quickly looked around. There were still soldiers hanging around, most notably around his ship. He sighed, wishing the day could just be over. Just then, he spotted Reese among those waiting outside of the ship, and he had the sinking feeling that he was losing his other passenger over this. There was no way that this guy would want to keep traveling with them after all of this.
Finally out of the corner of his eye he noticed Magdalen hovering nearby, and he felt an overwhelming sense of relief seeing her face again. Everything must have been sorted out.
And yet, where was Cass?
Realizing she looked none-too-happy, he headed directly for her instead of the ship. "Hey... are you alright?? What happened??"
|
|
|
|
Post by Magdalen Verena on Sept 28, 2009 22:36:51 GMT -6
Magdalen spotted the captain before he spoke and it took exercising all of her self-control to ensure she didn’t run over and embrace him out of sheer relief. Instead she remained where she was until he approached to avoid drawing more attention to either of them. Without bothering with greetings, Solomon voiced his concerns in the form of frantic questions, and she lifted a hand as though to signal he should calm down.
“Okay. I managed to catch up with Cassandra before the soldiers reached her, however she was badly wounded and her prosthetic limbs were on the verge of malfunctioning if she pushed herself any harder. I had no choice but to help her to the safest place that I knew of. The Denvers are that couple you and I stayed with, remember? Because it’s so out of the way, I thought it was the wisest decision to bring her there. Cassandra left behind anything she didn’t need and I got her to the outskirts as quickly as I could.”
She paused to allow the information to sink in, searching for the rest of the crew over his shoulder. Magdalen hoped he’d already filled them in on what was going on … as there wasn’t time to explain the situation again.
“She’s with Eloise and John now being looked after. However I wanted to pose as a distraction to keep the Terran military as far away from her whereabouts for as long as possible. The only way I could think to do that was to meet them head on and claim I knew where she was located. Of course they demanded I tell them, but that wasn’t going to happen. Instead I struck a bargain with the soldiers gathered in the forest, instructing them to take me back to their superior. That is where I was interrogated by a man called Tribulation Cain.”
Her head had begun pounding again, and she winced a bit before continuing. There was no time to waste.
“Needless to say he was quite the gentleman at first. He told me Cassandra was simply wanted to testify against her father, Michael Nida, who apparently is the one who forced his daughter to amputate her limbs and replace them with those prosthetics. As for the incident in the cafeteria, he claims they were only meant to use tranquilizers but when that didn’t stop her one of the men became antsy and switched to live rounds instead … as a result the rest of the soldiers followed suit. However I don’t believe him. He’s a manipulative individual and practiced liar. There is no reason to trust him at all. I found so many inconsistencies in his story compared with everything I knew up until that point.”
She concluded with a long sigh of exasperation, purposely avoiding the topic of Regan and Cain’s effort to blackmail her. “I don’t know where the Commander is now, but his men announced they’d found some of Cass’ belongings in the forest. Don’t worry, that won’t endanger her. Also, she gave me this key before I left.” Withdrawing it from her pocket, she held it out to show him and frowned. “She said it’s to a storage room they keep for spare parts somewhere. Apparently she purchased everything she needed, not wanting to bring it on to the Adeala right away. And I came straight here looking for you.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Caden Breese on Sept 28, 2009 23:02:54 GMT -6
Caden paused and listened to everything they had to say. This whole situation was a bit of a mess. But the mention of the key and spare parts gave him an idea. He sort of stepped up and offered to help. "I can check the parts, and take them back to the ship. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be as inclined to question me about them, after all I work with parts for a living. As long as they know I'm the mechanic I should have a green light to take them aboard."
He could hide them away with a few of the parts he'd been meaning to pick up so that they weren't easily found. And that way he could get them to her later on when he could. It was an idea he just hoped they'd be alright with it. He'd dealt with a few military personnel back on Terra. He knew that most of them had absolutely no idea what it took to even make their guns work properly so he should be able to get past them giving them various uses for the parts that the'd probably never heard of or even understand.
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Sept 28, 2009 23:30:09 GMT -6
Sol listened to Magdalen intently. Yes, he remembered the Denvers, though he was pretty sure he'd never actually known their last name. If the place was as he remembered it, Cass should be fairly hidden and well taken care of.
He couldn't say he was fond of the idea that she'd gone straight to Cain and told him enough to get herself in trouble on top of Cassandra, but seeing as she seemed to have come out of it freely and in one piece, maybe it would work out in the end. Still, though, he had the worst feeling growing in the pit of his stomach when he though about all the red flags that were beginning to be associated with his ship.
He looked at the key that Magdalen had produced with interest, and was surprised when Caden immediately spoke up and volunteered. Apparently he was still up for backing the crew. He only hoped the others weren't ready to run from all this trouble... especially Booker. Hopefully Booker would look at this like Sol did: It wasn't necessarily lawful, but it was the right thing.
He nodded at Caden. "That sounds like our best bet. It'll be more natural coming from you. And they'll probably be watching you now, Magdalen. That means you need to play it as cool as possible and don't get them even more interested in you. And... you can't go back to the Denvers, or you may lead them right to the farm."
|
|
|
|
Post by Magdalen Verena on Sept 28, 2009 23:40:10 GMT -6
She could almost feel the unease that had settled over Solomon after she’d finished her story, and she didn’t blame him if he felt as though this was all more trouble than he’d originally bargained for. Having been alone long enough to give the situation some thought before they’d regrouped, Magdalen had anticipated some of the obstacles facing them now.
Lowering her voice, the blonde leaned in closer and met Sol’s eyes unflinchingly.
“Listen, I know the whole incident with Cassandra has potentially put the ship and the rest of the crew in jeopardy. My reasoning for having spoken with Cain was to bide us all time, that’s all. He may be in a position of influence, but I can promise he isn’t targeting me or anyone else on the Adeala aside from Cass herself. I had to make a compromise, but it’s between him and myself and won’t affect you. However …”
A pause ensued as she suddenly allowed her eyes to drop to her hands.
“I made a promise to Cassandra that I wouldn’t leave her behind. She’s a good girl who hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s simply an unfortunate coincidence that she’s worth a lot of money and the wrong people know about it.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Sept 28, 2009 23:59:04 GMT -6
He was starting to notice there was something different about Magdalen, even since his conversation with her earlier. There was an assertiveness there that hadn't been there before: something driving her and giving her purpose. He could tell that there was something common between her and Cassandra that made her suddenly care deeply about the girl's well-being.
Something, perhaps, not so unlike what he'd sensed between them the day he ran into Magdalen in the market. He knew without a doubt where Magdalen stood on the situation.
"Hey," he reached for her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I didn't say we were leaving her behind."
|
|
|
|
Post by Magdalen Verena on Sept 29, 2009 0:07:46 GMT -6
If she’d respected Solomon before, her admiration had tripled with that simple reassurance. The feel of his strong hand upon her shoulder made her smile and her eyes filled with a kind of awe as she nodded and handed the key she’d been squeezing to Caden. “Thank you,” was all she could manage to say at that point; too overcome with conflicting emotions to make it any more elaborate.
However after a few seconds she was able to collect her composure and straighten out her posture, feeling much more confident now that she had Solomon’s guidance to act on.
“Alright. Where should we go from here? Reese has been loitering by the ship since before I arrived.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Sept 29, 2009 0:18:04 GMT -6
He let his hand fall back down to his side. "First things first, we greet the soldiers, sign in or whatever they want us to do so they know we're here, and we're who we say we are."
Sol wasn't sure if Cain wanted to talk to the rest of the crew members or not, but he figured they should be prepared. "If you guys have questions asked of you, answer truthfully, except for the information Magdalen just gave us. Technically, none of us really know what's going on until we can talk to Cassandra again, so we won't have to worry about giving anything away that we shouldn't. Again, give them what they want, but with one rule: don't give away her current location."
He glanced back at the ship. "I should probably talk to Reese and see if he's still interested or if this whole thing hasn't scared him off. Caden's on the right track with the key thing... we'll have to discuss that further later. After that, we'll have to come up with some way to get Cass back on the ship without drawing attention to us, or leading anyone to the farm and endangering the Denvers."
|
|
|
|
Post by Caden Breese on Sept 29, 2009 0:27:54 GMT -6
Caden knew where the safe boxes were, he'd been past them while checking out a bunch of the space port, so getting to them wouldn't be a problem. He took the key with a nod. He had no idea who these Denvers were so even if questioned he wouldn't be able to give up any information on them anyway.
He then looked back at the ship. "Who's Reese?" He asked a bit confused. He hadn't met this person yet. But then again he hadn't really been back at the ship for any length of time to notice anyone new. He scanned the people around the ship and one person, clearly not military, sort of stuck out. Was that him?
|
|
|
|
Post by Magdalen Verena on Sept 29, 2009 0:32:44 GMT -6
Magdalen really hoped she wouldn’t have to speak with Cain a second time. He’d just about drained whatever alertness and energy she’d had left with his interrogation and mind games. Even if he did intend to speak with the crew, they had nothing more to say to one another anyway. After all, she’d given him the information he’d ask for – despite the fact it had been false – and she wasn’t wanted for any crimes. Therefore, she was an innocent civilian signing in with the rest of her crew.
Just as long as they knew to act completely ignorant to what was going on, they’d be safe.
“Sounds like a plan to me. Hopefully these guys won’t give us a hard time. The ones I spoke to were all quite pushy.”
And then Caden cut in, asking who Reese was. Of course! She'd almost forgotten that none of the other crew members had been informed of their passenger. "He's a new addition," she explained with a smile. "I met him at the edge of the forest yesterday and it just so happened he was looking for a passenger ship to board. So I brought him to Solomon."
|
|
Booker
Junior Member
Human
WHOOOO, baby!
Posts: 75
|
Post by Booker on Sept 29, 2009 10:34:41 GMT -6
Booker walked back to the ship with Sol, Caden, and Blaine. Sol told them everything that was going on. Everything with Cass having prosthetic limbs. That was the reason that she had pushed him over with such ease. The arms gave her enhanced strength. Booker was shaking his head the whole way back.
Then they saw Magdalen and regrouped with her. He hadn't seen her since they landed and he was a little worried about her. But the fact that she was here and okay was good.
The whole situation was a little off putting for Booker because not everything they were planning was 100% legal. But he could see that they were doing the right thing for Cassandra. She was an innocent girl who probably lost her limbs and needed fake ones, then the fake ones turned out to be illegal and extremely valuable. Booker wouldn't have known what to do in this whole incident if he were in Cass' shoes. Mostly because those shoes would be way too small.
Then they mentioned someone named Reese. After Caden asked who he was, Booker seconded the question. "Yeah, you guys keep mentioning him." Then when Maggie filled them in Booker nodded. He hoped this new passenger wouldn't have some sort of weird history that would cause another incident such as the Cass one.
Booker practically didn't know anything about the situation at all. He hopefully wouldn't give any important information away if he was questioned. He got ready nonetheless.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nick Blaine on Sept 29, 2009 10:44:56 GMT -6
Blaine hoped that after everything was explained that he'd be less confused, but if anything he was even more confused. A girl with illegal robot arms and legs was endangering the whole crew of a ship because she was a passenger on a ship. A passenger who had no destination. This situation was making Nick mad. They were all in trouble for something that they didn't know was going on.
If Blaine was in charge, he would have given up Cass in a heart beat. She wasn't important to him and whatever happened to her wouldn't effect Blaine in many ways. He supposed that they were the kind of people who wouldnt just throw someone to the cops if it meant that things would be easier for them. They were just doing the right thing.
Honestly, Blaine would not be able to give any info other than what he was just told. He and Caden probably knew the least about what was going on. Booker didn't know much but he'd have a little more to tell because of the whole girl taking down a massive mammoth of a man.
Whoever this Reese was better not be a known criminal or have something illegal attached to them, because if so, Blaine would consider quitting the job of Adeala's pilot.
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Sept 29, 2009 18:45:30 GMT -6
"Yeah, he's just over there." Sol motioned back over to the guy hovering near the ship. "He'd probably like to meet the rest of you anyway. If he's sticking around, that is."
He waved them all to follow him, and then headed for Reese. The guy was looking fairly lost and confused, and Sol had a feeling it was only a matter of time before he would simply give up, take his stuff, and go. As the group approached the new passenger, Sol stuck out his hand, offering a handshake.
"Mr Emerson, so sorry about all of this mess. There seems to have been some issues with the other passenger we picked up on Terra, and we're currently trying to sort it all out right now. I hope you're still willing to give us a chance? This is most of the rest of the crew, if you'd like to meet them..." Sol motioned to the three men behind him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Reese Emerson on Sept 29, 2009 23:37:50 GMT -6
When Reese finally spotted Solomon he made a sigh of relief. These soldiers wouldn't let him leave, and they refused to even talk to him. He was bored and happy to finally see someone else rather than military everywhere. He stood up and took the captains hand for a shake.
"Oh it's alright, Mr. Cain sorta gave me a heads up," He smiled like the statement was nothing. He had family friends in high places, and most were surprised that he never took advantage of the fact.
When he looked at the other crew members he sort of froze. One looked like he'd be the type to shot gun him in the face, another guy was so big he could probably squish him just by looking at him the wrong way and the other just looked kinda grumpy. But at least he was taller than two of them, it was the only thing going for him against them at that point.
|
|
