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Post by Lena Marr on Feb 13, 2016 15:08:46 GMT
"Don't do it! Don't you dare do it!" Yelled Lena Marr as she scanned above her with cold sky blue eyes.
Lena barely ducked in time to miss a huge barrel thrown at her from above. Cussing under her breath, she turned to begin anew her trek upwards, only to have to jump quickly over yet another huge barrel threatening to steam roller her as it rolled at her at break neck speed. She moved forward to a ladder, then climbed up to the next level, moving away from it just in time to miss being hit by a careening flaming barrel thrown at her from above.
"Damn stupid monkey! I told you not to do that! I am SO going to kill you when I get up there," Lena stopped to shake her chalk white fist to the heavens above as she screamed, "Take your stinking paws off that barrel you damn dirty ape!"
As Lena was missed by that barrel and again leaped over another, she trotted faster to get the next ladder, wishing she had her sniper rifle, one of her Bowie knives, or even the switchblade she normally kept in her bra. Still, when Lena was a child prostitute in Lima, she had killed her first man at the age of ten, albeit in self defense, and had learned the fine art of assassination at the tender age of twelve, so had no doubt that once she got up to the large primate she could kill him in several different ways with her bare hands.
However, as her mind filled with plots of revenge, Lena couldn't resist the urge to add insult to the soon coming injury, by yelling, "And you look REALLY asinine in that red TIE!
At the same time Lena dreamed in her cryogenic tube frozen in sleep, the Riot's comm rang once again with a communication for Taffer. A pretty young human woman with blond hair and blue eyes in a Castithan business suit appeared on the vid screen. Taffer had to blink twice because the woman looked so much like his missing friend Belle Starr, but after a few moments he realized the woman was not only not Belle but probably five years Belle's senior. Not only that, but this woman, although pale skinned, was totally without freckles, but otherwise the resemblance was uncanny.
"Greeting Mr. Taffer from Chancellor Cael," Began the woman with a cool professional smile, "My name is Teagan Allyn, and I am Chancellor Cael's Minister of Human Relations, a newly created cabinet level position here in the Votan Collective, but which encompasses, among other things, finding missing human foreigners. Chancellor Cael regrets being unable to answer your message personally, but pressing national security matters require all his attention at the moment. Let me assure you that we at the Votan Collective are doing and will continue to do everything necessary to bring Ms. Sandra Bell safely and soundly back to you. He DOES wish me to inform you that he is completely aware of the situation, and that the Votan Collective have both diplomatic and military operatives in the Lima area and they are close to a resolution to the matter, so suggests that you and your party return to the Bay Area. Chancellor Cael wished me to warn you that he will not be able to guarantee your safety either in Lima specifically or South American in general if you decide to continue your voyage here, but also said that you probably would not heed his warning, so he does wish to remind you that you have several powerful enemies in the area that..."
Minister Allyn put on some stylish reading glasses before looking at some notes just out of camera view before continuing, "As Chancellor Cael put it, want all your heads. Chancellor Cael says that such personal endangerment is needless, as he - we - have everything well in hand. He also wants me to remind you that your organization lost both Ms. Bell and Ms. Widowmaker during your watch and..." She glanced quickly at her notes again, "The Chancellor was quite adamant on this point and - this was his comment to me verbatim - Now, it's my turn! However, Chancellor Cael further asks that if you DO continue on to Lima, that you..." Teagan looked again to her hidden notes, a red blush spreading from her neck to her cheeks, an idiosyncrasy so like Belle Starr's, before uttering a small cough and continuing, "That if you do continue on your mission here, you and your people... and I quote here... stay the hell out of me and my peoples' way. Anyhow, I have left my office comm number with your AI, so if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Now if you will please excuse me, I have a search to coordinate."
Taffer saw the flash of a pretty smile before the vid screen went blank, leaving him wondering what that was all about.
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Feb 13, 2016 16:10:11 GMT
Sentenza...Sentenza was actually busy with...something productive or reproductive, so we will talk about Marcel Lestrange instead, to maintain Sentenza's privacy. After Marcel's retreat from the patio of Maria Escalosa, he had almost nothing to do again...Almost nothing, because now he had to figure out how to get Mr. Wynd and Mr. Kyd somewhere else than his path. Eliminating them permanently did not fit his plans, because endangering his business relationship with their superior...Blow....field did not seemed a really smart thing to do. Mr. Blowfield had something more valuable than scrip - he had a lot of information about lot of things and information was one of the most solid currencies even in post apocalyptic world. The more practical information man has, the better are chances that he succeeds in his deeds. Only fools, like Volodja Uljanov, will bother themselves getting familiar with things and topics which are mostly use- and thus worthless, Marcel thought. But enough about him. Volodja was not in Cuzco yet, so Marcel had some time to organize a welcoming committee. And keep amount of it's members in reasonable limits. Most reasonable number of committee members was one. And that one had to be Marcel Lestrange. Meanwhile Maria Escalosa's war cries became more like far cries when Marcel backed himself further away from her house. Sentenza is going to have a really busy day, decided Marcel, so he is out from the game for awhile. And now those two had to go. No more musical chairs for them also. "We met a real Megaera, Mr Kyd," said one of mud covered men on the street to other who was also muddy. The presence of mud on their clothes was caused by a simple reason. Mix some street dust with some water and you got mud. See how simple some things can be. And Mr.Wynd and Mr. Kyd got shower of the cold water first and fell down to the ground after that, like couple of Humpty Dumpty's. And all the king's horses and all the king's men could not to keep them getting muddy during that. "I know, Mr. Wynd. And after all of that mistreatment from a WOMAN, I feel so dirty!" "The feeling is mutual, but when you got dirt on your face then you should go..." "...and wash yourself and your clothes to regain our dignity. River is not far from here. Let's go." Mr. Wynd and Mr. Kyd set their course to the river in a hope to find a private place where they could wash themselves and maybe their clothes as well. They didn't know that Marcel Lestrange had caught up with them and hearing their conversation brought another of his devilish grin's to his tanned and a bit cruel but yet handsome face... |
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Post by Wolfram von Eschen on Feb 14, 2016 10:36:14 GMT
"Very well. But if we do not hear from you within few hours we will take action ourselves," replied Wolfram von Eschen, after Atticus Batman connected with them and was put through the intercom. And added an order to the intercom operator to inform Lebeau and Bocar as well.
"Will be done and we will be in touch with you when we hear anything. Sorry to have awoken you, Sir" was told to Wolfram by the operator after the call ended.
"I was already awake. How can I sleep? Nothing but problems. Problems, problems," commented Wolfram and returned to his bed where Chloe MacGyver waited for him holding a Schnapps glass in her pale hand.
"As a dedicated film fan, I always wanted to say that on suitable occasion," commented Wolfram and added: "Scheisse!"
"What's wrong, you charming old goat?" Chloe asked from him.
"The "Vigilant" is stalled by some storm. Should we get back to the War Room to keep ourselves informed about their well being?"
"No fucking way. These fuck muppets can handle things under supervision of that Slipknot guy. We have better things to do than try to do all chores of the world by ourself. We are going to have a rest during our watch below. An by that I mean watch below the blanket."
"Aber Natürlich, Liebchen."
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Feb 14, 2016 12:07:18 GMT
"Dignity, eh," muttered Marcel Lestrange. "That gives me another idea." Mr. Wynd and Mr. Kyd finally found a quiet place by the river, surrounded by bushes, undressed themselves and started to clean their clothes. Since weather was warm and sun reflected on the surface of the river so invitingly, both men left their clothes on the rocks to dry and soon both of them swam like couple of seals to wash themselves and enjoy the procedure at the same time. After a half an hour or so, they returned to the shore to dry themselves. "I believe that something is missing from making the day perfect, Mr. Wynd," was Mr. Kyd's remark after a small pause. "And what it might be, Mr Kyd?" "Nothing special. Just our CLOTHES went missing! Rest of our belongings are on their place." "Who could steal our clothing, but leaving the rest of our things untouched?" Who could do such a thing indeed. We bet, that you already know the answer to that - it was Marcel Lestrange who assumed that Mr. Wynd and Mr. Kyd will avoid sightseeing without their clothes. Thus he stole and hid them while owners were swimming. Walking with bare asses is not the best way for tourists to move around. But obviously he underestimated genius of those two, as it seemed to be, because Mr. Wynd and Mr. Kyd thought a bit, discussed something among themselves and after some preparations both of them were dressed into fashionable and handmade and absolutely nature friendly hula skirts, because they were made using twigs and branches from surrounding bushes.  Both skirted gentlemen left vicinity after that and headed towards the nearest clothing store to buy themselves at least some I Love Cuzco T shirts, shorts and slippers, making Marcel to frown while he followed them. But that frown disappeared immediately, when Moira whispered something to him after she studied the map, and was replaced by another devilish grin. "They are going to LOVE it. Especially when they are dressed the way they are," he said in total agreement and passed them by without being noticed. "Yes, I know that it is not original idea, but I disagree with you that Volodja could do it better than me. He is a show off. Why do people like that guy anyway? Just shut up and let me do my work now, Moira!"" Quick glance to some hand made signs above doors, plus opening those doors and listening sounds inside confirmed Moira's assumptions. The fact that the street wasn't exactly know from it's shop windows made Marcel's job much easier. And he had plenty of time too, because skirted gentlemen preferred more sneaky way to move around, trying to avoid rising attention in public eyes. Soon Marcel's job was done and he hid himself behind some metal dumpsters, he used to stand on while taking the signs down, and clutched one of those removed sign with his hands. Mr. Wynd and Mr. Kyd arrived to the stage, looked at the shop sign and after small discussion about how those tourist brochures tend to mistake addresses, they pulled the door open and entered simultaneously. "Hell...oh..."said Mr. Wynd. "...crap!" added Mr. Kyd. The reason what made them express their feelings was inside the building and it was also written on the sign, Marcel stole and replaced with the one, belonging to the clothes shop. That stolen sign was written in Spanish, but we believe that people with some cultural knowledge will understand what those words meant, because there was only few words written in blue and they were: "La Ostra Azul." |
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Post by Taffer on Feb 14, 2016 20:29:49 GMT
Once a young woman's face so resembling of Belle's appeared on the screen, Taffer shared the comm's display to a main holographic screen for everyone to see. He listened to what Teagan Allyn said carefully, paying attention to details and what he could read between the lines. When the screen went black, Taffer turned around in his seat, leaving Lu at the controls and addressed the team.
"So, does anyone have a slightest idea on what's going on? Vo, judging from the look on your face, you've definitely saw the resemblance, so how do you think, who this woman can be? A clone? an actor with a clever make-up? An Indogene copy?"
"I think neither Taf," Vo responded, still staring at the screen as if he could see something else other than the blank page. "She's definitely not our Belle. She's definitely not a clone or copy as the difference is obvious, for me at least. She's definitely not an actor trying to mimic Belle because… Well, because she's not even trying to. I think she's a sibling or a close relative."
"Or a backup version of the Starr project. Or the reject of it. Or a prototype stolen by the Collective at early stages," Taffer interjected.
"Don't you say like this about Belle!" Vo exclaimed, "She's not a 'project', she's a human and a great one! Don't you ever forget it!"
"Vo, calm down," Taffer said sternly. "We both know you're right. Belle is a human and a great friend and our family member. But we should never forget that VBI and E-Rep still sees her as their weapon gone off on a tangent and the Collective sees her as a weapon they don't like to see in E-Rep's hands. Same goes for you, Lu, Kaj and Atticus. Damn, I won't be surprised in a man in black comes from next door and says, Mr. Taffer, you've had enough walking on your own and wasting the superpowers we gave you, now code 7DF, come crawling faster, obey your master. But I digress. What is important now is how all this is affects our current mission on finding Sandy and obtaining the information on where our other women can be. So here are my thoughts.
I doubt this was a real message from Cael. If he really didn't have time to talk to me, he could just send this message and sign it with his digital signature. Although I do recognize phrases Cael could say, I still think some of the points in it were adjusted behind his back. I also don't believe they are organizing the search to get Sandy back to us as they say. If that was the case, they wouldn't be trying to shoo us away so insistently. She's a Pale Wars soldier after all. Technically, she died during the Pale Wars and I'm not sure her current personality can be held responsible for things she had done as a soldier, but some hot-heads in the Collective might think differently. They also might want to find Belle before we do and Sandy might have vital information on that. So the plan stays the same. We go in, get the information on her whereabouts and rescue her wherever she is before the Collective gets her in their claws. If we meet Cael's people on our way, we'll try diplomatic approach first, but if they won't cooperate, we'll take her by any and all means. Given we're not affiliated with E-Rep being an independent group, our conflict with the Collective forces will not give them enough reasons to start a full-scale war. If our actions are going to alienate the Collective against us personally, then so be it. They made the first step by trying to capture her for themselves anyway. Now, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears."
After he heard his team members' opinions, he returned to the controls of the ship which was already getting close to Lima and Montero's residence. He landed the ship on the road leading to Montero's home so that it would be clearly visible and within radar's reach from their position.
"Attila, Chase and Vo come with me. Archer, Atika, Kaj and Lu stay in the ship and provide support if needed. I've made these changes to the line-up because I see Archer got the most familiar with Riot's weaponry. I'll keep the constant link with our ship while we're away, so if anyone would like to say you piece during our negotiations, you'll be able to do it right away. Kaj, your squad's main task is to keep the ship safe. If anything goes wrong, get the ship in the air first, provide support to us second." Having said that, Taffer pulled a flashdrive out of his pocket and handed it to Lu. "If something bad happens to me, this goes to Cael. Personally, not through his ministers or other people."
"Hey, how do you expect me to get to him personally?!" Lu asked, surprised by the task he just gave to her.
"Kabule seemed to be sweet on you," Taffer replied, smiling with corners of his mouth, "So I hope you have better chances to get Cael on the line than I evidently do."
"You can't be serious asking me to try to seduce the Chancellor of the Votanis Collective, can you?"
"If you don't like the idea, then keeping me alive is in your best interests. So keep your eyes on the radar and hands on the control stick."
With a push of a button, Taffer disengaged the Garilu rover which was promptly put on the ground. When the squad took their seats, Vo led it to the door of Montero's residence.
As Taffer pressed the door bell button and Zachary Normal opened it, Taffer said to him, "We don't have much time for negotiations, so here's my offer to Mr. Montero. If he gives me enough information about the lot on the auction we both were invited to so that I could get it without participating in the auction, then the bid I was going to offer goes straight to Mr. Montero. All details on the deal to be discussed with Mr. Montero personally."
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Feb 14, 2016 20:53:59 GMT
"Lead him into my office, kid. Then you can watch and learn." Montero's voice in intercom sounded raspy but clear. "Señor Montero expects you, Mr. Taffer," said Zack Normal and his voice was quite formal. Both men entered into Montero's football stadium size office on the second floor of his mansion. Thick red carpet, mahogany panels, few busts here and there and paintings on walls. Owner of all that luxury was sitting behind his huge desk and was busy cleaning his fingernails "Let's skip the sweet talk, Mr. Taffer," he finally said lifting his eyes from his fingernails. "First I am not going to apologize about the courier. That is how you prevent competitors away from business. But you also have to keep in mind, Mr. Taffer, that your life was spared during the procedure. So first of all - nobody attacked you directly. Preventing you from participating in auction by eliminating a courier is a whole different thing than making attempt to your life. Secondly - you already know what the merchandise was supposed to be if you received an offer despite the missing courier. At moment I don't have her. I repeat - unfortunately I don't have that exotic beauty among my collection of rarities. I have nil, nought, nothing. Zip, zilch, zero." Seeing that Taffer wanted to say something, Montero snapped his fingers and added: "Before you are going to say anything, would you be so kind and maintain silence when you are talking with me. Thank you in advance. I believe that young Ivu knows the answers to your questions, so you should pay him a little visit as well. But I would suggest to be careful out there. Traffic near his hideout is crazy. It cost me a decent car on my way to that auction. Welcome to the club, Mr. Taffer. Someone wanted to prevent me from participating as well, I assume. So instead of offering me money, Mr. Taffer, you should offer me a helping hand and bring some light into that weird situation." Montero wiped Zack Normal closer, so he could lit his cigar. Montero puffed it a bit and started to wave with improvised scrip fan to blow away cigar smoke in a way as he was making a statement.  |
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Post by Chase Lonehart on Feb 15, 2016 8:42:05 GMT
The Lawkeeper’s roller rocked as they made their way to the place that had once been McCawley Mines. Iri had gone to the Lawkeeper’s office, finding both Irisa and Berlin handling their daily routine. Irisa was sharpening what appeared to be a set of throwing blades while Berlin handled paperwork. They were both surprised to see the Indogene there, wondering what was going on. Iri then began her inquiry about any Omec technology that they may have been able to get their hands on.
“We tried to get as much as we could together to be able to make sure it was secure,” Irisa told her. “After the Omec that had come down were defeated, there was a bit of a mad-grab at anything Omec related at the Mines. We got most of it while some we completely lost. There was only one item we weren’t able to get because of… certain circumstances.”
The Durango came to a stop outside of what appeared to be some small building, the area surrounded by old mining equipment that looked as if it hadn’t seen any activity for a while.
“Why aren’t these mines open since Defiance is known for its large quantity of gulanite?” Iri asked.
“A few months back, the mines collapsed, which caused the town to almost dry up,” Irisa explained. “When the Omec came, they set up shop here and burrowed a hole down into the mines to extract gulanite for their ship. There’s been talk about Baum Petrohol considering on moving in to open the mines again.”
Iri followed the Irathian’s lead, slipping out of the passenger seat and her feet hitting the ground. The sky was slowly approaching night time once more, to which Irisa and Iri switched on the flashlights they brought with them. She wished that she had waited until the following morning to have approached Irisa about the Omec technology, but since this was the only piece of Omec technology that hadn’t been secured, she couldn’t risk someone coming in and stealing it. She couldn’t allow someone else, insane and power hungry like how Lady Christanna was take ahold of it, try to use to to create an army of horrible abominations to use for their war or another misguided attempt to make the world a better place. Iri decided that she would be the one to draw the line and she wasn’t going to allow this tech to get free. Irisa undid the chain that was threaded through the door, which Iri noticed was secured with a combination lock. Once inside, the lights sliced through the dusty darkness of the interior. The place had a combination of smells, between sweet smelling flowers, musty staleness and a slight hint of rotten meat, which Iri hoped it was something animal instead of human or Votan. She followed Irisa’s lead, briefly being distracted by something hanging nearby. The pale color and the hexagonal pattern made her feel uneasy, wondering what Indogene the Omec had pulled that large amount of skin from. She pushed the thought out of her head, realizing that the Indogene who had the unfortunate luck of being skinned may have been long since dead and gone, being from anywhere to thousands of years to a few months. She had nothing to fear in this place, as the Omec were gone. She focused on following Irisa as they approached the gaping mouth of the entrance to the underground. Iri paid attention to each step that her leader made, making sure to make the same steps to minimize the chances of slipping and falling. She could the thought of coming all this way and falling to her death slightly humorous in comparison to the millions of things that could kill anyone in the world today.
After a while, they had found solid ground once more. She had never expected that being underground would be so warm in comparison to some of the literature that she’s read where it described being buried as cold. But she had to remind herself that the cold ground references were old, pre-war literature she had read. Irisa lead her to what appeared to be railing of some sort, her recalling information about railroads and subways.
“You know one thing I found interesting?” Iri asked Irisa, but didn’t wait to hear a response from her. “A while ago, the E-Rep were planning the Mag-Lev to run across the United States. Back in the what humans referred to as the Wild West, they did something similar, but with a thing called a train. They used to run on rails like these. It’s a shame the Mag-Lev won’t be finished. I guess everything got set back with what happened with New York.”
Irisa just continued on with following the track, not even acknowledging she heard what she said. Iri just took it as a clue that she should probably just shut up. It was not too long after that she could see the purple glow coming from the windows of what she assumed what used to be a train maintenance station. They made their way in, Iri being caught off guard by the sight of limbs hanging from ceiling. Between the sweet rancid smell of the rotting flesh and hexagonal skin, she knew she was faced with another horrific reminder of how little the Omec cared about Indogenes, seeing them nothing more than slaves and spare parts. She was thankful to have not been in Defiance when they had been here, as she wouldn’t have known what to do about them. But as they approached the railing, the pink glow had become more noticeably brighter. Irisa stopped at the railing, turning to look at Iri.
“We’re here,” the Irath told her.
Iri slowly came to the railing, looking down at the story below. And there it was. The rectangle shaped tank with a domed top, filled with water and various tubes connected to and leading into it. But, the thing that caught her attention was the pale figure suspended within the liquid, bubbles making their way around it towards the surface at the top. Iri found the stairs, heading down to get a closer look. As she approached, she could hear the hum coming from the machine. She tried to get a better angle on the figure inside, her taking a moment to recognize the face within it, seeing the straps that crossed it to hold it suspended in the water and the smaller tubes that appeared to feed into the nose of the figure and another going in at the neither region. Iri turned towards Irisa as she approached, after finally recognizing the face of the figure within.
“Doctor Yewll,” Iri spoke aloud.
“Not too long ago, an Indogene female’s body was found ripped to shreds in town during the time the Omec was here. Samir explained that when Yewll did a test of the DNA, it matched hers. Apparently, Kindzi was cloning Doc Yewll for hunting. She found out and Kindzi used a control rod on her to control her, to keep her quite about what they were doing and for her to kidnap people to use for the Omec’s hunt.”
“Why didn’t you turn this off and remove her?”
“We don’t know how to turn it off. We were worried about this potentially blowing up if we pulled any of these cables.”
Iri turned back, switching her eyes to diagnostic mode. She could see everything, every nook and cranny of the device in front of her. She moved around, moving up a small incline to be able to stand next to the tank and looking into it. She could see that the tube heading into the Yewll clone’s nose was still feeding her oxygen. She knew
“So far from what I can tell, there’s nothing dangerous with it,” she told Irisa. “No indications of any kind of explosive or sensitive power sources. You could unplug it, and no worries about things going ‘ka-boom’ on you. The thing that worries me is the fact that if we turn off this device, we could kill her.”
“It’s a clone of Doc Yewll,” Irisa told her. “It’s not really her.”
“She’s still a living thing, even if she is a copy. You have to understand that we Indogenes were engineered. Some of the first few of our kind started off as copies of one another. I don’t feel comfortable with the fact that you see her only as an ‘it’.”
Iri could see the shame on the Irath’s face. She understood how some people could forget that Indogenes were engineered, not randomly coming into existence like most of the other species that But then Iri realized that Irisa may have not ever seen a clone of someone, at least as far Iri was aware of.
“I’m sorry for being rude,” Iri replied.
“You’re right,” Irisa said back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any offense.”
Iri nodded, knowing she meant what she said. Iri began to examine the equipment, hoping to figure out what was what. It would take some for her to figure out what is what, looking at some of the cables that ran from what looked like some sort of interface to the the tank. Irisa had moved around and taken a seat next to the tank,
“How much longer do you need?” Irisa asked.
“This is like the puzzle humans made called the Rubik’s Cube. It may seem easy to solve, but it takes time to do so.”
“Did you say you’re a tech expert?”
“Yes, I did. Doesn’t mean I know how to get all the answers in a snap of the fingers.”
After a couple of more minutes, she found what appeared to be the correct cable to pull from the tank to disengage its power.
“Okay, as best as I figured,” Iri examined the cable closer. “When this cable gets pulled, the system will shut down. But the problem is that I don’t know if the clone will wake up or not. So, what we’ll do is remove this top off the tank, undo the straps that are holding her in place and then proceed to unplug. If she awakes, we’ll pull her out.”
“If she doesn’t?”
“Then I guess her death was meant to be,” Iri replied. “I hope this isn’t the case.”
“You admired Doc Yewll, didn’t you?”
Iri looked over at the Irath, surprised by her question. She turned away, finding her grip on the edge of the dome of the top and pulled it free. She pushed it over until it fell clear of the tank, giving Iri a top town view of the clone. If it had been any other situation, she would have sworn the Yewll clone was just asleep instead of a drug-induced coma.
“When I first met Doctor Yewll, it was during the trip from the Votanis system. I admired her brilliance. If there was anyone who could have solved a problem, Meh Yewll would have. I’ll admit, maybe what I had what humans referred to as ‘proximity infatuation.' But I knew she would never leave Lev, her lover, so I never pursued it. And even after Lev’s death, I didn’t feel comfortable about approaching her. I don’t believe she even thought of me in that same regard. May I borrow one of your blades, please?”
She turned back to find Irisa already holding out one of her blades, Iri taking ahold of it. She reached into the tank, carefully cutting the straps that crossed the legs, the pelvis, then the stomach and finally the chest. She put her gloved hand at the top of her stomach, keeping the clone submerged in the tank. Iri knew that she had to be careful, wait until the clone was awake before pulling her out. Iri handed the blade back with her free hand before submerging it with the other to hold the clone down as she pulled the straps away from the clone. There was no way to back out. She felt uncomfortable about looking at the bare form that was Doc Yewll for some reason. But she focused on the task.
“Irisa,” Iri spoke up. “Would you be so kind as to pull the power cable now?”
She could see Irisa come into view from the side of her eye. In one blink, the cable was removed. The hum that had been steady going slowed down until it finally died out. Iri focused on the face, hoping to find some sort of sign of awareness. The body was still. She began to wonder if maybe the clone wasn’t developed fully or not. It would have been such a tragedy that this effort to try to save this life, this copy of a life, were to die in the tank. It was then there was a twitch from the body. Iri waited, to see if there would be a twitch again. The body began thrash, the liquid splattering against her.
“Irisa! Get around the other side!”
The Irath got around on the other, Iri looking up at her.
“We need to lift her up slowly,” Iri instructed amongst the sloshing. “Once we get her up to the top, she need to comes towards me, you understand?”
Irisa nodded, pushing up the sleeves of her shirt and then dipping her hands in. Both of them managed to get their hands underneath the body of the clone, carefully lifting. As they got up to the top, Iri reached up and began to pull the feed tube out of the nose. Following that, with a quick yank, the tube heading into the lower region. Just as they reached the top, Iri got her left arm up underneath her as Irisa pushed. Iri leaned back, pulling the clone from the tank and onto of her. Hitting the ground hard made her see starts for a brief moment, her feeling the vibrations of the clone on to of her coughing. Iri pushed herself up, holding the nude pale figure against her. The clone tilted her head back, her breathing labored. Iri turned her head to look at the head resting against her shoulder.
“Welcome back to the world, Meh Yewll,” she told her.
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Chase sat in what was the back of the craft as it made its way back to its destination. He still felt like a bit of an idiot for how he reacted towards what Iri admitted to him. He tried to distract himself by recalling the first time he took any air-based vehicle, it being the trip from New York to the Bay on a stratocarrier similar to the Vigilant. Chase had never been on a stratocarrier before that trip, which seemed so odd that a vessel like that could have taken more than three days to fly, let alone in any vehicle that flew prior to it.
Maybe it has to do with physics that I’m unfamiliar with, he thought. I’m not a scientist, so what the heck would I know about it?
He took a sip from the bottle of water he had taken prior to take off, trying to figure out everything.
You’re a big idiot, Chase thought to himself. You’re involved with an alien. Clearly, sooner or later, something was going to give. In this case, it’s her talking about her sexual exploits with another of her kind.
He took another sip, the thoughts rattling around in his head.
Maybe you blew it with her, he humored the possibility. Maybe she expected more from you, maybe something you were giving her when you had no memory of yourself, something that was lacking now. Or maybe the vice-versa was true. Maybe it was something you were giving her before you lost your memory that was lacking afterwards. But maybe, either way, she was consulting with Eren because of whatever it was that you were lacking. But then again, during the two months she was at Top-Notch, you weren’t giving her anything because you didn’t want to be a distraction to her, you remember? What an idiot you are.
He rubbed his forehead with his only hand, trying to process things.
Did she choose to stay in Defiance because she wanted to give me space, or did she stay because she needed it? Was my request for her to sit out of the upcoming mission something that hurt her feelings? Maybe I was too blunt with her. Or maybe I’ve become too hardened to the world around me to the point where I can’t connect or communicate clearly with everyone I know. What do you see in the mirror, darkly and deeply? Do you see yourself as you are? As you were? What version of Chase Lonehart are you suppose to be now? Or more accurately, what version have you become?
He sat back agains the bulkhead, blowing out his breath through his teeth before he took another sip.
You’re driving yourself nuts. You’ve gotten all your faculties back and you can’t even think straight. Is this what an identity crisis like? Or is this another level of insanity that has shown up in the confines of your broken brain? I can’t tell. How the hell do you even function enough to tie your own shoelaces with how scatterbrained you are?
Chase finished off his bottle of water, placing the empty container into is backpack. He has been drinking mostly water since he recovered who he was, still remembering every moment of the month from the desert to Defiance. For some odd reason, he felt like he had the need to drink lots of water, probably leaving it at the fact that it was probably a psychological thing and his mind was trying to make up for the lack of water he had during his trip.
“Into the flood again,” he muttered to himself. “I’m hoping everything goes smooth on this mission. I guess its the hopeful optimist in me. But then again, I guess things wouldn’t be fun if someone wasn’t shoot at us, right?”
Um... Chase, McCoy piped up. Are you talking to me?
“No, McCoy, just thinking aloud. Brain-damaged AND a dry sense of humor. I’m freakin’ doomed,” Chase spoke out, a chuckle escaping from him as he shook his head.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Feb 15, 2016 8:49:43 GMT
As the Vigilant passed over Salt Lake City, Utah I said, "Comms contact Fortress K'shaa. Tell them that, 'We have safely circumvent the storm and just passed over Salt Lake City, Utah. So we will be home within a couple of hours, if we don't run into any other issues."
Comms said, "Yes sir." Then they proceeded to do so.
Almost two hours later, the Vigilant was nearing California are space, so I personally got on comms and contacted the fortress.
"Fortress K'shaa do you copy?"
"This is Slipknot. We read you Re....Atticus. What's the word?"
I said, "Slipknot. Didn't expect to hear you answering for them. I assume my personnel are still alive and well?!"
Slipknot replied, "Yes they are. I offered to fill in in the War Room after the senile old German doctor and the voluptuous Aussie had finished helping me drink my bottle of Brandy. So I assume that he is busy making use of her alcohol-induced state and a bottle of Viagra. Let's just hope that she doesn't give him la morte per SNU-SNU! (Italian for: death by snu-snu!) Although it would be a great way to go."
I said, "Very well, but don't worry about Doctor Von Eschen. Wolfram does seem to be a very resilient old goat. Anyway, we will be landing soon so make sure the hangar is ready for us, as all on board would love to get home, get a warm meal and get some rest as soon as possible."
I then hung up the comms.
Roughly 20 minutes later, we entered San Francisco airspace, So I notified the fortress that we were preparing to land and needed clearance. After they opened the hangar bay doors and gave us clearance, the pilots began the landing sequence. Once the Vigilant had safely landed and finished running all post-landing procedures, we opened the doors for all the crew and passengers to depart. Lady and I were the last two to depart from the Vigilant.
As we walked down the ramp holding hands, we saw Bocar and Lebeau standing there holding the sleepy twins with bottles in both their mouths (The babies, not the older Castithan and the rugged Cajun). When we got to them Bocar handed Caprice to me so he could give his daughter Lady a fatherly hug and welcome her back. Then Bocar clapped me on the back, as if to welcome me home, but said very little to me as Lebeau handed Cosmin to Lady. I then told Lebeau that he did a good job and could now go back to his own chambers instead of having to stay in the guest room of our home bunker any longer. After he welcomed Lady back in his own charming Cajun way, Lebeau agreed and left us so he could go get some real rest in his quarters before his next shift.
Then I suggested we go to the Mess for some food, before Lady and I took the twins home so we could get some more much needed rest before we were once again needed somewhere. As we walked to the Mess hall, Lady hugged Cosmin again, then smiled and said, "Switch." I smiled back and hugged Caprice again, then switched babies with Lady so we could each spend some needed time with both twins before they fell back to sleep as it was only around 4:00am. Obviously they were only awake since it was one of the FAVORITE feeding times of our lovely twin babies. |
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Post by Wolfram von Eschen on Feb 15, 2016 9:02:53 GMT
"I overheard that, young man! Who is senile, you spaghetti eater? Me? Old? Yes. Tired after couple of days lasting watch and trying to keep people's emotions at bay? Sure. But I am not senile or impotent. Unlike you, young man, we old school gentlemen tend to keep our flag up without any medical help and we don't have to get ladies drunk to spend a night with them, you punk. Reach into my age and let's see how you will erect your flagpole. Have you ever heard about the film Tough Guys? Probably not, so let me tell that it tells about old school men like me who had no problem with leading the train into a tunnel. We can conduct the bloody landing from our bedroom, if necessary. But it's not necessary, Verdammt! And I am NOT German! Verstehen? Capisce? Understood?"  Wolfram was in in warlike mood now, but Chloe pulled him back and said. "Don't lose your energy, you old warhorse. Slipknot doesn't realize that one day he becomes old, but some of urges might remain to be similar of a young man. For your age you are damn virile old goat and you still have a potential. And fucking potency as well." "Verflucht ageism!" Wolfram muttered. "Every young punk..." "Psst. Psst. Psst." Chloes forefinger sealed Wolfram's lips. "You are overheated as a boiling kettle. Anger management is what you need at moment. And since you are the damn shrink here, you can't make an appointment to yourself, so shut up and let me take care of it." |
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Post by Sandy Bell on Feb 15, 2016 10:33:26 GMT
From the top of one of the mountainous hills around Cuzco, Sandy Bell surveyed the sprawling town below. She turned to the young Indian boy who had led them there, returning his machete to him and thanking him for all his effort, emphasizing her gratitude with a kiss on his cheek that prompted a big grin to appear on his brown face. She waved until he disappeared from sight, than looked longingly after him, wondering if maybe she and Volodja had made a mistake leaving the idyllic and simple life of the Indian village. Sandy sighed remembering her duty to her friends, especially the missing Erika whose fate they still didn't have a clue as to, and then turned to look down at the bustling town. "Volodja, should we go in all brash and bold like we own the place," asked Sandy, "Or should we sneak in after dark? Either way, I'm not sure we are going to find a telecommunications center all that easy."  At the same time as Sandy asked that question of Volodja, Teagan Allyn had just ended her one sided conversation with Taffer, muttering to herself, "Well, THAT went well!" Teagan kicked her high heels back on under the desk without using her hands with an ease from years of practice, then stood up from the desk absentmindedly smoothing the bottom of the green Castithan jacket she wore with one hand. Teagan walked from the communications room with a slight swagger, passing several hurrying Votans busy with their own tasks along the way, making a point neither to block their way or make eye contact. She had found that it was easier as a human to deal with Votans at all levels in the Votan Collective by projecting a confident air but also by staying out of their way until her services were needed. After purposefully passing through several hallways, she finally arrived at the ornate door that she had become so familiar with in the last month. Teagan gave a quick knock before opening the door, not waiting for a response as she entered a small antechamber no bigger than a walk-in closet but with another less ornate door on the far side. A coat stand, a small table, and a plush chair were all the furniture in the small room. Ignoring the comfort of the chair, Teagan quickly kicked off her high heels, then took off the jacket and placed the jacket on a large hook at the top of the coat stand. Unlike a true Castithan suit, Teagan did not wear the accompanying trousers, but instead wore a specially tailored matching skirt, which she now unbuttoned and quickly wiggled out of, picking it up and neatly folding it when it fell to the floor. She placed the folded skirt on the table as she unbuttoned her white silk blouse, which she also folded and placed it on the table. Finally, hopping on first one small pale foot and then the other, she removed first one shapely leg and then the other out of her pantyhose, tossing them unceremoniously on top of the otherwise neat pile on the table. With hurried grace, Teagan removed her matching white frilly bra and panties, adding them to the pile as well, before, now nude, turning back to her coat and struggling to free the object of her desire from an outer pocket. Teagan finally pulled free with one expertly manicured hand a silk pink teddy, which she quickly pulled over her nubile body before quickly knocking again, but this time on the inner door. Again, Teagan did not bother to wait for an answer, but entered the dark room lit only with a single lamp on the nightstand next to a huge four posted bed, in which lay a handsome muscular Irathian man perusing a data pad with large jade colored eyes, so like his mother's. He too was naked under the quilted covers that were pulled up to his waist, and he gestured for her to come forward without looking up from the pad. "How did it go?" The man asked still without looking up, even as Teagan hurried to the bed, crawling into it and making herself comfortable next to the man, but careful not to even glance at the data pad for fear that whatever was there was not something she should be privy to. "Hard to tell, as I did what you wanted and did not give him time to ask any questions," The blond woman answered frankly, but with a quizzical look in her her pretty blue eyes. "Cael, If you don't mind my asking, if these are friends of your mother's, why not just talk to them yourself and just say you don't want their involvement in the search for her." Cael looked at her with piercing green eyes that made her wonder if perhaps she had asked one question too many, but before she shrank down into the covers, he smiled the charismatic smile that had led so many citizens to vote for him as Chancellor of the Votan Collective, some even despite his populist views, then said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Because mother's friends are people of action, and would not take no for any answer. However, now they are made aware, and if I do have to do something... untoward... about them, I can now tell mother they were warned." Teagan blinked her big blue eyes several times, still not understanding, before asking with only slight trepidation, "But-but why not speak to them yourself? You know them - " Tossing the data pad nonchalantly onto the nightstand's top, Cael put a clay red finger to her rose petal lips immediately silencing her with the gesture before continuing, "Because it presents them with another mystery that might make them delay their mission, if only for a moment to ponder it - or maybe because playing a game of cat and mouse with them amuses me - or maybe because I have a cruel itch that sometimes needs to be scratched, and showing them the lovely visage of one dear to them but so unobtainable will torture at least some of them - it matters not." Teagan blinked again, trying but not understanding his words; however, as he turned off the light and the darkness embraced them as he embraced her with his strong arms, she soon felt his warm hands caressing her soft breasts and then her tender nether regions, and she soon found herself no longer caring whether she understood or not. |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Feb 15, 2016 13:46:42 GMT
Volodja looked downhill to the old city of Cuzco after Mapi left them when his work as a guide was done. That city used to be the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th into the 16th century until the Spanish conquest. Cuzco was like a layered cake, because original Killke culture was replaced by Inca Empire and then Spaniards came and claimed the City to themselves and captured the last Sapa Inca (sovereign emperor) of the Inca Empire before the Spanish conquest - Atahualpa, who was soon tortured and executed after a mock trial who found Atahualpa guilty of revolting against the Spanish, practising idolatry, and murdering Huáscar, his brother (at least that last accusation was true, because that's how Atahualpa rose to his throne). Atahualpa was sentenced to death by burning and he agreed to accept the Catholicism in a hope to avoid the execution, as he was promised. He was baptised and given the Christian name Francisco Atahualpa to honour the man who was responsible for conquering his empire, capturing him and sentencing him to death - Francisco Pizarro. As a result Atahualpa was strangled with garrote in 26 July 1533 and only partly burned. Rest of his remains were buried by Christian traditions. A propos, that victory didn't brought any luck to Pizarro either - in 26 June 1541 he was assassinated in his Lima palace by group of 20 heavily armed men. History of Cuzco was full of violence and treachery as it usually tends to be when we are talking about humans and their longings for money or power or both. And maybe miasmas from it's bloody past were still polluting the air in Cuzco, although people learned to handle things in less violent ways. But Pale Wars proved once again that still waters run deep and at some moment hidden urges break to the surface before everything calms again. Cuzco was laying on the valley as a lazy cat, purring on the sun, but even laziest cat opens eyes when a mouse passes by his/her mouth, and attacks. That comparison with cat was really suitable, because many believed that the city was planned as an effigy in the shape of a puma, a sacred animal. City seemed to be beautiful, not to mention peaceful, but Volodja was not sure about safety level. And then he had to ask form himself - where one can feel themself safe in post apocalyptic world? Practically nowhere. Besides - Sandy and him were more than well trained to protect themselves. Volodja saw Sandy Bell in action and admired her honed fighting skills. Volodja himself was really reluctant but well trained fighter despite of his bookworm tendencies.  "This place reminds me of nid de guêpes," said Volodja. Seeing confusion in Sandy's big and beautiful blue eyes, he explained: "It means wasp's nest in French. Looks peaceful, but when you approach it, be prepared to meet some stings. I do hope that I am wrong about my worries, though. It's our vacation after all, so I would like to storm the city, claim this place to us and then start three days long pillaging like soldiers used to do, but we lack fire power and we lack scrip to afford even a hotel room as Mapi suggested us to take." Volodja smiled when he remembered how they kissed in Macchu Picchu., and added: "Maybe we should give a street performance and earn us some scrip? Imposing street performers enables us to look around in Cuzco too without rising too much attention. First we spy then we act." |
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Post by Taffer on Feb 15, 2016 22:48:24 GMT
Taffer could not help but smile with corners of his mouth upon hearing that most of his guesswork turned out to be true. But his face turned serious at once as he thought about possible Sandy's fate.
"Any sign of Sandy or Volodya nearby? Any traces?" Taffer asked his EGO.
"Negative. Not a single EGO beep, not a single DNA trace."
"It means the old badger probably tells the truth that she's not here," Taffer assumed.
"As I've said earlier, I'm not too upset about the courier," He said to Montero, "In fact, all that rat race was quite… amusing. So I'm inclined to sweep this little issue between us under the rug. Especially when my counterpart is so generous to give away almost all the important information I needed for free. So, it's young Ivu who holds the auction. That was expected, but a confirmation is always useful. And given you're here without the lot we both wanted to bid for, the one who rigged the scales probably won the race. Or alternatively, the auction was postponed and Gil Ivu still has her hidden somewhere. I see you want me to be your sniffer dog and I don't mind supplying you with the information I would find on the matter. So what I want to know in exchange is if the girl still in Ivu's possession or we'll have to catch her elsewhere. Answering this is in your best interests as you obviously don't want your sniffer dog to go on a false scent right from the beginning. If you have any other important details that can juice up my search, I don't mind hearing them as well."
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Post by Sandy Bell on Feb 16, 2016 0:57:35 GMT
Outside Cuzco, Sandy Bell picked up three rocks from teh dusty ground and began to juggle expertly, even throwing one behind her back and keeping up the rhythm as she said with a broad grin, "When I was i high school, i was on the sprinting team, and there would be a hug amount of down time between matches. While others were checking out their face book or texting, I was learning from the internet how to juggle so I could entertain my self and not be bored between the races. Back then, they really DID have an app for everything." Sandy winked one big blue eye and remarked to Volodja with a laugh, "You really shouldn't be too surprised i can juggle, as you already know how agile I am!"  Meanwhile, Lady Christianna at Fort Kshaa in the Bay Area did a bit of juggling of her own. She fed the twins, then made sure that her husband Atticus was sound asleep before leaving the family bunker. She had already made sure that the overly observant-Officer Gish was not on duty in the War Room, and that her always noisy friend Chloe MacGyver was busy in a pleasurable encounter with the old Psychologist Wolfram Von Eschen. She would never had figured them to be an item, but when she had first heard they were, she merely shrugged her chalk white shoulders, noting that most wouldn't have figured her and Atticus as an item either. Lady snuck out of the family bunker, leaving the holographic nanny in charge of the twins as her father had already returned to the Iron Demon Ranch where his clan resided. She met Ralph the Cook in the garage of Fortress Kshaa next to a heavily reinforced Dodge Durango SUV. She looked at him with large pink eyes and an enigmatic smile on her pretty alabaster face, unable to speak for some seconds because of her excitement over her latest venture. Finally, Lady asked, "Hela! Ready?" "Paper works done to take the car for the day. It's all loaded with what you wanted if that what you mean, although what you want with fifty gallons of - " Began Ralph. "SHHHH!" Admonished Lady with a frown, "Secret!" "Okay, but only because I promised and I can see no harm in - " "SHHHH!" Lady's frown got bigger as she remarked, "What part of secret you not get?" Lady smiled her Mona Lisa smile, then stepped on her tippie-toes to give Ralph a peck on the cheek, that turned him to all grins, then said, "Awesome. Thanks," Before getting behind the wheel of the black Durango, leaving the confines of Fortress Kshaa and heading east at breakneck speed towards the Mutant District, thinking as she drove, "Only thing more perfect would be if it were red." |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Feb 16, 2016 10:35:26 GMT
Sandy's laughter sounded like a murmur of a crystal clear spring to Volodja's ears. He nodded in agreement and said: "I have that privilege indeed to be witnessing your agility. Joggling is perfect for a pretty and skillful woman as you. And I am saying it not only because I love you, but because you are fantastic at joggling as in many more things as well." Volodja smiled to his beloved Sandy and then he scowled for a second, saying: "But what could this poor Jester do, to earn an honest penny from our audience? He needs a deck of cards as a start. Since gambling is out of the question this time, because I feel bad of ripping off earnest working citizens of Cuzco, I have to perform some simple card tricks to entertain those people. I believe that we can afford that deck of cards with our humble savings. If you want to make money, you must invest first. How's that idea sounds?" And Volodja grinned after winking his eye just like Sandy did not very long ago, and added: "I used to be pretty swift, smooth and good with my protruding body parts, including hands. You have some experience by now, I am quite sure." ________ "I believe that Alexander Graham Bell was the first to obtain a patent in 1876, for an apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically," said Montero. "Señor Montero says that we should call to young Ivu, Mr. Taffer" explained Zack Normal.  "Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear." Paulo Coelho. And getting specific answers depends on who is asking," Montero added. "Señor Montero wants to know, should he contact with young Ivu himself or do you want to use his phone to make that call. Free of charge, of course. Ivu's answers may depend on caller's person," explained Zack Normal. "Who is going to make that call? Señor Montero or you, Mr. Taffer?" |
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Post by Taffer on Feb 16, 2016 20:46:20 GMT
"I'm pretty sure what Ivu's answer will be if he answers to me," Taffer replied, "And if I call him from your phone, it will be a waste of a good opportunity to get some truthful information on the situation or at least some view from a different angle. I think we can take both options. You make your call as you could be still interested in making the deal with Ivu then you send his answer as a message to me, encrypting it with the code I give to you. Then I'll receive the message once I get online before I make the call myself. For everyone else, I'm still not in the know who is hosting the auction as for any bystander we're still expected to be competitors, not business partners. And to maintain this impression, I'll better leave right now before our conversation becomes too long to become suspicious."
With that said, Taffer nodded to Montero, then quickly turned to the team, as if waving them off, but with a slight smile on his face.
"Okay people, it seems we're not welcome here so let's move out. If his gentleman opts to shoo us away, it's his problem, not ours!"
As they hastily left the place and got on their way back to the ship with Vo driving the rover, Taffer said in a low voice, but loud enough for his team members to hear, "I didn't expect Montero to be such a yes-man. I think he's sincere with having an interest in learning what's going on around Sandy, but he's definitely keeping something back. It seems there's even more to the Sandy's disappearance and re-appearance than we know already and we'll have to find it out."
As they boarded the ship, Taffer immediately commanded the take-off and led it to the center of the city, searching for a good place for landing near the the former National University of San Marcos.
"Going to step 2 of our plan", Taffer explained, "Getting a small upgrade which is technically a downgrade and in fact is a jailbreak which hopefully will help me to break free in case I get captured."
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