Compensations and Considerations

[Bishop Morse]

Morse had walked up the stairs, not striking them very hard with his feet as he did. He’d been raised in a home with stairs and didn’t like the heavy clumping that was given off when those who didn’t seem to realize that you didn’t have to stomp up. It wasn’t beyond him to hold his ability to climb stairs in a better way then others over them. Either way he still had to climb the stairs anyway, and there wasn’t a whole lot that could be done about how other people did it. Following just behind him had been Ray. It was fairly quick, as they were familiar enough with where they were going. Just quickly up and up and they were at the hallway before the door. No doubt Longstreet was aware that they were on their way in, but that just meant that he could have fun with it.

He worked the handle rather hard, and threw the door open. He stood outside a moment then stretched his foot out and inside. ”Co…” Morse started to say the word Colonel, until he saw what was sitting on the other side of the desk. He quickly scanned over the others in the room. He only knew one of more of them, but that didn’t make it any better” Hé gǒu shǐ!” He yelled out as he quickly drew his pistols. With his right he aimed at the one at the desk, and with the left he aimed at the woman. He didn’t have the slightest idea why they were there.

His expression went from one of severe shock, to a sort of an ironic enjoyment. ”Aint that a funny thing.” He said towards Ray with his snide grin. He had the weapons in his hands ready. The slightest move or action against him, and he would shoot both of them. He’d seen a number of weapons on the table by the way in, he imagined they were theirs. The fact that they were standing there was heavy in his mind, but he’d get an explanation for it momentarily. 

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus had turned in his seat to see the man enter and his blood ran cold. Bishop Morse. Out of all the people in the Verse. The man who'd sold him toDominion and Parkhill pushed the domino that set it all down hill.

The first words that came out of his mouth surprised even him.

"Rina. Stand down. Mouth Shut." He knew the woman would respond so preempting her with an order seemed like the best bet. After that he stared at the man, who had drawn his own weapons. Marcus actually quite glad he wasn't armed at the moment. Otherwise this would have turned into a blood bath.

"Bishop Morse.... Ray" Marcus exhaled.

His mind raced. Should he tell Longstreet. Big vote on the No. He'd look like a snitch. He had no proof. His position was very very poor. The Dominonwas gone, the cortex said it's captain went down with it. If Morse had any kind of dealings with the Alliance, they probably died with that ship.

A grin that would put the devil ill at ease cracked across Marcus's face. "How HAVE you been.... since last we last met?" There was rage in him, but quite frankly Marcus was giving less a damn by second. Still, Rina would be sore though. He was tempted to say something snarky, beyond the question, but he let it pass.

[Bishop Morse]

Dannie Shutter


Dash’s back was facing the large doors as he was stood in front of the two main leather chairs. His hands were caught in his pockets as the shouts were made from behind him. Dash read Marcus’s surprised expression, and it had told him there was some sort of opposition. He was losing his touch, his drinking habit had caught him with his back turned and his hands tied, the clicking of a gun hammer didn’t sound welcoming and he huffed loudly, the odds that Marcus would also bring some ‘old friends’ was unfortunate. Dash had, in a sense, been caught with his pants by his ankles.

His eyes met with Longstreet’s and Dash noticed his own features stiffen, he looked closely and devised an unorthodox plan if need be. Maybe he could dive past the monitors onto Longstreet and barter for the rich man’s head. That was it. The times he had spent evading confrontation and this was all he had, the prospect of bullets in the spine and a quick deal with the devil. 

He heard the also shocked man shout towards another accomplice, and he decided to weigh things up. “Hey now don’t be getting hasty.....” Dash lifted his hands out of his pockets slowly and lifted them towards the roof. His hands were now shaking, not from fear, but from the lack of drug. His alcohol levels had plummeted, but the shakes never stopped him moving much. “I aint nuthin t’do with your little party boys.”

[Ilana Logan]

Marina Kseniya Sebastian


Shock nailed Rina’s feet to the floor.  Hatred made her insides soar.  She threw her arms wide, her hand fisting, and unleashed a gutter curse:

Morse! You shestiorka Gōngjī shǔnxī motherfu--!

Marcus’s command cut her short and Rina’s wits caught up with her.  She was unarmed—literally and figuratively—and Morse had two pistols and his lapdog as backup.  Not survivable odds.  She subsided against her chair and crossed her arms again, grinding her teeth against what she wanted to say, what she wanted to do.  Her left arm throbbed as it tried to find a left hand to clench and the pain was agonizing.  It almost surpassed the pain of seeing Morse again. She’s hoped he’d gone down with Dominion and to have him breathing in front of her with no way to choke the living Gǒu shǐ out of him … 

The irony was cruel and bitter, hovering at the back of her throat and she swallowed it down.  She cut a glance at Longstreet and wondered how he’d take to having his new associates gunned down by Morse. It was cold comfort to believe Longstreet would retaliate in kind after she was dead… but any comfort was welcome. And what was Morse about to say as he walked in?

Wait.  There’s more to the story here.  Watch.  Learn..

Rina sucked down a deep breath and kept her eyes on the scene.  She didn’t bother modulating her expression.  She’d already made her feelings quite clear.

NOTE: 
shestiorka = Russian slang for ‘prison bitch’
Gōngjī shǔnxī   = cock sucking
Gǒu shǐ = dog shit

[Ray Hudson]

At first, Ray hadn't recognized the two former passengers but once Morse drew his pistols he remembered. Their faces, their words, their actions. Not their names, unfortunately, Ray never took the time to remember most of the passengers names.

"Shit!" He exclaimed, drawing his new Python 9-V. He purchased the revolver two days prior once he heard that Theseus had released a new model of the Python a few months back. 8 .357 magnum rounds, lightweight and widely considered to be one of the most accurate handguns in the 'verse. Ray had tested it at a shooting range the day he purchased it and shot one of his best patterns in years. He aimed the revolver at the former male passenger.

Ray had hoped that the two former passengers had blown up with the Dominion but here they were, right in front of him. He wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to kill them, blow them away and end it all but he just stood in the door way aiming his gun at the short man.

The two former passengers remained seated and a man that Ray didn't recognize put his hands in the air. The former passenger's guns were far away and they just remained still. Realizing this, Ray relaxed but kept his aim steady. If any of them tried anything he would kill them without hesitation or remorse.

"Oh, It's hilarious." Ray said in response to Morse's statement. Morse and Ray had 26 shots between them, which was more than enough for the four people in front of them.

[Bishop Morse]

Morse was only taking in portions of everything that was going on. He couldn’t remember their names when he’d first seen them. Hearing the short one yell it out was helpful enough in the first area. He had no idea what her last name was, and the rest of them he’d completely blanked on. It was ironic since he’d seen both of their bounty warrants, but he just had no idea what their names were.

”Finish it.” Morse said pulling the hammer back on the LeMat Revolver in his left hand. He hadn’t really understood most of it, as it was in a gibberish mutt tongue that he, and probably almost no one else, understood. But he did catch the last bit right before she was told to be silent, and that’s what he caught. He was more then willing to work the second part of this action and squeeze the trigger. He heard the last bit of what was being said by the short one. He didn’t remember his name, but he did recall very well the circumstances by which he got on his ship, and the reasons why he’d sent him off with the rest of them. Seeing the security feed from the cargo bay, and hearing the plan of stealing his weapons, they were lucky he was willing to hand them off to the Alliance, rather then leave him in an airlock while he sucked all the elements to keep a person alive out. 

”Hell of a lot better then your gonna be if you so much as move.” Morse countered. He loved verbal banter, especially when they were fights. But there was no ground he could lose here. He worked the hammer back on the pistol in his right hand. He noticed the larger man in the back, he didn’t know him, but he was probably a wayward independent gun looking for work. Of course he wasn’t exempt from this proposition either.

[Bishop Morse]

Longstreet


Longstreet hadn’t thought that this would happen. He knew well enough that these people were wanted with something in relation to the loss of theDominion, but he hadn’t quite jumped to the idea that Morse had been the one to hand them off. It didn’t surprise him, and even as that had become evident to him, he could see the reasoning behind the reactions of both sides. However most of this didn’t matter to him.
   
”Seems you’ve all met before.” Longstreet said commenting on what was happening before him. ”Morse, I need you to put your weapons down.”Longstreet declared. His tone and expression weren’t any different then what they had been before. He didn’t particularly have anything to be afraid of here, but he knew he didn’t want to see bullets flying through his office. 

This wasn’t an opportunity for those seated before him to just start bickering how they were protected by him however. He wasn’t particularly in the mood to have either side show how they had an upper hand in an argument that was inevitably to ensue. But he didn’t take sides, and didn’t like it when people tried to imply that his statements did so. Given that, he had to wait, and he just remained leaning forward with his arms on his desk. 

[Bishop Morse]

Morse was confused by what Longstreet was suggesting. ”Beggin’ your pardon Colonel, but what the fuck!?” Morse demanded. It was very open question, and could be taken in several different ways. He shifted from his position over towards the door and moved to the side of the desk. He kept both of his weapons still up and ready as stood next to it. His pistols were aimed now at the general collection of this in front, but he also was very aware of the man to his right by the gun rack. It wouldn’t take but a second if he did something stupid to put three holes in his body in places where no one would want them.

”This the same mǔgǒu de érzi that blew up the Dominion.” He announced with a loud tone, with emphasis on the name of the ship. ”Not to mention they took Parkhill with it, along with the other 20 thou college kids that were sittin’ on board!” He finished. He kept his weapons still ready. 

In actuality he hadn’t really ever liked Parkhill. The bastard kept him like a chained dog for years. Sure he got the money out of it, but it wasn’t exactly like had a whole lot of options in it. That time however was over, and the last month been a bit of a confusing one that he’d had to figure out in a lot of ways. But still, that wasn’t going to bring those 20,000 peace time soldiers back to life, and it still was dangerous having people like that around.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus let Morse and Longstreet exchange a bit, but when Morse brought the Dominion, and spoke as if he and Rina had something to do with it blowing up, that was when Marcus started to have a problem.

"Okay. Hold a moment there." Marcus began, holding a hand. "Morse, when you and Ray came to say your 'good byes' to us. Rina and I were naked and strapped to metal chairs. You can't be stupid enough to think we got from that to blowing up damn alliance patrol boat. One stocked with well armed and armored Federals." 

He looked Morse straight in the eye. "Some woman, maybe or maybe not 'Black Cat Shalyx', came in and rose hell. Explosions started, we were to be shipped on a pod and sent down to the planet. Shooting ensued and by the end of it too many folk were dead who might have lived. I don't know what blew up the Dominion, but it wasn't us." He gestured toward himself and Rina. "So I'd appreciated if you cut back on the slanderous assumptions and accusations."

He leaned back in the chair. Morse couldn't honestly think a guy like him could have pulled off an attack like that. He couldn't have thought him that capable. Still, if he hadn't he wouldn't have thought him worth it to hand over to the Feds...

But he thought Mercy was worth handing over. And there was something. But if he threw that onto the fire, this would turn into bloodshed, and him dropping Parkhill's name at basis meant Longstreet might have something to do with the arrangement. It wasn't personal, though.

And if Shalyx hadn't started bombing the place, so many people might still be alive.

[Ray Hudson]

Ray hadn't lowered his weapon when Longstreet had requested them to. He moved into the office but remained near the door as Morse made his way to Longstreet's desk. Morse informed Longstreet that they were the ones who killed all of those people but then the short one began defending himself. Ray had labeled every word of it as lies. Once the short one claimed that he didn't know what blew up the Dominion and that it wasn't him, Ray spoke up. "Shut the fuck up." The short man continued to say that he'd appreciate it if they stopped slandering and accusing them. "Shut the fuck up!"Ray repeated, only this time he spoke louder.

"You sure shot all that out real quick, you been practicing that in the mirror?" Ray asked in regards to the old passengers lengthy explanation on how he had nothing to do with the Dominion's destruction. "You really wan't us to believe that sorry shit? You wan't us to believe that outta' thethousands who died, outta' the handful of survivors, you two browncoat drifters, browncoat fugitives had nothing to do with it!? You wan't us to believe that the only fugitives on the ship just happen to be some of the only survivors? I'll bet it's all just one big coinkidink huh."

Ray wasn't sure what to believe. He knew that he didn't want to believe the former passengers but with such a peculiar event like the destruction of the Dominion, it was difficult to determine what truly happened. Since he knew that he wasn't going to believe their story, Ray decided to keep going.

"Let me guess what happened next, let me guess what happened next." Ray requested, speaking quickly and holding his free hand up to delay them from defending themselves further. "The interrogator was actually a genie and he granted you three wishes. Wish number one, blow up the Dominion. Wish number two, getaway out. I can't figure out what wish number three was though. You'll have to tell me that one because your apparently the Sherpa of Bullshit Mountain."

[Bishop Morse]

Longstreet


Longstreet turned his head when Morse came up beside him. This wasn’t a surprise he was reacting to this. Morse had been relatively the same person, even since the war. Cautious when profit was at risk. That was probably why he slapped the banner on the side of his ship the way he did. But that was a conclusion that Longstreet had come to a long time ago. Here however was a different time, and different circumstances. He turned back to listen to what Marcus had to say. He knew relatively little outside of various news reports. The event had taken place at the shining center of the verse’, and he was situated on the closest thing to civilization that you would find farthest from it. So he when a first hand account came up about it, he would hear it out. Even as Ray began to discredit it, the fact that they hadn’t been captured by now was strong evidence to the contrary. Even still, that information had gone fairly well with what Morse had told him about it from before.

He shifted back over to look at Morse. ”It doesn’t seem as though they had anything to do with it.” Longstreet said. That was his honest opinion. If they had something to do it, then the warrants on the page would be at a higher price then they were, and given the way they were traveling, they likely would have been arrested a month before then. 

Something else slipped into Longstreet’s mind as well when he considered much of Morse’s protest. He wasn’t surprised to find that he didn’t appear to be taking a lot of this. But he still decided that he would lend to it. He still didn’t want to see Morse or Ray start firing into the people in front of him. So he decided to add in. ”And if they did have a hand in the death of Colonel Parkhill, shouldn’t you be thanking them for removing the shackles from your ankle?” Longstreet’s expression was still the same as it had been since anyone had walked into his office. Either way, this would be settled.

[Bishop Morse]

”Slanderous assumptions?” Morse mocked. He immediately burst into laughter. ”Bahahahahahaha, do you not see where you are right now?”Morse pointed out holding his arms to sides to show that he should be aware of his surroundings. There wasn’t really a single person on the premises that would really take such a statement seriously. Morse didn’t have a lot of illusions about what he did for a living, and who he was, but the guy who was talking obviously seemed to have serious confusions about the same questions when placed to himself. He brought the weapons to his waist, but kept the aimed forward even still. ”They couldn’t a had a third wish.” Morse said after Ray’s elaboration. ”Cus they’d a been killed on the first one, somethin’ I’m figurin’ they were dumb enough to make.” Morse gave credit to very few, and especially those he didn’t know. ”Only way I figure they coulda gotten out with that is if they’d made a deal with the Black Cat herself.” In his mind that term nearly was carrying over with the devil, but this was good enough.

When Longstreet began speaking again about they didn’t have anything to do with it, his mind jumped to what had happened on that early morning at the Dominion. They had been tied down with nothing, and within an hour there were reports all over the cortex of a major disaster on the ship. The final report had given the same name, but he didn’t think that any of these people were quite aware of who they were talking about. Morse had been absolutely on top of what had happened with the ship itself, and what had happened. And he had absolutely no doubt in his mind that she had been the one responsible. Of course, at the time, he’d absolutely believed she was dead. Once it happened however he had no doubt that his belief was false. Either way, it was very strange to find that the criminals had survived, and the innocents had gone with the ship. As for the other one, Rina, who he noticed was ‘missing’ a certain extremity, she’d had a record prior to them landing on the Dominion.

As Longstreet brought up the other point about him thanking them, he laughed a bit more. ”Well if they say they didn’t have nothin’ to do with it, I’d believe em.” Morse was willing to switch his stance for no other reason then he refused to give them gratitude for anything. Of course the last month, no one on his ship had been likely as calm, yet absolutely on edge over what was happening as he had. Things were immensely different now, but he kept his weapons up, and the snide smile constant just the same.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus's facade was starting to falter. Ray had clearly been jarred by the situation. That was an understatment. He looked like he was ready to blast Marcus's skull open right there. Given the posture of his gun, there wouldn't be any sense in figuring he'd go for his chest, again. He was wearing his tac-mesh vest, but he didn't think it would stop a firearm quite as robust as the side arm Ray had leveled at him.

Again, Ray was likely to empty the gun's chambers at his head anyway. Oh for a magic energy shield. 

Ray's tirade about 'wishing' did give him a smirk, he was tempted to comment about the order of the wishes, but Morse beat him to it. He was SORELY tempted to make some remark about Ray not listening to the Colonel, but a voice in his head cut the comment short.

They are higher on the food chain here than you are. The only reason you are not chum is because your in the shadow of an even BIGGER fish. Ray doesn't take orders from you. He'll probably KILL you if you try...

Marcus kept his breathing calm and level as Ray and Morse vented themselves. When Morse resolved their innocence, seemingly by merit of not being in their debt, Marcus adopted a polite smile.

"SO.... if we aren't going to kill each other over this encounter.... " He said toward Morse, before looking to Longstreet. He didn't want to be the one to drop the NEXT bombshell that was going to make Morse's day just ever so interesting.

He imagined Ray might shoot him on the spot if he told him they would be working together.

[Ilana Logan]

Marina Kseniya Sebastian


Rina kept her eyes on Morse and his guns, and when the exchange got nasty and heated, she was certain she and Marcus were dead.  Longstreet, however, remained cucumber cool and her estimation of him rose accordingly.  She shifted her attention to the trio of Longstreet, Marcus and Morse.  

Ray she didn’t quite ignore, but she’d long ago pegged him as a follower, not an leader.  She vividly remembered the sound of his boot going into Marcus’s gut when they were tied up helpless on Dominion.  She also reckoned that had Ray somehow ventured into the cell alone, without Morse, he would not have dared pull that vicious stunt under the eye of the interrogator.  He was brave only when Morse was there to cover his ass and he’d follow Morse’s lead, in keeping with the lapdog toady that he really was.  

No, Longstreet and Morse and Marcus were the people to watch and listen to right now.  She leaned against her chair with a foot braced to push off for the cover of Longstreet’s desk if the bullets did indeed start flying and she watched with no small admiration as Longstreet defused the situation.  She eyed his hands on his desk the entire while, looking to see if he tapped the smart surface to call for reinforcements.  It occurred to her that should a bloodbath ensue, Morse and Ray would not get very far—there was only one way out of this room and the guards would be nearby.  The sound of gunfire would bring them running and for a second Rina entertained herself with the vision of Morse and Ray dying in a hail of retaliatory bullets.  

But Longstreet maintained his unflappable calm, spoke his well-chosen words, and the tension in the room eased under his guidance.  And his hands, she noticed, had remained folded on the desk. If he’d tapped anything on the surface, she had not been able to catch it and her regard for the man rose a little further.  Even so, she remained ready to dodge or come to Marcus’s defense.  Dash and Cassia were behind her and would have to fend for themselves.  Her body might even give them some cover, she mused morbidly, as it took in bullets that might otherwise be meant for them.  If so, she hoped it wouldn’t be for nothing.

[Bishop Morse]

Longstreet

Longstreet turned in his chair again to face all of the people in front of him. He was completely aware that everyone there was very on edge, and that no one in the room seemed to like the situation very much. From what he presumed they had been on his ship, and in the last group that were turned in to the Dominion. He didn’t have any idea of what had happened on the way over, and what things had been like as it had happened. He had been told after it happened Morse’s side, and he had Marcus side. They both seemed to fit together well enough, though the details between were left to the imagination. He did understand Morse’s situation, and he knew it better then that of those who sat before him. However, none of this really mattered much at the present.

He looked over the group in front of him once more. ”I’m not very much concerned about what happened the last time you all crossed paths.”Longstreet said. ”And I have no interest in watching it’s circumstances continue here.” He turned to Morse. ”What happened then, and what’s happening now, don’t weigh in here.” He then looked back at Marcus, to emphasize that it applied to both parties. To him, it didn’t matter for the most part. Because things that happened on the Central Planets, that he had nothing to do with, and had nothing to do with him, he didn’t want to have making a mess of things in his place in the black.

He then shifted back to look at Morse. Longstreet had remained sitting for this entire encounter, and had no real need nor desire to stand up and move about. ”You asked for more man power. Here it is.” He said then he motioned off towards Marcus. He then looked at Marcus. ”Your looking for employment, this is it.” He finished. This was the way the worlds tended to work. From the Central Planets to the Rim there were bad situations, but what the job was, and getting it done, mattered more then who you had to do it with in Longstreet’s point of view.

[Bishop Morse]

Morse’s weapons were still pointed forward when he heard the defiant tone of what was evidently the leader of this group. Funny how things work outhe thought to himself, recalling how he’d wound up on his ship in the first place. He still couldn’t remember his name, but what he did remember is that he tried hop a free passage on his ship. And he’d been running away from a group of armed men. He’d had him at gunpoint then, he had him at gunpoint now. And like then the choice was in his mind to let him by, or to hand him off to a higher power. He could have likely gotten a decent bit of money, or at least saved himself the trouble. The miniscule amount that he’d taken for his passage was almost nothing in his mind. But here it was again, and the stow away was now leading his own wayward band. It was irony and coincidence all wrapping together in a big hilarious show. So the decision was still in his head. Even as Longstreet elaborated on the position. 

As it happened he drifted over to look at them all again. They had your standard ‘brown in a box’ soldier, who looked scraggly and not all together, some little girl, and then there was Rina. His mind wondered how exactly it was that she’d come to lose her arm. It couldn’t have been on the Dominion. He’d seen, and fought in space combat, and he knew full well what the damages were in exploding ships. And if you were close enough to lose your arm, there was almost no doubt that you wouldn’t survive it. Not to mention there were be burn scars all over. So it couldn’t have been from that. In a way he felt sorry for it, just because he knew how much losing a limb had hit Hoffman. Of course Hoffman had lost both his legs, and in the line of duty. This wasn’t quite the same, but the psychological effect must have been just as heavy.

When Longstreet got the portion about his request for man power, he’d finally reached to same page that Morse dreaded. Immediately he almost made a point that he’d requested ‘man power’, and evidently Longstreet hadn’t come through for him, given that there were only two men. He looked over at Ray, who was ready to kill any single one of them that tried to do something, same as he had been. But Morse knew how to assess a situation well enough. He opened up his coat in Rays direction, held up his left pistol and put it away, to signify that they should put them down. But Morse could still take an upper hand here, and he would. ”I’m taken my guns back.” He declared with the big grin still on his face looking at Longstreet. Without waiting for a response he walked in between the space of the front of the desk, right in front of the chair of the ‘stow away’ and over to the gun cabinet.

[Bishop Morse]

Longstreet

Longstreet recognized that Morse was conceding. He’d known him for a long time, and he knew him well enough to see it. Like always he didn’t make it readily evident, and he likely wasn’t stepping down much. But like him, he knew how to tell the difference between a course of action that lead to good things, and one that would cause a string of bad events. He watched as Morse put away his left pistol, however he noticed his didn’t put away the one in his right. However he’d had seen him many times where he kept one of the weapons out, so that didn’t bother him at all. The point was it was down, and it wasn’t pointing at anyone else. That was the show that he was going a long with what he was saying, instead of going on his own. Either way wouldn’t have mattered much, it all just would say how long this was going to last.

When Morse stated he was taking his guns back, Longstreet was already prepared. He’d expected it to happen a long time before that, but it didn’t happen. Now however he wasn’t surprised that Morse was planning on taking them in, just to get a slight subject change in. ”Take them.” He said as he watched Morse moving over towards the gun cabinet. ”I haven’t cleaned them.” Longstreet mentioned. Of course he didn’t have to. The cabinet provided an air ceil, and every weapon inside of it was in just as good of shape, and firing ready as it was when it first entered. And he’d known Morse to take care of the ones he’d handed him off years ago were very well maintained. He wasn’t going to stop him from taking them, they were never his to begin with. He was just holding on to them because they looked nice and weren’t incredibly common. 

Longstreet remembered something as Morse when by. He recalled that Morse had come to Beaumonde for a reason, several days earlier, that had nothing to do with him or business. He wanted to put it in a somewhat delicate way, which wasn’t very difficult for him. He wasn’t one for finding very harsh words, and he had spent enough time entertaining various people of the upper class to know what was appropriate and what wasn’t. But he’d been like that all his life. ”I heard about your wife.” Longstreet started. ”I’m sorry for your loss.” He said, choosing that it was the best stance to take on it. ”How’s Jackie taking it?” He asked. He didn’t hear most of the people who were ever under his command or employ talk about their family much. Probably because most recognized that he didn’t have any, and wanted to avoid it. But he still wanted to know, for no other reason the curiosity.

[Bishop Morse]

Dannie Shutter


Dash kept his hands up but lowered his arms slightly to ease the tension from his elbows. His eyes caught the two men pass as they made their way to Longstreet, both men were brandishing expensive looking weapons, this was emphasised by the short tempered man who started to yell at Marcus. Dash was concerned, with his well being, and also for the safety of the scruffy haired man he now called Captain. He was a man of his word when it came to dealings of this nature, and he was smart enough to see right from wrong, so the second Longstreet and Marcus shook hands it was the signal to follow this man through thick and thin.

Dash had only one option in the matter, he would find it hard to believe these strange men over the will of his new captain. He didn’t want to lose his life on the get go, but these men didn’t seem to be interested in buying another gun. Working with them seemed to be another route.

He looked at Longstreet and realised he was keeping his cool, it was very hard to read this man, he had a way of concealing things, a lot of things, but the thought he had called in these men to take Marcus and Rina out did seem too elaborate.

[Ray Hudson]

Longstreet and Morse both claimed that they believed that they had nothing to do with blowing up the Dominion. Their opinions didn't affect Ray's however, he still thought they were guilty as sin. He noticed that the former female passenger hadn't said anything since the short man told her to stand down. Ray assumed that she had more to say, assumed that she wanted to tear into them and share her negative opinions of them. A piece of Ray wanted her to speak up and share her thoughts but she kept quiet. He saw that she was missing an arm and it made him wonder if she was like that when she was aboard the Logan.

Was she always like that? Ray thought, looking at the woman with an arched eyebrow. He recognized that he would probably remember something like that and assumed that this was new. He looked at the rest of the people in the room to make sure that none of them were trying anything. The man who put his hands up remained still and everyone else stayed seated.

Longstreet mentioned that these people were the extra man power that Morse had requested and it didn't improve Ray's mood much. The thought of these people helping them with a job did not sit well with him. Morse opened up his coat and holstered one of his pistols and Ray knew what this signified. Ray looked over the two former passengers, still keeping his gun pointed at the man. He didn't like it but he knew what he should do. 

Jesus. Ray thought, agitated. He lowered his Python 9-V, took his finger off the trigger and rested it just below the cylinder. He looked at the former female passenger. We ask for some extra hands and he gives us an odd number. He thought to himself, noting the womans odd number of hands. Ray went over to the wall next to the door and leaned on it, putting his left foot up behind him on the wall. He put his left hand in his pocket, leaving his thumb hanging out and kept his gun in his right hand.

Morse went over to the gun cabinet to retrieve his old weapons and Longstreet did not protest. Ray had calmed down slightly but remained on edge. Longstreet mentioned Heather and referred to her as Morse's wife. This made Ray smile and when Longstreet said that he was sorry for Morse's loss his smile grew larger.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus's gut was unwinding as it seemed Morse was more focused on completing a job that paid than his own personal vendetta. Ray, for his part, appeared to following Morse's lead despite his own apparent rage at the lot of them. Wasn't his fault he survived... Things just fell apart that way.

As Morse went over to the gun cabinet a few old gears clicked in Marcus's head. Morse likely had his old guns with him... But he had the armaments Dare gave him, and the mentioning would likely lead to more arguments. Best let the little wounds scab over.

"Well I've not enough against to outweigh my reasons for it. Though I imagine me and mine will be spending most of the trip to and from in our quarters..." He looked at Morse for this. Best get the arrangements out now, with Longstreet there. When Longstreet brought up a wife, Marcus's foot nearly found itself in his mouth again. But he bit his lip and let the point slide.

His face showed his surprise though. Even then, the man was certainly old enough to have a wife, and for her to pass on. Shame that. Still what kind of a woman was it that married Morse? He'd probably never know.