A Break at a Bar

[Ilana Logan]

Cassia Ayelet


Cassia was surprised he didn't want to go into details. Granted, her response had been rather idealistic, but then the man before he was clearly a browncoat- and she could think of no more idealistic cause, at least from her vague understanding of the Independents. It was good enough, however. She had the information she needed, she'd worked on less before.

"Any idea when he'll arrive?" she asked. Patience wasn't one of her weaknesses usually, but when it came to stake-outs or surveillance, well, she tended to get antsy.

[Marcus O'Terra]

"Today, probably." Marcus answered. That was what Darrel had said. But 'Day' could have been AST more likely than local time. There was some space for that. Probably. 

Still, Cassia's quiet brought an urge to turn about all the questioning he'd answered. "Well then Miss Cassia." Marcus looked at the woman with the youthful face. "Your turn. What brings you to this fine pebble on rim of the frontier?" He started with that, because it was likely to be the source of more questioning. 

The whiskey on his empty stomach wouldn't do him well, his hand stuffed itself into his duffel bag and he pulled out a protein ration bar. He tore at the foil and bite large chunk off chewing as he waited for an answer.

[Ilana Logan]

Cassia Ayelet


Oh, there was a question. Cassia decided to start with the simplistic. "Had an argument with a friend I was staying with." This wasn't exactly the beginning of the tale, but it was the beginning of the simple, believable part. The part she was willing to share with a semi-stranger. "Thought I'd spend some time off-planet, but I hated it- ended up way out at the rim." A wry smile- this little town might as well be at the edge of the galaxy. "So I came back here." A shrug. "She's halfway 'cross the planet. Figured that was enough distance. It's not an irresolvable argument... Just needed some space." A slight bit of vulnerability tugged at her, softening her expression. "She's like a mother to me, but that means when we don't see eye to eye, I tend to try to put some distance 'tween us before she can smother me." 

It wasn't as if Xue-yin didn't know what I've done, anyway. Maybe I've never killed anyone, but I've been in plenty of trouble. Yet every time something goes bad, it's always, stay in your room Cass, stay here, let me take care of things, just wait for it to go by.... There's such a thing as too much caring, 'specially when it leads her to try to control my choices

After a pause, she decided maybe a tiny bit more explanation was called for. "Int from around here," she said softly. "'m from Perseph'ne." As usual when she was a little distressed or thinking about the distant past, her voice faded back into the accent of her youth. Generally she tried to prevent that, since she was very recognizably not from here... She'd grown up in a protected area, in a community of like-minded fellows, and all had spoken with an accent heard few other places in the 'verse. Undoubtedly because many of them still, in addition to speaking the traditional English and Chinese, spoke the Old language, brought over year and years and years ago from Earth-That-Was, from their little, isolated community there...

"Came to Ezra near 5 years back," she pronounced Ezra distinctly, as if there was an extra vowel between the z and the r. 

Then, as suddenly as she'd drifted, she got back on track, abandoning her tangent. "I can't say I care for being stuck in the middle of nowhere."Perhaps it was rude to criticize, but she didn't care at the moment. "I've been hoping to find a way off the planet- maybe spend some time in the black- or at least to find some excitement."

[Marcus O'Terra]

Cassia's story seemed to start like most of them. A row with someone leads to one thing then another, then on to a chain of events. Marcus had more then one row with his crew, back during the war. But that wasn't the sort of thing you could walk away from. Not during a war, and not on a ship. 


Still she was from the world, or at least had been for a while. Still Ezra only had a smattering of cities that could rate among the core's metropolises. Most of it was Border cities spreading out from spaceports.

How far on the Rim did she go?

Her accent caught him for a loop. It wasn't familiar, at all. He couldn't place it and wondered where it was from. Persephone born. Big place, what could have gotten her to leave?

Her desire to leave the planet in the dust was understandable. But her mention of this mothering friend before made him think she might just be acting rashly. No sense going off in the black with a traitor if she could help it.

After the job he'd make himself plain and she could choose.

"Looking for excitement is like looking for trouble. Except in that you feel worse when you get it in the teeth." He was smiling though.

[Ilana Logan]

Cassia Ayelet


She laughed, not expecting that from him. "Trouble always finds me," she admitted, "And when it doesn't, I go looking. But I prefer when it's trouble on my own terms." She paused, shrug. "I tend to be the center of what I like to call 'directed conflict. When I see something that needs to be changed, I put myself in the middle of it- stand up for someone in need, argue against a local policy, anything that's not quite right. I'd call it directed change, but that tends to imply a gradual process. And a legal one." A mischevious grin spread across her face."Sometimes the fastest way to solve a problem is to fight for it, physically or not. Violence isn't always the right answer, but sometimes it's the simplest."

Xue-yin wasn't blunt enough with her to say it, but one of the fosters had once. Cass had come home to see him quarreling with one of the younger ones, a young man nearly his height but scrawnier, hardly a fair match. He'd pinned the boy against a wall, twisting his arm painfully as he screamed at him over a pittance. Cass couldn't even remember now what had started the fight, but she remembered the feeling as she'd come home just in time to catch them fighting- and the pure anger that ran through her at the sight. and a bit of fear... but I don't want to think about that. For a minute, it had been like.... 

Stop thinking about it, she'd ordered herself. Not that it had helped. Before she knew what was going on, she'd separated them- more violently than she'd intended. The older boy had struck his head against a chair on the way down, leaving a painful swelling. She'd considered explaining- that it was an accident, that she was just trying to separate them, that... she didn't even know what else to say. But he'd simply looked her dead in the eyes, and before she could even consider apologizing, he confronted her, asking her if she'd learned that from her own family. Accusing, more than asking. Telling her that even if she didn't say a word, he was onto her. He knew where her violent tendencies had been learned. 

Still, sometimes it felt justified... Violence was a way to protect those in her immediate vicinity, even if she couldn't make a broader difference. Politics, laws, even widespread mistreatment of various groups, those were outside her reach. But someone in her range of sight, they could be protected, physically protected, against most dangers.

"Besides, what's youth for, if not to spend trying to improve things?" 

Unbidden, Xue's words echoed in her mind again. Risking your life and health is not a natural part of being young. It's a symptom of trauma.

[Marcus O'Terra]

It was Marcus's turn to laugh at the girl's bravado. Maybe it was just spunk or spirit or something like machismo. Whatever the word for it. He thought there was something of a browncoat in her.  'Trouble on my own Terms'. I like the sound of that.  The idea of changing things she saw felt a bit like the interfering ideas the Alliance pushed onto everyone in their reach. But she put herself on the line. Instead of sending people to go and kill for her.

Was that something? It must be, Marcus didn't feel repulsed or even angry.

"Directed change." Marcus repeated aloud. "Well that's not as silly as 'Preemptive Personal Security'." He tapped his chest. "Funny thing for a merc to call himself."

It was true for years he had been a bit roundabout when it came to mercenary activities. After a while it didn't matter, but he just kept it up, as a matter of habit. It had kept him in business. That or people didn't care. Hard to say these days.

Marcus nodded at her words oh change and held up his glass in toast. "To youth, scrapped knees, and bloody knuckles." Toast or not, he drink a large bit of what was left and swallowed it hard. Setting the glass down and taking another bit from the protein bar.

[Bishop Morse]

Burts

The building started to rumble a little bit. It was a minor tremor, and it shook much of the premises. Some of the fixtures on the ceiling began to rock. The open windows showed a fair amount of dust being kicked up. But what was more was the sound of several very powerful engines. The bar tender looked like he was very confused, which was no real surprise. This was not a port of any kind, and a ship landing there was very rare.

[Ilana Logan]

Cassia Ayelet


The noise was unmistakable- engines. Not wanting to be seen as excitable, Cass raised her glass of water to Marcus' toast, downed it, then glanced at him wordlessly. For all she knew, someone else could be landing, but in such a small town it seemed unlikely. So, now she waited to see what he'd do. If they were to sit tight and await the slaver, she didn't want to ruin things by jumping around excitedly.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus had already paid for the drink when the engines roared overhead. He looked to Cassia with a stern look on his face. There was still a chance for him to walk away, to let Burt's go, and let Darrel deal with his indignation. But something in his gut said the bastard had to die now.

He nodded to Cassai and stood up heading for the door. Here we go. Operation: START.


<Thread Exeunt into A gambit of guile. >