A Tangled Takeoff

[Bishop Morse]

Paquin
Local Time, 5:37 P.M

The Logan entered into the orbital reach of Paquin at a rather speedy pace. A the feel of an independent gravity source wasn't felt inside of the ship yet, but it would be soon. On the bridge, Andy was guiding the ship towards a sector listed by Bishop last night. He hadn't placed a docking reserve yet so he was going to have to deal with port authority. He wasn't especially gifted when it came to talking to the dock officials so he was somewhat dreading their transmission. Before him the large terrestrial body was getting bigger by the minute. A sliding sound came from behind him, and in stepped Bishop onto the bridge. He walked down to the right console. Being left handed Andy chose the left console as it was easier for him to work on. Bishop began fiddling with some of the console. "Andy, path me through to the dock authorities." Bishop said. He remained standing as Andy went to work on getting Bishop what he requested. A few minutes later a Port Officer came onto the screen. Andy patched it over to Bishop's console and the dock worker spoke.

"This is Port Management on Paquin, register 39-Y." The man on the screen said. He wore an alliance uniform and had short black hair.

"Ya, this is Captain Morse the Logan. Requestin' dockin' orders for your sector. I'm transferring special I.S.C.S instructions to you now." Bishop said in quick reply to the officer.

He activated a transfer file, which he had brought up on their way towards the planet in preparation for docking. The file was sent over to the docking officer. It stated that he was a member of the ISCS, though he actually wasn't, and that any data of his vessel landing was to not be recorded, and any local data was to be deleted after the ship left. It also exempted the vessel from any searches for contraband. This was one little gift that Bishop was forever in Richard Parkhill's debt for.

"I understand." The officer said. aknowledging that he had had received the instructions. Bishop rarely got anything more then that. "Would you prefer to drop near the outskirts or innertown." He asked.

Bishop wondered if the man was serious. He nearly started laughing at the proposal of landing on the outskirts. The Outskirts was full of a large assortment of trashy traveler types. A large assortment of tents, and dancing bears. Only an idiot was entertained by it, and only trash felt at home. But Bishop had plans, a place to go, and where it was that he was headed was in the innertown. Coincidentally Shalyx too had stated point of heading to a location there. So without laughing or cracking a smile Bishop responded. "Innertown's good."

The officer took his eyes from the screen and looked down and his hands moved through a list of something. "Docking request accepted, transmitting order now. 82-B. Enjoy your stay here Captain." The Officer said in an oddly monotone sort of way. It was as though he was wishing something for Bishop that he couldn't achieve himself. Either way it didn't matter to Bishop.

"I bet I will." Bishop replied somewhat snidely and cut the transmission. He then turned to Andy. "Follow the orders, don't go any faster then's the posted max, and don't crash us." Bishop said.

As always he didn't bother waiting for a response. He walked off of the bridge and into the lower deck hallway. When he was outside and the door slid closed, he grabbed an intercom handpiece off the wall beside the door.

"THIS IS CAPTAIN BISHOP, WERE GONNA BE HITTIN THE GROUND IN ON PAQUIN IN ABOUT 5 or 10 MINUTES. LOCAL TIMES SHOWIN IT'S DUSK. GETTIN OFF GETTIN ON, DECIDE FOR YOURSELVES." Bishop said. He walked away and to his quarters to grab a few things.

Before he knew it the ship was rocking and shaking on it's final descent. As it came closer and closer to the ground the rocking seemed to even out. Then it became very smooth, and there was a sinking feeling. And with a sudden last shake a slight boom all through out the ship, the Logan was now on the ground. Bishop then exited his quarters and walked out and headed towards the Cargo Bay, where no doubt everyone would be heading.

[Ilana Logan]

Shalyx Catlett

Bishop’s announcement woke Shalyx from her light slumber on the floor sitting in front of the couch. Aiya was sprawled out on the couch behind her, her fingers tangled in Shalyx’s hair. It had been years since Aiya had had a nightmare, at least one bad enough she woke up in tears. Though, given everything that had happened over the last couple of days Shalyx hadn't been all that surprised to find Aiya standing by the couch, where Shalyx had laid down for the night after she had gotten in touch with her contact on Paquin, clutching a blanket with tears running down her cheeks. Shalyx had let Aiya lay in her lap while she hummed to her until she fell asleep before relinquishing the couch to Aiya and moving down to the floor where she sat with her back against the couch in front of Aiya's head.


Shalyx gently untangled Aiya's fingers from her hair before standing up and stretching. She leaned over Aiya and brush some hair off her face whispered in her ear. “Wake up, mei mei, we're here.”


Aiya just grumbled and rolled over. So Shalyx gave her a little nudge. “Come on kid, we've landed on Paquin.”


“Really?” Aiya asked her voice groggy yet excited as she sat up on the couch rubbing the sleep from her eyes.


“Yep. Now why don't ya run an wake everyone. Tell 'em they gotten minutes ta git their arses in ta the cargo bay 'fore I leave 'em.”


“Okay.” Aiya beamed as she jumped up off the couch and grabbing her sunglasses off of the floor, where they had fallen from the armrest the night before, tossed them on before running down the hall to the rooms that Shalyx's crew were supposed to be occupying. It didn't take Aiya long to knock on the doors and deliver Shalyx's message. Once Aiya was done waking everyone she and Shalyx headed for the cargo bay.

[Ilana Logan]

Hope Seville

Hope lay in bed as she heard the announcement. Between the nightmares and her injuries; she had spent last night constantly going from unconsciousness to being awake and right now she felt like moving was too much of an effort. Have to do it eventually.

Slowly she sat up; her head felt awful, she had drank the water and didn’t have any of the other typical hangover signs. No dry mouth, no upset stomach; just the headache. Considering how much she had drunk, combined with her low tolerance, she had expected to feel much worse. Still her head was unforgiving. Probably didn’t matter much as she wasn’t really going anywhere.

Paquin. The name conjured up images of past times; of fun. Despite what she had said it was one of her favorite places to go. She wished now things hadn’t gotten so screwed up or that she was a member of one of the crews as then she would have enough people to watch her back that it wouldn’t matter if she got off the ship.

Not that walking around very much would be an option anyway. Still, the idea of just stepping outside for a bit, perhaps just soaking in the place, even just a little, seemed awfully appealing. Even getting off of the ship for a bit seemed like it would be a nice change of pace. Truth was she was starting to feel a little fenced in and that for her was odd. Normally, she would be content to be on a ship for months but this was different. This wasn’t a ship that she was a part of and well and it was Paquin.

She bent her injured knee slightly and realized it has stiffened in the night. She really needed to get up and move around a bit. Placing her feet on the floor and then taking a small cautious step she heard a pop, crack. A pain shot up though her leg and straight to her hip. Falling against the wall to steady herself she let out a “Wong Ba Duhn.”

[Ilana Logan]

Marina Kseniya Sebastian

Rina had finally turned in for the night after spending an hour hanging out with Thad and the others who'd returned from downstairs. She had hoped to get Sasha off to the side so she could ask what the other woman had overheard of the meeting. Sasha avoided her eye and Rina decided not to push it. At least, not then.

Hope was asleep by the time Rina entered their cabin and moving as carefully as possible, Rina took up her side of the mattress. She was out like a light within minutes.

Hope's curse and crash to the floor brought her instantly awake.

***

"Hope?" Rina is out of the bed like a shot, scrambling over Hope's side of the bed to help the other woman up. "What happened?"

[Ilana Logan]

Sasha Shaw

The hammock swung from side to side when the Logan went into its dive. Sasha was wide awake even after only a few hours of sleep. She hadn't bothered getting up the minute Bishop's voice had announced their soon arrival on Paquin. She just remained lying in her hammock, still thinking about the last hours.

A big part of it had been avoiding Rina's questioning glances when she came back and during the hour they spent together with the others. More than once she had looked away and deeper into her glass, being all in all more reserved than before the meeting. Sasha remembered Rina's words. '...tell me what you find, though. I'd be interested in hearing it.'

She had found out a lot, but telling was rather difficult. If someone threatened to kill you for sneaking in it was certainly clear he or she would make sure that you would never ever talk again for spilling the beans to a person who wasn't involved. So it went without saying that Shalyx expected her to keep quiet, which Sasha intended to do. She wasn't disloyal to a crew no matter how long she knew them or not, not unless it was her intention in the first place or a better offer came along. But none of this was the case here. And as she had to confess to Shalyx about her former encounter with Blue Sun, talking about the job to anyone wouldn't help for things to turn out well. All the while she held an ID badge in her hands, occasionally turning it back and forth. She gave it a long thoughtful look, running a finger over the Blue Sun label that was imprinted on the backside of the card.

There was a bang on the door and Aiya delivering Shalyx's message that they should come to the cargo bay. Sasha got up, put on her boots and grabbed her jacket, stowing away the ID badge in an inside pocket. A few minutes later she entered the cargo bay and looked around. But when she couldn't spot Rina right away the tensed expression on her face eased a bit.

[Ilana Logan]

Hope Seville

Hope waited until she was sitting on the bed before responding.

‘I’m all right, knee popped.” She replied, with a sort of shrugging it off tone.

Hope bent her knee slightly and realized that while it still hurt it actually felt a little better. “I think it might have popped itself back into place or something; it actually feels a bit better.

She wasn’t sure but attempted to stand on it again, this time it did feel like it was better. Not that she wouldn’t be limping for the rest of the day or that she wasn’t still in a bit of pain; still it didn’t feel like sharp pains shooting up her leg every time she stepped anymore.

Her mind then went to Shalyx; part of the time she'd spent awake was focused on the woman. She knew she had heard the name but until last night hadn’t been able to focus enough to remember where. Then it dawned on her, Jim had told her of Shalyx. Stories of her doings and what was it now…oh yeah...she's crazy as 'ell and has a short fuse but is good people. The words came back to her. Maybe, if she wanted to survive she’d need to talk to Shalyx.

Shalyx crew though was big and what exactly she’d need with a young engineer who’d only worked on one type of ship she had no idea. Actually, and especially considering her injuries if she asked to help on the job; Shalyx might just laugh at her. But.. the wheels turned in her head trying to figure out what to tell the woman in order to get her to agree.

Hope looked at Rina, maybe if she got in, she could get Rina in as well; if Rina wanted it. If not on the next job then maybe with the crew. However, the first step would probably be to get Shalyx alone to talk to her and not having Rina around might be the biggest obstacle in that. After all, the woman standing in front of her had made it clear that she was going to protect her but this was something she had a feeling she’d have to do on her own.

She’d have to contemplate it later right now she wanted to get out of the room and get some coffee. Maybe, they could find something for breakfast while they were at it.

‘What do you say we head out to the galley?” She asked.

[Ilana Logan]

Thaddeus

Thad woke up in a disorganised pile in the corner of the room, he had taken the hammock down and slept on the floor, the swinging of the hammock had caused him to feel seasick, with that particular thought he tossed off the cover and grabbed his shirt, pulling it over his chest and doing it up, then he caught sight of the bundle in the other hammock, he wandered over and prodded at it in what he guessed of as a decent place, "Kira, wake up, we gotta move to the cargo bay."

He wandered over to his pile of clothes and started to pull the rest of them on slowly, he looked at his kit, and without thinking too hard about it he grabbed both of them and laced his boots up slowly, before standing and waiting at the door, heading out down through the clattering corridoors when Kira was ready to follow, reaching the Landing Bay in fairly short order.

[Ilana Logan]

Daniel Logan

"Daniel!" Aiya shouted coming around the corner and the man looked up from the chair he had been sitting on.

"I know, we landed at Paquin." he said with a smile as he continued to clean his gun.

Her nose crinkled up in mock anger. "You took the fun out of waking you."

"Well, sorry." he answered laughing. "Where are we supposed to meet?"

"Cargo bay." she answered as the girl sped off to wake someone else.

Holstering the weapon, Daniel made his way toward the Cargo bay.

[Ilana Logan]

Kira

“Don’t poke me there” she groggily mumbled from her hammock on the other side of the room. Thad poked her again and then moved off, she lifted her head up and frowned, "What time did we finally go to sleep?" she asked; brushing her hair from her face as she rubbed her eyes. She rolled out of the hammock; the metal floor was cold against her bare feet. “Hammocks are quite comfortable…it’s better than the floor,” she said smoothing out the wrinkles in her shirt, she then slipped on her boots and grabbed her bag, making sure all her stuff was inside, just as Thad was finishing lacing up his shoes. She put her hair into a knot with a band as she walked past him, “Lets go before Bishop gets grumpier,”

[Ilana Logan]

Shalyx Catlett

Aiya bounced around the cargo bay impatiently brimming with excitement. “Hasn't it been ten minutes yet?”


“Almost.” Shalyx replied calmly.


Aiya let out an irritated growl. “What is taking them so long?”


Shalyx smiled. “Wat'r ya all worked up fer?” She asked Aiya though she already knew the answer.


“I love Paquin.” Aiya beamed. “All the festivities and we're going to go see Madame Sabine. I haven't seen her in forever.”


“Now wat makes ya think we're gonna go see Madame Sabine?”


Aiya gave Shalyx a 'you're kidding, right?' glance. “We always see Madame Sabine when we're on Paquin and Stefan told me the next time we were here he'd teach me how to walk the tight rope.”


“Like 'ell.” Shalyx protested.


Aiya giggled at Shalyx's reaction as everyone started to make their way into the cargo bay. “Finally.” Aiya huffed exasperated.

[Ilana Logan]

Thaddeus

Thad nodded and leant on the wall next to the door while he waited for Kira to get up and come round properly, "Heck i don't know, seemed quite late," was his answer to the posed question about when they slept. He leant around the corner and fell out of the door before keeping going down the corridoor, walking alongisde Kira, "I don' think in any universe its possible for that man to get any more grumpy than he allready is," he said as they wandered closer to the launch bay.

[Ilana Logan]

Joint Post: Hope Seville and Marina Kseniya Sebastian

Rina relaxes when it becomes obvious that Hope wasn't injured. In fact, the fall actually did the woman good, popping her knee back in place. As for going to the galley?

"Sounds good to me. When can you be ready?"

Hope looks at her and says:

"On second thought, being that my knee's feeling better, maybe we should go down to the cargo bay and see what Morse has to say about our stay here."

"You mean on Paquin or on the ship?" Rina wants to be sure.

"Paquin."

"Fine." Rina pulls on her coveralls over what she's slept in and tucks the pants legs into her boots. "I need to do some shopping anyway. No time like the present." She straightens and waves Hope to the door. "After you."

Hope gets her shoes on and then dithers over the crutch.

"Don't worry about the stairs, I can carry you if you need me to," Rina assures her.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Hope says. "What if you carry the crutch and you walk in front of me?"

"Sure, and you can land on me when you fall." Rina seemed completely fine with that. "You weigh what, 90 pounds soakin' wet?"

"A hundred pounds. Soaking wet."

"See? I'll barely feel it." Rina laughed and keyed the cabin door open. "Ladies first."

The two women left their cabin and left for the cargo bay stairs aft. Descending to the cargo bay floor was uneventful and they took up positions on what crates offered the best seating for whatever came next.

[Ilana Logan]

Sasha Shaw

Sasha stood a bit aside, leaning against a larger crate, and watched as the others arrived one by one in the hold. When most of them were present she slipped into her jacket which covered up the fresh bandage. During one of the last 15 hours she had changed the bandage and had looked at the wound for the first time since the doc on her old ship had taken care of it. Feija had done quite a good job and Sasha guessed that the scar which would remain would be rather small.

Everything seemed like they would head out soon, so she made her way over to Shalyx who stood at the other side of the cargo bay with Aiya right next to her.

She nodded a hello to Shalyx and the kid.

"Mind if I join ya?" Sasha kept the question simple but friendly. "Could give ya a hand if ya need pickin' up things."

[Ray Hudson]

Ray was in the engine room talking to Hoffman when Bishops announcement came on. They finished up their conversation.

"Looks like I'm headin' out. I'm assuming you ain't commin' with." Ray said as he left the engine room, laughing. He then went into the cargo bay, were a few people had already arrived.

[Bishop Morse]

Bishop stood in the Cargo bay, and slowly people seemed to enter. First came Shalyx and the little fungus that clung to her. As she entered, others proceeded to descend in similar arrays. He couldn't remember who half of them were, by name at least, he recognized most of them with mental flags he pinned to them. He watched the 'new cripple' on board come down the stairs from the bay, accompanied by his 'bad investment'. The last he noticed was Ray, which he was happy to see had come in a considerably quick manner, as opposed to a lazy slump twice as slow as a normal walk. But upon this development, Bishop was quick and eager to get off of the ship and away from the people which surrounded him. He took a quick drink from his flask, and watched the people slowly file out before him.

"Right, seein that most a ya are here, that's good. But without lying that doesn't matter because your... Bishop said pointing at Shalyx the only one this absolutely partains too. As your all aware, we're on Paquin. We're in the 'Innertown' cus I hate that trashy filth that hangs around the outskirts, and I don't wanna come back to find the engines on my ship are replaced with blocks." Bishop took another drink from his flask and let that sink in a moment. "We're here cus 'Black Cats' got business, same as myself. Ship leaves when that business is done, and we're set to go. Whether your on board or not when we do... doesn't bother much." Bishop started to pace ever so slightly and moved over toward a support for the catwalk. "Now onto internal security issues. You aint just commin on and off the ship as ya please. This hatch here." Bishop said stomping his foot on ground where the cargo bay hatch descended. "This hatch is locked on the inside, and outside. Only way it'll open, is if Andy on bridge opens it. You wanna get off or on, he's gotta know, otherwise this floor aint movin. And he judges things on the safety of it, so if you come back with a 'Duel-Missile Launcher' in your hands... your not gettin on. That been said, if there is some sort of DIRE need to get ahold a myself, I'm gonna be at a place called 'Big Willy's', ask around and people'll point ya right to it. 'Black Cat' I'm gonna be outa com-reach so you'll probably have to get us if your wantin to leave. But rest assured we aren't stayin here for a day, soon's are business is done, we're off world." Bishop and looked over the group before him. "I got 4 crewmen here who are still watchin the ship, if there people that didn't here this, pass the word on. If there are any questions, I don't care, keep em to yourself, and continue to obey the laws a the ship." Bishop finished and started walking toward the small box like terminal on the ground. "So, that's all, Ray lets get the hell outa here." Bishop said activating the cargo ramp. A large piece of the floor descended on a slant. Bishop jumped down onto the descending portion.

He had no interest in explaining anymore then he had. He wasn't affraid for the ship either, as he had a group of armed men on board and a good safety contingent. A rush of air filled the cargo bay as the cool breeze outside blew. The paved streets had people walking all about beside buildings which weren't about 6 stories tall at most. People were dressed in all manner of clothing, and many youthful faces passed by. Lights and the sounds of people were all people could hear beside the sound of some music being sung in Chinese. Bishop just walked down the ramp expecting Ray to be following.

[Ilana Logan]

Shalyx Catlett

Shalyx returned Sasha's nod as she approached while the others slowly filed in. Shalyx went to respond to Sasha's question but she was interrupted by Bishop's oh so pleasant exaggerated stereotypical rendition of the outskirts of town. Not that Shalyx cared much about what Bishop thought, about anything but is was both aggravating and somewhat amusing at the same time. She listened as he prattled on about ship safety and 'the rules', and she took note of where he said he'd be.


“Yeah, yeah, I'll come fetch yer arse when we're ready ta git.” Shalyx said flippantly to Bishop as the cargo bay door descended.


Once the ramp hit the ground Shalyx turned back to Sasha. “Yer welcome ta come with if'n ya want.” Then she raised her voice so the others could hear. “Anyone comin' wit me best stay close cause we're headed fer the trashy outskirts of town. If'n ya 'ave a problem wit that then ya best stay here. Last thing I need is ya causin' a ruckus.” She gave a little nod to Aiya. “Come on, kid.” She said as she headed down the ramp.

::::EXITING TANGLED TAKEOFF AND ENTERING PULLING TEETH::::

[Ilana Logan]

Sasha Shaw

A quirky smile approached her face as she turned her head to see Bishop perform his little speech. Sasha genuinely wondered if some captains were all reading their lines off the script of the same melodrama: don't' care, don't bother, no questions need to be asked, just obey. But in the end she didn't care about those things either, gave it an inner shrug and just picked out the parts from his prattle she needed to know.

Shalyx moved on to leave the ship after the captain and his pet dog, so Sasha did the same. Descending the ramp she turned her head once more to see who else would join Shalyx and she hoped that it weren't too many of them. It seemed that it was already difficult to catch Shalyx without the kid around her. And more people wouldn't make things easier.

With the rest of this thought on her mind, Sasha spotted Rina together with Hope sitting on some crates not far away.

Speaking of difficult... crossed her mind as she watched over to the woman, then giving her a restrained smile, a quick wave of the hand and hastily rushed down the ramp and out of sight.

:::Exiting Tangled Takeoff and entering Pulling Teeth:::

[Ilana Logan]

Hope Seville

Hope listened to Bishop’s speech, slightly amused. She knew that he was serious so she kept her amusement to herself. Still the way he described the outskirts of town, well, that wasn’t exactly the way she remembered them. Then again Neal had been with her and for anyone would have been stupid to mess with him.

After remember about Shalyx last night, she figured the same was true for the woman. Okay, so Jim had told her that some of the stories were exaggerated. Some of them he had been there for and for those he could tell her the truth. The others he would tell her the tale and then say what he really thought happened.

Hope glanced in Shalyx’s direction and noticed Aiya and Sasha near by. She wondered how easy it would be to get the woman out of ear shot of Aiya. Though, thinking back Shalyx hadn’t been at the store but the ship was a lot smaller than Persephone.

Upon hearing Shalyx’s comment about heading to the outskirts of town and how the other’s might want to stay here. Figuring it was meant for Shalyx’s crew she turned to Rina. Hope figured that it might be best if they don’t follow the woman as neither of them were part of that merry bunch..

“Where do you need to go?” She asked Rina.

If memory served, there would be shops nearby but she had no idea what the woman was shopping for. Hope only really wanted to by one thing a gun. Despite the fact that the last one had caused her such problems, it had also saved her from a worse fate. She wasn’t sure if Paquin was the best place to buy one. So, she’d wait to see where Rina needed to go and then maybe mention it.

[Ilana Logan]

Thaddeus

As the pair reached the edge of the bay they followed the group onto the street.

::Arbitrary Exit and Entrance into Pulling Teeth.::

[Ilana Logan]

Joint Post: Hope Seville and Marina Kseniya Sebastian

Rina listened to Morse's little speech and it was an effort not to roll her eyes, especially when he began explaining the 'rules'.

Jesus Christ, if the man hates passengers that much, why the hell does he even let them aboard? And if he's only after their flippin' money, why let them live to see the next port of call? Just slit their throats, pocket their fees and dump the bodies. That way he keeps his damned privacy AND gets paid.

Then again, it doesn't look like he treats his crew much better, so it's a wonder they don't mutiny and slit his throat and dump him...

And so her thoughts ran as she listened and noted who else was in the cargo bay: Shaylx and a young teen whose name she wasn't quite sure of. Thad. Sasha. Kira. A rather nasty-tempered man she'd learned was Ray, he being a cruder version of Morse. And Morse, of course. And likely there were others stashed amongst the boxes and stacks of cargo, keeping out of sight but listening in. Given who the Captain was, it only made sense.

The speech came to an end and the banter between Shaylx and Morse started up, and by that Rina knew it was time to go. And after spending fifteen hours cooped up with Morse's crew, shiniest engine this side of the Border or not, Rina was more than ready to get the hell off this boat. She shouldered her bag of belongings, checked her pockets for her usual suspects and heard Hope speak up against the rising din of leavetaking:

“Where do you need to go?”

Rina checked her gun--still right where it was supposed to be, holstered under her arm--and turned to Hope.

"I'm shoppin' for a vest. With this crew, I'm going to need it. How about you?"

"Well, was hoping to try to replace a certain item which I lost back in Persephone." She wasn't going to say gun with all those people there.

"If you're smart, that certain item will be at least 9mm and pack a decent punch." Rina said and pushed off her crate. "I'll be happy to tag along, in case you need a second opinion on your purchase."

"Sounds good." Hope got off her crate and put her crutch under arm. "Ready, when you are."

"No time like the present." Rina waved Hope toward the open ramp. "After you, ma'am."


::Exit Marina and Hope from Tangled Take off. Entering Pulling Teeth::