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Post by Ilana Logan on Jun 4, 2023 18:25:16 GMT -5
Georgia's Folly, Athens
January 2nd, 2518
9:58 AM AST
Ilana showered and dressed as per usual, khaki pants, boots, white t shirt, loud Hawaiian shirt. She snatched a bagel from the table in the galley as she headed down to the engine room. Roman still hadn't replaced her with another engineer, even after seven months. They were still paying for maintenance in port. Speaking of Roman, Ilana thought, remembering this morning. He'd wanted to talk. She didn't. "No," she'd said simply before leaving him standing in the hall alone.
While the crew prepared for the job, she methodically went over the engine room and all of Savannah's systems to make sure she was in top notch condition. She made a few adjustments to calibrations and engine sequence. She gave a loving pat on the central engine's frame. "Good girl," Ilana said fondly.
12:01 PM
Ilana walked down to the cargo bay to meet the crew for their departure. She found Micah in the hall and fell into step with him, chatting along the way about Ilana's crew from The Chainless, and how they'd all met. The two of them fell in line with the rest of the crew, and chattered as they filtered out of the ship. Ilana followed halfway down the cargo bay ramp with the crew before she stopped. They were headed for town with the payload. Since she'd been in firefights with the crew before, many times over their nearly nine years together, they trusted her to mind the ship while they were on their run. "Zhùyì ānquán," she said, waving.
Zhùyì ānquán means "Be safe"
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Post by Roman Kline on Jun 4, 2023 18:58:20 GMT -5
10:04 AM AST
Roman had tried to speak with Ilana, but she'd refused. She'd been angry at him over the years for various things, but never more than a few days. It's not that she wouldn't speak to him at all. They had a perfectly cordial relationship, and he hated it. Still, he knew he'd brought it on himself, keeping a secret like that from her for 8 years.
After she'd brushed him aside in the hall, he showered and dressed, as usual, off-white suit, matching loafers, and holsters, both shoulder and ankle. He always came prepared, even on milk runs like this.
12:01 PM
He looked up as Ilana approached, chattering animatedly with Micah all the way up to the cargo bay ramp. "Zhùyì ānquán," she said as they headed down the ramp, leaving her behind.
He looked over his shoulder without stopping and said, "Ér nǐ, ài."
At the bottom of the ramp, without turning around, he called back to her, "We'll be back in three hours."
Ér nǐ, ài means "And you, love"
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Post by Ilana Logan on Jun 4, 2023 19:00:04 GMT -5
3:27 PM AST
Ilana stomped down to the cargo bay, armed to the teeth. She'd tried raising the crew on the comms and hadn't gotten a response. She opened the cargo bay door, and there was no one to be seen. She stood at the top of the cargo bay ramp, staring at the horizon uneasily. Bright blue sky, gentle breeze stirring up dust and tumbleweeds from the desert floor. They should have been back by now, she thought. She wasn't going after them just yet, but she was preparing.
Ilana began holstering some of the weapons and tucking others into the pockets on the mule bike at the foot of the stairs.
4:09 PM AST
Ilana's databook buzzed in her hand. Incoming message received the notification across the top said, interrupting her reading. Next to Sender the message read unavailable. She opened the message. It was clear there was video, but the feed was broken, distorted, and it appeared the person carrying the camera was moving entirely too quickly. All that combined meant the video was an undiscernible jumble of pixels. It didn't have sound at first, then she realized it was muted. She unmuted the video and nearly dropped it. The sounds of a hundred people screaming all at once, punctuated by gunfire and the loud kachunks of a grappler being fired.
There was something over that, but she couldn't quite make it out. Against her better judgement, she turned the volume up and listened hard. It was Roman. He was clearly running as he recorded, his breathing ragged. Quietly, audio cutting out in spots, he said, "...I love you, lass... always did," a pause, and then "Run!"
The transmission ended and Ilana leapt to her feet in a panic. "What the fuck did I just watch?" she shrieked, at no one in particular, but a deep, painful twisting in her gut told her she already knew the answer to that.
4:14 PM
Ilana finished her quick prep, getting the ship ready for lockdown, jumped on the bike, and kicked it to life. Looking up to head down the ramp, she spotted a bright glint of sunlight on shiny metal, or glass. The object in the distance rapidly grew in size as it approached. Whatever it is, its hauling ass, she thought.
After what felt like an eternity but was only actually a couple of minutes, until it became a mule. Our mule, she thought, relieved. The relief didn't last long. Ilana caught a fleeting glimpse of the two men as they roared up the ramp. Micah, wild eyed and covered in blood. Roman, face a mask of sheer terror, also soaked in red. The mule barreled up the ramp, skidding straight past her. She jumped off the bike, whirling around to… do something. She didn't rightly know what.
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Post by Roman Kline on Jun 4, 2023 19:29:09 GMT -5
2:45 PM AST
Roman walked out of the meeting with the crew, payload now gone, payment in his breast pocket. Kate was looking in the shop windows, looking at all of the pretty things. "Cap'n, do we have time to visit some of the shops?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes innocently.
"A few minutes. Ilana is waiting alone with the ship," Roman relented, knowing if he said no she'd pout.
4:02 PM AST
Ilana was surely fit to be tied by now, but he was having a bit of trouble getting Kate extracted from the shops. Finally wrangling her out the door, they immediately saw a ship rapidly approaching the town square, stopping on the south side of the square. The red streaks, spikes, and bodies covering the outside of the ship made painfully clear who the ship belonged to. Reavers, he said, frozen in place for half a breath.
"Run!" he roared as loud as possible. He was heard throughout the square. People began running in all directions, screaming in fear, even as the ropes started falling. Figures sliding down the ropes punctuated with metallic thunks as their boots hit the ground.
Andy was the first to fall to them. He got hit fairly quickly with a wicked looking scythe, expertly wielded, spilling his insides on the ground. The rest of Roman's group ran north, as fast as possible. Beside him, a grappling hook exploded out of Kate's chest, stopping her in her tracks and pulling her out of sight. "Don't stop! Go! GO!" he screamed at his crew.
Roman darted right into an alleyway, quickly followed by Micah, Jake, and Bailey. At the mouth of the alley, Fitz barely made the turn when a harpoon went through his abdomen, pinning him to the wall. Roman pumped his legs as hard as he could, running harder than he'd ever run in his life. "We have to get to the mule!" he shouted.
He pulled out his databook as he ran, quickly turning on the camera and hitting record, not aiming the camera at anything in particular. He was breathing hard, lungs and legs burning with the effort of maintaining a sprint for so long. He held the databook close to his mouth so the mic would pick up his voice over the din, "Lani… I love you, lass. I always did," a pause, and then "Run!"
He had more to say, but then again, there's always more to say. He nearly dropped the databook trying to stay upright and in catching it, he stopped the recording. He quickly sent it as they made it to the mule. He was first in, then Micah. Four reavers darted out of a building 10 yards in front of the mule. Two each snatched Jake and Bailey. He shared a quick glance with Micah. Both men nodded, raised their pistols, and each shot one of the men.
Without taking a second to react, Roman raced away in the mule, running the accelerator as hard as it would go.
4:15 PM AST
Roman slammed on the brakes as the mule barreled into Savannah at full speed. Even as it was skidding to a halt, he shouted at Ilana, "Shut the doors! Now!"
Instead of answering, Roman shouted, "Micah, get us out of here! We have to go before they find us here! Ilana, spin us up!"
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Post by Ilana Logan on Jun 4, 2023 19:41:34 GMT -5
"Shut the doors! Now!" Roman barked.
Ilana leapt into motion, slamming the button to close the doors. "Where are the others?!" Ilana asked, panicking.
Instead of answering, Roman shouted, "Micah, get us out of here! We have to go before they find us here! Ilana, spin us up!"
When Micah didn't move, Roman shook him hard, "Micah, listen to me! We have to move now! We couldn't save them, but you can still save us!"
Micah blinked as though he didn't understand at all, then suddenly realized who "they" were and bolted from the room. Ilana quickly followed, running into the engine room. A moment later she heard Roman's footsteps pounding past the ladder below, presumably headed for the bridge. She spun the engine up as directed, and within a few moments, she could feel liftoff. That was the first time in ten years that she'd performed the start-up and sat through lift-off without Bailey.
Before heading out, she made sure everything was running smoothly, taking off so fast without a warm up and all. She darted back to the mezzanine to look for Roman and found it empty, but for the trail of small bloody droplets leading up the stairs and down the hall. She followed the drops to the showers. She heard water flowing, so one of the two was in there. Given the state they returned in, it was likely Roman. She opened the door and found a trail of bloody clothes and smears leading up to one of the shower stalls, bloody handprints starkly visible against the white shower curtain. She pulled the curtain back and found him scrubbing himself raw, water running down his body in bloody rivulets.
"Roman…" she said gently. "Roman, love, what happened?" she asked, refusing to believe what the logical side of her already knew to be true.
She'd never seen him so clearly distraught before. She'd seen him angry, and she'd seen him upset, but never whatever mixture of terror and hopelessness this was. His eyes snapped to hers, pleading with her silently for something she didn't quite understand.
She didn't know what he needed, but she did the only thing she knew to help him. She quickly shucked her clothes, stepped into the shower, and pulled the curtain closed behind her. She gently took the soap from his hands, and set it down. Instead picking up the shampoo, she washed his hair, slowly and carefully, multiple times to get out all of the blood. She rinsed him slowly, taking her time. Then she moved on to washing his body, which she also did, slowly and carefully, and multiple times.
When you could no longer see any blood on him, she set the soap back down and pulled him into her arms. He was shaking violently, and it scared the hell out of her. "Roman, please," Ilana pleaded, begging him to say she was wrong.
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Post by Roman Kline on Jun 4, 2023 20:10:57 GMT -5
Ilana sprang into action even as he was finishing his sentence, slamming the doors shut and bolting from the room to get the engine hot. Screaming filled his ears. He closed his eyes a moment to get his bearings, then went for his pilot. Micah was frozen, probably in shock, but they didn't have time to carefully coax him out of it. They needed him now. Roman shook him hard, "Micah, listen to me! We have to move now! We couldn't save them, but you can still save us!"
Screaming built back up, the wet sound of the grappling hook bursting out of Kate overwhelming him momentarily
Roman staggered a little, completely unbalanced, but his shaking and shouting seemed to bring Micah out of it, at least a little. He looked at Roman, eyes still wild, and just nodded. He got out of the mule in a daze, but started running for the bridge. Roman ran behind him.
Kachunk followed by a harpoon picking Fitz up and pinning him to the brick wall at the mouth of the alleyway
No relief came with getting Micah in gear. He could fly in a pinch, but he wasn't great at it. Micah was great, and when there were reavers, you needed great. Still, all he could feel was everything. Like every nerve ending fried all at once. At the bridge, Micah started the liftoff sequence and had them in the air seconds later, rocketing toward atmo at damn near full burn.
Roman left Micah then, unable to bear the blood for another second longer. He jogged for the showers, screams and other, worse, sounds filling his head. He burst through the door, stripping off his clothes as he headed for the shower stall, leaving bloody handprints on the curtain as he pulled it back and stepped into the stall. He turned on the water, and began scrubbing.
He couldn't even hear the water anymore. Just the screaming, and the massacre. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and snapped his head toward it. A woman stood at the edge of the stall. He couldn't focus on her now. Not until he got all the blood off. He continued scrubbing himself violently until she stepped into the shower with him, suddenly nude. When did she take her clothes off? he wondered.
She carefully approached him and gently pried the soap from his hands. With a delicate touch, she carefully washed his hair and body, taking time to make sure every speck of blood was gone. He was shaking like a leaf, but he didn't even notice. Her voice finally filtered into his head. "Roman, please," she pleaded. It was Ilana.
"Lani," he said, eyes filling with tears. "They're all dead. Micah and I are the only ones who got away. Reavers," he said, and started to cry. "All of them… they're all gone."
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Post by Ilana Logan on Jun 4, 2023 21:53:25 GMT -5
"Lani," he said, eyes filling with tears. "They're all dead. Micah and I are the only ones who got away. Reavers," he said, and started to cry. "All of them… they're all gone."
She felt like he'd punched her in the gut. Her friends, people she'd spent the better part of a decade with, were gone. Bailey, Jake, Kate, Fitz, Andy. She pulled the sobbing naked man into her arms. Ilana cried with him. After a while, she turned off the water and got him a towel. She wrapped it around his waist, tucking it in at his hip and led him to the bench at the back of the stall. "Roman, love, wait here, okay? I'll get you some clothes."
She stepped out of the shower, quickly wrapped a towel around herself, and stuffed his bloody clothes and shoes into the garbage can. He doesn't need to see this again, she thought.
She quickly cleaned up the mess, tossing her own clothes into the laundry bin, and went to his bunk for clothes. She found two black silk robes hanging from his wardrobe, recognizing one as hers. He'd gotten it for her a year ago when she'd ruined hers during an engine room emergency. She dropped the towel around her feet and shrugged into her robe, quickly sliding her feet into the matching slippers he'd insisted on, and cinching the belt tight.
Ilana snatched his robe and slippers, jogging back to the showers to collect him. He was sitting exactly where she'd left him, doubled over, hands covering his ears as though the silence was too loud. She approached him carefully again. After what he'd been through, and his skills in martial arts, approaching too quickly could get her hurt. She gently got him to his feet and into his bunk, settling him on the bed before she made him tea at his sink. Making a split second decision, she dosed it with powdered Dalcium, a powerful anti-psychotic sedative, adding sugar and stirring carefully. Clearly trusting her, he downed the whole cup without a thought. She sat on the bed and pulled him into her arms, comforting him as much as possible. He was unconscious in minutes.
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