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Episode 4: Quest for Freedom; All Aboard the Albright
Topic Started: Oct 9 2012, 10:27 AM (18,711 Views)
Darren Roberts
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Electrical Hub Inside Ventilation/Service Tunnels

"What's that?" "This isn't good is it?"

"Not in the least, but I've been in worse." replied Darren, his brain running into overdrive as his fingers danced across the screen of his trusty tablet comp.

"We're gonna die aren't we?" "They are going to search for us until they find us and finish what they tried to do in the Med Bay." "You should leave me. I'll turn myself in. They don't know you are here. Save yourself,"

Darren took his attention away from the tablet in his hands to see Ari holding her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. He set it down and scooted closer to her, cautiously placing a hand on a shoulder and hoping she wouldn't pull a knife on him again.

"I ain't leavin' you here, Ari, and you're not turnin' yourself in for anythin'." he replied as he tried to look Ari in the eyes. "We're goin' to get out of this. Each and everyone of us. Ain't none of us goin' to die here. I have faith in that and so should you."

He paused for a bit and then added, "Besides. Sergei would get mad if I left you here and I don't want to be on that big guy's bad side."
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Major Samuel Harrigan
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Corridor Outside of Vent Where Ian and Hicks Are

Harrigan could tell that they were close and he was getting impatient. He wanted them closer. He wanted them within reach. He wanted them where his fists and knives could work against them.

He now realized that he wanted them in the room so that he could guy them like that little bitch gutted his brother.

He knew it probably wasn't advisable, but he had to look inside. He went and stuck his head in. The light wasn't great, but it gave him enough to see by. On their back was someone dressed in a purple Alliance uniform. Behind him was someone else. The guy who looked so familiar. He was hardly wearing a uniform any more. He had on what looked like a black coat. It went long down his prone body.

Was it a duster?

Then he placed the guy and his eyes narrowed.

"Dugan?" he asked, quite surprised. "You're running with that crowd of criminals and murderers?"

He set his jaw and looked back at the purple uniformed soldier in front of Dugan. If he was running with that group, then the soldier was in danger. Great danger.

"What do you say that we let the soldier go, he's not a part of whatever scheme you all have planned. No reason that anyone else should get hurt. Free him and come down here and we can 'talk' about your choices of crew."

He so didn't want to talk. He wanted to get the soldier clear and then put the beat down on Dugan until he fessed up the crew of the Gypsy Traveler's plans.
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Ariel Duquesne
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Aerial Artist with 'tude
Electrical Hub Inside Ventilation/Service Tunnels

Ari smiled just a bit as Darren proffered that he had been in worse spots. She kind of doubted that. After all, the were on an Alliance ship full of soldiers who would like to kill them all, stuck in a ventilation shaft and separated from the rest of the crew and being hunted down like dogs. Plus there was the fact that all of this was her fault. After all, she had been the one to kill those soldiers. Well, all but one. But the main one in question was the big guy. The guy who had went first...

She shuddered as her mind replayed the event again.

But when she suggested it, he refused to let her turn herself in in order to save them all. She didn't know where that came from. She hadn't known him long, but he was someone she... liked. Someone she actually seemed to connect with. She had actually talked to him without being forced to while on the ship. Talk about foreign concepts. She didn't like anyone. She couldn't let herself have that luxury. But here she was with a strong almost friend-like bond with Amber and the need to protect Darren that went deeper than mere crew responsibilities. She knew what that meant.

Amber and Darren were going to die soon. Either that or they will be leaving the Gypsy Traveler shortly. that's what people did when they got anywhere close to her. Her life was cursed. She knew she wasn't meant to ever be happy or close to anyone. She was paying for some kind of karmic shit from another life. What other explanation was there?

Then he actually paused from doing what he was doing to slide over and place his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"I ain't leavin' you here, Ari, and you're not turnin' yourself in for anythin'."

Slightly shocked, she found her eyes lifting to his and his sincerity most her heart rise into her throat. She could easily get lost in those eyes. So blue...

"We're goin' to get out of this. Each and everyone of us. Ain't none of us goin' to die here. I have faith in that and so should you."

He was sealing his fate. She knew it.

"Besides. Sergei would get mad if I left you here and I don't want to be on that big guy's bad side."

She could barely breathe as she took in the fact that he had made a joke. In all this mess, he had actually made a joke.

"Y... You should leave m... me," she told him with pure belief and honesty in her words and expression. "People who get too close to me always end up dead. Or just plain gone. I'm cursed. I don't want you to die."

Her brain spoke those words before she could censor them. She was setting herself up by warning him specifically. She meant everyone, but her head seemed to focus on him right then.

"It's just the way life is for me. And I don't want yours to end this way. Not because of me. Not again."
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Ian Dugan
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Death's Toy Boy
Vent Shaft

Hicks had crawled up into the and Ian began to follow. He had laid on his back and actually turned himself to face in the direction of the partly open grill in order to get into a better position for crawling. He stood and started to bend himself around the next section when he heard a familiar voice.

From Harrigan
 
"Dugan? ... You're running with that crowd of criminals and murderers?"

"What do you say that we let the soldier go, he's not a part of whatever scheme you all have planned. No reason that anyone else should get hurt. Free him and come down here and we can 'talk' about your choices of crew."


Ian dropped back down to the level of the old shaft so he could look at the Major.

"They aint criminals and murderers Lt. But your goon squad are Rapist and would have been murderers if I hadn't been there to stop them. But you're too blocked up by Protocal and Reg - U - Lation that you cant see that. Just like you couldn't see what Zubic was up to until after I was sold off down river. I mean, El-Tee, you couldn't find yer Pi-Gu hole with a mirrior and stick unless you had some instruction to tell ya how."

Even though it sounded like Ian was on a rolling rant, he did have reason. He was betting his life that the Major would listen before he would shoot. That would give Ian a chance to play his Get outta Jail Free card.

Ian assumed that the Major was more than just a desk jockey and had fingers and ears in all sorts of areas He figuried that Harrigan would know that not only did Ian end up in the Krane Penal Mines but was later pardoned. He hoped that the Major would know that there was a cost to the Pardon.

Information to Alliance Intell

Over the years, Ian had given some real information that lead to arrests and conviction of some few smugglers and slavers. Not much, but enough to keep him 'free'

There was one passcode that he was given and he hoped that Major Samuel Harrigan would be in the know. So, he continued his rant.

"You really need ta look outside the box, El-Tee, or did becoming a Major scramble yer brains even further?"

With that he started to stand and continue his climb. It was time to use the passcode and hope for the best.

"What a zinger that was. Moondog one, Harrigan zero"

There it was. Moondog One had been used. Either Harrigan would understand and Ian would 'slip' by, or Harrigan would shot him.
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Major Samuel Harrigan
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Outside Vent Shaft Near Hicks and Dugan

The details behind the man Harrigan knew as Ian Dugan began to populate inside his head.

He listened as Ian extolled the rhetoric that the hundans spewed out about his brother and the men like him. About how they were all killers and rapists and that the "good" folks on the Gypsy Traveler were just innocents and victims. His anger started to boil within him. His hand gripped his gun as he raised it towards the vent shaft.

"You really need ta look outside the box, El-Tee, or did becoming a Major scramble yer brains even further?"

As more of the pieces came together, it gave him a bit of a pause. Was this guy trying to goad him?

"What a zinger that was. Moondog one, Harrigan zero"

He stopped dead right there. Moondog One. Huh... That pardon thing actually worked. Dugan was feeding them information. It had been a little weak in the past, but good information nonetheless. So now he was playing around with these people.

Huh...

He was inside. They probably trusted him. This was perfect. He was obviously getting a fellow soldier out and was going to help them with enough information to finally put these guys away. Finally... Dugan was going to deliver something big.

"Why don't you get that fine officer to safety, that is unless you think he is one of those big bad alliance officers that crew spouts off about," he chuckled. "I'll go round up the other suspects."

He closed up the vent and moved on to the next compartment, searching for the two bitches and the strongman. He spoke out loudly, hoping that he could be heard by all of them.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" he sang out. "Surrender and I promise that you will not be harmed by any of the soldiers out currently looking for you."

Of course not, because he was not going to let anyone else interfere. He was going to kill them himself.
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Ian Dugan
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Death's Toy Boy
Vent Shaft.

Ian could not believe that had worked. But as the vent cover had been put back into place all he could do was smile.

Then he frowned.

Did Harrigan just blow his cover??

Did Hicks hear any of it? It didn't matter. Ian would have to tell him some of his past or risk a bullet to the brain pan.

He stood up and clambered into the next section of shaft.

"Two more sections, a drop down, ten more feet after that and we'll be out. Then a straight shot to the hanger bay.."

He paused as he slid his way along.

"Did you hear the Major?"
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Brandon Hicks
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Hicks remained dead still during the conversation, keeping his head low all the while. At first he felt relief by the exchange. They were still in the clear, under the guise of the new recruits rep. Then he began to wonder the possibility in full... Could Ian be trusted? Just how many of those officers back there did he kill, if any? Hicks was not around when he earned the others trust.

The Major's shouting and Ian's urging pressed him forward. That and the endless need to get the hell out of the cramped space.
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The Advocate
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Snake's Quarters

The Advocate heard the sound of boots heading down the hall and came to the same conclusion as Reno.

"Let me guess... They are after my crew?" "Nothing better come to harm them or I will... I will..."

The Advocate raised an eyebrow at the man, almost a challenge. He wondered how much of a annoyance Reno could make before he was cut down. One guy on the inside against an entire ship of trained soldiers? If it were a sporting event, he would have probably bought a ticket for a ringside seat, but only to see what he would do. Not that it would be sporting at all given the odds.

He was surprised at the man's resourcefulness when the officer's medical and professional file lay there waiting for him. So maybe he would last a little bit longer than he expected, but still, it would be a slaughter soon enough.

"Huh..." "Fucker's got the record of a boy scout." "I know he's a filthy liar, rapist and who knows what else. My crew don't lie, especially not about things like this."

"Of course they aren't," he said as he took the file. Reno certainly had faith in his crew, perhaps it was well founded or perhaps it was blind faith. Either way, it didn't make any difference to him. He told Thalia that he would represent the Gypsy Traveler's crew in defense of their charges. It didn't really matter if they were innocent or not. He was not in the business of determining that. That was a job for a jury or magistrate. His job was to make sure they didn't step foot into a prison and the plan to do that didn't care if they were deserving of the punishment.

He took the file from Reno. Just as the Captain said, the Lieutenant was squeaky clean on paper. Almost too squeaky clean. He got out his PDA and tapped into the duty rosters and acquired a list of the places Snake had shore time at over the last year or so.

"Seems that anytime he got the chance, the man went dirtside. All of them were approved though. No acts of AWOL perpetrated," he explained as he tapped into some of the law enforcement records from the times and places listed.

Bingo. There actually seemed to be a corresponding report of rape from some female, which were usually tossed out and not even investigated. It seems he and his crew would pick women that were less than moral. People like Ariel Duquesne, who had somewhat of a reputation of a slut. He couldn't believe that the volume of reports didn't trigger some kind of investigation, but it wasn't like small town planet-based law enforcement exactly reach out to other parts of the system when they believed that the sex had been consensual.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Reno clapping his hands together.

"Let's have a looksee around here," "If I was a no good, raping type, what kind of things would I keep in here?"

Trophies. If Lt. Harrigan was the monster that they painted him as, he would have definitely kept trophies. He wondered briefly what it could be.

He let his fingers fly over his CorPad, requesting the current location for each other the victims that had filed reports. That search would take some time, so he joined Reno in searching the room. All the time, keeping an eye on the Gypsy Traveler's Captain.
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Brandon Hicks
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"I heard him," Hicks managed to say after long while, now reaching the end of the second section and passing to ease his way down feet first. Like a drowning man struggling to keep his head above the water, he fought to hold any autonomic responses at bay.

"You've got quite the reputation here it seems. Well played."
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Ian Dugan
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Death's Toy Boy
Vent Shaft

"Straight two more sections then down one, forward two more and then we can get out of here."

He paused as they climbed through the shaft

"During the war I was Alliance. Spec Ops. Missed the end by two years. I was in the Mines. Out at Krane's Moons.. We were on a neutral planet and my squad started beating up on two old guys who had a perchant for brown coats."

He paused again as they climbed and crawled.

"My El-Tee was a man named Zubic. When I started to put a stop to it he ordered me to let it be. I didn't listen. All of my men were put down. One, permanently. Zubic shot me and called the MP's."

Another pause

"Didn't go to trial. Was questioned by a man named Tyler Lyndon and sent up the system to the mines. Years later, I got out and found my ship. Her name is Glory."

another pause as they crawled a bit more.

Jump forward several years and the ship is held by the Alliance. The ship and me. Both by the short and curlies. I'm given a deal I cant refuse. A pardon and a commision. All I have to do is rat out any Browncoats I run across. I play ball well enough and I get my ship back. Two years, tops."

He stopped crawling.

"That was five years ago. I only give information about any Slavers I find. Slavers, dopers and stuff. I rode with Cain on the Lucky Seven for a couple of years. He knew about my situation. Your Captain will too. Now you do as well."

A last pause.

"You ready to get out of here and into some fresher air?"

The perverbial ball was now in Hicks' court.
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Reno Carson
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Snake's Quarters

Reno had a certain amount of satisfaction knowing that this Advocate was somewhat impressed by his ability to garner the information he needed. On the other hand he felt the man’s response to the fact that Reno told him that his crew didn’t lie was taken with an attitude that was less than believing. But he shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like there aren’t a bunch of liars out there. Hell, he even lied a lot in the course of a job, but something like this? This was way beyond his scope.

He watched the Advocate out of the corner of his eye as searched the room. He was reading his file and finding the same information as Reno did. Squeaky clean bastard knew how to cover his tracks. Then he wondered what the guy was doing when he was putting into his PDA. He kept looking through Snake’s things, but he wished he could do that as well as look over the Advocate’s shoulder to see what he was up to.

"Seems that anytime he got the chance, the man went dirtside. All of them were approved though. No acts of AWOL perpetrated,"

Ahhh… He was checking duty logs. Smart guy, but it wasn’t anything damning. If the guy went dirtside as often as he could, Reno wondered how many other women he had violated.

”He’s probably got a string of rapes all across the ‘Verse.”

He wished that he knew more of what the Advocate was looking for in the records. Suddenly he got the nagging feeling that he was being super secretive all of a sudden. Reno didn’t like secrets.

”What?” Reno said placing his hands on his hips and turning towards the lawyer. ”Is there something interesting in there?”

Reno’s queries were cut short when he caught sight of the man’s weapons locker. He stopped short, stalked over to it and tried to open it. It was locked. Without an extra thought, he whipped out a set of lock picks and opened the simple lock without any resistance what so ever. Reno looked over at the Advocate.

”What?” he said again as he shrugged. ”I lose a lot of keys.”

The weapons had been removed, most likely by Snake’s brother, but Reno noticed that it really wasn’t very deep. He tapped on the bottom of it and got a hollow sound.

”What the rutt…?”

Reno felt around the edges with his fingertips until a false bottom popped open. The little compartment was stuffed full with some kind of fabric. He pulled out a piece to reveal that they were all underwear. Women’s underwear. This was what he was looking for.

”He kept them… He took them, raped them and kept the underwear as a souvenir.”

Reno smiled as he knew he had the evidence to corroborate Ari’s story. There was DNA on the items and maybe they could follow up with the women they belonged to as they were identified.

He should be able to get his people out shortly. Get them away from this place and away from the dangers held therein.

He looked back at the Advocate who was tapping away at that PDA.

”What?" he repeated for the 3rd time. "You found something. What is it?”
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Major Samuel Harrigan
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Corridor on the Way to Sergei and Amber's Location

Major Harrigan went about unlocking the compartments as he went along down the hallway.

Some of his soldiers tried to contact him, but he didn't bother to answer. He was on a mission and that mission was to kill the people trying to tarnish his brother's name.

And he was willing to kill anyone who got in his way.

He thought back to his childhood with his little brother. They called him snake because he was just a little too ornery. Plus he was always crawling around on the ground, sneaking up on you and getting himself absolutely filthy.

These people were trying to make his pet name, his child's nickname into something dirty and evil. Snake was not a rapist. He was a soldier. He served the 'Verse. He was helping to make it a better place. He fought in the war.

Although he was his older brother, Samuel was proud of the soldier Snake had become.

God help anyone who said otherwise.

With that, he moved on to the next compartment.

"I'm coming! Are you ready to die?" he called out to them.
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Sergei Romanov
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Corridor Three Doors Past Med Bay

Amber was on her feet, but she wasn't talking. Sergei got scared and stopped doing what he was doing and took her face into his hands and tilted her gaze up to his.

"Amber... Are you OK?" he asked firmly, an expression of fear on his face. Something that went beyond mere friendship type emotions.

"I'm coming! Are you ready to die?"

Sergei's gaze went from Amber's face to the door that faced the direction that the Major was advancing on them from.

"Don't you worry," he said with resolve. "I will never let anyone hurt you as long as I breathe, dong ma?"

He pointed inside the vent.

"I won't fit in there, but can you?" he asked. "It would be better if I know he can't get to you without going through me first. It could just be a place to hide or a way to head off towards the ship. Can you do that?"
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Ariel Duquesne
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Aerial Artist with 'tude
Electrical Hub Inside Ventilation/Service Tunnels

Darren must have either not heard her beg for him to leave her to her own devices or was deep in thought. After all, she would feel devastated if Darren got hurt and now she had a chance to act upon her concerns.

While Darren looked at the control panels, she turned towards the vents nearby. She looked at him with a warm goodbye expression on her face as she began to head out and away from him.

She wasn't going to get him killed. She would never forgive herself. For some reason, when it came to him, she cared.

Like she really, really cared what happened to him. It was an emotion quite foreign to her and she was scared even more with the situation.

First Amber, now Darren. What was happening. Was she forming bonds with individual folks?

She hoped not. People she got close to tended to die.

Violently.

And there was nothing she could ever do about it.
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Brandon Hicks
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There was no sitting across from Ian, observing him with a accurate consideration. There was no way he could detect primary flaws in tones, expressions, and body movement. Amidst the tight squeeze and rising panic held at bay, there really was no sure way to determine the man's sincerity or not. Hopefully him vouching for the guy to their Captain didn't come back and bite him on the ass.

"Freedom!" he shouted, squirming his way out from the vents exit at last. He came to an immediate stand and began pacing, stretching, and breathing heavily in gratitude for the release. "Never again," he said, wiping heavy sweat from his face. "Never, ever, ever, ever again!"

"Let's just hurry up and get ourselves to the ship, pronto."
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