[IC] Grim Galaxy: Shots and Chances

[Penny]

Sayeeda reacted by instinct, on her own account she was not one to watch a child be beaten or killed by an armored man, but Neil’s action removed and need for consideration. Aiding a friend in a brawl wasn’t something she needed to think about. With scarcely a heart beats pause she stamped her boot down, trapping the bouncing brass casing beneath her boot. She blew out another stream of smoking, mingling with the gun smoke. Roaring with anger the masked tough jumped to his feet, glaring hatefully after the retrating boy. Balked of that prize he turned in anger towards the three spacers. Taya tensed but Junebug put a hand on her knee beneath the table and continued to smoke.

“Was that your doing?” the man snarled, his consanants grinding and choppy. He evidently wasn’t human, or if he was he had suffered extensive damage to his throat at some point.

“Was what our doing?” Sayeeda asked her tone bored and disinterested. She deliberately wafted smoke in the mans direction.

“I didn’t see any doing,” Neil protested innocently.

“Listen space heads someone shot the leg from my chair, do you think I’m blind?!” he made a gestured at the holstered gun slung over the back of Sayeeda’s chair.

“Either blind or stupid,” Sayeeda retorted with a laugh. She pointed at the pistol without moving to draw it.

“This is clearly a plasma pistol, and as your chair isn’t on fire…”

“You would have me believe you are blameless!” the thug roared, for all his anger he hadn’t yet made a move for a weapon which was a very good thing because given how fast Neil was it was going to be the very last thing he and his pretty jacket ever did.

“There is only one possible conclusion,” Taya said unexpectedly, the helmeted head pivoted to regard the blond girl as she sat primly upright.

“And what is that little slut,” the bravo rasped. Taya ignored the insult and leaned forward conspiratorially.

“The kind must have back up,” she whispered seriously.

“I’ll bet he has a pint sized sniper concealed in those bushes!” It really wasn’t a smart move but Sayeeda burst into full throated laughter at the unexpected quip feeling the tension of long days in the RIP ebb in the moment. The stranger not sharing her amusement reached for a weapon. There was a sudden and unmistakable sound of a large caliber round being chambered. Everyone froze.

“I am sorry for the interruption good sir and madams,” came an accented voice from behind the belligerent man. Between the four principals and the bar stood a man dressed in a dirty chefs smock and a pair of pantaloons. He was fat and hairy and he looked as though he were sweating from the effort of moving as fast as he evidently had. A battered fez with a golden tassel hung over his head and he would have looked completely ridiculous were it not for the fact that he held a truly massive shotgun leveled at the masked man. It must have been a rocket gun of some sort because a breach that big was impractical for a man to fire without at least powered armor to soak the recoil.

“Management reserves the right to refuse service,” the fellow said in his thick accent, twitching the barrel to indicate the man should leave.

“I am Xir son of Xzdir and I will not forget this insult,” he grated raspily through the rebreather. Junebug’s blood burned with adrenilne and the desire for action, she badly wanted to take all the frustraton and fear of the last few days out on this idiot but she held herself back. Instead she leaned slightly to the side picking up her plate and holding it out to the side.

“What are you doing?!” the Xir roared his eyes flicking between the chef and the three Highlanders.

“Well I haven’t quite finished yet,” she pointed out reaonsabley waggling the plate in slight emphasis.

“I dont want to get pieces of Xir son of whoever the fuck in it if this all goes sideways.”

Neil and Taya both snorted with laughter and the grinding of Xir’s teeth was almost audible.

“You haven’t heard the last of me,” Xir promised darkly. Junebug made a flicking motion with her free hand. The big man turned to go but the chef held up a finger and waggled it.

“Ah my friend, it is a hot day, perhaps you best leave the coat,” the chef said, though his voice and tone fooled nobody. Xir froze and the rage coming of him was an almost physical thing. The threat hung their for a long moment as Xir weighed his options.

“You cannot rob me in broad daylight merchant,” Xir ground.

“Ah, but it not robbery, it is a recompense for threatening my sons life and as for cannot… either take of the coat or step to the side so that I am not force to ruin the ladys’ kinshana. He punctuated the remark by raking the slide back and chambering another round in the vast gun. Xir pulled his coat off and tossed it to the ground with a snarl. He wore a powered exosuit of unfamiliar design, made of greenish black plasteel.

“I will not forget this!” he blustered and stormed off. The chef watched him go for a long moment before laying the gun on the table and picking up the coat. Without concern he tossed it to a quizzical looking Neil.

“My friends I owe you a great debt!” the fellow said, smiling like the sun rise before clapping his palms together and bowing from the waist. Conversation began to pick up as people returned to their meals. Sayeeda’s body buzzed like live circuit she was hyped up from the confrontation without any opportunity to burn the adrenaline in action. Right now she had a powerful urge to fuck something or kill someone, or maybe she could settle for getting really really drunk.

“I am Amir son of Hamesh and I say that it is so!” he raced back to the bar and reached over it, giving them an unpleasant view of his pantaloons and their none too tightly sinched belt. A moment later he emerged with a clay vessel of glazed brown pottery. The cork came out with a musical pop and he whisked away their glasses tossing their palm wine out on the floor.

“You do not drink that camels piss,” he declared and filled their glasses from the vessel. It smelled vaguely of currents and was clear as pure water though the fumes coming off it stung Sayeeda eyes. She picked up the glass and tossed it back, expecting a harsh spirit but it went down smooth and cool as ice. If Amir objected to what must have been very fine liquor being treated that way he didn’t show it, refilling her glass with the same graceful enthusiasm.

“If there is anything you need you just ask Amir,” he said earnestly. Sayeeda cocked her head in the general direction of the departed Xir.

“Do you get alot of that kind of thing?” she asked. Amir made a pwash sound and flicked a hand dismissively.

“No, there are treasure hunters in town, every few year there are rumors that the Treasure of Hutan Shah has been found and the fools go out in their hundreds to look for it.”

[POOHEAD189]

"If it's so dangerous, why do people keep looking for the treasure?" Neil asked Amir before the man could depart. He spun and chortled at the question, holding his plump belly much akin to a beached seal. "Oh! The Treasure is likely real enough. But it lies across the desert of Rimbala, where the Dune Serpents dwell. You cannot find it in a space ship, no. Rumor says it lies in canyons of rock and obsidian, and even greater dangers lurk there!"

"Why do you say it's real?" Taya asked, eyes round as saucers, her hands curled into fists of excitement, pressing to her lips as she looked to the man.

"Oh, Hahn was founded by thieves!" He exclaimed. "The story goes that the famous thief Hutan Shah stole a treasure ship from the Imperium centuries ago and crashed here, though he was taken and devoured by the denizens of the Rimbala crags. Ever since, men and Xenos have come to look for it. But they all die, yes they do! Trade is far safer and more lucrative, anyway. Why go treasure seeking when you can make credits here and sit on your butt, eh?"

"Maybe we're just adrenaline junkies." Neil said, and though Amir laughed, Junebug and Taya could tell Neil was telling the truth. "Amir, I would like to find a place to stay in the city. Could you help me with that?" Neil asked, and to his surprised Junebug stepped forward and said she would join him, a look in her eye that showed she was spoiling for something rough no matter what that meant.

"Oh yes, my friends! Go and find my contact Salim Daleeb in the center of town. You cannot miss him. He is the one with the pink turban. Housing, maps, food, delectable music or company. He will explain everything." Amir said, giving a big smile and waving them off with a friendly gesture. That answer satisfied Neil.

"I think I'll stay with the ship." Taya said, drawing confused looks from the other two. Neil furrowed his brow. "I thought you were scared of Saxon." he said. She nodded. "I am, but less so now that I know all he wants to kill is you." The look on Neil's face was beyond humorous to Taya, and she laughed. "Also, I have Lonney there and I can watch the ship and keep it locked. You guys don't get into too much trouble."

Junebug grinned and Neil looked unconvinced at their ability to follow that advice.

---

"Yes yes, what you need, Salim Daleeb got! Because Salim Daleeb is the greatest merchant in the quadrant, I do be do, be he!" the extravagantly dressed man exclaimed, his Pink turban like a beacon amid the crowd, even with how short the man was. His vest was bright crimson and blue, and when he smiled, they could see every other tooth was made of either gold or ivory. "Special sale today! Maps, maps, map! Come and get the maps of the Rimbala desert!"

Neil didn't know why the man was acting as if he had a crowd. Only he and Junebug were there, the woman still on edge and looking as if she wanted to shoot him or make trouble. Neil raised an eyebrow, nodding as if to exude 'why not' and he said. "Sure, we'll take a map. That and we need a room."

"A room? Travelers yes? Supplies do you need?" he said, his interest twinkling in his mad eyes. He smiled widely, looking the two up and down like a jackal surveying the carrion. "What of parts for a ship, or do you need a new one? A two bath or one bath, two beds or one? Will you wish the service of a eunech slave or shall I-"

Junebug grabbed the man by the throat, shutting off his tirade and lifting him up to her height, her eyes boring into his with barely suppressed energy. He grabbed at her wrist, unable to properly speak. She gave a smile that showed her teeth. "Will you allow us to speak?" she asked him. He nodded hurriedly, as energetic in his silence as he was in his babbling. On the bright side, after that show of force they had very little trouble in haggling with him, and he wished to be done with them by the end, so low were the prices that were now set. The map had been uploaded to the Highlander before the sun had set.

Down three dusty roads, past carts being moved by unknown, horned beasts of burden that looked like a spliced crossbreed between a large lizard and an oxen, and into an alleyway with dried blood on the wall, smeared and scattered like the wound of a slug autogun shot where the exit wound was far larger than the entrance one. Two doors down was the apartment that they apparently had for the next few says. The door looked simple enough, thin wood with various cuts across it, attached to a wall of hardened clay and mortar.

Inside, it looked far cozier than what they had expected. It was no Palace, but the red carpet on the floor was quite soft, with a comfortable bed in the main bedroom and a guestroom across the hall. The living quarters held a stocked kitchen, though the food was likely very bland and the water less than filtered. There was even a run down, archaic looking console that Neil knew how to handle, and could even contact the Highlander in case the need arose.

Junebug still looked fired up, her fists clenching and unclenching. "No trouble all day." Junebug sighed. Neil looked at her, and he realized he needed to let out some energy too. He suddenly pushed her. "You are really tense." He laughed, after he had placed his items down. "You know we haven't tussled since Aiden's." he said, and he leapt back, lifting his fist in a guard position, ducking and weaving to further emphasize the point. "Yeah?" The room was far less stuffy than the Highlander, and the carpet was still noticeably very soft. "No?"

He stopped. "Wait...was it Aidens?"
@Penny

[Penny]

Junebug laughed and swatted at Neil half heartedly. The pilot danced back evading the blow without effort and continuing to duck and weave dramatically. She crossed to a small side board of hand carved rosewood. The piece was very impressive, clearly old and hand carved, it would have fetched a fine price on more civilized worlds where art had more value than the merely utilitarian. She opened the cabinet and lifted out a dark green bottle with a long neck and a spherical bulb for a bottom. She pulled the cork and sniffed it, it was sharp, acrid and clearly alcoholic. She tossed the bottle to Neil who snagged it from the air with characteristic grace, then retrieve a second bottle, this one squarish with a glass stopper and took a long drink from the neck. The bottles were sufficiently fancy that she could at least hope they didn’t turn out to be furniture polish.

The afternoon was beginning to fade to evening and the first of Hahn’s three moons was rising in the west. The heat, baked into the rocks by the days sun, had yet to fade though a cool breeze was blowing now that made it seem ten degrees cooler. She started out of the elaborately arched window, watching the crowds flow back and forth, the locals seemed to be heading towards evening meals and the spacers were as chaotic as ever. She wanted another cigar even though that meant spending a cycle in the medicomp to repair her lung capacity. Perhaps once it was full dark they would go out and see what they could find.

“A lot of shit went down,” she said forthrightly turning to look at Neil who had ceased capering and was sniffing suspiciously at his own bottle.

“You have yet to tell me the story with Saxon and Sven, and we should figure out what we are going to do with them.” Junebug didn’t doubt that they could abandon the pair on Hahn when they were ready to go but she wasn’t sure what Neil wanted to do.

“We have repairs to make on the ship and we have almost no money,” Junebug went on. She wasn’t exactly worried about that, people with weapons and the will to use them seldom went hungry, but it was something to think about.

“Then there are the Terrans and everything that happened with that,” she deliberately didn’t mention Woods or the fact that they probably had a massive bounty on their heads. She dimly regretted not launching a couple of torpedos inside the hangar of the November Sky, but there hadn’t been time to think about it at the time.

“I…” she trailed off, uncertain of how to proceed, then took a drink and forged ahead.

“I ran myself through the medicomp shortly after we got away, my cortisol and epinephrine is way up and i’ve added muscle mass. My synapses are ten percent above the last scan I had before Dar’mond too. I think the Terrans did something to me while I was in their med bay but the medicomp doesn't know what. I feel hyped up, like all the fucking time.” That wasn’t the only thing, her emotional control wasn’t as sharp as she would like, but there was no reason to worry Neil more than she had too. Shaking her head, she took another swallow of the liquor. It was way too sweet, as seemed to be the custom, maybe they could get some decent booze when they went out also.

“Goddess don’t look at me like I’m dying, I just want to tear someone’s head off slightly more than usual,” she said at the concerned look on Neil’s face. Outside came a few scattered cracks of gunfire, though it sounded more like the disorganized fun of a bunch of people with firearms than anything to worry about. Sayeeda made a dismissive gesture with the neck of her bottle.

“Staff meeting alright, we need to get our heads on right and figure out what the fuck we are doing here.”

[POOHEAD189]

After Neil had designated that the bottle was not filled with cleaner, he took a few good swigs and decided that the 'balls deep' approach was the way to go. He was not in the mood for being anything but blunt when it came to himself or his wants at the moment, so he simply sat down and drank to his hearts content. Though as he listened to Junebug, he did grow to worry. Apparently it was written clear as day on his face and he chuckled in embarrassment.

"As long as you're ok, and you're not bullshitting to get out of it." he said, pointing a finger at her. "Though you do look a little younger. And you're usually pretty sexy but right now you look sexy as hell. Also I'm going to change the subject now."

"By what you mean with Saxon and Sven, you mean when you were knocked out?" Neil asked. He bit his tongue, remembering that he had announced to himself that he had romantic feelings for Sayeeda, thinking she was dying and wondering why he chose to stay rather than run away from his problems like he often did. He gulped down the last bit of the bottle of...whatever this drink was and he tossed the empty bottle out the window to shatter into the alleyway. It had dried blood and rocks, what was some glass?

"I caught you in the MH-350 before you hit the ground and booked it out of the fight. I went down two alleys, trying to be as careful as I could be with you but...I might have bruised your ribs a bit more." he was sitting forward now, elbows on his knees and hands on his face, rubbing it. "You were out like a light so I put you in the cockpit and I killed our pursuers a bit less gracefully than I usually do. I found Sven and Saxon at the rendezvous point."

"Didn't I get a medi pack? I vaguely remember that." Sayeeda replied.

"Yeah, Saxon gave it to you." Neil said, yawning. She looked at him incredulously, obviously confused on why the Xenos would help her way back then when he was basically still a foe. Neil looked at Junebug and paused. "I um..." he began, trying to find the words. "He knew that the only way I'd move was if you were ok enough to do so too."

He shrugged, leaning back and looking away to defuse the moment. "And that was when Taya called us and told us about the Terrans and, well, you have the rest."

"So," he began, trying to change the subject yet again. By the Gods this woman could shake his entire foundation with only a look. "I say we have one of three options for what we're doing tonight." He still hadn't looked back at her. "We can either steal for money, go treasure hunting, or break the Highlander apart for parts but I'm not for the last option, and I'm thinking you aren't either. So I guess we'll need to brave the dangers of whatever-the-fuck."
@Penny

[Penny]

“Neil,” Sayeeda said with a smile, “we both know that we are going to go treasure hunting.” She drained the remainder of the bottle in a single long pull and then tossed it onto the bed. It bounced once and came to rest. There was nothing else in the side board. She felt her face harden.

“And no we aren’t going to break the ship up,” she said flatly. The Highlander was all she owned in the universe. It represented a decade of mud and blood and death that she had waded through. Friends had died around her, many on her orders, others because she hadn’t been quite quick enough or quite good enough. Neil’s face had blanked and Sayeeda coughed in embarassment.

“Sorry I was thinking of something else,” she cleared her throat.

“Anyway I don’t remember much of what happened after I got blown up. Its uhh… less of a new experience than I would like.” That was unfortunately true, she had proably used more in discretionary medical spending than most people made in their entire lifetime.

“No what I meant was, you told me that you would fill me in on the backstory with you and Saxon and Sven,” she clarified. Her emotions seemed settled now.

“You obviously had dealings in the past, but we are going to need something to drink before you tell me.”

[POOHEAD189]

"...You know what, you're right." he said. "On both counts. Treasure and...we need something strong to drink. No, I need something strong to drink if I am going to tell you what happened with the two of them." Neil got up sluggishly and scratched his head. He didn't know what was weirder, the fact he was being really awkward, the fact she didn't notice, or the fact they were about to get hammered while talking about his illustrious past.

"Let's go babe." he said. She pushed him playfully and they headed out, both making sure they had their sidearms on them just in case. The alleyway was quiet, but there was some light-hearted commotion coming from the center of town. "So we're going to grab a few bottles and head back?" Neil asked. "I'm not the biggest fan of loud noises at the moment, and I don't think drinking will help me out in that aspect."

"Yeah, we'll see what they have here. It better be stronger than the concentrated sugar we've been guzzling." Sayeeda said flippantly. They turned the corner to see the center of town where Salim Daleeb had been hours ago, to see a few people mingling and some backalley deals being made outside of an alley, and a dancer or two. But the main commotion was coming in from the northeastern section of the square, where a plain looking two story structure bustled with activity and music.

"Well, if we're getting drinks anywhere, it'll be there." Neil said.

They stepped inside the establishment, suddenly flooded by multicolored lights that were dulled by heavy lenses, with men and Xenos crowding around, laughing and drinking. Some were doing a strange game where they held one another by the ankles upside down to dunk their heads in buckets of what Neil assumed to be some form of alcoholic drink. Normally he'd be game, but instead he decided to head to the bar counter.

"Yes, friend? How may we help you here?" the bartender said, a fine looking, dark skinned man with a wide, pleasant smile. Neil smiled back to him. "What is your selection sir. I'm from off planet, you see."

Sayeeda would feel a strong grip fall in her shoulder, and she would be roughly spun about to see the faceless helm of Xir, having melded into the crowd and waited for her back to be turned at the right moment. He gave a distorted laugh through his rebreather. "I see you're here for a night on the town, eh?" he asked, a short electro-baton in his free hand. To his complete surprise, Junebug lifted her knee to block his forearm, then kicked his wrist to knock the baton out of his hand, spun and used the same foot in a roundhouse kick that cracked his helm and caused him to stagger back. Precious nitrogen spurted out of his helm, and he paniced in fear as he searched for some plastcrete to place over it.

He managed to save himself, but not before Junebug set to beating the ever living daylights out of him. She didn't want murder on her hands, but everywhere there wasn't a life support system, she crushed with brutal strikes that had the crowd cringing. Neil watched, unimpressed at first (since he expected Sayeeda to beat him regardless) but growing more and more aroused as she continued curbstomping Xir, Neil's mouth hanging open. It was when she was done and standing over the Xenos triumphantly that he realized he needed to turn around, lest she look back at him and look below the belt.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh," Neil said, trying to draw the flustered part of him out by taking a deep breath. "what was the selection again, good sir?" He asked the now frightened bartender. The man's eyes had been glued to Junebug, but he looked back to Neil and nodded. "Uh, yes, something strong yes?"

Minutes later they had exited the bar, eight bottles of Rimbalian Ale between them. From inspection it seemed fine. It burned going down but it felt very fortifying, and the common spices on Hahn placed within added a hint of tang instead of taking up the entirety of the flavor. Neil closed the door behind them, and they both sat on the couch. Sayeeda kicked her feet up on the table, taking a bottle and popping the cork.

"Ok, your Captain has ordered you to tell her about your past with our new friends." She said, leaning her head back and taking a swig that Neil could never hope to match unless he was already drunk.

"Can't disobey orders, can I?" Neil said, getting comfortable next to her and looking up at the ceiling, taking swigs every of often. "Well... when I left Fortus I had nothing but my Valk. I went to work for a few mechanic shops as a wrench monkey. Nothing too fancy. I just didn't realize that most mechanic shops on the station of 04L215 were in the illegal arms trade. Well I started doing errands for them and I was already in a bit too deep to back out in any real way."

"Then I met Sven, who unbeknownst to me at the time, was the head of the entire syndicate of the BSO, Black Shadow Organization, which dealt with all of the illegal arms trade and took cuts out of each sale. Well, I did do a few...underhanded things myself. I almost wrecked the station with my Valk, and Sven gave me a way out. I could help him, or have every gun running after me. So I did. And well, what he wanted me to do was get back at a planetary Governor that had double crossed him in the past, because Sven used to be a planetary governor until a major coup. So he had me go and just...ruin this guy's summer. So I went there, banged his wife, and stole a ship, leaving my Valk behind unfortunately. Turns that the governor hired a bounty hunter, Saxon, to go after me. But it also turns out, that the ship I stole was Saxon's so you could say I had a head start."

Neil laughed. "I moved around a few years after that, running from Saxon and using Sven as a contact, fighting as a merc or mechanic, or an illegal courier... until I met you. And the rest is history."
@Penny

[Penny]

Sayeeda nodded, imagining a younger Neil flitting about in a web of underworld conspiracies. It wasn't too difficult considering that was basically what he was doing now. Junebug didn't consider herself to be a criminal but it seemed that opinion was increasingly in opposition to the main body of thought on the topic.

"Well given how badly Saxon seems to want to kill you, I suspect you might still be leaving some of the good bits out," she commened, falling back on the plush bed and letting her shoulder length hair fan out behind her. It was longer now than it had been at any time since her first day of officer training, she really ought to cut it. The Rimbalian Ale was a pleasant warmth in her stomach and she felt as calm and relaxed as she had in a long time. That was a little scary when she let herself think about it. Plenty of soldier got so hooked on the violent part of their work that they could never really reenter normal society. If one of her troopers had been arrested for beating someone to a pulp in a bar it would have made her wonder if he had started down that path. The guy had been threatening her with a shock baton but it still wasn't a comfortable thought.

Neil had fallen silent and lain back on the bed so that their heads were upside down to each other. She wondered if he was thinking about Woods. It was hard to know with men what they might brush off and what they might take to heart. The air was pleasantly sultry and the buzz of the street outside was a dull roar. Junebug's hands hurt from the pounding she had given Xir, she wondered if it might not have been better to kill him. The next time they met he might just try shooting her in the back. A wolfish grin tugged at her lips. Well he might be thinking the same thing about her just now. A thought occurred to her and she realized that Neil certainly knew more about Saxon and Hexagalions than she did.

"Neil, do you have any idea why Saxon's throat keeps sort of flushing red?" she asked. Neil sat up so quickly that she half rolled out of the bed, her hand unconciously questing for a weapon, but there was no threat, Neil merely looked shocked. He cleared his throat several times before he managed to stammer.

"Ummm... well...look I'm not a xenobiologist but I'm pretty sure thats how they... you know... show they are interested."

"Interested in wha..." the words died in her throat and inspite of herself she felt a blush steal over her olive skin.

"Ah."

[POOHEAD189]

If Sayeeda looked stunned, Neil looked mortified. He didn't know if it was the booze, the tiredness, or the air on the new planet they just arrived on after having flown for three days but he...somehow couldn't process the information smoothly. He was going to give her a bit more backstory on how he screwed over Saxon a few times in their game of cat and mouse but, this new information dawning and the red in Junebug's cheeks. He had a 404 blue screen error.

He stumbled off the bed, his back crashing into the wall as his breathing grew labored. Calm down, you're having a panic attack and can't function properly. She's looking at you. Sayeeda was, up and face worried like Neil had been hit by a sniper from one of the windows. "What?" she demanded, standing up and rushing to him, though she could see nothing had hit him. He wouldn't speak immediately, instead stumbling away from her. "Neil, what?"

"Anyone but him. Not him." was all he could muster, until he realized he was acting crazy. It had to be R.I.P. nerves one got after having been in the void for so long, but that didn't little to help him. He suddenly yelled, his voice cracking. "I'm tired of this shit! I'm..." He suddenly looked less like a cornered animal, and more like a wounded one. "I'm sorry about Woods." the pilot breathed. "Look I only got with her because she reminds me of you, ok?"

He was beginning to talk rapidly, as if her look was as intimidating as being interrogated in a system precinct. "I like you, alright? Like...romantically. And if you don't like that, that's fine. But not Saxon. That is totally something my head cannot wrap around and the image is in my head and I don't know how to get it out. You are badass and beautiful. I've had a thing for you since Fornax and I never said anything because we piss off space Gods for a living and my first girlfriend is fucking dead. I just never thought that my worst enemy would like you but if I have to fight him I will. I'm just..."

He blinked, looking at his hands with wide eyes, as if he just committed a murder. "I just did something stupid, didn't I?" He asked. The silence was deafening, and he placed his hand over his eyes and sighed loudly. He didn't know what he would do next, though he'd calmed. "I think I'll just uh, sleep in the other room alright? Ok cool."
@Penny

[Penny]

The liquor must have been stronger than Sayeeda had thought. Her lips moved but no sound came out of her mouth. Emotions surged and eddied. Saxon was interested in her? Neil had feelings for her. Woods had been some sort of rebound for him? The idea that he would somehow fight Saxon for her tinged the whole cocktail with a touch of hysteria. She remembered their very short lived date back on Dar’mond, it hadn’t really had a chance to go anywhere, Aiden had arrested her before the evening really started.

“Neil I…” but he was already heading into the other room clearly embarrassed by his outburst. He grabbed another bottle and pulled the cork with his teeth.

“Neil I’m not going to sleep with Saxon… I mean if that is a thing that Hexs do.” She wasn’t certain if Hexs worked in a way mammals would appreciate. The whole evening was rapidly spinning out of control.

“I’m certainly not going to sleep with anyone that might be planning on killing you… I mean…” she trailed off uncertain of exactly how she wanted to finish the sentence. It was a confusing mass of feeling emotions and imperatives. Neil was alot of things, including her first officer. Instincts that had been drilled into her for years told her that opening the door on a relationship with her first officer was a terrible idea.

“Look, I need some air,” she finished uncertainty before pushing her way through the beaded curtain and heading out into the street. There were still crowds moving about from the bazaar, spacers and citizens returning from bars and clubs or just heading out to them. Without particular bias as to direction she struck out down the street, she pulled a cigarette from her pocket and tried to spark it to life. It took her three tries to get the strike plate to click and then it fizzled and failed to ignite. Hissing in frustration she pitched it into an alley.

Without any plan whatsoever she walked through the bizarre, slowly making her way up the canyon towards the sections of the city not frequented by spacers. The women she saw grew more conservatively dressed and the mismatched garb of sailors was replaced with the cotton garments of the locals. Slaves grew more numerous as well, though they kept their eyes down cast and didn’t trouble her. Her thoughts spun in confused half circles as she reached the Pasha’s palace, sectioned off by a wall that was carved with ornate scrollwork and well tended gardens.

She stopped walking, trying to decide what she was going to do about Neil. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the turbaned official who had greeted them at the Highlander. He walked stiffly with another man in the traditional cotton garb. Walked very stiffly. He had a gun to his ribs. She walked over towards the two men as they disappeared into an alley. She stepped into the darkness behind them.

The alley ran down between two sandstone buildings, there were no windows or doors at the ground level though narrow arching windows could be seen higher up. Piles of trash, old cardboard cartons and wooden crates were stacked along both sides, restricting the walkway to a narrow strip of foot polished stone. The only light was the starlight that filtered in from above and the reflected splendor of the palace.

“I swear by the suns I don’t have what you want, I cant, I have tried…” the turbaned man was saying, he was sweating profusely as his assailant pinned him against a wall. Although the attacker wore the traditional garb and turban, Junebug’s keen eye detected the tell tale bulge of body armor beneath it.

“I am not a man of letters and I am not a…” whatever else the official might not be Junebug never found out as something hard and dense cracked over the back of her head, sending her tumbling into unconsciousness.

[POOHEAD189]

Neil had to drink some more to calm his nerves. "I can;t believe you just said all that shit." he muttered to himself after Junebug had left. He poured the bottle into half a glass and chugged it, placing it down on the standing table with a 'clap.' "What were you thinking? You know she wasn't going to do anything with Saxon." He felt a very unnerving chill run up his spine and he visibly shuddered at the very mental image.

"Fuck, I hate that talking dinosaur." he admitted, clenching his fist. He closed his eyes and let himself calm down for a minute, playing the scene of him professing feelings to Sayeeda in his head over and over, realizing how stupid he was. He needed to make it right and tell her he was bullshitting. They would both know he wasn't, but he was professional enough to pretend until the problem went away. It's what he had been doing, after all!

A minute after Junebug left, he sighed and followed after her, trying to catch up with a jog as he made it into the central area of town. He could barely see the top of her hair, gliding into an alleyway across the way. He had always been nimble and quiet, and most people wouldn't understand how well someone could both run, and dodge people, while being silent at the same time. He used his skill and made his way through the crowd, leaping off concrete surfaces like the side of the central fountain and slipping through groups of people to make it to where Junebug was.

She was gone...

Neil looked every which way, not understanding where she could be. Until he heard hushed voices, and the telltale sound of dragging feet down another few alleyways. Neil sprinted, taking his gun out. He was tipsy but still crisp enough to shoot a fly out of the air if he needed to. He arrived at the alley she had been taken in only moments too late, seeing her being carried into the door of a nondescript structure by a street tough and a military looking man who led him.

"What in the fuck?" he breathed, lifting his gun. He squinted, trying to figure out what was going on. He needed another way in...
@Penny

[Penny]

Junebug had taken more blows to the head in her career than most and either hard experience, or her recent Terran enhancements bought her back to consciousness more awake and alert than might otherwise have been the case. She kept her eyes closed shaming unconsciousness until she could figure out just what the hell was going on. A man was carrying her and her hands had been bound behind her back, likely with binders of improvised plastic tie downs judging by the way the bit into her wrist.

“I swear I do not know her!” the turbaned official was bleating, “she is a starship captain, that is all, I did not hire her!” They were ascending a steep set of stairs, twisting up the spiral every few feet or so.

“If you are trying to double cross me, Acmed, I swear by the suns I will decorate the city with your entrails.” The voice was unfamiliar to Sayeeda but gravelly and authoritative. She peered through slitted eyes, though all she saw was the back of a staircase, her head throbbed painfully but the fog of booze was gone, burned off by the adrenaline that pumped through her.

“We should kill her, just to be safe,” the man carrying her declared in an oily accent that Junebug thought was probably local. She tried not to tense but she was ready to kick off the wall and try to break the man's neck while they tumbled down the stairs rather than be executed without a fight.

“It would raise suspicion, plus look at her, she will fetch a pretty price in the slave market at Dal Shem,” the leader replied. They passed through a door and the hot desert wind told her that they were on the roof of the building. Through slitted eyes she could see a small rooftop garden. An aircar sat parked in the center of a paved square, presumably provided for the purpose. It was an industrial model without frills and open topped. Without ceremony she was slung into the back seat and the security harness was locked around her chest. If her hands were free it would have been simple to release, but bound as she was it was as secure as anything her captors might have used. Both men climbed into the car.

“You have twelve hours to get me what I want,” the leader called to the bureaucrat, Achmed she presumed. The air cars fans spun to life.

“After that you can discuss things with the Pasha, I’m sure his torturers will believe your side of the story.”

With that the fans roared to full power and the aircar lifted away into the hot desert night.

[POOHEAD189]

As Neil had rounded the house in his mad search to get in, he was lucky enough to see them exited above his level still carrying a limp Junebug. One looked to be a local and the others... He didn't care, he just needed to rescue her. At that thought he stopped, realizing how different this was. Usually she wasn't the one that ever needed rescuing. It was weird. But everyone was vulnerable once or twice in their lives.

Neil followed behind the men like a shadow, always too far behind to get in a shot that he couldn't make sure wouldn't hit Sayeeda. His adrenaline was pumping from his earlier confession and now this warped scenario he was certain the Gods had conjured up just to mess with him further. He vaulted a sandstone fence and entered the garden where the men placed Sayeeda into a readied aircar. "Oh fuck, no no no!" he said to himself, silently as he could.

As the vehicle sped away, Neil nearly took a shot at the vehicle. But he realized it would give away the fact someone was planning on chasing them. He simply prayed she was kept alive. "Taya" he breathed into the comm. There was slight static until her tired voice appeared. "Hmmmwhat?" Neil expected that he might have woken her. He didn't have time to apologize at the moment. "Taya I-..." he stopped.

"Scan the city. I need you to tell me where Sven is."

"Scan? How do I do that?"

"You go into the cockpit and pull the third lever on the left, and then a set of commands will pick up on the display. Choose the third option, and then turn on the sublight engines for a minute. You'll see energy signatures on the radar. Understand?" he asked her. He could hear her shuffling in the background, moving to the cockpit. "Yeah, I got you. Where's Junebug?"

"She's sleeping." Neil said, and he made a ridiculious gesture and then pressed his fingers into his face, trying to convince himself that he did the right thing by not completely lying to her. He knew the Highlander didn't fly well at the moment and wouldn't be able to get to her, and he couldn't bear to look at that 4 faced Xenos at the moment. But if Sven could be located, he would know all of the dives in the town already, or would be able to at least tell Neil where he could get an aircar. He was so very glad he had installed the energy tracker into the Highlander. Any cyborg that matched Sven's signature would be found in moments.

"...Uh, it shows there's something in subsector 14 on the radar."

Neil breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok good, that's less than half a click from here. Thank you Taya."

"Nothing, everything is fine." Neil said quickly and turned the comm off. He stuffed the comm into his pocket so he wouldn't hear anything else in case she called back. There was no need to worry her when Neil had every intention of finding these fuckers and making them pay, after making sure Junebug was safe. Honestly, he felt worse for the guys who took her. Likely they'd be dead and she would be armed by the time he found them.

Still, he wasn't about to take chances and vaulted out of the garden area and into the streets, running through the alleys and streetways, trying to find the building or area where Sven was. "Come on, you're not that hard to lose" Neil said, vividly remembering the man's otherworldly height and wild, nordic hair and beard. Neil went with his instincts and stuck to the alleyways, and he was rewarded for his efforts when he found the cyborg after fifteen minutes of frantic search.

"Ew," were the first words out of his mouth, rather than the "I need help" because as he turned the corner, he found the cold man working upon someone's opened skull, the corpse or body...Neil could not begin to know if the man was alive, was upon a rundown, dark chair that was hyked up to its tallest measurement at the base of the chair. Sven did not even look Neil's way, simply grabbing another cruel-looking tool out of his jacket. "What do you want?" Sven asked.

"Who is that?"

"A customer."

Neil shuddered a second time, then realized he didn't have much more time to dwaddle. "I need an aircar or a hoverbike. Anything mechanical even, but Junebug's been taken. I need one now." Sven lightly placed a small, purified motherboard chip into the man's skull, the tiny pincers along its bottom sparking with electricity.

"The building behind me." Sven said, gravelly voice as unnerving as ever, even with good news. "The second floor, there is transportation for you." He began to hammer something into the local man's inner skull with surgical precision, and the body's limbs jerked at every knock. Neil had to wonder what he was doing to the man, and just what kind of transportation could be above the ground floor.

Neil backed up and began to ready himself to leap up there, until he stopped. "Oh, don't tell anyone I told you she's in trouble, ok?"

Sven looked at him for the first time. "Do I look like I care?"

"...good point." Neil replied, before eyeing the wall and sprinting at it, pressing his right foot to it and kicking off to the mirroring wall, kicking off once more to grabbing the bottom part of the upper window. He was lucky this town was rundown or he'd have to break a window. Inside looked to be a native, 3rd world office where there was a scattered selection of more advanced equipment mingling with lesser items local to the planet.

Beside the plasma pistol, there was his transportation on the dirt smudged desk. He picked up the item. A flat piece of hardened plasteel with a miniaturized motor beneath it, and gravel-like protrusions to give traction to the rider's feet. Well, it was better than nothing.

"I have not flown in a hoverboard in years."
@Penny

[Penny]

The desert streaked by below them, the rock and sand seeming to glow gold under the bright moonlight. No one spoke so Sayeeda, figuring her ruse would gain her no more information, opened her eyes.

“Where am I? Who are you?” she asked, making a show of tugging at her bonds. The turbaned man was gone, presumably off to do whatever task these men were compelling him to attempt. The city was already vanishing over the horizon. As far as she knew Neil was still back at their rented lodgings, unaware of what had transpired. The armored man, clearly an off worlder, sat beside her, while the local man was in the driver's seat head of them, separated by a sheet of transparent plastic on a metal frame. His skin was bronze from the sun though he had probably been born a paler shade, his head was bald with the recent application of a razor and he kept a goatee that was beginning to get out of control. It gave his already lean head an almost gaunt look. He wore a vest of woven carbon fibre which Junebug translated as ‘light infantry’ but which she knew probably just meant he was in a dangerous line of work. As kidnapping her certainly was.

“My name is Canek,’’ he said pleasantly, “and you are in an air car with me miss…”

“I am Captain Cyckali, what the fuck am I doing here?” Canek relaxed slightly at the words as though she had passed some test she hadn’t been aware off.

“Well Captain, you saw me conducting some sensitive business with the Pasha’s customs inspector. Given that man was about to soil himself before you showed up, I had to reassure him that you weren’t going to be a problem.” The man was infuriatingly calm, Junebug tugged at her restraints but they had done a professional job, she wasn’t going to get loose of them easily.

“Alright, so I’m not a problem, any chance of dropping me back at my ship? I really don’t know or care about anything you have to talk with a customs inspector about.”

Canek looked regretful but shook his head.

“Things are very sensitive right now,” he said with a glance back towards the fading lights of the canyon city.

“I heard some talk of selling me as a slave,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“Ah not as unconscious as you made out, smart,” Canek said with a sharks smile.

“Well I could probably move you I suppose, your pretty enough but your a little old for a harem or a brothel, plus you look like the sort that would be more trouble than they are worth. I don’t care if you slit the throat of some fat merchant but who wants the trouble getting back to them?”

“Well you didn’t kill me so you must have something in mind,”Sayeeda said arching an eyerow. The air car was circling now, there was a small canyon, barely a fissure in the rocky landscape, the vehicle began to drop towards it. They passed within 30 feet of the rock to where it opened out into a large cave. Inside of which men and women were moving around, some of them servicing vehicles, others operating modern communications equipment. There were several light attack vehicles and a heavier hovertank concealed by tarps and tie down. Canek pulled a knife from his belt and held it up before him. After a moment he sliced through her bonds.

“Well Captain, if you can keep your mouth shut for a few days, I thought I’d offer you a job.”

[POOHEAD189]

Neil had made his way out of the smaller alleyways of the city easily enough, traversing through the crowds with a few requisitioned items. He wished it was sunny so he could place on these archaic sunglasses, but alas he'd have to wait until later. That wasn't the important part at the moment anyway.

Neil vaulted over a small sandstone wall, one of the few that stood between him and the open desert. Briefly as he made his way through what he presumed to be people's backyards and private areas, he wondered if he should care that a few of the locals might possibly see a foreign young man trying to make it to the reputably dangerous desert as fast as he could, but he realized he didn't really care. On the last patch of wall he heard an indecipherable call that had to be someone complaining that he was on their property. He paid that no mind as well and simply made it to the sands.

"Ok, haven't done this in awhile." he said, placing the hoverboard on the ground and stepping onto it, aligning his feet just right to fit into the placement grooves. "Alright, now I just need to..." He turned the power on, revving the engine up to 350 pounds of anti-grav pressure upon the sand, and stood up as the board began to hover. He immediately realized he was about to fall backwards and slam into the sand, but the nimble pilot caught himself.

"Yeah that's right bitch." he said, stroking his ego by shit talking an inanimate object that he needed far more than it needed him.

A subtle adjustment of the position of his hips and knees, and the board began to move forward as if riding a wave of air, picking up speed exponentially as Neil leaned forward, hands out and flat to keep himself balanced. If this was an enclosed area, he would be more careful, but the only thing he needed to watch out for here was the rolling dunes that were on the horizon. The ground was relatively flat, and it only took him a short amount of time to pick up the trail of the aircar.

Minutes later, he found large collection of boulders that reached into the sky like a primitive sky scraper or mound, though judging by the way the earth curved inward, there must have been an entrance that led underground. He couldn't see the ripples of sand from the aircar's wake any longer either. "This must be the place." he said, leaning down to shut off the hoverboard. He felt weighted once more, though with a 180* maneuver he spun and landed deftly.

The last thing he expected to see when he peeked in from the dark of the night was Junebug speaking to the one who kidnapped her, unbound. That...made no sense. A part of him wanted to step out now and start firing, but he held himself in check. His curiosity always getting the better of him.
@Penny

[Penny]

Sayeeda peered around at the preparations that were underway. It was a small force but larger than any organized unit she had yet seen on Hahn. Certainly it had more firepower. Her interest was drawn naturally to the fighting vehicles and she ached to give them a once over. Instead she folded her arms across her chest. The proximity to military hardware made her miss her armor at a subconscious level.

“So you are just offering jobs to random people who stumble into alleys?” she asked skeptically. Canek shook his head and tapped her shoulder.

“Well I can still kill you or sell you into slavery if you prefer, but no I recognise the tatoo.” Junebug glanced unconsciously to her right shoulder where three owls were depicted taking flight. The central bird was darker with the others and its eyes were slightly almond shaped like Junebug’s own. The other owls were white and snowy grey.

“I met a woman who had one just like it, well hers had the white owl centrally located,” Canek went on, smiling slightly at Junebug’s evident shock.

“Kyra Ren she called herself, she was running a cavalry squadron on Payson’s world, pulled me out of a few tight spots.” Sayeeda stared into nothingness for a moment assailed by sudden images of the past. Kyra with her mouth open in a scream as she hosed a Shemite position with her plasma cannon. Kyra her blond locks trailing smoke as she stumbled out of her burning vehicle to catch Junebug’s hand. The sound of her laugh as she tossed her last florin into the pot in some card game.

“She told me the story one night when she had too much to drink,” Canek’s voice drew her back to the present.

“Said there were three of you who had the same tat, the Owls of Minerva she said it was, whatever the fuck that means,” Canek paused looking a little concerned.

“Hey you still with me?” he asked. Junebug nodded her head, shaking of the reverie with obvious effort.

“So I figure that even if your hauling freight now you know how to handle yourself. How about it?” he reached out his hand as if to shake hers.

Above on the ridgeline Neil heard a soft clink of metal on stone. Glancing across the opening he could see the dark shapes of men wrapped in the cloth of desert nomads as the crept along the slight depressions worn in the rock by centuries of wind and blown grit. All of the men carried rifles and some had heavier weapons, shoulder mounted rockets or single discharge plasma lances, slong over their backs. They were focused on the opening in the rock and hadn’t spotted the pilot. There were a score or more of them, each moving with the stealth and care of a man born to it.

[POOHEAD189]

Neil's complete confusion on the strange meeting between Sayeeda and Canek was interrupted by the contingent of dervishes that waded across the endless expanse of sand without a word. It was only the fact that Neil had been holding his breath that he could hear them coming. Immediately, he steeled himself and did not move an inch, many years playing the role of thief had trained him that people noticed things with their peripherals more than anything. He could be standing 7 feet from them, and if he did not move and fit in only moderately well with the environment, they would be none the wiser.

Initially Neil thought the newcomers were reinforcements. A small army coming to bolster the army that Canek commanded. But their movements, or the ones that Neil could see out of the corner of his eye, were those of the hunter, not the trusted ally. Gideon be damned, he wished he had brought grenades. His eyes began scanning the surroundings he could work with. The pilot lay atop one of the many boulders that framed the entrance of the base. To his right were more of the same. Crags and boulders jutting out of the rising landscape. Behind him were the dunes of sand, and to his left and front, the base.

The nomads seemed to nearing the completion of their preparations, cocking rifles and fanning out in skirmish formation, the heavy weapons now forming at the center for maximum impact on the unsuspecting base. Neil almost didnt move, but he couldn't leave Sayeeda here. "The things I do for this woman," he breathed, his eyes closed to steel himself for what he was about to go. "Gideon protect me..."

He spun, grabbing his heavy caliber pistol and cocking it in one smooth action, hitting one of the cloaked assassin's in the chest. One who specifically held a rocket launcher. Neil didn't stop, firing into the man until his fourth bullet hit home where he intended it to, and the ordinance loaded within the launcher exploded, igniting the dying man before shattering and sending fire and shrapnel into half a dozen of his fellows.

Neil didn't hesitate, spinning and yanking himself over the crest of the boulder he was on to free fall over a dozen feet into the entrance of the base, tucking in a roll to negate most of the pressure but feeling as if he'd been kicked by Junebug after he made it to his feet. "Get down!" he told them, grabbing Junebug's arm and leaping to the side. Ever quick, Junebug rolled with him and hunkered down at the flank of the rocks as the bullets and lasbolts began to fly.

"Thanks" She told him, and he handed her the plasma gun he had found. "How did you get here?"

"Sven helped. We need to get the hell out of here. C'mon, behind these crates." He whispered, leading her to run in a crouch further within the base as the projectiles were unloaded at the two forces. A small aircar exploded from a launched grenade. He grabbed the hoverboard from his back and held it. "I can get us both out on this if you hold on."

"You have to be kidding me."
@Penny

[Penny]

Sayeeda sprang onto the back of the hoverboard, uncertain exactly how the thing functioned but willing to trust Neil’s expertise in a pinch. She looped an arm around the pilots waist and they began to rise up out of the cave like depression. Canek was a fool to have encamped here without a proper sensor watch. The site offered concealment and cover from the sun but it also gave enemies ample avenues to sneak up and ambush the small force, which was just what they had done.

Neil’s attack had thrown the attackers into confusion, which was a very good thing, because otherwise they might have wiped out Canek’s force at a stroke. As it was they were pouring small arms fire down from the lip of the opening. Sayeeda saw a merc go down, his body riddle with slugs a heart beat before a spurt of blue fire from one of the plasma lances detonated on of the lighter fighting vehicles in a spectacular orange white fireball. The drive fans on the tank were spinning up and the turret was swiveling, though Sayeeda knew that it would never be able to elevate high enough to hit the rim where the enemy were concentrated.

The hoverboard sped upwards through the malestrom. Sayeeda pursed her lips. Fire from either side could bring them down just as easily. The cave system certainly had another exit but she didn’t want to risk her life on the fact that the enemy, whoever they were, hadn’t laid a second ambush there. If it had been her she would have simply placed charges to bring down the rock formation when the quarry tried to escape, trapping them in a kill box. Sayeeda flicked the safety off the plasma gun Neil had given her. Holding it one handed like a pistol, her other arm around Neil’s waist, she blazed away at anything that looked remotely like a target. The rapid fire eroded the barrel and the gun heated to white hot, but this wasn't a time to go easy on the gear . Bullets and plasma blast whipped passed them like hail. Neil was cursing under his breath as he wove a path for them. A bullet hit the end of the board, nearly toppling them over but he fought it back under control and a moment later they burst from the opening like a cork blasting from a bottle of carbonated wine.

Below them Sayeeda could see men firing down into the hole. A few pivoted to follow the hoverboard but the two of them were small fry compared to the main event below. The tank’s gun reached the maximum extent of its elevation and Sayeeda threw a hand over Neil’s eyes and closed her own tightly.

“Hey what the..” There was as rending crash that sounded like mountains screaming as the tanks main gun fired. Its six inch plasma cannon, spurting megajoules of energy into the side of the canyon wall, excavating a massive divet of rock in a blaze of plasma and molten rock. Sayeeda could see the flash even through her closed eyes, and it would have burned her unshielded retina if she hadn’t looked away and closed her eyes. With the dazzling purple after images still dancing she looked down once more. A stretch of rock glowed bright white and the attackers had stopped firing, burned or blinded by the back blast of the plasma cannon even though it hadn’t been able to hit them directly. Sayeeda didn’t like to think about what the blast had done to the mercenaries in the cavern below. Those that hadn’t boarded vehicles or found cover had probably been killed instantly. Even those that had were probably burned or concussed. Sometimes you had to make hard decisions. When the xenos on Benson had been swarming her lines Sayeeda herself had called artillery in so close to her own position that she knew her own men were likely to be killed by the blasts. You did what you had to do. She wondered if it were Canek who had given the order or if it were some panicking tanker. SHe supposed it didn’t matter.

The hoverboard was arcing back down towards the ground, out of the line of sight of any opportunistic snipers. That had been way too close.

“You have a habit of showing up in the nick of time!” she yelled to Neil over the rush of the wind.

[POOHEAD189]

"Jesus!" Neil yelled, the archiac deitie's name spurting out of him like the tank shell that had nearly killed them. He had to laugh though, at Junebug closing his eyes as she closed hers. There was nothing more exciting than making out of a dangerous situation like that, particularly if they were blind to it when they did it. It was danger and excitement like that, that got Neil's blood flowing and his spirits high.

The hoverboard gently floated closer to the ground, though the odd lasbolt was thrown their way from afar, and they were still vulnerable to snipers. Neil placed his left arm forward, and held onto Sayeeda's arm with his right as a slug nearly hit them, blasting a small but noticable hole in the sand before them. "We're not out of this yet, babe!" he cried, lifting the board in front of him to cause them to turn abruptly. Sand billowed forward and he turned to the north, speeding along until he found a very high sand dune. "We need to get out of sight."

He pressed his front toes down on the hoverboard to change the pressure. Junebug didn't say anything, but she instinctively held on tighter, knowing her pilot. A wave of sand exploded under them as they caused an unmistakable ripple through the desert, heading straight for a larger, curved sand dune. "What are you doing?" she asked, excitement warring with caution in her voice. "Don't worry about it." he said, and with 3,000 pounds of force blasting under them, they crested the dune and skyrocketed into the sky. Neil screamed in triumph, echoing off the twists of the desert sands as they disappeared into the low hanging clouds above.

"What the hell?" whispered a camouflaged sniper aiming down his slug thrower rifle, knowing he was no longer able to get his quarry.

Meanwhile, Neil and Junebug were in an extremely precarious position as the adrenaline junky veritably surfed the clouds, his left hand streaming through the fluff of the water filled air pocket, moisture brimming on both of their faces as they flew. Junebug yelled and laughed. "I didn't know these things could go this high!"

"Technically they can't!" Neil cried back as they slowly drifted downwards, now miles distant and lowering out of the immense blanket of fog that hung in the sky. The landscape below them was beautiful; a farcry from the rundown, barren wasteland it seemed from sea level, and in the distance, they could see the entire impression in the mountain rock that served as Hahn's trade city. Two moons loomed above them, one vast and bright and the other distant and red.

Swiftly they descended, though as they approached the ground thrice the speed anyone would be comfortable with, they slowed and began to wobble as the hoverboard regained traction due to Neil's expert hip and footwork, and they found themselves in the desert once more, approaching the city. Neil chuckled as they sailed over the short walls and scaled the buildings with a shift of his legs, and he landed them on the roof of the apartment they had borrowed after a short trip that likely scared some locals. The roguish pilot letting out a breath.

"Now that was fun."
@Penny

[Penny]

Sayeeda clung to Neil’s waist as the hoverboard descended towards the edge of the canyon and the settlement within. Adrenaline was burning out of her system leaving her feeling prickly and content as her endorphins rewarded her for both the burst of activity and the exhilaration of flight. She wasn’t sure exactly what had happened out in the desert but you learned to be grateful for any fight that you survived. She was about to suggest they return to their rooms when a thought crossed her mind.

“Neil what is the main problem with the Highlander right now?” she asked. The pilot touched the board down not far from the ship and they hopped off. There were less people around now but the night time bazar was still doing some business. Here and there a vendor drowsed at his wares but most were alert enough at least to deter thieves.

“The power conversion cylinders are fucked,” he said, snapping his heel down so the hoverboard sprang into his hand.

“D-25 power cylinders?” she asked with increasing enthusiasm. Neil frowned, clearly uncertain where she was going with this.

“D-30s,” he corrected, “But I could probably patch in TD-25s.” Junebug’s face was alight with newfound energy and enthusiasm. SHe threw her arms around Neil and hugged him tightly for a minute.

“The tank Canek had,” she explained, “Its a Frizian TX-60, they use a pair of D-25s to couple the fusion bottle to the main gun.” Andor’s armored had used more sophisticated panzers but they had operated alongside units using the lower budget models frequently enough that they had scrounged supplies for field repairs.

“Canek?” Neil asked and Junebug filled him on on what had transpired before he had arrived to rescue her.

“So he wanted to hire you? Interesting method, beating you over the head and all,” Neil said at last.

“Not the weirdest way I’ve ever been hired,” she responded. Neil looked enthusiastic, as it had with her, the idea that they might be able to get the Highlander airborne again was a tonic for his spirits.

“That tank might be smashed,” he said but his heart wasn’t in the objection.

“Taya,” Junebug said, triggering her implanted radio now that they were close enough to use it. The girls voice came back quickly.

“Junebug, where are you?” she asked.

“I’m just outside,” she told the girl. Striding with Neil towards the access hatch.

“I need you to do a full communications scan and see if you can track down anything to do with a man named Canek, hopefully he is still alive.”

[POOHEAD189]

Two days later...

Canek's orders were a bit hard to swallow. Well, orders was a bold statement. His enforced request, he called it. They needed to get in close with the Pasha, in order to gather what Canek had called them to get. Initially Neil had volunteered to go in and infiltrate. He'd performed missions of this sort before. He was not as combat effective as Junebug, but he did have a penchant for getting in and out of places he wasn't wanted.

But Canek wanted no screw up. They needed a...consented infiltration. He laid out his plan, amusing Junebug and having the exact opposite effect on Neil. He didn't feel comfortable for Junebug or Taya masquerading as a harem girl, covert or not. Taya because he was protective of her, and Junebug because... well, you do the math. They hadn't talked about Neil's confession from a few nights ago, and though he wanted to find closure on it, he'd just started to pretend it never happened. Better to bottle stuff up, right? Just like his dad said.

Still, he was glad that Junebug had volunteered. He didn't think Taya would have the stomach for it, and he remembered when Junebug had killed a man and moaned over his dead body to fool his friends. He knew she could at leas take care of herself. She had a comm on her, linked directly to Neil who took point on a slug rifle on a rooftop, and the Highlander. Saxon did not know the spirit of the mission, only that there was a mission. Once they told him it was a covert op, he was not interested regardless.

Good, the last thing they needed was Saxon to rip apart half of the settlement.

Neil lay atop a three story building, one of the few structures over 20 feet in height in the entire city, save for a beacon tower, an expensive inn, and the Pasha's house that Junebug was now infiltrating. He made sure his gun was loaded, and on the sights he could see one of Canek's men guiding Junebug to the entrance wrapped in cloth, posing as if to sell her.

There was a quick exchange of words, before she was roughly handed over.

"In position," Neil said on the comm, his voice now reverberating in Junebug's ear. "Status?"
@Penny