Explosive Times

"Well, we found what we were lookin' for. Then we got this call from Sentry and Mikie's lawyer. Said he needed help. Some of us went to hear what he had to say. He wanted to help us get em out of jail til he could clear their name. That's when I headed back to wait for em to come our way. I'd take Sentry to Sanctuary," I shrugged leanin' against the shuttle's exterior hull. "Seems it went a little different. I could hear somethin' on the comms. Commotion of some sort. Next I hear they were headin' for Washburne. Didn't take long b'fore we started hearin' it was bein' bombed."

I sighed, shakin' my head sadly, "That was only the beginin'. I got a call to head to the Drift. When I got there Sentry was standin' there plain as day. Was good to see him back. Then it happened..... The bombin' started. Was pretty bad. Was all we could do to get out of Bootleggers and run for a shuttle. We had to find Mikie.... Lily found her settin' on Shadow by the transponder on the two man ship she took from Sanctuary. We headed there. We caught up with Mikie. She looked ok. Not like she did when Kaezin and I saw her last on Sanctuary. Didn't take long after that b'fore we were shot at by gorram purple bellies. They landed troops and bombed the place. Pod was able to get Sentry, me and a wounded JJ out of there."

"Pod took us to Hale's hopin' the doc there could help her out. JJ was real lucky...Doc Danick come down and worked on her. Got the slug out and stitched her up. Had to let her rest in the clinic on Hale's 'til she could be moved back to MacLaren's Drift. I headed out to see if the others got back safe. Found Cursa was treatin' Tillery. Man got shot up pretty bad. Seems Cursa couldn't get all the slugs out of him. Told him he'd have to see a real doc for that." I rubbed the back of my neck feelin' the strain of the last couple of days.

I moved to the back of the shuttle openin' the rear to check on the new crates I'd salvaged, "Took me, Val and Miya.. Not sure on the last one. Got this here concussion," I chuckled half heartedly, "But that comes later.... Told Val, I'd head to Mac's and boost the signal from the space station there, then head to Till's office on Persephone and do the same. That way Till could make a report from Val's ship when he was able to."

"Had a chance later that night," I frowned not so sure it was, "Or day, to talk to Lily. I know she's gettin' ready for her annual hunt time. She'd said somethin' 'bout the one who done the real bombin' on Londinium was on Hale's..... There's a lot of folk there on Hale's with different feelin's... Just don't know who," I looked through the containers tryin' to find somethin' I could lift easily. "Then Just the other day I heard the call for help from Caliban.....Got into the ship and flew there to help rescue folk. Gorram, the dome was bleedin' atmo and smoke. Krenshar had gathered everyone out by the airlock so I landed the ship nearby. We could see ships leavin' and some comin' in."

"Once everyone was secured and Krenshar told me no one else was left inside the dome, I cycled the engines and started liftin' off. That's when we spotted more bombers comin' in low...They shot off their payload into the dome..... "Clenchin' my jaw, I was feelin' a might angry 'bout what I'd seen. "Then I spotted the big ship in low orbit. Could see they were droppin' somethin' big..... It was a nuke.... They sent a gorram nuke into the dome..... We barely broke atmo when it went off. Flash near blinded all of us." I rubbed my eyes, rememberin' the nova bright flash. "At least we weren't close enough to get cooked. The scan equipment read within' norm where we were. I took the refugees to their new place back on Hale's. Krenshar called it Destiny. The place I mean, not the situation."

"Then when I had time to sit and visit with Lily, it got interestin'.....Started out with her wantin' to show me some new 'fabrics' she got... To her fabrics're clothes. Well..... I'd say those were more like.... well.... not a whole lot of fabric. Then she started belly dancin'. Sometimes life throws you into situations you can't escape from.... like bein' in this one..... And my luck was 'bout to change again. Gallagher showed up. Sort of like the Cavalry, cause I was feelin' the need to escape. Now don't get me wrong. I love Lily.... But I ain't goin' to do anythin' with her. I got a couple of smarts rattlin' 'round in my head." I chuckled at that. "I draw the line on takin' advantage of someone with the mentality of a kid. Not right to do. 'Specially Lily. She deserves a lot of respect."

I shook my head gettin' a little off track, "Thing was.... Galagher wasn't Gallagher.... Ok that don't sound right. Yeah... Lily told me the man that showed up was a replicant made to look like Gallagher. Lily got real upset by it. Turned out after the fake left, Gallagher, the real one, showed up." I shook my head tryin' to sort it out myself, "Lily told him 'bout the other one. He got real mad, sayin' the fake was blown apart. Lily said somethin' 'bout maybe Miya or someone else rebuildin' him. Then Gallagher got worked up, he flew us back to the underground facility.... Gorram fake stole everythin' out of there. All the equipment, the bodies, Krenshar's brain, and the canister....."

"We decided to go check Destiny, see if the stuff might be there. Lily and me were headin' there on the ground while Gallagher got in his ship. Next thing we know, lily and me are bein' hit with debris from Gallagher's ship. It'd exploded. We got hit with some of the fallin' pieces. Something slammed down onto my left shoulder. Hurt pretty bad but I was ok. We searched the wreckage for Gallagher. Lily found him, then told me to see if I could find what caused the explosion to begin with. Yeah.... My luck changed on me again. Gorram if another bomb didn't go off nearby. It flung me away, then set off a chain reaction.... At least from what Lily said. Seems more of the ship went up, parts went everywhere... Well luck played into that one again... Some of the debris covered my enough I didn't get cooked."

I looked at the cargo and stopped what I was doin' I knew I couldn't lift much. Sighin' I stepped back shuttin' the hatch, "I woke up in the clinic with a splittin' headache and a lot of bruises. Got told I got a hairline fracture of my left collarbone and a concussion. Figures. One thing gorram armor don't protect from.... Stuff fallin' on you or you fallin' down." Had to smile at that strange logic.

"Went back to the Drift after that. Talked to Brand 'bout needin' to do some salvage. Ended up headin' into the asteroid field again.... Found us somethin' good. An old derilict ship. Had some good cargo on it too. We grabbed some of the containers and loaded em. Good thing it was zero g or I'd be useless. He's goin' to sell off some of what we found. Could use some money 'bout now. Need it to get some stuff for a ship I don't have yet and to get some good supplies we'll all be needin' b'fore long." I leaned against the shuttle again, feelin' tired and achy, but I knew I didn't really have the time to rest.... Not now with the 'laince on our doorstep ready to kick the door in.

"Sentry and Mikie went back into hidin' after all that. Can't blame em that. The lawyer's workin' to get em cleared. Lily's been put back to workin' hard for Xoxo. Seems Xoxo's got her settin' up holiday stuff. Even with all the hell the 'liance's puttin' us through, she's makin' sure we don't forget the holidays." I shrugged. It wasn't goin' to change how the 'liance was feelin' 'bout us. Or what they're doin'..... Won't be no peace in the verse this season....."