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....."

An Addendum.... Quest

"Just addin' a little extra to what all I said last night... got it sorted today," I smiled, feelin' releived, "Lily ain't the one pregnant.... Seems her, or Jai's pet civit is. This mornin' Jai gave her one of the babies. So I was real gorram mistaken 'bout the whole baby thing. And I'm glad to be. Now if you seem real confused by this, best check back with the last time I said somethin' here," Checkin' over the cargo crates, I sealed the large container. (Check the last post ;) ).

"Oh and the hunt for what we need? It's movin' along. Just got to make sure you got all the details. Ask 'folk. They might be able to get you movin' in the right direction. There might be another problem.. Lily says she was on Londinium.... That someone on Hale's is really the one who set the bomb off...... Not sure, but I think we might need some help from Cursa and his MacLaren CSI equipment."

The Rescue Quest....

Yawnin' and stretchin', I grabbed another crate and moved it into the large storage container, "Been pickin' up salvage. It's been all I could do of late." I shrugged, "Things been rough. Maybe not as far as me bein' hurt. Healin' up real good now. Got me some decent body armor. Have to thank Seana for that suggestion on the kind. Seems it's helped."

"After gettin' holed this last time, and the slow heal, it was time to change my luck. Spent some time helpin' the rest of TTW with gettin' some stuff done.... Won't go into all the details of it. Just we had some cargo needin' to be stored. Sentry, Willie T, Dex, and me took care of the folk who triued tyo shoot at us. Hell, I even took down the ship with a rock in the turbines. The results? Unless you want to damage a ship bad, don't throw rocks at it." I chuckled at that as I moved a nother crate to the barn.

"On another note, I had somethin' I needed to do. So, when I had the chance I made sure I handed the papers to Raivenn over to Duncan. It's his ship right and clear. Can't say Gabe was to fond of seein' me 'round. She woulda cut me apart givin' the chance. The capn' told us to stop fightin' and we did. But things sort of went real strange." I stopped and set the small boxes down on the pile, takin' a mo to wipe the sweat from my forehead, "Maybe a bit of stupid on my part, maybe somethin' I just missed... I don't know. I figured I was off the Raivenn as crew. Felt pretty bad... Maybe a little mad too. I did a lot of fixin' up on that ship. Even got her new hull plate."

Sighin', I put the bandana back in my pocket. Started walkin' to the shuttle to grab a few more small salvaged cargo containers. "Anyway.... Thought I was off. Went and talked to Brooke 'bout gettin' a small job helpin' with cargo if her company needed it. Told her I was workin' salvage in the asteroid field. Gettin' supplies for, well....... If we have fightin'. Better havin' it then not, and it keeps me from under anyone's feet. I ain't forgot what Gabe said. I'm a liability, maybe get someone else killed. I don't want that." I leaned against one of the larger full containers. It was gettin' pretty hot out movin' that stuff.

I looked at the shuttle still seein' a few more crates to offload, "Wasn't a bit later, that Duncan called me out for goin' to TTW. He was rightly angry.... but He coulda told me I was still with the crew when I asked him. So gorram humpin' messed up. Made me feel real bad. Now I lost the one man what was like a father to me's respect. That ain't easy when you have to look em in the face later on. I ain't said much to him since, nor he me. But he's been busy with Gabe. I won't go into that. Anyway, in the meantime, someone come by a few weeks ago, recruitin' for a company," Walkin' back to the shuttle, I grabbed another container feelin' the weight as I lifted it and carried it into the big container.

"Some feller by the name of Doctor Wirefly. looked like some old geizer in a wheelchair. Come by with bodyguards." I frowned at that, rememberin' how they acted, "They had that real tough attitude. Looked like some rich old coot tryin' to find more body guards."Lookin' 'round for a moment, b'fore gettin' back to work,"Then there was Wind. I wanted tyo shoot him right then and there in the bar. Took Dex and Sentry to talk me down. He shot at me the noght b'fore the big battle on the Drift. Decided to take Dex to the barn and show him the nice prize I found floatin' in the asteroids...... A real nice fusion power plant. Cold fusion Dex said."

"Ended up showin' Brooke later that night. We got it moved b'fore anyone found it. Too nice an item to lose. Not like I can find another right off. I'd have to be real lucky to every find somethin' like that again. Been workin' the field since then. Lot of loose cargo bein' mistook for rocks. Covered in space dust from the field. Got to know what your lookin for." Placin' the crate on the pile, I pushed it into place. "Had Cursa do some tests on me one night. Brooke was there to help. Some sort of deprivation tank was used. Don't know the results of it yet. Bout that time Jai showed up when Cursa was goin' to tell me what he found out. Sentry showed up too. We got talkin' ' bout other stuff. Sort of to keep stuff from Jai. I know she likes to know the latest news.... But me floatin' nekked in a tank ain't one of those times."

"Then a back about five days ago a shuttle comes in to pick up those recruits what signed up with the old man. Somethin' bothered me when I saw the woman in military style spec ops gear. Too much like 'laince gear if you ask me. I walked away and went into the bar. Sentry come back.... Brooke, and Ziggy too. We ended up findin' out a bit later what was rreally goin' on. The recruits come back firin' on us, wearin' those black Spec ops suits. So 'course we'd defend orselves. We shot back... When was all said and done, and the smoke cleared we found out they grabbed Senrty. They meanin' some woman in a black fighter took him outsystem b'fore we had a chance to launch a ship. Svet was screamin' 'bout why we weren't usin' blanks in the guns too, and somethin' 'bout a trainin' exersize."

I growled a little, "Didn't like how she was on me 'bout all that. No one said anythin' to us 'bout it bein' a gorram exersize. She kept goin' on 'bout how she was slighted.... Thye grabbed Sentry... Found out a short time later they got Mikie too," I shoot my head. The whole thing was all wrong. "I won't get into it with Svet. She thinks I don't listen..... She kept goin' on and on. Got real tired of it and walked out. I think that's the first time I did. We walk in and try to get Sentry and Mikie, and the 'liance will grab anyone involved. We don't have good intel, equipment or where to go. Without any of that, and we're done for. Cursa brought up a strong point too... We go in and the 'liance will have proof of resistance.... make it more to their favor to come hunt us down."

Lookin' into the cantainer, makin' sureI'd packed stuff in good, I went for another box, "Later that night we had a visitor.... Gorram Faith come 'round. Found his ship 'bout the time he spotted my standin' on it. He scrambled into it as I shot at him and the ship. Looks like I took out the comm equipment. We found out later the ship went down.... Ok so I can say I shot down a ship.... delayed reacion to me firin' a hand gun at it.... Seems while I was fixin' Ziggy's ship we found out Faith mighta planted a body and faked his death. Got a witness to it." Shiftin' the container, i pushed it in, "As for Ziggy's ship, the Queen Betty. Big ship. Real nice. Got the electricals done, even pulled the main engine drive shaft out and repalced it. Have to give Arti some credit here.... He's plenty strong. Couldn't a done it without his help."

"Still there were things to deal with. Too much goin' on to get done", I sighed, feelin' like my own hands were tied here now, "So we're tryin' to get info and equipment. Seems we need some keys to get into the facility where they (Sentry and Mikie) are, ID's and a place to take em to once we got em.... That and a shuttle with 'liance markin's. No small trick. We got a lot of problems... Includin' one small kid mixed into the deal. I ain't goin' there so don't ask.... talk to Seana. So we been runnin' all over Hale's Moon, sneakin' round Blue Sun and Caliban. Got most of what we need but there's still the need to find a shuttle to get em with.... Another problem.... We found out Mikie's real sick. We'll need medical care for her when we can grab em. Not sure who we can find to help yet... Still workin' out the details."

Movin' the last crate didn't take long. "Then there's another problem.... Lily told me she wants a cub.... Then she went and told Xoxo she pregnant..... I don't know how the hell she is... I ain't had any relations of that kind with her. Then I hear she's somewhere 'feedin' the cub'... Well I know it ain't Aurora... Lily hates the kid. And I remember her tellin' me a few nights ago she wanted to steal Varahi's baby as a means of gettin' back at the folks what laughed at her when she went to help Varahi deliver. I got a real bad feelin' Lily took the baby and has it hid. Not sure where, but I got a few ideas. Now it looks like more'n one rescue to take care of."