Miranda Part 1

Had to run and check on Bram..... Used explosives in a confined space and hurt his own self. "Was a mite frustrated for gettin' land locked. Seana wasn't goin' to let me go to Miranda..... Got a message sayin' the ship that took Lily was the 'LILY'. Not sure whether to thank Pepper for that. Not so ready to say anythin' good 'bout the 'liance." Had to fight with the gorram lift to get down into the 'Cellar'. "No sooner I get back from one thing, I end up with havin' to head out again.... Come on the heels of fate. Found a ticket from the 'liance maj.. Pepper. Thats her name. She was expectin' me to come and tell her a bunch of stuff..... all for a little info on Kitten..... From what all she said, Kitten was in some Mindo lab on a burned out world. Somewhere I'd have to go to next."

"She asked me a bunch of questions, so I told her. Told her too 'bout Lily gettin' taken...... Told her we needed some help. 'Specially if we were goin' to head to Miranda...." I had that gut feelin' she was there. After the reaver attack. "Told her we found Lily's Kei floatin' in the asteroid field all damaged. Reaver bodies, blood, and maybe even that Lynx kid. We only found a pic of him and the feed. Dav, Jack and I scoured the ship, but didn't find much.... 'Cept a few bits... and a mess everywhere."

"Then We found somethin' that set my blood runnin' cold. One of Lily's ears...... Cut or torn off int he fightin'. Found some of her claws too. Torn out in the scuffle. She didn't give up. The feed showed her rippin' those reavers up bad."

"was 'bout then I decided to go huntin' for her. Bram, Dav, Cath and I went and searched. Seana gave me the ok to go on my work visa. Didn't need the 'liance questionin' me why I was out of my work zone. But then there was the message from Pepper. The ship what took Lily. Then I knew for sure it was Miranda. Lily's Pa was comin' to get her. But then there was the question of where was the kid. Maybe stowed away. Not sure why. bein' gorram stupid I s'pose. Then Seana land locked the Monster, so that was out for leavin'...... But I did have a few other ships to make use of. Shadow and Dancin' Phoenix were still up and ready to go." Got down to the 'Cellar and heard Bram yellin' for help. Took Jack and me to pry the door open. "Prepped Phoenix and called the crew in. Seems Doc Westminster was there to wish us luck and watch us dust off."

"We got a little surprise before we left though. Some 'laince soldier was askin' questions. Said she has some warrant for the arrest of the school teacher... Not sure why. AuroraBlue was there with Doc Westminster. She was wantin' me to go up into the black. I could see the pic flashin' in my head... That's and Xoxo." We got upstairs to find Bram pretty bloody and bruised. Said he used explosives on the door..."The 'liance soldier handed me an envelope with passes in it. Somethin' to help us get through the stuff we'd find on Miranda. Xoxo told me there was stuff to watch for when we got there."

Bram was goin' on 'bout bein' locked in the office by some woman...."The crew and I took the Phoenix up to Xoxo's ship to get the rest of the info and the equipment to bypass the blockade and the reaver ships. Somethin' she never told anyone 'bout."

Bram's hearin' was bad.. He kept yellin' as he tried to explain what all happened. "After I got the 'piece' installed in our own ship, we headed for Miranda. One of the most restricted planets in the black. Seems Pepper made good on her part for gettin' us through the blockade..... And so did Xoxo's device. We dove hard for the surface to keep any curious reavers from followin'. We landed not far from the entry to the Lab....." Wasn't easy to tend Bram's cuts. Not a doc, I'm a gorram mechanic. Sure I can take care of my own small wounds..... but someone else's? Not a chance. "That lab had Blue Sun logos on the front. Seems they had their hands in the whole reaver PAX thing for a long time...."

"Gettin' in was no easy feat either. We couldn't bypass the glass door. Took all we had for weapons and a good helpin' of explosives to crack it. But once in side it wasn't goin' to be no cake walk either...... trip wires and 'lectric fences, a couple of other traps, and the anti weapon systems. Mindo was one for over doin' it.... Sick sense of humor too." Jai said she had salt to treat Bram with... She thinks it's goin' to help? Hell, salt in wounds is more like a torture then a help. "

"Rita checked for trip wires and had me show her the one we found.... And ended up with myself hangin' upside down. Even the stowaway kid, Frog got caught in a trap. Rita went to check the safe in the corner while I hung 'round...... Yeah, pretty funny. Ha ha. She did find some stuff in the safe. That we can sort out when we get back. Took us a while to figure out the way past the 'lectrified fencin'. That's after a couple of us took shocks that landed us on our backsides. Gorram painful." Once I was sure Bram was fine, I headed back to the ship. Still had to find a missin' kid out there. " The access door to the lifts was sealed. Needed codes to get the door opened. Wasn't too hard to figure it out. but you had to be fast to slip through the door b'fore it resealed. The Lift took us up to the lab..... Or one of the labs in the facility. Yep. Looked like Mindo was workin' in there at one time. His notes and such were all over. Containers and cabinets... Rita got some opened and pulled a bunch of stuff out. Stuff like brain's in a jar, and small body parts.... tissue and the like."

"We moved to the other lab where it was like walkin' back through AuroraBlue's dreams.... But they were all Lily's...... Dreams was what Blue said..... He was there. Damaged or confused. Kept sayin' we. He was soundin' bad...... But he said we needed to save Lily. Said we would. But it was gettin' up there that wasn't goin' to be easy. We were goin' to need all the IDs and info Xoxo gave us to do it."

"The platform to get to the next lab was provin' a mite difficult til we were able to initiate it... or activate it. But what was goin' to happen? That's somethin' of a challenge......"

'Bots

The cargo hold had to get cleaned out so we could handle the next run. Somethin' Dav was workin' on. "Seems Jet had a run for us. Maybe a big one. The last run we done was a might small..... But it was somethin'. With all the stuff whats been goin' on of late anythin' was better then settin' 'round. Hell, I'd been settin' 'round way too much of late. Gettin' all shot up didn't much help neither. Gorram more strange stuff happened in a short span...."

Headin' into the forward section of the 'Monster', I had to check the nav systems. That and some other little things I added to the console. "After all the stuff what happened with the hunter and all, I figured it'd be quiet. Was pretty far from it. We had mercs roll into town. A bunch of off world hard noses. Val hired em to watch the shop after one of his shop keepers got hurt. Can't much blame him.... Cept these folks were doin' more'n they needed.... Like doin' patrols through town. The residents didn't much like it. Was bad 'nough we had the 'liance doin' patrols too. Now these yahoos."

"Next thin' we know, we got us a warbot goin' after folks. It killed a bunch of citizens over its reign of terror.... All for lookin' for Raids. Green chasis and all arms. Green death.... Dav and I got all shot up by it one day and Jai was barely able to help us...." I shook my head on that when Dav told me 'bout it later. "We barely had time to do anythin' a few days later when it attacked us. It asked a question b'fore it opened up on us.... Where was her sister Raids...... Like we'd know. Raids was offworld at the time. The other one, called Ravish, opened up on us again, and leavin' us holed for the second time. Don't know much know what all happened that second time....", Pullin' up on one of the consoles, I checked the hidden equipment under it. Eergency beacon, back up nav, and a longer range comm.

"Was hurtin' a lot after what all the doc had to do. Then Cath was on me again, 'bout me bein' her bro. I can't figure what all is on with that.... Not sure..... She don't look like kitten that much.... Maybe... Hell, I don't rightly know." Had to check the lockers to make sure we had supplies. "Gorram warbot come by for a third strike on us. And a few of us drove her off. By the forth time we had numbers 'nough to take her down.... One of those times when I was hit again.... Lily jabbed me with a pretty big syringe.... Next thin' I know, I'm feelin' real good... Like I wasn't even hit. Had a feelin' I knew what it was, but wanted to be sure.... Lily nodded to the question.... Yep.. Nanites. They helped me b'fore, now they were workin' overtime. Healed up some of my scars and wounds over a few days."

The ship was ready, so I haeded to the office to get a couple of small arms to tuck away on board.... In case. "In the end.... AuroraBlue showed up durin' Ravish's last attack. The merc were shootin' at anythin' that even moved. Hittin' townsfolk, us.... And AuroraBlue. A little one.... When it was all done, those ta ma duh huen dahn were celebratin'. They didn't care they shot a child... Or anyone else for that matter... I went to AuroraBlue when she suddenly got up and started to attack everyone with her blades. Hell, she even went for me. Somethin' in her musta went wild..... Raids was there and ignored the whole thin'. She got what she wanted from the other warbot then run off into the wastes..... No ones seen her since."

"Had to stop AuroraBlue from killin' anyone.... Don't want her killed by someone bent on revenge for somethin' I knew she wasn't in control of. When I found her, she was ready to cut me up again. For once I can say I did a gorram stupid thing. I laid down my gun and moved toward her. She was wild eyed and slashed at me, but I didn't care. I needed to try to reconnect with her... Her human side. I went to my knees and told her if all she wanted was to kill me, then do it. She came close then dropped her blades and came to me. I could feel the confusion she was feelin'. She hugged me 'bout as hard as I did her. I held onto her while showin' her what Ravish done to the folks.... to me and Dav. What AuroraBlue done to folks in her rage. We both had a few tears over it."

I coud hear another transport comin' in. 'Liance patrols again. "Had to deal with the aftermath of it all. Dav was barely talkin' to me. Blamed me for AuroraBlue bein' wild.... Said somethin' 'bout Cath bein' part of that too. Aiya, what all'm I s'posed to do. I got a company to keep runnin', a little one who age regressed physically, a girl who thinks I'm her bro, a crew what needs coin to get fed, and still tryin' to get work for em. I can try to be a Pa and all, but when you got a little one whos evolvin' at a scarey rate..... Well it ain't easy. AuroraBlue ain't like other kids. She's got a lot of knowledge locked up inside her head. She can 'read' comuters and 'lectronics. Talk to em. And she and I got a link... Now that's somethin' I can't rightly explain. I can feel what's goin' on with her like she can with me."

Shruggin' cause I couldn't explain it, I looked out the window. "The 'liance and the townsfolk drove off the mercs. Wasn't pretty. They'd caused as much damage and near as much death and injuries to the folk here as the warbot. Someone was gonna have to pay for it... And I think Delta run off to save his own hide cause of it. He ordered em to go all out to get the warbot by any means. Makes him responsible for the whole mess." Didn't like the idea of him tryin' to order me away from helpin' protect the township either. "I ain't in his little band. He was thinkin' he could order us folk 'round. Only one who gave me orders was my Pa, that I'd listened to." But then there's Seana. Her I got respect for... Her I'd listen to.

The troopers climbed out the back of the transport and split up. A few headed towards Fooks, the other toward the hangar. "Not that long ago, while checkin' out a sniper location with Bram, we spotted a bot by the transport hub. It was movin' strange, so I decided to go check it out. Bram covered me in case it went for me. It didn't..... Was in bad shape. Its skin was worn off and the clothin' was old and pretty dirty. it was damaged from what I could see of it. voice was all tinny and rough. Said it was 'awaitin' retrieval.' From who it didn't say. But from what it was sayin' it was doin' somethin' like Lily..... Gatherin' information. Data gatherin' for downloadin' to a main unit. Said some other stuff too... Like the project was reactivated... On Hale's, I think it said.... Got me to wonderin' if Xoxo or Lily did somethin'. Lily maybe. She had that Ardra program inside her for a spell. The bot said there was somethin' down in the wastes too. Wasn't sure what that was, but the bot led me down there....


"There was a place... Old and unused for a long time.... Not a destiny buildin' either.... Had some power source I saw only once b'fore...... Salvaged from a ship out in the asteroid field 'round Mac's Drift..... Gave the thin' over to Dex to research..... Never did find out what all it was. But it effected the bot. The thin' started havin' trouble standin' and talkin'. Then it shut down for a mo... Maybe was overheatin'. Wasn't sure... Then it 'woke' up and said a bunch of stuff rapid fire b'fore tellin' me it was downloadin' the files. Wasn't sure what all that ment. I didn't want to leave the place, so I headed back out to find Lily. She might be able to shed some light on what all was goin' on. Bythe time I did, the bot'd left."


"Some doc with red hair come and was askin' a load of questions on the bot and then wanted me to give blood and tissue samples... No way was I goin' to get my own self cut open for bits. Blood for my own self in an emergency sounded ok.... but givin' to others? I wasn't so sure on that... No tellin' what all is floatin' in my blood after all the experiments....Wasn't goin' to take the chance someone gettin' sick or turned into a mutant like they done to me. No tellin' if it might happen either... better to not take no chances."

Troopers were comin' along the walkway outside the office now. Figures..... Got to come in and haunt me. "Then there was the transport for Xoxo..... Didn't much like that little ride. Albion's a might too close to the core for my likin', but my crew needed to be paid. When we got there, Bram landed us on the clinic landin' pad. We went in to drop off the stuff but no one was 'round.... looked like the place was abandoned..... It was clean and stuff was new in there... But no folks.... No doc's, no nurses, no patients..... Nada." One of the troopers come in. I just glared at him. He took a look 'round then wandered on outside with the rest of em. "We dropped the stuff and left. By that time Rita'd gone off to check the other places. She'd found a small crate of guns....... A crate we ended up takin'. Yeah... I know.. Another thin' they can get me on. Minor by what all the 'liance think I done."

The troopers went on in next door, then over to Jai's office. Wonder what all they were lookin' for now.... It weren't me.... Or we'd be fightin' 'bout now. "Then the other night, got a call from a feller I hadn't seen in a while. Big old feller.... I can't r'member his name, but he r'membered me. Knew I was a mechanic. Asked me to travel to Mu Draconis to help fix a bot. It was somethin' to do, so I packed up a tool kit with what all I thought I'd need and took a shuttle out there."

"When I got there, the bot looked like it was overheatin'. When I popped the access panel on it, sure 'nough, it was. The tubin' for the coolin' system was leakin' all over. Took a while to repair, but nothin' too bad. The chasis was a lot like the old minin' bots, but the insides were..... well, state of the art from what all I could see inside it. Makes the stuff inside some of the minin' bots look like relics from Earth That Was. The bot said it was from somewhere on the edge of the verse. Maybe built by settlers from another gen ship way back when.... I don't rightly know. Wasn't that big into history or the like."

The troopers headed for Firefly's next... They tramped on across the landin' field on their way there. "When I got back, Dav said somethin' 'bout the job with Jet. I know Jetfuel.... Knew him from Mac's drift when he blew in..... Elix said somethin' that got my head buzzin' a couple ten days back..... Jet was workin' with the merc's as a backup.... allies. Now it got me to wonderin' if this's was a setup. Delta didn't much like how folks here drove him off... I'm pretty gorram sure of it.... Maybe if we send Rita in ahead to scout it out, we might have a little adjvantage. We'll just have to wait and see....."