S2E6.2 - Hunter or Hunted

[Luke Donovan]

He was just shy of the 24-hour mark without sleep when Luke had crashed. He had desperately wanted to finish the job but there was a point where the mind had to give in to the body eventually. All of a sudden the colour had drained from Luke's face and he'd felt ill. The last thing he wanted was to show weakness in front of anyone but when the little dots had appeared in his vision Luke knew he had to quit. It was hard for him to admit that he had to stop working but the doctor had warned him that if he pushed too hard it would make his recovery longer and harder. He left the others with guidelines on what to do and strict instructions to wake him if they needed him.

When the message came in from the smugglers, Luke had been asleep for four hours and was still as good as dead to the world in his cabin.

[Abenette Kelker]

Abe had gotten up and outside as fast as she could. 

She had found Wyatt then fetched Lester and set him up on top of the ship, which was more than painful.  Lester was heavy and unwieldy when it came to hauling him up top.  She also showed Vega the fine points of the weapon, making sure he could use it should he need to.  She didn't know if she could lay on her belly long enough to sight a target and eliminate it, but she knew she would give it a try and if not she hoped that Vega might be able to manage.

It was dark, so she had managed to don some night vision glasses and took in the scene, searching the horizon all around the ship for danger.

"I gotta rest for jus' a minute," she finally conceded. 

It had been quite many hours since she had gotten up there and the pain meds were wearing off.  So she took to laying down on her back and searching the skies. 

After all, any attack could come from above too, when you were thinking about ships.  And that was even more likely.

God, she hoped Ian got past this whole thing without getting hit.  The thought of him dead made her want to vomit.

[Luke Donovan]

At first, Luke had dreamt of the repairs. He was still working in Ops, setting everything to rights. Suddenly, there was an explosion.

The attackers had come back! Repairs had taken too long and they were sitting ducks. It was all Luke's fault.

Luke grabbed his weapon and ran to the cargo bay, to help in the fight. He arrived too late.

The bodies of the slaughtered crew were strewn about the cargo bay. He skidded to a halt in time to see an armour-clad woman snap the neck of Vega. The woman turned and saw Luke. She held up a hand to stop her compatriots and lifted the mask from her head.

Long, raven-dark hair fell about her face. She stepped slowly towards Luke. He was paralysed by indecision. She was a cold-blooded killer but all he felt for her was love. He let her kiss him.

All the fear and anger melted away. For a moment, the dream was different – it was good and fun and sexy and happy. She wasn't the killer, she was just a woman that for some inconceivable reason wanted to be with him.

He reached to the back of his jeans' and clasped his hand around the gun he always kept there. He drew it and brought it up to her chin and fired – but as he did so it wasn't Sabrina any more.

It was a flashback to the man Luke had killed in reality hours ago. He watched the man crumple and fall to the ground. He tried to scoop Abe up with one arm, slipping it around her chest under her arms, when a stabbing pain burst forth out of his chest. He howled a deep, low growl of pain and started dragging her around the ship to the other side. As he made it to some cover and Lin's frag grenade erupted, Luke half-collapsed half-dived on top of Abe.

As he dived, it wasn't Abe anymore. She became Adriana Lucy. He scooped her into his arms and started back to the ship. He carried her into the med-bay and lay her on the table. Things changed again as Adriana Lucy appeared, dressed in full doctor's gear, to operate.

"You'll need to make a choice," she said to him in cold professional tones. "If it comes down to it, your life or hers?"

Luke was confused. He looked down and it was Sabrina on the med-table. She was lying on her front, naked, her scars on full show.

"You heard me," Dr. Adriana Lucy continued. "My life or hers? You might have to choose. Soon."

Luke looked at his sister in bewilderment. He looked down at Sabrina again and was horrified to see, instead of scars, fresh wounds across her back. Luke jumped into action, grabbing gauze and bandages to stem the bleeding. Everytime he looked up for something and then looked back, her wounds had gotten worse. Luke was screaming at the other doctor – just a faceless surgeon now, no longer his sister. It didn't make any sense. Sabrina's flesh was ripped and cut in so many places. Her entire body and face had become unrecognisable.

She had become a reaver.

Luke backed away in horror. He looked down at his hands. In them were not bandages or instruments of help – in each hand were vile, torturous weapons designed to cause bloody pain. He had done this to her. Thinking he was helping to heal her wounds he had made them all the more terrifying.

She sat up from the bed like a lover, a monstrous grin forced onto her face. Her voice sounded exactly as it had the last time Luke had seen her in reality. "You best skedaddle on outta here, Blondie. 'fore I drag you down to hell."

Luke shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm no good for you. Or anyone. This is nothing compared to the hurt I could do to you."

He pulled his gun again. She changed back to her normal self – the dark, beautiful Raven.

"This is a mercy compared to what I could do to you," he said, his voice filled with dark evil.

He shot her.

[Vega Barnet]

Being on watch in a situation like this was a special kind of boring. You had to stay awake and alert but also had to stay relaxed and loose. If you stayed keyed up you'd just exhaust yourself that much faster, so you had to find that sweet spot. Abe had joined him roughly 5 and a half hours ago. She'd brought up her big 50 cal rifle, which she referred to as Lester, and familiarized him with the weapon in case he needed to take a long shot for her due to her injuries.

Darkness had fallen, giving one more advantage to the mercs. Vega had been a bit more relaxed until dusk. He figured the mercs wouldn't attack again until they had the cover of night. Trying to take a well skills group a shooters by nonlethal means was pretty difficult, much more so on the second or third try after losing some of your own shooters. Really the only reason they were still here was because whoever was paying the mercs wanted the crew of the Ronin alive. If the mercs had been using live ammunition and frag or incendiary grenades instead of tranq rounds and stun grenades the earlier battle would have ended very differently.

He acknowledged Abes comment and stood up as she eased herself down. He'd been sitting for about 10 minutes. "Don't fall asleep now" He said in a good natured slightly teasing manor. It was past the 24 hour mark since he'd last slept, and though he was very used to going without sleep on a job he'd need a nap soon, or he'd have to take some caffeine pills or maybe a stim to keep at optimal alertness through the night. either way it was going to be a long night.

[Michael Armand]

Michael pulled the cup of coffee from the maker as he swirled it around. His jacket was lightly thrown to the side on the back of a chair and his aviators rested on the collar of his shirt. The smell of roasted coffee beans invaded his nostrils in a pleasant blitzkrieg of flavor and the feeling of home. The tired pilot let a small smile pass his lips as he moved back towards the cockpit.

He entered the room and took the seat in the co-pilot seat. Putting his feet up, Michael took a sip of his coffee and tried to enjoy the taste. It had been a while since he had a good hot cup. It was something he missed when he left the Alliance fleet at Miranda. The pilot took an other sip and let out a loud sigh when the message came over the comms.

Opening it in curiosity, Michael immediately spat out his coffee. The man who sent it, Henry, was a good man. Well a good man as a smuggler could be... anyway he had three kids and a large hole in his chest. Reaching for the comms, Michael called over the loud speaker, "Guys... ummm this is .... ummm well Mike. The smugglers are getting hit hard. Uniformed tactics, good battle space control. I would guess the law, Alliance or an other paramilitary group."

Michael took his hand off the comms button, taking a breath. Hitting the comms again, he finally added, "They need our help guy."

[Ava Gray]

Things at a hospital were often hectic, particularly if there was a large number of patients in the emergency room at one time.  There was something significantly different about the busyness here on Ronin, however.  In the hospital, however much chaos was going on, there was generally a doctor in charge of it.  Here, business went on whether the doctor approved or not.  Ava hardly had time to grab a bottle of pills from her pack (she knew the ship had its own supply, but didn't have the time to locate them) and hand them to Abe with a few quick directions and a suggestion to sleep when a chance presented itself before Casey had appeared and she had her next patient to care for.

"Open wounds, is it?" she asked, rather rhetorically, placing a finger gently on his jaw to steer his head into a position that gave her a better view of the gash.  "And here I thought you guys were all into broken bones."  She arched an eyebrow, looking at him critically.  "Unless you've got something broken, too?"  A bemused smirk flashed across her face.  "Well, let's get this taken care of."

Mindful of the pace the crew seemed to be running at, Ava worked as quickly as she could; still managing a soft touch as she stitched up Casey's forehead. 

Once she was out of patients, Ava sat down to write up discharge instructions, in case she didn't have the time to sit down personally with them before the smugglers picked herself and Michael up the next day.  Starting with Luke, she began to pen a thorough explanation of his evaluation and complete set of instructions for optimal recovery, only to delete the whole thing half way through.  Starting over, she wrote down instead as much as she figured he would read and the most important instructions, figuring that if she wrote down too much, it only increased the likelihood that the whole thing would be ignored.  Abe and Casey's instructions were completed in like manner.

Once that was done, she sat for a while in silence, wondering if she ought to go find somewhere she could lend a hand, or whether it was best for her to stay near the medbay in case another attack materialized.  That possibility got her thinking, and she took the opportunity to familiarize herself with the medbay enough that she had an idea of what tools were at her disposal should she need them. 

She'd managed to doze off by the time the message from the smugglers came through.  When the smugglers had decided to call it a day and fly back to the outpost, she'd made sure that any messages from them would relay to the medbay.  The buzz at the beginning of the emergency wave pulled her to full consciousness and she lifted her head from the desk where she'd nodded off to see what was coming in.

Ava's jaw dropped in horror as she saw the first shots light up the smuggler's outpost.  She stood, though her blood felt like ice and her body responded in an equally glacial manner, her mind blank as she tried to process what she was seeing.  She should do something, something... but no course of action presented itself.  There was nothing she could do.

A grenade went off on the other end of the line, and Ava pressed her eyes closed to block out the sight of the carnage.  The darkness gave her mind a chance to start working once more.  Michael.  She should find Michael.  She needed to make sure he knew, and maybe, if he did, he would know what to do.

She rushed from the room, and it wasn't long before Michael's comm through the ship confirmed that he was indeed receiving the message.  She ran to the cockpit, but slowed down as she neared the door.  She was the one who had convinced the smugglers to get involved.  Ava didn't know how close Michael was to any of their crew, she wasn't sure how personally he would take their deaths.  She hovered uncertainly in the doorway, not knowing what to say.

[Abenette Kelker]

"Don't fall asleep now"

Abe barked out a laughed and then winced.

"Don't ya' worry none 'bout that," she said as her one arm wrapped around her ribs.  "Meds are wearin' off.  Pain's plenty enough ta keep me awake."

She coughed then and groaned as the pain flare up more.

"Ya' doin' OK over there?" she asked.  She needed to know what his condition was in case she needed to jabber at him to help from falling asleep.

That's when she heard the comm from Michael.

"Guys... ummm this is .... ummm well Mike. The smugglers are getting hit hard. Uniformed tactics, good battle space control. I would guess the law, Alliance or an other paramilitary group."  "They need our help guy."

Abe lifted her head.

"Think that's the ones that hit us?" she asked as she forced herself to sit up.  "Do ya know what direction the smugglers' location was?"

She started scanning the horizon again with the night vision goggles.  If they were the same folks, they could very well be coming back for a round 2.

[Michael Armand]

Michael checked the pistol in its holster, popping out the magazine. He checked the rounds and slammed it back in, anger fueling the cocking of the receiver. Standing he holstered the weapon and moved to the door, stopping to see Ava there. The silence between the two wasn't empty. The good doctor would be able to feel the wrath that was coming from the man before her.

However she would be able to see that it was different. The man before her and the rage that was concentrating this moment. They both were disciplined. Harnessed. Focused. This was a man who was standing to defend what ultimately becomes the most important part of him. Family... even if the family was not blood but more of a bond.

"You don't want to be coming where I am going Doc," Michael said, his voice different from the usual playfulness he had with her, "God isn't going to be there. There will be no justice with this. No oath that I will let protect those men. This is vengeance. This is punishment."

He moved to push past her and started towards where he knew that Vega and Abe were. The two were still pulling security on the outside and he caught the last of the woman's question. Speaking to let them know he was there, The pilot answered her question for her, "The smugglers where located in near orbit. The group that attacked them would only need to read the data on the shuttle to know where we went. So tell me now... now that men that I grew to call friends and brothers are dead because they were pursauded to help you because of me... who are we going to kill and when are they going to show up to die?"

[Luke Donovan]

Luke woke with a start and a sharp inhale of breath. That sent a stab of pain into his chest. He moved in the bed to get into a position that caused less pain, and by the time he was settled the memory of the dream had faded away. He knew Sabrina had been there, but he could remember little more than that.

He sat up, rubbed his face, and contemplated getting back to work. Then came Mike's voice on the comm. It didn't quite make sense to Luke's recently-woken mind.

He grabbed a couple pain-killers, got dressed and headed out to find out what was going on. He emerged into the hallway in time to see Mike push past the doctor.

"What's happened?" Luke asked Ava.

[Vega Barnet]

"Don't ya' worry none 'bout that," "Meds are wearin' off.  Pain's plenty enough ta keep me awake." "Ya' doin' OK over there?"

Vega grinned at her. "I'm good. Gone longer than this with out sleep more than few times. Though I wouldn't be opposed to some caffeine." Just then Michael, the guy who'd stayed with the doc, came on the coms.

"Think that's the ones that hit us?" she asked as she forced herself to sit up.  "Do ya know what direction the smugglers' location was?"

His grin immediately changed to a grimace. "Sounds like them. Bastards. Cutting off our only source of possible help or reinforcement. Smart play. Damn them, but smart play." He was about to answer her second question when Mike appeared on top of the ship with them.

"The smugglers where located in near orbit. The group that attacked them would only need to read the data on the shuttle to know where we went. So tell me now... now that men that I grew to call friends and brothers are dead because they were pursauded to help you because of me... who are we going to kill and when are they going to show up to die?"

Vega gave the man a hard look. "Not my place to tell you who. You wanna know that than ask the captain. As for when, seeing as they just hit the only other people out here, I'd guess sooner rather than later. They've got 2 plays now since we killed a few of them the first time around, hit us under cover of night and try to take us by surprise, or wait for reinforcements and overwhelm us. Good news is that they seem to want the crew alive, so that gives us a fighting chance."

His face softened. "And I'm sorry about your friends."

[Ava Gray]

Ava could find no words to respond to Michael, though the look in her eyes spoke volumes about how lost and sick at heart she felt.  She shifted to the side and let him pass unhindered, waiting until he had gone before pressing a hand over her mouth, as if that could somehow contain all the emotions she felt swirling inside.

She heard Luke approaching and, pulling herself into a semblance of composure, turned to face him.

"What's happened?" Luke asked Ava.

"Our outpost was just hit.  It looks like the same people who came after you went after them," Ava answered in a hushed voice, managing to speak evenly, though the horror she felt couldn't entirely be kept from her face.  She glanced briefly over her shoulder to where the screen still showed images from the outpost.  "I think..." she started, then realized she couldn't finish that sentence without her voice breaking and changed it quickly.  "If anyone survived, it's because they weren't on site."

[Abenette Kelker]

Abe looked over when she heard someone approach.  It was Michael.  He came with the doc.

"The smugglers where located in near orbit. The group that attacked them would only need to read the data on the shuttle to know where we went. So tell me now... now that men that I grew to call friends and brothers are dead because they were pursauded to help you because of me... who are we going to kill and when are they going to show up to die?"

Near orbit...  That meant that the ship that attacked them was probably circling the planet too.  With a painful grunt, she stood up and started to scan the skies again as Vega responded.

"Not my place to tell you who. You wanna know that than ask the captain. As for when, seeing as they just hit the only other people out here, I'd guess sooner rather than later. They've got 2 plays now since we killed a few of them the first time around, hit us under cover of night and try to take us by surprise, or wait for reinforcements and overwhelm us. Good news is that they seem to want the crew alive, so that gives us a fighting chance."

As Abe held her ribs, she wasn't sure that they could withstand another attack.  Hell, she wasn't sure if she could even fire a gun without her ribs feeling like they were going to shred her innards.

She just knew that if she had to, she would.

"And I'm sorry about your friends."

Abe nodded her head at the comment.

"And as much as I am all for makin' those folks pay, we are also at a disadvantage since most of us are more than a little banged up.  Going after them now would be certain suicide and that would not honor your friends at all," she told them as she continued to scan the skies and horizon.  She picked up an extra set of goggles and tossed them at Michael.  "Those folks will pay, mark my words at that, but we need to heal and repair so that when we do meet them, it is on our terms and not on theirs."

She started making sure that she had plenty of ammo on her, just in case they had an imminent threat, but she had to notice that her gun hand was shaking just a little.

"Rutt me..." she grumbled.

[Luke Donovan]

"Ruttin' huhn dahns," Luke swore as Ava filled him in on what had happened. Luke would have never seen that coming but now that it had happened it seemed so obvious. There was no way they could complete the repairs on Ronin without the equipment the smugglers had promised them, which meant the crew of Ronin were going to have to go there.

He could see that Ava was shaken up. He would have liked to do something or say something to help her feel better but nothing was coming to mind. "I'm sorry," seemed the best he could do.

[Ava Gray]

Ava returned Luke's sympathy with a nod and an almost-smile.  It was a relief not to have any pressure to talk about her feelings or get personal - vulnerable - about the situation. 

"Is there... can the ship..." she started, wanting to talk about something concrete to help push back her emotions until there was a better time to deal with them.  "I mean, can Ronin move at all at this point?  I didn't catch any updates on how repairs were going, other than the bit with needing some parts."  She didn't ask what her questions obviously led up to, 'How vulnerable are we right now?', not ready for an honest answer on that front.

[Lin Kuei]

Lin had been spending the spare time in the galley eating the food before it might have the chance to go bad. Additionally, it was keeping his energy up. A chunk of cold steak landed in his mouth just as Michael made the announcement. To Lin, it was obvious. The mercs had decided to enact a little revenge, vent some frustration, and take out the place that had the best opportunity of helping Ronin. Lin took a sip from his tea, stood and finished chewing before speaking into the ship's comm.

"This is something I suspected might happen. This ship is not ready to fly yet. We need the parts to make that happen. The number one reason the smugglers would have been targeted is they were our closest possible place to get some help. The only person to blame for this is Nikola. That woman sent the merc teams after this ship, more specifically Victoria and myself. This is what happens when you anger the biggest crimelord in the Verse. The ship has been taking the fight to her for eight years and this is the first time we've been grounded. ... With that said, take turns coming up here to the galley and grabbing some of the food that was in the refrigerator. No point in letting Victoria's amazing cooking go to waste. We'll save the dry stuff for later."

Cutting himself a new piece of steak, Lin dipped it in some sauce, popped it into his mouth and slowly chewed it enjoying the flavors. His tea was cold but that was to be expected. He followed this up with some of the brown rice Victoria had made. If he said he was unconcerned about the mercs returning in the middle of the night, it would be a lie. He expected them at any moment which is why he had placed a bundle of pots and pans near the exterior hatchway so they would have to be trodden through just to proceed further into the ship. Another sip of tea went down his throat as he continued to chew.

[Luke Donovan]

Luke was about to reply to Ava to explain the situation when the voice of Lin came over the comm. Luke pointed a finger upwards to indicate listening to the Captain, who laid out their situation pretty clearly. As always, Luke was a little bewildered by the Captain's attitude. It seemed to Luke like the Captain didn't have a care in the world and Luke suddenly had a comic image of Lin sitting in the galley surrounded by piles of defrosting food and pigging out.

Luke hadn't thought of food all day, but once Lin mentioned eating Luke suddenly realised that he was famished. He stomach was suddenly screaming out for fuel. He patted a hand to his stomach.

"Tzao gao, I haven't eaten in like twenty-four hours."

He grinned at the doctor, taking his lead from the Captain and adopting a similar cavalier attitude. "Doctor, can I buy you dinner?"

He offered his elbow and if she went along with it he would lead her to the galley.

[Ava Gray]

Ava listened to the captain's announcement, but the phrase, 'something I suspected might happen' jumped out at her and brought her train of thought to a screeching halt.  He suspected it; had he warned anyone?  She hadn't been there for all of the negotiations over parts, so she couldn't say for certain what information changed hands, but she was certain this was the first time she'd heard of the biggest crimelord in the 'verse being involved in the situation.

Then came the invitation for food, as if there weren't a care in the 'verse.  He knew he had two members of the smuggler's crew on board, didn't he?  Ava had assumed there had been a time or two in her life that she'd been dumbfounded, but nothing she'd experienced compared to this.

"Tzao gao, I haven't eaten in like twenty-four hours."

He grinned at the doctor, taking his lead from the Captain and adopting a similar cavalier attitude. "Doctor, can I buy you dinner?"

He offered his elbow and if she went along with it he would lead her to the galley.

Luke's invitation brought Ava's attention back to her immediate surroundings, but did nothing to lessen her feeling of utter bewilderment.  She stared wide-eyed at him as if he were speaking a totally incomprehensible alien language, or had just morphed into something six-legged and purple.

He's trying to be nice, a little voice prompted in the back of her head, and Ava quickly blinked away the look of shock, though she couldn't manage care-free cheer to replace it.

"Yes, food would be prudent," she agreed and, listening to her voice, could hear a cold, almost hostile detachment.  Reminding herself that Luke had initially responded with a very appropriate expression of sympathy, and there was a good possibility that dealing tactfully with heavily charged emotional situations wasn't the forte of anyone who worked this sort of job, she moderated her tone and managed a wan smile as she took his arm.  "I wouldn't let your doctor know you've gone that long without food, though.  You might get a scolding."

[Luke Donovan]

Ava looked at him like his offer of food was something alien and incomprehensible. His initial reaction was to feel that he was being rejected, like he'd tried to pull a hottie way out of his league and was about to be laughed at. A second or two later logic overran his insecurity and he realised that the cavalier attitude Luke had admired in the Captain and adopted himself would seem rather callous to someone not used to the life of a gunhand. Luke knew the man better and didn't doubt that Lin was already planning how he would rain down fire and brimstone on their attackers. It probably seemed to Ava that the Captain, and Luke, couldn't care less about the smugglers.

It was as Luke came to this understanding that he noticed the absence of Adriana Lucy. It was she who usually pointed those kinds of things out to him. It wasn't unprecedented for Adriana Lucy to go 'missing' for a time but it always left Luke with an odd feeling of nervousness.

The doctor had pulled herself together and agreed to join Luke for some food. She even took his offered arm. Luke took her hand. He wanted to explain the attitude of him and the Captain to her but it wasn't something one could put into words to someone else.

She made a little joke and that was a good sign. "I won't tell her if you don't," he quipped back.

He led her towards the galley. He felt a little awkward. He missed Adriana Lucy telling him what to say. She would have known what would make Ava feel better. He could only make a guess. He said the best thing he thought might comfort her.

"We're going to make gorram sure every one of those mother-rutters burn in hell for what they've done to your people. You know that, right?"

[Ava Gray]

Ava walked with Luke toward the galley, knowing they both felt awkward, but having no idea what to do about it.  As many times as she had thought the formulaic conversations and well-regulated manners of the Core felt stiff and artificial, she missed them, now.  At least in the Core, it was always easy to know what the right thing to say was.  She could navigate a conversation - even on a horrific topic - on autopilot, which would have given her time to sort through her emotions without the risk of offending anyone by not reacting the way they expected of fellow adults.

"We're going to make gorram sure every one of those mother-rutters burn in hell for what they've done to your people. You know that, right?"

Ava gave Luke's arm a little greatful squeeze.  "Yes," she answered, and debated briefly whether to add more, when what she said could possibly make her look out of her depth and vulnerable.  Concluding she likely looked that way regardless of what she said, she continued.  "I just haven't been... operating outside of the law very long.  I haven't entirely acclimated yet."

[Luke Donovan]

Luke didn't really smile as a rule, but Ava's 'confession' brought a tender expression of amusement onto his face. "Yeah, I kinda figured that," he said, teasing her just a little.

"The trick is to not really think about it as outside the law," he continued. "It's more about getting things done that the law can't, or won't."