S2E10 - Greenleaf Skyplex Stopover

[Michael Becker]

As the tour came in, Michael did start to recognise elements of the ship. 'The Beast' was somewhat notable. The memory of a previous visit was reforming in his mind. He just couldn't remember how it all worked out. Someone he liked probably died. That's why he left Glory.

The lowlight of Becker's induction was finding he had to share a room. With the one who was best not having his feathers ruffled no less. Mike was very fond of privacy. It was important to have time away from the judgement of others, especially when he was getting lost in his own head. This was going to be a painful residency, and already Mike wanted to do the math on when he could cash in the coin and get out.

Mike took note of where the medbay was. He hadn't quite shaken an earlier thought. The identity of the woman was gnawing away at him. With that, Mike developed a eagerness to wrap things up and find a quiet place to open up his flask.

Lin asked for questions.

"We done?" Becker spoke quite sharply. "I figure I'm off duty until you need me." There was little need for Mike to patrol a lonely ship out in the black. Unless Lin had tasks in mind, Mike was waiting on an occasion that required his expertise. "I err... Would like to settle." In fact there were a few things he wanted to settle.

[Travis Chao]

Travis breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that he didn't have to bunk with jabber jaw. He left his gear and hat near a wall of their room. His gun stayed on his right hip. It shoudn't take long to figure out how the Captain felt or required staying armed at all times. He'd let the other man pick a bunk. Chao had spent plenty of time in bunk houses and sharing quarters in much closer quarters was no big thing for him.

Taking note of the weapons locker Chao figured to ask about access to it. As the tour completed he figure it might be full of some right precious goodies given how up to snuff the rest of the ship was. Or so he assumed. Travis didn't make much out of all the bells and whistles other than to figure there wasn't going to be any surprises. armor, that'd be nice. Bet he's got some fine tech thin armor. that'd be real nice since once they stepped outside of all the fancy bells and whistles they'd be naked apes in linen just like ever-one else.

... three-dimensional pixels displayed Deja Thoris City down on Greenleaf orbiting below the Skyplex. A couple of quick taps on the controls and a bank in the city took over the display. "Much easier to plan jobs with a tool like this. Any questions?"

Michael made made his bid to depart for their quarters. "Mr. Becker." Chao nodded.
Then he leaned forward to get a good look at the display.

His first impression was correct. He looked to the Captain, raised an eyebrow, smiled a little, and hopefully commented... jokingly that is, he hoped. "So, bank job?"

[Ava Gray]

Ava watched the screen with Reese's readouts from her seat by the girl's bed until a melodious chime drew her attention to the machine tasked with identifying whatever drug was in the patient's system.  Ava headed over to check the results, but just as she stepped away there was movement on the bed and she hurried back to see Reese awake and pulling at the IV.  Luckily, the girl stopped before Ava had to intervene.

"Wh... where am I?"

"Glad to see you're awake, Reese," Ava said with a friendly, comforting smile.  "You're aboard Ronin.  Lin brought you aboard so we could make sure you get the help you're needing," she explained, front-loading every piece of data she could that would cue Reese into the idea that she was safe and with friends.  "I'm Ava.
I'm the doctor on board right now.  Lin said you'd worked on Ronin before?"

The doctor glanced briefly at the read-out of Reese's vitals - noting nothing to cause alarm - then looked carefully at the girl, conscious of anything that signaled the girl's emotional state.  She settled back in the chair, speaking softly as she continued her explanations.  "You're pretty dehydrated right now.  We've got you on the IV to help get some water back in your system - we haven't got any other chemicals in there.  Just water.  How are you feeling?"

[Mylena Yee]

She glanced at Mike and his sharp tone, head tilting slightly to the left, like she was trying to puzzle something out. She gave him a smile though and left him to his own devices.  It wasn't that big of a boat.  She'd be able to track him down later if she wished. 

At Travis' comment about a bank job she glanced him him, then back to Lin, awaiting the Captain's response.  She had never been on the wrong side of the law before but she wasn't really worried about that.  She was more curious about the type of work they'd be doing.

She peered back at the map, studying the 3D model curiously.  She rested her weight lightly on the balls of her feet, hands folded delicately in front of her.  Mylena was used to fading into the background and just observing.  She wondered how this new Captain ran things.  If he just gave orders and expected them followed or if he wanted input from his crew.  Maybe it would depend upon the job.  Or perhaps on how much he learned to trust his crew.

It was a different feeling for Mylena choosing who she wanted to work for.  She'd spent her whole life indentured and followed orders because she had to.  She had done a little research before replying to the job posting on Ronin.  She wondered in truth about the man who captained her.  The idea of loyalty given because it was earned, not owed was still a novel concept to her. She looked at it as a grand adventure.

[Reese Foster]

"Glad to see you're awake, Reese... You're aboard Ronin.  Lin brought you aboard so we could make sure you get the help you're needing,"

The woman spoke in a friendly and assuring tone but Reese was still spinning, the world to her waking eyes was still moving as if she'd twirled a hundred time and now was trying to focus on one place while everything moved left.  What she said didn't even make sense.  Ronin.  Lin.  She hadn't seen them in what felt like decades there was no way this was true.  This was some trick by Li Shi, he must have run a background check on her to get this information and whoever this was, friendly or not, doctor or not must have been in on it.  She eyed the IV and felt panic and anxiety taking over, she barely registered what the woman was saying at this point her only thought was that she was in even more danger than usual. 

Maybe he'd sold her to slavers like he had done to  some of the others she'd met under his grasp.  Tired and weak she wondered if she even had the strength to stand let alone make a run for it, if that was even a possibility.  She could tell they weren't flying by the sounds emanating through the walls.  No propulsion system was running, the gravity was too stabilized to be dealing with the subtle sway of a ship in flight.  They were docked somewhere which made the fright in her go up as her only potential chance at escape came at her weakest moment.  She could only pray God would give her the strength.

"I want to leave... I want to leave right now... Let me go..."  Her breathing increased as did her heartbeat, panic set in and she again moved for the IV, scratching and pulling at the tape to little success at removing it.

"Let me go... LET ME GO!!"  Her voice raising to a shriek, tears streamed down her face as she gave up on removing the IV and attempted to roll to her feet finding the strength in her legs only enough to soften her collapse to the floor.  She clawed at the edge of the chair to regain her feet but just couldn't will her body to follow through leaving her face buried in the padding of the chair and weeping, her one arm draped over the seat, IV stretched across from the other side.

"I want to go home..."  She murmured through tears and broken voice.

[Lin Kuei]

Lin heard Michael's question about being done and nodded. "Go ahead and get settled. Once we leave the Skyplex, I will want you in the cockpit with me." He understood the point the gunhand was making since they were not actually in motion nor needed his gun at the moment. Chao's interest in the modeler was good to see and the question did not really seem to be offensive but inquisitive. Lin responded with a smirk. "Not on Deja Thoris but we have other places. All of them belonged to a certain criminal organization. They were not happy, to say the least. Hope that does not rattle anyone."

He almost sensed before it happened. The energy in the air seemed to shift for a second before he heard it.

"I want to leave... I want to leave right now... Let me go...Let me go... LET ME GO!!" 

Without a word, Lin slipped around everyone and made his way out of Ops. He moved quickly with silent footfalls proceeding through the hallway into the Med Bay to see Ava attending to Reese who had now fallen on to the floor with the IV stretched across the chair. It only took him a couple of steps before he had scooped her off of the floor and back into the chair, placing his thumb back on the IV needle to keep it in place. With his other hand, Lin placed it to Reese's cheek and cradled her head. Speaking in comforting words, Lin tried to calm her down. "Reese ... Reese, it's Lin. You are home, on Ronin. ... It's Lin. I took you from Li Shi. ... It's Lin. You are safe. I need you to calm down. Ava is here to help you get better. You are safe." He stroked her cheek a couple more times as he spoke and then commenced to lightly squeezing her hand. "I have you, Reese."

[Mylena Yee]

Lin replied to Mike's question and to Travis, then disappeared to deal with Reese.  Mylena waited for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess we are all dismissed then."  She turned and headed down the hall back to the room she would share with Ava.  She wanted to get settled in as well and she was guessing the doctor was going to be occupied for a bit.

She made her way to the room without difficulty and began unpacking her things in the space allotted to her.  She wondered if the doctor knew she was getting a roommate or if it was going to be a surprise.  She left the weapons packed in the case and stowed the whole thing away for now.  The clothing and few personal items didn't take too long to put away. 

[Ava Gray]

There was a brief moment when Reese's eyes met hers that Ava thought things might go smoothly, but abruptly her patient's expression changed to panic.  Ava turned back and quickly muted the monitor, wanting to decrease any stimulus that might be upsetting the girl.  By the time she'd turned back, Reese was slipping off the table in a desperate bid to escape.  Ava rose to her feet and hovered uncertainly near the girl, suspecting that any attempt to make physical contact would only aggravate the situation.  When Reese sank to the floor, Ava crouched down near her.

"It's alright.  I'm sure Lin can get you home," she offered encouragingly, hoping that Lin was nearby.  Happily, Lin made a prompt entrance and immediately took over the job of comforting the distraught mechanic.  As he lifted her to the seat, Ava quickly grabbed a blanket and as he set her down, she settled it over the girl's shoulders - anything to help give a sense of security.  Lin began explaining the situation and Ava quietly stole back to the spectrograph that was analyzing the blood sample.  A glance at the readout told her what she needed to know and she moved back near the pair.

"They've been giving her Delirium," Ava explained in hushed, even tones.  "She's likely coming down off the high now.  Once it's worn off, we'll have about twenty-four hours before withdrawal begins."

[Travis Chao]

And just like that Travis Chao was alone in the Operations Center.  He looked around.

Tech, lots of very fancy technology. He turned his attention back to the three dimensional display. His hand reached over and tried to make some sort of pinching motion and tried to move the display. Nothing happened, he shrugged. "Wizardry." He said with a chuckle recalling his grandmother's spoken thoughts on the amazing world of high technology among the plains of Hera.

With a slow deliberate pace he circled the Operations Center. He figured he'd make a guess as to some functions of the various devices and stations. But he had no clues.  At the entrance to the cockpit and pilot'n Stations he studied the controls. "Hmm." A look out the front windows showed the exterior of the station and the verse. Greenleaf planet below, a vast ocean of blue and the jungle wood green of one of the great continents broken up with cloud cover.

It seemed odd that a stranger would be left alone, for a moment. Then Travis realized that Captain Kuei would have plenty of electronical gadgets and preventatives for anyone having notions of leaving bad intentions on his toggles, dials and buttons.

Travis walked aft and headed up to the galley. He began looking through a couple cupboards, found coffee and the coffee maker. It was one piece of technology with which he was familiar. He started up a strong pot and then found some sort of pastry under a freshness cover. He tried one of the smaller pieces. Strawberry something. Delicious.

The coffee aroma triggered and rekindled a long ago smell of half burned coffee on a campfire. He found a stray cup with a comical cowboy on it and a 'verse's best buckaroo' He poured a cup and moved to look out the galley windows. The verse, the station, planet Greenleaf, the front of Ronin.

A bite of pastry. "This just might be the beginin' of a mighty interestin' friendship." He paused and then clinked his coffee cup gently against the frame of the window.

"Cheers."

[Minato Kaneshiro]

Minato had spent several minutes skimming over the information that he had dug up on his new crew mates. The main one that he took note of was that Mr. Chao to keep an eye on. Everyone else peaked his interest, but they didn't take him as a threat at the moment.  He started to grow tired of lingering in his bunk, so he decided to find the cockpit in order to interface with the mainframe. Considering the class of vessel that Ronin was, Minato made a good guess of where the cockpit was. It takes him a moment to find the cockpit, but he was soon at work linking to the Ronin's network. First, Minato uplinked to the security system to see if he had to upgrade anything to his own personal standards. After finding himself satisfied with state of the Ronin's security systems, he decided to do a bit of snooping of the ship CCTV to see what the crew was up to.

Travis walked aft and headed up to the galley. He began looking through a couple cupboards, found coffee and the coffee maker. It was one piece of technology with which he was familiar. He started up a strong pot and then found some sort of pastry under a freshness cover. He tried one of the smaller pieces. Strawberry something. Delicious.

The first person he came to was Chao alone drinking what seemed to be a cup of coffee. With what he could find on the man, Chao could be a possible issue if he wasn't careful. Definitely not a man he wanted to cross so steering clear was the best option if he could help it. His current activity was quaint, but it wasn't particularly interesting.

Happily, Lin made a prompt entrance and immediately took over the job of comforting the distraught mechanic.  As he lifted her to the seat, Ava quickly grabbed a blanket and as he set her down, she settled it over the girl's shoulders - anything to help give a sense of security.  Lin began explaining the situation and Ava quietly stole back to the spectrograph that was analyzing the blood sample.  A glance at the readout told her what she needed to know and she moved back near the pair.

Minato decided to move to the next frame which was a shot of the infirmary. The captain seemed to be consoling one of the new female crewmates. He didn't catch her name in his first sweep, so he made a mental note to gather information on this one as well. Dr. Grey was in the corner analyzing a sample of something he couldn't make out. She was quite interesting herself so he decided to make an inquiry of several things that were of interest to him about Ms. Grey's past when he got the chance.

[Travis Chao]

Travis finished his coffee, refilled it and found another. He filled it and then headed down and to his cabin.

Carefully balancing the two cups he opened up the door and stepped in. He looked around, his things were undisturbed, even the little fold at the top of the duffle was exactly as he had left it. Good to know.

After gently kicking the door shut behind him he moved to the center of the cabin to take stock of it. "Brought a coffee if you want it." He said to Becker. Then handed it to him or set it down depending on how Becker reacted. 

Sitting on a chair he pulled his large duffle close, set his own cup of coffee down and open up the duffle.

[Newt Declan]

   Newt,had been traveling for the past seven hours, much longer than he had anticipated. He knew that if he would have been behind the controls he certainly could have made it here in four. 

Linking his data pad into the mobile concierge, Newt pulled up the general welcome map of the Skyplex.  Of course his destination was located clear on the other side of the complex. Why would his journey get easy now.

His watch shown 20:00 hours  he could only hope for understanding for those he was to meet. Quickening his pace he soon arrived outside of the behemoth of a ship he was searching for.

Approaching the outside of the cargo area he rapped on the doors with his boot.

"Clunk,clunk,clunk"

[Lin Kuei]

Lin had watched as Reese seemed to calm down more while he was there. It was enough for Ava to leave Med Bay and go next door to her room. "Rest easy, Reese. You're safe. Ava is right through that door if you need help. Just let her know and she'll come back." He checked her IV briefly to make sure it was not going anywhere before standing. He was about to go talk to Ava when he heard the echo off of the cargo bay.

With a raised eyebrow, he exited the Med Bay insisting he would return soon. Traveling the short steps necessary, Lin checked in with Chao and Becker briefly by stopping in their room. "Once we are back in the Black, I'll show you both the Armory. Got a visitor at the moment, probably our new pilot." He slipped out of their room and headed aft toward the cargo bay. The stairs were traveled quickly as Lin made his way down into the cargo bay and punched the button to open the cargo bay doors.

The wave of noise carried into the ship once again. Lin raised an eyebrow as a man, much smaller than he expected, was standing there. For a moment, he considered the man to be on his knees but recognized that was not the case a half-second later. "This is a private ship. Can I help you?"

[Newt Declan]

"This is a private ship. Can I help you?"

Newt, could tell the man was taken back by his appearance, or more so his stature.  They always  were at first, something he'd grown accustomed to over the years.

Clearing his throat,  "Newt Declan,at your service Sir. I beg your pardon for the nature of the hour,I'm looking for the Captain of the Ronin. "

[Monty]

After depositing Kaneshiro in his room Monty got back to the project he was on before Lin called him to the cargo bay. He made a point to steer clear of the new crew for the time being letting the captain do his captainy stuff, having Ronin ready to leave was his primary task. He was near the cargo bay retrieving some spare steel braided hose when he heard Lin questioning someone at the bay entry. Monty took notice of the small fella as he approached slowly...."Everything alright there Cap'n?" Not really looking for an answer, just letting him know he had back up. One thing Ronin's mechanic had learned over his years in the 'Verse, trouble comes in small packages as well as large.

[Luke OMalley]

Finding the ship he had answered the help wanted ad of was simple business, albeit generally unsuccessful business at that. It thus far had involved knocking on three docked ship's cargo bays and politely questioning a decidedly unhelpful Skyplex employee about the whereabouts of a ship that seemed to be hiring a string of folk. This was to be ship four and the swagger in Luke's step hadn't faltered yet. Like a prize fighter walking towards the ring the behemoth of a man made his way down towards the next ship when his commlink chirped. The Captain. Lin something. Had replied. Shiny, ship was open, and well wouldn't he just look at that. A man and a lad who couldn't have been more than twelve were chatting at the entrance to the next ship, door to the cargo hold open.

Luke "Little John" O'Malley strode towards the the Ronin with his left thumb tucked into a belt loop. He didn't look much a professional. Clad in black work pants tucked into high top sneakers that had seen better days. A graphic tee was well fitted across his broad chest, displaying the ink on his arms from just above biceps to finger tips. A red and black plaid over-shirt was tied around his waist. Bright eyes would easily catch the large knife in a dark calf sheath strapped to the outside of his right leg. A handful of rings adorned his fingers, most of which were cheap in material and mildly gaudy in appearance. His sandy hair, finger combed to one side of his head, was long enough now that it probably warranted a trim. Or at least a tie to keep it out of his face.

As the bruiser reached reasonable if loud conversation distance he raised his left hand, the right still holding a simple knapsack stuffed with all his worldly possessions. The butt of a sawed off shotgun sticking out of the cinched closed top. "Aye, mate. Brammer of a ship yea got there. She'n't lookin fera few extra 'ands is she?" His voice was a smooth solid baritone, if mangled somewhat by a New Glasgow accent.

[Travis Chao]

The Captain stepped into their cabin, offered a tour of the armory soon, and then was off to some sort of meet'n'greet in the cargo bay. Travis figured this might be an invite, it was it job as he understood it to watch his back, and that of the ship.

Following Lin down he moved aside from him close to the mechanic. "Mr. Delemonte I presume?" There had been enough of an explanation of who was who during the short Captain's tour for Travis to figure out Monte's identity.

The Captain greeted first one man, a little person of exceptionally diminutive stature. And then another man entered, the opposite of the first. A behemoth of intimidation, yet not showing any sign of intentional threat. Still Travis found himself turning just a bit, his right hand involuntarily slipping his jacket away from the side arm on his right leg. His eyes narrowed a bit, his legs loosened a little to moved as necessary. His attention moved between little and large potential difficulties. don't conjure the small fella ain't nothin', small packages can be a danger.

Travis's stare relaxed a bit as the second man announced his intentions, but he remained ready.  And looked it.

[Newt Declan]

Newt, took in the scene before him ,making sure he studied the particulars before  speaking. At least one Gunhand, was straight from the dime novels, Cowboy through and through for sure. The man who had opened the cargo bay, certainly appeared to posses an air of authority but he couldn't be sure.

"Everything alright there Captain?"

The man who spoke next confirmed his suspicions ,which made Newt, fill relieved that he wasn't slipping in his ability to read a room.

Before  words could escape past his lips again, a rather large shadow was cast over him  and the doorway he stood before. The Cowboy appeared to shift slightly on his heels and take a defense stand. Hairs on the back of Newt's neck started to raise ever so slightly.  Turning to glance over his shoulder. "Mother of God!"

[Lin Kuei]

Lin nodded as the voices around him came to life. He gave a thumbs up to Monty just as Declan spoke and O'Malley arrived. "Declan, O'Malley, welcome to Ronin." He offered a handshake to each in turn. Some may have been intimidated by O'Malley's size but Lin had dropped guys his size in prison a long time ago. it is more about the fight in the dog than the dog in the fight and Lin was lethal in close quarters but he also could not be everywhere at once so extra muscle never hurt. "If you'll both step inside, we can get you situated." Lin gestured with his hand toward the interior of the cargo bay. When the duo was onboard, the cargo bay doors rolled closed.

Turning, he pointed at the two men at the top of the stairs. "The man in black is Chao, a gunhand and the grease monkey is Monty. He keeps the engine working in excellent condition so we can do what we need to do." Speaking to the man specifically, Lin continued. "Monty, we'll put Declan in the same room as Minato and O'Malley will be downstairs for now. can you please show them to their rooms? ... I have another guest to check on for the moment. Then we will be leaving the Skyplex so please get people settled quickly."

Lin made his way up the stairs to the Med Bay. Reese was just getting up and, after a brief converation, he left only to return with some clean clothes which she changed into. Now appearing far different than when she entered the ship originally, Lin walked her out to the cargo bay, handed her some money and opened the door long enough for her to slip out and into the throng of the Skyplex before he closed the door behind her.

[Newt Declan]

Newt, shook the Captain's hand firmly and  proceeded to enter into the ship, shrugging off his startlement from the other large man sneaking up behind him. Attempting to show no hard feelings and save some grace of courage.

"Umm nice ink you got there slim, so uh yeah, let's get this bird flying shall we. Mr. Monty, was it? Pleased to meet you, following you I guess, cockpit and all."

Stopping just short of the stairs,Newt allowed himself to take a moment. His eagerness was getting the better of him,amateur hour this was not. If the size of the cargo hold was any sign of how massive this vessel was, he certainly was going to have his hands full.