by Mike Doom
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Cirrhosis sits on his horse at his station on the starting line, he’s breathing heavy from all the illegal chemicals coursing feverishly through his veins. The microsurgeries and dermpacs didn’t clean all of his fractures entirely, he still has a couple of hairlines that are probably only going to go spiral during the race. His horse is calm at least.
The track is hexagonal number in Barrier Stadium, which is located on the west-side of Crimson. The stadium has a dome, and is used for race events as well as for tavis matches. Seating about 60,000 in thick plastic benches, the stadium has seven floors of seating, with box seats on the 2nd through 6th floors. Suspended from the top of the dome is a large eight-sided crystal matrix monitor. Augmented reality monitors are shown to all audience members with the appropriate wetwiring, showing stats and close ups of the racers as they prepare.
The course itself is lined with clearish barricades, which show adverts in the sensicasts streaming all over creation and back. In the center there are eight targets for every straight section of track, and outside there are eight targets at every corner. All perfectly round, made of a durable plastic which projects the typical red and black concentrics expected of a target. The stalls that the horses are parked in are at a slight angle to the starting line section of the track, at a stagger diagonally to the beginning at an opening in the track, allowing the racers to do the required hundred laps around without running into anything.
The course has several exits outside the perimeter walls, leading to the backrooms and loading bays of the stadium. One is clogged with several pieces of machinery which Cirrhosis does not recognize so much as know are used for the final laps which will take place on Selba Station. They will generate the jumpgate, which will likely kill everyone on the station. Or something.
Briefly, Cirrhosis is a horseback crossbow racer. The sport harkens back to the time when people used to use the word harken, when the universe was young, and Earth was still the home of most people, assuming by 'people' you mean humans. Originating on the Jovian colonies, the point is to win a race while simultaneously shooting targets with a crossbow. However, there is a catch. The center targets, the easy ones, are worth half a point, while the outside ones are worth two points. Sound easy? Well, you can only score points on the outer ring if you shoot across the course, so through the center of the ring to the complete other side. There are also extra points allotted for scoring shots in the center two rings of a target, but those are pretty rare considering the speed the riders are going. One must usually win the race to win the game, as the points deduct from your time, but generally the best shots are also the fastest, particularly the majors. Still a close race will come down to points more often than not, but a fifth placing is usually a death sentence in the finals. Last point of notice, you are docked ten points if you hit another racer, and twenty if you hit his horse. Obviously if you kill him, you are disqualified. That happens more than most people would think for a professional sport that is officially sanctioned in all Human, Tigeran, and some Fiod colonies.
Cirrhosis grits his teeth as the announcer begins his opening speech, shown in close-up on the monitors overhead. Truckee is in fine form today.
Truckee Dumpstar is on a large platform floating above the stadium erected in the Crystal Plaza. His image is being broadcast to the main event, as well as to billions of other people across civilization. The Crystal Plaza was cleared of almost everything, leaving only the central pillar and the stairs at the cardinal points. The track is clear, of course, a hexagon of advertisements to everyone online. A thick plastifiber ramp spirals up nauseatingly to the pinnacle of the pillar, fanning out slightly to catch whatever, or whomever as it is today, will be coming through the gate.
To fit the part, Truckee is wearing a full suit, in a deep blue that is swimming with lighter colors, seemingly swirling and ebbing like the tides all over his body. Can’t wear a dress with ten thousand people looking up your skirt, as it is not particularly lady-like even for someone as only like a lady as Truckee. His wig is short and blond, a sort of feminine military swoosh from the right to the left, showing his shaved head around his ears and the back of his head.
“Ladies and gentleman. Species of the universe. I bring you the spectacle. The drama. I bring you myself.” Truckee starts, pausing for mild laughter and appreciative applause, which he nods to and continues. “I thank you all for coming to this, the biggest moment in my career. The biggest moment in these fine gentlemen’s careers. The biggest moment in sports history.”
“I ask you to watch carefully, because this moment will only happen once in your life. Your children will ask you if you were watching one day, and you will look at them and smile. You will tell them of the fine men who fought valiantly for a treasure of incalculable value. For the glory of their home system. Be it Selba.” Heavy applause. “Be it Isis.” Applause. “Be it Sol.” Applause. “Or be it Paris.” Applause, mixed with some unrest in the front rows. Selba is a favorite in its home system, which is of no surprise. Paris, being closer to Torch, has few people at the finish line. Reports on audience approval for Team Paris are considerably higher in Crimson.
Truckee pauses to add a touch of gravitas. Knowing that for once, it isn’t bullshit. It is at least mildly likely that everyone in this stadium will die in some horrible fashion if Epic doesn’t do something quickly. Truckee looks over the crowd; a hovering stadium was build around the surrounding buildings, above and in front whenever possible. Huge crowds swarm the streets across the lake, viewing the game on giant screens and beamed directly into their minds from various sources of emotion laden oculars. Nothing appears amiss, but Truckee can literally smell the doom swirling around him like a fever. Any moment, any breath, could be his last. Although, at this point, Truckee is kind of used to the concept. The crowd is quiet, waiting for Truckee to announce the beginning of the race. Truckee hesitates, afraid that any movement forward in the storyline will result in his eminent demise. Afraid that any word could trigger some hidden explosive or exotic torture devise. That and he’s pretty sure it adds to the effect.
“And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for.”
“For the love of gods, come the mother fuck on!” Stardust screams over the gunfire, weird tazer crackles, and bits of wall dusting everywhere. Stardust is pinned behind a table that she had tipped over to block whatever the hell machine gun turret is directly ahead. Pepper and Sunshine had dodged right into a corridor, and Epic and Cannata ended up much farther ahead.
Stardust takes a couple of errant shots over her perch, and then peeks over the edge of the table quickly. The turret is still firing in sweeps, very quick sweeps. She has about a full second where bullets aren’t peppering the composite table and/or the wall behind her. Another pass, and she takes a second quick look, Epic is directly ahead and slightly left behind an inlaid couch that is slightly above the true floor in the room, in a sort of raised crescent shaped alcove facing the windows on the left, which actually have a pretty terrible view of the crotch of two spindle-arms.
Stardust takes a moment to allow herself to focus her mind on focusing her mind, without directions from her wetwiring; she will need to throw about three bullets perfectly straight with absolutely no aim-time. Not a problem, just not something she is usually tas
ked with every day. It’s just that planning isn’t generally her bag, so making a point of aiming is somewhat new to her. More of an instinct girl.
The bullets hit the table rumbling it, and then move on. Stardust pops up and shoots three times then falls backward, in case she missed. Something explodes as she is getting back behind the table.
“You got it.” Epic yells from his vantage. Stardust stands up, Epic is walking back towards her. Cannata appears from behind another jumble of furniture, she had Last with her. Stardust had almost forgot the woman. She was never very good at protection jobs.
“Pepper?” Last asks, looking around, like she expects him to just be here magically because she said something about it. Cannata walks over to the windows to survey the main spindle, as best as can be done from the awkward viewing angle.
“The airlock closed behind them. Let’s assume he has a plan and move on without them." Epic says to himself, hoping Sunshine doesn't hinder Pepper's higher functionality. He is trying to think strategically himself, what would someone who actually thought things through do?
“So we should?” Cannata asks, turning back to the group. There is nothing much to see ahead. Some flashes of light from the windows. Presumably whomever was shooting up the place earlier. A lot more gunfighting is taking place than Cannata would have assumed from conversation earlier.
“Pepper would have us devise a sort of plan. I think that you should do it.”
“Me?” Last Chance almost trips over a table.
“Her?” Cannata almost yelps.
“What?” Stardust says more nonchalantly, like she is almost disinterested in her own survival. Last gives her an odd look that Epic cannot place.
`“My idea is that Pepper said we should act unusual. My gut says that the most unusual way for a group of bounty hunters to act is completely not like bounty hunters. So that means we have a layman plan. What should we do, Last?” Epic says, turning to Last Chance at the question. Last squirms under the gaze of the three hunters. She has literally no idea what to say, or how one would plan an assault on a space station with all technology above a certain level blocked.
“We need to do what?”
“There is one long hallway ahead of us, and we need to get through there without dying. Preferably.”
“Are there vents?”
“What?” Stardust sort of blurts out.
“Vents. Like air vents. People in the sensivises always climb in the air ducts when they are escaping trouble.” Last says, mostly to Epic. She is pretty sure Epic doesn’t want to kill her.
“What bullshit channel are you watching?” Stardust says, irritated.
“Does that matter?” Cannata mutters, already growing bored of this.
“Not really, but making fun of this prostitute is enjoyable to me.”
“Oh.” Last sort of says to the ground.
“I don’t remember an airduct. I know there should be something like that though. I mean, air has to come from somewhere right?” Epic says and pats Last on the shoulder, looking at the doorway ahead and then tracing the top around the hatch. Logic states that these hatches should be air tight, so any ducts would exist inside individual sections and would probably have feeds to them that can be irised shut in case of decompression, collision, etc.
“I see ours in here. We’d have to go in that hallway and climb up to a thing that looks like this.” Cannata is over by the couches pointing at a hexagonal vent about ten feet off the floor. At limited gravity, however, the climb isn’t unreasonable. Epic smiles to Last, Last looks at Stardust, and Stardust just glares at her until Last walks over to Cannata to inspect her discovery.
“What is it with you two? Aren’t you working for her now?”
“As much as I work for anyone.”
“I heard that.” Epic chuckles, gives Stardust a serious look, and then walks over to Cannata.
“So if you sort of jump, you should be able to at least grab the bottom of the thing.” Cannata explains, then leaps to grab the grating and pulls it off with a quick flick of the wrist. Last watches avidly, as if watching Cannata do it would make it possible for her.
“I’ll grab the grate and go first, then I’ll pull you in. Then Cannata and then Stardust over there. Then we’ll just head straight to the end of the arm and pop out at the end.” Epic explains. To Last this seems natural, Cannata raises an eyebrow to Epic, who nods quickly while attempting to make sure that Last didn’t catch it. This plan is destined to fail, but Epic is looking for that. People are their most incalculable when they are trapped in a failing situation. He actually has full intention to get caught midway through, with Pepper, where ever he might be, hopefully utilizing distraction.
“Okay, well we get one shot at this. Also, what do we do if Toro is standing on the other side of this hatch?” Stardust asks, as she is turning the hatch to open it. Epic sort of shrugs and pulls his swords from their place on his hip.
“Pop the hatch.”
The walkway has doors on either side, the long arm is the crew living area of this particular station. Rooms line both sides and the arm goes on for at least half a mile. Epic doesn’t see anyone when he peers inside, but expects that to change in moments. He has Stardust behind him, ready with a pistol. Cannata is ready, and Last appears at least fully aware of the situation they are in. As prepared as it will likely get then. Epic dashes over the threshold and turns to see the vent opening above the door and about a foot ahead of it. He jumps and pulls the grating off, throwing it into the main room his compatriots are still inside of. One more jump and he pulls himself inside.
Last Chance is practically hyperventilating in terror, with no idea how to handle anything that is occurring. Cannata spurs her into action by kicking her lightly in the ass, Last runs through the door and squeaks as she turns. Epic’s hand is hanging out of the vent, like a dead body. She jumps, going far higher than she would have thought possible, and grabs for Epic’s hand. He then hauls her in. The vent is far smaller than the sensers would make you think. And dusty. Very dusty. Last’s eyes are watering almost instantly.
“Your idea, come in farther, we need to have room to let the other two in.”
Last seizes her opportunity. “Stardust is trying to kill me.”
“I know.”
“What?”
“I’m not saying that I am going to let her, but we’ve met. Several times. I know her. She is totally going to try and kill you. That is who she is.”
"I think she knows what is going on here. More than you know, I mean."
"Yeah. That's what i thought."
"So she is going to betray us?"
"You definitely. It isn't really betrayal if you expect it to happen."
“And you still like her?”
“Let’s just say that I hate her least.” Epic says after a moment, and then Cannata is scrambling in and the moment is lost. Ten seconds after and Stardust pulls up. Epic turns around and starts crawling on hands and knees down the dark dusty trail. It’s very dark and the surfaces are all caked with fluffy bits of whatever. Epic isn’t sure what is more strange, crawling through this disgusting mess, or the fact that a space station that was probably magically conjured by some sort of mystic stone is still so fucking dirty inside.
“I think my lungs are going to seize.” Cannata coughs. Epic makes it to the first vent cover, he can hear a bit of racket outside in the hall. Toro is ahead of them somewhat, presumably fighting with another armed sentry guarding one of the airlocks ahead. Epic moves to the left side of the vent and tries to pass it without making himself visible, were someone to be watching from below.
“Only about 300 meters more of this.” Epic sort of laughs, then immediately regrets that when he is stuck in a fit of coughing.
“Oh fuck this.” Stardust grunts, and punches her way out of the vent. Leaving the three others behind, although leaving none of the
m surprised in the slightest.
“Who do you think you are exactly?”
“You know exactly who I am. Why you are here. Why I brought you here.”
“You were there, but how?”
“That is what I want to know.”
“What?”
Peppermint White Ninja strolls in from an alcove behind both men, like he had always been there. Toro Abobo and Steven Corialis have guns drawn at each other; in Corialis’ left hand is a blue stone. Sunshine Apocalypse keeps a safe distance back, aware that her presence is more hindrance than help.
Pepper does his best not to look behind him, trusting Sunshine to follow the route he gave her to the kitchen. He needs her eyes out there, but she still has to stay close as he suspects that this is more elaborate than it appears, even taking into account the appearance of a new spacestation. Pepper assumes the stone in Corialis' hand is the one everyone is looking for, and disregards it. He stares Stephen Corialis in the eyes, trying to read him. He knew that this had something to do with the dynasty, but had no idea that it went to the top.
“Your father.” Pepper starts, the jigsaw is just a little off kilter to him, something just out of reach. He knows that Stephen isn’t old enough to have been anyone of use back then, his father had just retired maybe ten years before. Stephen Corialis should have been on Isis at that point, running the show for the first time as an interim CEO, until he was later made official after successfully upgrading sling technology to the stuff seen now.
“On the nose.”
“Your father. Retired. He left the Central7 and then…”
“He became a politician…” Toro mutters, his eyes widen as he looks at Corialis like he had never seen him before.
“Then he was the senator they killed on Tenda.”
“Yes. H.O. Abobo killed my father.” Venom in his breath.
“You’ve waited this long to get me back for killing your father? I did not even kill your father, I was here when that happened. I wasn't in charge or even vaguely involved, even in the cover up that happened later.” Toro says sort of incredulously. All of this for that reason? Pepper isn’t buying it either, there must be some other angle, something that made it take this long.
Toro is far from untouchable, particularly if you scale him back to… but Toro didn’t kill Victor Corialis. Toro’s father did. Corialis isn’t young enough to have been unable to do something when the fire was hot. Why involve Epic, Pepper and Stardust? If anything he should thank them, they did kill H.O. and most of his men even. There is also the fact that they are standing in a replica of a space station that has literally nothing to do with Victor’s death.
“You were there. When we had the shoot out with H.O. on this station. Your father was already dead, but you were here weren’t you?”
“What? My father took no prisoners.” Toro acts like he is being accused of something.
“That I can attest to, but he did take on a lot of hired help when he heard that there was a heavy price on his head. Then there was the raid. Someone could easily slip in undetected, waiting for the right moment to strike.” Corialis’ eyes dart from Toro to Pepper, his anger palpable. He was thwarted back then; he never got to kill H.O.
“You were-“ Pepper thinks back, hard. Imagining that day, pulling up every possible face. Even if H.O. was being reckless, crime isn’t something you just stumble into, particularly when you’re talking the higher end criminal rackets that a Lord would be hauling. There is no way that Corialis could have moved up and into a position to be on that station in the couple of months it took the Federalis to hire Pepper, Epic and Stardust to finish that thing. A Federali agent, it is the only answer. While running the show is one thing, invading a space station in the middle of nowhere is the worst possible Federali gig, something that you would give to anyone who volunteered. Maybe even a promising young cadet, someone younger than Pepper, someone that he would have been introduced to almost directly before they left.
“I was in charge of the third team.” Corialis completes the circuit for the two men. Toro looks at Pepper, and Pepper is looking straight at Corialis. Of course it was him. Join the main assault, the third team was told to act as covering fire while Pepper flanked from the right and Epic from the left. Stardust was told she could mop up anyone who straggled behind or was in the other parts of the station. More people to kill, so of course she was interested. Pepper remembers the boy now, hot headed, eager to pull a firearm in a bad environment. Lusting for combat. Pepper had always thought the kid was just a foolhardy freshman, feeling invincible because he hadn’t seen anything real yet. Apparently that was only half the story.
“So you charged in and opened fire.” Toro mutters, remembering back. It was chaos. His father had no idea how much the Federalis lusted for his head on a pike, had literally no idea what they would do to wipe him out. He had intended on killing them quickly, but the hunters they had sent were wily. The agents went down pretty quickly, but reports came quickly that a woman was killing ten men before they even got a good bead on her. Hiring haphazardly from his own lower ranks, he had stacked the deck for himself with numbers, but the numbers game was being beaten by the skills racket. Peppermint White Ninja was a brilliant strategist and his troops were completely outclassed by three hunters. Toro and H.O. had holed themselves in the back of the station, a giant atrium surrounded in crystal, where they usually all met and had a good laugh over food and drink. Toro remembered his father shouting obscenities into the air, talking to his lieutenants over short-range. Telling people to fall back into a defensible pattern around the engineering torroid. Not that it was working. His men weren’t listening, and Epic Death was slaughtering them as quickly as he saw them.
“So my father called his men to pull back. We were going to defend this spot, pull everyone into the arm and then disconnect it. This room has its own propulsion, we could get away and detonate the rest of the station long before anyone could escape."
“I was close, I had met up with Epic and Stardust. Epic was fighting H.O. and Stardust was cleaning up behind us.” Pepper continues.
Sunshine is hiding behind the kitchen counter, looking over every inch of the room, as Pepper told her to, she hears a clanging noise in the spindle, vague, but audible. Her eyes dart for the door and she crunches down as close as she can, viewing the hexagonal opening avidly. In walks Stardust, gun drawn. Sunshine's eyes meet her's, for a moment they look each other over. Stardust looks at the main room, and Sunshine, against her own logic, holds up three fingers then points. Stardust nods and keeps moving.
“I was right behind you, stuck in a firefight and trapped in the engineering compartment. I called to you, asked for reinforcements so that I could join the fight. Get what was coming to me. But you refused to double back, said that you would handle H.O. and then it would be over. No need for me to get my hands dirty.”
“But you came anyway.” Stardust says as she walks into the room. Uninvited as always, pointing her gun at Corialis, looking Pepper up and down, sizing up her chances. Pepper smells a double cross, his hands are on his sword, Sunshine should have warned him, although anything funny from her would have stopped negotiations even earlier.
“I came down the main corridor just as H.O. pulled the plug on the station, one of his men pulled me into a side room as he saw me go by.”
“Cirrhosis.” Toro says, like he knew it all along.
“Yes, I gave him a mindwiping as a present for that. Set him up with his new life, not that he didn't squander the money I shunted his way. I got him a second shot as a racer, tried to help him as I could, but without being to obviously about it. He saved my life that day, got the both of us to an escape pod in the back of the head engineer’s quarters. Took us six weeks to get to civilization. I had a lot to think about.”
“So you blame us for your father’s death?” Stardust says, gesturing with her gun slightly.
“I blame you for stealing my revenge, and for trying to kill me in the process. I blame everyone in this stupid on-going match of wits. The hunters and the hunted, everyone working in a cycle to perpetually kill and be killed for monetary gain.”
“As if you are so clean and noble yourself? Making trillions upon trillions cashing in on your father’s genius and the blood and sweat of your workers.” Toro argues, unable to fully grasp how someone could possible hate him for something his father did so long ago. To fixate so blindly.
“Corialisana is a perfect utopia, not that I feel obligated to explain myself to you. A paradise of modern technology and social engineering, but to think how much more it could be with this.” Corialis says, holding the gem over his head, coveting its splendor.
“But you know what that thing costs don’t you?” Pepper says calmly, this is going dovetailed real fast.
“Of course, which is why I brought you here specifically. I brought you here to die for your sins, for the sins of your kind. As the four biggest sores on our collective conscious, I know that the jewel will kill us all when I make my final request, and I wanted it to be here. For whatever fate decides for us to take place here.”
“Oh yeah, well you’re going to need to figure something else out then.” Epic says from above. Pepper’s eyes dart up as does everyone else’s, Epic bursts from the ceiling in a cloud of dust. Corialis shoots twice, missing barely, before Epic is on him. Cannata and Last jump quickly after, Cannata landing in a crouch, pointing her gun on Toro. Last lands in sort of a heap. Stardust shoots Cannata in the shoulder before the woman has any idea; her gun spins to the other side of the room.
“I want that thing.” Stardust says bluntly. Epic throws Corialis left and Pepper goes forward to grab Cannata. Toro spins on his heels and takes a quick shot at Stardust. He misses as his aim was thrown by the motion; Stardust jumps backward and takes a defensive position behind desk. The room is round with one spoke leading to it. Several doors lead in various directions, most have a cavernous hallways which lead to airlocks which lead to stairs which lead to escape pods. The room itself is set up for a large dining hall, smaller rooms sectioned off for various games, other tables, and the kitchen.
Sunshine watches from behind Stardust, able to move one alcove along side, she tries to make for the relative calm of the center. To where Pepper and Cannata are. That is when she sees Last Chance ambling into the crossfire. Cursing under her breath she dashes out, grabs Last by the hand and forcefully pulls her out of the way, marching to the viewing room ahead. Epic and Corialis are already getting into it, and Last was ten seconds from exotic cheese status. Full of holes.
"Who are you working for you filthy trollop." Toro says, searching for Stardust behind the desk while looking for cover for himself.
"I'm working for myself, darling. Like I always have." Stardust laughs as she leaps over the desk, pommeling herself into a high misty flip aided by the low gravity, spraying the floor with bullets. Toro barely manages to pivot backward out of the way, tripping slightly on the edge of a grating but pushing off to follow the motion into a spin, landing in a low crouch. Toro shoots wildly at Stardust as he pulls a thin sword from his belt.
"I know you well. Enough to know that you are lying and telling the truth in the same breath." Toro grunts as he pushes a rising slash upward as Stardust lands. Stardust kicks the blade, jutting Toro off-stance as she lands roughly into a roll. Stardust pulls her short sword from her waist but remains low to the ground in wait. Toro is a fast swordsman, probably a third to herself, who is second to Epic in speed. That said, he is still extremely dangerous, especially in low gravity.
"You okay?" Pepper says.
"Walk it off. What now?" Cannata grumbles cocking her head towards Epic and Corialis. Their fight has already evolved into an acrobatic sword fight, which is moving a tad faster than Cannata is comfortable with. She tries rising from her back, but her shoulder throbs meniacally.
Pepper sort of shrugs, fully aware that he isn't part of this until something happens in one of the two fronts. Sunshine pulled Last off the field, which solves one problem, but Cannata getting shot keeps him out of both fights. Beyond that, everything is going exactly like he thought it would, down to the fight with Toro and Stardust. Gives him time to wonder what you would call this sort of thing, a shit storm? "Not really."
"What?" Cannata says, attempting to hoist herself up, but Pepper puts one hand on her chest to stay her.
"Oh. Sorry. Just getting too old, or soft. We wait for the right moment. Don't move your arm, your healing functions are offline remember."
"Right." Cannata grumbles.
Epic and Corialis are in a feedback loop. Epic does a flourishing strike, Corialis dodges by jumping off a nearby wall. Corialis lands off that jump into a wide stance and slices straight across, which Epic jumps over, hitting one of many low hanging pipes filled with various necessary gases, both noble and plebeian. Epic lands on one foot, and repeat cycle. Occasionally they burst into a bout of quick strikes and quicker parries, but Epic is thinking it's time for something unusual. This man in his obsession with this whole event imagined this very moment from every angle, for years, probably while planning his stupid crystal city. Place is where phallic references go to die. Anyway, this fucker has a very specific idea of how things are going to go, probably based on elaborate scenarios run with AIs set to act exactly like Epic, talk like him, probably fuck like him too.
Epic smirks. Corialis takes this as a moment to strike, and out of character, Epic let's him have a little piece, the blade grazing his ribs ever so barely, but Corialis had moved forward to strike, expecting that Epic would dodge, anticipating that only his second or third strike would connect, he stepped in too far on his first to maintain stance should he get a legitimate strike in. Epic pounds his palm into Corialis' side, knocking the man into a stumble, and then slicing a clean blade right through his stone holding hand. The hand, and the rock, fall to the left, slowly. Epic eyes it, and kicks the fucker football style, carrying it on the flat of his foot and flip-kicking it up and behind him. That out of the way, he can handle the rich guy. Let Pepper deal with magic gemstones.
Sunshine drags Last to the first place she finds that isn't being actively shot at. Last slaps her hand away, which Sunshine takes as an excuse to shove her over the largish sectional couch enclosing the largish alcove. Last hits her head on the back of the next row of couches. Some sort of stadium seating set-up for group meetings or sensivise parties. Sunshine turns her head to eye if they were followed, but everyone seems busy. Epic is fighting the gravsling guy, Pepper is talking swiftly to Cannata about something or other, and Toro and Stardust are to her right attacking each other all over. Last gulps and clambers over the couch, rolling over the side and landing hard on her shoulder rolling into the next row of couches.
"You bitch!"
"Still not over high school?"
"I hit my head."
"Oh. Right. Sorry about that."
"I'm sure you are." Last says sarcastically as she gets herself righted. Sunshine isn't even looking at her. Too focused on the violence, which Last begrudgingly understands. Sunshine turns her head slightly to Last.
"I am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Now or then. You just... If this has all taught me anything it is that we have to watch out for ourselves. Friends will help, but it comes down to you for yourself."
"You think so?"
"Probably not in times like this really." Sunshine laughs, and against herself, Last giggles too.
Just then an errant bit of flooring cuts through the space between them. Sunshine dives behind the couch, and Last crouches as low as she can get.
"It is still our job to keep ourselves alive." Last gasps. Sunshine nods in agreement.
"Why are you here?" Stardust asks.
"For the Jewel, obviously." Toro responds with a thrust of his blad
e, Stardust smoothly parries, keeping Toro talking to give her a second to catch breath. Also to fuck with him.
"And just as obvious you know that I wasn't talking about that."
"Why would I tell you?" Toro grunts as he lands a strong downward blow, Stardust is slightly staggered from blocking. He takes the moment to mark a strong horizontal strike, which Stardust flips backward to avoid, he catches the bottom of her right boot though, and she lands with one hand on the ground.
"I only need to use it once, you can have it if you sound like you have an interesting enough plan. I have no interest in most things, least of all money or power, and you have both. I want to know what you'll wish for." Stardust laughs as Toro jumps to land a finishing blow to her back. He forgets their location, which allows for much higher mobility, Stardust backhand springs nearly ten feet away from the strike. Toro's blade hits the floor with a loud scrape.
"I have no need to put myself at your mercy." Toro looks up defiantly. Stardust grins widely, dashing towards Toro as he attempts to reform stance.
"We'll see about that won't we?" Stardust glibly replies, jumping clean over Toro, pushing off the wall to his right and throwing her sword at his back leg as he attempts to follow her movement, she catches his pant leg which holds him still for just a moment, long enough for Stardust to see the dismemberment across the room. The gem launches toward her, over Pepper, she has one shot before Toro gets up and free. The jewel comes her way, she steps quickly onto Toro's back and jumps up, kicking the rock left hoping her new employer knows what to do next.
Toro bursts upward, slashing Stardust's left calf in the process, nothing too serious, but it makes her land in a roll. Now she has no weapon and a low level mobility problem. That bitch better hurry.
"You should peek."
"Not likely. You're the independent one. You do it."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know, but it's true."
"Hell. Okay, in three."
Both women peer over the sectional, but it is Last Chance who gets clocked in her skull by the fist-sized crystal. Luckily her traditional drug induced state has made her somewhat impervious to slight blunt force trauma. Her vision goes white for a moment as she slumps into a sitting position in the footspace between rows, but she quickly looks left and then right and realizes that the jewel is to her immediate left.
"What is that? Wait... It's that thing."
"Wha?" Last says in a daze.
"The Jewel. We have to do something."
"What does it do?" Last murmurs, shaking off a concussion.
"Oh, right. Truckee said it grants wishes. We have to dive into it."
"No World, dumbee."
"Oh."
Sunshine closes her eyes and curses, while Last attempts to suss out how it may work. Whispering wishes to it like that religious movie, rubbing it like in that lamp movie, kissing it like in that frog movie, singing to it like that softcore porn movie. Nothing. She wishes that she could use her eB to check the web for more information on how things like this typically are solved.
"Anything?"
"I don't think it likes me."
"Let me try." Sunshine says, touching the stone momentarily. Last quickly pulls it away, refusing to let Sunshine help. It is her turn to win. She wishes that they could just check the World for something on how you do this, which is when she notices that her vision has an open sensivise window. She has to dive into it, but she can't just go limp in front of Sunshine.
"It has a open line."
"Really."
"Yeah. I want to do it."
"Okay... You know what you're going to ask for?"
"A way home."
"Truckee made it sound tricky. Be very specific when you ask."
"Okay." Last smiles, Sunshine looks at the rock then at Last. Jealous. Finally. Last grins wide and then curls herself into a little ball to get started.
"Hurry."
"Yes, mom."
Last opens her eyes to see a giant wooden room, seamless dark wood surrounding her in a sort of amorphous shape. The floor and walls sit organically, flatish, but the structure is more of a squat oval than anything else. Areas are more and less translucent, allowing a subtle bluish light to filter through in places. Eery.
"Hello?"
"Yes?" Says a man's voice.
"Are you here?"
"As much as anyone."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"You came to me. Is this the reason?"
"No. Not really."
"I see."
"What are you?"
"I am beyond your understanding. You are holding a communication device which allows you to speak to me."
"Are you made of wood?"
"No. I am only here in a more limited aspect."
"Are you an elf then?"
"No, not that that line of reasoning is even logical. I am beyond caporal existence if that makes sense."
"A talking rock..."
"No. I come from a race that existed a long time ago in the physical world. A few of us left communication devices behind in the physical realm, sort of a guidepost to finding us for people adventurous enough to try."
"To try what?"
"To move forward."
"Where?" Last says, looking around. This place doesn't look like somewhere you would move to. Maybe a good wo or something, but it doesn't even have doors.
"Hooooh-kay. I'll hazard that you are not here to move beyond the physical then."
"I just want to go home and see Cirrhosis." Last feels like that is specific enough.
"I can do that for you." The voice sounds bored now. The lights seem to get dimmer.
"How?" Last says, tapping the walls. They sort of undulate when she touches them. Liquid wood?
"Probability. I can effect the likelihood of things happening, however probability is neutral. There is only so much of it, and it must even out."
"So..."
"This is why the others don't do things like this... Do you want to return to Selba no matter what it might cost?"
"I guess so. Yes, I do. I want to see Cirrhosis, and I want this fighting to stop. If you can do that I'll be very happy."
"Acceptable. Brace yourself, I cannot guarantee anything once it starts."
With that the line ends and the rock gets very hot, Last throws it down as she hears a very loud noise from the main room, and some yelling.
"What is it?"
"I think the station is moving." Sunshine murmurs, she can't see a lot from where they are. "What did you wish for?"
"To go home."
"This is probably not good." Sunshine says apprehensively. Not that she would have wished differently.
"What the fuck?" Pepper yells, the station is lurching forward angrily, moving from its position near Hess, moving very quickly. Pepper saw the Jewel of the Ancients go overhead, and saw Stardust kick it into the nearest meeting theater, where he was pretty sure the girls are hiding. Judging from the action outside, he can assume an escape was the wish, however that level of fortune must have cost significant misfortune.
Pepper deactivates his haze generator to allow himself access to long range scanners, risking the implications to the two ongoing skirmishes. They are heading for the LaGrange. Pepper quickly dives through the available schematics for the station. H.O.'s station was rebuilt exactly to spec, which means spec of several years ago when this sort of thing was not exactly common. Given current structural integrity the ship isn't likely to survive a jump without venting their current location to space, but a move to the central pivot point should be survivable, however this ship doesn't have FTL capabilities. It needs an old timey jump gate used to move it into place after construction and in emergencies, technology that has been out of use for decades, something only available in one place in a powered up state.
"He thought of everything didn't he." Pepper mutters, picking up C
annata.
"What do you mean?"
"He's made our escape route into a one-way-trip to killing a whole lot of people." Pepper grunts, sending LTs to Stardust and Epic as he runs with Cannata towards the main entrance, by his calculations they have about four minutes to get off this station and hopefully break its drive before it appears somewhere else. If only he had a way to contact someone on the other side in time, get them to do something, but he doubts that even that would be so easy. There are still three pieces on the board that are unaccounted for.
"Sunshine! Last! We are out. Now!" He yells as he runs past them, trying not to look too worried. The room they are in has propulsion, if they can detach it...
Sunshine squats down and quickly finds the Jewel, that handled she grabs Last's wrist, who is still mesmerized by the forward facing windows, or that severed hand, and drags her for the doors. Time to go. No doggie bags for severed hands.