While you guys are having the conversation and meeting with this new person, you notice that the two of the CS Soldiers at the building where Lt. Beehan resides start taking more of an interest in your group. They don't move other than to turn their helmeted heads your direction.
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Anya greets Burgurk warmly with a big white smile. "Null persp, chummer," she says.
"Moving hot bang-bang? Wiz! Hmmm, lemme meditate a nano."
Anya considers the problem. She hadn't been here--wherever the frag 'here' was--very long, but she had a lifetime of moving within quasi-legal persons, and making friends just sorta came naturally to her.
"Natch, chummer. I might know a guy who knows a guy," she says, winking.
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"Hey, you guys mind if I piggyback your comms?" she asks, tossing a side-long glance at the CS pack.
***Those purple-bellies are supposed to be long gone,*** she says over the local Castle Refuge channel, ***but, well, they ain't. My modus operundi is to wait until dark then go loud, but since we wanna stay quiet for a tic I supposed I could ask 'em nice. But I'll need some heavy back up. 'speak soft and big stick' and all that.
You all down?*** she asks.
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***Your stunned silence is very reassuring,*** Anya chirps on the comm as her request for assistance is not immediately answered.
***Okay, I'll speak plain. Ya, I can move your weapons for nice cashy money. But I need the CS troops outa here first. That's my mission, and I can't get too deep in extracurriculars until da biznez is done first.
Soooo, can you guys help get rid of them so we can get to making money?***" she asks the newcomers.
Burgurk says to Wraith "Speaking for myself, yes I would be glad to rid this town of Coalition troops. Where are they, and what is your plan?"
While you are deciding whether or not to engage in conversation with the Dead Boys, you notice that Old Man Duncan, the dwarven healer of this town, has already engaged Sir Humphrey in a talk of their own. They seem to be discussing 'the old ways'. Humphrey gives you an 'I'll catch you later' nod and walks with the old man. Lithari, the elven town mayor walks up towards you. "I don't want to interrupt what might be important business, but Anya was about to tell me about the Legion's help in this area, other than a few troops." She looks at each of you. "I do have a town to run and while I appreciate what you've done so far, I do need to get back to that."
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"Yeah, about that," Anya states, towering over the mayor in her shining steel power armor with an aura both quick and deadly. "I -told- you, the "Legion's help" is a matter of resources: The more we have, the more we can give away. So long as those bakebrain biffs there," she says, gesturing to the Dead Boys, "are still here, we need the troops to do more 'watching the enemy that wants to kill us all' and less 'building walls and digging wells for the betterment of the town.'"
She sighs, exasperated. "Okay, well, want do you -want- us to do? For the betterment of the town. If you had your druthers and I could just whistle up the help of a lance of cyborgs (although I already have one in theater, by coincidence) what would you -want- Legion help to look like?"
Perhaps if she could get the mayor nailed down to something concrete, she could negotiate from there.
Lithari looks a bit taken aback, not used to being the one on the defense in a negotiation. "Look, your people there said the Legion would send troops and be able to help keep us safe from further incursions by undesirables. Those CS folk don't like being here any more than I like them here, but that Lieutenant Beehan doesn't seem to want to take no for an answer. I told him already that he and his kind weren't wanted here, but yet he remains. I have no means to kick him out and I highly doubt these new soldiers you brought would help if he decided to play mean and bring the rest of his unit in with him." She sighs heavily. "I would like the soldiers to help guard Garnet Town and keep us safe from anything else that might come from that nexus, and if they are willing to help out around with labor like things, that wouldn't go unappreciated either. The big thing is, I have a feeling your Legion is more interested in that nexus than what little we have to offer, other than a stopping point on the way to whatever other things your people do out here."
At that moment, a beeping on your comms tells you that a message from Major Grimjack is waiting and he doesn't like to be kept that way. This is confirmed by one of the Legion soldiers. "Ma'am, it's Major Grimjack, we finally got a signal through and he's trying to get a hold of you and SET X-23."
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"Imma talk with Leuy Beehive, so don't you worry your pretty little head about them.
Your safety is your number one priority, so I'll get our troops working on emplaced defenses and obstacles and other force-multipliers that aid with defending static targets.
Also, don't look down on stopping points. Some of the best places started out as stopping points, and just went up from there! I mean I don't think Salt Lake City would even -exist- if it wasn't a stopping point to FreeCal."
She blinks a few times before realizing that not a soul within a thousand miles has even heard of the UCAS.
"Anyway, the point is that you guys have the WONDERFUL asset of Being Close To Something Important. And that makes you-all, by default important. So rejoice! In a couple years you're gonna need to put up high-rise hotels and amusement parks and chip-head bars and oxygen bars and even normal bars for all the synthahol!"
She just plows right on by that last one. "Anyway, my celly be blowin' up, so we gots ta take this wave from boss-man. Do excuse us," she finishes overly-formal before she motions the others a bit away before taking up her own comm.
"Hoi Grimmy. You got Wraith."
Lithari nods, her elven mind thinking as she goes back to her duties. "As I said, we appreciate the help, either way."
Major Grimjack's voice crackles over the link. "...amned girl. I was hopin... Listen anyway. Your people need to get going out of there... etter signal... top of hill... old antenna... coordinates... over." A second message comes through with the coordinates for the antenna he is speaking of.
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Anya sighs deeply. "Fraaaag. I got eleventy billion things to do and he needs to have a long fireside chat."
She nods at the others to make sure they heard and that they know where the hill is. "Well, I reckon he means to chat at the lot of us, so no sense standing around. I'll meet you at the top."
That said her helmet closes and she boosts her jets, flying up to the top of the hill and checking how the reception is up there.
Burgurk follows her on foot.
October 22nd, 109 P.A., 10:27am, overcast and lightly windy. Hill overlooking Garnet Town.
You take about twenty minutes to travel the distance to the antenna on top of a hill covered in trees and ruins of small buildings, Anya getting there much faster with her jetpack. The sound of your approach sends a flock of colorful looking birds flying, but otherwise, it appears that you are alone. Judging from the rust and severed cables and wires, it looks as if this antenna hasn't seen use since the Coming of the Rifts. The fact that it still stands is testament to its construction, but to get it functioning may take some work. Normally, the Legion would send a special Communications Infrastructure Team, but Garnet Town's proximity to a Nexus makes that difficult at best. So, based on what little you gathered from Major Grimjack's message, he wants you to fix it and contact him again.
Atlas 21-12, in a hurry to see about the intel that Anya has on Jonis Witta's whereabouts, begrudgingly accepts the request to attempt a repair with what little parts there are available for the ancient antenna. It will take him a few days, as he also has to scrounge up parts from the surrounding buildings to do. In the meantime, any of you can help him or work on something else for the next few days.
Not doing anything in particular for the next few days.
October 26th, 109 P.A., 11:24am, partly cloudy and lightly windy. Hill overlooking Garnet Town.
A few days pass as you help Atlas repair the antenna array as best you can, using what spare parts you can find or Gerry-rig from the ruins of this old radio station. It takes some time to get a signal through to Major Grimjack, but once you do, his dour demeanor seems more amplified over the comms.
"Finally. Alright listen up. Some big changes in structure are coming up and I ain't liking it, but I got orders and now I'm passing those orders down to you. Seems you'll be staying in Garnet Town for a while, so get comfortable and make nice with the locals. Before you do that, we've received word that one of our technical operatives was captured in the area by local CS forces. We know there is still a CS presence in Garnet Town. See if you can find this operative and bring her into your team. I'm assigning her as your new tech operative since Atlas is being reassigned to the search for Officer Witta. Once that is accomplished, now that you have a squad to watch out for, one of you is being promoted to a command rank. They want me to choose one of you. I ain't doing that, so you get to figure it out. Once you've decided and brought Jaq into your team, radio me and I'll get someone else to do all the paperwork. Questions?"
Burgurk replies "Understood, sir. No questions from me." He glances at the others to see if they have any questions.
Turning to Wraith he says "Have you located the CS hangouts and hideouts yet in Garnet Town? We need to find our new comrade."
".. and don't get caught." The words rattle around in your brain as you lean your back up against a most uncomfortable wall. The Coalition was not supposed to be in the area, but yet you already figured out that your handler wasn't telling you the whole truth, long before you left on this mission. Disable an antenna array and shut down part of their communications network to keep them from spying on the Legion's own comms, what little that they were. Simple enough, a few wires loose here, a whispered incantation there, and done.
Getting there was the easy part, you had a team of five. Yourself, a driver, a medic, a heavy gunner and the intel officer. You barely had time to learn their names before everything went pear-shaped. The driver got you there in an old repurposed hover truck. The place was abandoned, except for a few raiders on the lookout. The intel officer said this might happen and brushed them off as just 'local color'. It wasn't until they started pulling out standard Coalition issue weapons that you knew something was wrong. The driver went down first, a plasma bolt took out the truck and him with it. The medic was burned in the explosion and could barely stay conscious enough to fight back. The heavy gunner opened up with a mini railgun and turned many of the bandits into scrap metal and detritus. The intel officer was nowhere to be seen. Only your magic was able to save you from certain death from the first volley, but as the firefight continued, the unmistakable sound of large engines coming in fast told you this place was not so light in defense. The Coalition SAMAS team surrounded you quickly. The last thing you remember is the medic being dragged from hiding before a rifle butt to your head turned everything black.
When you woke up, you were surprised they didn't kill you on the spot. Coalition folk do not like magic users of any kind, but the officer that questioned you wasn't asking about that, he was more interested in what you knew about the antenna array, which was decidedly not much, other than how to shut it down. His questions told you this was no ordinary array, but before he could question you more, an aide told him that someone needed to see him right away. He ordered the guards to take you back to your cell.
That was days ago. Other than voices you hear sometimes outside the walls, you rarely see anyone but a soldier that brings you food every so often. He doesn't speak or acknowledge your presence in any way, but the spikes on his helmet and the word 'PSI' on his chest armor tell you what you need to know. How much longer will you be here? Has the Legion written you off? What happened to the other members of your team? You will have some time to ponder these questions...
Jaq almost wished they would torture her, at least she wouldn't be bored and left with just her thoughts. Thinking about what happened only made her think about the last frantic days of Wayland's Hollow. Door to door fighting in a three-way battle for the town. By then they had known that they would never keep the town, and it was all they could do to buy the transports time. So many died in those last hours of fighting. The wounds were still raw, but she wanted to help, and this was how she was told she could.
She should have known better.
The driver was aloof, the kind that just wanted to get the job done and get paid. Yohn, was it? No, that wasn't right, Iohn? John? Zhon? It didn't matter, her was dead. She had been shocked, but it hadn't hurt, whe would have likely never gotten to know him all that well.
The heavy weapons specialist was the kind of alpha-wolf wannabe that made her skin crawl. He only went by his self-assigned call sign of Tiger Alpha. He had proved he knew how to use a gun, but she hadn't really gotten past her initial repugnance to really see if there was any substance to go with all of the bluster. She'd heard him scream as they gunned him down just before they pulled the medic out.
The medic, a young woman named Ariel who'd just joined the Legion as well, had been the one she'd gotten to know the most in the short time they had to get to know each other. She reminded Jaq of her second oldest sister, a fun, bubbly person always ready to brighten someone's day. She and Jaq had hit it off almost immediately. She remembered seeing her expression as they pulled her from the depression she'd taken cover in after nearly dying in the explosion as well. Her back and left side were badly burned, but she'd managed to fire off a few rounds to help cover Tiger and Jaq before she was forced to lay low by the pain, but Jaq saw the pain, the fear, and she wondered if Ariel was still alive.
Then there was Flavian, the intelligence officer. He'd disappeared just as the fighting broke out, and she was certain he was working for the Coalition now. He had to have been, and that was worrisome. What if he made it back to the Tomorrow Legion and lead another team into an ambush like this one? Whenever she thought of it, her stomach twisted into knots and she felt sick.
She looked around the cell they'd put her into. It was cold, and all Jaq had for warmth was a thin blanket. They'd taken everything else, her armor, her vest, the gizmos in her pockets, even her boots, leaving her is just a long-sleeved shirt, her cargo pants, and her thankfully thick socks. She didn't even know what time of day it was or even how long she'd been in here. Hours? Days? Weeks? They never told her anything about what was going on, and she had a shiner from the one time she'd asked about Ariel.
She curled up under the blanket, trying not to think about what fate may have befallen her and her friend. Had they been abandoned? Was the Tomorrow legion going to write them off as missing in action and move on? What if they knew where they were? would they come for them? The questions gnawed at her and she could feel her resolve starting to crumble.
Was that why she was still alive? Did they mean to interrogate her or break her into serving them? Would she accept such an offer if it meant survival?
That last one made her shiver. Could she ever work for the people that had destroyed her home and killed so many of her friends and family, all in the name of humanity?
She shook her head. No, she couldn't she could never work for them, even if the only alternatives were death or a lifetime in a cell punctuated by torture. She closed her eyes and prayed to whatever being might be listening for Ariel and herself. Praying for some miracle to get them both out of this mess and back home.
She found herself often praying that as she sat there in the cell.
October? 109 P.A., After second meal of stale bread and not-so-clean water. Same cold cell you've been in for days.
You count the scratch marks in the wall for the umpteenth time, figuring at least three days have gone by. Just when you figure that they have forgotten you and left you here to rot away, your jailer appears with a trio of soldiers with him. "Time to go."
You are dragged into the interrogation room again and the soldiers unceremoniously drop you into the chair. As they strap you in, they make sure the bonds are extra tight, eliciting a grunt of pain from you. You can hear one of them chuckle behind his mask. It takes a few minutes after they leave for the interrogation officer to come in. This time he isn't wearing his helmet. His cragged face and permanent frown tells you he has seen more than his fair share of war.
"Your Legion has forgotten you. My superiors have not. While I am of a mind to simply fry you and get one less pain in my ass removed, my orders are to find out everything you know about this facility. Now, do not mistake me for a kind man. I have no qualms about squeezing the life out of you, man or woman, to get what I want. That gentleman outside has told me he can simply scour your mind for the data, but I do not trust that he will not turn you into a vegetable, so we're doing it my way. As I see it, you have two choices. Continue to hold out and be beaten over and over for however long it takes, or spill your mind and I send you off to El Dorado, free of charge." He leans back in his chair, satisfied that his point was made.
October 26th, 109 P.A., 12:47pm, partly cloudy and lightly windy. Gates to Garnet Town.
As you close off communication with Major Grimjack, you say your goodbyes to Atlas and wish him well on his mission to find Jonis Witta. He answers with his usual machine response and is soon on his way. Afterwards, as you are headed back to Garnet Town, you notice that there seems to be some sort of ruckus occurring just outside the makeshift gates.
The Legion soldiers are attempting to keep a man dressed in ragged robes, who appears to be somewhat intoxicated due to his ungainly posture, from entering the city. They haven't drawn weapons yet, but he seems very insistent.
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"Well -obviously-." she states at the Major, "_I_ should be in command here. I'm the only one who can talk to people and not make them want to hit back," she says unironically. "People always wanna talk to whoever is in charge, and I know how to tell people to take a long walk off a short pier so that they look forward to the trip."
After a nonchalant farewell to the battlemech she answers Burgurk's question. "Do I know where some of them hang out openly during the day? Yeah. That's obvious. You can see 'em around town.
But if they have some kind of hidden lair somewhere where they keep kidnapped allies, no, I do not have such knowledge.
My advice would be to kidnap one of those goons, fly him out to the woods, and 'aggressively negotiate' with him until he tells us.
You got better idea I'd love to hear it."
At the commotion at the gate she frowns at it.
"This looks like a job for someone who knows to talk about things.
Also also flies."
With that she flies off, landing quickly in the midst of the kerfuffle.
"What seems to be the kerfuffle?"
Jaq manages not to quail at the thought of actually being tortured, but it was hard. She knows the man must be right. The Legion must have forgotten about her, or thought her dead. She didn't doubt for a moment that the man meant what he said, and given her past experiences with Coalition soldiers, she knew that even if she cooperated, fair treatment was hardly likely. She looks down at her knees, about as far as she could look with how tightly she was bound to the chair.
"Wh-what about Ariel," she asks, her voice hoarse from days of not speaking. "Is she even alive still?"
The officer looks you over for a moment. You see his fists tighten, but then relax as he breathes heavily. "Your care for this woman seems genuine. I did not think it possible for one who trafficks in the occult to have such a heart." Not awaiting a response, he continues. "My concern is not for you or your team, only that which is contained in your minds. The Tomorrow Legion seems to think it can start bullying its way though CS territory, giving homes to things and attempting to subvert humanity's claim to their homes. You do know that your entire organization is run by creatures not of this world, right? That you are being manipulated by forces unknown?" He sighs, seeing none of this is getting through. "Other than your occultism, you are human. You must have some sense of duty for your own kind. Especially if you are inquiring about another one of them." As you sit there, bound tight, he stares at you, as if trying to see through to your very soul. Leaning back again, he mutters. "She still breathes."
Junior Legionnaire Miller salutes as you approach, though he should know better because one, you don't salute in the field and two, you don't salute someone who is not an officer. "Yes sirr... ma'am. This vagrant claims he lives here and says that the town and everything around it belongs to him. He is obviously drunk, ma'am."
Before he can continue, the man grins and stumbles a bit. "'att's right. Is all...mine. The whoooollee... lot of it. Just have to get in there and get to my.. what is your word? Ki.. lai..cave. Yes, my cave." He stands somewhat upright, but then just as quickly falls to the ground and rolls around a bit.
The soldier continues. "We were going to try to detain him, but he isn't armed that we can tell, so we're not sure if he's even a threat."
Jaq's expression darkens as he rails against her and the Tomorrow Legion. It hadn't been the Tomorrow Legion that had wiped out her hometown. It hadn't been the Tomorrow Legion that had put a bullet through her five-year-old nephew's head as he was running with his mother to safety. It hadn't been the Tomorrow Legion that cooked her best friend's mother alive with hellfire. No, that had been the Coalition States and the Federation of Magic. She opens her mouth to tell this pompous twit exactly what she thought of the Coalition States and their philosophy and the consequences be damned when his last muttered sentence stops her cold and her expression turns into one of surprise. Now, it is not just her life on the line. Ariel's life likely depends on her cooperation just as much as her own.
"You want to know what I know about this place," she asks to confirm that is what he is after. "I already told you that I didn't know much. Just that shorting out the circuit at switch number seven and messing with the runs from the console and the main antennae would make for a hellishly difficult to solve intermittent issue. Your plant didn't tell me anything more that that. I didn't get a close enough look of anything to figure out more on my own, so that's all I know."
She looks down, wondering if she should just keep quiet, but she had to know what he meant by shipping her to El Dorado, and if Ariel was going to receive the same fate as she.
"You said that you would ship me off to El Dorado. What does that mean? Am I the only one, or will you be sending Ariel with me," she asks, hoping that her forthrightness earned her a little leniency.
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Anya looks down at the stuttering pile shaking on the ground and frowns. She feels empathy for him because frog knows that she's spent enough of her hours on the ground senseless. Mind you, she just knew to do it and then NOT start yelling at Men With Guns about how you own them.
Well, not more than once.
She thought of away to solve this AND in a way that would amuse her, so that made it good.
"I'll take it from here. You have more important things to do," she says, still looking at the drunk.
"Hoi chummer," she says, Vicki's servos whirring slightly as she bends down, closer to the crazy man's level.
"Sorry, but you lost the town to me in a poker game last night, don't you remember? You said if I took my top off I could have the town. I came through, so don't think that Imma let you re-neg!
But, I'm a generous Burgermesiter Meisterburger, so I'll excort you to your cave.
_IF_ you can tell me where it is."
She waits patiently.
The interrogation officer listens intently as you speak, waiting for you to finish before giving any sort of response. He then stands, striding purposely towards the door. It's interesting that you mentioned a plant. I never mentioned one." He looks at you before opening the door and calling for your escort. "El Dorado, the newest Coalition State to be recognized. You will be going there for re-education."
After a few minutes, you are back in your cell, with a new cut on your lip from an armored glove to the mouth from one of your jailers. The PSI one speaks to you and you hear his voice not only from his helmet, but in your mind. "Too bad. I was going to enjoy learning all your secrets. "
A few hours later, at least by your reckoning, you hear a commotion outside the cell block. You then hear a familiar female voice throwing an array of insults towards someone. Then your cell opens and Ariel is dropped in with you. She looks as bad as she did after the battle. A few actual bandages cover where the larger burns were, but the one on her face and the ones on her hands were barely covered by more than threadbare cloth. Her face also had some souvenirs from being questioned.
Looking meekly up at your face, she tries to smile. "What.. what are you in for?"
The man on the ground rolls over a few times and eventually regains his feet. He stumbles towards Anya, a wry smile on his face. "Oh.. I would have remembered that. Perhaps if..if you did it again, I might recall." He explodes into laughter as he nearly trips over himself. He then stops suddenly, straightening up his posture and looking directly into your eyes. You're not sure, but you could swear you saw actual fire in them."It is no matter. I am but the messenger. He is coming. Once he does, this place will matter no more." Just as suddenly, he falls into a heap on the ground. As you go over to check on him, you find all that remains are his dirty robes.
The other soldiers look at you, a fresh paint of shock on their faces. "Who is He?"
"The intelligence officer downplayed the threat of the men you had guarding the comm array and then disappeared when the fighting started. He only told us enough to know how to disable the tower, but little else. Seems pretty clear to me he was a plant meant to draw us out," Jaq explains, though her voice is heavy with defeat, not bright with victory.
Hearing that she's to be re-educated sends a chill down Jaq's spine. She looks down at her hands, then her feet as she's hauled up out of the chair and half-dragged out of the room. She only looks up after another punch spangles her vision with stars and splits open her still puffy lip. She's still dazed when they toss her into her cell again, but the PSI agent waits for her to clear her head before speaking.
"You say that like you won't do it anyways," Jaq says in a soft, cold voice, she glares at the PSI, but there's not much voltage behind it and she can still hear the man laughing through the door after it slams shut, leaving her alone with crushing weight of what is about to happen to her pressing down.
"Oh, you know, j-just being my se–" Jaq tries to say with a grin, and manages to succeed even as she shakes from the sobs she holds back by the fourth word, but the pressure is too much and even as she feels relieved to have Ariel back with her, she's being crushed by the dread of what is to come. The tears come, then her expression crumbles as she begins to cry and wraps her friend in a gentle hug.
"I'm sorry Ariel! I'm so sorry! I can't... I couldn't lose you! I couldn't lose family again, not this soon," she sobs, "I wasn't strong enough. I caved. I caved! And-and-and now they're gonna... they're gonna send us off to brainwash us, or kill us."
Jaq trembles as she apologizes to Ariel again and again for failing her, for not being strong or smart enough to keep them both alive and out of the Coalition's hands, and for dooming them both to whatever re-education the CS has planned for them. It takes several minutes for the pent up anger and anguish to play out, but once it has, Jaq's voice is eerily calm.
"Sorry I can't fix the burns," she apologizes, "Guess the Coalition thinks we'd be too much of a handful if both of us were too cute," she says with a weak chuckle.
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"That was very, very, very very, very, very strange," Wraith states, mouth agape.
"No idea," she answers the soldier. "Maybe it's something where you say it it's gonna come and then you're engulfed in fire. Sounds like some sort of new drug?"
She stands up, surveying the horizon. She -wants- to forget this all happened, but something keeps tickling the back of her head. "He said something about a cave. Are there any rock formations near here?"
Ariel coughs and sputters as she lay on the floor after your hug, deciding she is more comfortable there than trying to move. "You don't need to apologize, Jaq. We all signed on for this and unless there's something you're not telling me, you didn't walk us into an ambush." She coughs again and bit of blood joins her spittle. "Sorry," she says. "I know it wasn't you, but someone sold us out. I have a mind to write a strongly worded letter to command about it." Ariel smiles and it is infectious. "Look, these men, in all their zeal to purify humanity, have forgotten what it means to be human. Because of who we associate with, they see us as animals to be slaughtered, not the beautiful creatures that we are." As wounded as she is, Ariel's eyes sparkle with that unending joie de vivre. "If we are going to die, I am happy that I am with my sister."
You remember that the antenna was on a hill, and it is possible that there was a cave structure there, but that was a bit away from Garnet Town itself. "Ma'am?", Miller interrupts your thought train. "Maybe that old man that Sir Humphrey went with might know something."
Shakti has little to contribute while the others work on restoring the Antenna. Instead she spends her time getting to know the area, going for walks, hunting for wild game when the opportunity presents, and observing the comings and goings of the town.
When it comes to the question of placing one of their number in command, she offers the following, "While it is pleasant to meet you, and a great relief to have someone finally replace our walking liability of a defective combat droid, you are somewhat unknown to the rest of us. I am told you are new to the Legion, which is also true of myself. Burgurk has more time with the legion than either of us, and has repeatedly demonstrated himself to have a cool head under fire, and displayed wisdom in his strategies. He would be my choice for commander if a choice were needed immediately. Apparently we have a forth member to add to our group, so it might also be wise to see if she has an opinion, or even merits consideration as team leader."
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Anya's attention had already started to waver as she absently scanned about looking for the CS troops to go frag with when the trooper comes up with a solid possibility.
"Uh, okay, yeah, the local. Alright, I'll go hack that LAN."
Not caring if anyone refers to anything as a Local Access Network anymore, she boosts her jets and lands near the nearest group of locals.
"Hoi chummers. I need to find Old Man Logan, erm, ah, Duncan! Yeah, Duncan. Short guy? Talks a lot? Need him in the orbit of now-ish.
You peeps know where he be?"
"Yeah but even a bake-brain wouldn't wanna talk to him even if he had a mega-cred of free 2XS in the offing.
If you wanna toss Burgurk up as 'tactical command' or 'master sergeant' I'm all for that. But the leader needs to step up an' make with the sweet talk at the first sign of an outraged civilian. You got a wee taste o' th' blarney, O'Burgurk? You can sell ice to an eskimo an' water to a fish? Yeah, the long cred is on not so much.
I wanna talk to the Quartermaster--said no one ever."
"I would counter by saying that the commander should be someone trusted in all circumstances, and trusted in combat most of all. I have no reason to trust you or distrust you at present, whereas he has earned my respect. Not knowing if you are compitant in combat or not, my Instinct would also be to second guess your commands, to see if they are wise to follow or not. It is much more important to have the ultimate authority in a team have that respect than a universality of skills. Someone well versed in a particular area makes a good point person on that subject, but unless that skill is in leadership and inspiring loyalty, that skill does not warrant command. A competant leader will delegate to a subordinate when such an action makes sense, such as to me with magic, or yourself with negotiations or trade."
"That being said, I do not object to a delay; it is entirely possible you may possess skills in tactics and leadership, and that time will allow these skills to be demonstrated."
Shakti's points are made plainly, with no hostility or malice; she is just matter of fact and unusually blunt.
Jaq smiles back at Ariel, glad to know that even in this bleak situation Ariel still had that spark of humor that never seemed far from the surface.
"Let's hope they grant last requests. If we're going to be shot, might as well be shot enjoying a milkshake and ogling someone good looking," Jaq chuckles before her expression darkens again. She gently shifts Ariel to something a little more comfortable for the both of them as she used their one blanket to cover them both.
"The guy that was supposed be our intel officer, how long did you know him," she asks, wanting to believe she'd been wrong, that one of their own hadn't lead them into a trap. "How long was he in the Tomorrow Legion?"
Ariel almost starts choking again at your joke. She lays there for a moment before answering. "Flavian? Not long I suppose, I've only been in the Legion myself a few weeks, brought on after I got out of a tussel near Kingsdale. From what I heard, the Legion itself is less than a year old, give or take. I was assigned to this team recently and he was the commander. The driver knew him longest I think. From what I could gather, they joined together. Flavian seemed kind of young to be an officer, but I guess the Legion doesn't really have much choice in the matter. They'll take what they can get." She thinks briefly, musing some words to herself before continuing. "I guess that makes it possible that he could've been a spy for the Coalition, put there in the latest recruitment drive. According to our mission profile, we were supposed to be the only ones in the area. Thing is, was it bad intel or an ambush, or both? I don't really want to be somewhere with people I don't trust... I... nevermind." Ariel stops and quickly changes the subject. "I don't suppose you have a plan for not getting re-educated?"
One of the locals points you in the direction of Old Man Duncan. He is at what passes for an infirmary in Garnet Town. The man is short, but stocky and has a well groomed gray beard that goes down to his belly. Currently his only patients seem to be a couple of townsfolk that have come down with a coughing illness. "Ah, the local heroes," he says. "I heard tell that you folk will be staying a while. We'll be glad to have ya." Looking each of you over, he remarks, "You don't look wounded, so I'm guessing you have a question?"
"Honestly, with that PSI guy they've got, I don't think I can come up with something clever enough to get us out of this mess," she admits quietly, "and I really, really don't want to get re-educated. For me that probably comes with a bomb implant free of charge, or with lots of charge I guess." Jaq gives a weak chuckle at the terrible pun, then an apologetic smile at Ariel's groan.
"Sorry. I guess we've got no time for pun, huh," she says with a grin.
"If they think we're just docile little lambs, they might let things get lax enough for us to slip out, but I don't think that's likely since they known what I am, and maybe even where I'm from. They'll have us under tight guard at all times. I think we're stuck with hoping that we either get rescued or that they'll screw up or get attacked at some point."
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With her characteristic step Wraith zoooooms into the air and comes down in the neighborhood of where she needs to be like an exaggerated jump.
"Hoi Duncan. I'm Wraith.
So, funny thing. This crazy guy just came up to the gate guard and started yammering on about how he 'owns' the town and can prove it (or something) if he could just get to his cave.
And then died.
I don't know what he was on, or on about, but I'd like to put it to rest if I can.
I figured I'd see if any cave around here had been lived in, and if so, if any had clues about the resident Crazy Naked Dead Man and his Weird Ramblings.
'Cept this area isn't exactly teaming with mountains, but someone said you know all the things, so I'm asking you.
There any good caves around here?"
Old Man Duncan looks you over for a moment before answering. "Well, I can't say that I've seen much of any real cave structures in this area, being that we're just a big island in the middle of a river bed. The yonder hills might have something, but as you probably know, that Rift nearby can change the scenery in the blink of an eye. Lots of people have come and gone saying this place was theirs, but I can first sure tell you it ain't so. My grandpappy and his family settled Garnet Town long ago. Sad to say, I'm the last of their line. Whatever that man laid claim to is likely long gone."
"Y-yeah, he probably is," Jaq agrees, a part of her worried that Ariel may not have to worry about the reeducation camps. As she tried to think of anything that could give them even a glimmer of hope, she can feel her eyes drooping. "Comin' fer bothovus. Too few wi'healin' hands now..."
Jaq follows Ariel into sleep, too exhausted to even dream.
Burgurk says to Wraith (and everyone else) "I think we should give up on trying to find this crazy guy's cave and focus on finding our comrade who's probably being tortured by the CS as we speak. You have any ideas on how to do that?"
"So, Wraith, while I'm all for some carnage, we can't do what you suggest in public. Do you know of any of their private hangouts/bases in town?"