|
Post by Brie on Apr 15, 2005 16:52:39 GMT -6
Ever so quietly Brie, Logan and Kyla continued towards the Boiler Room. Brie was trying her hardest to not slow them down. She was hurting more than she would even think about mentioning. Her right arm was obvious, two wounds, one on top of the other, and a small gash in her elbow. The bleeding hadn’t totally stopped, but had slowed down considerably. Her left thigh was throbbing. Pierce’s shot had damaged the muscle, and every step was excruciating. She wasn’t going to let it show. Worst of all was that the same shot that had grazed her elbow had solidly hit her in her side. Brie could tell that it had done some damage. She could feel the blood running down her right leg and pooling in her shoe.
They rounded a corner, and came face to face with Trula. Anger swelled up inside of Brie. This woman had played a part in Turner’s murder, and had bragged about it! Brie held up Pierce’s laser while Trula raised her own. “Drop it, Trula,” Brie ordered.
Trula started to laugh. “What are you going to do, Widow? Shoot me?”
"Damn right,” Brie replied. She immediately fired once, the shot barely touching Trula’s raised hand. It did the trick, though, Trula jumped and accidentally dropped her own weapon. “Hands on your head, now.”
Slowly Trula put her hands on top of her head. “This isn’t over.”
“Probably not,” Brie said. “But just so you know, Pierce’s plan has failed and he won’t be taking over the fleet.”
Trula spit at Brie. “Yes he will. Maybe not this cycle, but it’s his destiny to rule. Dogwenruoy!”
Although Brie had no idea what “dogwenruoy” meant, she knew that there wasn’t enough time to ask. They had to get to the Boiler Room, and with a little bit of luck and a lot of help from the Lords of Kobol, stop the bomb and then find Pierce.
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Apr 15, 2005 17:20:34 GMT -6
The group of farmers, makeshift weapons in hand, had finally made their way to the bridge. They were almost surprised to find the door closed, this was the Agro Ship, they never closed off the bridge for Sagan’s sake! “This is proof,” Star said with certainty. “Brie took over the bridge and has sealed it off.”
“Hold on,” Jeb said, stepping up to the door’s controls. “I know the security code.”
A woman in the back spoke up. “How do you know...”
“You never mind that, woman,” Jeb replied. He typed in a series of numbers. A message appeared, ‘Access denied.’ He tried again with no luck. “Frack, they changed the code,” he said.
“That’s more proof,” Star added. She banged hard on the door, and a few of the others joined her.
“What do you want?” Captain Suttir yelled from inside.
“Major Brie!” Star shouted back.
“Is Ange with you?” Suttir asked.
“No,” Star replied. “We want Major Brie and we want her now!”
“She went to find Major Pierce,” Suttir replied. Brie had told him to not open the door for anyone except for Ange or herself, and he was going to listen to her expertise.
Star turned towards the rest of her group. “There’s even more proof that she’s working with Pierce! Or worse yet, she captured him, forced him to say what he did, and he then escaped so she’s gone after him.”
“Look,” someone said, pointing down. “There’s a trail of blood.”
“Let’s follow it,” Jeb suggested.
“For Amy!” Star shouted.
“For Amy!” the rest of the group roared in return, and started off, led by a path of blood.
|
|
|
Post by LucianG on Apr 17, 2005 7:52:07 GMT -6
Seeing that he was going to be of little further use in the Cylon Cruiser, Lucian decided to try to find a better assistant for Fallel as he attempted to figure out how to restore Amy’s memories. First, he decided to contact Doc BKJ to check on her condition.
“No change, Lucian,” said BKJ. “Her body is there, but her mind isn’t. It’s like they took everything that was Captain Amy and left an empty shell. Medically, I don’t have a clue where to go from here.”
“I know,” replied Lucian, dejectedly, “about all we can do is pray. I’m pretty religious, Doc, that was the way my parents raised me, but I hate to think we have to leave something to the Lords to fix that the blasted Cylons broke. I can’t believe they know how to mess with people’s minds like this.”
Doc was silent, and Lucian started to believe he’d lost the connection with her. “Doc, are you still there?” he asked.
Several more microns of silence followed before she replied, “After what we just went through with Captain Hawke, I can believe it, but I wouldn’t have just a couple of cycles ago. Lucian, they had planted an organic graft into Hawke’s brain that was effectively controlling him. I don’t know for sure, but I believe it was starting to break down, which may have been why he acted so strangely recently. It was flaring up more often, making him have these strange episodes. We caught it on one of the scans during one of those hallucinations, otherwise, we’d have never even seen it until Hawke was dead.”
“What can you tell me about it?” asked Lucian wondering if there might be a tie-in with Amy’s condition. The conversation went on for quite some time.
|
|
|
Post by LucianG on Apr 17, 2005 7:55:58 GMT -6
“Fallel, I’ve spoke with Doc BKJ, and we’ve got a couple of new ideas,” said Lucian to his younger assistant. “One, you need someone with a much better programming mind than mine. I checked with Major Joey and she recommended a systems programmer named Pell. Joey said she was the best and might be able to help you attack this from a different angle.” Spotting the look on Fallel’s face, Lucian asked, “Is something wrong, Fallel?”
The small, wiry younger man looked at Lucian with a degree of uncertainty before asking, “Lucian, do you know anything about Systems Programmer Pell? Anything at all?”
Lucian cast a quizzical eye at Fallel. The Frodarian Outlander was not prone to gossip, so Lucian, after a moment’s pause, finally said, “I’ve heard her name, and I think I may have seen her a couple of times, but I can’t say I know anything about her. Why? Is there something I should know?”
“Lucian, if you try to get her to help, just be careful. The stories I have heard are that she can be pretty demanding…physically. Just be careful what you get into with her.”
Thinking of Mar-nee’, his widowed friend and former, and potential future, love, on the Rising Star, Lucian smiled as he said, “Believe me, I don’t plan to get into anything with her.”
As Lucian was about to contact Pell, Lucian’s replacement comm unit sounded. He recognized Joey’s voice immediately, “Lucian, get to the Bridge, now. Commander Sheba thinks you may be of some help in the crisis on the Agro Ship. Joey, Out.”
|
|
|
Post by LucianG on Apr 17, 2005 17:15:13 GMT -6
Lucian made it to the Bridge very quickly. When he arrived, he was surprised to see Major Buellah still on the Callisto, another guy he thought he recognized as the two-bit protector, Bollhead or something like that, who’d hung Major Brie out to dry, and quite a few more people, a few of whom he couldn’t identify at all. Joey called Lucian over and said, “Major Lucian, this is the Callisto’s Chief Agronomist, Mikottens.”
Lucian shook hands and exchanged greetings with the man who he had met a couple of times before when he was working around the ship. Still, Lucian didn’t know him very well at all. Therefore, he was a little surprised when Mikottens, who was commonly known as Greenjeans for the stained trousers he usually wore, said, “Major Lucian, I understand that your father was a xeno-agronomist, and that you spent some time on a deep space research and exploration ship as a kid. Correct?”
Lucian nodded and asked, “That’s right.”
“Did you ever spend any time in your father’s lab? And did you have a hydroponics garden on your ship?”
“Sure, to both questions,” replied Lucian. “For our journeys, we had to have one, and I spent a lot of time there until I discovered the SIM. After that, not nearly as much. Now, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Because,” said Joey, “we believe that Major Pierce, who appears to be mad to the point of calling himself Dogwenruoy for some strange reason, has planted a bomb aboard the Agro Ship. Commander Sheba wants the two of you to talk about where such a bomb might have been planted so we can find it and shut it down.”
“Dogwenruoy,” repeated Lucian slowly, working the syllables. “Hmm, that jerk is getting a little full of himself isn’t he? A deity complex on top of everything else? Wonderful!” He turned to Mikottens and said, “I don’t know much about the mechanics of building bombs, but I’ve learned first hand about how they and other weapons break things, and what it takes to fix the damage.”
“That’s it,” agreed Joey. “We want the two of you to brainstorm to see if you might be able to help locate potential problem areas. Captain Swennson,” she said nodding to the other officer who had just joined the group, “is one of our top weapons officers, and he’ll be assisting from the weaponry standpoint. Get us answers, quickly, gentlemen.”
With Joey moving on to another station, the three men huddled around a viewscreen displaying the schematic of the Agro Ship. Lucian shook his head and said, “From what I recall about the Odyssey Nine’s system, if the Agro Ship’s system is anything similar, there could be a lot of potential ways to mess up that ship really badly.”
Mikottens nodded and said, “You better believe it, Major.”
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Apr 18, 2005 5:10:35 GMT -6
Still unseen, Pierce made his way to his destination. He chuckled to himself as he set the timer. One centar should be enough. “The fools,” he mumbled, barely audibly. Of course it would mean the deaths of a great many people, including those blindly following him. They were expendable anyway, and he could always find more. Reminding those of the fleet of their despair and giving them false hope would always bring them to him.
He hurried away, knowing exactly where he was headed and what he needed to do. Although this plan hadn’t gone the way that he had envisioned, he had a backup. He had waited yahrens for control, he could wait longer. His time would come.
|
|
|
Post by LucianG on Apr 18, 2005 10:46:52 GMT -6
A short time later, the three men approached Major Joey with a printout. She looked at it and almost whistled. “This many potential opportunities?” she asked.
“Oh, there are quite a few more, Joey, but these are the ones that would likely do the most damage using a moderate size bomb that Swennson feels could have been constructed from commonly available parts without anyone catching on,” answered Lucian. “We’ve ranked them in terms of what we believe to be relative probability, but there’s a definite caveat to that. While you might say that anyone who’s planning to set off a bomb on board a spaceship is at least a little insane, Pierce appears to be a little over the edge. He could put it somewhere completely off the wall, even somewhere that might not do nearly as much damage as some of those we’ve listed.”
Swennson gave a low chuckle and added, “A little over the edge? Major Joey, what Major Lucian’s really saying is that the guy is fracking nuts-so! He’s liable to do anything.”
Joey accepted the list, saying, “I know. And I sure hope we’re able to use this. We lost communications with the Agro Ship a few centons ago. Pierce could be about to do something really horrible to the people on that ship, but right now until we reestablish a link, even if we knew exactly what he had planned and where, rather than the good guesses you’ve put together, we couldn’t help those poor people at all.”
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Apr 20, 2005 12:02:21 GMT -6
Continuing towards the Boiler Room, Kyla insisted that they stop when they reached a Replenishment Center. They were all over the Agro Ship, small areas with drinking water and a few basic supplies. Brie immediately noticed a cable, and suggested that Trula’s hands be tied. She trusted her about as much as she trusted Pierce. Trula laughed the entire time.
Before they continued, Kyla made Brie drink some water. Brie didn’t resist. She was tired and weak and in an incredible amount of pain. She didn’t say anything to Logan or Kyla, and they didn’t seem to realize how much Brie was still bleeding. In the back of her mind she knew that there was a very good chance that she was going to bleed to death, but she wouldn’t let that happen. As long as she didn’t see Turner again she figured that she wasn’t knocking yet on death’s door.
After a break of about two centons, they resumed their journey. They had a bomb to find.
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Apr 20, 2005 12:54:19 GMT -6
The trail of blood was very easy to follow, and getting easier. What had started as a few drops here and there had become an almost unbroken line. “Someone’s hurtin’ bad,” Jeb pointed out. “I hope it’s Brie.”
“I don’t,” the man with the cutting tool said. “I want to be the one to make her bleed.”
“Wait,” Star instructed. The had reached the Replenishment Center. She picked up a cup with red smudges all over the outside of it. There was still a small amount of water in the bottom of it. Star poured it on her hand. “It’s still cold. We can’t be far behind.”
One of the workers started their new battle cry. “For Am...”
Star quickly put a hand over the man’s mouth. “We’re not far behind,” she repeated. “You want Brie to hear us? She’s a skilled warrior, she’d get away for sure, then when never have a chance to make things right for our dear, sweet Amy.”
The man nodded. “For Amy,” he whispered.
“For Amy,” the group quietly replied.
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Apr 20, 2005 12:56:12 GMT -6
Brie stopped for a micron. “Did you hear that?” she asked Logan and Kyla.
“What?” Logan asked.
“I’m not sure,” Brie replied. “It sounded like someone shouting something, but was cut off.”
“Pierce has followers all over this ship,” Kyla reminded her. “Maybe there are some close by. You’d better be careful, Brie. He’s been using you as a focal point for their hatred for yahrens. There’s not one of his people who would hesitate to kill you right now.”
“Myself included,” Trula said with a great amount of pride.
Brie ignore her. “But you changed,” she said to Kyla.
“Traitor.” Trula spat out the word.
Kyla thought for a micron, processing everything that had happened. “You knew my father. He wouldn’t have liked what I had become. And Pierce shooting you and other hostages...it just suddenly seemed so pointless.” She shook her head. “And he didn’t even know my name.”
They started to walk once again. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Brie said to Kyla.
“I’m just glad that I realized the truth,” Kyla replied.
“The truth?” Trula said. “Dogwenruoy!”
“Just be careful,” Kyla told Brie. Brie gripped the laser that had once been Pierce’s a little bit tighter.
|
|