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Post by Brie on May 2, 2005 15:42:10 GMT -6
The groups that had been sent out looking for Pierce and his followers had started sending back reports. Captain Suttir and Dorn had found a portable comm and had asked for someone to check out the airlock that had opened on the other side of the ship. “We found a note,” a woman said into her comm.
“Read it,” Captain Suttir instructed.
“’Those who follow me never really die,’” the woman read. “’It’s a better life that I offer them. A life away from the hardships and tribulations of living in the fleet. Those who are left behind will continue to follow the foolish vision of a crazy old man. They deserve what they get. But to the Chosen new life is offered. I regret that my bodily death won’t be the same as theirs, but I must make sure that there’s nothing of me left behind. So goodbye, cruel, physical life, and hello life eternal. Dogwenruoy.’”
“Dogwenruoy?” Dorn repeated. “What the frack does Dogwenruoy mean?”
“It’s ‘Your new god’ backwards,” the woman who had read the note replied. “I guess Pierce was that arrogant.”
“See if you can run a scan right outside of the airlock,” Captain Suttir ordered. “Check for any human remnants or remains.”
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Post by Brie on May 3, 2005 12:37:23 GMT -6
The scan outside of the airlock showed nothing. Two more people were called to the area. One of them donned an envirosuit and went outside of the Agro Ship to see if he could find anything. Stuck to the airlock door was a small piece of torn cloth. It seemed to be the only thing he could find. He sealed it in a container, and after several more centons he reentered the Agro Ship.
The woman who had read Pierce’s note looked through the clear container. “We’ll have to see if anyone can remember what he was wearing.” She squinted. “There’s a hair on it! We might have just gotten lucky.”
“They’ll have to run the genetic test back on one of the battlestars,” another commented. “We don’t have anything near the right equipment.”
“If it’s Pierce’s, then I guess he did decide to kill himself, just in a more dramatic way than his followers did,” the woman said.
The man who had found the cloth had just finished taking off the envirosuit. “Out the airlock...it’s a terrible way to die.”
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Post by Brie on May 4, 2005 12:18:08 GMT -6
Brie was sitting away from everyone, closing her eyes for just a centon. She was so tired! She was purposely sitting where she knew that Kyla couldn’t see her. She didn’t want anyone to know how badly she was hurting, but especially not the young med tech. There wasn’t anything that could be done anyway. Brie knew that she needed immediate medical attention, but there wasn’t a ship fast enough to take her back to the Callisto. Her best bet was for the Callisto to send a shuttle and take her, along with anyone else needing medical treatment, back home. If she survived she would eventually be returning to the brig, so maybe death wasn’t that bad of an alternative after all.
Out of curiosity Brie tried to listen in on Jeb and Star’s conversation. They were talking about Amy, and Brie’s confession. Jeb seemed to believe her but Star was still skeptical. Brie wished that she had never said it, life as she knew it had changed with her words. Poor Abby had been through so much recently; Amy’s condition, the loss of Elmer, was she strong enough for the truth to come out? What would everyone else say? How would Skyler, Charybdis, Commander Sheba take the news? Besides Brie and Abby there was only one person alive who knew the whole story, the woman who had made the adoption possible.
For a micron Brie was there again. Seventeen yahrens old, informing her instructor of her pregnancy. Brie hadn’t yet told anyone about the rape, she was scared that it would have been looked at as a sign of weakness. She was the only female in the pre-academy program, and she already felt like she had to work twice as hard as any of the boys. As she started to give the details of what had happened to her instructor the woman put an arm around her. Then everything came pouring out...
“Major,” Lieutenant Logan said, snapping Brie back to the present, “I’m sorry to bother you, but Captain Suttir is reporting that Pierce is dead. I thought you would want to know.”
“Thanks,” Brie said, wiping a tear from her face. Logan started to walk away. “Lieutenant,” Brie called, shakily pulling herself to a standing position. Logan stopped. “What I said before, back when...” Logan nodded, knowing what Brie was referring to. “I would have said just about anything to get them to listen to me about the bomb. You know that, right?”
“Yes, Major,” Logan replied. “Just about anything.” Logan walked away, not sure what to believe.
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Post by Amy81 on May 4, 2005 16:30:44 GMT -6
Ange could see the explosion from where he stood in the cargo bay. He felt relieved, happy that it seemed that all the threats to the agro ship had been averted. He thought back to when he'd first realized that something was going on, and how outnumbered he had been...
But it had worked out in the end. He still could cut it when he had to. He turned around, noticing for the first time the pain that still lingered in his reconstructed knee. It was funny, but during all the action with Major JustinB, he'd forgotten all about it.
He headed toward the main bay where the shuttle had launched from, to see if there was anything else he could do.
He felt good about himself. It had been a long time since he'd felt that way.
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Post by Brie on May 5, 2005 12:26:05 GMT -6
The signal was faint, not even noticeable unless someone was looking for it, but the pilot of the small cargo ship was paying close attention. They were a safe enough distance from the Agro Ship, no one would suspect anything. He lined up perfectly with the signal and opened the top hatch. Soon the envirosuit and its small rocket pack were removed and destroyed, no reason to leave evidence around.
The new passenger took a quick turbowash, put on new clothes, shaved clean for the first time in yahrens, and cut and dyed his hair. There was a plastic surgeon waiting at their destination to make sure that he wouldn’t ever be recognized. He looked at the sister of the pilot. “How do I look?” he asked with a smile.
“Handsome as always, Master,” was the young woman’s reply.
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