trans_9 | Galileo's Burden, Phase Beta: In Avani's Name

Hit Girl made a disapproving noise, her arms crossed. "Buddy, where I'm from, you better be prepared to back up the prick waving with that stick. I got one too, and you wouldn't want me to whip mine out."

And now she addressed the crowd. "So, to review: we're all evil because we want to bring back OUR shipmates, which we only have to do because you guys wanna kill them after they went out of their way to help you? And everyone's OK with this? Because where we stand, you would sorta look like the bad guys in that situation."

She looked back at her teammates, lowering her voice. "Yeah, any of you guys good with the crazy zealot talk through? I don't think I'll be good at it without insulting their Mother whoever about a billion times."

Trudy slipped around the sides of huts, trying to stay out of sight of the villagers. She was sizing up the situation and wishing she'd brought a flashbang or two.

It didn't look like things were going well. <<Here's a wild idea, why don't we let the diplomats do the making nice and those of us good at knocking heads together try not to piss them off any more than they already are?>> She kept her voice down, shifting to keep her muscles from cramping in her position behind a mostly-concealing building. They didn't have time for this bullshit.

"Then shut up and let Lacus do the talking," Allenby hissed to Hit Girl, right about the same time that Trudy's order came over the comm. <<You got that right,>> she whispered back. Allenby had no illusions about her diplomatic ability. 'Go home' was about the best she could do.

She also had a strong feeling that if it came to a fight, they wouldn't be able to avoid casualties. Spears might be primitive, but they were still sharp. No way one of the rescue team wouldn't start shooting, either. It'd be bad and Allenby was not going to be a part of any operation that involved killing unarmed civilians.

Zouichi bowed respectfully to the man at the front; he seemed the most reasonable and in a position of authority -- at least for now. "Please forgive our friend. She's young, and worried about the safety of our friends. But she does have a point. Though we may be outsiders or nonbelievers to you, please understand that those who answered your reverend mother's call came here entirely in good faith. They wished to help your people, not to destroy them. And what we want above all else is to see them safe.

"Will it not work out best for both sides if we simply take them and go?"

Oh, if she had a nice, thick concrete wall to ram her head through, she would be doing that right now. This was exactly how relations between the Oryans and the crew themselves were going to go incredibly south. She decided to let her annoyance and irritation simmer and instead direct it as a very disapproving look to Hit Girl and Spider-Man. Then, she shook her head in their direction.

Switch to Plan B, Phillip? she asked, barely able to keep the aggravated tone out of her voice.

"Plan B it is," said Phillip. "We'll need to draw off the villagers if the hotheads are going to cause trouble. Ideally I would be there for FangJoker but we'll have to make due with CycloneTrigger. "Wait for the Captain to make the final decision."

Hoshi's right hand went down to the StagPhone and flipped it open, typing in a sequence of numbers, thumb hovering over the final button. "On his signal we will summon the RevolGarry. They will attack it in a panic."

Let me know when you're going to move my hand outside of henshin, Hoshi said, still getting used to the effect of being two-in-one for the first time. And, are you sure the RevolGarry is wise to use? I'm not questioning your judgment, but maybe if Lacus and I both try to talk the villagers down, things might pan out better...? she suggested, still trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.

"This is why it's called Plan B. Try to calm them down with Lacus. But without a recourse, we'll have to deal with them non-lethally." said Phillip.

"Ideally this is plan C."

... So, what was Plan B? Try to calm me down before I hit someone for being stupid? asked Hoshi, a bit embarrassed.

"More or less." replied Phillip, no less amused.

I've got to hand it to you, Phillip. You really are a good friend and a good partner to boot. Thanks. I'll have to do something to pay you back, said Hoshi, feeling some of her anger ebb away at just talking to him.

Right. Okay. RevolGarry was Plan C. There was still Plan A. She sighed to get try to calm herself down further before glancing at Lacus. "Do you want to try to reason with them together?" she asked the pink-haired woman, a small smile on her face.

While everyone else talked, Jr. stayed quiet and focused, keeping close watch on the villagers - lest one of them tried to lunge or attack. He stayed close to Lacus, going over possible counters for a number this big. Rooting them to the ground very temporarily could work, and so could a good, heavy earth ether attack to knock them off their feet completely. He preferred not to go with the latter, though -- not if it would damage their village. But at least both possibilities were non-lethal and gave them an upper hand on escape.

Heh, he thought, Gaignun'd be pretty set to take care of the talking right now. It helped greatly that part of his powers were a very subliminal powers of suggestion through his voice. They'd be more easily swayed and not even realize it. But this Lacus girl seemed to be on the right track so far. He just hoped that persuasion would come before restlessness that could very well lead to more fighting.

"There should be no need to harm Mother Reda," Lacus told the Oryan. "However, we cannot allow our friends to be sacrificed. Surely there is a way to appease Avani without more bloodshed?"

«Jalith, hit the temple, try to get eyes on the hostages. Chacon, if you can slip away and get to the ship, go for it. Everyone else, hold positions for now. We need to keep them talking.»

«Yes, mother». Spidey replied. Okay, this just utterly proved that Tony was right - there were things that he could or could not say and he was messing up the entire time.

He noticed Hoshi's disapproving gaze and headshake and tilted his head in her direction. Listen, you're not doing any better, he whispered. And since you might be new at the whole heroics thing, here's a little pointer: don't do stuff like that towards someone who's been around the block a few times until you've done it, okay? Patting her shoulder, he pulled back Good girl.

Well that sounded slight condescending, but she also didn't care much anyway. Apparently their job now was just to hold position. Of course, with everyone throwing their two cents about her negotiating, she was liable to keep quiet, right?

So she would, but her artifact was still on her person, just in case. Unlike the glocks she had before, the artifact wasn't meant to kill, but they didn't have to know that.

<<Roger that, Captain.>>

Trudy moved slowly, pausing behind the huts when it looked like she might be spotted. It looked like the entire village had turned out on Reda's orders to repel the crew. The temple itself was heavily guarded, but beyond that Trudy didn't see a soul. The ship itself was covered in big jungle leaves. <<No guards on the ship... looks like mama priestess didn't want the pious to know about her getaway car. I'm going to disable it in case she slips past us.>>

She approached the ship carefully. At this point, there was no telling what kind of technology Reda had at her disposal. It wasn't a model she'd ever seen before but she was used to that by now.

No force-field, no access code... this was just too easy. The door of the ship slid open and she walked in with her rifle at the ready. The ship glowed dimly around her as she took in the cockpit - it was a small thing, more of a shuttlecraft than a ship, definitely only meant for one or two people.

Now to disable it. She put her rifle back over her shoulder and walked up to the controls - well, she should have expected them to be written in some kind of weird alien symbols. Trudy's hand hesitated over the console for a second. She didn't want to set off the weapons or the self destruct by mistake...

"Oh, hell with it," she said, drawing her sidearm. Three shots and the controls spat sparks at her, the lights in the ship going dim. <<Ship disabled. On my way back.>>

At first, Spider-Man's comment of her not doing any better in helping to persuade the Oryans got to her, but she remembered something that her father taught to her. Of course, how could she have forgotten that? The villagers in front of them were like soldiers, so she'd have to try some military tactics. She wasn't the daughter of a major general for nothing, as well as a captain herself, right?

"We don't want to hurt Mother Reda. We want to do the complete opposite, rather. We understand that she and Avani are important to all of you and we don't want to do anything that causes more strife," she said, walking up a bit.

"All we want is to get our friends back home safely. Don't you want to go back home with your families intact and continue living the lives you live right now, but peacefully? Fighting us will just bring more sadness and anger that I'm sure you don't want to deal with anymore. If you would like to work together with us to bring peace on your planet, then we can work out a compromise with Avani so that you don't suffer anymore. How does that sound?" she asked, a little grin on her face while leaning forward a bit. She was completely relaxed in her movements, hoping that her words would be able to help persuade them to drop their weapons.

--Acknowledged, moving--

Without hesitating he did as ordered, making his way down rapidly through the branches of the tree. Dropping the last ten meters to the ground to land silently in a crouch. Surveying the area with but a glance he darted toward the Temple angling toward one of the less guarded sides. Ducking behind one of the outbuildings to survey the guards movements and patrol patterns.

Moving as silently as a shadow he waited for a patrol of chosen to pass a shadowed alcove in the side of the temple darting but meters behind the patrol group without but a single guard noticing the assassin's passage. Flattening himself into the alcove and allowing the suits stealth systems blend him in perfectly as a second patrol moved to pass him.

With practiced skill the assassin leaped up the side of the temple to the first hand hold in the ornate carvings of the side of the temple, pulling himself up to the next and then to the lip of the roof-edge. within moments he was on the roof without a sound.

Carefully the Vindicare scanned the roof for threats, finding none he moved slowly across to one of the openings set to allow light to enter the temple below, peering through this first one he took note of the gathered Chosen below. With a slow and precise movements he slid himself through the hole, taking a grip on the ornate works of the ceiling, steadily moving over to drop soundlessly onto a beam near the edge of the temple main room. Scanning the inner areas of the temple with the Auspex built in to his spy mask.

--Temple Infiltrated, moving to locate hostages--

Alastirra had been silent since the little group had confronted the Oryans. Partly due to shock--oh, it was certain that her people would defend anyone who chose to attack Prophet Velen, but taking up arms in the name of the Light to harm others? Sacrifice? Unheard of!

Despite the gap in her usual resolve, she took a step forward, hands lifted and open in a peaceful gesture.

"As one of my companions had said, we came here in good faith to aid your people. If we have offended Lady Avani by these actions, we regret it, and we intend no harm to your Revered Mother. If you please, how could it not be most simple to allow us to remove any offending presence by simply leaving?"

She gave a respectful bow to the male Oryan who seemed to be acting as the leader for the moment.

The villagers all looked to the male again, mumbling amongst themselves.

"Let us say that we release your friends," said the Oryan. "What is to stop you from then killing us all? We will have no leverage against you. And Mother Reda has said that you intend to destroy us."

She was supposed to shut up for this? Really? God, it was like running around a circle...it was like Nascar!

"We came here for our crew, that's all. Think about it: our technology is advanced, we are great fighters, yet we stay here, talking to you even while the danger of our friends being killed draws near. Why bother if all we wanted was to destroy you? Our duty is to recovering our crew."

Ugh, she sounded like some lame ass Captain America negotiator. Still, maybe they got the point now?

Really? Really? Jr. had to fight the urge to shake his head and call these people idiots. Instead, he took the more diplomatic approach to try to get this into their heads.

"Our crewmates who came here earlier didn't try to do anything to you, did they?!" He bit his tongue on adding an and yet you guys took them hostage even though they didn't do a damned thing! But better to not try to antagonize them, as much as Jr.'s hot-temper tempted him to do so. "All we want is to take them back home with us!"

He kept his place next to Lacus, shifting his position and facing his right side toward the group. His left hand rested on his hip casually, but ready to easily snap and grab for one of his now-holstered pistols if he had to.

Hoshi could feel like she was going to have a headache, but then again, they were deceived into thinking that the crew would kill the Oryans, who could blame them for their skepticism?

"We're not going to kill everyone here. Please, trust us and just let us get our friends to safety," she said, some desperation leaking into her voice. The more they sat around, the more their friends languished and those odds she didn't like.

Her fingers wrapped around the Memories she had in her hand, keeping her emotions in check. Who knows, maybe the desperation she had would work, as well as what the crew was saying would finally get through to them.

«Calm down. Right now, a stand off benefits us a hell of a lot more than them. Hold your positions and keep their attention, even if we have to go around and round on this, until Jalith can confirm the location and condition of the hostages.»

Allenby weighed her options. There were a lot of things she could say, but for once she was really thinking hard about anything that came out of her mouth. There were kids! What kind of evil bastard would send out kids with spears to fight a strike team that had got past trained soldiers?!

...She'd really like to get her hands on Mother Reda and show her a thing or two. Damn, that would probably be the worst possible thing to say.

"We don't need leverage or whatever. Just our friends. We don't have any intentions of fighting you guys now or later--just let 'em go and we won't come back. 'Kay?"

"Were our situations reversed, gentle folk, would you not wish the same for your separated comrades? A peaceful return and their well-being? This is what we wish, truly."

Alastirra smiled again, quietly hoping that she wasn't terrifying them. Also she was trying to stifle her reaction to some of her teammates' reactions. Were they trying to get their shipmates killed?! Velen's barbels!

The male Oryan looked carefully back and forth to each of the intruders, as though carefully considering what they said.

"You say that Mother Reda took your companions for no reason. Why would she do this?"

"Aside from demanding a ransom in your goddess' name, we don't know." Though Jr. figured the ransom was probably the only thing really at hand here, anyway. "All we do know is that the only reason we're here now is to bring them back safely, and then leave you guys alone and get back to what we were doing before you contacted us! We've got bigger things to take care of than trying to mess with other people and their lives. We came here to help you guys to begin with, anyway!"

"Yeah, we kinda are at a loss why Mother whoever took our crew. You'd think she'd be grateful, since they were trying to help in the first place. I mean, look at the guys you have: not exactly pinnacles of strength, right? But then she goes and tells us to pay this ransom or they're gonna die. I'm thinking maybe Mother Reda has her own agenda here, and we just happened to come along to upset that. So...mind terribly if we go and save our crew from, you know, death?"

Wow, this talk was just going in circles. When would it end? They had to go and rescue the crew.

Galileo's Burden, Phase Beta: In Avani's Name

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/orz sorry GG 'net was down. :(

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject