cityship: (Meanwhile...)
cityship ([personal profile] cityship) wrote in [community profile] trans_92011-08-13 01:42 am

Lirath - Ship Survival

 As the battle raged outside, those remaining aboard Stacy had their hands full preparing for the incoming flood of refugees.

Positioned near the Bleed-Gate orbiting Lirath, Stacy stood ready to receive the refugees. Ship after ship ascended as quickly as they could, some of them making a break for the Bleed-Gate itself while the smaller ships were forced to dock at Stacy, unloading their cargo of refugees before setting off again for the planet's surface again to take on more passengers.

Several small units of GIA soldiers were also sent up to help the Transmigration crew take in the massive amount of refugees, many of whom were tired, wounded, and scared. It wouldn't take long for the ship to begin filling with people.

With the battle raging outside, and the Ohm clambering outside, trying to get in, it would be a tall order to keep all of the refugees safe and calm, but the crew didn't have much choice.

[ooc: Open!]
hi_there_aliens: (listening folklore)

[personal profile] hi_there_aliens 2011-08-20 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
Daniel didn't expect Eva to dart out and grab him like that. He returned the look, both confused at her handling of the man and uncertain at where she was going with it. There was a hint of disapproval too. Whatever the context for the scarification, the terrorist obviously took the previous pain and wore it like a badge of honor. In Daniel's opinion, pain wasn't going to be the way to get to him. Then again, he didn't think asking nicely at this point would either. At least he could he agree with her on avoiding the fire and brimstone.

This was a start. The prisoner was talking. Sort of. Not so much talking with them as talking at them,and not so much talking at them as either ranting or preaching, or possibly a combination of the two, depending on how you wanted to define the terms. But it was something.

So they had another enemy besides the Ohm. One who didn't mind sending his own to their deaths, which meant he either had numbers on his side or, Daniel was sincerely hoping there was no "and" there, he was so supremely confident in his grand plan that it didn't matter if he sacrificed his men. He seemed to know something about them too. Unless he was very good at reading them and extrapolating or making wild guesses. That was a possibility too.

"Um. Well. Hello back to him?"

This was bad. It wasn't like Daniel had scoured the databases seeing how many species were out for their blood. Did Leon or anyone know about this enemy? Or was he a newcomer.If he knew about them all, that was a problem. A big one.

"I mean, what's the point of all this in the first place? If he's so certain he can destroy us, it seems pointless to waste the time and energy on this attack. Obviously if we're going to die, he's got nothing to prove, and if he's in such a superior position anyway, he shouldn't need to stoop to seek our attention anyway. So why not just destroy us at will?" Daniel asked, although he knew it was a bad idea the moment it came out of his mouth. He quickly continued, hoping to keep the man going before Eva did anything more drastic."Why is he doing this? What plans?"
Edited 2011-08-20 11:51 (UTC)

[warning for violence]

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-08-20 04:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Fantastic. So this is only a harbinger of what's to come. Unfortunately that's not exceptionally useful in the moment, and Eva's having a very hard time caring about the future right now. Which even strikes her as a little odd - the woman who can plot out seven moves ahead in chess has her fingers twitching in this man's mouth, aching to find some reason to pull.

She closes her eyes while Daniel talks, hoping to God he can find the right question to ask that would make it worthwhile to keep talking to the cultist. But instead he asks about plans, which she figures full well will evolve into another diatribe on on consumption in flames and the coming apocalypse and some further iteration about just how stupid they are to defend themselves. Her eyes snap back open.

"And here I thought I'd just told you to serve us useful information, hold the 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God'," she says, lips pursed. She pulls her hand away from the man's mouth and flexes it in front of her face for a moment, running the other hand over his hair as if petting him. "Que bajón.*"

Then she jerks her hand back out like a snake catching a rat and jams two fingers up the man's nostrils, thrusting with her wrist and pushing past membranous tissue and crumpling cartilage. She holds his head steady by a handful of hair, forcing his face and sinuses to meet the full strength of her arms. Blood gushes from his nose, streaming down her wrist and into his mouth.

Her thumb hooks back under his lip. She puts her shoulder into it and pushes. Her first knuckles hit the nasal bone, and curling her fingers rips up more tissues and lets her literally hook her hand into his nasal cavity and the skull's nose socket. There are nerve endings there, pain receptors, sensitive ones usually protected by the face she's now destroying from the inside out.

She doesn't bother to look at Daniel. She doesn't want to register what a normal person would think she's doing now. It's not even that she doesn't care, or that she isn't aware, but that there is a part of her that wants to cry and hide and drink right now until everything goes away. And looking to someone who might say 'Eva, that might be the better idea' could bring that guilty, fearful part bubbling to the surface, and she can't afford that now.

Besides, she chose this method because if Daniel tries to physically separate her and the cultist, he'll only succeed in ruining the man's body more.

"I said no fire or brimstone." She tilts the man's head forward so he won't be able to choke on the blood and tissue draining down his throat. "Now give us useful information before I try to literally pick it from your shriveled little brain."



*Slang: 'What a letdown.'
Edited 2011-08-20 16:15 (UTC)

Re: [warning for violence]

[identity profile] catastrotastic.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
The cultist...just laughs.

Sort of. It was kind of hard to laugh with a broken nose and blood gushing down your face.

See, it was rather hard to hurt a man whose pain receptors were all burnt out on purpose. Makes it rather hard to interrogate the guy on your own terms. The fact that he was able to walk and talk despite his nervous system being so fucked up was solely testament to the level of cybernetic enhancements available in the multiverse's black markets.

"Really?" he sneered. "Head wounds on someone you're trying to interrogate? Not very bright, are you."

He turned and spat out a tooth before talking again.

"Killing you isn't the point, it's just an eventuality. My master has many plans and uses for all of you. He will admit as much himself. Master?"

Apparently the cultist had left his comms open the entire time, as another voice crackled from a device hidden on his person.

"Very good, number....673." said an unsettling, almost oily voice over the comm. "I'll be sure to put a gold star on your record. And give you a stirring eulogy."

There was the sound of a button being pressed over the comms, and suddenly the cultist's head jerked back, his eyes going wide, before his entire body went slack. He was dead, apparently, thanks to some sort of kill-switch the person on the other end of the comms activated.

"Something something he was such a wonderful person blah blah blah," the voice continued irreverently. "Now, as for you two, I'm sure this is all very frustrating."

"Sudden attack! New enemy! Vague, annoying taunts! But really, I just want you to know, I do take using all of you very seriously. I've got big, big plans for you and your friends, so I can't go killing all of you off yet. Maybe one or two, just for kicks, but that's it."

"I really am looking forward to this. I hope you are too."
hi_there_aliens: (Inspirational speech 2)

Re: [warning for violence]

[personal profile] hi_there_aliens 2011-08-23 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
Everything happened fast. Too fast for him to stop. For moment, Daniel thought he was going to be sick right then and there. He'd seen his share of violence, seen people die. He'd shot people himself. But he'd never seen someone's face get practically pulled apart right in front of him. And not by someone's bare hands.

"Eva! That's ENOUGH! Daniel surged to his feet, and was on Eva almost as fast as she'd jumped the cultist earlier. It was the only time he'd ever used his height against her, or against anyone on his side, really, but Daniel didn't hold himself back. The archaeologist roughly grabbed Eva by the shoulder, fingers digging the fabric in a knot. Hauling her up easily, he pulled her away from the dead body. Daniel crowded her back into the wall behind her.

The only saving grace was that Eva hadn't actually killed the man. Barely.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he growled. The archaeologist glanced back at the corpse. The man's face was a mess. His stomach roiled again. Geez, as if the bullet wounds weren't bad enough. If that other person hadn't somehow killed the man remotely, there was a good chance he would have bled to death anyway. He wasn't that kind of doctor, but it looked like a lot of blood.

Daniel shook her with one hand. "What's gotten into you?! We don't do this, not to an enemy, not to anyone, not ever! We aren't like that!"
Edited 2011-08-23 05:05 (UTC)

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
Something in her clicks when the man goes slack and dead. With her hand still in him. He dies with her hand up to the knuckles in in his face.

She doesn't fight when Daniel pulls her away from the body. She just lets go. Her hand, her blood-covered weapon, goes as slack as the body and slides out his nose like toothpaste from a tube. She lets Daniel move her and only reacts when he crowds her up against the wall and shakes her.

"Don't touch me, don't touch me!" She shoves him, leaving a bloody handprint on his shirt. He's trapped her against the wall, trapped in this room with her own devilish handiwork. She shrinks into the corner like an animal that doesn't know whether to attack or hide.

The enemy is dead. Good. He deserved it. He was a brainwashed waste of carbon who attacked innocents, adults and children, to do nothing but inspire fear and hate. He was the mindless puppet of an evil force who likes inflicting pain. Like her.

But she knows better. She knows it was never about the cultist. It wasn't about her when she was tortured either - she was just a vehicle, a storage unit for someone else's rage and punishment. It's never about the one in physical pain.

She's dripping another person's blood. In a futile gesture, she tries to wipe it off on the sleeve of her jacket. She makes a whimper-like noise as she does so, then raises her eyes to meet Daniel's.

"You aren't. You aren't like that."

Maybe Daniel has some refuge in ignorance or naivete. Maybe he would be so strong regardless, if he'd lived like her. Like his wife. Maybe he would just buckle under the strain and give up. She always told herself she wouldn't give up, but it strikes her clearly now that for so long, she's been mistaking hatred and rage for progress. Don't get sad, get mad. Get so mad you're nothing but a tightly-wound ball of wrath and injured pride.

She stares at the body, face stern and still brimming with anger. Her voice is flat when she asks "did we get a recording of that chatter?"
hi_there_aliens: by zatgun (ij) (glasses)

[personal profile] hi_there_aliens 2011-08-23 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
Daniel didn't let her go. He only took the shove, rocking in place with it before tightening his hold on her. He'd never have used his height and weight against someone on his own side, but he didn't let her panic or obvious fear shake his grip. He couldn't let her go without making sure she was unarmed, and even then, he wasn't so sure.

He tried very hard to ignore the blood she'd wiped on his uniform, or the fact it soaking in and starting to touch his skin. He tried even harder not to think of where it came from, which was next to impossible, considering the man with the torn face was right behind his ankle.

"How the hell should I know?!" Daniel's voice sounded a little wild. She'd practically tore this guy's face off and she was asking if they recorded the questioning? It wasn't like he'd planned for any of this to happen. He hadn't even thought to come prepared for an interrogation, you know with things like cameras, an actual interrogation room. He'd have thought things human rights were at least a no-brainer!

Daniel was practically shaking with the effort it took to keep a lid on his fury. "Give me your gun. Now."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
He has a point. She drops her gaze again, realizing that she hadn't picked up on most of what had been said over the comms. She was too busy getting her kicks on feeling another human's body break under her fingers.

She wonders if there will be dried blood under her fingernails for a long time. Probably. Maybe she'll pick it out with a nail file, or maybe if she washes her hands soon enough it won't be a problem.

She finds it absurd that that's dominating her thoughts right now.

She pulls her gun out, pops open the chamber, removes the sole remaining bullet, and holds them both out to Daniel. She's more scared of him right now than she was during all the chaos that preceded now. He has her trapped, powerless. He saw her in a moment of passionate evil, and he can judge her now. Worse, he could judge her and then tell Marco.

Oh God, what is she going to tell her son?

That thought manages to obliterate any concerns about the blood from her mind.
hi_there_aliens: by zatgun (ij) (blue)

[personal profile] hi_there_aliens 2011-08-23 09:52 am (UTC)(link)
He could tell that he was the one terrifying her, and for one second, Daniel felt sick. He didn't like causing fear in people. It wasn't how he did things. Daniel nearly stepped back in response but caught himself in time. He had to make sure she was unarmed. In her state of mind, she was a risk to everyone. Daniel waited for her to finish. Taking the gun and bullet from her, the archaeologist deposited the bullet in one of his pockets and then slipped the gun into his own holster. He'd put it somewhere else once she was out of the room. Once he had her disarmed, Daniel stepped back and let her have her space.

"Go get a scientist down here to check this thing out," he indicated the device the man- the dead man left. The one that he hoped wasn't connected to whether the cultist was alive or not, or set on some timer. What he knew about explosives couldn't fill up a page. Jack was going to kill him if he ever found out he was going to babysit the thing. It was risky as hell but he couldn't leave it unattended. Others might stumble on it or worse if they found it sitting out on its own.

Daniel couldn't bring himself look at the body again just yet. "And bring a medic to take care of him."
Edited 2011-08-23 09:56 (UTC)

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
As soon as Daniel steps away, she brushes past him, into the center of the room with a little more empty space. And a body at her feet, of course. Can't forget that, if only because if she does she'll trip on it.

"I'll find a scientist, but our medics have to tend to the living before they waste their time on the dead," she says, affect flat and detached. "We'll need a scientist to deal with this one. Someone who can find out what the killswitch was in his body and why he didn't feel pain."

Because God, shoving your hands up someone's face should cause them pain. She's still angry it didn't. But they can still get intel from the body.

She's going to have to report herself, she realizes. Either she will or Daniel will or whomever she finds to examine the body will. She feels a lump in her throat at the thought. She'll be caged, trapped, fettered in a jail cell. A prisoner again. How can they do that to her? How can she do that to herself? But at least if she turns herself in she can do it on her own terms, rather than hunted like an outlaw.

Before Daniel has a chance to protest she rushes out of the room.