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Survivalist End [Open]
|| Medical personnel, please report to the Observation Deck. ||
The shuttle from 'Eden' returns to Stacy, carrying the rescue crew and the original crew members that went down to answer the first distress signal. The returning people are bloodied, battered, some grievously injured. Maxine, Diana and Clef are dehydrated and haven't eaten in days. Karis is missing her entire lower half.
But at least she's better off than the corpse and the wand hastily wrapped in sheets and clothing and lying in the back of the return shuttle. Howard Bassem and Cedric Diggory, one laid cold and still by death and the other not even in enough pieces to be scraped up and taken back, never made it home alive. The official causes of death will be respiratory failure and spontaneous combustion, respectively, as if to to provide a clinical, accurate excuse in lieu of questioning a ship that sends children on dangerous missions.
Stacy quickly determines that she is the most qualified to deal with Karis' case and whisks her away to a secluded section of the Medical Bay. The rest of the survivors and the tragedy are left for the crew to deal with.
[OOC: Bendytimed to right before the tournament plot.]
The shuttle from 'Eden' returns to Stacy, carrying the rescue crew and the original crew members that went down to answer the first distress signal. The returning people are bloodied, battered, some grievously injured. Maxine, Diana and Clef are dehydrated and haven't eaten in days. Karis is missing her entire lower half.
But at least she's better off than the corpse and the wand hastily wrapped in sheets and clothing and lying in the back of the return shuttle. Howard Bassem and Cedric Diggory, one laid cold and still by death and the other not even in enough pieces to be scraped up and taken back, never made it home alive. The official causes of death will be respiratory failure and spontaneous combustion, respectively, as if to to provide a clinical, accurate excuse in lieu of questioning a ship that sends children on dangerous missions.
Stacy quickly determines that she is the most qualified to deal with Karis' case and whisks her away to a secluded section of the Medical Bay. The rest of the survivors and the tragedy are left for the crew to deal with.
[OOC: Bendytimed to right before the tournament plot.]
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She sighed. "Over there, by all the other guys returning. Wrapped in sheets. Apparently, must have gotten attacked by something on one of their pointless missions. And you know Howard, he was forced into it, so this is just a big sack of bullshit upon bullshit."
This sucked. She liked Howard.
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He can't afford to flip out again.
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She turned her head sharp as a snap. There was indeed a bundle over there. Simon wasn't saying anything--she could have mistaken him for a statue, but he was far too still for her to think that he was unaffected.
Apparently taking no further notice of either of them, Allenby ran towards that covered body. With a sense of care that was otherwise absent from her body language, she drew it back enough to see something that had once been Howard. With equal care, she covered it again.
Then she unhooked her beam ribbon from her belt and started running back their way, intent on the transport tubes. A growl started low in her throat, rising quickly into a yell that was equal parts anguish and rage.
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Facing the problem was the first step to accepting-
"Ah shit!" Hit Girl snarled, seeing the results of face to face. She broke in a run, matching Allenby's footfalls. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
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He swallows hard, then sighs. His shoulders slump a bit, and one hand reaches up to rub his eyes, then wipe down his face. Could this have been timed any worse? All those repoddings, now this. Damn, without Zouichi here... God, this felt wrong. Whatever was at work here - fate, some god, or just a bunch of sick coincidences - they were doing a far better job at inflicting despair than the Anti-Spirals had back home.
...can't dwell on that too long, though. Allenby's yell got him out of his daze. Crap, what was she doing?! Knowing her, if he didn't stop her, they'd be in for a repeat of Punishment. He finally moves - waiting as long as he can before putting himself in front of Allenby, hunched down enough to catch her, and block her from the transport tubes.
"Allenby, no! We can't go flying off the handle again!"
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She shoved against him hard. Flying off the handle, yeah right. What kind of crap was that? Part of her--the part that remembered the snap of her left arm breaking--thought that maybe she oughta listen, but the overwhelming majority of her mind was crowded with what had used to be Howard and Howard crying in Stacy's restraints and Zouichi shooting Yavek through the shoulder. "I'm gonna show them what happens when they kill my friends! If you don't wanna help then get out of my way!"
She hated to do it, but if Simon and Hit Girl were going to act like this then she'd have to go through them, and Simon was the closest--the fist she shoved into him was filled with anguish. Howard had been her friend, one she'd never expected to have. And now he was gone, completely gone and she couldn't do a thing to change that... what else could she do except for this?
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Not likely.
Slamming into Simon took strength, and at that moment, also left her slightly off balance. Hit Girl went straight for the legs, knocking her to the floor and seizing her arms until her hands were behind her back.
"You know, as much as I hate this whole thing, you're not going to be honoring Howard's memory by getting your ass handed to you and then being punished, all right? Think before you act, for fucks sake! The truth is no one knew what the hell to expect, that this would even happen. You've been on missions too, and did you die? No. This is just one of the times where we lose. It sucks."
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Once he's down, he reaches out and claps hands on Allenby's shoulders. His calm from before is all but gone now. "Harsh as she's being, Hit Girl's right, Allenby! You do what you did again, you're probably gonna come back with worse than a broken arm, if you come back at all! We've already pissed them off once - you saw what they did to the previous crew!"
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Nevertheless she was prepared to roll over as suddenly and violently as possible, until she heard Simon's knee hit the deck and felt his hands land on her shoulders. And then it seemed like whatever was holding her hearing back snapped, finally letting their words reach her.
...Fuck it, they were both right. In fact, she was pretty sure Howard would be telling her the same thing. Which just made it worse.
"Fine. Get off." There was a growl still in her voice, but it was decidedly resigned. Something else hit her. "Shit, did I break your ribs again...."
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She lets Allenby up though. Just as well that she have someone beside her speak reason. They had pretty much just done good cop/bad cop anyway. As it turned out, Hit Girl was almost always bad cop.
Hit Girl looked over at Simon, raising her eyebrow. "Who's harsh? I didn't hit her once. That's progress, damn it! Besides, there's still more we have to find out before we figure out what to do next."
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Simon turns his head toward Hit Girl, and looks...a bit dazed. "I... Might've been overstating. Emotions are running high, and screws with judgement."
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Dammit, it hurt. It couldn't have hurt more if someone had cracked open her ribcage and punched her directly in the heart. Fists clenching and unclenching in a fruitless effort to bleed off the ache, Allenby started shaking with sobs.
"Dammit!" she yelled. Why, how, what, useless questions that it would be dumb to ask all crowded together in her mind. So did the words it's not fair and it can't be real. Yeah, right. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"
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"It sucks," she said to Allenby quietly, "and that aches not goin' nowhere. But you have to keep the important stuff in mind. Howard struck me as a guy that knew his number would be up anytime, and lived life like that. I can respect that. What we need to do, after this bullshit of a mission that killed him, is make sure we don't die easy."
But if Allenby needed to cry about it, that was ok. She knew it was a demoralizing thing for her and the crew, and knew the Daligig would be watching. Hell, who was to say it wasn't planned by Yavek to begin with? The whole situation stank of lies and subterfuge. And how ironic was it that Howard escaped one punishment only to be handed another final one?
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