| abstract
| - Safe House Seemingly made from the skeleton of an old log cabin, this broad, tall building smells heavily of earth, musk, and rotting wood. It looks like it has been used sparingly over a number of years, with trash of various sorts lining the walls. It has been cordoned off into three sections. Up a rickety wooden ladder, part of the rafters has been converted to a sleeping area, with thick wooden planks pushed together and covered with straw and dry Clintonwood needles. Below, eight or nine flattened sitting logs surround a survivalist's crank-powered outdoor stove, serving as both a cooking fire and a heat source in the chilly winter months. In the back corner seems to be a storage area of sorts, with a large set of rusted metal shelving holding a slightly moldy 50 pound bag of flour and a few circular stains of what might have once been dried blood. An archway leads to the outdoors. Dirionis stirs some, shaking his head with a slight grunt, looking down at his near naked self, blood drying from cuts across his chest, peppering nearly the whole thing. A few Vollistans with black hoods over their faces pace about, and some civilians, also chained to the wall, grunt and groan, one woman, with cuts on her back, settled next to Tirax, cries. Dirionis shakes at his shackles, groggily giving up after a moment. Tirax blinks awake slowly. He attempts to move his arms and frowns as he realises they're chained. "...Uh.. okay," he mutters, trying to turn his head. "Well this is a turn out... Everyone's naked and chained up," he says rather conversationally to himself. "..I'm sure I had a dream about that once." Lucius has been awake for a considerable amount of time, it seems by the irritated and alert expression on his face. He too remains chained to the wall. However, he is lightly pulling on the chains. The woman continues her sniffling, looking to each marine. "What...C..Can we d..Do..?" Diri is fully awakened by the soft sound of his PDA going off, and he looks towards it, frowning. "Rish.." He mutters to himself. A rowdy, chubby civilian growls, "When are we gonna get fed..?!" A vollistan grabs a chalice, pouring it into the man's mouth without his consent, and the man gags, spitting it out all over himself; blood. Tirax looks a little further around. "Don't think it quite went like this..." he notes quietly, pulling at the chains. "Those aren't going anywhere. Sarge? Corporal?" he calls. "You'd all do well to shut your mouths for the moment." Lucius says rather simply, his former sarcasm of last night having dried up just as the bloody marks on his chest did. They show no particular sign of uncleanliness, nor does he show much discomfort at being chained up. He continues to do as he was doing a minute ago, lightly pulling on the chain. Perhaps he is testing their strength? The chains don't seem to give any ground, the Vollistans doing well to remember they'd have marines as captives. Diri stretches his head towards Tirax, looking past some civilians, questioningly, before sitting back a bit, looking towards Lucius, waiting until he gets his attention before saying anything. Tirax turns his head and nods as he spots the two of them, a relieved expression spreading across his face for a brief second, but he nods to Lucius's words. Lucius stops what he's doing, turning to look at the inhabitants of the room. First his eyes pass over the civilians, and then the soldiers. When he catches Diri looking at him, he arches an eyebrow expectantly. Dirionis shoots his eyes upwards, then back to Lucius, then upwards again, whispering, "Our guns..." He turns his head to look around the room, where two vollistans are watching them, their faces barely visible behind their hood. Where the others are, is unknown. Tirax starts humming quietly to himself, though his eyes are carefully watching Diri and Lucius. Lucius nods slowly but doesn't appear to take any more action for the moment. He simply watches the captors very closely. "Ssshut Up!" A Vollistan shrieks, inhumanly, arising with the same whip-like device he had used against Diri and Lucius, walking towards Tirax whipping it into him and curling the sharp-objected threads together by twisting the handle, and then ripping it out with a crude yank, resulting a hissy chorus of laughter. Diri glares at the captor, teeth clenched. Tirax reacts... slightly differently than may be expected, closing his eyes, wincing, and then moaning just a little. He opens his eyes half-way and grins a little. "Ooh, do that again." Lucius does a double take at Tirax's reaction but seems to be biding his time until the captors are further away from him. One captive seems to be distracted by Tirax, and Diri gets an idea. He calls out to the other, "Hey, why don't you come over here, glowbulb, I have an itch." The Vollistan who had whipped Tirax glares angrily, reaching for a sharp cutlery knife and holding it right up to Tirax's neck, glaring eyes could be seen from inside the hood. The other, who Diri calls out to, reaches for a dull-looking hand-saw, stepping over slowly. Diri widens his eyes, just a bit. Tirax rolls his eyes at the Vollistan. "You want me alive, and pain really won't do more than turn me on," he notes dryly. "But please, by all means, do it again, I rather enjoyed it. Never had a Vollistan." That's pretty much all the excuse Lucius needs. Closing his eyes, he flexes his muscles. Then the man reopens them and yanks at the chains, trying to be as quiet as he possibly can. If it's possible to try and tear metal chains apart quietly. Probably not. The Vollistan near Tirax hisses, "We can always lose one...Or maybe We'll cut your dick off, how'd you like that? Volern, got that saw?" The man heading for Diri turns, heading towards Tirax as well, cruel smirk on his face. Diri glances towards Lucius, teeth gritting together, as he also tries to break his chains. Tirax blanches slightly, but continues nonetheless. "...Can't say it's on my list of top ten sexual situations to get into. I'm liking the chains though, could do a lot with the place," he blathers, grinning again. "Y'could get a lot of interested clients in a place like this. I'd be willing to work here." He deliberately avoids looking at Diri and Lucius, focusing instead on his captors. Lucius didn't seem to actually have done anything, unfortunately. He grimaces and sits back, watching Tirax's peril and continuing to say nothing. The man's ice blue eyes dart to and fro, towards Diri. Dirionis is able to shatter the link, which releases his chains, and he quietly reaches over, grabbing a 2x4, previously used by the mind controlled citizens, and snaps Lucius' chains, similar to his, though the cuffs are still around his wrists. The Vollistan's don't seem to notice, too preoccupied with Tirax, hissing and glaring, "That's it...Cut his fucking dick off." The Vollistan with the handsaw starts to lower it, the other, holding Tirax in place. "Waaait," Tirax says quickly. "...Come on, gotta give me one last go with it before you take it off," he pleads. "'least give me a go with one of ya? At least I can say I've had a Vollistan." Lucius nods at Dirionis and keeps his gaze on the hooded Vollistans. Lucky they do have hoods on, since it obviously restricts their range of motion. He slips off towards the ladder going up to the second level, motioning for Diri to follow. Two hissing Vollistans snap their heads in Lucius direction, both eyeing the two marines. Diri curses, charging forward and kicking at them. A Vollistan is sent flying into the wall, his handsaw sent sailing, sliding down unconcious next to Tirax, the other strains his mind as it stares at Lucius, and some movement is heard upstairs. The chubby, rowdy civilian yells, "Lemme out! I can help!" Tirax breathes a quick sigh of relief, nodding to Dirionis, and then aims an untrained kick at the other Vollistan's legs. The Vollistan staring at Lucius is sent to one knee, focus shattered. The chains shatter, and the man -takes off-, despite his overweight frame, opening the door and dashing out. Diri moves to slam both his fists, clenched together, on the back of the kneeling Vollistan's head. More rustling heard from the second floor. The Vollistan is smashed further onto the ground, hissing. Lucius doesn't pause once the man's gone - instead he darts towards the ladder to climb up. "I'm bustin' 'em out, Callot! Hold 'em off!" He quickly ascends the ladder. Dirionis clenches his head, growling. The Vollistan below him shakes his head, trying to get back up. Diri's eye roll into the back of his head, and he quickly follows after Lucius, up the ladder. Above, there are a few beds, a couple boxes and three angry vollistans with black robes. The civilans start to squeal, downstairs. Well, there's only one thing to do at this point. Charge! After getting up on the ladder, the sight of Lucius running at the group of Vollistans and trying to tackle them onto eachother might be funny, considering he's in his boxer shorts. Or not. Depends on one's viewpoint. His feet thunder on the wood floor. A Vollistan crashes to the ground from Lucius, and Diri rushes after Lucius, kicking at him from behind. More squeals are heard from below. Jeff Ryan as the fat man runs out yelling, the stations CO does the opposite, running in, in his Watcher-combat uniform, pistol at the ready. Dirionis, who is possed tries to land a kick on Lucius. His kick is very sloppy as it soars towards Lucius, who's just managed to tackle the Vollistans on the upper level of the cabin. He manages to stumble forward just in advance of the kick in an equally sloppy dodge. "RUSH THE FUCKING PLACE!" The Martian yells, hoping his voice will soar out of a nearby window. Instead of trying to punch his somewhat mind possessed comrade, he rises and darts towards the boxes, opening one at hazard and grabbing at the first item he can find. Lucius is rewarded from his box grabbing with...A severed arm? Yep, an arm is what he gets. Diri rushes forth again, towards Lucius as he shoots out a fist towards him, eyes still rolled back in his head. The Vollistan Lucius had tackled, on the second floor gathers himself, staring at him. As for the first floor, the black-robed figure quickly reaches for a blood-ridden sword, and charges towards Ryan. Jeff Ryan raises his gun and shoots at the charging figure. Again, Diri's attack is rather poorly conducted, the Martian deftly stepping out of the way with severed arm in hand. That doesn't last long. He drops the arm and reaches back into the box, not grabbing anything until he's felt the cold metal of some sort of weapon. Body parts, body parts...Metal! Lucius is awarded with a metal club. Dirionis is about to strike again, but stops, right before doing so, his eyes rolled back in his head as he grunts a bit. The victim of Ryan's is shot right in the skull, sending the cultist into a frenzied shock, shaking on the ground before going still, Jeff being able to hear the clashing above, the only route up looks to be a ladder, and the civilians on the first floor shake their chains, yelling, "help!" "It's here," says Ryan, unclipping something from his belt and throwing it up the ladder, he doesn't wait before following it up. Lucius's hand closes around a bloody, slick metal implement in the box. The man slowly rises from his position and begins to walk towards the ladder. He has not reached it yet when the object falls quite nearby. The Martian doesn't appear to take much notice. Dirionis remains idle for a moment, as the Vollistans shriek, two falling down and hitting the ground. The third yells, "Mother!!" And Diri likewise yells, "Mother!!" In unison. Lucius snaps out of his phaze with a start, just before he's about to get onto the ladder and walk on down. It takes him a moment to reaquaint himself with his surroundings. When he does however, he frowns. Jeff will notice he is covered in blood on his bare arms, his chest has marks from what may have been a flail and he is only in his boxers. The Martian turns around and grabs the club by it's head, hurling it at the final Vollistan. Whap! The final Vollistan hits the ground hard as he is smashed in the head with a club. Diri also comes out of the trance, shaking his head, and blinking a couple of times, looking around for more Vollistans. Similar to Lucius, he's only in boxers, and dried blood is all around cuts that pepper his chest. Jeff Ryan might see three crumpled Vollistans, Lucius, Dirionis, a few beds, and a few boxes as he climbs the ladder. The pistol still at the ready, Jeff only gives his men a concerned glance, "We have four hostiles down. Any others?" "No. I killed the other one yesterday. I don't know what they did with his corpse." Lucius says, not bothering to wipe his hands off. His brow is furroughed and he doesn't look very happy with the situation. "We need to cuff and blindfold them, sir. If they can't use their hands or see then they can't use their telepathy." "And there is the one I knocked out earlier, downstairs, next to Tirax...I'll check on him." Diri quickly moves down the ladder. It's a lot more quiet, well, except for the whimpering civilians. Jeff gets on his comm, "Phoenix to all units, hot point is neutralised. Move in." He then looks at Lucius, a small smile, "Remind me of the old days back in the Warren." Then a concerned glance, "You okay?" Lucius doesn't answer Jeff for the moment. Nope. He looks around in the boxes until he finds the one with his uniform, armour and weapons. He grabs his 10mm pistol by the barrel. Turning around and still ignorant of the world, he walks on over to one of the Vollistans and smashes him in the groin with the butt of the weapon. Dirionis checks on Tirax, and the unconcious Vollistan, whom he drags over to the stunned one, on the first floor. He climbs back up the ladder, cursing under his breath, and kicking of them, himself, before gathering his stuff as well. "Thanks, Sir." He says towards Jeff Ryan as he checks his equipment. Dirionis checks on Tirax, and the unconcious Vollistan, whom he drags over to the stunned one, on the first floor. He climbs back up the ladder, cursing under his breath, and kicking of them, himself, before gathering his stuff as well. "Thanks, Sir." He says towards Jeff Ryan as he checks his equipment. After butchering the Light Singer's groin with the butt of his pistol, Lucius appears satisfied with the outcome, though he doesn't look so at least expression wise. He grabs a pair of restraints from the ground, tying them around the humanoid's wrists. Then, foot in the small of his back, Lucius begins to rip up the robe so that he can blindfold the prisoner. "Appreciate it, sir. I shouldn't have led Callot and Zarni in with bad intel. I'm not gonna blame the officer who told us to go in." Dirionis gets Tirax's equipment as well. "Recruit Zarni is okay, though bleeding like myself, and Lucius, minor cuts." He starts to put his uniform on, minus the top. "From what I know, there were six." One civilian woman on the first floor, bleeding slightly from her back whimpers to the men below, "Help...Help us...Please." Before she starts crying again. Ryan talks on his comms, "Get me full medical assistance from the hospital, stat." He raises his voice, "You're safe now, the militia is in command now." He glances at Dirionis, "Six?" His math is pretty good, four now, one down yesterday. He glances at Lucius, "Why you still alive if you killed one of them?" "Shit if I know. They psi blasted us when we got in. Dropped me after I smoked one of them, but I couldn't take out all five. I wish I'd brought a proper grenade. We wouldn't have had to go through this hassle." Lucius asserts with a shrug. He begins to clothe himself and pull his uniform back on, starting with his undershirt and then moving to his BDUs. "I guess they wanted to have some leeway." Dirionis nods as he sets Tirax's stuff down, speaking to Jeff, "Heard them talkin'...They were gonna use us to get their demands...That, and they were bat shit crazy, so, we can rule out logical thinkin' on their part." "Intel suggested we give into their demands and disable them out of orbit." He shrugs, "I was inclined to agree with them but..." He glances down at the unconcious prisoners, "I guess I'm sort of impulsive sometimes." He glances at Lucius, "I want all of you to report to the medbay, and I don't want any of you on duty until the doc gives you the all-clear." He nods at Dirionis, "They've some prophecy to fulfill, I thought I was the religious cult figure round these parts." There's a sly self-mocking grin. "That would have been my idea. That or shoot five or six flashbangs in here and rush the place. Or psi grenade it like you did. Easier to take them on the ground than in space though, that much is sure." Lucius says, pulling his armour onto his body once again and shouldering his rifle after a few minutes of dressing. "Yes sir. I'm barely hurt, just got scraped by their flail a few times, but I should probably get it disinfected and dressed." "Yes sir." Callot responds to Ryan, "I'll get it checked." He heads down the ladder, grabbing his PDA that they took, and typing on it more a few seconds, before pocketing it. Ryan nods, "Okay, we've got clean-up to do." He heads towards the ladder, "You need to talk Sergeant, you know where to find me." "Sir. I've been tortured much worse than this before, anyways." Lucius doesn't appear willing to elaborate on that, and upon saluting Ryan he turns to walk towards the ladder and descend down. "This is a crime scene." He reminds those civilians still on the lower level. "Don't touch anything unless it belongs to you." His tone is cold, which could probably be interpreted as him not really caring for the plight of those other hostages, whether he does or doesn't. Ryan on arriving at the scene nods to Lucius. He glances from the door to the prisoners for a while before moving towards the hostages, "It's over now." And with that he does what he can to help the arriving med-teams. Dirionis checks on the civilians, helping the marines who came to get Tirax up, and giving them his equipment."Hey, what about the chubby dude who ran off?" The civilians nod to Lucius, gulping, though, the woman who had been whipped, shrinks back a little, supressing tears. Lucius strides out of the lodge quickly, stopping to make sure that the medics have Tirax under supervision before he exits.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)