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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 2175592" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XXXV   Date: 174-993Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven and inside the Stork & Sons repair yards After unsuccessfully trying to interrupt Vasilii a few times, Saro sighs and waits until Vasilii finishes. Once the Vilani Merchant does end his conspiracy theory, the annoyed Doctor snaps, "Vasilii, just how badly do want to see your insides all over your outsides? You do realize that you’ve suffered massive injuries, and then instead of recuperating, decided to get yourself further injured. "It never seems to fail. I patch you up, put you to bed and up you pop, running around the instant I turn my back. If you really don’t want to heal, why don’t you just tell me up front and save me the trouble." He takes a deep calming breath and tries to continue with less annoyance in his voice. "Have you thought that maybe your injuries are causing you to be a bit more paranoid than necessary? If Aidan is the man behind all of this as you claim, why was he willing to sell one of the cubes to Ms. Clegg instead of the contact it was originally meant for? You’d think he’d have fought the idea and made sure the cube went to his original customer. "Since you seem hell-bent on not staying in bed, why don’t you come outside with us and keep a lookout for any Templars or Illuminati hiding in the shadows?" "I may be being overly expedient, but if we get rid of this thing," Vargas says, indicating the cube, "maybe the Templars, Illumiwhatsis, and everyone else will just leave us alone. And then we can shoot at a whole new set of people." -----As he stands with Keith beneath the ship, Swann keeps watch on the three entrances he can see. Without turning from his observation, he says to Keith, "Your Captain, Ms. Clegg, is very attractive. I’ve always had a preference for redheads. Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?" Keith laughs and asks, "So, would you like to have a shot at her? I’ve seen many a spacer make a pass and not get very far unless he knows how to dance well. So, do you know how to dance?" "Yes, I enjoy dancing very much," Swann bluffs. "In fact, I used to work as a dance host onboard some of the large luxury passenger liners in Fornast and Delphi sectors." Keith looks up and down Swann’s height and says with a grin, "Yeah. Sure." Swann smiles back and says, "Do not be deceived by appearances, my friend." -----Martha continues to watch the action, curious as to what might be taking so long. Given the nature of events lately, she decides to flip one of the security screens through a quick sequence of interior shots, checking to make sure that teleporting assassins haven't popped in, killed her comrades, and stolen the cube. She doesn't see any, but does locate the cube in the corridor near the starboard airlock with the trio gathered around it. She activates the shipboard intercom for that area. "Ahem," she says in a somewhat irritated manner. "Someone getting sentimental and want to keep that thing, or are we going to take care of this and be done with it?" She awaits the reply as she continues to monitor the various security screens for unaccounted activity. -----Saro leans in to take a hold of the cube again and looks at Vargas. "Shall we? They’re probably wondering what is taking us so long." "Lead on." -----"There shouldn’t be," Kevon responds to Holly’s inquiry about possible trouble. He then turns away from her as he reaches for his commlink and thumbs the call switch. "Mr. Vargas, what’s keeping you?" "Illuminazis. We’ll be along in a second." -----Vasilii seems oddly speechless after an exasperated Saro snaps at him for neglecting his injuries and then dismisses his grand unifying conspiracy theory about the cubes. He lets the cube go, heading to his cabin to don his armor and load his magnum revolver. -----"Illuminazis?" Kevon mouths curiously as a slight smile creeps up to his lips. "Understood, Mr. Vargas. Holland out. "Well, we should be just a moment longer, then," he says, turning back to Holly. Then, pausing for a moment, the lieutenant commander adds, "Holly, I don’t mean to seem forward, but — do you happen to be free for dinner tonight?" Holly smiles and brightly replies, "Why Kevon, is that an invitation for a date? Yes, I am free. How about 1900 hours at The Grotto? By the way, how well do you happen to know how to foxtrot or tango?" "Most of my dancing training was limited to ballrooms and state dinners," the lieutenant commander admits with a smile. "But I’m a quick study." Holly’s eyes sparkle for a moment, and she says, "Ah, there’s hope for you yet." -----Aidan’s eye’s light up when he hears Holly ask Kevon about his dancing prowess. "You’re a dancer, Ms. Clegg? I’d hardly call myself a professional at it, but I’ve worked my passage on a liner or two dancing with the guests." Holly regards Aidan speculatively. "Really? And which lines were you on?" "Tukera Lines and Akagi-Tethys, among others," replies Aidan casually. "Really? Tukera Lines is well known for some of their guest dancers. Perhaps we’ll have to have a whirl later." -----Vargas and Saro exit the Bray Keaven with the cube and board the external lift — sort of an open-air platform. The pair descends with the cube and brings it over to Kevon, Holly, Aidan, and Ezra. Holly cheerfully comments, "Ah, there it is," and goes to inspect the cube. She pulls out a small handlight and shines a blacklight over the cube, revealing the serial number that she compares to a small plastic flimsy. -----When the cube arrives, Swann starts keeping an eye on Keith, too, in addition to just talking to him. Holly’s astrogator appears to be prudently keeping watch, but is fairly casual and relaxed. -----Martha continues to monitor various security screens displaying locations on ship — and the off–ship vid cams — for teleporting assassins and anything else too odd. She doesn’t see anything. -----Vasilii fumes to himself as he dons and secures his armor. His frustration is just below the breaking point. "I don't BELIEVE this! HE’S lecturing ME about HEALING!? What the frell is this thing he has with BANDAGES and BEDREST?!? I’VE at least HEARD of things like Medical Drug and AutoDocs! HE acts like it’s all stuff that JUST CAME OUT YESTERDAY! "Oh, but when it comes to strange passengers from other ships that he’s never even SEEN before, oh, well now, that’s different! For them, he hands the stuff out like it was FRELLIN' CANDY! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!" he yells in total exasperation. He makes a futile attempt to recompose himself and continues, loading his revolver. "So he LECTURES me, but do I lose it? No! I WALK AWAY, before I HIT him, because that would just make things worse. "LIKE THEY COULD BE WORSE!" After a few seconds thinking to himself, Vasilii continues. "Fine, fine! Then let’s see if we can do this without getting shot, burned, blown up, or blasted into space!" he concludes, storming out the door, heading to engineering. As he enters the engine room, he seems agitated as usual, but nods to Martha, and looks over her shoulder as she cycles through the displays to see who's armed with what. As he notices Kevon is armed only with a cutlass, he emphatically gestures at the vid screen as though looking for something. "What the frell is he doing!? You don’t bring a BLADE when everyone else is packing GUNS!"-----Turning back to Kevon, Holly says, "Looks like the cube number matches with my information. Here is your million credits." She extends her left hand with the credit chit in her palm towards Kevon. -----While the exchange between Kevon and Holly is going on, Ian scans his field of vision from the repair berth’s cargo door — which leads to the highport corridor — to where Swann has his position, and back to Kevon and Holly. Ian is scanning left just as Holly extends her hand and sees what he interprets as a fairly calculating look cross her features. Glancing quickly at Ezra, Ian notices an odd look on the tall engineer’s face, but the ex–Marine isn’t quite sure how to interpret it. Disappointment? Boredom? Disagreement? -----Kevon, apparently a bit blinded by either the prospect of a date with Holly or the million-credit chit, doesn’t notice anything. Casually resting his left hand on the hilt of his cutlass, Kevon reaches for the chit with his right hand. -----Aidan, observing from Kevon’s side, also catches Holly’s calculating look. -----Watching Holly as he speaks, Ian says, "Mr. Silver, would you be so kind as to verify the authenticity of the credit chit? No offense intended Ms. Clegg, but we’ve had several experiences recently that has lowered my level of trust." -----Kevon pauses just before his hand touches the chit, and he gives Holly an inquisitive glance through a slightly faded smile. "Mr. Silver, please verify the authenticity of the chit," he says politely, dropping his right hand to his side and taking a half step back to allow Aidan to approach unhindered. "I’m sure you understand, Holly — the crew has been through a number of rough spots over the last couple of months." Holly’s slightly amused look changes to a slight grin as Kevon asks Aidan to examine the chit. The female captain chuckles and says, "Of course." "Certainly gentlemen." Aidan pulls out his comp and runs a scan to verify the accuracy. As far as Aidan can tell, the chit is genuine, and its stored value is Cr1 million. Satisfied, Aidan hands the credit chit over to Kevon, and says, "Ms. Clegg has given us a credit chit with one million Imperial credits on it, as she stated." Just as Kevon takes the credit chit in his hand, the iris valve leading to the Stork & Sons office opens, and Egg kind of flies through — as if being tossed — stumbles, and smacks up against a repair platform. Behind him comes a sydite who is taking a shotgun off his shoulder — presumably after having tossed Egg through the iris valve in front of him — and another sydite who immediately steps left and raises an SMG from underneath his long coat and points it towards the group of Holly, Ezra, Kevon, and Aidan. Immediately after that come Sare de Salui No. 2 and a brown–furred Vargr who both have pistols of some sort raised and pointed towards the group. All of the newcomers are wearing heavy jackets or long coats. </blockquote>

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