Log 11 - Escape from Bellerophron

Shaiyat could fly the cab, he was sure of it now as he sat behind the controls. Flicking a few switches once Nar got the damned thing to start he got her off the ground with an unsteady start. The controls were sticky, the whole thing was out of balance and as Nar had discovered not in the best of repair but it flew and that was good enough. Glancing back once at those stuffed into the back-including his brother he gave a small nod. He'd make this as fast a trip as he could. “Just try keep er calm back there...” He shot a pleading glance back to Xin and Ori once Quinn's voice caught his attention and he addressed her as well though he couldn't see her. “Ain't gonna have no more ideas, alright Driscol?” He chuckled just a little before focusing on getting them back to Xin's family's estate and the Vega's sickbay. Javan simply grinned at Quinn's quip, not arguing that his family was quite large. He felt a bit awkward confined as they were in the back of the cab...but he certainly didn't mind Ori's company and mouthed a silent 'thank you' to her when he could catch her attention.

Shaiyat pushed as much speed as he could from the cab, not concerned with the vehicle's condition or over-working the engine to get them to where they needed to go. "Thinkin' we should dump this cab somehow 'fore we leave this place..." From what he could tell none of the authorities from the party had followed them, having too much chaos to deal with there that the crew managed to slip out virtually unnoticed. The pilot still believed it would be a good idea to get rid of the taxi before they left Belleraphon. But, for the moment his concern was Quinn and getting her to where Xin could get her the help she needed.

Needless to say the trip back to the Vega was a short one. The old red ship stood waiting in the docking bay of the estate and by the time Shai pulled the cab up next to the vessel the vehicle's engine was nearly over-heated, smoke raising from the front. He shut the engine down, getting out of it quickly and moving to open up Vega's cargo bay door and let everyone in.

Javan offered to help carry Quinn, but more than likely between the rest of the crew an extra pair of hands wouldn't be needed. He'd not seen the Firefly before and while he was vaguely aware of his brother's lifestyle he'd never really been witness to it. It'd been a long time since the two had spent any time together at all. He kept himself open to being helpful if the opportunity arose, walking slowing into the cargo bay and finding a spot to set his guitar down out of the way. When things calmed he tried to catch Ori's attention. "That was some pretty impressive shooting back at the party...so, you um...work with Shaiyat?"

Shai made sure to help get Quinn to the sickbay, a hand kept on her shoulder until Xin more than likely kicked him out and stopped his over-worried hovering. "Ya get patched up, alright?" He left them alone then. Quinn's wound certainly wasn't fatal but the pilot was prone to worrying anyhow. He returned to the cargo by looking for something, anything to do. "Any ideas on what ta do with that cab?" He asked anyone who was still around, running a hand through his hair.

Nar watched Shai fly the thing, gradually taking in the details as the pilot operated the various functions, becoming more sure of himself as the horrible event in recent memory gradually faded and the adrenaline of the whole situation wore off. He scrambled out as soon as the cab touched down, nolonger feeling as though he might toss his cookies. It had been a bit touch and go on takeoff, but he felt better now.

From there Nar kind of dallyed around, not quite sure what to do with himself and feeling mildly superfluous. He'd given the Vega a tune that morning. She was all prepped to fly. There wasn't any time to do something about the machinegun either. "I can fly it out and dump it, then run back." He said. "I won't get it far away if I do that. Could always fly a bit further out with the vega, dump it and get picked up, but we're more likely to be spotted that way." He said, glancing over to Ori and Javan. "What do you guys think?" He asked, also grasping at his hair in slight stress. His hands came away black afterwards. "Damn it."

Ori gave Javan a quick smile on the flight back to the Vega, keeping pressure on the captain’s wound and trying not to think about the man who’d shot himself. She wasn’t a queasy person, but it had been a particularly unsightly scene and the image of it seemed to have burned itself on her eyelids.

Once the crew had gotten back to the Vega, she gratefully let the others take control of the situation and relieved her post at the captain’s backside. She leaned against the stair railings in the cargo bay and stayed silent for a moment, pushing the images out of her mind. She looked to Javan as he walked over and spoke to her. She tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace; her thoughts were on Quinn. “Thanks,” she said distractedly when he complimented her shooting. At his question her eyes seemed to focus more on him. “Yeah, I guess I work with Shai. Just a hired gun, is all.” Nar’s question drew her gaze. “I think that’s a good idea, Nar. Any places around here people wouldn’t notice? Maybe where these rich snots dump their trash?” She grinned at Javan. “No offense.”

Nar’s inability to keep his hands clean caused Ori’s grin to widen slightly, and looking down at her hands (which had resumed shaking), she noticed they were covered in the captain’s blood. There were also some suspicious looking specs of red on her clothes, and she tried not to think of the man they probably came from. Instead, trying not to get blood on Nar and grease on herself, she linked arms with the mechanic and led him towards the bathroom in the common area. “Let’s get cleaned up. Shall we?”

After her initial negative reaction to shock Quinn went pretty quiet, aside from the chattering of her teeth. As the crew unloaded her and dragged her inside to the sickbay, she mumbled something about using the shuttle to follow whoever dumped the taxi.

"Shai," she called out, trying to catch him before he left, "get us up 'n head toward Harvest."

A silence had fallen over Kasai during the short trip back to the Vega, and it persisted as he helped heave the wounded Quinn into the infirmary. He had planned on offering his help to Xin, but it was rather obvious that the crew's makeshift getaway shuttle needed to be made scarce. The doctor might have knowledge of the layout of the estate and where it's trash went, but aside from him Kasai was sure the rest of the crew would be clueless as to the topography of Bellerophon and the practices of it's inhabitants. He nodded as Quinn mumbled and made his way out of the infirmary, stopping to bow to the doctor out of respect.

Solemnly the merc approached and spoke to the rest of the crew in the cargo bay.
"Yeah. There are a lot of collective dump sites on the surface. Most of the trash work is done by automated craft, so if we were to leave the cab at one we could be almost positive it would never be found." His comment was directed at Oriana, who's question he had heard as he entered the bay. He continued as he crossed his arms, the blonde hair of the wig falling to cover up even more of his face as he shifted. "So if someone will follow me in the shuttle I won't have any trouble finding one of the dump sites," He paused and looked to Shai, "though it might take a bit, and I don't know how confident you are picking up a shuttle while in flight."

He took a moment to look at his hands as the little merc and the mechanic left to clean themselves up. The captain's blood was on his hand, still dripping from when he put pressure on her wound for a few moments. He gripped his palm tight, then opened his hand again. A look came across his face. Was it a smile? Perhaps it was, but it wasn't present long enough to tell. His mind soon wandered from whatever thoughts brought that look to him to those which brought a look of disgust and regret upon his face. He let his hands fall to his side, and he made his way out of the ship and towards the rickety cab. He called to the rest of the crew before he walked down the ramp.

"So who wants to get that shuttle started and keep me from getting stranded, huh?" His words came through in a friendly tone, hiding the fact that a group of something were eating at the young man on the inside.

Shaiyat heard Quinn before he left, nodding back at her before he'd gone out to address the rest of the crew. He was pretty quiet as he listened to Nar's suggestion first, moving to flop down on the bottom step of the stairway that went up to the second level of the ship. He'd certainly not expected the party to end the way it did, and while Quinn getting shot had rattled him he knew she was in good hands. His face lit up as Ori added her thoughts to Nar's plan. "Sounds like's a good plan ta me...as long as the cab is gone and won't bring trouble on us or Xin's family I say we go with it." He stood then with a sigh, glancing in Kasai's direction. "Just how long ya think it'll take you? It'll take me a bit ta get Vega warmed up and in the air....if ya can't get back 'fore we need ta go..." Ha paused, hoping to catch Kasai's attention completely before the young man ran off. "I can keep the ship steady if you or Nar feel up to the task of docking the shuttle. Ain't my part that's tricky. I'll call ya when we're ready and see where ya are, shiney?"

The pilot waited for a response before he continued, hopefully Kasai would stick around a moment longer. "Nar's gonna have'ta come after ya with the shuttle, ain't no one else who can fly and I'll be busy here. I'll let him know." He frowned some, glancing once back at the sickbay before he gave Kasai a little nod and made his way up the stairs.


Javan meanwhile nodded at Oriana's answer. He'd certainly not expected her to be a mercenary. But he'd not expected to see family at Lady Katherine's party either. He didn't let his mind dwell on just why Shai's job needed a merc, focusing instead on what was going on around him. The look of worry on Shai's face didn't give him much comfort. He waved his hand at Ori's apology. "Wouldn't count myself among the rich snots miss, ain't nothing to be sorry for." He shot her a smile before she moved away with Nar. He followed Shaiyat up to the cockpit then, staying close behind as to not get lost on the unfamiliar ship. He paused at the entrance to the cockpit, leaning against it as Shai plopped himself down in the pilot's seat with a sigh.

"I know we haven't had time to catch up...." Javan started before the pilot interrupted him.

"We're headed ta Harvest. Sure if ya stay here I can call ya a ride an' get ya back ta where ya need. Won't be stayin' on this rock any longer than we have to." Shai gave his brother an almost apologetic look. He really did feel bad cutting their little reunion short, but with Quinn bleeding downstairs and the others waiting on him to meet up he felt he had little time for such things.

"Harvest huh?" Javan gave a small laugh but didn't press further for why. "You'll be passing quite a few mostly civilized planets, right? Maybe...you could drop me off? I can pay and all that." He rushed out with, a wave of nerves hitting him. "I don't think it's chance that we ran into each other Shaiyat." He stepped into the room then, putting a hand on the back of Shai's chair. "I could really use the favor."

Shai wished that Quinn was there. She was always so much better at saying no...He didn't give Javan an answer right away, weighing his options as he got Vega started. The entire ship shuttered as the engine turned over, the pilot keeping most of his attention on plotting where they needed to go and what the screens in front of him were letting him know about the ship itself. He reached up then, tapping the comm-unit button. " Be airborne in ten or less. Nar, get yerself to the shuttle. Need ya ta follow the cab out an pick up Kasai once it's dropped off. He'll fill ya in from there." Shai's voice echoed throughout the ship before he cut the comm off with another little sigh. "Strap in Jav." He nodded towards the co-pilot's chair with a little smile laced with worry. Quinn was going to be unhappy about this...

Nar grinned at Ori as he was led off, arm in arm towards the bathroom, listening to the cries through the ship. "Harvest, huh?" He sighed. "That's pretty close to the rim." He shivered. "Hope we don't meet any of the locals." He stood by, letting Ori wash first. Blood took priority to hair gel and engine grease. He leaned against the door of the shower, just... watching her really. It had been a hell of a night so far. And it wasn't over yet. They still had to get out of here. "I'm glad we had you along." He said softly, moving to take over the sink once she had finished. He'd about got most of the gunk out of his hair by the time Shai's call across the comms gave him his marching orders.

"See you in the Black." He said, grinning and patting her shoulder as he left the bathroom, then dashed for the shuttle, shouting as he went. "Aye aye, captain!"

The shuttle hadn't been neglected from his routine checks that morning, the Vega and it's two smaller docked vehicles had been given a once over, so he was confident as he scooted into the shuttle bay and went through the motions of prepping the shuttle. He sure was glad he was piloting this and not that rusting flying skip. He was glad in a way that the cab was going to a junk heap, because if nobody was going to fix it up, that's where it belonged anyway.

"All set down here, Shai." He called over the Comms. "I'll Jet as soon as we take off. "

In Nar's bedroom, there was a 'click' as Angel's power button flicked itself to the On position. She knew the crew were back, and was listening to the activity of them preparing for a hasty getaway. But rather than turn herself off this time, she remained powered on, listening. Had she heard Qunn right? Were they really going to Harvest? Near the Rim?

The only obvious sign that something was up was the amber glow of her power light in the otherwise dark room. Nar seldom closed his door unless he was actually occupying the room, much to the chargrin of anyone admiring his heaps of junk on the way by.

Ori didn’t reply to Nar’s comment about Harvest. She certainly didn’t want to run into any of the locals either, but that was up to chance now. She released Nar’s arm from her grasp as she gratefully took the sink first, scrubbing at the blood she’d gotten from putting pressure on the captain’s wound. Thankfully, it hadn’t dried too much, and her trembling hands were clear in a matter of minutes. The suspicious specks of blood on her jeans, however, were dried and refused to come out. She gave the sink to Nar, smiling at his comment. “Thanks,” she replied quietly. She slipped from the bathroom towards her room to get a fresh pair of jeans.

Once she’d changed out of her costume, Ori grabbed a bar of soap from her bedside and took them back to the bathroom as Nar was leaving. “Good luck,” she told him. Ori returned to the sink and worked at the blood spots with soap and water until she was satisfied that all traces of it were gone. She also scrubbed her face until the makeup was off, and unbraided her hair until it spiraled over her shoulders as per usual. Returning to her room, she hung the pants on the back of her chair to dry and made her way to the dining room to wait. There wasn’t much she could do while the others took care of the cab, and she couldn’t make a full report to Quinn until she was patched up and feeling better. Sitting in one of the chairs, Ori stared towards the bridge where she could faintly hear Javan and Shai’s voices, her gaze unfocused, fingers grazing Bessie’s holster gently.

Normally, when Xin operated on one of the crew members, he did so with ease, making a few darkly funny comments here and there to put them at ease. However, due to the surprising circumstances, Xin was a tad more thrown off than usual and as such, reverted to the silent, no-nonsense aspect of his personality. As the others got Quinn situated on the bed, he hurriedly ripped off the spirit gummed decorations off of his hands that would prevent him from treating the captain, threw on a pair of gloves, and grabbed his doping gun.

Quinn most likely would harass him later about knocking her out when it wasn't absolutely necessary, but the doc was on edge and not really prepared to deal with having to comfort the captain at this moment. He needed a clear mind and quiet after the party fiasco. After ushering everyone out and closing the doors, he rushed back over to Quinn, brushing the hair out of her face and gently pressing his hand to her forehead, giving her a comforting, if tense, grin. He seemed far more delicate than normal, probably in an effort to overshadow his creepifying costume. "Relax, Quinn, going to get you fixed up." He made an effort to keep Quinn's focus on his eyes so she wouldn't even notice him pressing the gun to her neck until he had injected the quick-acting anaesthetic.

He lingered a second longer after the captain drifted into the black, his face slowly scrunching up into an expression that looked like a mix of misplaced guilt and worry. Snapping out of it, he went to work first sterilizing the wound.

Quinn didn't look happy about the situation but seemed more relaxed than she ordinarily would be. Although she hadn't lost an enormous amount of blood, what she had, coupled with shock, caused her to feel a little confused and woozy, which distracted her from the whole mortal-fear-of-all-things-doctor bit.

The crease between her brows eased some as Xin caught her attention. "Sure, Doctor," Quinn replied easily, snorting a little laugh as she gazed upward. "Replaced all yer handsome with scary... don' make... relasch..." she slurred off into silence as the anesthetic did it's job.

The wound, although a bleeder, hadn't caused too much damage - the bullet had torn some muscle and lodged near the captain's femur but hadn't broken any bones.

Kasai waved to Shai as he made his way out of the ship. He didn't respond verbally, but he had heard all the pilot had to say to him.

He hurried to the old cab, wiping his bloodied hand on a handkerchief which was quickly discarded into the back seat. A quick glance over the controls plus the recollection of watching the pilot's movements made starting the rickety ship up a breeze. Unfortunately it was more like a wheeze, but the thing started never the less. He scanned for the comm controls, trying to link a call with the shuttle before picking up. After a few seconds of failure the angry merc punched the dashboard in front of him, slewing out a string of curses in multiple languages. It seemed to do the trick, as the cab's comm systems lit up and he was hailing the Vega's shuttle for communication.

If Nar answered, Kas spoke calmly to the mechanic.
"Just follow me out and down, we'll find one of the dump sites soon enough... By the way, how are you at mid-air passenger exchanges?" He asked the last question as a after thought, certainly hoping that the cab he was in wasn't going to fail completely and send him into a nosedive freefall.

He lifted the old thing off the ground slowly, easing himself into the controls with a few practice turns before he finally headed away from the estate's landing area. As he made distance away from it, he began to tilt the cab's nose downward, starting his descent.
The beauty of the scene in front of his eyes was lost on him, he knew all too well that the brilliantly flickering sea was all too manufactured and fake for his tastes. He pulled a cig from inside his jacket and lit it up, taking a drag as he leaned away from the controls and let the little shuttle fall on it's own for a bit. He blew out a cloud of smoke before leaning forward again and starting to scan, both mechanically and visually, for the nearest dump site.

"Hey Nar, your scanners are probably in better shape than this piece of junk's. Would you start scanning for a dump site? I'll let you know if I find anything myself." He left the comm open on his side, knowing he'd need to talk to the mechanic again soon enough, anyways.

As soon as he was able, Nar got the shuttle airborne and scooted carefully after the cab. Not so close that he was obviously following it, but close enough for visual range as well as keeping it on his scanner and in radio contact.

"Roger." He replied. "A lot better than I would have been an hour ago. Steady hand and cool head is all you need."

He didn't envy Kesai having to pilot the rusting heap, though. His hands moving across the shuttle's controls as he went through everything, double checking it all from a mechanic's point of view to make sure everything was in order. Out in the black your life depended on the machinery working as much as anything else. It was a good habit to keep. He was also far too concerned with keeping Kesai's cab at a distance and in his view to worry about the scenery.

As the suggestion to scan for dump sites came across the radio, he cursed to himself and checked the scanner again. "Sorry, got my eye on it now." He replied. "Hey, there's one 5 O'clock from my position, your scanner probably missed it. It's pretty isolated too. Just what we're after."

He waited for a yay or nay from Kesai, prepared to u-turn the shuttle and lead the way down. He could see what Kesai's plan was. Get the cab on a crash course somewhere nobody would care and then exchange him across to the shuttle.