Hope There's Someone
Posted on Wed Nov 18th, 2020 @ 8:44am by Alden Loxley & Alison Bliss & Karen Dawson MD & James Thomson & Tristan & Daiyu & Chloe Waltz PhD & Jonas Bailey
Mission:
Six Days to Santo
Location: Santo
Timeline: Day 23 - Lunchtime
From space, Santo was a pretty bluish-gray colour. Down on the ground itself, the shades were more earthy, browns, reds and yellows. And in the bar where the crew of the Firefly transport Fortune’s Echo were currently relaxing and playing some pool, some of the colours had white stripes.
The Grumpy Skunk was a tavern nestled neatly at the south side of the large trading town of Caster and a stone's throw from its volcanic, black sandy coastline. Not the largest city on the world, but big enough to be a key point for the sort of tourism that didn’t rely entirely on the slave trade. Big enough to need a delivery of as much IPA as could fit in the Echo’s cargo bay. Caster, like the rest of Santo, was far from innocence personified, its diverse population generally blurring a moral line between business and thievery.
With money in his pocket, and the Echo sat comfortably on the cliff-top dockyard catching some pale afternoon sunshine, Alden took his turn in merely being an observer to the gathering, while messily eating the biggest burger the menu offered. From his comfortable seat by the pub’s wide open back doors, he could see most of his ship’s current compliment, but his closest eye was on the youngest two. He’d put out an open invite for work on the local Cortex, now he planned to wait a bit and enjoy some peace and quiet.
Chloe had chosen the table furthest from the noise and people of the establishment as possible. In front of her sat a small sandwich, which she was in the slow process of eating. She watched it all like an observer. She wasn't interested in the drinking or the pool. There had been a few bars and taverns on Londinium - especially with all the young folk at the University - but she never had time for such and to her, this was a new experience. Perhaps of the less alien experiences, actually; given that she didn't know what bars were like deeper into the Core, she didn't have anything to compare it too and so it simply felt novel instead of feeling wrong.
"Why does it smell like urine in here?" Daiyu whispered.
Alison was sitting relaxed. She had a beer in front of her but didn't drink it. She watched the place, carefully picking from the crowd people who could be a threat or were showing too much interest with their group. For now, being in the good mood, Alison avoided antagonizing anyone or taunting with her eyes, satisfied with noting potential problems and letting her eyes move on.
"More like unwashed manly bodies." Alison countered. The smell in the air was something of an acquired taste pointing to the low income of the patrons. She would prefer to have a higher-class establishment but Alden must have something on his mind when he invited them here. "Captain, how lovely you took us to the place where Daiyu can smell urine." She couldn't help but make a verbal jab at Alden.
"I understand her displeasure," Tristan said in reply, hiding his nose in the sleeve of his maroon hoodie. "I wouldn't exactly call this place refreshing..."
Alden frowned, made a point of sniffing his own clothed armpit and wrinkled his nose. "I showered..." he said, defensively as he placed his half-eaten burger down on the plate. "Not sure anywhere on this rock is refreshing," he added, a little too loudly, and noticed a couple of burly workers at the bar cast their eyes in their direction. "But, sposed to be meeting someone here this afternoon. Hopefully paid work," Alden finished, his facial expression conveying overt doubt. "Hopefully, not too illegal."
James snorted, "I've been to worse," he mumbled around bites of his food, "drink more and it won't bother you as much" he suggested with a smile before doing just so. He possibly felt the most relaxed, he'd been to Santo a few times at the bidding of Niska and had a slightly too-comfortable familiarity with a few of the more questionable citizens of the planet.
Two things happened then, both at the same time but whether that was through chance or through particular judgement wasn't clear.
Firstly, a tall, well-dressed, olive skinned, bearded fella strolled in through those open back doors and looked in mock surprise at Alden. Two burly chaps stepped in behind him, both of whom looked as if they'd been dragged from some cattle barn in order to be here.
"Loxley," the man in the business suit said, his voice crisp and loudly clear. "I believe you still owe me my share of the Triumph job."
"No," Alden lied. "We settled that."
Secondly, one of the rough looking gents finished - lost - his game of pool and decided to sidle over in Chloe's direction, paused close enough to touch her but didn't. He simply stood an arm's length away and took a overexaggerated, closed eye kinda deeply focused, sniff of her hair.
Jonas was at the bar enjoying a small dish of shepherd's pie and watching a game of pool. It wasn't the greatest, the pie or the game of pool. But they were enjoyable enough to take one's mind off of things for a minute. And a minute was about all it lasted. He caught sight of the two big guys near Alden and the other crew and watched them. It was difficult to hear what was being said in the tavern, but the suit seemed loud enough that Jonas could catch a word or two. He held his shepherd pie in one hand and his fork in other and continued to eat while he observed as best he could.
Chloe tensed when the man approached. She kept her gaze straight ahead, pretending to not notice him, instead half-watching the small group of men who were talking to Alden. She wished she had brought her sonic gun. She usually carried it with her when she went to any less than safe area, but, at least in Londinium, weapons wouldn't be allowed.
Alison sighed seeing Chloe all tensed up and stood up letting her chair fell on the side behind her in a dramatic display. She slowly approached the man sniffing Chloe, putting hand on her holstered pistol, and cleared her throat to get his attention.
"Wei! Keep that Ho Tze Duh Pi Gu off my girlfriend. Or I'll charge you for what ya doing and I know you aint got that much money on ya." She said with a taunting smile.
James sighed dramatically, accepting that now probably wasn't the best time to keep stuffing his face. He pushed the plate in front of him towards the center of the table before edging his chair out enough that it would be easy for him to scramble to his feet should he need to. Beyond the sigh he remained silent the entire time, his eyes throwing daggers at the sharply dressed man who'd ruined his perfectly enjoyable meal.
"Charge me?" Queried the cowboy with the hair-sniffing fetish. "How much for both of you?" He asked Alison, with zero sense of shame. "I like this one, she's real pretty," he added, his breath infused with whiskey enough for Chloe to smell it now, though he didn't sound drunk yet.
Alison smiled softly, seductively, lewdly.
"Now that is a thought... but I have even better. How about we play for it. You win... We do you both the way you like it. I win, you give me all your possession, except of your underwear." She proposed sweetly. "How about that!? WHAT'S YOUR NAME, SON?! THE CHALLENGE IS ON!" She raised her voice. "Do you think this is your lucky day!? Cards? We do cards! Anyone else want to have in on this deal?"
Cowboy took a long, lingering moment to really take this brash, beautiful lady in. His eyes studied those over details of her form, resting on the stand-out features then slowly returning to begrudgingly look Alison in the eyes. "You wanna play cards for sex?" He asked. "And if I win, I get BOTH of you?" Sounded like a pretty sweet deal, considering what he knew of his own possessions' worth.
"Yeah Da Yeh..." Alison said softly but then her voice cold steely. "But if I win, you give me all you have, minus the underwear." She said with the taunt in her voice.
Meanwhile, the short distance away, Alden and the Suit were still debating this issue of missing cash. Alden remained casually seated in his chair, seemingly comfortable in his current line of conversation. "Five thousand credits?" He said, sounding far more taken aback than he really was. "Nah. We're all square. I wired you the money, Huck, got a receipt and everything."
"No," said Huck, sounding irritated. "You didn't. And it's Mr Howson, to you." He made a gesture, and one of his goons rested a filthy hand on Alden's right shoulder. There was the sound of chairs scraping on floor across the way as the bar started to divide into sides. "Pay up. Now."
Chloe looked towards Alison, then back towards the others as things escalated with Alden's old... business partner. Speaking about business, Chloe wasn't sure what this business with this other man was. Was Alison trying to protect her? If Chloe had to pick a side, she would much rather trust Alison, despite the woman's apparent dislike for her, over this drunk creep. And Chloe was not sure at all how she felt about a game of cards deciding this sort of thing. She knew she was out of her area of expertise though, so the woman stayed quiet, still sitting there, tense.
Jonas glanced to where Alison had moved to and nodded. She looked like she could handle whatever that brute could throw at her. So he took his dish of half-eaten, still hot, shepherd's pie in one hand and the fork in the other and slid off his barstool. He sauntered over to Alden and the group, chewing on a bite he'd just taken. Jonas had a stupid grin on his face when stopped in front of them all and swallowed. "Hey ya'll, if you want somethin' to eat, bar's open. Shepherd's pie is pretty good."
Up in the second floor, along the balcony, Karen sat a table, playing chess with one of the older patrons. She kept paying for his drinks while she asked questions about the place.
Karen gave Jonas a once-over before she decided she was not hungry. There was more than enough packaged food in her room as it was.
While the man Huck and his two men spoke rudely to Alden, it was all Daiyu could do not to whimper in fear. Big men like them only wanted one thing. Violence. It was only a matter of how they chose to inflict it.
"Captain is a good man," she said weakly, not even making eye contact or even lifting her gaze from the tabletop.
The nearest goon furrowed his brow at her with amusement. It was though he'd not noticed her until that moment, and now that he did, there was nothing but to flex his dominance over such a plainly intimidated creature. "Why, hello there, sha bī." Little cunt. "You look a might scared." As he reached his hand out to cup her cheek, Daiyu's trembling turned to full-body tremors. "By the looks of your face, though, looks like a man already done told you what." When his palm made contact with the cold, clammy flesh of her face, Daiyu turned stock still. The tingle of her scar tissue sent a shock through her body.
Behind them, now Alden was up on his feet, casually tense and furious. "Get your hands off her. Now!" He said, but events moved faster than he did.
Daiyu's mouth turned into a snarl. "Cào ni mā," she said with a guttural growl. Fuck your mother. And then she grabbed the goon's sweaty wrist with both hands and bit down on his index finger with all her might. The digit separated below the knuckle, allowing her to spit it out onto the floor.
"You bitch!"
The goon tried to grab Daiyu by the scalp, but her petite, nubile form slid out of her chair and pivoted out of his grasp. Rather than run, she stepped into his blindspot and raked her fingernails across his eyes.
"Ni tā mā de qù si ba!!!" You go to fucking hell!!!
At first the goon tried to fight her off, but he was effectively blinded and helpless as the young woman half his size rode him to the floor and clawed his face to shreds straddled atop his chest.
And behind them, the bar descended into an easy violence that had been simmering since Huck had wandered into the big, open-plan room. A bottle sailed across the space to smash on the ground at Alison's feet. Alden punched Huck squarely in the face and the two began trading blows while Howson's second goon sized up Jonas with a leer of a grin and a hard swung right fist.
Jonas stepped to side real fast, but still felt the breeze from punch. He took the dish of Shepherd's Pie and forcefully slammed it into the goon's face. Then he stabbed him in the shoulder with the fork. Twice. Jonas stepped back a couple steps, fork in hand, and looked at the broken dish on the floor. "Gorram it! You made me spill my food!" And then kicked the man squarely on the no-no spot.
Alison winced. That was the problem with Alden. It was always violence. She rarely had chance to use her charms or her gambling skills. If she wanted it, she needed to go on her own. The man in front of her, obviously was considering a card game for possibility of having sex with two women. But as the situation around escalated, he clenched his fist and Alison realized that the card game was not an option. So she switched to plan B. She slammed her heavy boot in his left feet and as his howl was raising over the sounds of brawl around, Alison kicked him under the right knee. The howl cut into a groan of agony and the man fell on the back at the table, smashing it.
Alison put hand on Chloe's shoulder.
"Time to go, keep close, keep me between troubles and yourself. I'll protect you." She ordered matter-of-factly. "Clear?!"
Chloe nodded, glancing up towards Alison after giving a startled stare at the freshly smashed table. Despite her previous doubts about Alison, the woman had to trust her now. Chloe stood up and stepped on the other side of Alison, not sure whether to look at the chaos or the other woman. She once again regretted not bringing her sonic gun.
Suit or no suit, Howson didn't seem to mind getting stuck into the physical end of business. He and Alden pushed each other sideways into the main area of the bar's floor, attracting the attention of the usual opportunists as they fought a messy dance with an even trade of blows.
Seeing Jonas drop a man to the ground, two more rolled up their sleeves and rushed the big warrior, taking their chances at glory. One went left, the other right, a head-first charge at Jonas' gut from the smaller of the two, while the larger strode confidently in to see what was left.
From his position shoved momentarily up against a pool table, Alden could see two more locals, one male, one female, move in to intercept Alison and Chloe. One strolled in and fronted up, the other snuck up from behind with light steps and a dumb grin.
"Ali!" Alden yelled. "Behind you!" He took a hard left-hook to the jaw from Howson, but used the momentum to fall lazily backwards onto the table, springing up to his feet a moment later to leap from said height at Huck. Both men rolled as they hit the ground.
Jonas doubled over from the head-first charge and fell backwards onto a table and chairs. He fell to ground amid the broken wood and coughed until he caught his breath. He wiped spittle mixed with blood from his mouth and grabbed two broken legs from the chair. The big guy grinned evilly and pushed himself up from the floor. He spun both chair legs in his hands and then jumped into the middle of the fight.
Alison heard Alden and turned on the spot toward the new threat. With one hand, she pulled Chloe back, behind her, while with the other she scooped a mug of beer from one of the patrons. Stepping in front of Chloe, she splashed beer into the face of the female. As the female growled raising hands to her face, Alison kicked her in the knee. The female yelped, staggering back. The male stepped forward. Alison feinted another kick on his knee and the man lowered his hand and sidestepped, opening his face. With a graceful, almost dancing move, Alison pirouetted smashing the mug into his face. The heavy glass burst in every direction and the male fell on the floor knocked out.
Alison turned toward the female who was back into action pulling the knife, but Alison threw the mug handle that she still had at the female. The female dodged but that allowed Alison to step in closer. She grabbed the woman by the armed wrist and applied pressure on her joint. Female cried in pain, the knife clattered on the floor, and the woman bent forward dropping on the knee. Grabbing her head, Alison pushed it down against her own, raising up knee. With a sickening crack, followed by a muffled gurgle, the female arched back and fell on the floor crying in pain.
"You all right?" Alison asked Chloe breathing hard and pushing her toward the exit.
"I think so," Chloe responded with a quick breath. She was startled, for sure. And no help in a situation like this. Everything that she come to expect of places like this... all those stereotypes were coming true. She shouldn't get involved. Chloe made for the exit as much she could, trying to keep the surprisingly competent fighter that was Alison between her and the dangers.
Meanwhile Daiyu still sat atop the original giant who had gotten rough with her, scratching away at the mess of flesh and cartilage that used to be his face. Her fingers were frayed down to the cuticle as she undoubtedly mixed her blood together with his as she had long since turned his face into a lasagna. An all the while she did not let up the blues streak of profanity.
James, who'd opted to finish his food rather than join the ruckus developing around him had finally been torn away from his meal as he caught the arm of a passing man whose gaze was fixed on a distracted Daiyu. Wordlessly, James dragged the man down towards the table for him, slipping sideways as the mans face collided with the table with a sickening thud. Happy the would-be assailant was dazed enough he rose from his seat and headed straight for his crewmate.
"I think you got him, good job," James said calmly as he reached down and wrapped an arm around Daiyu's chest and brought her to her feet, "think we best get you outside, we can make sure the crew have a clear exit" he told her as he began a retreat, his grip tight.
If Daiyu heard James, she gave no indication. She just kept pawing at empty hair with her bleeding fingers as he hauled her away. Her throat turned hoarse from her yelling, forcing her to quiet down despite her frenzy.
With the door outside in range, Alison put the hand on Chloe's small back leading her out.
"Sometimes, I wonder why am I with this bunch." She murmured before she asked Chloe louder to be heard over the brawling behind. "So how do you like your the taste of the fringe worlds?"
"Not great, so far," Chloe responded with a certain level of bluntness, allowing herself to be led out. It was that sort of bluntness that made her feel a touch out of place on the well-spoken worlds of the Core, though she had known no other place to be her home. "It's too violent here. I don't know how this pub stays in business." Of course Chloe, who had no frame of reference, assumed a brawl like this was a very regular occurrence.
"Good point. But then, they don't have Daiyu as the client every day." Alison pointed out lightly as they walked outside. There she stopped torn between going back to help others and keeping an eye on Chloe who was definitely out of her depth. She finally pointed to the other side of the street. "Let's stand there, in case more of our people will come out and will be in need of help." She patted her pistol, leading Chloe across the street. "Maybe stand there, behind a cover. I would be very unhappy if anything would happen to you."
Chloe nodded, following Alison's direction. She wasn't so sure about that last part. Sure, Alison was being helpful, but perhaps that just her instinctual reaction to any situation like that. Chloe was still helping them out as an engineer, but her boss, Sibyl, and Alison had quite their differences. Chloe figured that how everyone behaved after this was all cooled down... that would be more telling. "Why are they all fighting?" She asked Alison while she looked around for cover.
"That is inherently much more philosophical question than you think." Alison replied putting hand on her holstered pistol and taking position to shoot at anything that would come out from the bar and she wouldn't like. She gave Chloe assessing glance to make sure she was not hurt and satisfied her attention returned on the bar's door.
Inside the bar, an uneven and chaotic dance continued to unfold, even as a wetly unpleasant gargling sound continued to quietly emanate from Daiyu's victim. Punches, kicks, throws and pool cues entered the mix, one at a time and altogether, drawing folk together who had been quietly drinking not a few moments ago. Howls, insults and yelling, spilled drinks, bruises and blood, kicking, biting and punching and the occasional individual flying across the space to land against the scattered tables and chairs.
It all hesitated and ground to a virtual halt when a gun fired, twice. Two shots into the ceiling, cracks loud enough to draw everyone's attention, right before an authoritative voice demanded to be heard.
"Everyone out!" Barked the man who had resorted to the simplest and most obvious escalation. He wore a shiny badge on his chest, a stern look in his dark eyes and an look on his face that brooked little time for argument.
Most folks listened, making their way to the obvious exits. Some remained just exactly where they were. A ruffled Howson whose goon currently held Alden in a headlock, and the man lain out on the floor with a messed up face were but three of those holding position. The bar staff remained down behind said cover for the moment, while the upper mezzanine floor maintained a quality view of the furniture carnage below.
"Who did this?" Demanded the Sheriff, nudging his head towards 'lasagne-face' as his deputy moved across to see if there was anything left to save.
Jonas was still inside what was left of the bar when the shots rang out and the people cleared out. He'd lost one of his sticks and was holding a swaying goon by the shirt collar, ready to thwack him with the chair leg he had left. Upon hearing the Sheriff's question, he let the body fall to the floor and then sat down on the unconscious man's chest.
"He's alive," came the call from the deputy.
Goon Two unleashed a series of Chinese curses while applying a little more pressure to his captive. It was Howson who spoke, his words unruffled and utterly serious as he jabbed a thumb towards Alden beside him.
"His Wi Shian Dohn Woo," Howson said, enunciating clearly despite his obvious underlying fury. "I want him arrested."
The Sheriff looked from Howson to Alden, expecting some form of defensive argument or flat out denial, but the Echo's captain simply looked back at him with a deep concern in his eyes. Daiyu had done this. Daiyu was his responsibility.
"He started it. He insulted her, touched her inappropriately. It wasn't her fault," Alden added, his words considerably stronger than that initial glance had been. "I take full responsibility."
"We'll talk about this in my office," the Sheriff decided, as medical assistance arrived while the bar staff and the rest of the walking wounded lurked and muttered amongst themselves. "Let him go," he told Goon Two. "Cuff him," he added, coolly to his deputy. Better safe than someone else leaving on a stretcher.
Alden stepped clear as the deputy approached, relieved all three men of anything that resembled a gun and ratched on the handcuffs. "It wasn't her fault," Alden repeated, but all he could hear inside his skull was Alison's voice telling him how insane he'd been to keep Daiyu on board the Echo.
Outside Alison watched when they pushed Alden out with cuffs on his wrists. She kept her hand on the pistol considering her options. At this distance, she could drop the Sheriff and his deputies before they would know what had happened. But could they allow themselves for troubles with the local law. As her eyes met with Alden's and seeing the beat up guy escorted out on the stretcher, Alison relaxed and took the hand off the pistol grip. Maybe there was another way and maybe a bit of time in the lockup would teach something to the stubborn captain.
"Come on, we are going back to the Echo. We need to regroup and come up with the strategy how to get the captain out." Alison said to Chloe.
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