Stay A Little Longer
Posted on Mon Dec 28th, 2020 @ 11:57am by The Narrator & Alison Bliss & Karen Dawson MD & James Thomson & Tristan & Daiyu & Chloe Waltz PhD & Jonas Bailey
Mission:
Six Days to Santo
Location: Santo - Caster
Timeline: Day 23 - Late Afternoon
Fortune's Echo was quiet as Alison and Chloe unlocked, then strolled up the cargo ramp. There was the faint hum of power, the subtle sounds of the Firefly going about its quiet auto-maintenance and filter cleaning cycles, but that was it. If Niamh was still on board she was keeping herself occupied with some peaceful activity elsewhere.
A warning light blinked in the panel beneath the hatch controls, waiting for Alison to punch in a security code to prove that this was her and not some nefarious individual with ill intent.
Off to one side were James and Daiyu, with the latter sitting in a puddle of sullen sulking. Her fingers were stained red, but otherwise she looked none the worse for wear.
As she punched the codes and the ramp started to lower down, Alison looked at Daiyu.
"Go, get yourself cleaned up." She says keeping her face neutral. She wanted to say a few words to Daiyu but at this point with no Alden around, she felt a bit responsible for the whole crew, so antagonizing anyone wasn't the best approach.
Running past Alison and up the descending ramp like a bilge rat, Daiyu headed straight for the showers without looking back.
Jonas stood several paces behind and waited for the ramp to lower. He watched as the others talked among themselves and then glanced around to see if any of the others had followed them.
Alison glanced at everyone and made a mocking inviting gesture to get inside.
"I guess we can meet in 10 in the galley... whoever wants to talk how to get Alden out of the prison." She said wryly before she moves up the ramp, heading to her quarters.
Karen was not sure how much of a role she'd play in that. To be fair, her contract stopped her short of jobs that would result in her medical disbarment. The doctor cared deeply about Alden, however, a loss of her medical license meant a loss of access to medical supplies and consults that only doctors could forge through networks.
She already knew what her role would entail the moment Alison called the meeting. Karen just hoped the crew would understand.
Alison took a moment to get to her quarters, change clothes and calmed down. This crew was simply a mix of too many new people who didn’t know one another and couldn’t predict one another. Alden also wasn’t helping in shaping them up. That was of course her point of view on things and most importantly, since she gave up on being the XO, she needed also to don’t give a damn. So, when she showed up in the galley, she was more casual and relaxed.
She made herself a mug of fresh coffee and took place at the table, wondering who will show up. Since the guy that Daiyu gave hard time didn’t die, Alden was likely to be released. Question was if that was a matter of hours or days. Or weeks.
Jonas had taken a moment to splash some water on his face and clean-up a little bit. There were some minor injuries from the bar fight, but not much more that would eventually require a small bandage. He washed the cuts and scratches and dabbed them with towels to clean the dirt and sweat and dried blood. After a few minutes of prettying himself up, Jonas headed for the galley.
The big guy walked into the galley and noticed Alison sitting there. He nodded and pulled a chair out before sitting down and leaning back.
From the direction of the main cargo hatch, came a solid thumping of flesh and bone on metal as someone and their clenched first tried to get the Echo crew's attention. Whoever it was didn't shout, but they weren't giving up either.
Tristan jumped, startled from the noise. He had been leaning against the wall in a dark corner, trying to stay out of people's way. While he was technically part of the crew now, and as a full member, entitled to his place at the table, he still felt like a stowaway in the group. Like he didn't belong.
James stood in the little kitchenette where he'd headed to immediately in order to grab himself a bottle of beer that he'd been holding against the side of his jaw. As a reward for not being an active participant of a bar-fight was a hand to the face whilst he'd been extracting Daiyu. James' eyes had fallen on the corned Tristan occupied when he'd jumped. "We should probably get that?" he commented, his eyes shifting towards Alison before opening the beer and taking a hearty pull.
Alison stood up. She took a big sip of the hot coffee before she moved toward the exit.
"Yeah, I'll see what is going on." She agreed.
Moments later Alison was in the cargo hold by the main ramp. With the banging continuing, she put one hand on the pistol's holster and punched the button with the other, opening the ramp.
Tristan peeked around the corner, curious who was at the door, but not wanting to be seen.
Stood at the bottom of the ramp was a dusty clothed, rat-faced cowboy. He looked as if he'd ridden for miles through a desert and slept for at least two weeks in the outfit he wore, but his dark gaze brightened when he saw Alison. A wonky toothed grin aimed itself at her as he grunted a greeting and handed her a scruffy piece of crumpled paper.
It was a Wanted poster. With one of Alison's aliases on it.
"Worth a few credits for t'warning?" Asked Ratty - or Jim as Alison knew him.
Jonas had followed them to the cargo hold out of sheer curiosity. No way the Law would be banging on their door so soon after the brawl. He'd leaned up against a support beam near the back of the hold and watched the exchange.
Alison took the poster in her hand. It did have a striking resemblance and the name Harley Williams. One of the aliases she had quite a lot of successes. No wonder...
"So, how much credits do you want?" Alison said softly looking up at Jim and folded the wanted poster before she put it in her own pocket. "My friend."
"This Harley person looks a lot like you," Tristan said, having walked up behind Alison quietly, peeking over her shoulder.
"Two hun'red?" Jim ventured, pushing his luck in the hope of meeting somewhere in the middle. "I'nf'mation's good, right? On account of I knows your buddy's in the slammer. Lotta in'trest too," he added.
Alison shook her head. She ignored Tristan and his unfortunate loud mouth.
"Wei, you are pushing it, Shwai." She shook her head and put hand on her holstered pistol briefly. "I'll put it this way... one hundred and that's only because you are my Puhn Yoh."
"'Undred's just plenty fine," he agreed a little too quickly, his gaze tripping from her face to her weapon and back again. "Thank'n ya." He held out his hand for the promised payment.
Alison wasn't happy but, at the same time, it could be worse. She only hoped that it would buy them enough time before Jim would decide he needed another payment or... worse. She turned around and quickly fiddled in her pocket for the money before turning back to the man and handing it out.
"Don't make me regret that."
He'd been hoping for fifty, so the rat-faced cowboy nodded simply and made the notes disappear with the speed of a street magician. "No regrets needed," he added, in case that made her feel any better, then he turned to leave.
"Quite a few credits," said Jonas, as he approached. "Ya want me to shoot him and get them back?"
"And what we will do with the body?" Alison asked folding her hands. "No. But that does complicate things. It seems that I will have to stay on board of Echo for the rest of our visit on this planet."
Hair still wet and stringy, Daiyu joined the rest of the group with an oversized bathrobe wrapped around her. She said nothing whatsoever. Instead her dark eyes took everyone in like blackholes.
"Oh I could find something to do with the body," said Jonas. "But I'll keep it holstered. So if you're stayin' here, who gets the honor of runnin' a con on the law? Or fetchin' Alden?" He looked over to Daiyu, who had just entered, and nodded.
"What happened to Alden?" Daiyu asked, her face rife with genuine concern. "Is he hurt?"
"Maybe you should have thought about that before you went berserk in there," Chloe added with a faint scowl from the corner of the cargo bay. She had been watching silently, but something about Daiyu just rubbed her wrong. Besides; Alden was the one on the crew that she trusted most, and Chloe blamed Daiyu for her arrest.
"Berserk?" Daiyu scrunched her face in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"You ripped a guy's face off. In front of everyone." As Chloe spoke, she glanced at Alison. Remembering that suddenly made her afraid of the strange woman on the ship. Scared of antagonizing her, at least. But Chloe had been scared into being quiet too many times; perhaps now was not the best time to change her ways, but she did anyway. She wished she had taken time to grab her sonic gun. Instead, with Alden gone, she only relied on the good will of Alison and Jonas too keep her safe from Daiyu.
Tears began to form in the corners of Daiyu's dark almond eyes. "What? I don't know what you're saying... I've..." She paused, obviously disjointed in her cognition. Her voice began to rise in pitch as she began to panic. "I did no such thing. Tell me, now, where is Alden?!"
"Calm down, kid." Alison said sharply. She turned away from the ramp and faced Daiyu. "He took the blame for your doing on himself. He is likely locked up in the brig by the local sheriff. Good you didn't kill the guy so maybe Alden will get off with a week of hard labor, or something." She shrugged somewhat relaxing. She could sense the emotions around, the tension, and decided not to add to it. "Like Chloe said, you just ripped the guy's face and Alden in his misguided fatherly instincts decided to shield you from the punishment. Do us a favor and learn from this, kid."
Turning to Jonas, Alison pouts slightly.
"I don't know, Jonas. It's just Ma Fahn that we need to adapt pretty." She sighed and glanced at the new engineer with a soft smile. "Chloe, how do you feel about going with Jonas to the sheriff and ask about the legal status of our illustrious captain?"
Chloe nodded. "I can do that." She did want to get Alden back, she felt a bit of debt towards Alison for what she did in the bar, and she wanted to get off of the ship that held the crazy lady on it. Killing three birds with one stone. "Can I bring my gun, though?" She asked. She didn't want to go back into this planet's surface without it, but she didn't want to mess up any of their plans.
"Can... can I have a gun?" Daiyu asked. Without Alden here to protect her, she might have to protect herself. For some reason everyone was being so hostile toward her...
"Wou Duh Tian Ah." Alison murmured and then pointed at Chloe. "You can bring your gun, just be aware that anything fancy will draw attention." She turned to Daiyu and gave her old-fashioned wag of an index finger. "You... No. No gun. You did enough damage for one night." She said with a sigh. "And please, don't do any spirits today I am short on the patience right now. Can you do a quiet twenty four hours for our sake Daiyu? Pretty please."
"Why are you always so mean to me?!" Daiyu pressed. "I have done nothing to you! Or is that the problem? Do I need to lie with you to earn your favor?"
"You haven't seen me being mean." Alison said quietly, her voice losing the semi-sarcastic and semi-tired tone, and instead getting steely, yet calm. "As for my treatment of you..." She paused folding her hands and looking straight into Daiyu's eyes with... amity. "It is a reflection of the fact that so far you proved to be only troubles for the crew, you do not add anything else than constant troubles and problems." She pointed her index finger she just wagged at Daiyu before she finished. "I understand you had difficult time before your joined us, Xiao Mei Mei, but the kindness credit because of that ended long time ago. If you want me to change the attitude toward you, earn your place and prove me that you can be an asset to the crew."
"Then let me help Alden," Daiyu insisted. In truth she felt terrified and had no idea where to begin, but he was the only person aside from Father Johns to show her kindness. Whatever it took, she would repay him. "I owe him... everything."
"All right." Alison said calling upon remaining patience and relaxing a bit. "How do you see yourself helping here? What do you have in mind?"
With her skills limited to horticulture, housekeeping, and assorted busywork, Daiyu was uncertain what to offer. "I don't even know what happened," she said, lowering her eyes. "I... I just want to help him."
"How about we don't take her off the ship," Chloe said, continuing on her little bravery streak from earlier. She wasn't exactly sure if they were called police or sheriffs or whatever here, but she had grown up on Londinium and was used to calling them police. Then she turned to Daiyu. If the girl wanted to pretend to be more reasonable than she were, maybe she'd play along. "Considering that they might be looking for you, after that whole bar thing. Getting into more trouble won't help Alden."
Daiyu frowned at Chloe. "Why would they be looking for me? Just because I sat with him? Wouldn't they be looking for all of us in that case?"
"How much do you remember from the bar?" Alison asked having uneasy suspicion.
The question made Daiyu wince as if the act of recalling brought her pain. "We were eating. Laughing. Then...a man came. Several men. They threatened Alden. I... I was terrified. And then...there was yelling, blood, everybody fighting. One man tried to touch me, but a tavern girl told him off..." Tears began to well up but Daiyu blinked them back. "And then James carried me away. I thought Alden was right behind us."
Karen remained unusually quiet as she leaned against the door frame that led to the corridor closest to the infirmary. Once again, Daiyu was protected from repercussions due to her unstable and unpredictable behavior.
"That seems to be a common thing with him of late... Getting separated from the crew," Karen noted dryly. "So what's the plan? Can't really trade Daiyu for Alden... and if Alden doesn't come back, I ain't staying."
Alison sighed.
"He is coming back." She ensured briefly looking at Karen. Looking back at Daiyu she continued. "The man that tried to touch you... you beat to a pulp and tore his face off. I think he is alive, but when the sheriff came, Alden took the blame on himself."
She inhaled deeply before continuing calmly. "So as you see, you going out is not something that will help him. If you want to help, prepare a meal for him when he comes back." She folded her hands and made another pause before her voice became sadder and quieter. "See my problem with you Daiyu? See why I am like that toward you? You became part of this crew based only on Alden's decision as a captain. You are going off the rails too easy. So far you hurt only yourself... but today, Alden got in troubles because of you. If it was on me, I would throw you out for being such disruptive element here. Because I know that tomorrow it will be all of us on the line for you and I didn't sign up for that."
There was no accusation in her voice, just stating of fact and calm reality check. By this point, Alison had no ill will toward Daiyu, it was now just her survival instinct. "So far, you only proves me right and Alden wrong. So maybe if you want to help... think about it. Think how to support Alden because he will rather see you stay and me go when it would come to the ultimatum, it means that he will stand and support for you and probably die for you. It also means that next time you pull a stunt that puts the crew in danger... I am off. Fix yourself, Dayiu for all of us sake, that is the best way to help Alden."
Looking down at her hands, Daiyu saw her fingernails which had been shredded to the cuticles. The blood in the shower she'd scrubbed off. But...
"No, that was the tavern girl," Daiyu protested. "The man attacked me but some girl fought him off while James carried me away..." That's the story that her mind was telling her, but it sounded more like retelling a dream than an actual memory. "I didn't hurt anybody!"
Tristan stood to the side, slightly uncomfortable that he had no idea what was going on. This must have happened after he had slipped out of the bar earlier. He'd heard about the fight but wasn't privy to the details.
Alison gave Daiyu a long and sad look.
"You can talk about details with James, but for now, please stay on board until we figure out what is the situation with Alden."
From the side, James gave Alison a firm nod in understanding, and shifted forward to rest a strong, but comforting, hand on Daiyu's shoulder.
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