Winning is for losers... }{ Contest Plot (Sid,...

[Onas Knox]

Onas snapped awake the next morning and instantly grabbed his kukri. He had dreamed of being attacked in his sleep. It was as much a nightmare as what was happining in the woken world. The first thing Onas wanted to think of when he woke up was being killed. Yep, perfect way to start the day. With contanplations of killing random people. Onas could think of nothing better than leaving this under developed, pathetic little excuse for a moon.

He found the box of matches near the fireplace, and lit a cigarette for his day. Walking to the windows, well... the holes, he checked there surroundings. Not a sole in sight. Onas started packing their ruck, he gathered the food and wrapped several potatos in the cloth he'd cut from the drape the day before. Then, he scraped the pot out as best he could, and added it to their inventory. Next, he sharpened Bella's wooden knife with his kukri, followed by their spears. Once he compleated the prep work, Onas strapped the kukri to his back again, and then set the ruck by the door.

They would follow Bella's suggestion. There must be more life around here, there had to be. Onas planned to skirt the woods to the north, keeping himself on this side of the river. His map still made no sense with the surroundings, but he wasn't a good map reader. Topography was for pansies anyway. He didn't much care for this... game. If given the chance, he wouldn't mind killing one person, I'll Diablo. Other than that, if winning meant running around slaughtering folk who never done him wrong, just for what they carried, he would rather lose. Onas planned to leave the preserve. Just take Bella and go, anywhere. Just keep walking to the other side, find the moon's atmospheric prossesser and destroy it if it was his only way to make a smoke signal large enough to get the Verse's attention. Anything but staying here and playing this retarded game.

Bella was still asleep, he went over to her and woke her up, "Bell. Bell." He shook her shoulder, and then added, "Bell, wake up. Breakfast time. Hey, you hear me? I found eggs and grits, got some breakfast going."

He smiled, a bit of fun at Bell's sake was never a bad thing...

[Clairabella Corinth]

Bell's night was filled with tossing and turning, not because of the poor shape of the bed, but because her dreams kept her from sleeping well. She could hear Onas moving about getting them ready for the day. She wasn't ready to get up yet though.

Onas was nice enough to let her sleep while he di most of the work. Finally he came a woke her up by offering up food. She rolled over and smiled. "Can I have it in bed." She replied with a cracking voice. Eggs and grits sounded wonderful compared to what they had so far. She sat up and looked around. "Wait where did you find eggs?"

Then she realized he was just messing with her and she grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him down on the end of the bed. "That wasn't nice at all.." She replied with a pouty face. Then she stood up out of bed and smiled at him. She didn't mind the joke, it had been the kind of thing that was common in their friendship, and honestly a good sign that both of them were feeling a bit more comfortable in this ruttin situation.

She stood up and looked around at the supplies, He had done everything to get them ready and food rations were set out and ready for them. She wasn''t actually that hungery as she had eaten so much the night before, but it was probitibly best to have a little to eat to make sure she had her stength when they were on their way today.

[Onas Knox]

Bella had the typical teenage sleeping bueaty face, puffed cheeks, swollen eyes, and mussed hair. She didn't figure out the breafast bit for a moment, then she pushed hi down. He fell over easily, rolling to the edge of the bed, chuckling. "That's gratitude for ya! After I slaved away all mornin over an imaginary breafast just for you!"

He smiled shaking his head right over left as he hopped up. The sun was up now, and it was time for them to be off. He offered Bella some porriage that was left, but there wasn't much. Onas took her out of the little hotel, and went to the river. Along the way, Bella and he collected more produce and stowed it. Once they got to the river, about a mile from the shack, he filled all the canteens, and the pot. As they walked, he shared the pot of water with her, untill they drank it all.

They had a short pause where he handed Bella the pot to stuff it into the ruck on Onas back. They had only been against the woods heading north for about an hour, and the sun wasn't yet mid day, Onas didn't have a way to keep track of the time, but the days and nights here felt shorter. He wasn't sure how small or how big this moon was. He was pretty sure it was a moon. There was a planet overhead, and that was usually a pretty good givaway. While they stopped, they had a short discustion about the map shards. Onas had two, one he had from the beggining, and the one he took off that kid, back at the doors two days ago.

"Bella," Onas said as he reached into his pocket, "You don't know much about maps do you? I got these, they're not connected... See how they're torn around the edges? But I thought maybe were in one of em?" He showed them to her, and shrugged, "Worth a look right? I never learned how to read a map. Street maps, avionics, but not like this..." He trailed off.

[Clairabella Corinth]

Clair was feeling a lot better today about, well everything. She was glad they didn't seem to be in as big of a rush as they had the first few days. It also didn't seem like they were running for their lives as much. It had been a few days sence any sign of trouble, maybe they had made it far enough of to be out of the way of most of the other people.

Their pleasent walk took them along the edge of the forest looking for another, larger house to the farm or maybe even some other form of settlement. If they were lucky there would even be a small town that had people in it eventually. All in all if they didn't find anything they could always turn back and head to the shack if needed.

When Onas asked her about the map she took the couple of chunks he had and looked at them. There wasn't much on them but she did notice something. "Yeah I know a bit about it. I think some of this we might have passed actually."

She pointed at a river along one of them it came through a forest and to a lake right at the edge of the map. There was a sheer drop next to the lake. To her it looked like it was the area they started. "This right here looks like the waterfall we jumped from." She compared the size of it on the map to what she remembered. It seemed that it was in kilometers. The peace coverd only about ten by ten kilometers though it was far from a perfect square. "It covers things east of here but the other one I cant tell yet. It covers some major mountain areas it could be part of that area over there." She said as she pointed to a range of mountians south of them by propbibly thirty miles.

That wouldn't provide them much help at this point but if they could start to get more map fragments they could really peace it all togehter. After looking the map parts over one more time she continued to walk on with Onas for a few more hours. Finally they came to a point they could see a building in the distance. This was it, this was what they were looking for and they had found it. She picked up her pace as they closed on the building in the distance.

(I figure this is a good point for us to start the fight right at the building then Sid and his crew can join)

[Onas Knox]

Onas looked at the lines she ran her finger over. "So this is a waterfall? Looks like the underside of a camel... What about this?" He wasn't sure about the mountians, just looked like a bunch of lines to him. But she did seem confident, if her map reading were half as good as her side kick, then they out to do well.

The walked the on for a while. Onas prodded her about the map shards, something between interest and boredom, but she explained what she could. Two hours passed, maybe three, and Onas saw a roof on the horizon. It didn't take very long to get close enough to it to see it was in no better condition that their shack had been. Perhaps this was a bad plan. Maybe the should have continued west following the river out. Onas just belived that everyone else who'd found the river would take the same plan. He didn't want to meet any more "contestants."

As they walked, he began to hear things. Not what he'd heard for two days, wind blew threw the trees, moving things all the time, but this was different. Cracks and ruffles, shifts in branches further than their eyes could see into the woods. Onas tried not to stare, intsead watching for movement with his peripheral. At last he caught a glimpse. A shadow through a ray that broke through the forrest trees. It moved swiftly, but now not as quiet. Onas looked back to Bella and caught her eye, motioning her up closer with his right hand, where those trailing them would not see. As she got closer, he motioned his eyes to the forrest, and whispered, "We're not alone."

He slowly drew his kukri from it's sheath, and nodded to Claira's wooden knife. With his spear in his left hand, and the knife in his right, Onas turned towards the tree line. If it was his end, he decided to face it straight on. When he turned and stopped, his wondering came to a close, as six men moved from the woods, looking hungry, sweaty and tired. Bella and he were well rested and had food in their stomachs, still... The odds seemed a bit out of their favor.

Onas whispered to the only one left who might hear him, "Por favor, Dues, eu poderia usar alguma ajuda aqui."

[Sidney Bainbridge]

Sidney and the pair he was travling with where on their way looking for supplies for the ship. It seemed the power systems were lacking the main part of the core to actually provide power. They would need some sort of battery to provide enough power to get a signal out and even more to really be able to get the ship off the ground. They weren't to likely to get that any time soon but they were going to give it a try.

They had been walking for many hourse today along the river and out toward the open feilds. They kept on the side of the river with the more wooded area until they had to cross. It would be another hour along the river till they came to something of note. They had spoted an old house. More importantly they had spotted a pair of people in the open feild.

Sidney had slowed the group to a crawl to watch them as they approched the house, but before they could get there a group of six people came out of the woods not to far from Sidney, Hoffman and their new found partner Jordan. Sidney had yet to decide what their plan of action was when the groups closed but it seemd that neither group was friendly with the other as weapons were drawn.

Sidney took the rifle from Hoffman for just a moment to look down the scope and get a better idea of what was going on and that is when he noticed a familiar face, actually a pair of them. It was Clairabella and Onas. Sidney tossed the rifle back to Hoffman and stood up. "Come on we got to help them. Their friendly." Sidney said as he took off toward the two groups they had a long distance to cover but they would be able to cover it.

Sidney hadn't given orders of how to interact with it, as far as he knew Hoffman was the only one who would have followed and he trusted he knew what to do. With the rifle and the single round he would be able to take a shot from here before moving in if he had to. Sidney would be able to assist from closer. He would prefer not to use the few rounds he had but time would tell if that would be needed.

[Friedrich Hoffman]

It seemed hopeless, their search for a replacement part. It would be hard enough to find a replacement part anywhere but a 'Verse-wide search on the Cortex. Most dealers wouldn't even carry it. The odds that there was a spare lying around a nearly deserted moon were infinitesimally small unless of course they had the good fortune to find an identical wrecked craft with a salvageable part.

So far there was no such good fortune. There was no cortex terminal sitting in an open field. There was no Alliance Postal sub-station. There was no Blue Sun repair outlet nearby. And so far there was no sign of an identical Santo made C-37 scout ship. Das ist ausgesprochenes Pech.

They did manage to stumble upon some more contestants, the kind who were obedient and trying to kill rather than trying to escape or survive without resorting to one's basest instincts. Friedrich took cover and observed the beginnings of the confrontation beside Sidney, their new travelling companion Jordan not far behind. They were undetected and Friedrich was fairly content with staying that way while the others killed each other off. Following Sidney's example from the previous day, there didn't seem any reason for them to get involved, risk their own lives, and waste what little resources they had.

Friedrich passed the rifle over to his commander only to have the action followed by Sidney's announcement that they were to intervene and save the smaller party. The mechanic was puzzled by the sudden decision but a look at Sidney and he knew. This wasn't just some rescue, a random act of fool's heroism to save the underdog. Just as the two of them were acquainted so too was Sidney acquainted with at least one of these people. He knew them well enough to risk his life to save them and to trust them to join their group... assuming they didn't all get killed in their daring rescue.

Friedrich contemplated making a long range shot as Sidney lept up and charged. Instead, the man merely cursed and followed after, rifle in hand. They were woefully low on ammunition and hopefully could get through this without firing a shot. If they had to shoot then it would be best to do so up close where there was little chance of a single round being wasted. From what he'd observed, none of those present had any guns of their own so there was no danger so long as they stayed out of their reach. They'd have the opportunity to open fire up until the moment fists, knives, and clubs started to swing.


[Das ist ausgesprochenes Pech - That is extremely bad luck.]

[Ezekiel Leviticus]

Ezekiel was wondering with his new found allies, as they noticed a house and started traveling towards it. They where a quiet group with Ezekiel didn't mind. He was glad no one was asking a million and one questions. Being the out sider he new he would be the one having to answer the majority of the questions.

As Sydney made the call that we should help the others Ezekiel lept into action. He didn't move as fast as the others he held back something he was never really comfortable with but he needed to see how these people moved and interacted in a fight. If they where saving this smaller group and they where "friendlies" there would be two more people he didn't know only casting him farther out. He hoped that with the new numbers he wouldn't be there next target. But judging by the character of the two he was with he felt mildly at ease.

[Onas Knox]

"You think you coul' run forever," One of the six spouted.

'How long have these fools been tracking us,' Onas thought to himself, were these the guys from the cliff?

"Stoe, Bish, take the girl.." The same guy said, steppin towards onas with the remaining three. This guy was the alpha dog huh? They were all average guys but this one, well, he looked to be about Jax size. Maybe not as built, but he was over six foot to be sure. Onas hadn't expected six men when he'd drawn his blade, he slowly slid it into its sheath at his back, holding the spear up.

"Hey hey... hey," He gestured at the Alpha, "We don't have to do this, we don't have to kill each other. We can help ya'll. We've been out here longer, we know the land." Even as he spoke, they continued to close the distance, "Hey.. think about, eight is better than six, right? We can help you." Onas finished, as they got within striking distance of his spear. They had sticks, unsharpened, and the alpha had a bowie knife.

"Whadda ya'll say boys, want two more," Alpha offered.

"We could use the girl." One of Bell's two said.

Onas looked to each of his four. 'God, if you were plannin on a miracle, now's lookin pretty good.' He bit his bottom lip slightly, and sighed while slowly shaking his head in agreement, and said, "Ok."

With that, he lunged into a stabbing shot, landing the tip of his spear into the far left man's shoulder. He pulled the wood handle, whipping it around his left, spinning to face the guy on his far right. As he finished the turn, he got the spear stabbed into the dirt beside the clown's feet, and stepped in close to him, spinning again, and slamming the full rucksack into the guys torso, sending him flailing over the spear, straight to the ground. Onas dropped the spear handle, and spun one last time, drawing his kukri one last time, and planting his left foot towards Bella. He whiped his arm under in a reverse dorsal throw, hurtling the kukri at the closest of her two, the rolling blade sinking into his back. His arms instinctively went towards his backside, trying to pull the blade out, as he dropped to his knees.

"RUN BELLA!"

Onas never got to see how it turned out. The three were on him in a second, and the alpha came in front of him. Onas' knee was kicked from behind as his arms were grabbed from each side, and another arm slipped around his neck. The guy on his right was trying to unhook the ruck snaps, Onas headbutted him, and was punched for his trouble. The man's lip was busted, he looked at the alpha, "Just stab 'im." Onas looked him in the eyes, as the alpha reared the knife back slowly...

[Ezekiel Leviticus]

As Ezekiel was running he started to see this all unravel and he knew he needed to pick up his pace or they would be digging two more graves. He picked up his pace passing the other two men. he was about thirty yards off when he saw one of the men raise there knife. he shifted his spear and slowed a little to make an accurate throw. as he loosed the spear he knew to just aim for mass this was not meant to be thrown but he hoped it would at least halt the men a little.

The spear slammed into the middle of the mans upper chest it wouldn't be a quick killing blow but he didn't know many that would want to continue fighting with that kind of wound. In this type of an environment he would surely die. It may take a few minutes but he would die. He then pulled his knife and prepared for the others to come at him.

They released the man on his knees and started at him. the faster one closed the distance fast and made a large powerful hook it was slow he ducked the blow stepped behind him and with a strong side kick he sent him even faster towards his other comrades. the next man went at him with his stick. He blocked the blow then threw the man on the ground and just kept going. There was one more person to try and help and with her having to go against three men she best be really good or she was going to be in for a hurting.

He hadn't been able to complete his plan and watch the others move but he hoped that this display would in dear them to him some.

[Sidney Bainbridge]

SIdney contiuned to move forward evaluating thse situation as he moved along. They had only one less then their targets, but they had the real fire power. Jordan passed by Sidney and was quick to begin his assualt as Onas found his way in to a troubled position.

Jordan was quick to dospatch one of their of and then move on to assisting Onas. With Onas freed and one of th targets now kicked in Sidneys direction Sidney move to begin his strike as well. Sidney kept the gun in his hand as the man regained himself from the kick and was now ready to take his turn at Sidney.

He took a swing at but Sidney quickly dodged out of the way. The next swing came around connecting with Sidneys are. By that point the man had pulled a kinfe from behind him and drove it toward Sidneys chest. Sidney's reflexes kicked in and he grabbed the arm mid strike and pulled it to the side. His opposing knee came to meet with the man's side.

Sidney then swung his other arm up smashing in to the elbow of the man causing it to felx the wrong way and the knife when tumbling to the ground. His arm was broken and he would be ou of the fight. Sidney sent him to the ground so he could move forward and move to Onas to assist him from the ground. They would now need to get forward and help Bella.

[Friedrich Hoffman]

Things turned from bad to worse as the six attackers rushed the two "friendlies" ahead. Friedrich was beginning to rethink his previous strategy, not all of them having the luxury of a gun barrel between them and a knife wielding attacker. A well aimed shot right through the skull of the one with the knife, a man who appeared to be in charge, would have done wonders to phase and even scatter the rest. It certainly would have removed the most threatening enemy weapon from the mix if nothing else.

Despite the odds, their soon-to-be friends did well to hold their own. They were soon joined by Jordan who really put on the speed and passed both Friedrich and Sidney. Sid joined the fight to tangle with another hostile leaving little left for the last one to arrive. By now most of their opponents were down on the ground, the rest being engaged with the others in a reversal of the previous odds.

One of the men Jordan had knocked over on his way from Onas toward Bella started to pull himself from the ground as Friedrich arrived. The mechanic gave a swift kick to the man's jaw and then trained his rifle on the back of the prone man's head to keep him down. "Keine Bewegung! Move and you die!"


[Enemy tracker because this is getting pretty confusing:
Guy 1 got speared by Onas.
Guy 2 got knocked down by Onas.
Guy 3 got kukried in the back by Onas.
Guy 4 got speared by Zeke.
Guy 5 and Guy 2 got knocked down by Zeke.
Guy 5 got his ass kicked by Sidney.
Guy 2 got kicked in the face by Friedrich.

So as I see it, the current status of the enemies is:
Guy 1 is seriously messed up and bleeding on the ground.
Guy 2 is pretty beat up. Both he and Guy 1 are under guard.
Guy 3 is totally out of the fight from that.
Guy 4, their leader I think, is dead or dying.
Guy 5 is probably unconscious from all the punishment he has taken.
Guy 6 is still going for Bella.

Yeah, we've pretty much kicked their asses.

Keine Bewegung - Don't move, or more literally "no movement".]

[Clairabella Corinth]

Bella was unsure of how to porceed. She had her weapon drawn but the numbers were not in their favor. It didn't take long till they were upon them and had taken control of Onas. Bella began to step foward and was ready to attack when. Onas had disable one of them but that wasn't going to be enough. Onas told her to run and she stopped in her tracks.

She had to think fast and figure out what to do. Her first reaction was to keep charging but that wasn't going to do her any good she had to reposition and take them one at a time. She took off in a sprint and two of them came chasing after her. It took a moment from there but she noticed three more men join the fight. at first he heart sunk as she though they were in an even worse position but that quickly change as they began to attack in assistance of them. Clair turned around as her tow persures had gain a different amount of distance on her.

She turned on the one that was now closest and positioned herself for a fight. As he got close he went to swing at her head. Clair dropped low and sweeped his legs out from under him. He came crashing to the ground and she was quickly on top of him trying to drive her kinfe in to his chest. Unfortunatly he was able to grab her arm first and is became a struggle of strength. The other man was now closing the gap. She punched at him with her free hand, but with little effect.

When the other got close she pulled the knife from her other hand and tossed it bhind her toward the other person landing it in his stomich. The wound sent him falling to the grassy feild. Now she was left struggling with the last one.

He pushed her over and managed to get on top of her, pushing his arm in to her throat. With all her might she pushed back to keep him from cutting off her airway but she would only last so long.

[Ezekiel Leviticus]

Things looked pretty well handeld as Ezekiel kept running. Most of the men where down or dispatched completely. The girl had ran a decent distance from the pack but the other men caught her. She was surprisingly agile and quick on her feet.

she swept one of them to the ground and was able to get her wooden knife into her free hand and sink it into the other mans stomach. It wouldn't kill him but not many men can fight with a stomach wound. none the less as Ezekiel passed he dropped his Bowie knife into the mans chest. The knife was heavy enough to go through the bone and sink into his heart.

Ezekiel grabbed the other mans free arm and with a twisting motion spun the man off of her back and had him spralled on the ground face down. Ezekiel was sitting on the mans back with the mans arm grasped Ezekiel had one hand on the mans wrist and the other on the elbow. he quickly pushed forward with his hand on the mans elbow and you could her the bones and tendons snap as the man screamed in pain. Ezekiel loosed the man and got off of him this kill was not for him. If she wanted to spair the mans life it was her choice.

He is all yours. Ezekiel said motioning to the man on the ground with his hand out to help her up if she wanted it.

[Onas Knox]

Onas closed his eyes to embrace eternity, the alpha raised his knife to lay him in the grave. This had not been the life he'd wanted to live. There just wasn't enough time to do it right. His last thought was of regret.

But the attack never came. Three men rushed in apon the six, and quickly realocated the nature of demise. It was almost over as fast as it had begun. Onas got his knee under him, and brought his fists up to bare, but no man was left standing to challange. Nothing could have made him believe that it would be Sidney Bainbridge who offered a hand off the ground. How was this possible? How were they here? Had God just answered a silent prayer? How could three people who met in a bar only three weeks ago, be snatched by the same pshyco? Priya Sanai was somewhere on this planet as well, which made this far too much to be a coincedence.

This was planned. Why?

Onas accepted the help up gratefully, and thanked Sidney even as they turned towards Bella. But that too, was already done. Bella stood next to the man who'd barreled past Onas only moments ago. They had her attacker on the ground at their feet. It was a dream, but Onas welcomed it.

"Sidney," Onas spoke to the man when his astonishment waned, "What are you doing here? How.." He shook his head, and looked around them, "It doesn't matter, thank you Sidney, thank you." He let his breath die down, and gave Bella a thin grin when she finally joined them.

"I don't suppose, any of you remember how you got here? To this moon. At least, I think were on a moon," Onas asked looking up to the sky, he was no astroliger, but that sure didn't look like a moon hanging up there.