Unknown Passengers [OPEN]

[Daniel Bruce]

[December 11th 2522]

Dan bounded off the wall of one shipping container then another and grabbed the roof of the one he called home, although not for much longer.

He ran along to the hole in the container and jumped down onto the mattress below him, being careful not to slip and send the mattress flying into one his siblings.

Dan quickly turned to Chris and Skye and said, "We're movin'."

They both looked confused and Chris asked, "Why in the 'Verse we movin'? We're perfectly fine here as it is."

"Well, I may have broken more than a few laws in the past 2 hours so I think we may need to go."

Skye spoke up. "Umm, Dan? Which laws did you break?"

"Not at liberty to say right now. Now get packin', we're movin' in 30 minutes."

After everything was packed and ready to go, they left the container and made their way towards the spaceport, only to see on their way a seemingly deserted ship in the middle of a field.

Chris pointed it out to Dan, seeing a potential new home that was more spacious than the last one. They ran to it and quickly stumbled into the brightly lit cargo hold. Realising their mistake, the trio immediately tried to leave, only to see a silhouette approaching the ship.

Panicking, Dan quickly pulled up a vent cover from the floor and said, "You two, quickly get in here, I'll come in after."

Chris and Skye looked at him sceptically, but still got into the vent and cleared the way for Dan as he jumped in after them and lay on his back, his head pointed towards where Chris and Skye were crouched.

After they had heard some people talking above them, they felt the engines power up and the ship leave the ground. Skye immediately looked at Dan worryingly, but he only put his finger to his lips and waited.

---------------

A few hours after the ship had lifted off, Dan slipped out of the vent to check if the crew were asleep. Satisfied, he ushered his brother and sister out behind him and started making his way towards the kitchen to get some food and water for the three of them.

Once they got there, Chris and Skye got to work opening every single cupboard and hoarding some but not all of the stuff they found whilst Dan covered the door, who was worried because of the fact that his two siblings were making a lot of noise.

Dan thought so himself, "If anyone finds us, we're going to have the entire crew coming down on our heads."

[Phoebe Saku]

They were safe now, off of Persephone and on a ship. Phoebe had spent most of the rest of the day in the engine room picking through the inner-workings of the Veasna. Making actual notes now of her plans as the resident mechanic. Syeira had given her free reign over things, which was surprising considering they had just met. The woman was rather nice and unusually trusting, or perhaps it was because she and Kyle knew each other.

The Pride class ship was much larger than the Falchion had been, alot more things to do. More maintenance and all, but it was a good ship. Sturdy and reliable so long as she was taken care of.

Phoebe had skipped any kind of dinner, instead had her mind on mechanics. A normal occurrence really, when there were things for her to work on at least. It was good to be back at it. The hum of a ship's engine calmed her somehow, being able to fix just about anything made her confident. She was all around a little more happier when she was actively a mechanic.

Everyone had seemed to have gone to sleep when she finally emerged from the engine room. Grease and dirt smeared over various spots on her skin and clothing. Maybe her and Kyle could find some normalcy now that they didn't have to worry about being killed.

Sighing softly the mechanic made her way toward the galley, hoping to perhaps find some leftovers or at least something easy to make for herself. Her stomach agreed, softly growling; "Yes..yes..I'm going.." Phoebe mumbled to herself.

As she got closer there were sounds already coming from the area, maybe she wasn't the only one awake. Sounded as though someone else was having a hard time sleeping. Though Phoebe hadn't tried yet tonight to sleep, part of her wished the Veasna had a doc on board that could maybe give her something. That was also a bad idea too, she wouldn't be able to wake herself from the nightmares that way. Her doctor back on Ariel had tried that once, and once was all it took for him to decide it was a bad idea. It had taken her hours to calm down to let anyone near her after she finally had woken up screaming and crying. Bad times, bad memories.

Turning the corner to go into the dining area her voice started out cheerful but quickly changed, "Sounds like someone else couldn't sle--' Phoebe didn't know these people, these kids...'Kyle!-" Her voice was fearful as she called out for the only person she had grown to depend on. The man who had helped keep her alive. The words after she had yelled his name were cut off though as the mechanic felt the cold metal of a gun barrel against her temple. A few tears escaped her eyes as she closed them tightly. Waiting for the blackness to claim her.

----------
Outfit

[Daniel Bruce]

Dan hadn't seen the woman, but he had heard her moving down the corridor, but he had also heard her cry out to someone when he saw the twins.

As she entered the room, Dan put his gun to her head, and saw something that caught him completely off-guard was the fact that the woman had started crying when he had put the gun to her.

Dan quietly said, "Listen, I'm not gonna kill you. I just want you to listen to me. Whoever you just called, I want you to tell him exactly what I'm gonna tell you now. I want you to tell him that we are not here to hurt anyone. I want you to tell him that we aren't even meant to be here and that we-"

Dan suddenly heard Chris say, "Dan, what the hell're you doin'?! We got to get moving."

"Chris, we've been found out, how can you not notice that? The only chance we have now is to talk to these people and see if we can't get dropped off on the next planet that comes along. Now take Skye and get behind the counter."

Dan grabbed the woman around the throat and swung her around towards the door with the gun pointed over her shoulder towards the door, waiting for whoever came through.

[Sam Grady]

Lights winked on and off in haphazard precession, a myriad of dull and bright colours that signified the ship was currently set on autopilot. On it's merry way to whatever their next destination happened to be, and as such didn't really require any 'driving'. However, it was a common habit, and known fact amongst the crew that Sam Grady more times than not, would fall asleep up here instead of her own bunk-- which was literally a few feet away in the next room. Old habits die hard, and Sam loved her comfy, lumpy, padded seat too much not to just nod off there. On her old ship, it had been more of a necessity. To fall asleep at the helm in case of an emergency, or folks they'd upset had managed to catch up with them. That sorta thing. It just seemed to have carried over onto Sam's new post on the Veasna.

Socked feet were propped up on one of the consoles, amazingly not touching anything vital or screwing with the systems-- she was a pro at sleeping at her post it seemed. Arms-- real and fake-- were folded across her chest, the metal fingers of one arm twitching in her sleep. Face was slack, mouth hanging open as she shifted and fidgeted a little. Probably dreaming. Some violent, fun-filled brawl-fest or something... It most definitely didn't bare thinking about, really. No one would be sane after a trip inside Sam Grady's brain. Any shred of innocence would be burned at the stake.

That was about when the name KYLE was shouted out in panic. Sam's face screwed up, lips moving to mutter to herself in the relative quiet of the cockpit, "Th'hell is Kyle?"

Far as she knew there was no Kyle in her dream, and that alone gradually managed to bring her to a state of awakeness. Something Grady really didn't appreciate in the dead of "night". She liked her sleep, and was definitely not the happiest of campers when that sleep was interrupted. With a grunt and a grumble, she'd grab her short-barrelled, chunky Mateba from the tool tray on the floor beside her. Groggy and displeased, the pilot moved towards the closed cockpit door.

"Fix'r girl an' Phelan better not be goin' at it in th'kitchen..." Sam grumbled, making her way down that long, narrow corridor, passed all the crew quarters, towards the kitchen area with it's three tables. It was a big mess hall, kinda. Supposed to be fit for a large crew.

Sam stumbled through the door from the opposite direction that the boy and Phoebe were currently facing. With a few confused blinks, and then the cocking back of a hammer, Sam lifted up her revolver.

"Hey! Th'hell are you?!" She didn't remember Phelan being that young, or prone to hold guns on his friends. Especially a pretty dame like Phoebe.

More importantly to this situation, someone was holding a gun on the Fixer Girl! Sam needed her for fixing this ship when it broke. Which kept her in the sky and flying and not stuck planetside hating the lack of a mechanic. So, as selfish as her thought process was, she was quite protective of the woman that kept the Veasna from being broke. Or at least fixed it after Sam was too rough with it.

And if this kid wasn't smart and put his gun down soon, she was gonna get a little too rough with him. In the violent, ass-beatin' kinda sense.




///a pirate's pjs

[Kyle Phelan]

^{(Pirate PJs? Oh Jove. x3)}

Kyle was in his bunk, 'burning the midnight oil' as it were by working out and practicing his knife throws. About an hour into it however, Phelan realized he probably should've started with the knife practice and then moved on to the stretches and weight lifting. Cursing his arms, which were shaking slightly from the exertion of his previous activities, he threw another two throwing blades and scowled at the results. Neither was a bulls-eye. Instead of piercing his target dead-center, one had drifted up and to the right, while the other was centimeters too far left. His target: a King of Hearts playing card across the room. To keep it still, the card was taped to a thick man-shaped cardboard cutout, the King of Hearts appropriately representing the spot where the man's heart would be. Peeved with the lack of his desired level of success, which was further agitated by his perfectionist streak, Kyle decided enough was enough and put away the various blades he had been practicing with.

Phelan plopped down on the bed, using the hem of his sleeveless athletic-fit shirt to mop at the sweat forming just below his hairline. He wondered what time of "night" it was and if anyone else was still up and about. Last he'd seen, Sam had been nodding off in the cockpit, and Phoebe had still been attending to her notes in the engine room. Laying back and closing his eyes, Kyle had just started to drift off when he heard what he thought was someone shouting his name. And then he realized he had, and what was more, he recognized it as Phoebe's voice.

Heading towards the sound, Kyle left his room in a hurry, wearing only the sleeveless shirt, boxer shorts, and the knife strapped to his forearm. Pulling the blade from its sheath, Phelan stalked down the corridors, eyes darting this way and that, and ears waiting for another clue as to what in hell could possibly be going on that Phoebe would feel the need to call out to him like that. And that's when he heard a voice. It was Sam's, and it sounded like something had surprised her, like something bad was happening. Muscles tensing, Kyle kept the dagger held low and partially behind his right leg, turning his body so as to keep the weapon out of view as he stealthily slipped down the hallway.

And then he saw her. It was Phoebe, and someone had an arm around her throat, and a gun pointed in his direction over her shoulder, using her as both a hostage and human-shield. Adrenaline coursed through the former Captain's veins at the sight, and his mind rattled off a million different strategies and scenarios, trying to find a way to make sure Phoebe made it out alive. What Kyle decided was that he needed Phoebe's captor to understand that he or she (Kyle couldn't see a face at the moment, just some dark hair and pale-skinned fingers holding that bloody gun...) was outnumbered.

Kyle stood up straighter, squaring off with the intruder. "I don't know who the hell ye are stranger, but you've got about three seconds to let the girl go 'afore I slit ya from ear to ear." Phelan tilted his head and gave a nod in the pilot's direction: "...Or before Sam there pulls that trigger, 'n puts a bullet in yer noggin'. You understand?" he said, raising his brow slightly as he tapped the left side of his own head to make his point.

[Daniel Bruce]

Dan, seeing that he was both outnumbered and out-gunned (or out-knived in this case), slowly let go of the woman and put his gun back in his waistband. He put his hands out flat above his head stayed where he was.

Dan said, "Listen, all I'm asking is that you don't kill us. Please, we didn't mean too stowaway here, alright? We thought this thing was abandoned so we tried to make it our home. That's all we needed. Just please, don't kill us."

Dan quickly looked over his shoulder to see how his siblings were doing as he told them and saw Skye quietly sobbing.

Dan thought, "Gorram it, she must be having a flashback to the orphanage or something."

Dan gently said to the angry group in front of him, "Please, my sister's crying. Can I go over to her without you guys shooting at me?"

[Phoebe Saku]

Her fear had her frozen, Phoebe heard the words from the person who held the gun. Wanting her to talk to whoever came in. Right. He had no idea that her fragile mental state wouldn't allow for that, the mechanic had a very large problem dealing with violence. Especially when it was possibly directed at her. He had his hands on her, around her throat.

Sam's voice registered in her mind, her calling out had been heard. That was a good thing. Now they just had to get the gun from this guy and get her away from him. That'd be good. Phoebe had began to shake, her emotions breaking down a bit further.

Then Kyle's voice was there, amongst the chaos inside her. Again she felt a surge of relief run through her, Kyle would surely help her too. Not that she had any doubts on the pilot, but she had gotten to know Kyle more. Of course considering the number of times she could count that she was still alive because of him.

Once Phoebe felt her captor's grip release her instinct to get away kicked in, she pushed away from him as she went to Kyle. There was enough clarity in her to not outright cling to the man, just in case he needed to make a move on the ship's intruders. Instead she quickly moved behind him holding onto his shoulders and leaning against his back as she sobbed a few attempts at saying thank you.

[Sam Grady]

Grady was busy peering the boy up and down. There was an incredulous look on her face-- like she couldn't believe a kid this young was causing them a lot of problems; holding a gun on one of the crew. Of course, that kicked in the reminder of Sam's own ill-spent youth on Fury. Worst place in the 'Verse for a kid to grow up. Okay, so she could sort of believe a kid with a gun. Yeah, that happened nowdays. The pilot shook her head, frizzy, tangled locks going this way and that. Before she could make any more of a move to grasp this situation, Phelan was here as back-up. That was some Calvary. Now the kid was outnumbered. Of course, his attempt at some kind of defence crumbled as he let the fixer girl go-- good start. And the gun was away. Sam still kept hers held out as she watched the boy trying to edge towards his crying sister-- there was more of them?!

"How many o'you kids we pick up?" Grady frowned, gun still waving around, but not being fired.

It was true, she wasn't exactly about to shoot him, but she'd known some kids to be pretty tricky. Seen a little girl cry once just so her brother could get the drop on some dealers back in the streets of Dis. So Grady wasn't exactly all-trusting and fine. But if it stopped the kid from crying... all the better.

"Jus' go easy about it there, chief. No sudden movements, dong ma? Didn' exactly paint a trustin' picture by sneakin' onboard and grabbin' our mechanic."

Speaking of which, the poor girl was also in just as bad a state as the little girl. Sam couldn't handle all these upset faces. Gorrammit. Where was Syeira when they needed that stern, Captain-y voice. Tellin' folks how it was an' all that. The gou shi she did best!

[Daniel Bruce]

Dan replied to the woman, "3. Me and my 2 siblings. And it's not as if we want to be on board, alright? Like I said, we got on board this ship by accident, and I also didn't mean to grab her. She caught me off guard and I didn't know if she had a gun or not."

Dan finally made his way back to Skye and immediately dropped to his knees next her and embraced her. He could feel his shirt getting damp from her tears as she cried into his chest.

Dan gently and quietly said to her, "It's okay. Me and Chris are here, don't worry."

Skye's sobs died down a bit and she tearfully said, "Those people still here?"

Dan looked behind him at the crew of the ship and said, "Yeah, they're still here. You have another flashback to the orphanage?"

He felt her nod against him as she let out another sob.

Dan said out loud to the crew behind him, "If you're wonderin' why she had a flashback, it's because of the night that we escaped the orphanage where we were being kept, Skye here twisted her ankle when we were still in the building and the staff got to her before we did. One of them grabbed her in a hostage hold like I grabbed your mechanic and said that they would slit her throat if we didn't go back, so we went back to them, only for me to pull a shiv and stab the guy holding her in the arm. The bastard released Skye and we were finally able to get out."

Dan turned his head over his shoulder, still holding onto Skye, and said, "She hasn't been the same since. Maybe it was seeing me stab someone, or being near death like that, but whatever it was, she turned out for the worse afterwards. Another thing that didn't help is the fact I'm the closest thing her and Chris have had to a parent since when they were little."

Dan turned his head back to Skye and said, "So, what you gonna do with us?"

[Kyle Phelan]

Kyle reached back and gave Phoebe's arm a comforting squeeze as she sobbed softly, clinging to his shoulders. He was glad she had both the composure and presence of mind to move around behind him, rather than grab him from the front, blocking his knife arm. When the kid put the gun away Kyle sheathed the knife, but kept a hand on the hilt as he crossed his arms. He thought about that, a haunted look forming in his eyes as he watched the boy's movements carefully. Kids. Gorram kids, orphaned on Persephone. Now where have I heard that before...

Phelan stood there grim-faced, listening in silence as the teenager explained who they were and why they were aboard the ship. He listened to the boy's story about the orphanage and felt a pang of sadness wash over him. He wondered if it was the same orphanage he had been in for so long, all those years ago. It felt strange to think of it as his past though. It wasn't. He remembered every single day he had spent trapped within those halls, and every frigid night he had lived through in Persephone's streets. It was a part of him he would never escape.

Finally, Kyle spoke up, answering the boy's question: "That's up to the Captain to decide." Then, when he had made eye contact, he added "But no one is going to harm you, or your siblings. You have my word on that." The First Mate looked to the pilot then, indicating with his eyes that she should put away her autorevolver. Still not moving from his spot -for Phoebe's sake at this point- Kyle addressed the eldest orphan again, his stance finally relaxing in the hopes of conveying a friendlier tone. "But while you're aboard I'll be needing that gun of yours, given the situation."

[Daniel Bruce]

Dan motioned to Chris to help Skye and stood up, walked back towards the group and pulled his pistol out of his waistband, flipped it around so he was holding the barrel and offered it to the man.

Dan said to him, "Name's Dan by the way. My sister's called Skye and my brother's called Chris."

He looked around behind the man to see the woman Dan had held hostage crying into his back. She had seriously surprised him when she had started crying, considering how tough the rest of the crew seemed to be.

Dan asked the man in front of him, "She gonna be alright. Didn't mean to give such a fright to her. Didn't even know she was coming 'till I saw her come into the room."

Dan then turned his head towards his brother and sister to see Skye laughing at something that Chris had said. Dan smiled and asked them, "She better now?"

Skye nodded happily, so Dan replied, "Good. Hate seeing you when you're like that."

He turned back to the man and pressed the grip on the pistol into his palm, saying, "Take care of it, will ya? It's the only thing I have left of my Dad."

[Sam Grady]

While she'd probably been on the ship near as long as their fearless leader, Sam had to-- sometimes-- respect that chain of command. Kyle was second in rank around here, so it was probably best he was dealing with this situation and not her. The pilot always seemed impassive to other people's plight; whether she actually felt sorry for anyone or not. It was just being hardened to the 'Verse and all the gou shi that goes on inside it. She leaned against the nearest wall and listened, the autorevolver still dangling in her grasp. Sob stories like this always had to cause some kind of mental reaction from people. Whether it was sympathy or a flashback of their own. Sam herself hadn't quite been in the same boat. Just a drugged out mother she didn't really know long enough before her heart gave out. A father that was semi-pleased to have her, but didn't really have the heart to disown her. Pretty good life in her twisted little way, you know? Runnin' the streets of Dis. Getting into trouble. Avoiding trouble. Living on a cargo runner. The good life.

Phelan was gonna be handling this, though. Everything, too. Both the kids and the poor Fixer girl. After some indication, Grady relented and uncocked the gun, finding nowhere to put it with the lack of a holster, looking her person over before just jamming the thing down the back of her cargo pants for now. She moved to perch on one of the tables, rubbing the groggy feeling from her face with one hand. A yawn, and a dismissive, half-assed wave to show she wasn't going to do anything to them either. Unless, probably, if they gave her good reason to do something.

"Jus' no monkey-in' around th'place. An' stay outta the cockpit." Clearly, she was the pilot, and if they fancied avoiding her, it was probably best to listen to her warnings.

Grady threw a glance back to Phelan, rolling her shoulders as she gave a slight wince-- either from some complaint, or about what she was going to say next.

"So d'you wanna break this to th'Cap or do I have to? 'Cause I'm callin' 'not it' on that one." While she wasn't "scared" of Syeira, per se, she really didn't fancy waking her up and telling her they had stowaways.

There was better, and more fun ways to die.

[Syeira Duvont]

[[Sorry lovelies I'm skipping the whole waking up and wandering down the hall part ]]



Syeira yawned as she waltzed through the same entry Sam had taken, "What are we breakin' to the Captain and why aren't you---" She stopped mid sentence at the scene before her once she finally made it into the entirety of it. "Well, this is interesting. I must be dreaming because I don't recall pulling over to take some children onto my ship." There was some slight anger in her voice as she looked them over.

Then she glanced over to where Kyle was, her first-mate, noticing her brand new mechanic behind him crying. Glaring back at the unknown kids Syeira walked farther into the room. Even in her pajamas she walked with her usual confidence and grace.

Captain Duvont paused next to the table that Sam was at, to address her first mate. "Kyle, why don't you go take care of your Phoebe there. I'll handle our little stow-aways." A slight grin crossed her lips at the man, even when the situation was tense, she had to throw her teasing in. She then sat down at the table with Sam, though she used the actual chairs.

"Sit, all three of you." Syeira pretty much commanded as she pointed to the table next to the one she and Sam were sitting at. Or on, in the pilot's case.

Once they were sitting she continued, her gaze locked on which seemed to be the eldest one. "Now explain to me why I shouldn't be kicking you three off of my ship." Her voice was angry but in reality she would never do such a thing, they hadn't done anything to deserve it really. Other than make the mechanic upset, which she would want to know about what happened.

----------------
Outfit - Sort of..

[Daniel Bruce]

Dan fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. He had never liked being put on the spot, especially when it involved trying to explain how all 3 of them wound up being there. And that would mean mentioning why they needed to get off planet, which Dan wasn't looking forward to, but he had to if he wanted all 3 of them to be safe.

So Dan started from the moment they had come on board the ship to avoid all that unpleasantness:

"Well, me and my 2 siblings here have been living in the containers in Persephone spaceport for about 2 years now, but recently we've had to move, so we went looking for somewhere to stay. We found this ship and, thinking that it was deserted, went for it, only to find all of the lights on. We panicked and hid in a underfloor vent in the cargo bay, and that's how we got here. Once the ship was in orbit and we were sure everyone was asleep, we went for the kitchen, but your mechanic wasn't asleep and she found us. I grabbed her, not sure whether she had a gun or not, and she yelled. And that's pretty much where you find us now. Whole thing was an accident."

Dan caught his breath then said to the woman in front of him, "That, and we could be useful. My sister here's an amazing cook, and my brother and I could get some less than legal money whilst the ship's planetside. Those good enough reasons for you to keep us on board?"

[Syeira Duvont]

[[Next post goes to Sam-face or Kyle-face]]
----------------

Syeira kept her eyes on Dan, waiting for him to begin. These kids were young, he looked maybe sixteen or around there. The other two even younger. She raised a brow at how they had gotten on board. It must have been while she was off getting Kyle and either before Phoebe had gotten on board, or after Sam had sent her to the engine room. Deserted? Who in their right mind would think this ship was deserted. The captain was not happy one bit that they had decided to just help themselves to her ship's kitchen. Even less happy about the situation with Phoebe. "An accident.." She mumbled slightly after the kid.

"Sounds like I have a good reason to turn you over to the feds and let them do whatever they do to folks who stow-away. Not to mention try to steal from a kitchen that they don't have a right to and putting a gun to an unarmed girl. I'm not sure how you all thought my ship was deserted, is that a common thing? People just leaving ships in the middle of fields on Persephone with the doors open." Syeira glanced up a few moments to Sam with a questioning look before continuing. She valued all of her crew's opinions, especially with the possibilities this situation held.