The Alliance Office

[duke]

The Alliance officer sat a decent walk from the docks it was a single story building with roof access. Unlike the other buildings it had power though most of the lights were broke or flickering. The generator had automatically kicked on when the power to the town cut out. The place was a mess.

The shell caskings to hundreds of rounds lead from the shot out front windows leading all the way back to the back rooms of the place.Most notable was a large pile of shells near the holding cells. A thick layer of blood covered the floor.

You wake finding yourself laying on the floor near the sergeants desk at the front of the building with an urgent sense of dread. Deep down inside you just know you are going to need to defend yourself. You just don't know what from yet.

[Ceren Aatos]

^{there's a place not that far from here
where people go when their dreams have died}

[/sup]


Kreee... kreeee...

It was like the pitch dark of the Black. Like being blind, or close enough to it. But there was something in the distance. There was a light. A... a light? Like that light at the end of the tunnel light or... No, it wouldn't be flickering. Wait.

Those dark pools of brown were gradual slits between eyelids. A very careful and groggy parting to give way to this blurred scene up ahead. The figure's head was slumped forwards, locks of brown and flecks of red hanging down over the face. One arm was rested loosely across an outstretched leg, the other was touching the floor, fingers curled in limpness. A cough cleared a sore throat, and those eyes opened a little more, the head lifted up. A squint was aimed ahead, eyes starting to focus.

Scrreee... screee...

"Tian xiao de..."

When they finally fixed on the movement, they saw the source of that horrible, chilling noise. One of the barred gates was sliding back and force, the electronic controls having shorted. The wall was sparking opposite. That made more sense. It wasn't that she thought it was a monster or anything... Nope. That was about when, satisfied it was only a malfunction, Ceren Aatos' head dipped, eyes going to close again and give back into sleep. Until her head lifted back up in realisation. Not a quick snap, just a slow raise as pieces fell into place. Take your time, Aatos. Barred gates? Bars? Ceren was behind bars. Or.. semi. The cell door before her was still sliding slowly back and forth, the new-age, shiny metal screeching like a dying animal. It begged the question of why she had been behind bars previously. The former assumption of the technology's state before now... well it made those Purple alarms scream in her head.

"So who the gui did I punch this time?" She asked aloud, her former experiences with the Alliance usually involving hitting an off-duty Fed for his lecherous behaviour and getting caught on a job once...

Ceren pushed up off the floor, swaying to the left a moment before she righted herself. Instinct drew a hand to her side. Her pistol wasn't there. Of course, they'd have taken it. Trust her to be realistic about this situation. Her knife was gone too, naturally, but that was nothing compared to her sudden fascination with how gou shi this place looked. It was obviously some kind of Alliance law installation. Hence the bars, the cells, and the blood-- wait. Blood? It was everywhere. But she didn't see any bodies as of yet. She wasn't sure how disturbing that was. It spelled something obvious in her mind. Reaver attack. But... really... unlikely how they'd manage to storm a place like this unless there'd been... hundreds of them. A shiver shot up Ceren's spine and she steeled herself through the short corridor. By the next gate-- the exit that led out into the rest of the precinct from the cell block-- Ceren saw a desk. It was bloody, there were handprints on the wall. But more importantly, her sidearm and knife were sat almost conveniently atop it's red-slicked surface.

"...Huh."

The two weapons were snatched up and secured in their rightful places on her belt. Another pause, and Ceren pulled her pistol free again, checked for ammo and then looked around for any spare. The weapon still hung in her grip, firmly. She'd dealt with Reavers once in the past. She knew how the deal went.

^{as i walk from it's faceless streets
i must be the last one alive}

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________________________________


tian xiao de ; name of all that's sacred
gui ; hell
gou shi ; sh*t

[tigh]

Tigh woke up laying on the intake bench. It was where they would seat the recently picked up criminals as they awaited processing. This place seemed familiar to Tigh, not that he had been one of those picked up but that he had been around the alliance military long enough to come though these places a time or two. The thing that was odd is that he had fallen on the Esteem and now he was here.

He didn't remember coming planet side anywhere. It wasn't to odd for him to head down planet side while his security forces were conducting operations on the ground. He liked to over see the actions of his crew, though he was wise enough not to interfere in their duties, but why was he here is this trashed Alliance office. More importantly why was it trashed and empty.

Tigh stood himself and began to walk. Turning a corner to come to the Sergent's desk he found himself face to face with a woman he didn't recognize. She definitely wasn't an alliance officer, in fact she looked to be the type that should have been on the bench he had woke up on. The place was a mess like some sort of fight had gone on here and all that was left was this lady who was holding her weapon. It looked as though she was reloading after the fight, but Tigh hadn't heard any gun shots.

Tigh quickly drew his weapon before the lady had a chance to shot at him. "Admiral Vangard Alliance Navy, Lower your weapon and identify yourself." He exclaimed loudly to the woman as he clicked the safety off his weapon. He was prepared to shot if needed though the feeling of dread that filled him made him hope deep down he wouldn't need to. To be honest he didn't want to be completely alone in this disaster of a place. Who knows what happened, he just hoped it wasn't her who had caused all of this.

[Ceren Aatos]

This place had gone to hell-- it might as well be hell. One of the long ceiling lights was hanging down to her right, sparking a little as it flickered to some unknown rhythm. It cast shadows on the walls, and made her feel a little uneasy. Ceren moved away from it. She didn't want herself to be lit up like some beacon of fresh meat. The woman was still convinced it was Reavers-- there was no other explanation. Unless a war had broken out. Not another one... she thought to herself sourly.

That was about when she heard a voice and it snapped her out of her reverie so quickly that her heart was crashing around in her chest, and she almost lifted up off the floor in surprise. It was more of a slight flinch as she lifted her weapon to aim back.

Something sounded a little off in what he'd said. Ceren frowned across at the man, eyes narrowed in scrutiny.

"Admiral? Shouldn' you be in a nice comfy bridge chair right about now?" She chided in her deadpan way, holding her ground for the moment. She didn't know what was going on or where she stood.

Ceren knew one thing-- well, she didn't really-- and that was she didn't cause this. Nothing here was because of her. She'd remember, wouldn't she? That doubt started to creep into her mind. Why had she been in a cell? Why? Ceren's gun had never wavered before. Not even when she'd pointed it at her own sister on that one, dangerous job her former Captain had organised to protect his kin. But this was far too confusing to not be a little distressing. So the barrel had moved, if only a little. Maybe she should be trying to plead her case instead of this Mexican stand-off?

"Before I put it down-- I jus' wanna make it clear. I dunno what the gui happened here, nor why I woke up here. So, if you don' know, then you can shoot me for ignorance, but I don' ruttin' know."

There was a pause, gun still hovering as she steadied her breathing.

"Ceren Aatos. I captain a Firefly called the Orlando."

Watching him very closely, she waited to see if his intentions were to shoot her, before considering lowering her gun.

"I'll lower it if you do."

[tigh]

Tigh had the same fear as Ceren, that Reavers had done this. That they had passed through whatever town they were in. There should be some 30 well armed alliance officers in this place and not one of them was left after whatever happened. If this was Reavers it would have taken a lot of them to over run this place.

Ceren's snarky comment hadn't won her any favor, he wasn't the type to be sitting in a bridge chair when it wasn't needed. He was a hands on Admiral and proud of it. "I am an Alliance official I don't need to lower my weapon for anyone." He stated calmly to her in response to her request of both of them lowering their weapons. At first thought he figured she should be lowering her weapon, he was an alliance admiral after all, but the more he thought on it the more he realized there may be logic to it.

The only people there were the two of them, at least as far as they had found so far, and it seemed as though Reavers had had their way with the place. If they were still around he would need more then himself to come out of this one. "Fine I'll lower my weapon Ms. Aatos, but don't think for a minute that means I trust you." He said as he lower his weapon and reached out a hand toward her to offer a hand shake, a gesture of peace so to say. "I Admiral Thigh Vangard of the Crete-Class cruiser Esteem. I must admit I have no clue what happened here either but it seems we are going to have to help each other out of this mess."

It wasn't a pleasant though working with someone who most likely was a smuggler so sometime you had to make due with what you got. At this point it hit him they were in just the right place to be able to prepare themselves if their are Reavers out there. In the room right next to the cells is the weapons lockers. "Follow me Ms. Aatos, we need to get ourselves a bit more prepared if there are Reavers out there."

They hadn't discussed the idea of Reavers but he was stepping forward with the conversation as if they had already decided. He walked toward the back room pulling his identification from his pocket and sticking it in a card reader. Instantly the room opens and unlocked the caged section in the room. For the most part it was empty but a several assault rifles remained with a box or two of rounds. It wouldn't last long if there were Reavers out there but it would be better then the pair of pistols they had between them.

[duke]

Outside just down the road from the Alliance Office came a horrifying scream it was a little was off but clear as day. It had to have been some kind of animal, at least something not human. Maybe, just maybe a Reaver.

That wasn't the frightening part that came less then a minute later. The scream was echoed by that of hundreds more. They sounded much closer the the original scream. In fact from inside the back room of the Alliance Office scratching could be heard against the outside of the wall. whatever it was it was only a few feet from those inside.

[Ceren Aatos]

A year before the War had ended and many after that, Ceren had technically worked for anyone. While amongst those employers there was never an Admiral of any faction, she had met some Alliance-affiliated folks. Ceren wasn't to be confused with a Browncoat. She was a mercenary, a neutral. Granted, not a lot of love was given to the Big A, but only because they tended to frown upon the line of work she ended up in. So 'working with' a decorated Admiral of one of those big ol' Alliance ships was... not too far fetched? But a new experience to boot.

This'll be interesting. Although, a lot of her mind was still on all her other problems. Most probably the reason why she was lowering her weapon, and taking the hand of one Tight Vangard. It was quick, and business-like. Over in seconds like tearing off a bandaid. Ceren gave this pleasant not-quite smile.

"I'm sure we can get acquainted when not knee-deep in someone's-- everyone else's-- blood."

As forced partnerships go, she was glad he was a trained military man. That knew where the armoury was and how to get in. This caused a small amount of light in Ceren's dark brown eyes, the woman following him with interest for what goodies lay within it.

"I'll kick myself for this later-- but I like how you think, Tigh." She wasn't sure if he was expecting to be called Admiral, but Ceren had always had a funny way with ranking officials... Might be why she was in that cell.

As she was checking over a particularly nice, and identical to all the others, assault rifle. The classy Alliance kind. She may get drawn and quartered by Browncoat-affiliated friends for her opinion, but they did have some nice toys.

Immediately, she thought of her crew-- her responsibility to them as Captain. It caused a pain she hadn't really felt before. An intense guilt Ceren had never given into in the past. Dead? Where they? She'd assume Roark might be alive somewhere-- maybe he'd protected Fiona. And well... Sal always seemed tougher than the nice suit he wore. Eyes were cast down at the rifle, and her expression turned glum, macabre thoughts settling in. If they weren't here... they were probably dead-- or worse.

And then those screams started. Ceren was almost sure she'd imagined it, but it was too unreal and too bad a day for it not to be real. Her head had snapped up towards the armoury door.

"You-- You heard that right? I heard that.. right?" Her gaze passed over to Vangard warily, somewhat nervous in her tone.

There was an attempt made at some kind of composition and fortitude. An attempt to steel herself for the moment. Not lose her head. She'd fought Reavers before-- once. One horrible couple of days on the Mudder's Moon of Higgins. She'd lived through that. She can live through this. The loader was snapped back on her rifle, locked and locked as she set her jaw stubbornly against what was to come.

"Is there a way to the roof? Or some kinda tactical vantage point around here?"

He was the Admiral, after all. Ceren was willing to forfeit pride and take his lead on this.

[tigh]

Tigh looked over the weapons in the locker taking stock of what they had to work with. Though there were only two of them he decided on grabbing two of the assault rifles. If he were down on this planet that meant a team of his people were down here as well though hopefully they were already armed with assault rifles he figured it wouldn't hurt to have an extra in case they weren't. It was extra weight but he would manage.

He was also glad to see him and Ceren were on the same track as fair as weaponry was concerned. He would need a good helping hand to find a way out of this situation. Then came the screams, whatever was out there was close by and if they weren't quick at figuring out a battle plan they would lose the element of surprise that they currently had. "No, your not alone. I heard it to, though I wish i hadn't."

Tigh's eyes narrowed as he thought about his troops being out there with the Reavers or whatever it was. It had sounded unlike anything he hard heard before and he had dealt with Reavers before. Most times though it was ship to ship where he had an Alliance cruiser full of turrets to take the ship out before they could get close, or the few times they had dealt with them up close 50 security personnel to put down a contingent of less then a dozen of them at a time.

This situation would be different. There seemed to be hundreds of them and who knows how few of his men were left out there. It might just be him and Ceren left at this point. Tigh gave Ceren a nod at the idea of access to the roof. All these Alliance offices have roof access for security purposes. They did that so it could be used as an observation post if needed for whatever reason came up.

Tigh walked calmly down the hallway to a supply closet, where most of the roof access ladders were located in these places and opened it up. With a bit of luck the ladder was found there and he began to climb up first with Ceren no doubt right behind."We'll be able to get a better picture of what is going on from here." As he reached the high roof began to look around. Nothing was up there with them at least. That couldn't be said for just off in the distance toward the Research Facility. There seemed to be hundreds of people over there. Quiet potentially the population of this small town on whatever planet they were on. What he didn't notice is those that were already around the Alliance office but he would see them soon enough...