Showdown [Caged Bird, 7 Deg.]

[Casey Carter]

Casey glared at the lawman. She hated it when people called her a young lady. "Shot, doped, half-dead, it don't really matter. I can still maintain a engine better then half the Chun lu's on this rock."

She nearly jumped out of her skin when the lawman stabbed her with the painkiller. She was about to scold him, but the shot was already kicking in. She instantly felt a bit better.

"Now we're talkin'..." she sighed, smirking at the shot on her waist. Turning back to the engine, she began to examine it and see what needed to be addressed. "Well, it's not a complete mess. I can work with this."

She continued to scan the engine for anything out of the ordinary. After ordering Ramirez to pass her a couple tools, she made some modifications and began warming up the engine. The turbine roared with life, and slowly began to spin merrily.

Casey felt a bit dizzy, but her work was nearly done. She nodded with confidence to the lawman. "You'll make a fine mechanic's assistant one day..." she joked. "I'm just about finished here, go see if anyone else needs help. Don't worry, I can take care of myself. Go!"

Casey limped over to the radio in the corner. "Bridge, this is Casey. Anytime you're ready. This tin can is ready to fly..."

[Vivian Thrace]

Vivian slid into the chair and took a deep breath. “You can do this,” she told herself. “It’s just like driving a car only with wings, and it’s a whole lot bigger,” she quoted Zack, the man whom she had loved and the one who had also betrayed her. She went about making all the preflight checks she needed and then switched on the coms, “Ready when you are Casey, Captain,” she added to be polite even though he had already ordered her to get them out of there.

As she got a response she replied over the coms, “Alright everyone, hold onto something,” she turned off the coms and added with a sigh, “Here goes nothin’.” How she could drive any land vehicle with perfect ease and not fly a ship with the same sense of effortlessness was beyond her, but at least she could fly. The ship roared to life as the ramp closed up, and soon all of them the new comers and old were escaping Ariel. Who would have thought Vivian was going to be the one to save them. She wasn’t the saving type.

[Tristram Kelly]

Tris looked up to see more men starting to round the corner.

"Da Shiong La Se La Ch’wohn Tian. Cap'n, we gotta go!"

The young gunhand ran back to the ship, stopping to pick up a fallen man's weapon. He fired it at the reinforcements, then scrambled up the ramp as it lifted up. He sat beside one of the crates.

"Perfect timing. And look, I got a new gun."

A tired smile crept across his face. They had made it.