Episode 402: Shepherd's Hope, Part Four

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‘They’? Who? Reavers? Joshua’s appalled, knowing just how the little girl came by that knowledge. Nika quits the bridge and finds Joshua still in the lounge.

Nika: I gotta get off the ship and go meet the captain of that vessel.
Joshua: (still upset) Okay. Um..
Nika: You guys are all square?
Joshua: Yeah…we’re square.
Nika: Don’t look square.
Joshua: We’re square. We’re just … (to the girl) … We’re not going to let them hurt you.

No response from the girl. Joshua sighs and turns to Nika.

Joshua: Do you need me?
Nika: God only knows. They look like they’re trying to camouflage the ship and stay away from Reavers.

Nika goes to the jumpseat and pulls the tape off the buckles. As she ripping the sticky stuff off, she asks the girl some more questions.

Nika: How often do they come?
Girl: They?

Rina enters the lounge at this point, there being nothing further to do aft. She takes up a position near Nika and Joshua, and listens.

Nika: You say it was one guy. How does he get here?
Girl: (very quietly) Just at night. He just walks in.
Nika: Walks in from somewhere. How often?
Girl: Not every day. Sometimes, I sleep. A couple times.
Nika: Not much, though. Not gettin’ much sleep, are’ya? Something’s close.
Girl: He can see us. He knows you’re here.
Nika: How often do ships come to this town?

The girl starts to weep.

Nika: (gently) Sweetie, I know you’re scared. We gotta get you and your friends out of here. (pause) Everything that you can tell me will help us get them and get away before the man gets back here.
Girl: (small voice) If we run, they’ll chase us.
Nika: They ain’t chasin’ ya on my ship.
Girl: (smaller) Let me go back. To my friends. Just you … you leave, while you can. I don’t want to … to run away. They’ll chase. They’ll find you. They always find you.

Joshua’s moved and swallows hard.

Joshua: They won’t.
Nika: Reavers ain’t that smart, darlin’.
Joshua: There’s no way, there is absolutely no way in this Verse that I am going to let anybody hurt you. Or your friends.
Girl: (smallest) That’s what my momma said.

Behind her crewmates, Rina closes her eyes and manages to maintain her grip. Barely.

Nika: How many’a your friends you got hidin’? So that I know I don’t miss anybody.
Girl: There’s … six of us. Seven.
Nika: Is there anything I can say to one of them, somebody in charge in your group besides you? Is there anything I can say to one of them to make them understand I can be trusted?
Girl: Can’t trust …
Nika: As well as anybody in your world can be.
Joshua: (quietly) What’s your name?
Girl: Beast.
Joshua: Your name is ‘Beast’?
Beast: My name’s Beast.
Joshua: Okay, sweetie.

Joshua and Nika give the girl some space and confer to the side.

Nika: I got a ship on the ground. They’re on the other side of the river.
Joshua: Okay. That said. Do you want me here with her or do you want me here with you?
Nika: (thinks, shakes head) I hain’t got the slightest clue.
Joshua: (ditto) Yeah.
Rina: I could go with or I could stay.
Joshua: You want all of us to stay with her? I could come along. I still think we’ll be able to get all six. Seven? Six or seven?

Cuz there’s no way we’re lifting off without those kids. They’ve got nowhere else to go. They’ve got no one else to take care of them. We all saw the silo. All the adults are dead and gone. Well, not all of them. There is Catatonic Man in second class and the two in med bay are still with us, if only just.

Kiera and Arden have succeeded in stabilizing their two patients. Kiera examines the split tongues but despite Rina’s comment in the silo, the damage is beyond Kiera’s ability to repair given the gear she has with her. In fact, given the damage, Arden recommends they take turns sitting with the patients because with their tongues and other physical damage, there is the potential of their swallowing or opening up more damage to their tongues and aspirating the blood. It’s not an emergency, per se, but it certainly requires vigilance.

Arden: And if they wake up, we don’t know what state they’ll be in.
Kiera: Well, we need to strap them down.
Arden: Yeah. I just don’t want to further injure them, but … maybe that’s a good idea.
Kiera: Well, they won’t wake up thrashin’. And if they wake up thrashin’, we’ll need to strap’em down anyway.

Come to think of it, the last person Arden had strapped down to the table was Rina. But then again, in terms of behavior, Rina’s already demonstrated she’s a danger risk so strapping her down was just being prudent. With these patients we’re only talking hypothetical danger… but Arden starts strapping down them down anyway.

Arden: I’ll do the first shift. When I get tired, I’ll call you.
Kiera: All right.

Kiera washes up at the sink and leaves the med bay to see what’s happened elsewhere. She finds Nika grilling Joshua about his Reading in the bridge corridor, with Rina in attendance.

Nika: You said when you Saw what they were doing, there were a bunch of them at first, then only one continued to come back.
Joshua: Mm-hm. Yep. So I’m guessing the one is still here. Like she’s saying.
Nika: Clearly.
Joshua: But I don’t know what the … the reason is. There’s not enough evidence.
Kiera: Is the catatonic man the reason.
Nika: Is that her father? The one they keep having interest in?
Joshua: I don’t—I don’t know. I’m not a genealogist.

They don’t look related.

Joshua: She looked afraid of him.
Nika: She also said that ‘they keep coming back’. You can run but they keep coming back.
Rina: No. That they chase you.
Joshua: I don’t think there’s enough evidence to try and figure it out—like to logically figure it out.
Nika: Well, the guy on the radio at least sounded coherent. So I think that we definitely need to go and have that meet.
Joshua: Before we do anything, I could ask her about him. But if I ask her about him, it’s likely to trigger something. I don’t know what it’s going to trigger but I know it’s going to trigger something.
Nika: See what you can do. The three of us are going to step outside. They oughta be getting here any time now. Just meet us when you’re done.

They part company in the foredeck corridor, where the women turn to port for the airlock stairs and Joshua continues aft to the passenger lounge… and a traumatized little girl named Beast, who might hold the key to the mystery surrounding Shepherd’s Hope and a way to save the lives of the other children.

Joshua: Sweetie? Beast. Um… the man we brought in. Who is he? Why are you afraid of him? Should we be afraid of him?
Beast: He talks with him.
Joshua: Okay. Thank you.

That matches up too closely with Joshua’s vision and he doesn’t inquire further. He’s got the proof he needs, thanks. He joins the others waiting on the dirt at the bottom of the airlock stairs.

An ATV shows up and stops some ten yards or so off. It’s got a machine gun on the top and there are three people inside. The man riding shotgun is broad and beefy, sporting a long robust beard and has a big-assed rifle behind his seat. The man on the gunner turret has the general minion look to him. The driver of the ATV is a relatively grim but better kempt and professional looking than the others.

Rina: (murmuring) Now he’s been around the block a few times and seen a lotta shit. A professional.
Joshua: Professional what?

The ATV comes to a halt and the two inside the cab get out. The driver steps out and then the other guy...who plants a boot on the ground and straightens up and up and up. This guy is HUGE. The wheeled ATV rocks and its struts groan as the man finally steps off. Joshua whispers to Rina.

Joshua: Sweet Jesus, that’s not a man. That’s a mountain.

The gunner has his machine gun trained on us and we raise our hands. The driver waves the gunner off with a gesture and a look. He’s got a machete holstered at his side, paired with a big sidearm opposite. He’s wearing leather gear and it’s obvious there’s plated armor on it underneath. He’s also got a iron collar around his neck.

Rina: (whispering) A gorget? What, he’s expecting to get garroted from behind or something?
Nika: (whispers back) You never know.

Mountain man is mostly covered up as well, but we can see a few tattoos. Gunner is kitted out in mesh and military-style gear. All three of them look like they’re a professional security unit that’s been in the field for a while.

Make that a long while.

Rina wonders if they’re the famous Agua-Negra guys. There are no insignia to decide it yes or no, but any unit worth its salt would remove those before going in-country. Still, she has to wonder.

Mountain Man comes closer and we get a better look at his gun. It’s a super-long rifle, heavy bore. It’s the sort of rifle that one shoots through armored vehicles, using special rounds. Any shot it throws would go through a man something easy and not leave too much behind. Kiera retreats back a step or two up the stairs as he comes close. He sniffs the air and walks back to the ATV where the driver waits. The driver nods and steps forward.

Driver: (murmuring) We’re too late here. (louder) I’m Captain Lovewell. My ship, the Corsaire, is back at the river with the rest of my crew. Looks like you were too late, too. Don’t look good.

He walks right up to our little knot at the bottom of the stairs.

Lovewell: Any survivors?
Nika: (drawling) Not much.
Lovewell: I understand. You can surrender them to me and I’ll take care of ’em.
Nika: They’re pretty much dead. We took a couple’uv’em, been all cut up, tried to patch’em up, but … It ain’t getting’ us very far.
Lovewell: Uh-huh. My crew’ll take care of the dead. You got some live ones?
Nika: Jus’ the two got all cut up.
Lovewell: I’ll wanna talk to them.
Nika: They can’t talk. Their faces’re gone.
Lovewell: You learn how to do these things, ma’am.

Lovewell’s demeanor is calm and measured, almost menacing though there is nothing overtly threatening in his words or movement. Nika considers for a beat, then:

Nika: All right. I’ll leave that one to you.
Joshua: Professionals? Professional Reaver Hunters?
Lovewell: This system has a bounty.
Joshua: You guys are brave folks, I’ll say that much.
Nika: How big a problem are Reavers in Georgia lately.
Lovewell: Bigger than you might expect. Since the Navy’s pulled out they’ve gotten more willing to … visit … even bigger planets. Not Core planets but populated zones.
Kiera: So who’s got a bounty out on ’em now?
Lovewell: Well, this one’s probably going to be paid for by the good people of Kerry. Well, if we catch ’em when we find ’em.
Joshua: What do you do with the survivors?
Lovewell: What’s that, sir?
Joshua: What do you do with the survivors, I said.
Lovewell: Interrogate ’em.

Given their appearance and their weapons, one has to wonder how … thorough … their interrogations are. Do they interrogate women and children, too?

Joshua: And?
Lovewell: We determine whether they’re a continued danger.
Joshua: And if they’re not?
Lovewell: We take ’em back to civilization.
Rina: (suspicious) And then what?
Lovewell: Then usually they’re put in some sorta institution or hospitals. Most of the time they’re pretty wounded. You don’t come across many people. As you say, these two are in pretty bad shape.
Kiera: Yeah, I don’t think they’ll survive. The doctor’s workin’ on ’em but I don’t think they’ll make it.
Lovewell: Probably for their own good. Survivors don’t much … survive.
Nika: So are you the patrol in these parts now?
Lovewell: You mean like the law?
Nika: Well, I guess that’s as good a word as any.
Lovewell: No, we … we ain’t the law. But we heard word of a distress call, so …
Nika: From here?
Lovewell: Hn-uhn.
Nika: Oh. We hadn’t heard anything on the way in.
Lovewell:' It’s a coupla days old. We weren’t expecting much but we might get a sign of what they were lookin’ for.

Looking for? Does this mean the Reavers are looking for something? Is that the meaning behind Joshua’s Reading and Beast’s account of events?

Rina: You mean you waited two days before coming over?
Nika: They were two days out, Rina. (to Lovewell) It wasn’t still goin’ off by the time we came in or we’d’ve turned tail. All we got’s cargo and certainly not weapons enough to fight Reavers.
Lovewell: Yeah. Well, it’s not a job for people who aren’t professionals.
Nika: Absolutely not.
Joshua: No kidding.

A beat.

Lovewell: Well, this town is …
Nika: Pretty well leveled.
Lovewell: We’d like to check round, see if there’s anything worth salvaging. Unless you’ve already beaten us to it.
Nika: I believe we were gonna look around to see if there’s any useful food stuff and such left, if you don’t mind.
Lovewell: I reckon we can share that stuff. I’d like to see your … survivors.
Joshua: They’re still in surgery, I think.
Nika: (to Kiera) Whyn’t you go on up and let the doctor know that we’ve got some people who want to see them.
Kiera: I will let him know.
Nika: Cuz you know there’s only the two of them.
Kiera: Yeah, I know.
Nika: But they might … I don’t know. They might be able to get somethin’ out’uv ’em.
Kiera: Yeah, I know. Our passengers are a little traumatized, so… tell’em to be careful.

Passengers? Ohh, yeah. Our passengers. Kiera doesn’t miss a trick and Nika didn’t miss a beat.

Nika: Tell ’em to stay in their staterooms. Cuz we don’t want ’em out on the dirt for this.
Kiera: A’right.
Lovewell: You have passengers?
Nika: Yeah, we have a couple. When we first landed. We’re droppin’ off our cargo here and then going to starport.
Kiera: Mm-hm. I’ll go an’ let him know, cuz he’s probably got his arms knee-deep in ’em. I mean, they were really cut up bad. I told him he was wastin’ his time but he told me I didn’t know nothin’ cuz I ain’t a doctor, you know.
Lovewell: If they’re gonna die, we should probably try to … get somethin’ outa them before they die. Information. How many they were. That sorta stuff.
Kiera: Hang on and let him wash up a little bit … Wait here and I’ll go tell him that.

Kiera’s been covertly looking Lovewell and his men over. They’ve got lots of war wounds. She’s thinking they’ve been in a lot of hand-to-hand combat. The wounds have been professional treated, so they’re effaced and not hideous or anything. But there’s something else she’s not 100% sure about but the way Lovewell moves, kinda with a limp, that’s consistent with somebody who’s had recent surgery possibly. And there’s something else she’s not sure about, too.

Kiera leaves them at the bottom of the stairs, ostensibly to warn the doctor about visitors and once out of sight, she goes straight to the second class cabins to check on Catatonic Man. He’s still there but Beast is nowhere to be seen.

Well, if she’s nowhere to be seen, perhaps Lovewell and his men won’t see her once they’re aboard, either. Kiera leaves off searching and sticks her head into surgery.

Kiera: Arden, we got visitors comin’. They wanna do some interrogation of what’s left.
Arden: (Do what now?!) They can’t—they have no tongues.
Kiera: If you only see them. I know it’s gonna be hard but keep your mouth shut and let’s watch ’em do their work.

Kiera goes back to the airlock and waves Lovewell and his men up the stairs. Rina follows on their heels and when she sees Beast is no longer in the lounge, she detours to look for her. Aware that there are witnesses aboard, she makes her course look casual. She crosses the lounge to the galley and pretending to be rooting around for a snack, checks all the base cabinets for Beast. No one’s hiding in the supplies there. Rina leaves for the crew quarters and eyeballs the area for signs of tampering. Nothing’s ajar. She goes straight through her workshop for the engine room. The engine room has plenty of deck plates for the little girl to lift up for the crawlspaces beneath. Places in which to hide. Rina sees the plates are untouched and lifts a few and sticks her head below to look. Nope. No Beast.

Now what?

Kiera’s talking to Lovewell as she leads them to med bay.

Kiera: Looks like you’ve been in a bit of a tussle recently. You’re movin’ a little stiff.

Lovewell straightens a little bit.

Lovewell: Yeah, we … ah … bumped into some … unrelated difficulties.
Kiera: Looks like you bumped a little hard.
Lovewell: There’s a … If you haven’t been in Georgia recently, there’s some what’s called, um, civil disturbances here and there.
Nika: Oh fabulous.
Lovewell: Small scale, mostly. But … you know, used to be we heard word of that sort of stuff you could assume it was pirates or Reavers. But sometimes it’s towns versus towns. City against city. Without the Alliance, people are decidin’ who’s in charge, I guess.
Joshua: Brave new Verse.
Lovewell: If I could find whoever’s responsible for bringin’ down the Alliance …

Bringing down the Alliance? Nothing we know anything about. Nope. Not us.

Kiera shows the men the patients while Nika and Joshua go back outside. Arden’s there and not looking too pleased with the visit. Most people when confronted with the sight of Reaver victims tend to recoil in horror. Or throw up. Not so Lovewell and Mountain Man. They’re downright clinical about it, look the patients over with a critical eye. It’s almost creepy the way they do it.

Mountain Man actually runs his fingers along some of the wounds, almost admiring how they’re done. Kiera is overseeing everything from the door and she speaks up.

Kiera: You know you’re gonna contaminate that.
Mountain Man: They’re just gonna die anyway.
Kiera: I know but I don’t want them to die in pain. You wanna set of gloves?

Mountain Man looks down from his considerable height—six-four, plus—and Kiera looks right back. His voice is low and growly, filled with possibly menacing pauses, yet soft.

Mountain Man: I can take care of that.
Kiera: You want them to die in pain? Or you want them to die now?
Mountain Man: If they live …
Kiera: You want a set of gloves so you can inspect our work?
Mountain Man: Infection is not their … biggest problem right now, ma’am.
Kiera: Silly me, I had an idea it was.

Mountain Man chuckles through his beard and turns to Lovewell.

Mountain Man: Captain—
Kiera: You mind telling me what you’re lookin’ them over for?
Mountain Man: Lookit the wounds there. Cap’n, come up here, sir.
Lovewell: What do you see?
Mountain Man: Done by the same person.

Kiera hadn’t really been looking for different techniques, the wounds being a mite too bloody at the time to note the details and she too busy saving the patient. Now that the immediate crisis is over, forensic elements can be seen.

Kiera: So I take it you know that there’s a particular style?
Mountain Man: Yeah, these’re … different. Ships have different … style, I guess you can say.
Kiera: So … more than one ship’s come by and just picked two random people?
Lovewell: No. There’s somethin’ else goin’ on here.
Mountain Man: It’s not … confident cuttin’. Somebody was usin’ their off-arm, off-hand … to do that work.
Kiera: So you’re sayin’ it was somebody who’s usin’ either an arm that was not their dominate or a rank amateur who was tryin’ to imitate somethin’.
Mountain Man: Hnn, no this ain’t … This is real Reaver, but … yeah. Perhaps somebody … (thinks aloud) … Why would a Reaver use his off-arm to do this?
Kiera: Might’a had the other one gnawed off by his fellow Reavers.
Mountain Man: … They don’t eat each other …
Kiera: I wouldn’t either. Nasty.
Mountain Man: Yeah … you don’t wanna bring these back.
Kiera: So in other words … ?
Mountain Man: They’re gone.
Kiera: They’re goin’ to get the disease?
Mountain Man: Yeah. That’s one way’a puttin’ it.

Kiera looks over at Arden, who’s standing by and watching everything.

Kiera: Arden, all that work we went into—
Arden: What? They’re gonna live. They’re okay.
Mountain Man: Cap’n. It ain’t wise.
Lovewell: Hm. Well … we’ll talk about it. They aren’t in any danger now. Those straps look good. You might wanna move your instruments further away from them. They can be … wiggly.
Arden: … O-ookay …

Arden moves the crash cart with its instrument tray against the wall opposite. Now what?

Kiera: Basically if they should wake up, what signs should we be lookin’ for?
Lovewell: We’ll talk to your captain about it. You don’t worry none.
Kiera: All right. I put down animals before, I reckon I c’n put these down. Seems a shame after the doctor put all that work into ’em. Now, are you sure?
Lovewell: We’ll talk.
Kiera: You’re a man with a lotta words and very little information, you know that?
Lovewell: Yep.

Lovewell and Mountain Man walk out into the passenger lounge area. Lovewell tugs on Mountain Man’s long coat and whispers something to him. The jumpseat is sitting in plain view, bits of tape and dangling straps and all.

Crap.

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Epilogue

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