Last Voyage of Delilah, Episode 209: Five Armies
Again, not as detailed as I like, but at least the episode's posted.—Maer
Air Date: 01 Oct 2014
Present: Andy, Kim, Maer, and Terri
Friday, 13 Jul 2525
Back of Beyond, Whitefall
Georgia (Huang Long) system
A ship streaks across the sky, leaving dark things drifting down in its wake. Curious, to be sure, but parties on the ground are a mite too busy to wonder what they are.
At the rear entrance to the Lakota base, Poco gets hit on the head by a launched gas grenade. He falls and gas starts filling up the bottom of the slot canyon and crawls across the cave floor. The gas/smoke is an irritant, raising a rash on contact.
Tian grabs Poco's shoulders and Rachel grabs the engineer's feet. Together they struggle to get him to safety. The Lakota don't help the women. They're busy taking care of their own. The smoke is a double edged sword: choking and stinging, it nevertheless conceals the Lakota and our crew from the shooters above. There is no staying in the canyon, however. It's a barrel and they're the fish. Tian and Rachel start climbing out into the cleaner air, hauling Poco with them.
Through the smoke, they hear the distinctive whine of weapons warming up.
Four figures meet them through the smoke. They have New Tech weapons and what look like wing-suits. They were likely the objects falling from the sky: soldiers making a flight-assisted jump. Tian spies a logo or an insignia on their uniforms but it is not one she recognizes. Tian and Rachel slowly lower Poco to the ground and raise their hands.
While two of the jump troopers descend into the cave, weapons firing, the other two zip tie Tian and Rachel's hands together with high-tech zip ties. They will not be easy to slip out of, if ever.
It's not long before the Lakota are led out of the cave at gunpoint. David Spencer and his squad are among them. Even some of Patience's men are rounded up as prisoners. Three jump troopers hold everyone under guard while the fourth, the woman obviously in charge, scans David's dog tags. She confirms his identity. She moves to Tian next and Tian tells her she's neither Lakota nor Alliance. The woman takes Tian's ident card, scans it, reads the results.
Woman in Charge: Does the name Zhang Han mean anything to you?
Tian: I've heard the name.
Woman in Charge: And your name is Grace Tian.
Tian: Yes.
The Woman in Charge walks off and confers with one of her men. He's got one of those 30-to-60 faces, making his age hard to pinpoint. Tian can hear their voices but cannot make out the words of their conversation, save the man muttering the word "traitor". It's accompanied by a pointed look right at her. He's obviously not a fan.
Great.
The Woman in Charge comes back and Tian respectfully asks what's to become of her and the people they've captured. The Woman says her intel has her here for a trade in prisoners. Tian respectfully asks what military she's serving, as she doesn't doesn't recognize the insignia. The Woman in Charge introduces herself as Lt. Han of the PDF.
Ah. Thank you.
Tian wonders if the Lieutenant is Zhang Han's daughter. She would be of about the right age and it would explain the question asked earlier. However, Tian refrains from asking about any possible familial connection. Chinese has a limited number of surnames and, more so than with other languages, a match doesn't guarantee a blood relation.
Lt. Han pulls up a picture of Delilah on her tablet and shows it to Tian. Is this her ship? Tian confirms it is. Well, Han says, that's where everyone's going.
David's squad and the rest of the prisoners are zip-tied as Tian and the rest of Delilah's crew are. As an added bonus, the zips are connected by a charged line between prisoners. A hard yank on one will deliver a punishing shock to everyone else in the line.
It's a chain gang, with a kick. After painfully demonstrating just how that chain works, everyone is marched overland to Delilah.
Meanwhile, Vikki and Valentine are still in the wagon with the mortar. Vikki's hands are bound in front of her and she's able to free Valentine's, which are tied from behind. He quickly frees her in turn and he orders her to disable the mortar. Once that's done, they unhitch the horses and ride across the landscape to Delilah.
They encounter an odd distortion field which reveals a ship. There's a hatch open on it and a couple of Feds are already boots-to-ground. A few more disembark. They've weapons. Valentine and Vikki do not, so when they're asked to halt, they do.
An older woman in uniform joins them. She's Lt. Cmdr. Xiu of the Alliance Navy. Valentine talks to her, hoping to get some information as to what's going on. Xiu has him and Vikki frisked for weapons. As they are, more air ripples around them and Valentine and Vikki see roughly 16 men in chameleon suits move out on orders.
Where? Not sure, because Valentine and Vikki are prodded aboard the ship and it flies to a rendezvous point at Delilah.
What the hell is going on?
Xiu isn't really interested in sharing that information. Instead she has Valentine and Vikki back on the ground, penned in by 6 stakes. The stakes are fence generators and they cover an area roughly 50 feet square and 8 feet high, creating a field brig. Tossing a pebble at the field produces the expected results: there's no getting past it unless one's a fan of self-electrocution.
It's full daylight and it's hot on the sands and there's no shade at all. Valentine and Vikki put up with it and hope for the best. At least they're back in the vicinity of Delilah. So close and yet so far away … but they can see her, at least.As they wait, a group approaches from the plains, a bunch of people on foot. It's the PDF group with Tian and the rest.
Tian asks to speak to Lt. Han. Han agrees and in the ensuing short conversation, Tian learns a few things: Han intends to trade her prisoners for Alliance and PDF men held by hostiles; Zhang is a friend of hers who she's been tasked to look out for; and the PDF has security jurisdiction on all the planets and moons in Georgia.
Patience rides up from a different quarter, obviously here to argue her case and get her men back. Lt. Xiu from the Feds and Lt. Han from the PDF join her. Patience's men and the Lakota are thrown into the brig as the PDF and the Feds argue who to exchange for whom.
Tian makes a decision and pulls Rachel aside. When the time comes, she wants Rachel to leave her behind if it would grant the crew their freedom. No, don't argue—just promise you'll take the crew and fly the hell out of here. Poco, Nuri, everyone.
Rachel refuses to consider such a thing.
The prisoners sweat it out in the brig … and a point in the exchange talks is reached. The prisoners are sorted out. Patience has her men released to her. David and his squad are returned to the Feds and the Feds take the Lakota into custody. Vikki and Valentine are left inside the brig and Tian and Rachel are still tied together with the rest of their chain gang.
A streak burns across the sky, chased by another streak that's trailing black oily smoke as if the engine was flying without containment.
REAVERS!
Chaos ensues.
Patience and the PDF run back to the canyon. David Spencer and his squad board the Alliance ship with the Lakota and it takes off. Odd men out, the crew and passengers of Delilah are left behind.
Reaver bait.
Valentine orders Tian to take the crew and run for Delilah, never mind him and Vikki. They'll figure a way out. Tian pulls out her military command voice and whips the rag tag crew she's got into a coordinated effort to avoid getting shocked. Vann bodily picks up Jazz and Caliban and runs in synch with Tian and Rachel (who are carrying Poco) as Nuri brings up the rear. They make it to the ship but it's got a deadlock on it—courtesy of the Feds, and unless they pop that sucker off, they can't access the controls that will allow them to board.
Suck.
Meanwhile, Vikki notices a feature of the lake bed and remembering something from a geology class she took in college, she if she can add water and nitrogen to the lithium salts in the dirt and somehow have that mixture intersect the field holding them inside the brig, the field will short out. Getting the dirt isn't a problem. The water and the nitrogen, however ….
She starts kicking at the ground like a maniac, raising a great cloud of dust, and tells Valentine to unzip and piss against the fence.
What?!
Piss = nitrogen and water, she explains. Not the best but it should be enough.
Valentine does as she asks.
BRRRRZZZZZAP!
It works! The field goes down. Valentine shouts at Vikki to run!
The Reavers are coming!
Vikki sprints for Delilah and Valentine brings up the rear. The deadlock is still in place. Vikki rummages through her bag (thankful the Fed didn't take it with them) and manages to find something to pop that sucker off.
Overhead the battle between the Reaver ship and its prey intensifies: light streaks from weapons blaze back and forth, black smoke describes the chase. Nuri starts coming unglued from the vibes above them and Caliban starts echoing her distress. Rachel distracts both of them by asking them to unwire them from their shackles. They're both smart, she says, and they've worked with the wiring on Delilah before. This should be something they can do.
C'mon, darlins. Get us loose.
Having a task in front of them settles them down and after a few sparks (ouch!) they bypass the shackles: FREE!
They get the hatch open and everyone hustles inside. Poco is still unconscious and Vikki's left to spin up the engines. It's not her area of expertise and she's hot, dehydrated, and frantic from impending Reavers. She runs to the engine room and freezes—what should she start first? Which lever was that … thing again? She starts turning levers and flipping switches and nothing seems to be working right and the Reavers are getting closer and closer and they're still on the ground….
Oh geez, it's too much—
Vikki flashes back to another takeoff in the engine room, with Poco running around working all the pieces and parts … and he has her take a hammer and hit a certain spot as hard as she can. That's the part of the equation she's missing. She grabs a hammer …. but ….
Now where was that spot?
Vikki starts to lose it again and Valentine marches right over and plants a hot deep kiss on the woman, looks into her eyes and he has faith in her starting that engine.
Floored by the kiss but encouraged, Vikki pulls that finicky spot from memory, gives it a giant whack with her hammer and ….
Everything lights up like Christmas and the engine turns over. The engine also belches out a vast amount of nasty smoke, oil, and sooty gunk all over her, but the engine starts. Vikki shakes the crap out of her eyes and yells to Rachel to punch it.
Rachel blazes off the ground …. Right into the Reavers' path.
She peels out. It follows. She flies.
Radio noise, a nightmarish hash of static and screams, pours out the comms speakers. Valentine cuts the channel as he takes his seat on the bridge. He's not having anything upsetting his pilot, nope.
Good thing, too, because Rachel pulls off a maneuver that takes all her concentration: she peels out in a back flip up and over the Reaver ship on her tail, skimming cats whisker close to the Reaver ship's hull, and diving upward for Athen's atmo overhead. Hauling back on the yoke for all she's worth, Rachel sends Delilah into a steep "dive", blazing white hot in a straight shot for space, straining to bridge the distance between Athens and her moon.
Aft, the Reaver ship tries vainly to turn and keep up, trying, trying … and failing. It burns out and dives for the surface of Whitefall. Rachel doesn't linger to verify if it augers in—she flies arrow straight for the haven of Athens, getting on the comms and warning traffic control of their arrival.
Now that it's somewhat saner, Valentine compliments Rachel on her flying and quits the bridge to check on the rest of his crew. Tian's in medbay, patching up Poco and seeing to Nuri and Jazz and her crew. Valentine pulls her out into the corridor for a word. How is she? Tian flat out admits she can't say. She tells him her son believes all the shit she's been told about her. Even though she was perfectly willing to give herself up to the Feds' tender mercies if it would buy her son's freedom, she could tell the damage has already been done. She may very well have lost her son.
She also reminds Valentine that his kissing Vikki might well come back and bite him in the derriere. He is aware of that right?
Yes, yes he is. He did it to get her pulled together and get them flying.
She's not going to see it like that, Tian warns him. Valentine agrees that she won't and it's another thing he's well aware of. However, that is for him to worry about.
Tian asks if it's all right for her to send a wave. She would like to tell certain people that the crew survived. Valentine says it's fine as long as she's not sending out anything she can't trust to a public venue like the Cortex.
Valentine tells her that we'll be landing in Athens shortly and he'll be looking for cargo. He has to get in touch with Mary Ann Valmont and see if she's ready to make that flight to Blue Sun she asked about. Despite the squeaker we've just gone through, life goes on and we have to earn money so we can eat. So … deep breath and carry on, right?
To say nothing of figuring out what to do with Jazz and her crew, as they are their own set of problems. Valentine and Tian return to med bay. Valentine turns to Jazz and asks her what she intends to do now? She tells him to drop her and her crew off at Athens. She offers to take Nuri with her, as she and Caliban seem to have hit it off, but Tian vetoes it. Nuri is still not fully recovered from her recent illnesses and it's still too early to treat her for the plague. No, until Tian is satisfied that Nuri's health has recovered, she is staying aboard Delilah.
Having that issue settled, Valentine finds Vikki next. She's all over crap from the engine but he can tell she's upset. She tells him that they had an agreement. She would keep her crush to herself and keep things professional between them. He would respect that boundary. Which he crossed seventeen ways come Sunday with that kiss, dammit!
Lives saved but damage done, Valentine doesn't argue but gives her some space. Vikki hustles to the showers to get that crap off her. And maybe cry a bit. Only she and the shower stall will know for sure.
In medbay, Poco finally wakes up and demands booze and cigarettes. Seeing he's on the mend, Tian releases him on his own recognizance but keeps an eye on him for backlash injuries.
Acropolis Space Port
Same day
Night
We land and boy are we glad to kiss dirt.
Rachel sighs mightily, quits her chair, and announces to all and sundry not to wait up for her. She's taking off for some shore leave.
B'bye, y'all.
Poco sighs mightily and says he'll stay and fix the ship. Delilah took some damage in her precipitous departure from Whitefall.
Valentine countermands his engineer and gets on the PA and announces that NO ONE IS WORKING ON THE SHIP TONIGHT. Everyone is to take some downtime, preferably off-ship, and relax. WE JUST SURVIVED REAVERS. LIVE A LITTLE!
That's an order.
You don't have to tell Poco twice. He's out of there like a shot. He's got booze and cigs to beg, buy, or steal.
Tian sends a wave to Kerry, letting Zhang Han know she's managed to get her son out of insurgent hands. She also sends a brief note to David, unsure if it will be welcome, but sending it nonetheless.
Vikki takes herself off for a bathhouse. The showers aboard aren't quite up to the job of getting her free of the crap.
Tian sleeps, taking advantage of the peace and quiet aboard.
Mary Ann Valmont waves Valentine: Dinner out?
He accepts. They arrange a time that very evening and end the call on a happy note.
Outside, Vikki sees Mary Ann at a comms kiosk and tries to pull a fade, but the sharp insurance appraiser sees Vikki before she can slip away. Some verbal jousting ensues—Mary Ann asking what happened to Vikki, who's still all over gook and Vikki excruciatingly sensitive and wishing only to get away. Vikki manages to escape and Mary Ann goes on to make her appointment with Valentine.
Valentine is ready when she buzzes the ship and together they walk out into the evening. Mary Ann takes him to a pawn shop on the way, wanting to show him something. There is a deck of cards in the pawn shop, made of delicate shaved sheets of wood in ornate ivory and gold case.
Mary Ann asks the pawn broker how much they are. He tells her 500 credits. She asks if they could handle the cards? Sure. Valentine gently spreads them out. The wood is very very thin, like spun glass. There is no shuffling them. They're obviously a vanity set, made just to dazzle the eye from their sheer craftsmanship and beauty. Valentine regretfully puts them back. They are beautiful and he wants them … but he can't afford them. Mary Ann says she'll give 5 credits for them. Pulling out a magnifying glass, she shows Valentine the tiny markings that betray their origin: they're mass produced replicas.
Valentine gives her a slow smile and tells her that damn, she's good. He was completely taken in by them. They really do look like antiques from Old Earth. Feeling less regretful now, Valentine hands the cards back to the broker and takes his girl out to dinner.
After all, the night is still young and who knows what it has in store?
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