Last Voyage of Delilah, Episode 107: Junkyard Dogs, Part 4
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Perhaps. Perhaps not. Ava steps forward with purpose in her eye.
Ava: I'm Ava, Ava O'Toole. I'll talk to some of the others. We might be able to get some things together.
Valentine: Ava. I'm Val. Vikki? (waves her over) You're going to be in charge of our ambush set-up.
Vikki: (nods!) I've got some ideas.
Valentine: I want you to go with her, figure out what we've got, and get a sense of the layout of the town. From there, we can set things up.
Vikki: Okay.
She leaves with Ava. Valentine turns to Tian.
Valentine: (quietly) Tian. When we're done with this, this seems like the place you need to be in the Verse. They need the medicine and they need the vaccines. I hope this can buy you some time so you can set up for a day or two.
Tian: I'd have offered if they—(up tilt of her chin: The Buzzards)—hadn't come in for a landing before we got to the morning.
Valentine: Fair enough.
Outside with Ava, Vikki gets an impromptu tour of the town. She sees it's a string of pseudo-businesses set up in piles of trash. Well … Not so much trash as junk … Piles of junk with garage-style mechanics shops here and there. There are a bunch of different things they specialize in. One over there has surplus ship supplies. Over there is one that specializes in small hovercraft, cars, and trucks. Another has random parts. Yet another has an engineer with raw materials like sheet metal and such. There's even a forge. Vikki's eyes light up when she sees it and she passes it with a longing look. The blacksmith smiles and shows Vikki her 3D printer, too. Vikki drools even more. Trash Town has a Mudder, one who specializes in industrial ceramics. Another person specializes in hydro systems and plumbing. They have an electrician. They have someone who works with grav systems. They even have a gun smith.
By the end of the tour, Vikki's got a handle on the skill sets available. As she's sorting them out, she's also running other ideas through her head.
Vikki: Do they have a particular place where they like to land their ship?
Ava: No, not really. This is a pretty small town and they just land in front of whatever building they want.
Vikki: So given there's no given place where we know they're going to land, there's no sabotaging their air intakes as they're coming down … Hmm …
Valentine: We don't want to sabotage them when they're coming down because that warns them that something's going on unless we can guarantee it would work.
Vikki: Yeah, that was my first thought.
Valentine: Unless you have a way to take them out completely? To be honest—here's the thing. While I'm not against the idea of eliminating them from the face of the Universe—
Rachel: It might be the best thing.
Tian: (appalled) Really?
Valentine can see where this is going. He squashes it.
Valentine: If we're going to take this on, my first and only goal is to make sure that they do not do this again. That once we have left, these people are safe. If we can do that without killing a single one of them, that would be ideal. If I have to kill them to make sure that will happen, then I will do that. Because I am not taking this on and leaving them behind to cause more problems. Do you have a problem with it? Because this is your chance to speak up.
Tian: I'm uncomfortable with the … potential here that we will have to … go that far to get them to stop.
Valentine: I'm hoping that we won't.
Thinking back on what he's seen, Valentine's got a handle on the Buzzards' MO: Not commandos in truth, they prefer intimidation to outright combat, asserting their superiority by walking in as if they owned the place. Reality perceived is reality achieved with bullies and as often the case with bullies, determined resistance can make them cave.
Valentine: If we can punch them in the proverbial face hard enough—See, my main concern is that missile launcher on their ship. If you piss people off enough, they'll come back and hover and shoot rather than landing to get anything. So our goal is to punch them in the face hard enough to make them regret landing and not do it again.
He turns to Vikki.
Valentine: And if you, after all the prep is done, once they've landed—
Vikki: (groks!) Sneak aboard their ship or on top of it and disable the missile launcher.
Valentine: If there's something you can do to take the missile launcher out of the equation.
Rachel: If you could take it off, I'm sure Poco would like another big gun.
Valentine: I'd rather not have another big gun on the ship if I can avoid it.
Tian: I don't think we should be out to arm our vessel.
Valentine: We're distinctive and—honestly—ugly enough as it is already. (off Rachel's look) Sorry. But I don't want to plant a big ol' honkin' missile launcher on it so that every time we land somewhere they'll have more incentive to search us.
Rachel: I wasn't thinking of puttin' it on the outside. I was thinkin' Poco'd have fun with it as it is on the inside.
Tian: No.
Valentine: I don't want Poco having fun with anything like that on the inside. He can have fun with the Hazardous Waste Notice.
She organizes the folk into teams to go through the junk piles looking for things they can turn to their advantage. They fan out to search. Vikki helps them, suggesting things to look for. Over the next several hours, the parts start trickling in.
Tian helps with the scrounging efforts as best she can while taking care of Poco and Nuri. Vikki mounts pictures of what she might need on Tian's data pad so the doctor will recognize them when she sees them. Even with the visual aid, Tian is out of her element and it's hard not to let the feeling of futility stop her in her tracks. Tian pushes through it and keeps searching. She stumbles on a transmitter powerful enough to disrupt communications and also some lengths of heavy pipe.
Rachel has been everywhere and seen everything across the Verse. She's even toured a junk pile or two in her time. Spurring her on her search is her worry for Nuri. The girl has gone from an idyllic tropical island to the rough and tumble Verse while recuperating from a heart transplant. She doesn't want to see the girl hurt, which she surely will be if the Buzzards have their way with her. She finds a whole mess of heavy duty ball bearings and takes them back to Viki. She also manages to turn it into a somewhat romantic walk with an appreciative man on her arm. It never hurts to have a strapping fellah carry your packages for you.
Valentine looks for things the townfolk have told him that might be found here and there. He finds a collection of super powered magnets and turns them in. He also finds an air compressor and returns with it just as Rachel comes back with the ball bearings. Vikki puts the parts her friends have gathered together in her head: Magnets. Transmitter. Ball Bearings. Pipes of various diameters in hard metal. Air compressor …
Vikki: (pleased!) Cannon!
Tian: With ball bearings?
Vikki: Yes!
Her enthusiasm is contagious and the crew goes out one more time to see if they can bring back something. Rachel finds a cache of burn gel. Score! Someone else brings in a bunch of inert chemicals. Valentine finds more pieces and parts that are less identifiable but Vikki takes them all.
All she has to do now is turn them into something great. The crew pitches in here, too, with ideas. Tian suggest using the magnets and the transmitter to make an EMP device to take out the Buzzards' comms. They won't be able to make one large enough to fry the enemy's ship but really, all they need is to take out their comms so they cannot coordinate their actions. Rachel suggests using the burn gel on the missile launcher to remove it from the enemy arsenal. They would have to get someone up on the hull with the launcher to apply the gel, however, so there is some risk involved. And then there's the cannon made from the pipes.
Vikki: So I'm thinking a three-pronged attack … (pats EMP parts) … Take out their comms and their electronics … (points at cannon parts) … Scare or injure them … (points to burn gel) … And use this to take out their missile launcher. They can't call for help, they're not able to put a hurt on anyone else, and if they do manage to leave they won't be able to use their ship as a threat. Sound good?
Tian: Sounds reasonable to me.
Rachel: Sounds good.
Valentine: Let's see how you do with the crafting.
He points at the rest of the gathered materials.
Valentine: You could in theory combine these into a last-ditch sort of ambush. Junk lying around. Some ugly chemicals, from something they step on and burns them a little bit.
Vikki: So does anybody want to start digging man-traps, like … pits?
Valentine: This will do that, in general.
The EMP device itself would also be the most complicated thing to build. In addition …
Vikki: I think that running up and sticking the EMP to their ship is the surest way, but that means no one can be looking at whoever's doing it. We'll need a distraction.
Valentine: The idea is the make the situation look like everybody is hiding out and that all of them will be rushing to take what they can take.
Tian: (to Vikki) And you're going to be the one to take that and the burn gel because you can do both of them at the same time. (points at the cannon parts and sundries) And the rest of us can be doing this.
Valentine: I would rather it be a two-person team.
Vikki: So who wants to—
Valentine: Worry about that later. Make the things first.
Tian: Certainly once everything's made, I'll help her get onto the vessel to attach it.
Everyone quickly settles on which tricks and traps to use but there one more thing to decide.
Tian: Nuri, you've been showing extraordinary knowledge when it comes to a lot of biological information. Would you have any ability to help out on this front as long as you're sitting down while you're doing the hands-on tasks.
Nuri: I would like to watch and maybe I could help. My fingers are nimble from helping my mother weave baskets.
Tian: (warm smile) That doesn't surprise me.
Valentine: Very good.
They get the girl a chair and everyone gets to work. Vikki attempts the EMP device first. When she's done, she's got a short-range EMP, with a remote trigger. The town's electrician, Wojciecha Walczak, hooks it up to a generator to power it up enough to work. She weaponizes the burn gel next. She has to be careful that the gel doesn't make the missiles explode once it's applied … but she manages a delivery mechanism that allows her to apply it in a broader amount instead of a thing drawn line.
Valentine: One thing I want out of this is something we can give the townspeople so that they feel like they're armed and participating. I want them to feel invested in this.
Vikki: The air compressor cannon.
Rachel: They can shoot junk out of it.
Tian: The ball bearings, certainly.
That cannon gets made and it will shoot the ball bearings. Next on the list …
Valentine: What about something on the ground to ambush without anyone actively using them. Maybe using some of the chemicals? OR even things that we can set up. Blocks. Obstacles. Things they have to run around.
Rachel: Caltrops.
They come up with an idea for the inert chemicals they've found, of launching them over an area so they will coat anyone within it. This one is a little trickier to pull off. Nuri pitches in on the crafting of this one.
Nuri: Have you thought about …?
Vikki: (sees) … Yeah! And—
Nuri: If this is that chemical and you mix it with this one—
Vikki: It should—
And off they go, completing each others' sentences as they whip through an orgy of pouring and mixing. They come up with a noxious but non-lethal mixture that bids fair to deter the marauders. Tian watches Nuri very carefully throughout the process, noting yet again how intelligent the girl is. When the batch is capped off and everyone steps back, she asks Nuri about her schooling. What grade did she finish? Nuri tells her she didn't go to school.
Meanwhile, Valentine encourages the townsfolk to take up arms for themselves. He offers pointers, strategies, in short—emergency lessons on defense. Elder Aloysius Whitman stands opposed to this, warning that Valentine is playing all of them for fools, that nothing good would come of trusting him.
Tuesday, 13 Mar 2525
Afternoon
Overall, it takes two days for everything to be found, modified, and made ready. Sure enough, the Buzzards come back a day. This time when the alarm blares over Trash Town, the people aren't galvanized by fear but by a resolve to fight for what's theirs.
Vikki and Tian team up.
Tian: How do you want to do this? Am I planting the EMP or the burn gel?
Vikki: You better do the EMP. Because we don't want to risk your hands. You're the surgeon.
Tian: Fair enough.
Valentine reminds the townsfolk that they know all the best hiding places from experience and he encourages them to think of hiding in ambush spots where their resistance can do some good. Also, he knows that there are only a few places the Buzzards can land, so how can they maximize the home advantage with that? Rachel offers to reposition Delilah closer to the town. This will force the marauders to go around or underneath Delilah to get to the town. Delilah's bulk would give Tian and Vikki cover for their sabotage missions and they could jump aboard her quickly once they're done.
During the preparations, Valentine spies three junked Trans-U ships on the near horizon and thinks that if he and the crew survive the coming battle, he'll see what he can do to cannibalize some parts for Delilah. Valentine also spies Elder Aloysius Whitman watching everything keenly. Valentine is instructing one of the townsfolk how to operate the cannon when he motions the Elder over. When the older man arrives, Valentine steps down and speaks to him.
Valentine: I'm trying to make peace and I want to … It's important not just for this—(gestures at Trash Town)—But this is part of me trying to work down my dad's …Karmic debt. Some portion of it, anyway. I'm coming to realize that my dad is complex. He's got lots of good things and bad things. The least I can do is try to pull down the bad ones.
Valentine shakes his head a little and looks Whitman in the eye.
Valentine: They're going to look to you when you've got the chance to build yourselves up again once these Buzzards have been driven away. I know that you're a good man
Whitman: After the war, I hung up my guns.
Valentine: You don't have to pick up a gun in order to get them back on their feet again. You just have to be a rock, somebody they rely on. And I know, just by looking at you and the way you reacted, you are that rock. You strike me as a man who can be counted on.
Whitman: Well …
Valentine lets him think it over and rejoins his crew.
Vikki: So, what did I miss?
Valentine: I'm making peace with Elder Whitman. Telling him he has to be the rock for his people after the pirates have been driven off. (a beat) Is this the life I've signed myself up for? Gallivanting through the galaxy cleaning up after my father's mistakes?
Vikki: His mistakes didn't cause … this.
Rachel: You're actually a hero in this case.
Tian: It doesn't make things better, guys.
Valentine: I guess that's true. It doesn't mean that I don't have a small trail of stakes to fall through, but that's neither here nor there.
Rachel: Yeah, but you don't know why his daughter left. He just noticed that she ran off. Or maybe he knows but he's not telling.
That's always a possibility. It's not something we have much time to ponder. That very evening the alarm sounds: The Buzzards are coming in.
Everyone takes their places. Tian readies the EMP device, Vikki fetches the burn gel. The townsfolk man the cannon and the chemical deterrent. Rachel mans the bridge of Delilah.
The Buzzards' ship lands right where we hoped they would—on the far side of our ship away from the town. They also come in with their missiles aimed at us. Not quite what we want but at least the missiles aren't aimed at the town. The marauders exit their ship a little more armed, a little more cautious. Have they been alerted to the town's preparations?
That can't be good.
The Buzzards are being led by a tall blond man by name of Malachi. He's wearing armor and carrying a long arm—some sort of high-tech shot gun. His armor looks like the sort the Purplebellies and SWAT wear. He looks disappointed by their last raid and has come back to get his rightful share this time around. His men, Big Bruno, Dog Face Joe, Spike, and others head for the bar, walking through the main market square of the town.
Tian and Vikki are hiding outside in the dark, tasked with sabotaging the Buzzards' ship. They have to be careful. The bandits have posted a guy outside to guard their ship. Tian and Vikki have earwigs, as do the rest of the crew. Valentine whispers a warning to everyone over their private channel.
Valentine: We're about to make some noise.
Vikki and Tian start moving into position. Tian notices something that nearly makes her trip: Nuri is also outside. Tian had ordered her to stay aboard the ship for her safety yet there she is, curious as a cat and trying to get a good look at what's going on. Tian can't shoo her back aboard—they're in the middle of sneaking onto the bandit ship and can't give away their location. She'll just have to trust Nuri will keep her head down.
Vikki's jerry rigged burn gel bomb has sprung a leak and the fumes are getting to her. She carries on regardless, blinking tears and trying not to breathe the noxious stuff in.
Valentine is hiding in the main market square with the cannon. He calls out from the shadows as the bandits approach.
Valentine: Time to leave, gentlemen.
He fires at the leader. The cannon shoots billiard ball sized ball bearings and one of them hits the leader square in the torso. His armor absorbs most of the damage but the leader is slammed to the dirt with broken ribs. The rest of his men ready their weapons and bring them up, pointing them at Valentine.
Uh oh.
Rachel, meanwhile, sees Nuri's gone missing. She swears under her breath and looks out the bridge windows for her. She spots Tian and Vikki outside and decides to help people she can see as opposed those she can't. Vikki and Tian are going to need a distraction so they can sneak aboard. She grabs a couple of beers from her stash and walks out to chat the lone guard up. The guard is a little leery—he can hear the gunfire and why is this woman chatting him up?—but hey, there's beer.
Tian takes advantage of the guard's confusion and gets the EMP device planted on the ship's hull. Vikki likewise climbs onto the top where the missile launcher is and positions it to do the most damage. She triggers the device and the gel gets to work on the launcher. The fumes from the gel are a bit much, however, and Vikki is dizzied by them.
Back at the market square, Malachi waves his men forward.
Malachi: Get' em!
Thus unleashed, the bandits start shooting everywhere and the townsfolk scramble under cover. Malachi picks himself up, suffering a broken rib, and readies to shoot Valentine. Valentine has made it back to the cannon and has to decide where the next shot goes. He doesn't want to drive the bandits back Vikki and Tian's way but he needs to lay down some covering fire so his crew can get away without being seen. Valentine thinks he can end this fight quickly if he can break the leader. He fires several shots with the cannon and leader retreats backward through his men, using them for cover as the rest of the bandits advance.
Valentine: I am really getting tired of this.
Rachel hears the gunfire intensify and yells at the guard to get back on his ship. The man is confused. He sees smoke rising from the hull of the ship—what the hell? Nuri takes advantage of the fuss to scurry back aboard Delilah. Rachel follows, still holding the two beers.
The guard is now on alert and Vikki risks sliding off the hull and making a run for the piles of junk for cover. Her growing up in a rough neighborhood serves her well. Many were the occasions when she had to duck down an alley or pass through a store and go out the back to avoid trouble on the street. The guard fires at her and she yelps as she runs. Tian breaks from cover as the guard shoots. Fueled by her memories from the first U War as a combat medic, Tian dodges the bullets but twists her ankle. She powers through it. She and Vikki fetch up together under a bit of cover and duck down. The town is at their back, however, and both can see the rest of the marauders shooting everything up. Vikki keys her earwig.
Vikki: Hey, Rachel? Can you dust off with Delilah and use the exhaust to scatter the bad guys?
Rachel: I could try but I'm uncomfortable with the danger of it.
Vikki: Are we caring right now?
Rachel: We would kill the townspeople, dear.
Vikki: You're right, never mind.
Rachel: And Val's still out in that direction.
Vikki: Yeah, WAY never mind.
They remember that they've yet to trigger the chemical deterrent on the bad guys. Vikki offers to do it, as Tian's got a twisted ankle. Tian motions her to go as she pulls out the remote trigger for the EMP. Vikki creeps through the junk to the trigger for the chemicals.
Valentine and Malachi are trading shots back and forth in the market square while the rest of the marauders shoot at the townspeople. Valentine takes a bullet in his thigh. He shoots right back. The shot goes wide. Vikki makes it to the trigger and she sets the chemicals off.
FWOOSHHHHHH!
A mix of eye irritants and slippery stuff sprays over half the market square. Malachi dodges it but most of his men get hit and they run for their ship. One of Malachi's men, Razor, stands his ground … and just like that, the odds are only two-to-one against Valentine.
Valentine draws Black Rose, his father's gun, and steps free of the cannon.
Valentine: (steely) The time to leave is now. Before we start killing. Get on your ship and leave.
Malachi takes in the sight of Valentine (shot in the thigh, uncowed, and holding a rather nasty-looking black revolver on him) and takes stock of his team (down to one man, the rest fled, no comms) … and despite his armor and long arm, decides that retreat is the better option. He grabs Razor and both bandits start backing away for their ship.
Valentine paces them, Black Rose steady in his hand.
Valentine: Go on now. Go on.
The other bandits are running through a gauntlet of townsfolk to get to their ship. Partially blinded by the stinging chemicals, they stumble through the junk and the townsfolk, poked at by sticks and debris, and they scatter into the junk, looking to hide. Malachi and Razor make it aboard and the ship's ramp rises with a show of sparks. Tian triggers the EMP, weird light arcs from it to the ship's generators, and the ship dusts off, streaming smoke. The pilot has a hard time of it but he manages to make the ship fly away, wobbling toward the horizon, drunkenly gaining altitude ….
'"BOOM!
Something explodes on the top hull, a bright flash against the night sky … and the ship screams for the ground, crashing below the horizon. Appalled, Vikki stares at the crash-glow rising in the distance.
Vikki: Does this mean my kill card has three people on it now?
Valentine: No. They're not confirmed kills. You do not get to mark them off your dance card until they're confirmed.
The townsfolk comb through the trash piles and round up the bandits who failed to board their ship. They're bullies and cowards and surrender when they realize they are outnumbered. They're marched into town and put under lock and key until the authorities can pick them up. Valentine watches the cheering and whooping and victorious hollering. He finds Elder Whitman and points to the crowd.
Valentine: They're cheering. Cheering for you.
Elder Whitman: No. They're cheering for you.
Valentine demurs. Accolade was never his goal. A party ensues. It lasts the night and all through the day following and the crew celebrates right along with the townfolk. Afterward, the party debris is cleaned up, the loose ends from the battle (like the apprehended bandits) are tied off, and everyone gets back to business.
Tian offers her services with the clinic. The town happily accepts. Valentine is able to buy some parts and repairs from Trash Town at favorable rates. He asks for and receives the parts from the three Trans-U ships he's spotted earlier. He also looks into getting the huge gaping holes in the decks covered over. As he gets the repairs underway, he starts thinking about other options, like getting a casino set up onboard, fitting out the infirmary with better equipment and perhaps even turning it into something closer to a hospital. He might be able to rig up a machine shop going for Vikki and Poco. It would come in useful if they had to make repairs while in the Black. For the moment, the people of Trash Town are happy to have them here. Valentine decides to stay for the next few days and see what they can do for Delilah.
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