Shipping VIII: Yes, Eight. No, really. We are THAT insane.

[V'icternus]

Woo, random bad ship time.

Not Anymore
Rabbit/Thanatos (Kinda)

Spoiler

Show

Thanatos slid the key into the lock, a normal, automatic set of actions which somehow registered in his memory, hearing the click as metal struck metal, the faint metallic scrapping, and feeling the tight, machined fit.
For some reason, today, unlike most days, it almost felt like there was effort involved in turning over the deadbolt. The knob turned just slightly differently than before.
As he stepped inside the apartment and began removing his boots, he called softly across the dark entry hallway.
"Honey, I'm home."

There was no response. This in and of itself was not unusual. He worked late and often arrived in the dead of night after she was asleep. Thanatos paid special attention to his feet as he crept across the wooden floor. and stepped soundlessly onto the tatami mat outside their bedroom. She had insisted on the thing. It was hard to care for, but that be damned, the thing had flavour. Thanatos set down his pack when something caught his eye. A single, neatly folded sheet of paper illuminated by a desk lamp she kept on for an unexplained reason.
Thanatos slid into the chair and unfolded it.

Exactly one-half of the monthly rent payment fell out.

The note read thus:

Thanatos,
I'm Sorry I couldn't do this to your face, but I can't stand it, anymore. I've been trying to fight it, to examine it, and to see why, but it just comes down to this:
I don't love you. I don't think I ever did.
life has been great between us - except for theparts where I stay up all night for you to come home, stressed from things you can't talk about. I do care about you, but it's nt love, and we've been treating it like it is.

Not anymore.

It's near the end of the month, hence my half of the rent spilling into your lap when you opened this. You'll have to front next month's, yourself. We can't live this lie any more.
Don't bother calling, I've changed my number.
~Rabbit

Thanatos sat.
Thanatos read.

And he went back to work in the morning. There was nothing in between except the crying.

...*Sniff* That's... so sad... Well written, but sad...

I love it!

...*Goes back to pretending he's not here*

[Reinholdt]

You're a mean kitty.

*cuddles and purrs and snubs simultaneously*

^ No one can ever leave.

[Nameless]

*cuddles and purrs and snubs simultaneously*

^ No one can ever leave.

Only Rein can be cute and mean at the same time.

[V'icternus]

One of these days I'll have to see if I can muster up some spare time and some inspiration to contribute here... I love writing, and have experience with detailing relationships thanks to at least five long-running (1000-page plus) online RPGs that always seem to end in my character dating another character...
Yeah, I should contribute. Maybe. We'll see.

[Mordokai]

You're a mean kitty.

He's a cat! He's evil by default!

[Nameless]

He's a cat! He's evil by default!

But I <3 cats. ._.

[Cristo Meyers]

Only Rein can be cute and mean at the same time.

Let's see what happens when we add wet into the equation...

*hoses*

[Reinholdt]

He's a cat! He's evil by default!

Lies! I'm unaligned. Clearly.
*watches as Cristo's hose sprays out hugs and happiness*
See?

@ Vict - Look forward to it.

[Cristo Meyers]

Lies! I'm unaligned. Clearly.
*watches as Cristo's hose sprays out hugs and happiness*
See?

@ Vict - Look forward to it.

*watches as the hug is dealt out by Andre the Giant, who was more than happy to oblige giving the kitty a big hug*

Ahhhh...the sweet sound of cracking ribs...

[Mordokai]

THAT'S ME HE'S "HUGGING", DUMBASS!!!

You turned the hose the wrong way... again!

[Cristo Meyers]

THAT'S ME HE'S "HUGGING", DUMBASS!!!

You turned the hose the wrong way... again!

...eh, either way.

[Mordokai]

Imma get you for this...

[Cristo Meyers]

Imma get you for this...

promises, promises...

[RabbitHoleLost]

Sounds sexy.
And stuff.

[Cristo Meyers]

Sounds sexy.
And stuff.

What? Being bear-hugged by the late Andre the Giant?

...yeah, I suppose, if that's your thing, I mean.

[Nameless]

What? Being bear-hugged by the late Andre the Giant?

...yeah, I suppose, if that's your thing, I mean.

Rabbit seems to have many peculiar fetishes, so I wouldn't be surprised.

[Reinholdt]

What? Being bear-hugged by the late Andre the Giant?

...yeah, I suppose, if that's your thing, I mean.

Actually I think she was referring to how Mordokai intended to... "get you."

[Cristo Meyers]

Actually I think she was referring to how Mordokai intended to... "get you."

That was my second guess...

don't encourage him...

[Mordokai]

Forget me, don't encourage her...

[Jacklu]

Mind Number Studios, in association with Jacklu Enterprises, is proud (though secretly deeply, deeply ashamed) to present to you:

Mental Scar Wars
Episode III: Revenge of the (Mag)Clones!
(starring: Magtok, Somebody else I don't want to reveal cause it would ruin the surprise)

Spoiler

Show

“For the last time, NO! I do not want to know, nor do I care in the least about how you got those scars!”

Magtok rolled his eyes and turned away from the crazy person with the green hair and disastrous makeup job. The freak, who seemed to have a pension for laughing crazily and stabbing people in the face, had been following Magtok everywhere he went ever since the cyborg had landed his crab-copter on that escaped mental asylum patient that liked to wear black clothes, a long cape, and run around at night throwing sharp metal objects at total strangers before shouting that he was the night and running off.

Magtok had barely managed to make it to this city after leaving Townsville far behind. His crash landing had had him worried at first, but seeing as squashing the city pest had made him into a local hero, he was happy that it all worked out in his favor. Now, if he could just get rid of that jester fellow that had started worshiping him.

“Magtok, want to see a magic trick?”

“No.”

“Want to know how I got these scars? Well, when I was a kid we went to see the pandas at the zoo-”

“That’s it!” Magtok spun to face the warped individual. “I’ve had it up to here with your pathetic self absorbed ramblings! Have you not noticed that I have more important things to think about than those scars?! Besides, I know that you got them while learning to shave for your prom. Yes, I read the file at that nuthouse you were living in. Now shut up and leave me alone!”

The fellow’s lip quivered for a moment and tears welled up in his eyes. Magtok sighed. That had been a little harsh. Maybe he would get the guy a family to torture or something to keep him occupied.

“Okay, look, I’ve been really stressed lately. How about we go-”

The air around Magtok shimmered and he faded away slowly amidst a small cloud of glowing energy particles.

“get you some soft served…” Magtok looked around slowly, unsure of what had just happened to him. He was quite suddenly in a large room filled with rows of massive machines covered with flashing lights. The row stretched seemingly indefinitely to the left and right. In front of him was a low railing. Magtok swallowed hard and stepped to the railing to get a look at where he was. He froze with shock and awe.

The room was massive beyond comprehension. He seemed to be standing on one level of perhaps thousands of similar floors with reached upwards and downwards to the point where atmospheric haze obscured any eventual floor or ceiling there might have been. Perhaps a hundred feet away was what appeared to be the opposite wall, composed of similar nearly endless floors. Magtok could see that each level was lined with banks of electronic pods of some kind, many of which contained a humanoid figure, seemingly docked to it. The whole structure was clearly artificial, built of some unknown alloy. It was gritty and darkly lit, with the air smelling heavily of ozone and oil. Distant echoing of clanking machinery filled the silence, setting a disturbing metronome within the space. The ambient temperature was uncomfortably warm, and the recycled air was stifling.

As Magtok looked, he started to make out movement on the far wall. More of those humanoid creatures were stomping around, going about their business silently, with an air of deep menacing. The cyborg took a step back from the dizzying edge and looked both ways down the row he was on again. A line of the odd beings was marching nearly lockstep towards him from the right. Magtok stepped back flat against the wall and closed his eyes, waiting for their hands to grab at him to drag him away. To his surprise, they continued on past without seeming to notice him or care that he was there. The cyborg opened his eyes as they filed on through. Their skin was a sickly gray color and their bodies were covered with electronic components. Magtok felt a momentary kinship with these half mechanical men. The wires sticking out of their skin was a bit icky, though. And he didn’t like the uniform automaton nature they projected as they passed. Shivering, he waited till they were passed and headed off in the direction they had come from. He was going to find out who was ripping off his style and put them in their place.

Wandering through the vast complex only served to give Maggy an unshakable sense of unease. There was something… wrong with it all. It was heartless. Not heartless in an evil way. No, he would have been happy to find torture chambers every once in a while. This was a different kind of heartless altogether. A methodical efficiency that had no place for emotions or ambition or spirit. It made Magtok sick. Even worse, these guys didn’t seem to need food of any kind. Magtok clutched his grumbling stomach. What he wouldn’t have given for a sandwich just then. He passed beneath a low arched doorway and came to a sudden halt.

The room before him spread like the center chamber of some grand cathedral raised in honor of technology and cold scientific advancement. At least two hundred feet in diameter, it was round, the walls covered with towering stacks of flashing control panels. The middle of the room served as a raise dais, housing banks of equipment the purpose of which Magtok could only guess at. Hanging from the vaulted ceiling was a vast apparatus covered with hundreds of robotic arms and screens and tubes and thick bundles of wires winding and intertwining. Moving around the room were more of those cheap Magclone imitations. They were going about work with all the efficient purpose of a hive of bees. Magtok glanced around for a refrigerator or sushi bar. No luck. He stepped cautiously out into the room and took it all in curiously.

“Come no further.”

Magtok froze. The voice had been deep and resonating, resounding from all directions at once. It had been the buzzing, harmonious voice of thousands of speakers talking in perfect unison. It made his skin crawl and his stomach do flips.

“W-who are you?” Magtok’s voice broke as he spoke.

“We are the Borg.”

“Th-the Borg? What… what is this place? What do you want with me?”

“We have sought you across endless expanses of time and space, seeking to find you and add your uniqueness to our own. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

Magtok didn’t like the sound of that. He took a step back towards the door, only to find a pair of robotic hands coming down hard on his shoulders, holding him in place.

“But… why me? Why would you travel so far to find me?”

“We remembered you from deep within the mind of the Queen. Her longing for you has become our longing. Now we have found you and you shall be with us as one. Prepare to be assimilated.”

“Wait! This ‘Queen’ of yours; who is she? Why does she want me specifically?”

There was a long silence with seemed to include even the machinery within the walls of the structure. It chilled Magtok to his very bones. Even the artificial ones. Movement above him caught his eyes. A large aperture in the ceiling opened and an object suspended by a massive jointed piece of machinery descended slowly towards the floor. As it drew closer, the floor at the center of the middle dais irised open and another object rose slowly from it. Magtok looked at this second object with confusion. It was a body. Or most of one at least. Female by all appearances, though missing the neck and head. His stomach turned sickeningly as particular features of this headless and partially mechanized body struck long buried memories. He turned his gaze back up to the smaller object. It had almost reached him and was quite clearly identified as being a head and neck with the spinal column hanging down from it, twisting and writhing slightly through tiny servos mounted between the vertebrae. It reminded him of some kind of boney snake that had started to burrow its way into a decapitated head. The head was facing away from him at the moment, but it was slowly rotating to align with the vacant port on the body. Magtok’s blood froze as the face came into view. The disembodied object pulled its mouth into a mocking grin at the look on his face. Its eyes glistened in the electronic light. With a disturbing “shlorp” the spine slipped down into the waiting body and the head was fitted into place. Clamps along the neck snapped into place, firmly anchoring the head to its ready vessel.

“N-no… it’s not possible… You… You’re supposed to be-”

“Dead? Oh Magtok, you should have known better than to assume something like that.”

Magtok struggled a little against the powerful hands holding him in place, but his knees were weakening and his head was spinning as the implications of who stood before him raced through his mind.

“Well Frack… I’m pretty much screwed, aren’t I?”
The Borg Queen let out a cutting laugh that echoed through the chambers. She steps forward and down off of the center platform. Her hand reached up to stroke the organic half of Magtok’s face, causing the cyborg to flinch away instinctively. Her hand was cold and lifeless, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Magtok could almost feel her malice seep out of it like a subtle static charge. She grinned at his reaction and grabbed his chin tightly from beneath, holding his head in place and forcing him to keep his eyes on her.

“Oh, don’t be like that Magtok. You should be proud of me. The Borg found my broken body where you let it fall. They added me to the collective. Made me whole and then some. Made my body a twisted and unintentional mockery of the man I loved. Of the man that stole my heart before he ripped it beating from my chest.”

“I told you I was going to give it back after I-”

She slapped him hard enough to snap his head to the side and crack it audibly. Magtok let out a slight groan before snapping it back into place.

“But you know something Magtok? They never quite managed to wipe my mind. The burning hate inside me was too much for their nanobots to scrub clean. It grew until it was all there was left of me. Spread into their system to all the others within the collective. You should be happy, Maggy. An entire empire of unsleeping beings who grow stronger with every race they devour whole, spreading like a festering mold across the stars, all seething with an undying hatred and laser focused obsession for you.”

She turned away from him and took a few steps.

“Eventually, my wrath so filled the mind of the collective that I was selected to become the new Queen. The very hub through which all the conscious and unconscious thoughts of the Borg would flow and be issued. It gave me the power to find you. I have traveled endless eons for this moment.”

Magtok glanced carefully at the borg holding him. They were seven feet tall and clearly physically stronger than him. He gulped and looked back at the vengeful Queen. Through the terror of the things she could and would do to him, Magtok managed to form a plan. Not much of one, but it was all he had left.

“I’m… Sorry.”

The Queen stopped midstride. She turned slowly to face him, her face twisted with rage.

“What. Did. You. Just. Say?”

“I said… I’m sorry… for what I did to you…” He swallowed hard before continuing, “It was wrong and mean and… er… I’m sorry.”

Her face twisted with each word. First disbelief, then anger, then maddening delight. A wry grin crossed her face and she chuckled. Her chuckle built into a laugh, and her laugh into an insane cackle which rose into the air, filling the room and carrying through the Borg facility, feeding through the structure-wide com system to assault Magtok from all sides. Then suddenly it stopped. The Queen leveled her gaze at him, her eyes cutting like diamonds.

“You want me to spare you? Want me to let you live? Maybe drop you on some forsaken lifeless rock to spend the rest of your miserable days? Is that what you want, Magtok? To continue your pathetic existence, if only for a few more days?”

“That, and maybe a sandwich. I’m kinda hungry. Me and that crazy guy were going for ice-cream when you-”

“Enough! … If you want me to let you go, you are going to have to beg for it. On your hands and knees. Maybe if you kiss my boots I will decide to have mercy on you.”

She glared at him, daring him to grovel. To test her offer. Magtok obliged, dropping to his hands and knees and kissing her feet.

“Please let me live, Miss Borg Queen. Let me muck around in this mortal mud for a little longer.”

“Say my name. Ask me using my real name. The name of the woman you betrayed and left for dead.”

“Okay… Let me live please, Rabbit. Show me the mercy I didn’t grant you.”

Rabbit, Queen of the Borg, smirked.

“No.”

She let out a laugh as two Borg lifted Magtok from the ground and held him upright. She slowly slid a wickedly curved blade from her side, lifting it up and pressing it to Magtok’s throat. With a sadistic smile, she lowered the blade over where Magtok’s heart, if he even had one, would be.

“Consider this to be poetic revenge. First I will cut your heart out. Then I will have you dismantled, your parts melted down into a hunk of worthless metal. Then I will have you refitted with Borg body parts. Your mind will be scrubbed clean and you will become just another mindless drone under my command. And then I will flush you out an airlock and into a star.”

She applied pressure to the blade, slowly sliding it into Magtok’s chest. Maggy screamed in pain and readied himself for the great beyond. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light. Magtok stared with disbelief as angelic warmth spread over his body. Heaven? How had he managed that? Had to have been a mix up in central filing. Wait… the knife wasn’t in his chest anymore. And Rabbit looked very surprised. Pulses of energy filled the air, fired from oddly shaped guns being held by men and woman in red and blue spandex body suits. Magtok dropped to the floor and crumpled as the borg holding him were hit and felled by the lancing beams. The Queen turned and bellowed in rage as she was impacted by the energy weapons, shrugging their damage off with disdain. The wall behind Magtok erupted in flames before collapsing inwards. More of the ridiculously dressed people charged in, firing more of those tacky weapons of theirs at the borg. Two of them knelt next to Magtok. One of them, a strangely pale fellow with yellow eyes, looked down at him and spoke in a none too comforting tone.

“Do not be afraid. We have come to assist you and facilitate your escape. Please, hold on.”

He pressed a symbol on his shirt. Or, at least, the upper torso part of his one piece suit.

“We have the secured the Captive individual. Begin evacuation immediately.”

The air around them shimmered with that strange particulate energy that had brought Magtok to this mechanical hell. Rabbit finished ripping one of her attackers in half with her bare hands before turning to face them. Her eyes widened and she screamed with unbridled rage. The Borg Mother lunged for Magtok, only to have her hands pass harmlessly through his vanishing body. She yelled a final parting message to him as she and her borg home went transparent. Magtok’s gut rebelled as the room faded and blended with a new one, slowly being replaced by a brightly lit area. He and the others were on a raised and glowing platform inside of a small room. A man stood behind a console nearby, furiously working the controls. He tapped his communicator.

“We have them Captain! Get us out of here!”

The room lurched sickeningly as the ship it was within surged past the speed of light and beat a hasty retreat from the Borg vessel. Magtok sat in silence as the people around him spoke, telling of how they had been tracking that borg cube for several light-years as it tracked him down. It seemed he was very lucky they got there in time to rescue him, though they had broken several very important protocols in doing so. Magtok didn’t register a single word of it. Didn’t feel them as they waved their medical device over the bleeding wound in his chest. His mind kept replaying his conversation with his scornful ex-lover. She had tracked him across the universe for untold ages. Her fading words to him as his rescuers transported him out of her menacing grasp still rung boldly in his ears, drowning out all other sounds.

“You won’t get away! You will be mine, Magtok! Even to the end of the universe itself, you will be mine!”

[happyturtle]

Jacklu, you are made of win.

[Destro_Yersul]

Well now I just feel inadequate. And must write more. MORE.

In Space, There is No Way Out
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 7
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee

Spoiler

Show

Twobit stood staring at the screen, looking at the damage report. Little red dots kept popping up, showing that something somewhere had just gone wrong. There was a line of them representing doors that was steadily moving away from processing.

Twobit didn't like the implications of that.

DeeRee had taken a seat at a communications console. She was monitoring comms use all over the ship, as well as keeping an eye on the automated distress signal. They had begun transmission not long ago.

DeeRee thought it was a little scary how quickly everything had gone to hell.

Little voices kept chiming in over her headset. There was a pair of miners heading for medbay, the crew that had taken refuge in the barracks, and scattered reports from security teams. Medbay was being mostly quiet, but they were busy. Rabbit was keeping up with periodic reports though. The rest of the ship had gone silent.

DeeRee sighed and pulled up a list of known dead. There were upwards of one thousand people on the ship. It was a long list. Miners, security personnel, maintenance workers... The ones that had been alone were the first ones to go.

...come in, any... The comm crackled as a new voice broke in. There was a lot of static. DeeRee tried to isolate the signal.

Bridge here, please repeat.

...in engine...name is Jericus...found m...d help...gines dow... The signal cut out.

Hey dad? DeeRee spun her chair around and pulled the headset down to hang around her neck. Someone just put in a call for assistance.

What part of the ship?

Engineering. I couldn't make him out very well, there was too much static. I think he said the engines were down.

Twobit glanced back towards the screen with the damage report displayed. A number of red dots had appeared near junction boxes used to carry power to the engines from the reactor. Damn. Alright. You... he pointed at Magtok. Pick a couple security guards and get down to engineering. Then start fixing things. If the engines go, we start drifting. I don't want to lose control of this ship.

Oh, hell... Magtok looked around the bridge and sighed. He had wanted to stay here, close to the escape pods. But the captain was still the captain, and what he said went. Yessir. Magtok waved a few of the guards over and the small group left the bridge.

DeeRee watched them go, then turned back to her console and slipped the headset back over her head. A voice was on, speaking in a rather frustrated voice. One DeeRee recognized.

-ay, and we're full. I repeat,

[hr]

this is Medbay, and we're full. I don't know what you want to do with any more idiots that get themselves hurt, but they can't come here. We have no beds left. This deck was not designed to hold this number of patients at one time. Rabbit was tired, and it showed. The caffeine pills were wearing off, and she was slowing down. The other doctors were too. It was impossible to keep up the pace they had set, but Rabbit was determined to hold on longer than the rest of them.

The door slid open behind her, and she sighed, preparing herself to turn away whoever had just come in. Booted feet clanked on the deck behind her as she turned around.

Rabbit! Reinholdt was running across the deck. Rabbit could only smile when she saw him, her joy tempered by weariness.

Rein. Damn, you have no idea how happy I am to see you. Rabbit hugged him tightly, burying her face in his soft fur.

Lucky too. Destro had walked in behind him. We saw one of those things eating a dead security guard on the way up. They're a lot faster than they look. Rein blasted it, but it was almost on top of us by the time it died. Then I had to override the elevator lockdown in order to get here, and another of them jumped out of a vent, and...

Rabbit's head snapped up sharply. After you got off the elevator?

Destro blinked. Yeah. Right before we got here. Had to cut it apart with my mining torch.

They're on this deck. Despite the lockdown. Rabbit turned to look at surgery, and the ICU. Oh god...

There were over one hundred people in Medbay.

Jericus is a character of Wolf's. Thanks for letting me swipe him for this! Would have used another playgrounder, but all the redshirts must be volunteers. Except Cristo, because killing him is fun.

[Reinholdt]

@ Jacklu - Poor Rabbit.
*kills Magtok slowwwwwwwwwwwly*

@ Destro - Dun dun DUNNNN!!!
And hooray for soft fur! I dunno why. That just stuck out for me.

[Destro_Yersul]

Guess this makes Rein my only fan. I know the rest of you are there. Post, dangit!

In Space, You Are Outnumbered
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 8
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee

Spoiler

Show

Magtok and his escort picked their way down the hall, weapons ready. This part of the ship had seen heavy fighting since the initial attack, and the floor was strewn with bits and pieces of things that used to be alive. The smell was awful, and Magtok was glad his nose was included in the part of his face that had been replaced with cybernetics: he could turn it off. The two guards weren't so lucky, and one of them was holding a hand over the lower part of his face.

All three of them had shut off their comms and were keeping quiet. They didn't want to attract any attention by making unnecessary noise. The door to engineering loomed ahead of them, large rents torn in the heavy steel. It was obvious to Magtok that they'd never be able to get it to open.

Well, I guess that's it. The cyborg looked the door up and down. We can't get in, so let's go back to the nice safe bridge.

Don't think we can. Put in the first guard. Captain gave us an order, and he's not likely to be happy if we return without filling it.

Alright. Umm... Magtok looked back at the door, then froze. Sharp clicking noises were coming from behind it. No.. behind him. The ceiling above him shuddered slightly, then a vent ten feet away came down with a crash, and one of the things dropped from it.

Oh frak.

The creature darted forward, eviscerating the second guard as the first poured fire into it. Screaming filled the corridor, and more clicking started, as vents all down the corridor erupted, spewing alien monstrosities into the hall.

OH FRAK.

The first alien fell, and the guard turned his rifle on the others while Magtok desperately fumbled with the emergency release keypad next to the door. The door creaked and slid open a few inches in a shower of sparks. Without looking back, the cyborg wedged himself through the gap and ran down the hallway on the other side. Inhuman screeching mixed with very human screams followed him all the way.

[hr]

Medbay had exploded with activity, as Doctors scrambled to grab whatever they thought could be used as a weapon and nurses tried to calm whichever patients were still conscious. Rabbit stood in the center barking orders, having taken command of the organized chaos throughout the deck.

Destro and Reinholdt were manning the main ward with their mining torches. The high powered cutting tools were probably the most effective weapons on the deck, and Rabbit wanted them in a position where they could respond to an attack from any direction.

Dallas had grabbed another pistol from somewhere, and was standing with Rabbit, waving the pair of firearms and shouting directions at anyone she overlooked. Rabbit herself had taken a rifle that had been brought in with one of the injured guards.

You! Nurse! Put him in the ICU and lock the doors!Watch out for the cords, get that out of the way! Don't trip over the IV stand! Keep an eye on the vents, they come out of the vents. Don't turn your back on the goddamn door until it's closed all the way! Secure that machine to the wall! It's not stowed properly!

Orders flew across the room, drowning out the ambient noises of the ship. Reinholdt glanced over at Destro. They're coming. Through the... RABBIT! MOVE! The shout caused Rabbit to look over, as a vent above her exploded violently. Dallas shoved her, and she tumbled to the deck and rolled. One of the aliens dropped from the vent and landed on the young docter, who crashed to the floor.

Dallas! It punched two claws through him and stood up. Rabbit caught a fleeting glimpse of the doctor's face, locked in an expression of surprise and pain, before the thing slammed him back into the floor.

Vents all over medbay crashed open, and more of the things spilled in. FrakfrakFRAK! Destro sliced his torch at one, shearing it in half. It collapsed to the floor, while Rein tore a hole through the one behind it. Rabbit pulled the trigger down on her rifle, spraying pulses of energy at the one that had Dallas pinned. It staggered back and fell, ripped to pieces by the roaring fusillade.

We're screwed. SO SCREWED. Destro stumbled over to the door and hit the comm. They've hit medbay! There's a lot of them. Can't hold them all off- he grunted as one crashed into him from behind. Miner and alien fell to the deck in a tangle.

Oh god... The thing raised a claw and started to bring it down towards him, but a beam of light lanced through its arm and the scythe-like talon embedded itself in the deck next to Destro's head. It screeched as more beams of light tore through it, then fell sideways. Reinholdt stepped over it, pulling Destro to his feet.

Dallas? Rabbit rolled the doctor over onto his back. He coughed, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth and pouring from his chest, staining his white coat a deep red.

Not dead yet...

Not yet? You aren't allowed to die, dammit. Not on my watch.

He chuckled at that, and shook his head. How're you going to fix me? Get out of here. There's too many for you to fight off.

Destro and Rein half ran, half stumbled over to them. Both were firing away with the cutting tools, filling the air with beams of light, the crack of ionizing air, and alien limbs. GO!

Rabbit stood and shouldered the rifle. The medbay had filled with screaming and the scent of iron. He's right. She said. Rein. Destro. There's nothing more we can do here.

The human resistance across the deck had been compressed into small pockets. Dallas propped himself up against a heartrate monitor and picked up his two pistols. Rabbit hit the door release to the reception area and hurried through, the two miners following her. She grabbed a portable comm from the desk and hit the intercomm button. This is Chief Medical Officer Rabbit Vasque. Medbay is lost. I'm calling a full evacuation of the deck by anyone able to make it to the doors. Get out while you can.

Reinholdt already had the main door open. He glanced back to make sure the other two were following, then all three of them ran for the elevators.

Dallas blasted one alien off its feet with a quartet of shots from his two pistols, then re-aimed to focus on a second. His vision had started to darken around the edges. Damn you. A second alien twitched and fell, it's head blown apart. Damn you all. Both pistols clicked empty, and Dallas tossed one aside to reach for a spare clip for the other. An alien loomed in front of him and screeched. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and fell sideways. Someone's arm was lying on the deck a few feet away. It looked awfully familiar.

Dallas realized it was his seconds before the thing tore his head from his shoulders.

[hr]

We've lost medbay! Deeree tore off the headset as it filled with confused shouts and panicked calls for help. Rabbit's called for an evacuation.

Dammit! Twobit reached for the security feed from the medbay's cameras, then thought better of it. The crew didn't need to see that. Without that... The captain shook his head. We won't be able to take back this ship.

The door to the bridge shuddered as something huge slammed into it.

They're here! Someone shouted, and the guards lining the bridge pulled back into a tight circle, weapons pointed at the door.

Close the blast doors! Twobit roared at the officer manning the security station, and he nodded. Heavy steel shutters slammed down on both sides of the main bridge door, shielding it from impact.

DeeRee took her sidearm from its holster and looked at her father. Twobit had turned back to the case containing the model of the ship and smashed it with a blow from his fist. He pulled the saber from amidst shards of glass and wiped it on one leg of his uniform.

This is my bridge. He said, pulling his own sidearm out with his other hand. And this is my ship. Captain Twobit took three steps forward, as the air vents at the top of the room burst open, spewing clawed horrors onto the bridge.

Rifle fire filled the air as the captain raised his sword and screamed his defiance to the aliens. I will not lose them without a fight!

Incidentally, the board's PG13 nature and word filter makes it somewhat difficult to use expletives. Therefore, I took a page from Battlestar Galactica's book and used a fake one.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Destro, you know I'm your fan! I'm just not on as much as I used to be.
Get-eth on msn. >.>

Awesome death.

''Not dead yet''
''Not yet? You aren't allowed to die, damnit!''

I really wub the relationship between me and Rabbit.(Shame I was a redshirt but)


''Damn you!'' ''Damn you all!''
Hmm, that arm looks awefully familiar...Hmmmm


A Awesome death.)

Write on! Write on Dessie, and get your but on msn the next time you post it.
I'm just not really on the playground that much anymore.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Awww, poor DD.
Atleast you went down fighting, though, eh?
Good job, Destro. I really am enjoying this series.

[Reinholdt]

Hehe. Magtok is so great. Luckiest redshirt ever. May even become a Mauve shirt with a promotion.

[Destro_Yersul]

It's because he keeps hanging around people with shirts that have more red on them than his, and then running away when they die.

[Dragonrider]

I LOVE THIS, Destro.

[RabbitHoleLost]

I...don't know how to explain this one.
Partially thoughts that came to me during my first Hookah experience, partly something that just exploded into my mind right now.
I've been working on three separate ships.
This is none of them.

And I'm not exactly sure it makes any sense at all.

Blame
Thanatos/Brandi (Dirk)

Spoiler

Show

Sometimes, she's furious about it. Her thoughts race and her mind aches and her heart hurts, and she sweats and curses in her fury, inescapable, inevitable.
Most of the time, though, she hardly thinks of of him. She keeps herself busy, really. Boozing, flirting, sleeping around. Work, art, music, friends. Men, women, occasionally those lost in between.
Nothing is out of her interests. After all, they all force him from her mind.
Sometimes, though, her roommate is out of town, her parents are vacationing in Cuba, her friends all have to go to bed early in order for wake up for their "adult life" jobs. There's nothing on TV, the taste of ruby red wine grows sour in her mouth, and the dark labyrinth of the outside world seems threatening. She has no energy to be angry, or shroud herself in the safety of her animosity.
In these times, Brandi curls up on her couch, exhaling magic clouds of menthol. She wasn't a smoker, no, not usually. Not unless it was a time like this.
She puffs away, leaving the cigarette in her mouth, her hands lifeless in her lap. Fruitlessly, she shapes her mouth into a 'O', trying to form the rings of smoke she had seen, as a child, her mother make.
Brandi could never do it, sitting back in the overstuffed chair Rabbit had bought years ago, watching the failed rings levitate in the air, dissipating quickly.
Poof.
Into nothingness.

Apologies are pointless. As children, we are forced into reciting them when we do another wrong.
"Tell your sister you're sorry."
And we chant, meaninglessly. Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, sorry. An instant bandaid, we are lead to believe. An elixir of a word.
We grow up believing it is all that needs to be said.
Its earth-shattering to discover it does nothing. Mindless phrases, as useful as broken swords.
Even if he said them to her, she wouldn't take them.
Then why was the urge to scream it at him, to plead for him to accept her vain apologies so strong?

Tapping the butt into an old beer bottle, she frowns. He would grumble and moan and complain about her drinking habit, much to her eyerolling, were he there.
There's a sizzling from inside the bottle, as ignited ash meets fermented barley, or whatever the hell beer is. Barley? Wheat germ?
She doesn't know.
It tastes horrible, fills her stomach, numbs her heart and brain.
The too-large shirt shrugs off of her shoulder blades. It was his.
Or had been his.
In his absence, the musky scent of man had long since left.
Elongated yawns announced her entry to the bedroom, cluttered with far too many things, baubles, memories, for such a small little apartment.
Cynicism kills.
But, oh, so nicely.
Goodnight world.
She cocoons herself in cotton, muffling her mind to the desperate want, the longing, the desire she so often masked in bitterness.
She blamed him.
When he spoke to her so casually on the phone, through IM's, she pressed the fault silently on him, even as she denied it, even as she claimed over and over again that she was happy for him, for his new life without her, and with this perfect little girl, almost too young for him.
Almost too young at all.
Her pain, her fury, her confusion, the billowing clouds of smoke and the taste of tart wine, also too young to be consumed.
She blamed him for it all.
And she would blame him and blame him and blame him until she had no more anger, until the world could hold no more bitterness, and then...
And then...
And then...

Goodnight, world.