Aldross Science Station

D'Avin

Ah shit. Things were not looking good. Dutch had been hit and was unresponsive. Alvis had made a makeshift bandage for Dutch's stomach wound, all the while making one for himself too, for some side cut after engaging hand to hand combat with one of the Aldross men. D'Avin wasn't sure how bad it was, but it must have only been a flesh wound since the man was still moving, albeit a bit slower than usual. D'Avin himself, aside from some cuts and a graze on his arm, he was for the most part, unscathed.

The upside to everything was that they were at least out of the cargo bay. This had changed only in the last few minutes. Before that, things had been much more grim.

They had been led by the facility supervisor to where the supposed communication devices were, the cargo bay 18. Instead of seeing a bunch of old junk, they encountered an ambush. Whatever the Aldross men thought they were able to handle easily, turned out to more than they bargained for.

D'Avin had seen Dutch fight, but she had never seen her in full assassin mode. He had known that she had a dark past and was a good fighter, but this was something else. D'Avin knew then that had Dutch really wanted to kill him that day Dr. Jaegar triggered whatever that was in his head, she could have. But she had been holding back.

The scarback was useful as well, having tossed some interesting pearly things on the ground and in turn killing more than a few hot headed Aldross men that rushed in. Monk pants still had some surprise in him. D'Avin wondered what else was being taught at a scarback's monastery. Was it all preachy shit or was it all some guise and they were rebels colluding towards a greater war towards the Nine and the Company?

All seemed hopeless, however, until after what seemed like ages of calling for Johnny to answer over the comm, they finally reached him.

D'Avin had in a rush told him of the situation. It was also at that same moment, he'd seen Dutch go down. Things were just breaking even at every stride forward.

Then suddenly, the comm then went down again, only to have it go back up again moments later. And then there was light at the end of the tunnel it seemed.

Johnny had sent Lucy in for the rescue.

And like magic, the doors opened, and now it was just them running the hells out of there. Rushing through the corridors, with Lucy's calm voice at the com, D'Avin's mind raced through the days the events.

What in hells was going on. Why were the Aldross men trying to kill them? They were here on a legit warrant given to them by Turin. There was no reason for the Aldross crew to go craze shooting at them, because seriously, were they that much in love with their old communication devices they were willing to attempt murder on RAC agents? How did things turn from something so boring and simple to something so complex?

1 Hour Ago

D'Avin

It had taken Lucy a few days to arrive in orbit to the science station 'Aldross' because of it's fringe location within the Quad. As for why they were going there, it was because of Turin's lead. He had found an old data transmission, not the one from Arkyn, an even older one that showed that there was something onboard that science station that Khlyen had interest in. Aside from that intel, there wasn't much except that it was a communication device of some sort, so that was what the warrant was for. A bunch of old junk. Key was that the item they needed to get would have a very strong energy reading. They would just need to bring back a few along with the said device so they could keep the the actual device while handing actual junk for the warrant. Easiest way to cover ones tracks, do the job, but not do it. Seemed like a pretty straight forward gig. Kind of boring in fact. But D'Avin could use boring too.

Boring jobs was one thing, but listening to technobabble that really went over his head, D'Avin could do without. Most days, D'Avin didn't mind listening to Johnny talk about tech things, but today, for some reason, he felt more tired and irritated. His damned head hurt for some reason. Maybe he had too much hokk the other night. Though usually, D'Avin found himself to be quite tolerant of it. Johnny had been going on about the Aldross station, explaining its somewhat sad history, a funder based science station that changed hands quite a few times in the past 30 years. It used to be a top facility, but recent investors had stopped contributing to the station and hence activity and transmission logs to and fro with the Aldross had been less and less. The research they had been doing was in fact really interesting. An advanced A.I. system ... and that had been the point where D'Avin sort of phased out. He just knew that Johnny ended the conversation with the phrase, "Crap, gotta go feed mossipede".

Mossipede. Ew. What Johnny fed the creepy little critter, D'Avin didn't know. But it did like what Johnny was giving it. Such a gross little thing but fascinating at the same time. It was so conflicting. Wanting to both squish it yet drawn to its suckling nature. Evil little thing, thought D'Avin as he peered at it with his brows furrowed.

It had taken a while to get to the science station so there was a lot of idle time on the ship.

Things were good now with the team dynamic. D'Avin had initially been worried after returning from his brief stint on Arkyn that the working relationship with Dutch could never be repaired, but it seemed to be water under the bridge. In fact, they were sparring with each other now, though D'Avin held back more often than not. Dutch wasn't taking any of it, so D'Avin had to work on not letting himself freak out on himself. Dr. Jaegar had done a number on him. D'Avin guessed it was a good thing that Dutch handled Jaegar, because if it had been D'Avin himself, he wasn't sure if wiping the woman's memory would have been his choice of punishment. The woman had made him murder his own unit in cold blood. I'm a good soldier. That phrase still rattled him in his sleep sometimes.

One big change, was that monk pants...Alvis, was on board. While he didn't hate the man, he didn't like him either. Maybe it was because of the odd relationship he noticed that Alvis had with Dutch. They seemed close and Dutch chose him as a confident. Sure, D'Avin had only gotten to know Dutch for less than a year, but he couldn't help but want that same sense of confidence that she showed to the scarback. She showed vulnerability towards him, something she didn't often display. What history did those two have together? How long was he going to be hanging out with them on Lucy? D'Avin wanted to ask one time, but he stopped himself.

Monk pants was going to leave eventually, he didn't need to push things along. Not rocking the boat was good.

As long as Dutch was fine with Alvis, D'Avin wasn't having any complaints. Yet. But if the man tried to convert his brother into being an Uncle, he was going to have a word with him. A very unpleasant one. He had joked with Johnny on it that one time he had seen his brother save their hides by performing a blessing, but in truth it had disturbed him.

Johnny had been through a lot while D'Avin had been away in the Nova Corp. Their mom had died while he had been away. His dad... he wasn't the best guy to deal with. Thinking about it made D'Avin feel guilty. He had thought Johnny would have left Telen with the money he had sent home. But it must have been used to pay off their dad's debts. D'Avin wanted to ask a few times about what had happened, but he hadn't yet. He would ask about it, maybe after this warrant was done. It was a topic that he found himself avoiding to broach.

Once they had docked on the Aldross science station, everything that D'Avin had remembered from Johnny's conversation with him about the place was pretty much debunked. Well... rumor has it certainly took a turn. The bloody science station was pretty amazing, clean, brightly lit, and damned advanced. Nothing like its exterior at all. D'Avin could see Johnny's eyes light up in wonder. Man, this must be like a geek fest for him right now.

Dutch too looked rather impressed. But she kept her expression neutral and gave them a reminder with a look in her eyes.

Moments after docking, a stocky boisterous man named Elros introduced himslef to be the supervisor of the facility. Dutch showed her warrant and explained what they required, and the man was more than happy to assist. In fact, he said that there were a lot of old communication devices, but they were in fact scattered across the station. He would, however, be happy to have them all transferred all to one cargo area. That way, they could simply find which ones they needed instead of doing so much ground work.

D'Avin liked the man immediately after that. The science station was quite large and he really didn't feel like running around like some mad space rat gathering old crap just to keep up appearances. Dutch thanked him and said that would be great if he could do that.

Elros, D'Avin found, was a chatty man. He gave them an overview of the facility, about the localized A.I., Aldross. Funded by a private investor, it was an experimental design of A.I., first of its kind that could rewrite itself as required. D'Avin didn't know too much about A.I. but he was pretty sure that Lucy could do stuff like that too. But he didn't say anything, though he did glance at Johnny to see his reaction. Yep, just as D'Avin expected, the kids eyes were keen and curious.

Elros continued to say that because of the experimental nature of the A.I. some interference with electronics not made with specific alloy could be affected. D'Avin appreciated the man's honesty, seeing that already the headset that they normally shared their visuals was having difficulty staying connected.

The openness in which Elros addressed them had put them at ease. He gave no signs of suspicious behaviour. Looking at Dutch, she too seemed to be put at ease by his charming nature. Alvis.. Well, he didn't trust anyone really. Not surprising considering he was on the most hunted list.

Alvis would have remained on board, but he wanted to be of help. Dutch had been unsure at first, since it was known that the scarbacks were being broadcasted as the reason for the bombing of Old Town. But since they were so on the fringe of the Quad, it should have been alright.

Alvis said he wanted to redeem himself a little bit - to find his path again. Right. D'Avin wasn't a big fan of monk pants for personal reasons and all, but yeah, the man also almost almost commit mass murder on Spring Hill with the poison cannister. Trusting the man... D'Avin didn't have too much of. But Dutch did. And that mattered to D'Avin. Work with the team. Repeat that mantra to thy self, thought D'Avin.

Elros listened for a communique for a moment on his comm and then he nodded to them, "They're ready." And motioned them to follow, saying that by the time they reached the cargo bay, most of the devices would have been transported there.

Wow, talk about efficient staff, thought D'Avin impressed.

They had began to move out, but was stopped by a voice. They turned to see a young woman, small in stature with dark rimmed glasses.

She asked if the engineer of the ship was present in the group. Johnny had nodded, indicating he was it. The woman, who introduced herself as Lorey Mason, Lead Science Officer, then explained that they had detected some unusual interference that was caused by their A.I that could adversely affect Lucy. It would be Johnny's best interest to come join her to check this out.

Johnny nodded and offered to go, his eyes lighting up at the idea of interacting with an advanced A.I. similar to Lucy. He looked to Dutch, however, making sure that was okay with her. This was a mission after all.

"Ok, go check it out. This shouldn't need you. And besides, I'm sure Lucy will appreciate your due diligence on making her more like my boss. Try not to forget we're on a warrant?" She looked at him knowingly.

Johnny grinned. "Will do."

"Geek," said D'Avin snidely with a smile on his face. It was times like this that D'Avin remembered how innocent his kid brother could be. He was always like this when he was young. Couldn't help but be drawn to all the techy stuff. It on the other hand, always made D'Avin's head spin.

Johnny left with Lorey; behind them, a tall pale looking security officer named Lyaff followed behind. D'Avin thought nothing of it, since it was normal to feel a little paranoid of outsiders arriving on their station that was situated this far out from civilization.

As for D'Avin and the others, they followed Elros as he led them to the cargo bay for their 'warrant'. They kept in contact with Johnny via com; though with each growing distance between them, it seemed that it grew more staticy, often leading to long intervals of silence inbetween replies.

D'Avin could however hear Johnny's awe with the A.I. mainframe. He commented on how advanced the A.I. was. Johnny dared to say it may have been smarter than Lucy. But not for long. D'Avin smiled at that. Of course, no one could beat out Johnny's best girl. Though.. Maybe Pawter might...

It was about 15 minutes enroute to the cargo bay, D'Avin started to feel uneasy. It was a strange sixth sense he was feeling. The hallways felt oddly familiar. A deep sense of deja vu came over him suddenly. Perhaps it was the paranoia leftover from both his abduction by Khlyen and the nano infested crazy man that one time last year, but D'Avin's senses were flagging red. He looked over at Dutch and Alvis, and they both nodded. They too felt something was off too, but they couldn't understand it either. There was no evidence of anything amiss. It was just a feeling, an instinct.

And one they should have followed, because just as they rounded a sharp corner in the corridor, D'Avin heard the distinct sound of a blaster being charged up.

And then all hell broke loose.

For the next 30 minutes, there was a fierce fire fight, screaming and for the most part, a lot of retreat on their end. They had no choice, outgunned as they were. They were being funnelled into a trap, the very same cargo bay that they had been leading them too. It wasn't really a cargo bay, it had no docks. It was like a storage area, exits for it were all locked up. They were sitting ducks.

The worse of the madness was they had no f*cking idea why they were being attacked. Did Khlyen find out they had come across this hidden item and wanted them dead? But why would he hurt Dutch?

At this point, however, D'Avin didn't care. He was angry. The two faced assh*le Elros, he just wanted to snap him in half.

"Johnny. Damnit, answer your com!"

There was absolute silence.

"Johnny!"

"Johnny?"

Finally what seemed like an eternity, a static reply came back, "D'Av?"

It sounded oddly weak, but D'Avin chalked it up to the poor signal of the com.

"Johnny! Get us out of here. The cargo bay, they've locked all the exits, Johnny! Do you copy?" There was static going in and out.

"Johnny!"

Suddenly Dutch let out a cry as she collapsed just behind the pillar of the cargo room.

"Dutch!" Alvis was by her side immediately, taking over with her blaster and all the same time, telling her to stay awake. "We need to get her back onboard Lucy, now."

D'Avin wasn't going to argue with that.

"Come on Johnny. Get us out of here. Work your magic!"

But the com was silent again.

Crap. Damn this. It seemed like forever when finally the com came back online. It was Lucy.

"The doors have been unlocked. You do not have much time, you need to get to the secondary corridor on the right wing B in 5 minutes."

So specific. But D'Avin didn't plan on sticking around for so long. Already Alvis had shouldered the severely injured Dutch and making a run in the direction Lucy had told them.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have an extra team member.

"Got it. Thanks Lucy."

The escape wasn't going to be easy. Because Elros had planned out the ambush, there were Aldross people at almost every intersection of the corridors. Lucy could only navigate so much.

"Damn this. Johnny. We need some sort of distraction. We can't get through this corridor. There's too many of them."

Static. Damn it. The com was down again. Was Lucy also gone?

"Lucy?"

"Yes, D'Avin."

"What the hells is going on with the com?"

"The Aldross A.I. is being difficult. It works to interfere with our communication systems."

"Can you contact Johnny?"

"Yes. I am in connection with him through the Aldross com."

"Tell him we need a distraction. The corridors are riddled with Aldross men."

There was a long pause.

"The message has been delivered. He says to hold on tight to something.'"

Will do, thought D'Avin. He nodded to Alvis since he too could hear Lucy's instructions. One hand gripping on to Dutch tightly and the other to a rail on the station, D'Avin braced for whatever Johnny had planned.

And Johnny didn't disappoint. D'Avin felt the ship literally drop downwards and sideway shift. D'Avin could hear cries and alarms suddenly started sounding.

Good job Johnny! D'Avin silently cheered. Now on to business.

"Lucy?"

Static again.

Damn this. "Lucy. Come in."

The station suddenly did another hard orbital shift. D'Avin nearly lost his footing this time, but thankfully was able to steady both himself and Dutch.

Minutes passed and finally the ship's A.I. answered.

"Yes, D'Avin."

"Lucy, where's Johnny? Is he still in the control room? Navigate us there -"

"John Jacobis is no longer with us on board the Aldross station. Please proceed with my instructions D'Avin. John would expect you to get Dutch safely off this vessel since he cannot."

"So he's on board with you, Lucy? He's okay?"

"He says that you have get out 'asap' and to stop wasting time."

Good old Johnny, always putting the team first. If Johnny was onboard Lucy then that meant they could just leave, buying more time in helping Dutch. Looking at her wound, any amount of time bought could mean life or death for Dutch.

The endless winding of the corridors was a blur, but somehow they had managed to bypass most of the Aldross men from shooting them down. All thanks to Lucy's impeccable voice navigation over the com.