Checking once again that she had the all-important goods securely fastened to her person near her waist, Dacia smiled when she saw that she had everything together and prepared to launch herself from the water. Faltering in her confident movements once, while she remembered to alert both Cassian and Jyn that she was momentarily going to emerge from the drink with a passenger. Not wanting to slow herself down and wait to ensure that Cassian at the very least knew to expect her, she quickly bent towards her shoes and pressed a single button.
Launching herself through the murky water, she tried not to allow herself to think overly of the kinds of things she was no doubt passing. She told herself again that there was no doubt in her mind that whatever secrets the deep water held, would no doubt disgust her, resolutely shaking the thought from her head, she began the slow ascent. She might not be certain if she could fall victim to a condition like the Bends, but even she was able to wager a guess that she would not like to follow that thought to its natural conclusion.
Dacia tried to imagine herself as looking like something to a shooting silver bullet or star travelling up from the riverbed. Thinking that though, she tried to remind herself that it was unlikely that anyone was able to look too closely at her, the water was incredibly murky. Shaking her head while she tried to remind herself that it would be in her best interests to get a shower before she started to get smelly. She might not be able to smell herself now, but she could confidently and easily guess that she did not smell of a fresh bouquet of roses.
Reminding herself that it was time for her to get back to work, she made her way from the water, cursing softly when she realised that she had come out a bit further from the shore than she had initially estimated. Glancing around her, she tried to work out in her head how much energy she would have to expend to get closer to the shore. Ruefully thinking of the heavyweight hanging at her hips, she realised that she would likely have to expend twice the amount of energy, to travel a distance that normally would not trouble her.
Grumbling under her breath, while she thought of the amount of work that she was now about to have to follow up on, she cast her eyes around for any help. Dacia was no fool, and she would easily confess that she did not see much point in putting herself even to harm if she did not have too. If she could find somebody to help her, then so be it, much less strain on her already screaming muscles she reflected. Hearing a strange sound had her whipping round in the water, wanting to make sure that she could pinpoint any potential threats.
Feeling the relief course through her veins, when she realised that a small dinghy joined her, she prayed to all the lesser and greater Gods she could think of that they meant her no harm. Dacia might have already felt a small measure of relief when she spotted the small lifeboat coming towards her, but a newer unsettling thought suddenly occurred to her. She could not easily vouch for the intentions of the guys staring back at her from this dinghy. Dacia hoped that these were not people she should be careful and wary of.
Dacia thought that she had felt as if all of her energy had been sucked out of her while she was still fighting with the lazy lump at her hip. If these people mean her any harm, she would be hard pressed to attempt to defend herself. With a start, she remembered to listen to her small earpiece again. Hopefully, Cassian or Jyn would be able to shed a little light on whether or not she could trust these people.
It was with a great feeling of relief that she noted Jyn speak quietly to her through the small communication device in her ear;
"Dacia, you can trust the people in the small speedboat approaching you, they will not bring you to further harm. In the meantime though, keep a tight hand on our prisoner, I am going to go and make sure that we have the necessary security precautions in place on the spaceship."
Dacia tried not to nod visibly, she was not sure how much these people might know of her friend's capabilities and call her selfish all you wanted, but she was not sure who she could trust. It would not do for them to lose control, not when they were so close to the finish line. Peering over towards what Jyn had informed her was called a speedboat, Dacia wondered if she should ship over. She was not sure whether or not she could trust these men, so she resolved to simply play it by ear until she had learned even more.
Taking in the sight of a few of the men leaning over the side of the boat, their hands outstretched while they reached for Dacia and her cargo. In a split-second, she decided that it would be better for her if she simply gave her name as Darcy Lewis. Dacia could easily and comfortably reckon that it would take too long for her to explain that it would take her too long to detail the split in her personality.
With some amount of difficulty, she began to swim over towards the men, hoping that they would at least be able to help her. Steeling her nerves even further when she drew closer, Dacia tried to prepare herself for the possibility of having to watch her words even closer. Treading water as she waited for the people to approach her even closer, she could only hope that they would be near her quickly. Her cargo was rapidly beginning to feel even heavier in her arms. Dacia wondered if she should have left her captive conscious for a while longer, at the very least it might make this part a little bit easier. Dismissing the idea as out of hand when she realised that it would not have mattered if the being was struggling to get away from her, it could take more energy if she were forced to keep the figure subdued without using a great amount of force.
"Hello, Ma'am can we help you back to land? Reach for my hand, and I can pull you into this little speedboat." One of the men called out reaching for her.
Dacia peered carefully at the man, before using his hands to bring herself over the side of the boat carefully. Flopping down like a fish out of water, something which she now considered to be possibly quite apt, she heaved for breath. Oxygen was slowly filling up her lungs again, the weak mid-afternoon sun shining down, attempting to warm the earth even in Autumn. Gathering her thoughts to herself, while she tried to calm down her racing pulse, turns out that had been an even great strain than she had initially thought.
It was just as she had feared – namely that she was more out of shape than she initially thought. Dacia thought that it possibly had something to do with the fact that for now at least she was dealing with someone or something of similar enhancements from her Home Universe. It worried her slightly that it had taken her longer to go in for the kill than it normally would, she wondered if it was possible that whatever had been following her, was newly arrived. It had probably not arrived in a blaze of glory Dacia ruefully reflected, at least the fact that her foe had some energy left to parry with, the being was not fighting to improve its reactions.
Dacia felt her stomach begin to clench underneath her while she considered the ramifications of what could have happened if she was not being played with like a doll. If her foe had taken the thing a bit more seriously, then Dacia could have had an even greater problem on her hands and could have been caught far outside of her comfort zone.
Considering that she suspected that she was simply being played with, she wondered just what her foe was capable of if they were not holding back. Dacia sighed in disgust as she realised that she had been out of the game for too long to count on her luck holding. If she came up against someone who was determined to put her down, then she could very well be helpless even to do so much as stymy their foes.
Shaking her head to try and draw herself back to the present, she peered at some of the men, that she had now entrusted her safety too. For now, she could only hope that she had not put her eggs into the wrong basket, she would have to have a word with Jyn about how far they could trust these blokes.
"Ma'am my name is Joe Cruz, do either you or your charge need medical assistance?" a man, Joe Cruz, asked.
"No, we are good, never mind him, he is my charge, and I need to keep a close eye on him. For now get us to shore and I can deal with him." Dacia panted.
While she was speaking, she carefully pulled her sodden cotton; woollen tunic tighter around her as if to ward off the chill. Dacia thought that it would be a good idea if she were able to get some warmth into her as soon as possible. Absently wishing that she had considered how poor an idea it could be if she entered into the water while wearing wool. She should have tried to dig out her old wet. Hopefully, that would have been able to keep the warmth in a bit better.
Gingerly sniffing herself, she thought that at the very least she might not smell like something had died on her person. Resolving to take a shower as soon as she was able and scrub at her skin, Dacia now felt as if she would rather enjoy a good hot shower. It was not as if she had forgotten what hot water could feel like, but she reflected that when one was covered in as much grime as her, a hot shower would feel akin to a minor miracle. Looking down with a shudder, Dacia realised that Jyn might want to look over her, goodness knows that she looked like a walking petri dish, it would do for her to think of any diseases she may have picked up.
Dacia at least was able to comfort herself with the knowledge that thanks to her are feeling the Force again, may mean that some of the enhancements she had taken for granted for so long might be on their way back to her. The Force had never been able to decimate any illness completely, but it had shored up her natural defences to such an extent that whispered at how difficult she could find it to get ill from a common bug. Dacia hoped that it would work like this again, she did not particularly relish having to spend a great amount of time in bed, recovering from this filth. Chuckling to herself (and resolutely not noticing the alarmed looks she attracted) she thought of how little she had changed. If some of her old friends from home could see her now, then they would very easily see that she had not changed a great deal. She may have gotten even more cautious and guarded from time to time, but she still felt a great distaste for time spent in bed. Especially if it was time she could be used productively, something which she was determined to do for now.
Dacia came back to herself, startled when she realised that she had so easily drifted away when she felt one of the men pressing a fluffy towel around her body. Dacia tried to smile tremulously, the towel at least was warm and dry, it might not take away all of the disgusting filth on her person, but it was something. Ducking her head slightly and shivering while she tried to refocus her attention back onto the matter at hand, she looked around her for the shore, relieved when she saw that it was coming closer.
WHOOSH
Jyn was stood on the shore of the river near Battalion Chief Boden, chewing at her bottom lip while she tried to work out what she should do next. Cautiously eyeing the ambulance parked near her, she wondered what she should do to distract them. She might not have heard from Dacia in a while, but she had seen that her friend was in a small speedboat, she tried to rationalise that Dacia simply found it too awkward to speak.
Understanding this desire from her friend, Jyn looked down at the small tablet held in her hand, smirking when she saw that Cassian was still paying attention to it. She might not be able to speak aloud to him, at least not without a great deal of difficulty, but she could send him a message through this. Jyn was aware that Dacia might need more help than usual, certainly, if she wanted to keep their foe quiet and malleable, so she sent a quiet message to Cassian to go and help out their friend. It could be bad if Dacia were caught unawares, no doubt Dacia was beginning to feel the strain and Jyn did not want to increase the woman's burdens. Jyn might feel as if for now she could do little other than fret; she might be able to help hide her friend's true mission, but now that their quarry had been captured Jyn could do little else than worry about what could go wrong at this particular juncture.
Jyn was well aware that Cassian would no doubt point out that she was simply catastrophizing and that little of what she was doing now could truly help them. She wondered how that particular little trait of hers had gotten so far out of hand; she had not always fallen prey to the voice of doom in her head. Some days though she found it a struggle to ignore them. Who else would they bother if she wasn't around to be their plaything? Minutely shaking her head, Jyn knew that for now, her role might prove to be more important than she could have initially imagined. For now, she would have to make sure that she played her role and kept Battalion Chief Boden from asking the kind of awkward questions that she was in a rush to answer.
Cassian, get ready to help Dacia and her charge, for now, I have to make sure that Chief Boden does not get in the way too much.
Casting her gaze over the deep water as she wondered what her next few steps should be. She could easily recognise how she handled the man stood near her, could dictate how the next few hours could go; she was glad that Dacia had safely completed her mission, but it was time for Jyn to shine. She would have to incredibly careful that she did not let on to Battalion Chief Boden how much her shit stunk, she had to hope that the man would allow them to pass him by.
Carefully eying the man, she thought that it looked as if the man was not the type to suffer fools gladly. Ordinarily, she thought that would not bother her, after all, she preferred when people did waste both her and their time. Now that she would have to bullshit the man for all she was worth, she hoped that the man would not be paying so much careful attention to her words.
She might not be able to work out how she could begin to hope to get the man to turn a blind eye on their mission, Jyn knew that Dacia would want to get her quarry onto their spaceship. Dacia had probably knocked whoever their foe was unconscious to stop him from speaking until they were ready to listen to whatever lies he had to spill. Jyn recognised that their task could become exponentially more difficult should someone overhear what the being had to say and started to ask questions.
Looking upon Battalion Chief Boden once again, while she tried to work out what she should say next. Unfortunately, due to the sounds of the squawking radio on his chest, Jyn could not think clearly. The difficult decision, though, was taken out of her hands when Battalion Chief Boden cleared his throat and spoke to her;
"We have got your woman in the dinghy, as you can see they are rapidly approaching the shore, we will have our ambulance team ready to look over the unconscious figure that she was travelling with."
Jyn looked at the man in some alarm, while she tried to work out exactly what she should say next. She could not easily see any way out of the awkward discussion they were about to have. It might be difficult, but Dacia knew that she could easily run rings around the man if she were not aware that she had to take it carefully. She did not need to think of how crucial this discussion could be with the man. Nevertheless, thoughts of failure plagued her mind.
"Thank you, and that is fine we should be able to handle the figure. I do not point out that there are some things that you will not be able to run from, some that you will not be able to control. This is one of those times, leave it with us to control the guy and his fate." Jyn told the man, not wanting to threaten him. Not until she was sure that she had no other options left available.
"And what am I supposed to put on the paperwork? You know that I will not be able to hide this, do you not?" Battalion Chief Boden warned.
"That is not our concern, not right now but you need to be able to accept your limits. I am sure that your medical team is one of the better ones, but they will not be able to handle this. Some things need to be handled with a firm hand; this is one of those times. Do not pull your people further into a situation that they do not have all the facts at hands." Jyn warned the guy, already circling the wagons.
"That is not a very good answer; we need to make sure that we can close this issue as quickly as we can. Give me one good reason; we should wash our hands of this whole situation?" Battalion Chief Boden asked, his eyes glinting in warning.
"If we do not skip past any unnecessary unpleasantness it could very well mean great danger not just for your City, but rather for your world. Allow us to take the figure, do not run it up the flagpole and we may get out of this together. Call further attention to us, and I can promise you that it will not end well for anyone involved." Jyn flatly told the man.
Jyn tried not to wince visibly; she had laid all of her cards on the table, now she had to see what Battalion Chief Boden would do with what he had been told. Cassian might sometimes snort at Jyn's ability to be incredibly blunt, sometimes hurtful, but he had confessed that he sometimes wished more people would simply speak what was on their minds than waste time speaking in circles. Jyn had wondered if the man had started to feel like this because for so long he had worked as a spy, constantly having to extract meaning from people's words and actions. Dacia liked to joke that the man had no time for bullshit. In any case, it would be a more reasonable way to live.
"Very well, we shall take your prisoner, but we still need to have your woman seen too. At the very least because we all saw her go into the river and it would soothe our nerves if she would accept some help." Battalion Chief Boden quietly warned.
Glancing over at Dacia, Jyn wanted to be sure what condition her friend was in before she agreed to allow her friend to be subjected to their medical attention. Counting backwards from ten in her head did not make much of a difference, because she could only see it as her expertise being questioned. She could tell herself that Battalion Chief Boden did not that Dacia's (their) origin was not of this Earth, it would be different, they would no doubt notice small inconsistencies in their scans. She would have to avoid them going over the top in their scanning; she made a mental note to have them avoid any probing. For one thing, she was not sure how she could be expected to sell that to her friend, should she need too. Nodding, slowly, knowing that she wanted nothing more than this ordeal to be over.
"Very well, but passive, I am responsible for Darcy's healthcare, if it should make you guys feel better about yourselves to do it. I do not need to warn you though that if your people should go overboard, then we walk away. You will not like trying to contain us; I can promise you that." Jyn ominously warned, affixing Battalion Chief Boden with a grim look that promised hell.
Without wanting to wait for the man to speak to her again, Jyn wandered off towards the shore; she would be ready to retrieve her friend. Lifting out her little tablet as she walked, she quickly sent another message to Cassian.
Cassian, Dacia is about to come over here again, be ready to take the Prisoner, I can not be sure whether or not I will be able to get us out this situation without a great deal of hassle. Best be ready to move on command, yeah?
Not want to spare a glance towards the corner where she knew Cassian would be coming from, she halted herself on the banks. It was not so much as a standard bank, more concrete and stone, but for now it would serve its purpose, she idly thought. It was not a bit of wonder that she could not hear Cassian approach her from behind, she thought that her friend was too good to be heard. The man had been working for too long as a spy in their Home Universe to have a noisy tread; he would not have last particularly longer if he moved around too noisy.
She looked at the woman and held her arms out for Dacia's prone form, looking over the exhausted looking woman, Jyn realised that she would have to contain this situation hard. Glancing around her warily, she thanked her lucky stars that she had not spotted any television cameras, she knew how tricky it could be if someone got footage of them unawares.
Taking Dacia into her arms with a small smile for the team still in the motorboat, Jyn looked around her and knew instantly what they wanted to do with Dacia. Trying not to visibly roll her eyes in irritation, Jyn made her way over to the small ambulance. Affixing a stern look to her face, as she tried to think of how angry it could make her should Dacia be treated any more than strictly necessary, she was still the woman's primary physician.
"Hello, my name is Sylvie Brett, and this is Jimmy Borelli, all we want to do is make sure that your friend does not catch hypothermia," Sylvie told the woman with a question in her eyes, no doubt wondering who exactly this woman was and why she was in a position to make demands.
Jyn carefully eyed the two of them, not wanting to say a word, let her presence unnerve them enough not to ask them any pesky questions. Jyn briefly wondered to herself what her Papa would say if he knew that she made such a big deal over questions being asked. She could tell herself all she wanted that her Papa would have understood the intense need for secrecy and the immense pressures of paranoia hanging at your neck. But considering some of the shaky memories, she still had of her Mama and Papa; she thought that the two of them would disapprove of Jyn feeling like there was a lodestone hanging around her neck dragging her to the bottom of the cold river.
Wanting to watch these people further to ensure that they did not see anything that should cause them further concern, Jyn crossed her arms and watched them silently daring them to take their time.
WHOOSH
Cassian rushed up to his friends and took the lone figure from Dacia and nodded silently at Jyn to indicate that he knew what his role was to be in this charade. Smirking when he saw that the figure beside a barely alert Dacia was still knocked, he felt the satisfaction in knowing that his friend knew how to handle herself. If Dacia did not want someone to wake up after a fight with her, then she knew damn well how to ensure that whoever her foe was should not wake up easily again.
Taking the unconscious cargo into his arms and as Jyn was fond of pointing out, melted back into the shadows. Hitching the bundle further up in his arms, Cassian took a delicate sniff of the bundle in his arms. Screwing up his nose in distaste when he realised that the bundle smelled awful. He would have to make sure that he could shower the man before Dacia began to speak to him.
Cassian wondered whether or not Dacia would want the creature to know about the existence of both Cassian and Jyn. So far, he knew that the creature had only seen Dacia, that might put them into a position of power. Dacia could occasionally be cautious; if the woman wanted to keep all the cards and the ball firmly in her court, she might want to protect her two friends. It looked like it would prove to be even more likely when he reminisced that Dacia could sometimes strike with an over-abundance of caution for her friends. He wondered if Dacia knew how frustrating it was for a spy and a woman who was used to holding her safety in the palm of her hand, to be wrapped in bubble wrap?
Something told him that Dacia was not aware, because for not all she wanted was to keep her friends safe, normally a practice that Cassian would approve of, but when it chafed at him with the restrictions he had had enough. Cassian could not claim to be completely sure, but he felt certain that Jyn felt the same way, to them it did not matter a great deal that it was done from a place of love, it still restricted their movements. For now, though, Cassian was ready to take some movements for himself, he told himself that Dacia would not be too pissed off with him for taking the initiative. Especially he gingerly thought, that this creature smelt quite so bad, it might make him smirk to think of it, but he was not interested in gassing Dacia while she tried to find some answers. Ugh, the woman would no doubt thank him for ensuring that the being she was attempting to wring some answers from was not an affront to her nostrils.
Satisfied that the woman would no doubt thank him, he nodded briefly to himself and altered his footsteps. Making his way into the small medical lab, he eyed the creature and placed them delicately on the small cot bed before sealing the tube. Standing in front of the control panel, Cassian eyed it with some distaste. Normally he would not want to perform this act, cleaning without water, but he was unsure what capabilities the creatures had. He told himself that even Jyn frequently looked like a powerless and vulnerable person when she was asleep, there was no reason to suspect that this creature had been completely upfront with them.
Shaking his head and deciding that he would rather not risk it, Cassian turned on the handy washer feature. With some interest he cast an eye over the tube, watching as the small robots came out and got to work. He may have watched this sight before, namely the robots beginning to clean without water or soap, he found it to be a distasteful occurrence. Cassian may have been born in the far stars, running for his life constantly with the hope of gleaning just a tiny bit of information. You could never get him to lie and say that water was not brilliant.
He might struggle to find enough water when the girls were travelling, the frustrations of this Century meant that he would have to be incredibly careful how he filled up this spaceship with water. For too long he had almost run the spaceship dry, only filling up halfway, unable to justify taking so much water without opening himself up for further questions. As such, he and his friends had gotten used to rationing the water supply, following the old rules like 'if it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow' wash your hair only when the itching gets unbearable. More than anything else Cassian missed the times when he could simply luxuriate in a shower, scrubbing at his skin until his muscles screamed out for mercy.
He missed being able to feel like he was once again clean, he missed being able to stand in the shower for hours and slowly clean. It might seem a bit girly, but he took great delight in this Universe in stocking up on shower gels and bath bombs, to someone who even at home had been unable ever to feel completely clean it had seemed like a great luxury. Cassian had loved when Dacia had been attending Culver University in Virginia; there he had been able to get longer showers.
When Dacia had confessed to Jane who they were, he had been able to spend hours under the hot water, his skin going wrinkly in a desire to feel clean. Jyn had been much the same; he guessed that possibly because the woman had spent so much time either in prisons or running from prisons, she shared a great love for showers.
When a small beeping noise shook him from his heavy thoughts, he shook his head and refocused his attention on the small tube in front of him. Upon seeing that the small robots had completed their tasks, he smirked to himself and pressed another button. Watching in some amusement as a small puff of air caressed the creature, Cassian felt that he had to wonder whether or not Dacia would find some amusement from his actions. He hoped that when she smelt the fresh lemon scent in the interview room, she would find a small reason to smile. Cassian was aware that his friend liked to surround herself with the scent of lemons in times of turmoil. Hopefully, through doing this, the woman would be able to find a small amount of comfort (or even wry bemusement) when she caught a whiff of the creature.