Flashback: A Song of Knifes and Tyres

Harper was a little slower, not necessarily to respond, but just a bit slower than Quinn or Lakehurst in making her way to landing pad. She drew her sidearm as she jogged to the scene and quickly glanced around taking in the area as a whole. It looked to be a sort of stand-off with a hostage, but assuming would get her no where. So Harper paused alongside her crew, ready, and waited.

Harper

OOC: sorry my brain spasmed..

Misty

The man holding the knife was yelling at the three people with guns. The girl he was holding, who barely looked 18 and was dressed in a set of pink coveralls with a flower in her hair, just looked terrified.

"Listen, you ba wong [tyrant]. Wuo Jai Jeong Yai Chi [Let me repeat myself]. You owe me 500 platinum. If I don't get that money, Shoa Jeh [little lady] here ends up spraying the arterial. Dohn-lun-mah?.

"Whoa, whoa", another woman replied, "Let's talk about this like rational people. Let Louisa go or you'll going to get shot by us and the people who have just arrived".

- GM

Great, both sides making mortal threats against one-another. Still no clear bad-guys. And if there's no clear bad-guys, then the only way to settle it is by finding a mutual agreement and none was to be had yet.

"I'm not sure I'm shooting anybody yet," Quinn said with a scowl thrown at the woman. Though he was talking mostly to the woman who suggested the Eagles were backup, he was truly addressing everyone in the Mexican standoff. "He says 'do this or I'll make you pay with blood' and you say the same thing back?" He wanted to say just because he has a hostage doesn't make him the bad-guy. "Sounds like you're all willing to kill for something, which means none of you are victims in this impass."

Quinn, with his gun still at the ready-low, found a surface to lean up against that still left him exposed to the entire group with the side he chose. He looked over at the hostage taker and casually asked, "What do they owe you 500 platinum for?"

~XO Quinn

The man turned to Quinn.

"Who are you?" he asked, confusion turning into recognition, "Ah, yes, Maczarek! Going to kill me like your boss killed my brother?"

Quinn was only too aware of Maczarek's war record; his boss had been a tank gunner and a very good one at that - destroying over 180 Independent vehicles before being pulled from front line operations for propaganda purposes.

This was not turning out well. The thought crept into his mind that if this operation ended up in someone getting killed, then the paperwork and investigation would result in leave being cancelled.

- GM

Quinn put his gun in his holster and crossed his arms. "Who I work for and who I am are two different people," he said, "somebody help me out here," he said to both parties in general.

~XO Quinn

Harper didn't put her gun away as the talking started. Instead she kept it aimmed down, still gripped with both hands and ready to lift and use...if needed. She listened as Quinn took control and attempted to figure the situation out.

Harper

"To be honest", the man said, "They ain't. They..."

At that point, his knife arm slipped forward and the girl pushed him clear as he slumped onto the ship's ramp. She then ran clear and was hugged by the woman who had previously trained a gun on her captor.

"Finally!" one of the two men yelled, "The tranqs worked!"

- GM

Perplexed, Quinn holstered his gun. At this point Quinn looked to Danielle with a shrug. "Easy enough, I guess," he said not knowing what to make of the situation.

~XO Quinn

Startled as she was by the situation now, Harper didn't holster her gun. She kept it in her hand still aimmed down to the floor. She didn't wan to let her guard down, just in case. Harper looked from the crying woman to Quinn and the finally to Danielle, waiting to see what their move would be.

Harper

(So sorry!!)

Lakehurst holstered her weapon and sighed.

"If you don't need us..." she called over to the others, who promptly shook their heads, "We'll be leaving..."

"That's fine", the woman said, "Thanks for your help. Name's Tina Valley and this is the good ship Pasteur. We're a flying clinic and we were just coming here for supplies. What's your names?"

- GM

Quinn glanced at Danielle before responding. He closed the gap and said "Quinn," tipping his head back briefly as he spoke. He held out his hand to Tina to shake hers.

~XO Quinn

Tina shook Quinn's hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Quinn. Do you have a first name by any chance?"

- GM

Grinning, though stalwart in his introduction, he replied in a friendly tone of voice, "Just Quinn." With a slight chuckle, he added: "only my mother calls me by my first name."

~XO Quinn

"Fair enough", Tina replied, "You just arrived in town?"

- GM

Quinn nodded, "yeah, just arrived." He glanced behind himself unsure if he had enough time for idle chatter, looking for a non-verbal cue or lack-thereof from Danielle. "How about you?"

~XO Quinn

Admin wrote:Quinn nodded, "yeah, just arrived." He glanced behind himself unsure if he had enough time for idle chatter, looking for a non-verbal cue or lack-thereof from Danielle. "How about you?"

~XO Quinn

"Been here two days to resupply our medical stores. We supply free healthcare to poor communities on the Rim".

At that point, there was a chirpy ding-dong, followed by an announcement.

"Visitors are reminded not to leave their baggage unattended at any time. Also, all Fruity-Oaty Bars are half-price in the General Store for today only".

- GM

"Two days? How long is it going to take you to get fully resupplied?"

~XO Quinn

"That long. We need to negotiate to buy some of the supplies round here. That and give the crew some leave".

- GM

Quinn nodded, "speaking of 'leave'..." he said as though the thought had just occurred to him, making the verbal implication of things he had to get to while turning slightly towards the rest of his crew.

~XO Quinn

Harper listened to the chatter between everyone, it was like she was supposed to speak up in such situations. But it was enough, and had calmed down enough for her to holster her weapon. Which she did, but still kept her attention on the situation and the exchange of words. She raised and eyebrow at Quinn's choice of words about leave and shifted her eyes to glance towards him and Danielle.

Harper

OOC: omg. I am so sorry about lack of posting! I did not know it had been so long!

Admin wrote:Quinn nodded, "speaking of 'leave'..." he said as though the thought had just occurred to him, making the verbal implication of things he had to get to while turning slightly towards the rest of his crew.

~XO Quinn

Lakehurst nodded.

"Have a good time", she said.

- GM

Quinn nodded with a smile and with a wave of his hand, turned and said "you too - take care."

He returned to Danielle, Harper, and the rest. He looked to Danielle, "Anything else that needs doing before we go?"

~XO Quinn

"No", Lakehurst said, "We're done. Have a good time!"

With that, she headed back towards Kvant.

- GM

OOC: So, what do you want to do now? There's plenty to do.

OOC: I imagine there's some aspects of vacationing that can be skipped, like the professional massage I had planned for Quinn. But that's just me, one-on-one scenes I can sort of do without at this juncture (or can be worked out in their own time-bubble if desired). Perhaps we have sort of a group-meetup planned at a bar or something? Also is the boxing match tonight?

~Robert tpo Quinn

OOC: The match is in two nights time, but there are plenty of other smaller fights in the lead-up to it.

- Silent