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Thread: An Offer You Don't Refuse - 9.075

  1. #41
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    She could hear Ben's voice, but it was background noise. She kept looking from Taurrifar's legs, to his pain-contorted face. It took impossibly long moments being stuck in this traumatic loop before she realized that Ben's voice had words in them. She looked to Ben, mouthing the items he'd mentioned absent-mindedly, then the urgency kicked in. Legs stumbled as she turned, wanting to sprint for the medical kit but lacking the strength or coordination for it. She braced against another bulkhead, recovered, and quickly returned to the galley. Her frantic sense of purpose returned, and she proceeded to tear the aforementioned drawers apart, pulling at the needed first aid goods as fast as she could.

  2. #42
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    Meorrrei haphazardly tossed him the supplies he'd asked for, making him thankful that the packages of gauze were sealed.

    "We need to get these," he gestured to the trousers Taurrifar had been wearing, now mostly stained with blood, "off him. Or open them so I can wrap his... legs. We can worry about splints and bones later."

    There was a good chance the bones were shattered, in which case a splint would be about as helpful as a shot of painkillers in the actual healing process.

    Meorrrei once again needed him to tell her what to do a couple times, but she quickly ripped the fine cloth from the cuts, revealing a miasma of dark blue skin, holes, and bone in one leg sticking out prominently. Ben swallowed bile and got to work.

    He wasn't a healer and when he was finished, it showed. He'd quickly set Mister Meorrrei's legs and wrapped them with gauze and tape, but they both had been worried about moving him until they were finished.

    "We have to get him into a bunk. Laying down. Sitting down will make his legs heal badly."

    Ben wiped his nose, spreading blood across his mouth and face. He'd nearly vomited several times during the process of patching up Meorrrei's husband, but barely managed to keep control.

    "We have to fix up a stretcher or something to move him on. Moving his legs too much now would be bad."

  3. #43
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    Taataani nodded wearily to his instructions, and looked at Taurrifar. He was cooling down from his most recent bout of agony, and caught his breath as he waited to move. He placed his large hands around hers as she knelt beside him.

    "Saaia'ei, do not worrrjy overr me. jYourr Captajin hass sskjill. jI feel..."

    He closed his eyes a bit, squeezing a little on her hands.

    "...fjine."

    Finding a new well of reserves in the display of her husband's resolve, Taataani leaned forward, kissing his blood-smeared cheek.

    "jYou'rre gettjing off thjiss planet and to ssafetjy, Taurrifar. Sanjaara, jI've been too carrelesss, thjiss jiss mjy fault."

    She shook her head.

    "jI won't losse what matterrss to me mosst."

    Taurrifarr looked to Ben, and reached a hand to him.

    "Captajin, therre jiss ssomethjing jI need."

    He looked to Taataani.

    "Wjith all mjy hearrt, majy jI have a moment wjith hjim?"

    The Matriarch took a moment to look between them, and nodded. Another kiss and she stood, retreating to respectable distance in the galley again.

  4. #44
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    Ben blinked, amazed that the guy was able to speak at all through the intense pain he must be feeling.

    "Ah, sure," he said, at the same time wondering if he really had a choice in the matter. Could he just tell him 'Sorry, but no can do. Gotta stay alive here'? It was absurd, and Ben knew it. "What is it? If it's better service, sorry about that, but I'm the only one around, and I'm not much of a cook."

  5. #45
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    He smiled weakly.

    "jYou'rre funnjy, human."

    He looked back to make sure his wife wasn't eavesdropping on him. Clasping Ben's hand, he looked at him squarely, speaking low.

    "Prromjisse me sshe makess jit to ssafetjy."

    He paused, catching his breath.

    "...even jif that'ss at the expensse of mjy own ljife."

  6. #46
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    "All this talk of death and dyin' never sat well with me," Ben replied quietly, grinning at the other man. He wasn't sure where this calm and backbone was coming from, but he knew that he was going to be avoiding concussions even more than he had been before.

    "It's not set in stone you'll be dyin'. And I'm not too keen on breathing my last here either, so just rest and we'll be getting you into a bunk." Ben paused. "If worse comes to worse, we'll all be carrying each other out of this. But I'll keep an eye out for your lady, if it'll help you sleep and get better."

  7. #47
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    He considered the request put on him, and nodded.

    "Lookss ljike jI have ljittle chojice on that. Thank jyou, Captajin."

    He nodded, and glanced back to Taataani.

    "Saaia'ei, jit'ss okajy now."

    Taataani returned, dragging the broken galley table along behind her with some effort. Clenched in her teeth was a small bottle of alcohol. She came to a stop, eased the heavy table down, and extended the bottle to her mate, twisting the cap off.

    "Drrjink. We'll move jyou when jyou'rre rreadjy."

    The shaking in her hands was gone.

  8. #48
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    Ben winced. That alcohol should have gone onto the wounds as a cheap anesthetic.

    Taking the fusioncutter again, he cut the remaining anchoring pole from its bottom and settled the table on the ground. The cutter sputtered out. Ben tossed it to the side.

    "That's the last of that, unless we can find more fuel," he muttered. Carefully, he directed Meorrrei on how to grip the man's body without jostling his legs too much. They lifted him up and placed him on the table, if a bit roughly, causing the injured man to gasp and grit his teeth.

    It took more doing to get the table through the small spaces of the ship, but finally, they had placed Taurrifar on a bunk and placed a number of blankets on him.

    Ben looked over the dark, chilled galley after leaving the cabin and leaned against the wall, feeling a sudden wave of lethargy steal over him, as well as a resurgence of his headache.

    He grabbed a couple more painkillers and downed them quickly.

    "Distress signal," he murmured. "Heat."

  9. #49
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    She wouldn't know up from down when it came to sending out a distress signal.

    "jI can gatherr thjingss to burrn."

    She set off to gather floatsam and combustibles, glancing back at the bunk where Taurrifar was put up. She noticed at that moment her neglected wig lying on the ground. With the scant amount of dignity she could afford, she retrieved it, placing it on her neglected real hair with as much care as she could manage, and then set to the task.

    The next few minutes were a blur of business. She set her thoughts only to gathering things to burn. Fortunately they touched down in some kind of taiga forest. There were sparse stands of evergreens, and a few that had been snapped or splintered by their crash, as well as other things on the ship. Before long, she'd assembled a pile adjacent to the crash. It took a moment to find her misplaced lighter, but she was soon rewarded with a fledgling fire.

    She turned back to see how Ben was doing, only to see him slumped against a wall, asleep. She stumbled over to where hey lay, and gave his shoulders a shake.

    "Wake up, come on!"

    She placed her hands on each side of his face as she looked at his well-dialated eyes.

    "What do we do? The djisstrresss ssjignal. Captajin, come on."

  10. #50
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    "You know," he grumbled, "I'm not actually a captain. I just pilot... er, piloted the shuttle."

    His eyes remained dilated, but not nearly so badly as before, and his few minutes of napping had helped him out immensely.

    "Ah, right. Distress signal. Beacon. Whatever."

    Meorrrei helped him stand, and in short order, he spilled into the pilot's seat.

    "Let's see..." he bent over reaching under the flight console and pried open a panel. "Yep! Found it. Just a twist of this here... and there we go!"

    Ben frowned.

    "You know, those pirates might still be up there. If they are, we're pretty much begging to be kidnapped and/or murdered. Viciously."

  11. #51
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    Taataani frowned at his response to the honorific. Maybe it was Nar Shaddaan tradition to adopt the title if you owned a ship, then? She didn't want to admit it, but she needed a Captain. She needed somebody near her who knew what they were doing. Maybe Ben did, but he didn't act like the Captains she knew. He was an unknown.

    At last with some of the urgency taken off for the moment, Taataani flounced down ungracefully near the fire. She was starting to feel all the aches and all the pains without the adrenaline to benefit her. Capt...Ben's words offered her little comfort. Again, she pulled out the pistol she'd kept close since the chase began.

    "Do we have a chojice?"

    She checked the power cell and the other mechanisms the way Kallum taught her. It gave her some solace. Her face was grim as she looked the beautiful weapon over. Setting it aside briefly, she tried to lay back against a piece of hull plate, groaning as she hit a sore spot. She shifted and settled once more.

    "Have jyou everr done thjiss beforre?"

  12. #52
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    "Ah, no," Ben laughed. He paused and frowned. "Actually... I have. Well, not exactly this, but... you know."

    Now that he was more coherent, relatively speaking, Ben noticed a number of things. Firstly, the viewport was mostly shattered, but still held together. Secondly, there was a fire burning inside the ship. Thirdly, his hands were stained red.

    Pushing aside the urge to wash his hands of the blood on them, he turned to the Meorrrei matriarch.

    "Let's get some heat in here, without having to worry about the smoke, eh?" he said. "I'll need some help, though."

    He led Meorrrei back into the engine room, and began to remove panelling until much of the wiring to the engine was visible.

    "An astromech droid would be amazing right now," he grumbled. "What we're doing is trying to get the engines to supply the life support systems a little power. I'm not a mechanic, but I do know a bit about electrical systems and such."

    He settled a toolbox from a nearby cubicle on the floor next to them and showed her the items within, holding them up and letting her get a good look at them while he spoke.

    "This is called... well, I don't know what it's called, but it allows me to see if a charge is running through the wiring. We've got some standard hydrospanners and wire cutters, along with some electric tape... connectors... and some loose fitting and brackets. Even if we could get the engines running again, this thing isn't space worthy anymore. But working heat is key, and we can boost the distress beacon's signal with the sensor array."

  13. #53
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    None of this made the slightest sense to Taataani, but hearing it was a painkiller of sorts to the injuries born by her self confidence. She watched Ben pore over the tools and the plan, hoping some of this would come to her so she could be of some use in getting the engines to function. It didn't help that her sudden inactivity was spurring the same symptoms of concussion that Ben had weathered inconsistently. Even in her uncomfortable position, her eyes started getting heavy.

    "Tell me...how to help."

    She almost whispered, her words slurring on the end as she looked at the fire.

  14. #54
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    Ben stopped and looked at her warily.

    "Well, I was hoping you'd be up for a bit more, but it looks like you'll be passing out soon," he said, standing and wiping his hands on his trousers. "So nothing too hard for you. I'm going to need some tools handed to me, and I'll be neck deep in wires and all that. So just sit down and rest."

    He stood and walked to the other cabin, where another two bunks were nearly pristine. He pulled the blankets off of one, and brought it over to the matron, draping it over her shoulders.

    "We'll need to rest soon. It's bad to do too much with a concussion, so just rest. Sleep isn't good at the moment, but I don't think I'll last too long anyway."

    He turned and got to work, occasionally asking for a tool or connector, or tape. Meorrrei was a bright sort, and got the hang of all the different tools quickly if still a bit hesitantly. She lasted another hour before Ben couldn't keep her awake any longer.

    Ben himself lasted two hours. He fell asleep with his arm halfway in a panel, and the voltage meter held loosely in one hand.

  15. #55
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    You'd be surprised at what you can do when you're cornered and have few options. Sleep came lightly with fits and starts, but the sound of a popping coal on the fire brought Taataani wide awake, stabbing her arm - with pistol in hand - at the direction of sound. Her ears peeled back and she peered ahead wild-eyed, certain there was malice behind what she heard. Her heart beat in her throat, and she took quick breaths.

    Nothing.

    She eased the weapon down, feeling her heart still thrumming with lethal purpose in her chest. It brought every aching part of her body back into acute focus, which helped to further eat away at her bout of drowsiness, if only for the moment. She noticed Ben, asleep where he fell, and eased forward, carefully pulling him free from his awkwardness.

    "Ben? Come on."

    The light was starting to fade, and soon night would come. Already it was far too cold for comfort. She eased him to a more comfortable resting spot, conveniently adjacent to her, so she might benefit from his body heat.

    "How arre jyou feeljing?"

  16. #56
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    Ben blinked, and wiped the crust from the corners of his eyes.

    "Not bad," he said, sniffling and wiping his nose. "Cold, but that's no surprise."

    He looked down at the blank screen of the voltage meter and powered it on again, and finding the wire he was looking for, watched the readings. He sighed in disappointment.

    "There's a lot of work left to do before we have power again," he admitted, powering down the meter again, and carefully wrapping the leads around it. Setting it to the side, he poked the embers of the fire and watched as sparks popped up and drew his eyes to the ceiling, partially obscured in a thin film of smoke. "It'll probably take all day to finish. We still need food, and water, too."

    He shifted, enjoying the warmth, and yawned again.

  17. #57
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    Mention of sustenance made her aware of the dull ache at her middle. The live cages in the galley had broken apart and the vittles within were probably long gone. As for water, there were patchy snow banks in the distance. If they couldn't find water any other way, there was always that.

    "jIt'ss been a whjile ssjince jI've hunted. Let'ss hope ourr prrejy arre sslow and sstupjid."

    Her eyes watched for movement beyond, and the tell-tale glint of eyes reflecting back firelight. None yet. Maybe once she had a portion of her strength back, she could make good on her part of this survival bargain.

  18. #58
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    "Hopefully we won't need to do much chasing," Ben replied sleepily.

    He woke up to the painful sensation of the desperate need to urinate. When he returned, he rifled through the small locker he had in the cabin Taurrifar was sleeping in. His eyes opened, and were hazed with pain and drugs.

    "You're doing all right?" he asked quietly. The Cizerack nodded, closing his eyes again. He whispered something softly, but Ben could quite make it out. He frowned, feeling the male's head and noting some heat. Not quite hot enough to denote a fever in humans, but still warmer than he was used to.

    He pulled his coat out of the locker and pulled it on, buttoning and adjusting the thick material until it settled more comfortable over his frame. It was a far cry better than before, but Ben was still wearing trousers too light and thin to adequately keep himself warm.

    He busied himself with finding loose branches and wood for a fire, and looking around the ship itself and their crash site. Luckily, the ship's landing had left them with plenty of debris for fires. They had come to a rest on a rocky, but still forested incline, mostly bare of small vegetation. It actually reminded him of some of the mountains on Alderaan.

    The wind was soft, but still very cold. After rekindling the fire, he entered the ship and began working once more on the engines, hoping to get the auxiliary power back online before the batteries feeding the emergency beacon died.

  19. #59
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    Sleep brought no comfort, but when Taataani woke, she was at least more sure of foot and felt a little more capable of facing the cruelty around them. She shivered a little, drawing her now-filthy overcoat tight around her as she watched the shrinking fire. A moment to warm her bones and she stood, walking around the crash site in the early hours of daylight starting to break again. The day and night cycles must be short on this planet...moon...or whatever.

    Exploring as Ben worked, she kept her pistol close, taking Ben's cautions to heart about potentially inviting their own doom should their attackers be listening for their beacon. They could only hope that wasn't the case. All Taataani had to defend her was this pathetic pistol and a searing determination to live and to keep Taurrifar alive.

    The sound of rushing water got her attention. On the orders of survival, water was high on their list. She didn't have anything to gather it, but she could always return. More importantly, she watched the small creek for movement that she soon discovered. Fish! Now, all she had to do was...

    SPLASH

    ...in a well-timed strike, she plunged a hand beneath the water and recovered some kind of scale-less bottom feeder, or at least that's what she guessed. Taking time to bolster her own strength first so she could attend to the rest, she wasted little time in tearing the fish apart, devouring it live and fresh, sparing nothing but bone as she ate. With clean bones the only testament to her sated hunger a few minutes later, she wiped at her oil-smeared face and prepared to catch more.

  20. #60
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    "Come on," Ben murmured, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. One hand held the voltage meter, and the leads were held precariously between his fingers. "Come on..."

    The meter beeped, and numbers began dancing across the screen. Ben grinned and laughed.

    "Got it!"

    The engines weren't running, but they had auxiliary power systems running again, which made getting the main engines to put out enough power for their needs much easier. Standing, he grimaced as his knees and back popped into alignment, and made his way outside of the ship.

    "Ah, food," he said appreciatively on seeing Taataani by the fire. She was wet and quite dirty, but the look of satisfaction was hard to miss.

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