03-22-2016, 11:30 PM
“Bring him up!” Vic called into the galley of the ship. The assembled crew was finally in order, and ready to properly welcome their new guest. Captain Sandiego drummed her fingers on the banister, humming an old tune. She was looking forward to this encounter, and now everyone was ready. They were far enough from a port that they were unlikely to be interrupted. She was slightly bothered that the first hunter had managed to stow aboard for this long, but primes were a wily lot, and she was glad to see this one didn't think a simple assault of the ship would have been enough. The VILE had been spotted by a couple imperial frigates before, and had soundly bested them. She felt quite confident that her crew would be able to easily foil an assault from a single prime.
“What is taking Topps so long?” She called down, “Get that stowaway up here! We don't have all day for this! There's stuff to be done!” Vic shrugged and started to climb down. He stopped only a few rungs down and started to climb back up almost immediately. The stowaway followed and Topps brought up the rear. Captain Sandiego pulled down the rim of her hat and smirked. This prime certainly wasn't very dangerous looking. She was almost disappointed, but really this just meant she should come up with some new schemes to antagonize the Empire. After his throne goes missing Palpantine might see fit to send actual hunters after her.
“Welcome aboard!” Captain Sandiego called down to the prime, “In the future you might try checking with me first before you start making changes to my ship. The boys aren't too fond of that kind of thing.” Her assembled crew gave an appropriately stilted chorus of shouts and threats. “What are you doing on the VILE?” she declared. There would be no mistake about the purpose of the coming events.
The prime seemed relatively unafraid of her crew's display, not that Carmen was expecting much, and gazed around him at the sails of the ship. He climbed atop a crate in the middle of the deck.“ I simply wanted to sail!” he said, leaning to one side and holding onto a rope to support himself, “Is that everything you wanted to know of me?” he called up to her, Attempting to play this off are we? You'll have to be quite good to get away with this one, friend. Carmen chuckled to herself. She decided not to press the issue quite yet, it wouldn't pay to underestimate a prime, no matter how inept they seemed. Carmen had learned that from her time in Ambrosia, and it had remained the case pretty much everywhere in the Omniverse.
“Go ahead and let yourself into my office, I'll be down to see you in a trice. I will warn you not break anything in there, some of those things were a tad expensive.” The prime gave her a curt bow, and made for the back of the boat. Carmen turned away and headed back towards the wheel of the boat. She stopped over with the navigator, to review their heading.
“How are things looking Bart?” The grizzled seamen grunted at her by way of response. She smirked, “Care to elaborate?”
The elderly man flashed her a nigh-toothless grin, “Aye, aye, Cap'n. We're about a week out from Coasta del Sol, wit' about three days to go until we hit Bilge-water again. Everything's looking alright with the VILE.” The navigator gave a rasping cough. “There's a storm brewing off the aft, and I'll be darned if we ain't gonna be riding its waves all the way to Blue Flame.” There was a loud thump below them. Carmen frowned.
As she had ordered, a few of her larger crew-members had followed the prime in, 'breaking the captain's orders' to rough the prime up a little, to shake loose a surprise or two he'd prepared over the week he'd been hiding. They weren't supposed to hurt him badly, though she had pointed out a piece of furniture or two that she was planning on getting replaced anyway. She hoped they remembered which ones.
Carmen lifted her eyeglass to get a better look at the storm. “She's a spectacle isn't she. I'd almost like to get a closer look.”
The old man gave a hearty seaman's-laugh, “Now that's a sign if ever I saw one. Challenging a storm that size in an old dingy like this? You've gotten almost as fey as ole' Senile Bart! 'Tain't many can say that.” Carmen laughed softly.
“Perhaps you're right. Steady the course Mr. Bart, I need to go have a chat with our stowaway.” She said, and handed him the spyglass. The old Seaman gave a rasping cough as she descended the stairs, which turned into a series of hacking coughs. Carmen frowned, she depended on Senile Bart for running a lot of the VILE, she needed him to stay in good health.
Her frown only deepened as she entered her quarters. The prime was lounging on her chair, not in arrogance, rather because he didn't have the strength to sit up. One eye had a significant bruise, and he was holding his Omnilium to a large cut on his left arm. Just your standard healing, eh pal?He looked up when she entered the room, then spat some blood.
“You're going to clean that up.” she said matter-of-factly, and crossed the room to lean against her desk. A dirk was stuck into it, with a scrap of what had been the prime's robe. She had always liked that desk. The prime still didn't say anything, he just shrugged, coughing slightly.
“Care to explain what you were doing in my hold?”
“Not particularly, Care to explain why you're men are all unimaginative grunts? I was expecting a little more than getting punched in the face. It's almost disappointing.” He grinned at her through bloody teeth. Carmen smirked again He's still trying to play tough? That's odd...
“I could say I asked first, or ladies first or any other sort of clichéd response. But that would be unimaginative, so I think we'll settle with a different question. How much do you know about being a prime?” The Sage gave her a quizzical look. Carmen sighed in irritation.
“Do you know about what happens when you die?” she asked pointedly, allowing a hand to stray to her cutlass as she said so.
“If I recall, I was promised a return should I be sufficiently entertaining. It was rather vague on the particulars of the arrangement” he said distantly. Carmen pulled the brim of her hat down over her eyes, she wanted to watch the stowaway's reaction, but that would be easier if he didn't know what she was doing.
“Bullet to the back of the skull. Tier five of Coruscant, I'd been three days here, then three days nowhere.” she sighed in frustration as the memories resurfaced.
“You come back yes. But you still have to die.”
There was a pause where neither Carmen nor the captured prime spoke, one digesting the implications, the other treading through places she had hoped never to go again. After a time, she hopped up and pulled out one of her bladed pistols, cocking it she whirled on the stowaway prime.
“Point is, you won't like it when I shoot you, so don't think you're in any form of control here. Now, you working for Camelot or the Empire?” The stowaway just stared at her. “Fine. let's say Camelot, you look too old-fashioned to fit in with those posh imperial types. Am I wrong? You're here hunting a bounty right? Don't give me that look, clearly you aren't an idiot.”
“Why do you want to know my affiliation? Wondering where to send the body?” her captive asked.
“You must be fresh pal, killing a prime does mostly nothing for the killer. No, if I do that you just come back in a week or so, we've been over this.” It was strange, the guy didn't seem very concerned about his situation. Under the feathered fedora, her brow furrowed. There was something she was missing here.
“Your crewman Topps was looking for treasure by the way. Not saying that you believed him to be honest I assure you.” The prime said, with the off-handed nature that continued to irk her. Carmen snorted,
“You go ahead and say that. Still not the issue at hand here.” Now it seemed to be the stowaway's turn to chuckle.
“Indeed, the issue here is about hands, or rather within our hands to be precise.” He said with a wry grin. Carmen stared at him.
Then the boat lurched sharply to the left. Captain Sandiego leaned, grabbing her desk for support, The captured prime tumbling out of the chair he had claimed. Carmen hurried over to the door of the cabin.
“What in the Omni's name is going on!” She demanded, although her eyes were already catching on to the problem.
“One of the restraints snapped on the mainsail, it's all out of control!” yelled Senile Bart, as he struggled with the wheel. Her crew was scrambling across the rigging, trying to catch hold of the wayward coil. As she watched, a belted coil broke loose and slammed into a man, lifting him off his feet. He crashed into the side of the boat and grunted. Carmen watched as one of the more agile crewmen, Sheg, managed to grab hold of the rebellious restraint.
“Its all rotted or something!” he shouted, and even as he said this, the end he had grabbed disconnected from the rest, sending him reeling in the rest of the rigging.
Carmen cursed and turned as the prime closed with more speed than she would have guessed from his prior actions. He had snatched the dirk from the table and Carmen jumped back as he swiped at her. “Look out, Captain!” Topps called down from the rigging. Carmen shot him a glance, Don't think I didn't recognize your dirk on the table there, Topps. I'll be keeping an eye on you. landing a short distance away she drew her saber-tipped pistols.
“A good try friend, but I don't think we'll be playing that game anytime soon.” The Sage's face was still largely unconcerned, he held the dirk easily and ready in one hand, relaxing into a comfortable crouch.
“It'd be unwise to fire into your own cabin. Besides, killing me does mostly nothing. we've been over this” He said parroting her words with a vaguely patronizing tone. Carmen growled slightly, and fired both pistols. The flintlocks had as poor aim as ever, one striking into the wood behind him, but the other grazing his already injured shoulder. He gave a grunt and staggered backwards against the boat's edge.
“Knock it off, bud. I'll give you credit for extracting the rope, A nice distraction. Maybe I'll use it better in the future. It'll take more than that though, particularly if you're going to be just lunge at me when you get the drop.” The sage grunted, still leaning against the side of the boat, he must be in worse shape then he looks, Carmen thought as he rested there.
“Wasn't...the point...” he huffed, and forced himself upright. He pointed a finger straight upwards, and forced his grimace of pain into a grin once again. “Waiting for my... Air support.” Carmen looked up and her eyes widened as she realized the true significance of the sabotaged mainsail. The crew had managed to get the wayward sail tied down and controlled, but it was only at half sail, and they had already lost their lead on the storm. Carmen noted the grim face with which Bart was commanding the wheel, and understood the true gravity of the situation.
“You would drown us all?” She accused the Sage, as he stood there dirk no longer ready for conflict.
“Did I have another choice?” he shot back, the most emotional response she had observed from him yet, “You cannot restrain a man without expecting him to conflict his confinements. To impinge upon freedom is to expect opposition.” The ship rocked as it began to rise on a large wave, “Your lack of understanding is what has doomed us all to this fate. I had no knowledge of nor desire to inconvenience your crew, whatever issues that you feel, they are entirely your own desires. That is the truth,whether you will accept it or not is on you!” An ear-splitting thunder-clap severed the sky directly as he finished.
The storm had caught up to them.
“What is taking Topps so long?” She called down, “Get that stowaway up here! We don't have all day for this! There's stuff to be done!” Vic shrugged and started to climb down. He stopped only a few rungs down and started to climb back up almost immediately. The stowaway followed and Topps brought up the rear. Captain Sandiego pulled down the rim of her hat and smirked. This prime certainly wasn't very dangerous looking. She was almost disappointed, but really this just meant she should come up with some new schemes to antagonize the Empire. After his throne goes missing Palpantine might see fit to send actual hunters after her.
“Welcome aboard!” Captain Sandiego called down to the prime, “In the future you might try checking with me first before you start making changes to my ship. The boys aren't too fond of that kind of thing.” Her assembled crew gave an appropriately stilted chorus of shouts and threats. “What are you doing on the VILE?” she declared. There would be no mistake about the purpose of the coming events.
The prime seemed relatively unafraid of her crew's display, not that Carmen was expecting much, and gazed around him at the sails of the ship. He climbed atop a crate in the middle of the deck.“ I simply wanted to sail!” he said, leaning to one side and holding onto a rope to support himself, “Is that everything you wanted to know of me?” he called up to her, Attempting to play this off are we? You'll have to be quite good to get away with this one, friend. Carmen chuckled to herself. She decided not to press the issue quite yet, it wouldn't pay to underestimate a prime, no matter how inept they seemed. Carmen had learned that from her time in Ambrosia, and it had remained the case pretty much everywhere in the Omniverse.
“Go ahead and let yourself into my office, I'll be down to see you in a trice. I will warn you not break anything in there, some of those things were a tad expensive.” The prime gave her a curt bow, and made for the back of the boat. Carmen turned away and headed back towards the wheel of the boat. She stopped over with the navigator, to review their heading.
“How are things looking Bart?” The grizzled seamen grunted at her by way of response. She smirked, “Care to elaborate?”
The elderly man flashed her a nigh-toothless grin, “Aye, aye, Cap'n. We're about a week out from Coasta del Sol, wit' about three days to go until we hit Bilge-water again. Everything's looking alright with the VILE.” The navigator gave a rasping cough. “There's a storm brewing off the aft, and I'll be darned if we ain't gonna be riding its waves all the way to Blue Flame.” There was a loud thump below them. Carmen frowned.
As she had ordered, a few of her larger crew-members had followed the prime in, 'breaking the captain's orders' to rough the prime up a little, to shake loose a surprise or two he'd prepared over the week he'd been hiding. They weren't supposed to hurt him badly, though she had pointed out a piece of furniture or two that she was planning on getting replaced anyway. She hoped they remembered which ones.
Carmen lifted her eyeglass to get a better look at the storm. “She's a spectacle isn't she. I'd almost like to get a closer look.”
The old man gave a hearty seaman's-laugh, “Now that's a sign if ever I saw one. Challenging a storm that size in an old dingy like this? You've gotten almost as fey as ole' Senile Bart! 'Tain't many can say that.” Carmen laughed softly.
“Perhaps you're right. Steady the course Mr. Bart, I need to go have a chat with our stowaway.” She said, and handed him the spyglass. The old Seaman gave a rasping cough as she descended the stairs, which turned into a series of hacking coughs. Carmen frowned, she depended on Senile Bart for running a lot of the VILE, she needed him to stay in good health.
Her frown only deepened as she entered her quarters. The prime was lounging on her chair, not in arrogance, rather because he didn't have the strength to sit up. One eye had a significant bruise, and he was holding his Omnilium to a large cut on his left arm. Just your standard healing, eh pal?He looked up when she entered the room, then spat some blood.
“You're going to clean that up.” she said matter-of-factly, and crossed the room to lean against her desk. A dirk was stuck into it, with a scrap of what had been the prime's robe. She had always liked that desk. The prime still didn't say anything, he just shrugged, coughing slightly.
“Care to explain what you were doing in my hold?”
“Not particularly, Care to explain why you're men are all unimaginative grunts? I was expecting a little more than getting punched in the face. It's almost disappointing.” He grinned at her through bloody teeth. Carmen smirked again He's still trying to play tough? That's odd...
“I could say I asked first, or ladies first or any other sort of clichéd response. But that would be unimaginative, so I think we'll settle with a different question. How much do you know about being a prime?” The Sage gave her a quizzical look. Carmen sighed in irritation.
“Do you know about what happens when you die?” she asked pointedly, allowing a hand to stray to her cutlass as she said so.
“If I recall, I was promised a return should I be sufficiently entertaining. It was rather vague on the particulars of the arrangement” he said distantly. Carmen pulled the brim of her hat down over her eyes, she wanted to watch the stowaway's reaction, but that would be easier if he didn't know what she was doing.
“Bullet to the back of the skull. Tier five of Coruscant, I'd been three days here, then three days nowhere.” she sighed in frustration as the memories resurfaced.
“You come back yes. But you still have to die.”
There was a pause where neither Carmen nor the captured prime spoke, one digesting the implications, the other treading through places she had hoped never to go again. After a time, she hopped up and pulled out one of her bladed pistols, cocking it she whirled on the stowaway prime.
“Point is, you won't like it when I shoot you, so don't think you're in any form of control here. Now, you working for Camelot or the Empire?” The stowaway just stared at her. “Fine. let's say Camelot, you look too old-fashioned to fit in with those posh imperial types. Am I wrong? You're here hunting a bounty right? Don't give me that look, clearly you aren't an idiot.”
“Why do you want to know my affiliation? Wondering where to send the body?” her captive asked.
“You must be fresh pal, killing a prime does mostly nothing for the killer. No, if I do that you just come back in a week or so, we've been over this.” It was strange, the guy didn't seem very concerned about his situation. Under the feathered fedora, her brow furrowed. There was something she was missing here.
“Your crewman Topps was looking for treasure by the way. Not saying that you believed him to be honest I assure you.” The prime said, with the off-handed nature that continued to irk her. Carmen snorted,
“You go ahead and say that. Still not the issue at hand here.” Now it seemed to be the stowaway's turn to chuckle.
“Indeed, the issue here is about hands, or rather within our hands to be precise.” He said with a wry grin. Carmen stared at him.
Then the boat lurched sharply to the left. Captain Sandiego leaned, grabbing her desk for support, The captured prime tumbling out of the chair he had claimed. Carmen hurried over to the door of the cabin.
“What in the Omni's name is going on!” She demanded, although her eyes were already catching on to the problem.
“One of the restraints snapped on the mainsail, it's all out of control!” yelled Senile Bart, as he struggled with the wheel. Her crew was scrambling across the rigging, trying to catch hold of the wayward coil. As she watched, a belted coil broke loose and slammed into a man, lifting him off his feet. He crashed into the side of the boat and grunted. Carmen watched as one of the more agile crewmen, Sheg, managed to grab hold of the rebellious restraint.
“Its all rotted or something!” he shouted, and even as he said this, the end he had grabbed disconnected from the rest, sending him reeling in the rest of the rigging.
Carmen cursed and turned as the prime closed with more speed than she would have guessed from his prior actions. He had snatched the dirk from the table and Carmen jumped back as he swiped at her. “Look out, Captain!” Topps called down from the rigging. Carmen shot him a glance, Don't think I didn't recognize your dirk on the table there, Topps. I'll be keeping an eye on you. landing a short distance away she drew her saber-tipped pistols.
“A good try friend, but I don't think we'll be playing that game anytime soon.” The Sage's face was still largely unconcerned, he held the dirk easily and ready in one hand, relaxing into a comfortable crouch.
“It'd be unwise to fire into your own cabin. Besides, killing me does mostly nothing. we've been over this” He said parroting her words with a vaguely patronizing tone. Carmen growled slightly, and fired both pistols. The flintlocks had as poor aim as ever, one striking into the wood behind him, but the other grazing his already injured shoulder. He gave a grunt and staggered backwards against the boat's edge.
“Knock it off, bud. I'll give you credit for extracting the rope, A nice distraction. Maybe I'll use it better in the future. It'll take more than that though, particularly if you're going to be just lunge at me when you get the drop.” The sage grunted, still leaning against the side of the boat, he must be in worse shape then he looks, Carmen thought as he rested there.
“Wasn't...the point...” he huffed, and forced himself upright. He pointed a finger straight upwards, and forced his grimace of pain into a grin once again. “Waiting for my... Air support.” Carmen looked up and her eyes widened as she realized the true significance of the sabotaged mainsail. The crew had managed to get the wayward sail tied down and controlled, but it was only at half sail, and they had already lost their lead on the storm. Carmen noted the grim face with which Bart was commanding the wheel, and understood the true gravity of the situation.
“You would drown us all?” She accused the Sage, as he stood there dirk no longer ready for conflict.
“Did I have another choice?” he shot back, the most emotional response she had observed from him yet, “You cannot restrain a man without expecting him to conflict his confinements. To impinge upon freedom is to expect opposition.” The ship rocked as it began to rise on a large wave, “Your lack of understanding is what has doomed us all to this fate. I had no knowledge of nor desire to inconvenience your crew, whatever issues that you feel, they are entirely your own desires. That is the truth,whether you will accept it or not is on you!” An ear-splitting thunder-clap severed the sky directly as he finished.
The storm had caught up to them.
If history is to become legend, it first must be recorded.