MILLICENT: “The next time we lose a member of this crew you will put aside your personal feelings and make an announcement. The same goes, but less so, for significant assets like ships and technology.”
STORY: Kahn laughs. “Next time.”
STORY: “Because there’ll always be a next time.”
TUELLER: “We’re a crew. Not slaves. Free to come and go.”
ALEJO: He spins to Millie. “She just left!” Then he turns to Kahn. “Yeah, okay. Enough of your shit. You know it’s a lot more complicated than that I strung her along.”
STORY: “Pretty simple from here.”
TUELLER: “Gotta shit or get off the pot, man.”
ALEJO: “That from the man who clearly understands romance and love.”
STORY: “Go fuck yourself, captain.”
MILLICENT: Millie blows a whistle that she’s wearing. “Stop this childish backbiting immediately. This is a crew meeting. You may discuss your relationship problems in private.
TUELLER: “I can’t see, was that aimed at me?”
MILLICENT: Millie blows the whistle again.
TUELLER: “Seems like it could have been aimed at me.”
TUELLER: Tueller remembers back when he first realized he knew Kahn’s name. It was back at the Mazomba bridge, during the Triton job. Tueller was leading the assault on the lab, with Nandini as his lieutenant. No one knew where Alejo was, but that was his job, of course. Nandini being around meant Tueller hardly paid attention to the crew. Tueller didn’t care if they liked it that way or not; she was his world.
TUELLER: When the opposition rallied and cut them off from their extraction point by blowing the bridge, Tueller was surprised to discover that he knew Kahn’s name; that there was a sniper on their team named Kahn he could trust to ID and eliminate the opposition leader. It gave them all a chance to get off the moon. Tueller never got a chance to thank Kahn for that; the job went pear-shaped when they got into orbit, saved only by some fancy bit of flying from Jac, and Tueller spent months in recovery and even longer in a bottle, but he owes him for it, regardless. Owes Kahn and Jac both.
—
STORY: In the moments before the doors are forced open, the four of you sit silently in the dark, tucked into corners in the cargo bay, listening to the footfalls of your other crewmates as they scramble above decks and the crashing of whatever tools the party attempting to board you is using to pry open Peregrine’s bay doors.
STORY: Jac puts a round in the chamber of her sidearm and unsnaps her knife sheath.
STORY: Tueller, what’s your position?
TUELLER: So, just to be clear, because it’s been awhile, Millie and Tueller were the only ones in the cargohold when the invasion started to happen?
STORY: Alejo and Jac were in Alejo’s quarters; I figured they could make it there in the seconds since the power was shut off.
MILLICENT: oh word
MILLICENT: Millie finds some kind of cover
TUELLER: Tueller gets into the Gregor and flicks the engine on.
TUELLER: Muttering to the comm in his head, “Doc, you coordinate us. This is about to get ugly.”
TUELLER: “Boarding parties are likely to either take our cargo and split, or if they’re trying to take the ship, split in two parties, one to take the bridge, the other to take engineering. Those are our fall-back points.”
ALEJO: Alejo is crouched behind a cargo container with good sight lines on what’s about to be an entrance, an assault pistol in each hand.
ALEJO: “Kahn, hold the bridge. Loll, you got engineering. Everyone else, grab a weapon and don’t get killed.”
ALEJO: Alejo mutters into the com.
STORY: The doors crack open with a mighty WHOOOOSH and the air between your ship and your enemies’ mixes. It smells dry, acidic. The door creaks open and you see in the darkness four areas of concentrated LED lights, small pinpricks of light in vaguely humanoid arrangement.
MILLICENT: Millie passes it on. “Kahn, hold the bridge. Loll, hold engineering.”
MILLICENT: “Wait, Kahn, continue to think calm thoughts of rest and recuperation and do not even think of lifting a weapon….this concludes our drill.”
MILLICENT: Cutting Kahn out of the general comm, “Loll, you’ve got engineering and fall back to cover the bridge if necessary.”
TUELLER: Tueller throws on the headlights of the Gregor.
STORY: Tueller, you blast your visitors with light and reveal… four humanoid robots, of various design, all roughly six feet tall, all clearly droids, all bearing or made of weaponry. They do not react to the light and immediately move into Peregrine’s cargo bay.
STORY: Jac hisses, “Shit. TROLLS!”
TUELLER: Well, then Tueller’s ramming them with a beetle tank
STORY: Millie, you don’t know what a troll is.
STORY: Tueller, Alejo, you do – these droids are controlled by kids on the dark web who either program their bots with complex algorithms or pilot them from nearby, raiding whatever ships come into their orbit and selling the wrecks for parts.
STORY: Alejo, are these droids programmed or live controlled?
ALEJO: Live controlled.
STORY: Which means somewhere on this ship are the controllers, most likely, or close by.
STORY: Tueller, how are the droids armed?
TUELLER: They are all carrying katanas.
TUELLER: Two of them are also carrying flechette pistols.
TUELLER: They are posing with the fucking katanas.
TUELLER: Flechette pistols won’t puncture a hull, but they can fuck us up.
STORY: Excellent. The two that don’t have pistols twirl their katanas like General Grievous.
MILLICENT: They are all wearing trilbys
TUELLER: —M’lady.
MILLICENT: Little metal trilbys
STORY: Millie, what do the droids say as they enter?
MILLICENT: “PWNED PWNED PWNED PWNED” under a blaring circus beat
STORY: These robots intend to kill you all and take your ship.
TUELLER: “Doc, these are remote piloted raiders. Anything you and Noma can do to sever that link will help us out here.”
ALEJO: “Gods damned brats and their katanas,” Alejo hisses.
STORY: Tueller, as you prepare to hit the throttle and smash these tools, you flash back to what happened to Nandini when you made a hole the size of a lima bean in the hull of her ship and consider what might happen if you attempt to pilot a huge vehicle with six punchy arms inside of the tight quarters of the cargo hold.
TUELLER: “Mmmmm, shit.” Tueller jumps out of the controls of the Gregor and comes out the backend. He is not wearing anything beyond his exercise gear and his gloves.
STORY: Okay! Alejo, what are you doing?
ALEJO: Are these things heavily armored? I’m wondering if we shoot them if we run the risk of ricocheting fire?
STORY: You most definitely do run that risk
ALEJO: Alejo holsters his pistol and pulls out his stun baton, preparing to catch the nearest one by the leg as it passes.
STORY: Okay! Let’s have a Launch Assault!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: ablair01 rolled 9 + 1 = 10
STORY: Rad! You slow one of them down and turn his attention to you; tell me how it goes.
ALEJO: Alejo slides out from behind his cover, tagging one of the bots behind its knee joint. It stumbles forward, losing momentum and falling off balance. Alejo is able to dodge its clumsy katana swing and position himself for another strike that is hopefully far more damaging to a vulnerable region in its back, assuming it’s not been armored there. (Alejo has seen these sorts of bots before. Many times.)
STORY: Awesome. Millie?
MILLICENT: Millie scans the robots with her visor and attempts to identify and disrupt the signal controlling the bots
STORY: Let’s have an Access please
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: josh rolled 8 + 2 = 10
MILLICENT: Nice
STORY: Okay, you’ve intercepted the feed on one. You can trace it back or try to issue a command, or you can let Noma at it.
MILLICENT: Lines of code scan on Millie’s visor as her fingers fly across an invisible keyboard. “They’re individually linked, which means we’re going to need to get a bit creative if we want to…aha!”
MILLICENT: Millie tries to program the one she’s focusing on to attack another one.
MILLICENT: Katana vs fletchette
MILLICENT: Do I need to roll a second time?
STORY: Ok! Let’s make that Launch Assault with an Interface roll
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: josh rolled 8 + 2 = 10
ALEJO: –You’re on fire!
STORY: Ok, you destroy one of them with another, tell us how it goes
TUELLER: —These solid tens so far are making me a little nervous for my rolling.
MILLICENT: The katana troll lumbers over to a flechette troll as it levels it’s gun barrel at Jac. The katana takes the troll’s head apart just under the trilby, which flops to the ground. “Try to save the silly hats, we’ll need the receivers intact if we want to trace this back to the source!”
TUELLER: “Source is the ship, Doc. They’re close.”
STORY: This gives Jac an idea, Millie. Alejo, Jac holds out her hand. “Give me your baton!”
TUELLER: Tueller is saying this as he’s running towards the other flechette troll.
TUELLER: Tueller is, as they say, launching an assault.
STORY: Let’s have it, Tueller
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 5 + 2 = 7
ALEJO: He tosses it to her, so that then handle lands in her palm as he pulls his combat knife.
TUELLER: Tueller’s going to take some damage here.
STORY: Okay! Tueller, tell me about the exchange, in which you damage but don’t totally finish one of the droids.
TUELLER: Tueller comes charging at the droid, yelling and making sure everyone looking for a target sees him as the target. He slams his hands together, at the shoulder, aiming to cripple both arms of the troll at the same time. But they weren’t ready for action, and he hadn’t stored up kinetic energy here, so only his left hand hits with a sledgehammer force. The right hand just hits with the force of a strong tall angry man.
TUELLER: The katana falls to the ground with the rest of the mangled troll arm, but the flechette gun is still in a (messed up) arm attached to a functioning robot asshole.
STORY: Jac catches the baton and leaps toward the droid Alejo already damaged, climbing onto its back and swinging a leg over its shoulder as she jams it into the area just below its head and twists the end up to full power. An enormously loud popping sound echoes around the cargo bay as Jac is thrown off the droid and against a wall, crumpling to the ground just as the droid does the same.
STORY: Two droids down, one injured, one just fine. The injured one fires a flechette at you, Tueller. This is going to be a severe injury, roll Brace for Impact
TUELLER: /roll 2d6
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 5
TUELLER: —Knew I should have stopped to put on armor.
STORY: The flechette comes out of the gun with a quiet fwip, a sound no one can hear in the general din. Tueller stands calmly before the droid, ready for another attack, as his white workout shirt blooms red, much quicker than it ought to. Tueller, something stung your neck.
STORY: It’s still a Serious injury, but if you do anything but stop the bleeding it’s going to get worse and you’re going to pass out.
STORY: Millie, Tueller’s all red and a little wobbly looking. What are you doing?
MILLICENT: Millie types on her invisible keyboard and glances out of cover for a second to check on things. Seeing Tueller wobble makes her double take. She glances at her screen ruefully, then scrambles out of hiding and runs into the open to try and guide Tueller down where she can stop the bleeding from his neck. All the while, “Shit shit shit shit”
MILLICENT: I imagine there’s a little bit of making him crouch to she can, you know, reach his neck
ALEJO: “Shit is right!” Alejo yells and dives for the katana from the mangled troll.
TUELLER: Tueller stumbles away from the droid but only three steps.
TUELLER: And meets Millie.
STORY: Alejo, Jac is crumpled in a corner, Millie is crouched over Tueller trying to stop him bleeding out, and there are two functional droids, one spinning katanas and one training his flechette fun on Millie, and only you to deal with them.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo tests his new-found speed, diving for the katana dropped by the mangled droid. He’s going to try to get it and take that flechette out of its busted hand.
ALEJO: If nothing else, he’s going to get himself between Millie/Tueller and it.
STORY: All right! You move faster than any human should be able to and slide on the floor past the katana, ready to turn that speed into an assault – let’s have a Launch Assault!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: ablair01 rolled 4 + 1 = 5
ALEJO: –Ugh.
MILLICENT: —oofta
STORY: You misjudge your speed and slide right by, brushing the katana with your fingers as you slam into the opposite wall from Jac. Jac staggers to her feet and takes two stumbling steps toward the droid with his katanas, looking around wildly for something to use.
STORY: Millie, your visor flickers and the sound cuts out.
ALEJO: “Fuuuuuck!” Alejo shouts, hitting the wall and crumpling into a heap.
STORY: The katana droid turns to the flechette droid and with one slightly awkward motion cuts off the hand of the droid holding the gun.
STORY: The flechette gun clatters to the ground. The katana-wielding droid looks down at its hands and extends them rigidly, both katanas clattering to the ground.
MILLICENT: Whispered, “Noma?”
TUELLER: “Need to…need to kill…the jinn-kiddies.”
STORY: It walks forward, strange, lumbering steps, and pushes Millie gently away from Tueller, placing one of its hands on the wound on his neck and applying pressure. “I will take him upstairs. Please deal with the child attempting to regain control of this unit.” She lifts Tueller easily off the ground.
TUELLER: “Let me go I can….handle…them…”
ALEJO: “Gods bless you, Noma!” Alejo shuffles to his feet and charges towards the ship.
STORY: Jac looks at the droid that was formerly holding a katana and a flechette gun as it looks around the room and, improvising, pushes a barrel over into its knees.
STORY: That droid falls to the ground as she pulls her boot knife and sticks it in the same spot she electrocuted the other one. It stops moving.
MILLICENT: Millie flicks her visor back down and traces the signal back to its source. She’s not content to just cut the signal or take it over. She wants to blow the home unit that sent this thing.
STORY: Millie, you trace the signal – it’s short range. Someone in the ship that boarded you is controlling these units.
TUELLER: Tueller is completely weakly trying to get up and back into the fight and it’s very very pitiful.
ALEJO: “Can you trace the signal, Doc? Tell me where to find it?” Alejo is going through the breach into the neighboring ship at full speed.
TUELLER: “Explosives….in Gregor.”
STORY: Tueller, the droid carrying you says sympathetic things in a very robotic voice, which does not have a soothing effect. “TRY TO RELAX, TUELLER.”
STORY: “YOU ARE BLEEDING PROFUSELY.”
TUELLER: “Am relaxed.”
TUELLER: “Total relash.”
MILLICENT: Absentmindedly while typing, “Please do not use explosives _inside_ the ship.”
TUELLER: “Use explosives inside other ship.”
STORY: Tueller, you are met in the med bay by Tariq, who looks at you and the six foot tall metal unit carrying you with a mix of surprise and concern.
MILLICENT: “They’re definitely on that other ship though.” Millie tries to hack the door to the other ship open
TUELLER: “psftew.”
STORY: Millie, it’s open. They came straight in.
MILLICENT: haha word
MILLICENT: Can I track the signal to the units and give my team directions?
STORY: It’s not that big a ship! You should just board it.
ALEJO: Alejo is moving as fast and as stealthily as he can, searching for the controllers aboard the bad guys’ ship.
MILLICENT: Millie runs behind Alejo
STORY: Jac brings up the rear.
MILLICENT: ‘As quiet as a scientist’ is the old expression, isn’t it?
STORY: You step into an engineering area with a small cargo bay. It’s not a large ship, room enough for maybe three crew members under normal circumstances, 10′ square in each direction and what looks like one or two decks above for the bridge and living quarters. The three of you are thrown to the deck as there is some kind of movement in the deck above you.
TUELLER: Tueller hangs with Tariq.
STORY: Tariq is doing his best to stop you bleeding to death.
TUELLER: Chilling. Because he’s losing blood.
STORY: Alejo, you investigate the decks above – they’re empty. The whole ship is empty.
TUELLER: “Chilly.”
STORY: Jac looks at the console on the bridge. “Shuttle launch. He ran.”
STORY: She shakes her head. “Coward knew we had him.”
ALEJO: “Shit!”
STORY: She turns back. “Well. I guess we have two ships now. That shuttle will be short range, so he’s probably running off to friends. We should get going.”
MILLICENT: Millie checks the console, are there guns on this ship and is the shuttle in range of them if so?
ALEJO: Or what about Peregrine’s turret?
STORY: Millie, there are point defense turrets, usually for debris or small fighters. Shuttle is in range for the moment.
MILLICENT: Millie fires a warning shot and opens comms. “You have just the one chance to surrender.”
STORY: Millie, the shuttle continues to flee, taking what look like evasive maneuvers to your untrained eye.
ALEJO: Alejo gets to Millie’s position and stands beside her. “Kill it,” Alejo says. Looking her in the eyes.
STORY: Jac shakes her head and looks away.
MILLICENT: Millie tries, firing
STORY: Millie, Open Fire please
MILLICENT: Is Open Fire interface?
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 +2
STORY: josh rolled 4 + 2 = 6
MILLICENT: aw
STORY: You fire and miss, and the shuttle disappears into the black.
STORY: Jac rubs her neck. “Looked like an M1-Bradford engine down there. Let’s decouple her and I’ll get this one out of here. Let me keep the droids, I’ll see if I can reprogram them.”
STORY: She looks sad and in a hurry.
TUELLER: “Howsh thish goin guysh?”
STORY: Tueller, the droid yells at you. “DO NOT SPEAK, DR. GUOSIN IS STITCHING YOUR NECK. WOULD YOU LIKE A HUG FROM BEFORE?”
TUELLER: “Yesh.”
STORY: The droid hugs you. It’s less nice than a regular hug, and more nice than nothing.
MILLICENT: “Oh no oh no no please no surgery hugs!” Millie bolts from the control room of the new ship and to the sick bay of hers
TUELLER: Tueller pats the droid on the back.
STORY: Jac tenses up once Millie is gone. “I’m… gonna get supplies.” She walks after Millie in a hurry.
ALEJO: Alejo nods once and watches her as she is leaving. Then he catches her by the hand and turns her back to him. “I’m sorry, Jac. I wish . . . I was better at all of this. You have anything you want. Take your time. Say your goodbyes. I’ll stay out of the way. But I’ll miss you more than you know.”
STORY: She pulls her hand away from you and goes without another word.
ALEJO: He lets go and waits for her to leave.
STORY: Tueller, your neck is stitched up and you’re connected to an IV of blood. For now, you’re stabilized. Millie, there’s blood on your floor but Tueller will survive if he just rests for once in his life.
TUELLER: Tueller is still hugging the droid like it’s Linus and his blanket.
STORY: Jac passes the door to the med bay, then moments later passes back, carrying a box of what looks at a glance to be rations.
TUELLER: “Jac…”
TUELLER: Weakly
STORY: She stops, turning back slowly and sounding embarrassed. “You ok?”
MILLICENT: Millie checks everything, badges and what not. How did Tariq do?
TUELLER: “Not really, right now. Neumorph isn’t my fav.”
STORY: He did fine! This was a pretty simple patch up, he just had a huge hole in his neck, nicked an artery, but now it’s closed up so he just has to not open it again and he’ll be okay.
TUELLER: “Does the job though.”
TUELLER: “You okay?”
STORY: “I will be. You ever need anything, give me a call.” She nods to you solemnly and turns back to the stairs.
TUELLER: “You leaving us?”
STORY: Without turning back, she nods.
TUELLER: “Got the look of a woman who’s already left.”
MILLICENT: Millie quietly praises Tariq in the background.
TUELLER: Tueller’s forcing himself to be more present here.
STORY: Another nod. “No room for me here.”
TUELLER: “Yeah, I know the feeling.”
TUELLER: “No, I really don’t. Not like you mean.”
STORY: “Good working with you, sir.”
TUELLER: “You too, kid.”
TUELLER: “You were on the Triton job, weren’t you?”
STORY: “Yeah.”
TUELLER: “Thought so. You handled the Neptune gravity assist manually when my decomp took down out the nav computer, right? I wasn’t in any state to tell you so at the time but that was a deft bit of flying.”
STORY: “Mr. Ya’Makasi, that shuttle is probably bringing reinforcements.”
TUELLER: “Shame not to have you around. But I know more than most you gotta make your own way out here. I hope you do so. Get the fuck out of here.”
STORY: “Yeah. Thanks.”
STORY: She moves quickly downstairs.
STORY: Then, from halfway down, “Shit.”
TUELLER: Tueller coughs, then settles back to his morphine stupor.
STORY: She reappears in the doorway with her box of rations. “Uh, Noma.”
STORY: The droid turns to the door.
TUELLER: Conversation took a lot of him.
STORY: “Can I have that droid? Need another pair of hands to fly her.”
TUELLER: Tueller still has an arm around the droid.
STORY: The droid nods. “Certainly.” It gently removes Tueller’s arm and departs with Jac.
TUELLER: —Sad I didn’t go with my initial impulse to make it a reprogrammed sex droid.
STORY: Alejo, where did you end up?
TUELLER: Tueller crumples up into a compact fetal position.
ALEJO: Alejo left Jac a note, he stops by to glance at Tueller and make sure he’s not dead, then drops by the kitchen to get a bottle of whatever is handy before going to the bridge, getting us outta here, making sure we’re not followed and then getting very drunk.
TUELLER: —You don’t want to fly us out of the potential war zone?
STORY: Before you do that, you run into Jac grabbing her bag when dropping off the note.
STORY: She stops and shakes her head, reaching past you to get her gear.
STORY: “Seven years, right?”
ALEJO: “Seven years, 123 days, I think. Give or take.” He smiles and then shakes his head self-consciously.
STORY: “Too long.” She moves quickly towards you, wraps an arm around your neck, and kisses you quickly, breaking away just as suddenly and leaving the room.
ALEJO: He watches her leave, and then just sits on the floor. Sort of folding down.
STORY: You hear noises from the cargo bay as Jac either directs or drags the droids back onboard the enemy ship. A minute later, the air regulates again and the bay doors close, with one final shudder as it departs.
ALEJO: Alejo is on the bridge now. He watches the ship as it slips away. Then he quietly sets course for the Ark, checking scopes to make sure that we are in the clear.
STORY: Jenny’s on the bridge. “Everybody okay?”
ALEJO: “You fly?” Alejo asks flatly?
STORY: “I can, sure.”
ALEJO: He nods at her. Stands up, picks up the bottle he’s gotten, and gestures for her to take the helm. “If you need me . . . ” He trails off. Then he leaves.
ALEJO: “Everyone is fine,” he says over his shoulder as he walks out.
STORY: Millie, Jenny comes in on your intercom. “Uh, Dr. Breedlove?”
MILLICENT: “Yes, Ensign Nilsson?”
STORY: “Something happen to Captain Soto?”
MILLICENT: “Ensign Nilsson, I believe this is a conversation I would prefer to have in person.” Millie waits, licks her lips, audibly enjoys this next question. “What is…your twenty?”
STORY: “Bridge? Is that what that means?”
MILLICENT: “Very good. Thank you, Ensign Nilsson.”
MILLICENT: Millie gets on the full comms. “Good morning, crew. There will be a full crew meeting in the galley in fifteen minutes. If you are too drunk to stand or have been shot within the last fortnight you are invited to attend via comms, if I see you there in person under either condition I will sedate you and have one of our burlier crew members escort you back to quarters.”
MILLICENT: Millie goes to the med bay and fills two syringes with neumorph to make good on her threat
STORY: Tariq, from behind you, “All our burly crew members have been sho– oh, okay.”
TUELLER: “Can I get a shorter version, Doc?”
TUELLER: “Kinda blacked out during the middle part there.”
TUELLER: Tueller is a little slurry.
ALEJO: “Millie,” Alejo turns on his com to her, “Just . . . ” He turns off the com. And takes a big drink.
MILLICENT: “I’m going to patch you into a meeting. You are to stay here and count the nicks and dents in the ceiling. If you stand up I will tie you down and install a catheter. Do you understand?”
STORY: Alejo, T’chololl arrives in the galley, limping a little but looking alert. “Am I no longer needed to guard engineering?”
STORY: “Were the enemies slain?”
ALEJO: He pours her a drink and slides it over to her. “Yup.”
MILLICENT: “They were, and I apologize that I didn’t relieve you earlier.”
STORY: “It is no concern.” She drinks it in one gulp and sits next to Alejo. “You look terrible, my friend!” She slaps you heavily on the back.
STORY: Jenny arrives, sticking near the door in case the autopilot beeps and she has to run back up.
STORY: Noma buzzes in. “I am onboard, Millie.”
ALEJO: He agrees and pours two more glasses, giving one to her and slamming his.
STORY: Tariq heads downstairs to grab Kahn from the dormitory.
MILLICENT: Is everyone assembled?
TUELLER: Tueller’s hanging out with his neumorph drip in medbay. Is he patched in to the entire meeting, or just Millie?
STORY: Yeah, they eventually get there.
MILLICENT: This is through comms, not through Millie’s headset
MILLICENT: “Good morning, crew. Thank you all for joining me. I have pieced together the following bits of information. Jac is no longer on board and apparently she left with the bots and ship we recently acquired.”
STORY: Jenny looks shocked. “What?”
MILLICENT: “Does anyone have any clarifications they would like to offer at this time regarding these developments?”
TUELLER: “Kid needed to change.”
STORY: Kahn is staring daggers at Alejo.
STORY: Loll nods knowingly and Tariq is mostly glancing back at Tueller to make sure he’s not dead.
TUELLER: “Sorry, needed a change.”
MILLICENT: “I see, so this was a discussed departure, not mutiny and theft?”
ALEJO: “No. It wasn’t.” Alejo says this flatly.
TUELLER: “We had a chat.”
TUELLER: “It was a short chat, with my wounding.”
STORY: _“What did you do?“_ Kahn says angrily to Alejo.
ALEJO: He looks up and meets Kahn’s eyes, steady. “She left. That’s it. She was a part of this crew, and we’ll respect her choice. If she ever needs anything, we’ll be there for her.”
STORY: “She just left. No warning.”
STORY: “No reason.”
TUELLER: “She took…rather more than her ration of the spoils.”
STORY: He ignores Tueller.
ALEJO: “What do you want, Kahn? A blow by blow? She left. It’s personal. It’s done. Tueller, I’ll make up whatever she took that was more than her share. Any other questions?” He stands, clearly not inviting any other questions.
STORY: “She’s my fucking family too, you think I didn’t know what was going on?”
STORY: Tariq puts his hand on Kahn’s arm. “C’mon, he’s clearly–”
ALEJO: Alejo moves to him as fast as he can, standing dangerously close. “Nothing was going on. That’s the point. Nothing. You got it? She was family and we’ll fucking respect her choice.”
STORY: “Yeah, nothing. Like you stringing her along for years, not one way or the other. Same as you do with everything else.”
STORY: “You knew how she felt.”
TUELLER: “You were stringing her along??”
STORY: Tariq cracks a smile, covering it quickly.
ALEJO: “Seven years, one hundred and twenty-three days, Kahn. Stringing her along? Fuck you. Whatever we had or didn’t isn’t a goddamn bit of your business.”
TUELLER: “Well that’s not cool man.”
ALEJO: He turns away, ashamed, angry and ready to punch someone.
STORY: “Whatever you say, Captain.”
STORY: “Orders?”
STORY: He’s asking sarcastically.
MILLICENT: “I’ve got some.”
MILLICENT: “The next time we lose a member of this crew you will put aside your personal feelings and make an announcement. The same goes, but less so, for significant assets like ships and technology.”
STORY: Kahn laughs. “Next time.”
STORY: “Because there’ll always be a next time.”
TUELLER: “We’re a crew. Not slaves. Free to come and go.”
ALEJO: He spins to Millie. “She just left!” Then he turns to Kahn. “Yeah, okay. Enough of your shit. You know it’s a lot more complicated than that I strung her along.”
STORY: “Pretty simple from here.”
TUELLER: “Gotta shit or get off the pot, man.”
ALEJO: “That from the man who clearly understands romance and love.”
STORY: “Go fuck yourself, captain.”
MILLICENT: Millie blows a whistle that she’s wearing. “Stop this childish backbiting immediately. This is a crew meeting. You may discuss your relationship problems in private.
TUELLER: “I can’t see, was that aimed at me?”
MILLICENT: Millie blows the whistle again.
TUELLER: “Seems like it could have been aimed at me.”
MILLICENT: “Shh, Tueller.”
STORY: Kahn’s not backing down at all from Alejo.
STORY: He’s wounded, but he’s standing up straight, and he’s clearly angry as hell.
TUELLER: “Doesn’t entirely make sense to aim it at me, but it could be.”
TUELLER: “Come on, SOMEONE tell me if it was aimed at me.”
MILLICENT: “It was not, Tueller. The fuck you was clearly directed at Mr. Soto.”
TUELLER: “Oh ummm… nevermind, Doc.”
TUELLER: You hear a really heavy sigh, like Tueller just tried to do something strenuous and failed.
TUELLER: Muttered, “Oh fuck, oww.” (Not obviously in a lot of pain or anything)
MILLICENT: “Now. I understand that most of you have a history that predates Jenny, Loll, Noma, Tariq and myself. But this crew exists outside of those relationships. And _this crew_ has a fiscal responsibility to our backers and our continued flying, in addition to the responsibilities we hold to each other that must sometimes override your personal feelings.”
MILLICENT: “We just gave away an alien vessel and at least a couple alien computers, bots and personal items. Along with our chance to increase our standing at the Ark for having weathered those trolls without outside help.”
MILLICENT: Overriding objections she sees rising
MILLICENT: “I would have voted to let Jac take the ship, _had it come to a vote_. But it did not. And we should have had the opportunity to speak on it before two of this crew uniformly made that decision without the rest.”
TUELLER: “Am I one of the two? ’Cause I didn’t know she was taking the ship.”
ALEJO: “Oh for gods sake! Millie, it’s not about the money or the business.” He turns to Kahn. “Yeah, I fucked it all up. Is that what you want to hear? She left because of me. And yeah, probably everyone will. I’m sorry. To her. To you. To all of you.”
STORY: Kahn nods. “Yeah. That’ll do it.” He turns to Millie. “Anything else you want to cover?”
TUELLER: “I hate not being able to see who’s talking to who” (Muttered)
MILLICENT: “Yes, thank you, Mr. Vespertine.”
TUELLER: “It is kind of about the money and the business, buddy.”
ALEJO: “Tueller, for the love of gods. Rest. I’ll make you richer than you already are.”
TUELLER: “We are in this for the money. Or, at least, the money is what keeps us flying.”
TUELLER: “Keeps us as a crew, rather than employees.”
TUELLER: “Give us independence.”
STORY: Three people, in unison, “Tueller, shut UP”
TUELLER: “Maybe get us a plot of land eventually.” Sullenly.
TUELLER: Tueller is quiet.
STORY: T’chololl stands, as if realizing something. “Why is Tueller not with us?”
TUELLER: Tueller, breathing a little heavily, “Anyone else want to take that one?”
STORY: Loll leaves the room abruptly, ignoring the others.
MILLICENT: “I know that this is a difficult time right now. And I now that some of us have shot others of us. But I was amazed by the things we witnessed on New Vesta. And one of the most amazing things was how this crew came together when it really counted, shootings or no. We are capable of great things when we work together. I hope we will do so for much longer. I am proud of us.”
MILLICENT: “Loll, please do not bring Tueller here bodily you will rip his stitches and Tariq did such a nice job,” Millie calls after her.
STORY: Loll reaches you in the infirmary, Tueller. Your head is kind of spinny but you’re pretty sure she’s real.
TUELLER: “Oh hi Lolly.”
TUELLER: (This comes through on the intercom)
STORY: “Hello, Tueller. Are you dying?”
TUELLER: “Not anymore.”
STORY: She nods. “That is good.” She sits quietly on the stool next to the gurney, putting all four of her hands in her lap.
TUELLER: “It’s good to see you. And not be dead.”
STORY: She announces to the intercom, “You may continue, Dr. Breedlove.”
STORY: Kahn scratches his nose. “Bad time for an inspirational talk, Doc.”
MILLICENT: “There is no good time for an inspirational talk, Mr. Vespertine. That is the point of inspirational talks.”
MILLICENT: “The point of mine is this: we faced down giant psychic monsters and a rage zombie plague. Don’t let Alejo’s constant romantic irresolution be the end of a crew that can do that.”
STORY: Kahn shakes his head. “This crew’s only together when people are shooting at us. Jenny’s literally a spy.”
STORY: Jenny nods, smiling. “That’s true.”
TUELLER: “Shiiiiiit, I knew that’s what we were getting when I hit on her and asked her to join us.”
STORY: He gestures out the door. “Tueller’s… broken. And Noma, I’m sorry Noma, I think she might be psychopathic.”
TUELLER: “Noma’s wonderful.”
STORY: Loll nods enthusiastically.
STORY: “And I do not understand you people at all!” She announces cheerfully.
TUELLER: “Lolly agrees with me on Noma.”
STORY: Noma comes in. “I enjoyed having a body.”
TUELLER: “It was huggy.”
STORY: T’chololl gently covers Tueller’s mouth.
STORY: “Shhh.”
ALEJO: “Noma is a psychopath. But a very charming one. And it’ snot my ‘constant romantic irresolution’ that’s the problem. Jac left because I told her I was interested in you, Millie. She wanted more. I wanted you. That’s that.”
MILLICENT: “Are you tendering your resignation, Mr. Vespertine or do you – oh.”
MILLICENT: Millie turns to Alejo. “I see.”
STORY: Jenny and Tariq’s eyes get extremely wide and both of their mouths drop open. Kahn shakes his head and looks at the floor.
STORY: “You fucking did it again.” He turns and begins to walk back downstairs, slowly, due to the hole in him.
ALEJO: “And we don’t work only when we’re shot at. We work because we care about each other.”
ALEJO: “We don’t work because we’re paid. We don’t work because we share a vision of stealing . . . whatever we steal. We work because we care.”
ALEJO: “Jac and I cared. Just not in the same way.”
TUELLER: “What’s happening?”
TUELLER: “Someone tell me what just happened there? Is there kissing?”
TUELLER: “Guns drawn?”
TUELLER: “Someone please narrate! Noma, is this what life is like for you all the time? It’s maddening.”
STORY: Kahn answers you as he passes the door on his way downstairs, Tueller. “Alejo’s in love with the worst possible person again.”
ALEJO: “Kahn is pissed and walked out on me before I could punch him in his stupid face. And I just confessed that I have feelings for Millie. Jesus, Tueller. Rest already.”
TUELLER: “I am not missing this and catching up afterwards.”
ALEJO: “Buddy. You’re more here than the people standing in the room.”
TUELLER: “I’m more here than most people who ever live.”
STORY: Tariq closes his mouth and looks down the hallway. “I’m gonna… help… uh.”
STORY: He steps out awkwardly.
ALEJO: “That’s my Tueller. Feeling better I can see.”
STORY: Jenny’s still just looking at the two of you, jaw on the floor.
ALEJO: Alejo turns to Millie. “Can you please, for the love of gods, stop giving inspirational speeches for a minute.”
MILLICENT: Millie is considering Alejo, head cocked to side, curious
MILLICENT: “From context clues I gather that was rather difficult for you to come out with.”
TUELLER: “Doc’s a smart one.”
ALEJO: “Astute observation, Doc. You’re not the most approachable person in the world. And I did, despite what Kahn apparently thinks, just get out of a very intense relationship with someone else. So, I’ve not been super clear about my own feelings until very recently.”
STORY: Jenny realizes she’s alone in the room with just the two of you and looks at her watch. “I’m, uh. Pilot the. Uh.” She bolts.
ALEJO: Alejo gives her a “Yeah, thanks” look.
TUELLER: “No, Jen! You were our eyes!”
STORY: She ends up in the infirmary, collapsing onto Tueller’s legs giggling. “Noooooooooo no no no.”
STORY: “Oh wait, comms are still open, huh.”
STORY: She whispers. “Nooooooooo.”
STORY: _“That was sooooo goopy.“_
ALEJO: “Thanks, Jenny.”
TUELLER: Tueller laughs, and then clutches at his neck, shuddering but still smiling.
STORY: Loll asks in a full voice, “What is goopy?”
STORY: “Is the meeting over?”
MILLICENT: “I believe, again from context clues, it means overly emotional.”
ALEJO: “Oh for gods sake, Noma, please turn OFF, the coms!”
MILLICENT: “Noma, please disable comms from the galley to the rest of the ship.”
STORY: “Done.”
TUELLER: “Noma, please disable the comms to the galley but keep them on to the rest of the ship.”
STORY: Noma: “Way ahead of you, Tueller.”
MILLICENT: “Mr. Soto, I appreciate that that was a difficult meeting for you.”
ALEJO: “Difficult. Yeah. One way to put it.”
MILLICENT: “I ah. I find myself at a loss.”
ALEJO: “Yeah, well. I asked you out for a drink the other day. I guess professing my deep . . . ah, interest in you was the next logical step, right?”
ALEJO: “Super romantic and timely.”
ALEJO: “Especially with my ex-not-really-ex-but-could-have-maybe-been-ex leaving because I turned her down once too many times. Super timely. Just how I wanted it.”
STORY: Jenny is making many faces, most of them wide-eyed and also sometimes hugely embarrassed.
MILLICENT: “I suppose so. I haven’t considered myself capable of a romantic relationship since I.” Deep breath, eyes straight ahead. “Found my fiance after he hanged himself.”
MILLICENT: Millie watches Alejo’s face for a reaction.
ALEJO: Alejo pauses. “Jesus. I’m so sorry, Millie. I . . . didn’t know.”
TUELLER: “Loll, we’ll have to explain to you what this all means whenever it’s all sorted out.”
STORY: Loll nods. “I am very interested. Should I take notes?”
STORY: Noma: “I’m recording, not to worry.”
TUELLER: “I’ll diagram it out. My architectural drawing classes at uni will finally come in handy for non-heist related reasons.”
TUELLER: “Noma, we have graph paper on board, correct?”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “I wi-“, clears her throat. “This will require some. Additional thought.” Millie swallows.
MILLICENT: “I would be open to discussing it. Over dinner?” Millie’s voice wavers once and she clenches down on it.
ALEJO: “I’d really like that.” He looks at her tenderly and affectionately. “I’m sorry for that loss. All of this aside, that had to be . . . life changing.”
MILLICENT: Millie’s look flattens. “It. Had a distinct impact, yes.”
TUELLER: Tueller sits up as straight as possible, and spends a moment gathering his strength, and yells out loud enough so they can hear him in the galley from the med-lab. “KIIIIIIIIISS HER.”
TUELLER: He slumps over. “Let me know if it works. I’m just going to…pass out now.”
STORY: Jenny is extremely mortified.
STORY: Loll stands to look down the hallway and see what happens.
ALEJO: Alejo smiles and steps closer to her, hearing Tueller like everyone else. He leans in to see if she meets him for that kiss.
MILLICENT: Millie puts a hand up to stop him. “Comms on, Noma. I’m very capable of kissing Mr. Soto when we both feel it’s appropriate _and we’re not being spied on by a dozen degenerates_.” Millie smiles at Alejo. “Dinner.” And leaves the room.