They walked on to the ship's holding cells escorted by the Hriekel in a heavy silence. It wasn't long before the Doctor finally said to Rose: "'A universal stapler gun'?!" though and they both burst into giggles.
"Well I had to think of something!" Rose replied and they fell back into silence again as they approached a corridor with four solid metal doors lining the right side of it. A big, muscular Hriekel with red markings on the shoulder pads and neck of his armour stood in the entrance of it, waiting for them. The General who he'd had the pleasure of meeting before, the Doctor assumed, as he had no helmet this time. His skin was aged and slightly greener than Ristoff's, more of a pallid dark turquoise, and his features more square and arrogant. A scar ran down from the inner corner of his left eyebrow, down the side of his nose to his jaw.
"End of the line." The Doctor murmured to the others as their escort came to a halt in front of the General.
Ristoff strode up to him. "The Doctor and his cohorts, General Akashi." He announced and bowed, but only ever so slightly. Jack scoffed at 'cohorts'.
"Thank you, Sergeant." The General replied evenly and scowled, not missing the slight. "And as a reward you can guard the prisoners you spared so well." He ordered and Ristoff paled. He had no choice but to obey however so to Rose's dismay he abruptly marched away to a place where he could suitably guard the corridor.
The General then turned to the Doctor and proudly raised himself to his full height. "You weren't so hard to capture as I expected Doctor, isn't it general knowledge/common sense to move once you've sent out a signal that can be tracked?" He asked and chuckled to himself as he gestured to the soldiers to take them into a holding cell. "Even on a ship with no way off, I thought there'd be a little show. A little escape plan, like you did on Gallifrey? No?" He cajoled and tutted to himself. The Doctor didn't respond as they walked past him and into the opened cell but he looked at him darkly, which just amused him even more
"Is this what you're going to do with us then?" The Doctor asked angrily as they were shepherded into the cell. "Lock us up and just sit around deciding what to do with us while you commit genocide on Earth?"
"Actually, no." The General mused as he blocked the doorway and held the door in preparation to shut it. "We're going to flee out of the 200 million mile radius - and thank you for telling us that dear-" He added to Maria. "While you sit here and watch me commit genocide on/destroy Earth. There's a window in your cell that should make a nice view-" He paused and stuck his head into their cell, looking around at the blank, square walls for a non-existent window. "Oh wait there isn't. Oh well, when the Architect begins to suck in all the walls of this wreck it should be enough of a view for you." He laughed and pulled away, slamming the door in the Doctor's face.
"You're insane!" The Doctor/Jack said to him as he pressed his face right up to the small rectangular glass window in the door.
"You don't have to do this General, we can still talk this over like civilised people/the civilised people we are." The Doctor warned.
General Akashi just smiled. "Goodbye Doctor, we won't meet again." He said and strode away with the rest of his soldiers, ordering two to remain behind and guard the corridor's exit.
"Now what?" Jack/Clara asked impatiently.
"We get out." The Doctor answered innocently and started sonicing the door, but it wasn't enough for Jack.
"Ok then, we get out. But then what? Do we have a plan?" He stressed and the Doctor nodded.
"Then we get back to the box, get it in the TARDIS and chuck it into some...big black hole somewhere." The Doctor replied and knelt down on one knee to reach the mechanical hinges.
"And Ristoff? What about him?" Jack added.
"...I'm getting to that bit." The Doctor stalled and Jack promptly went over to Clara as he realised the inevitability of what was going to happen.
"Ever used one of these?" He asked as he pulled out his smaller handgun from his belt.
The Doctor focused on the door and tried to ignore the fact that Jack was showing his innocent friend how to use a gun behind him.
"Rose?" He called.
"Mm?" She replied from behind him.
"Come here a minute." He said and pointed to a square blue security panel next to the door when she crouched down next to him. "If you can just press on that..." He said and she complied, though it kept giving an "Access Denied" error and he started sonicing it. "You said you had a son." He said to her quietly when he was satisfied Jack and Clara had no reason to listen in.
"Yeah, we did." Rose smiled sadly. "He was six when we, well, when we died. Still my mum and dad will've looked after him well. And his Uncle Tony, who's only four years older than him." She laughed and pulled a scrunched-up repulsed/repelled face at the oddness of it, trying not to let herself cry. "He was a lot like him you know, the other Doctor, always the top of his class. When it suited him. Some days he'd just snap at the teachers and come running home at twelve o' clock with straight As and a big grin on his face, waiting for his dad to whisk him away on another adventure." She said, trying to distract herself, and the Doctor smiled to himself.
"What was his name?" He asked gently.
"Well that'd be giving it away wouldn't it, I'm not dead yet." She elbowed him with a grin then cleared her throat awkwardly as she realised the implications of what she just said.
He paused and kept glancing back at her while blaring the sonic at the door randomly as he tried to decide whether to say something or not.
"What?" She asked and laughed self-consciously.
"Rose, were you happy?" He finally asked and she fell serious.
She was silent as she chewed over it for an appropriate amount of time. "Yes," She answered truthfully. "I loved him, our son, everyone. But he wasn't you. The real you." She said and the Doctor just looked at her mournfully/deeply/sadly then continued trying to unlock the door.
"You said you'd take me to see The Beatles once, but you never did." Rose said absent-mindedly.
"Really?" The Doctor asked in confusion. "Oh, sorry about that..."
She then cleared her throat again and focused on the area of the door he was sonicing. Then she looked back at him.
"Doctor..." She said and he looked at her as he noticed her staring.
"What?" He asked but turned back to the door.
"The door, it's deadlocked. They all are." She stated clearly in case he wasn't paying attention and he immediately switched off his sonic.
"I know." He grinned back at her and leapt up to face Jack and Clara, leaving her to smile as she realised he'd pretended to work on the door just to talk to her.
"Deadlocked." The Doctor announced and Jack and Clara turned back to him with a groan. "You certainly overhauled those security systems well Rose, I'll give you that." He said to her and she shrugged apologetically as she stood up. Then the lights began to flicker out.
"That'll be the box absorbing the ship's power." She said as they all looked up at the cell's two flickering lights.
"How long until it starts absorbing the ship altogether?" The Doctor asked.
"I don't know, but I'm surprised it's taking this long." Rose replied nervously.
"We've still got this though." Jack smiled and opened the cover of his vortex manipulator wristband.
"The doors can be opened from the outside." Rose put in helpfully but flinched as Jack suddenly growled.
"It hasn't recharged yet." He revealed.
"How long?" The Doctor asked.
"About ten minutes?" Jack estimated.
"We won't have enough time to get there." The Doctor said gravely and Jack suddenly kicked the thick metal door.
"Damn, we're trapped!" He yelled and they shuddered as the bang echoed all around the small cell.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" A nervous, male voice called from behind the right wall.
Rose's face lit up. "Sam? Is that you?" She shouted back.
"Yeah... Who's this?" He replied uncertainly.
"Never mind that, we'll get you out soon!" She shouted and turned back to the others.
"We've got to get ourselves out first." Jack said glumly.
"Right, well what happens when the power runs out? The locks'll open right?" Clara asked in an orderly fashion.
"No, they'll just stay in place and won't move at all." Rose replied flatly and they all sagged.
"Hang on," Clara said. "I thought you were saying you'd overridden all of the security systems?" Se asked and they all looked at her.
"Oh yeah, I did." Rose realised and dived over to the security panel next to the door with a grin. After a few rapid swipes on the touch-screen and entering in three passwords, it beeped off and the door swung open.
They all looked at eachother knowingly and popped their heads out of the doorway simultaneously to look down the corridor, one above the other, Clara at the bottom and Jack at the top.
"There's still two guards down there." Jack noted and he looked down at the Doctor expectantly.
The Doctor twisted his head up to look back at him and sighed as he realised what he was waiting for. "Fine, but nothing fatal!" He warned as Jack eagerly went out of the cell.
Jack patted his large gun and winked at the Doctor. "Stun gun." He said and strode down the corridor with purpose.
"Hey! Did you two miss your ride?" Jack called to the Hriekel and began a strange dance of firing and dodging with them as he tried to get closer.
"Clara!" The Doctor hissed as she suddenly dashed out of the cell and began scrambling down the corridor towards Jack unseen, bent over and hugging the wall to avoid the stray energy bolts flying around. Before the Doctor could follow her however Rose also snuck out but went the other way, up the corridor instead of down it.
"Where are you going?!" The Doctor asked.
"I have to get Sam out!" Rose replied patronisingly and pointed with emphasis to the cell door next to their open one.
The Doctor spluttered as he looked between Clara and Rose, but ultimately decided the former was in the most danger. "Don't take too long with it!" He said desperately to Rose as he started rushing down the corridor after her. Rose just rolled her eyes as she swiftly put the override passwords into the panel next to Sam's cell door and it swung open.
"Sam!" She called as she saw him sitting on the metal bench at the back of the cell with his head in his hands. He slowly looked up at her and frowned. "Come on we need to get out of here, we haven't got much time-" She said and looked back as she noticed he still wasn't leaving his cell.
"Maria?" He asked and she gave him a small reassuring smile. "Is this it then? Did he change you?" He asked and she shook her head.
"No, this is just the body of one of my past lives." She said flippantly and looked back down the corridor to check if the others were ok. They were and the Doctor was heading back up to her. In that moment a dozen different emotions racked through Sam's mind but he buried them as deep as he could as she turned back to him and smiled through them.
He let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "That explains a lot then," he said and she looked at him questioningly. "I thought you were a bit hot for an alien, and blonde." He joked and Rose laughed.
"You're just asking for a smack you are!" She grinned in disbelief and he nodded appreciatively as he stared pointedly at her curvy figure. "Men! That's all you think about! Just like Mickey." She said exasperatedly and walked out of the cell. As her back was turned to him as he followed her it was all he could do to not let the pain that was tearing him up inside show.
"The Captain's dead." Rose informed him as he came out. "Hriekel activated the box, but the Doctor's got a way to get it out of the range of anything it can harm." Rose said and the Doctor nodded from behind her.
"Ok, what about you?" Sam asked and Rose blinked, she hadn't even thought about that.
"Well, stopping the end of the human race first, which means getting to the box." She said brightly and they started to go down the corridor with the Doctor.
"Hang on," the Doctor said and suddenly stopped them. "'The box?' They call it 'Hareek Glorfesson Lamatre' in their language and you just call it 'the box'?" He asked and Rose and Sam looked at eachother perplexedly, then nodded back at him assuredly/slowly.
"God, you're too human/I love humans." The Doctor beamed at her and started running back down the corridor. "Come on, on with the running!" He called and Rose eagerly bounded after him, leaving Sam to follow.
"Finally decided to join us?" Jack asked as they reached him and tapped the unconscious Hriekel on the floor behind him with his foot. "Thanks for your help with these guys." He teased sarcastically but Rose frowned.
"I thought you said there were two of them?" She asked and he looked at her in confusion.
"There are-" He said as he turned around but he was too late to stop the Hriekel soldier that had crept up behind him and was aiming his gun at his heart.
"You have committed a criminal offense against the Restoration Effort and the Carsan himself, and I will be the one-" The soldier began to announce to the frozen escapees but was abruptly cut off by Clara performing a high kick to the back of his neck, and he collapsed to the floor at Jack's feet.
"That's Great Carsan by the way." She said and Rose broke into a grin as they all stared at her in shock. "I took some karate lessons when I was a kid." She explained and shrugged it off like it was no big deal.
"Some?" Jack repeated and grinned at her. She smiled back smugly and led the way out of the corridor and into the left passageway leading from it.
Thursday, 24 October 2013
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
The Tenth Rose - Chapter 2
"Torchwood? Oh just perfect." The Captain muttered and shook her head.
The man looked at her curiously. "Sorry, who are you?" He asked in a mild American accent and she strode up in front of him.
"Captain Cassie Reynolds." She said firmly and puffed her chest out at him, trying to make up for the 10 inches between them.
"Ah," The newcomer smiled. "Well, Cassie, I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and I think you'll find I override the authority of everyone on this ship." He said confidently and Sam scoffed.
"What, even the alie-" He started but the Captain swiftly clamped a hand over his mouth.
"This is Sam Peers, my [mechanic?]." The Captain introduced him smoothly.
"Nice to meet you Sam." Jack winked and shook his hand warmly. Too warmly.
"Hi." Sam replied, unusually abashed and from in the shadows behind them the Doctor rolled his eyes.
The Captain then stepped back into the limelight and budged Sam out of the way with her hip. "So, 'Captain' Jack Harkness, how the hell did you just get onto my ship?" The Captain asked him with a threateningly sweet voice.
"Vortex Manipulator." He explained with a smug smile and tapped his leather wristband. "Can travel anywhere in time and space, so long as you have the right co-ordinates. I just latched onto the trail an old friend of mine. Speaking of that, where is-"
"Sorry," Clara burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. "But are you the Captain Jack Harkness?" She asked and Jack looked at her in surprise, but smoothly broke into a charismatic smile.
"The one and only." He replied flirtatiously. "And you are?"
"Clara," She smiled back. "Just kinda got caught up though, not part of the crew." She said and Jack smiled.
"Like a traveller huh? So," He started and looked over to the grey-haired man with a sceptical raised eyebrow. "Who's Grandpa?" He asked with a smirk and looked around at them when no one responded. Clara sniggered and the Doctor just raised his eyebrow even more, if such a thing was possible. Then Jack finally realised.
"Ah." He said lightly and checked out his old friend. "Doctor." He said and focused on the wrinkles around his eyes, of which he himself was proudly devoid. "Well, regeneration certainly didn't favour you this time!" He joked with a wink and turned around to the others. "I think I'll stick with the girls, no offence Sam." He added and Sam raised his hands in understanding.
"Nice to see you again too, Jack." The Doctor sighed, but smiled despite himself.
Then Jack noticed Maria who'd come up behind him and gave her a disarming smile.
"I'm sorry, I don't think we've been introduced? Although I can't imagine how that happened..." He said, giving her his best smooching voice and held his hand out for hers.
"Maria Blake, UNIT." She replied with a small smile and willingly placed her hand in his. His eyebrows raised.
"Well, sorry, but with no contact with your superiors, you're going to have to hand your 'mission' over to me-" He stopped and looked at her curiously as she tried to shake her head as subtly as possible.
"I'm just here for the ride home." She stressed. He still looked puzzled but thankfully accepted it for now.
"Then that won't be a problem, Miss Blake." He smiled again and finally raised her hand to kiss it.
As his lips touched her skin she smiled self-consciously and blushed lightly. Then as he pulled away she clenched up in agony as one image took over her entire mind. She gasped. It was black and hazy, but there was no doubt about it, this had happened before. This man had kissed her before.
"Well, I don't usually get that reaction, is she alright?" Jack asked as Sam rushed over to her.
"She just suffered from oxygen deprivation - she'll be fine in a minute." Sam explained and pulled her away.
"Why, what happened?" Jack asked in concern.
"Well if you've finished flirting with everyone, we lost the entire third sector of the ship, we have no docking bay!" The Captain stressed and Jack still looked at her blankly. "In case you haven't noticed, Captain Charisma, we are under attack."
"What? From who?" Jack asked and the Doctor stepped in.
"They're called the Hriekel, they came from Gallifrey but nobody's seen them since the Time War. They said they were here for something called 'The Architect', sound familiar?" The Doctor asked but it drew a blank and Jack shrugged.
"Sorry, never heard of it." He replied.
"But you said that there was something here you wanted, what is it?"
"I don't know. I got a tip-off from one of our contacts in UNIT that this ship was carrying something advanced, real advanced. Not just alien but from the future, then I saw your signal coming from the ship, latched on and figured you'd know." Jack explained. "I take it you don't?"
"Looks like none of us do. It's something then, not someone. We know that at least." The Doctor reasoned.
"Doctor, the TARDIS was in Sector 3!" Clara suddenly realised and grabbed his arm.
"Oh yes, so it was. How depressing." The Doctor feigned a dramatic sigh and spotted the Captain sporting a look that could almost be considered guilty out of the corner of his eye. He looked back at Clara's puzzled look and winked at her, putting his finger to his lips for her to keep quiet.
"No TARDIS, great!" Jack said sarcastically and laughed to himself. "So what's the plan?"
The Doctor sighed again and looked around him. "Torchwood and UNIT on the same ship? Someone must really hate me out there..." He complained.
"Hey!" Jack protested.
"Ok, well first we have to get these Hriekel to talk, I'm not killing anyone unless I have to Captain Jack Harkness, keep that in mind. Not until we've given them a chance."
"Looks like they weren't pretty keen on your 'chance' Doctor." The Captain said.
"That was one soldier!" The Doctor protested. "Ok we need to get to the control room in Sector 1, and we're at the bottom of Sector 2."
"The control room pretty much is Sector 1 though." The Captain added.
"That doesn't sound so bad... what's the catch?" Jack asked.
"We don't know where the Hriekel are. If they planned ahead enough to sabotage Sector 3 with us on it, they could be just waiting for us anywhere from here to Sector 1." Sam imparted and Jack smiled wryly as his suspicions were confirmed.
"Ok then, how about the Captain and I provide a little, ah, rough and tumble for them while you all run ahead and deliver your message?" Jack asked after a moment of thought.
"A distraction? That'll work fine if you can hold out long enough." Sam reasoned.
"Oh I can hold out more than long enough for you kid." Jack grinned and the Captain was still dubious about what he meant by 'rough and tumble'.
"Alright," The Doctor nodded. "If you're sure."
"Completely." Jack replied and made sure that the ammunition in his guns was full.
"You'd risk your life for this?" The Captain asked doubtfully.
"I'm not risking anything." Jack replied knowingly and went ahead. "So where to Sammy Boy?"
"Uhh there's a passage to the living quarters not far ahead, I reckon they'll come through that." Sam replied.
"Right. Don't take too long with the message will you? Dying, it kinda hurts" Jack asked with a wink and jogged up the hall with the Captain.
"Good luck!" Clara called after him.
"Right, Maria are you alright?" The Doctor asked her and she looked up from her bent over position against the wall, her eyes shining and wincing at the same time.
"Yeah, I just need a moment. I'll catch you up." She said and waved them on.
"Let's go then." The Doctor said to Clara and they followed Jack's footsteps.
The man looked at her curiously. "Sorry, who are you?" He asked in a mild American accent and she strode up in front of him.
"Captain Cassie Reynolds." She said firmly and puffed her chest out at him, trying to make up for the 10 inches between them.
"Ah," The newcomer smiled. "Well, Cassie, I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and I think you'll find I override the authority of everyone on this ship." He said confidently and Sam scoffed.
"What, even the alie-" He started but the Captain swiftly clamped a hand over his mouth.
"This is Sam Peers, my [mechanic?]." The Captain introduced him smoothly.
"Nice to meet you Sam." Jack winked and shook his hand warmly. Too warmly.
"Hi." Sam replied, unusually abashed and from in the shadows behind them the Doctor rolled his eyes.
The Captain then stepped back into the limelight and budged Sam out of the way with her hip. "So, 'Captain' Jack Harkness, how the hell did you just get onto my ship?" The Captain asked him with a threateningly sweet voice.
"Vortex Manipulator." He explained with a smug smile and tapped his leather wristband. "Can travel anywhere in time and space, so long as you have the right co-ordinates. I just latched onto the trail an old friend of mine. Speaking of that, where is-"
"Sorry," Clara burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. "But are you the Captain Jack Harkness?" She asked and Jack looked at her in surprise, but smoothly broke into a charismatic smile.
"The one and only." He replied flirtatiously. "And you are?"
"Clara," She smiled back. "Just kinda got caught up though, not part of the crew." She said and Jack smiled.
"Like a traveller huh? So," He started and looked over to the grey-haired man with a sceptical raised eyebrow. "Who's Grandpa?" He asked with a smirk and looked around at them when no one responded. Clara sniggered and the Doctor just raised his eyebrow even more, if such a thing was possible. Then Jack finally realised.
"Ah." He said lightly and checked out his old friend. "Doctor." He said and focused on the wrinkles around his eyes, of which he himself was proudly devoid. "Well, regeneration certainly didn't favour you this time!" He joked with a wink and turned around to the others. "I think I'll stick with the girls, no offence Sam." He added and Sam raised his hands in understanding.
"Nice to see you again too, Jack." The Doctor sighed, but smiled despite himself.
Then Jack noticed Maria who'd come up behind him and gave her a disarming smile.
"I'm sorry, I don't think we've been introduced? Although I can't imagine how that happened..." He said, giving her his best smooching voice and held his hand out for hers.
"Maria Blake, UNIT." She replied with a small smile and willingly placed her hand in his. His eyebrows raised.
"Well, sorry, but with no contact with your superiors, you're going to have to hand your 'mission' over to me-" He stopped and looked at her curiously as she tried to shake her head as subtly as possible.
"I'm just here for the ride home." She stressed. He still looked puzzled but thankfully accepted it for now.
"Then that won't be a problem, Miss Blake." He smiled again and finally raised her hand to kiss it.
"Well, I don't usually get that reaction, is she alright?" Jack asked as Sam rushed over to her.
"She just suffered from oxygen deprivation - she'll be fine in a minute." Sam explained and pulled her away.
"Why, what happened?" Jack asked in concern.
"Well if you've finished flirting with everyone, we lost the entire third sector of the ship, we have no docking bay!" The Captain stressed and Jack still looked at her blankly. "In case you haven't noticed, Captain Charisma, we are under attack."
"What? From who?" Jack asked and the Doctor stepped in.
"They're called the Hriekel, they came from Gallifrey but nobody's seen them since the Time War. They said they were here for something called 'The Architect', sound familiar?" The Doctor asked but it drew a blank and Jack shrugged.
"Sorry, never heard of it." He replied.
"But you said that there was something here you wanted, what is it?"
"I don't know. I got a tip-off from one of our contacts in UNIT that this ship was carrying something advanced, real advanced. Not just alien but from the future, then I saw your signal coming from the ship, latched on and figured you'd know." Jack explained. "I take it you don't?"
"Looks like none of us do. It's something then, not someone. We know that at least." The Doctor reasoned.
"Doctor, the TARDIS was in Sector 3!" Clara suddenly realised and grabbed his arm.
"Oh yes, so it was. How depressing." The Doctor feigned a dramatic sigh and spotted the Captain sporting a look that could almost be considered guilty out of the corner of his eye. He looked back at Clara's puzzled look and winked at her, putting his finger to his lips for her to keep quiet.
"No TARDIS, great!" Jack said sarcastically and laughed to himself. "So what's the plan?"
The Doctor sighed again and looked around him. "Torchwood and UNIT on the same ship? Someone must really hate me out there..." He complained.
"Hey!" Jack protested.
"Ok, well first we have to get these Hriekel to talk, I'm not killing anyone unless I have to Captain Jack Harkness, keep that in mind. Not until we've given them a chance."
"Looks like they weren't pretty keen on your 'chance' Doctor." The Captain said.
"That was one soldier!" The Doctor protested. "Ok we need to get to the control room in Sector 1, and we're at the bottom of Sector 2."
"The control room pretty much is Sector 1 though." The Captain added.
"That doesn't sound so bad... what's the catch?" Jack asked.
"We don't know where the Hriekel are. If they planned ahead enough to sabotage Sector 3 with us on it, they could be just waiting for us anywhere from here to Sector 1." Sam imparted and Jack smiled wryly as his suspicions were confirmed.
"Ok then, how about the Captain and I provide a little, ah, rough and tumble for them while you all run ahead and deliver your message?" Jack asked after a moment of thought.
"A distraction? That'll work fine if you can hold out long enough." Sam reasoned.
"Oh I can hold out more than long enough for you kid." Jack grinned and the Captain was still dubious about what he meant by 'rough and tumble'.
"Alright," The Doctor nodded. "If you're sure."
"Completely." Jack replied and made sure that the ammunition in his guns was full.
"You'd risk your life for this?" The Captain asked doubtfully.
"I'm not risking anything." Jack replied knowingly and went ahead. "So where to Sammy Boy?"
"Uhh there's a passage to the living quarters not far ahead, I reckon they'll come through that." Sam replied.
"Right. Don't take too long with the message will you? Dying, it kinda hurts" Jack asked with a wink and jogged up the hall with the Captain.
"Good luck!" Clara called after him.
"Right, Maria are you alright?" The Doctor asked her and she looked up from her bent over position against the wall, her eyes shining and wincing at the same time.
"Yeah, I just need a moment. I'll catch you up." She said and waved them on.
"Let's go then." The Doctor said to Clara and they followed Jack's footsteps.
Monday, 26 August 2013
The Tenth Rose
A cargo ship glided slowly through the open space of the universe, 250,000 light years from Earth. "The
"THEY'RE COMING THROUGH!" A man in the blue overalls of a crew-member yelled as he leapt through an open metal doorway of The Voyager's bridge and thudded across the metal grated floor. All dignity was left behind as he ran with arms and gun flailing like a girl to the ship's control room, and away from the large explosions that were coming from behind him. "And man have they got guns." He exhaled as he clumsily stumbled through the open doorway to the control room and flopped over the back of a chair. The control room was roughly shaped like a hexagon, entirely fitted with the cheap, grey metal slabs featured throughout the ship for the walls and ceiling, and two passageways on the left and right points of the room. Various side-tables and chairs were scattered against the walls near the door while the top of the room featured a chunky control panel which five people sat around and worked on, the Captain and her second-in-command facing the large window looking out into the endless space outside. The lighting was mainly a weak white near the door with an odd blue hue, but up at the console many red alarm lights flashed and surrounded them in varying shades of red.
"Yeah we kind of got that Egan." The second-in-command young man with shortly shaved dark brown hair and rough, once-styled stubble said from the left driver's seat in the control room. "Is there anyone else out there?" He asked absent-mindedly.
"Just me, they got the others down at Zone 2." Egan said with a slightly pained expression.
"Good, we can shut down then." The man said coldly as he closed the heavy, reinforced metal door from the controls. "Platform 2 is down, so is every bridge, causeway and hold up to level B, zone C to G are being taken, no response from the Z back-up plan," The man continued to the crew around him with fingers swiping and tapping the blue touch-screen interface in front of him. Egan stared out of the large window in front of the controls as he caught his breath. It looked so empty and peaceful, surely it was only two minutes ago that everyone had been laughing, joking and bargaining the pay they'd get when they got back to Earth...Not two hours.
"And the engines happen to be failing." The man finished and swivelled his chair to the young woman next to him. "Any suggestions Captain?" He asked and she looked up at him, her short, wavy brown hair bobbing about, from the dashboard displaying the status of the ship's layout. Only the top third remained now. Everything else was red and offline.
"Stick to the plan, Peers." She said to him and he instantly swivelled around to face Egan.
"Hey Egan, go and back up Richards and John will you? God knows they need an extra hand down there." Peers ordered.
Egan hesitated and fiddled with his gun for a moment. "Captain," He started, looking directly at her. "Can we actually do this? Can we hold them off? Because they seemed to get through our wards pretty easy back there and that shouldn't ha-"
"Of course we can." Peers cut him off swiftly with a reassuring smile as the Captain refused to even look up from her computer. "Now go and help the others. Go!"
"Yes sir!" Egan replied with enthusiasm and ran through the left pathway of the control room.
"You sure about this? Last chance Blake." Peers said quietly to the Captain as Egan left the room, leaving just five.
"Definitely. It's a bit too late to go back now anyway." She replied and didn't take her eyes off the screen. "Turn those alarms off. We know what we're doing." Blake said to the other crew-members on the other side of the console. "And put on some music will you? So they can't hear us." She called over her shoulder to her second-in-command.
"All right then." Sam sighed and walked to the other end of the room where an old fashioned boombox sat on a dull, grey sideboard sticking out from the wall with a fluorescent blue light underneath. "You three begin the lockdown, nothing gets in or out. Not counting by force." He said to the other three crew members on the opposite side of the console and mumbled the last part under his breath. He tapped the top of the boombox to reveal a hologramic interface and picked a song from random, making sure to slide the volume up to high.
"It'll come on in a minute, once the power's caught up. The damage to the engines is slowing everything down." He said to Captain Blake as he went back over to the controls.
"Ok. Is everything locked down?" She asked the rest of the crew.
"It's at 80% Captain, not sure how long it will take." A woman replied and she nodded.
"Well it'll buy us some time. Lock your computers and go join the rest of the crew at your stations, we'll finish it off here. Buy us as much time as you can." She said and the crew quickly dispersed with various goodbyes and well-wishes through the left passageway. She sighed heavily and ignored the panel displaying the percentage of the security lockdown, putting her head in her hands just as the song Sam had chosen boomed over the sound system. A very upbeat, soul song.
"Well I've roamed about this Earth with just a suitcase in my hand, and I've met some bug-eyed Joes I've met the blessed I've met the damned." The singer warbled and the two remaining crew members listened to it silently, Blake slightly slack-jawed. "But of all the strange strange creatures in the air, at sea or land my girl my girl my precious girl, I love you you understand." The song continued and Blake laughed incredulously.
"God dammit Peers. Of all the songs to die to, I thought you'd have picked something you know, slightly more sombre? Dramatic? 'We'll keep on fighting to the end' sorta thing?" She said skeptically and Sam huffed.
"This is a classic you know, survived all the way back from the 2000s. Besides it was just one in a genre I picked at random." He defended and they both lounged back in their chairs and looked out of the window in an awkward silence.
"Upgraded to Captain by default and in 12 minutes you've already managed to destroy the ship, conspire against and condemn the crew." He jested and she glared back at him.
"I'm not exactly happy about it either Sam." She shot back and he nullified his expression. "I hate it. But there's nothing else we could do, we need him."
"'S that bad, huh?" He asked rhetorically and they fell silent again.
"So reel me in my precious girl, come on take me home," The song went on around them.
They both jumped as a loud boom came from the heavy metal door behind them. The intruders were coming.
"Are you sure you can do it then? Can you reach him?" Sam suddenly asked and Blake looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
"I have to. It's the only thing we can do, or everyone and everything in 20 million miles will die." She said sombrely after a pause.
"So you remember the message you said you needed to send then? Cause if this doesn't work, you're registered on the radio as being the one who killed us. And everyone will hunt you down." He said and Blake laughed uncomfortably.
"I'll die too you know." She pointed out at the unfairness of the accusation.
"You know what I mean." He stressed and they shuddered as another boom came from behind, louder this time, and the dying yells of people and the sound of machine guns came from the left passageway, silenced by searing WHOOMPs from laser guns, and the screams just got louder.
"They're through the first door." Blake said and they both jumped up and grabbed their guns from beneath the console. "All I can do is try." She said in response to his earlier question and caught his shoulder. "Look at it this way, if we'd resisted them we'd be dead, and if we gave them what they wanted everyone would be dead. At least this way we have a chance of getting the only person who can reach us. If it works then I'll see you two hours ago and this will have never happened." She said and focused on her computer interface, her fingers flying over the screen as she locked it down.
"The lockdown's still only at 89%, you won't have much time." Sam said, tapping desperately at his screen. "And what makes you think he'll come two hours ago?"
"I told you. He won't want to come when everyone's dead, he'll want to find out who said it, alive. And two hours ago the aliens had just boarded our ship and everyone was still alive. His ship likes coming in at those points." Blake responded and having finished her computer, adjusted the strap of her gun over her shoulder.
"Oh his ship? Great let's add another to the mix, and how exactly is he going to board?" Sam asked incredulously as Blake started to move away from the console when she suddenly doubled over in pain and clutched her head.
"I'm fine!" She seethed through gritted teeth as Sam started towards her. "I don't have much time either, we need to get going." She said and straightened up as the sudden surge in her head passed. "What are you doing?" She asked as she noticed him tapping away at his screen instead of shutting it down.
"Directing all the security to the right passage, it's no good down the left. We're dead men anyway Mia, we knew this from the start." He said to her as he shut his computer down and they looked at eachother, and another round of the screams of battle came from behind him.
"This is it then." She said and stood there awkwardly as the upbeat song still played over the sound system.
"They should be leaving the right passageway alone, just like we planned. I'll see you in hell Captain." He said with a wink and they both turned to go down their designated passageways.
"Oh and what happens if I die then? Two hours ago?" He asked over his shoulder.
"Then it's your own stupid fault!" Blake called back with a grin.
"Good luck!" Sam called after her and she raised her hand in goodbye as he ran down the left passageway with his gun aimed and ready to fire.
Monday, 12 August 2013
The House of The Past - Idea
Seren/Megan/Erin/Bethan Matthews? Aron Connah/Conway/Coslett. Tŷ'r Gorffennol - House of Past. Tŷ'r Amser - House of Time. Wales.
Seren Matthews is a normal, modern-day 19 year old girl studying photography at university. She lives in an apartment in the city and has just been gifted a car by her abroad dad. She has a mental Welsh-American-British family but she doesn't care, she's far away from them now, studying in England. Or so she thought. Her dad's business in America has become bankrupt and with that, Seren's university funding went down the drain. She needs money for a new camera to finish her course and her wacky Welsh-American Aunt Maggie and Uncle Rhys have agreed to pay it for her, as long as she goes on holiday to Wales with them to photograph everything as they rediscover the location of their Welsh family roots, before it's bulldozed for council houses.
So she reluctantly agrees to go along, having no other choice, and they make their first stop in their family's "ancestral home" of Tŷ'r Gorffenol [tee gorf-ennol], an old estate that was renovated and modernised to be a holiday home/community lot to rent for parties and weddings. However due to its unpopularity the owners have sold it to the council and are renting it out at a much reduced price until that time in the hopes of getting some money.
It takes them a while to get there, taking many wrong turns, and before they ascend up the hill to the house they decide to take a break in the village. As Seren's relatives stretch their legs and make a beeline for the first "quaint" post office they see, she catches the eye of and is winked at by a young, dark-haired guy crossing the road; not something that's happened to her very often.
When they arrive Seren's Aunt and Uncle are enthusing over the place and puzzling over it's unpopularity while Seren's quiet 10 year old cousin, Caylie, (a stark contrast to her loud and boisterous parents) immediately slips off to her room. So left alone with her aunt and uncle, Seren is forced to be their obligatory photographer as they go around exploring the house and the grounds.
At night when Seren's aunt and uncle were finally too exhausted to explore any more she leans out of the window in a moment of rare solitude. Though oddly shaped (curved at the bottom), her room is bigger than the one in her apartment and looks over onto the estate's grounds. Past the lake she notices an overhang of willow trees with an odd stick poking out of them, it's somewhere that her Uncle & Aunt oddly didn't go anywhere near so she makes a mental note to go there as soon as she gets a free moment, but that doesn't happen for awhile.
Throughout having to tag along behind her Aunt and Uncle, her thoughts are preoccupied by the boy who for some reason picked on her to wink at, and a dull homesickness as all this countryside and beaches are so different to the city she's used to. She's chastised for not being more enthusiastic about discovering her ancestry but she finally gets an opportunity to investigate that stick while they go into the village/with the excuse of taking photos of the foliage.
It takes her a while to get around the lake and to the exact same location, but eventually she finds it and discovers the stick is actually a rusty handrail. There are steps that go down to a small and seemingly pointless clearing in the trees that has a path between the bushes to lead back to the main gardens; but on the fifth step down she discovers that the steps also turn sharply to the right in a concealed gap in the bushes and go downwards in a spiral. She follows them down and as they still don't stop and get darker and darker, her ears pop halfway down and wonders if she's discovered a secret cellar. Eventually she comes to the bottom and emerges in a dimly lit circular room. Hearing muffled voices bickering, talking about something like "why did you let her in here? It's your job to keep people away!" she walks forward and as she passes through an invisible barrier of some kind the room suddenly floods with light and she's standing only a few feet away from the guy who winked at her the other day. "But I did!" Is the protest that Seren hears from the other participant in the conversation as the young man stands before her, frozen in an awkward smile of shock, amazement and a grimace as they look at eachother. He's dressed in some kind of clothing you'd expect to see in a Lord of The Rings movie and both are looking at eachother in abject horror, praying that they'll wake up from this nightmare any second now. He is the first to break and poorly tries to usher her off and persuade her it's a dream with: "Yes I'm the fairy king. You can't be here or the tooth fairy won't like you any more, now off you trot twinkle-toes! May fair, chubby youngsters be born to you and all your kin!" He tries to guide her back to the stairs but she dodges out of the way and looks between him and his short, portly friend who'd just emerged from another room, also dressed in fantasy-like clothes.
"What the...Is this some kinky cult gathering I've just found or something?" She asks with a vacant smile verging on hysteria.
"Yes that's exactly what it is. You'll wake up soon with nothing but a fair dusting of glitter on your brow sweet child, so out!" The young guy said, latching onto her thought path eagerly and again tries to push her towards the stairs. Seren is not sure whether she wants to try and resist or not and is stumbling forwards, almost at the invisible barrier again when they hear a booming voice coming up the hallway behind them.
"It's the Viscount." The short, portly man said apologetically and the young guy spun around.
"Shit!" He exclaimed in horror and looked despairingly at Seren. "Sorry, you're involved." He said to Seren, wrapped his arm around her waist and spun them around into an arched door frame built into the wall next to them.
"Hey!" She was protesting then stopped dead in her tracks as instead of banging into the wall they'd emerged on the other side into a field that definitely wasn't her aunt and uncle's ancestral home. "Fairies don't say shit." She whispered weakly as she stared at the field and he laughed wryly.
"Welcome to the real world, darlin'." He smiled with a sudden Welsh accent, realising that he couldn't get rid of her with the dream-façade now, and flung his arms out around him to indicate the "real world".
"What...just happened?" She asked squeakily, frozen in place with shock, scared to move in case everything was vaccumed into a rabbit hole or something.
"Portal, and not a big one at that. I'm surprised we managed to fit." He explained as if it was obvious and looked her figure up and down skeptically.
They stood there in silence for a few moments and then he blew his cheeks out heavily.
"I'm Aron Connah." He said with a smile and held his hand out to her, not expecting her to take it.
She looked blankly at it for a moment. "Seren Matthews." She replied finally.
"Seren. That's a pretty name."
Aron is a prince of his people, the fourth in-line, and Seren has unexpectedly managed to get through their blockades and spells to ward away people, and venture into a portal/door to their city, which is in a parallel universe. The eldest son is an evil one and about to inherit their recently deceased father's kingdom so Aron had just announced he's going on a mission to find his other six brothers so they can contest the eldest's rule and claim to the throne when Seren walks in. The portly man Aron was bickering with was his friend the portalkeeper who's responsible for the hiding and defence of the portal Seren walked into, somehow bypassing every defence he'd put up. The Viscount is the eldest prince's henchman and was chasing after Aron to stop him from getting away and finding the other princes. The portal Aron pulls her into leads to the home of one of the princes and he took her with him to prevent her being found by the Viscount.
Aron spends most of the time going down to the house helplessly explaining the situation to her, and convincing her it isn't all a dream as he needs her to have her head about her if he's going to find and persuade his brother to join him. It's Seren who actually spots the brother.
When it's over and they return home, Seren goes to bed claiming all the exploring, and manages to convince herself it was all a dream.
A faded dull blue rental car cruised down the Severn bridge into South Wales. It was a sunny day by some miracle, and the heavy clouds that had followed them from the border had dispersed. The improvement in the weather had no affect on the mood of the passenger in the back seat however. She rested her chin on the arm she had propped on the window and sighed as the river flew by and progressed into lush roads and towns. It looked so strange, rolling hills and mountains and so much green in the bounds of a city. Where she came from, it's either a city or the countryside. No in-betweens. But then they weren't going to a city either, they were going to a small town where their "ancestral home" was being rented as a holiday home until it was demolished, apparently it hadn't gathered enough interest to be worth keeping.
"Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run!" The American couple in the front screeched along to the track playing on the radio. The girl in the back cringed and sank further back into her seat.
"Come on Seren, sing along!" The man driving called over the sound of the radio and the air rushing past the open window.
"I don't sing." Seren replied hesitantly and drew her worn blue hoodie over her head.
"Course you do," Her Uncle laughed. "Or you should with all that music you listen to!" He said and she glanced despairingly at her 11 year old cousin in the seat opposite her. Casie just looked back at her silently with wide, grey eyes from underneath her wispy blonde hair and Seren huffed in resignation. Getting a single syllable out of her was a miracle, getting support against her uncle would be impossible.
"We'll be at uhhh, at...what was it again honey?" He asked his wife as she finished screeching in unison with Bruce Springsteen.
"Tur
Seren Matthews is a normal, modern-day 19 year old girl studying photography at university. She lives in an apartment in the city and has just been gifted a car by her abroad dad. She has a mental Welsh-American-British family but she doesn't care, she's far away from them now, studying in England. Or so she thought. Her dad's business in America has become bankrupt and with that, Seren's university funding went down the drain. She needs money for a new camera to finish her course and her wacky Welsh-American Aunt Maggie and Uncle Rhys have agreed to pay it for her, as long as she goes on holiday to Wales with them to photograph everything as they rediscover the location of their Welsh family roots, before it's bulldozed for council houses.
So she reluctantly agrees to go along, having no other choice, and they make their first stop in their family's "ancestral home" of Tŷ'r Gorffenol [tee gorf-ennol], an old estate that was renovated and modernised to be a holiday home/community lot to rent for parties and weddings. However due to its unpopularity the owners have sold it to the council and are renting it out at a much reduced price until that time in the hopes of getting some money.
It takes them a while to get there, taking many wrong turns, and before they ascend up the hill to the house they decide to take a break in the village. As Seren's relatives stretch their legs and make a beeline for the first "quaint" post office they see, she catches the eye of and is winked at by a young, dark-haired guy crossing the road; not something that's happened to her very often.
When they arrive Seren's Aunt and Uncle are enthusing over the place and puzzling over it's unpopularity while Seren's quiet 10 year old cousin, Caylie, (a stark contrast to her loud and boisterous parents) immediately slips off to her room. So left alone with her aunt and uncle, Seren is forced to be their obligatory photographer as they go around exploring the house and the grounds.
At night when Seren's aunt and uncle were finally too exhausted to explore any more she leans out of the window in a moment of rare solitude. Though oddly shaped (curved at the bottom), her room is bigger than the one in her apartment and looks over onto the estate's grounds. Past the lake she notices an overhang of willow trees with an odd stick poking out of them, it's somewhere that her Uncle & Aunt oddly didn't go anywhere near so she makes a mental note to go there as soon as she gets a free moment, but that doesn't happen for awhile.
Throughout having to tag along behind her Aunt and Uncle, her thoughts are preoccupied by the boy who for some reason picked on her to wink at, and a dull homesickness as all this countryside and beaches are so different to the city she's used to. She's chastised for not being more enthusiastic about discovering her ancestry but she finally gets an opportunity to investigate that stick while they go into the village/with the excuse of taking photos of the foliage.
It takes her a while to get around the lake and to the exact same location, but eventually she finds it and discovers the stick is actually a rusty handrail. There are steps that go down to a small and seemingly pointless clearing in the trees that has a path between the bushes to lead back to the main gardens; but on the fifth step down she discovers that the steps also turn sharply to the right in a concealed gap in the bushes and go downwards in a spiral. She follows them down and as they still don't stop and get darker and darker, her ears pop halfway down and wonders if she's discovered a secret cellar. Eventually she comes to the bottom and emerges in a dimly lit circular room. Hearing muffled voices bickering, talking about something like "why did you let her in here? It's your job to keep people away!" she walks forward and as she passes through an invisible barrier of some kind the room suddenly floods with light and she's standing only a few feet away from the guy who winked at her the other day. "But I did!" Is the protest that Seren hears from the other participant in the conversation as the young man stands before her, frozen in an awkward smile of shock, amazement and a grimace as they look at eachother. He's dressed in some kind of clothing you'd expect to see in a Lord of The Rings movie and both are looking at eachother in abject horror, praying that they'll wake up from this nightmare any second now. He is the first to break and poorly tries to usher her off and persuade her it's a dream with: "Yes I'm the fairy king. You can't be here or the tooth fairy won't like you any more, now off you trot twinkle-toes! May fair, chubby youngsters be born to you and all your kin!" He tries to guide her back to the stairs but she dodges out of the way and looks between him and his short, portly friend who'd just emerged from another room, also dressed in fantasy-like clothes.
"What the...Is this some kinky cult gathering I've just found or something?" She asks with a vacant smile verging on hysteria.
"Yes that's exactly what it is. You'll wake up soon with nothing but a fair dusting of glitter on your brow sweet child, so out!" The young guy said, latching onto her thought path eagerly and again tries to push her towards the stairs. Seren is not sure whether she wants to try and resist or not and is stumbling forwards, almost at the invisible barrier again when they hear a booming voice coming up the hallway behind them.
"It's the Viscount." The short, portly man said apologetically and the young guy spun around.
"Shit!" He exclaimed in horror and looked despairingly at Seren. "Sorry, you're involved." He said to Seren, wrapped his arm around her waist and spun them around into an arched door frame built into the wall next to them.
"Hey!" She was protesting then stopped dead in her tracks as instead of banging into the wall they'd emerged on the other side into a field that definitely wasn't her aunt and uncle's ancestral home. "Fairies don't say shit." She whispered weakly as she stared at the field and he laughed wryly.
"Welcome to the real world, darlin'." He smiled with a sudden Welsh accent, realising that he couldn't get rid of her with the dream-façade now, and flung his arms out around him to indicate the "real world".
"What...just happened?" She asked squeakily, frozen in place with shock, scared to move in case everything was vaccumed into a rabbit hole or something.
"Portal, and not a big one at that. I'm surprised we managed to fit." He explained as if it was obvious and looked her figure up and down skeptically.
They stood there in silence for a few moments and then he blew his cheeks out heavily.
"I'm Aron Connah." He said with a smile and held his hand out to her, not expecting her to take it.
She looked blankly at it for a moment. "Seren Matthews." She replied finally.
"Seren. That's a pretty name."
Aron is a prince of his people, the fourth in-line, and Seren has unexpectedly managed to get through their blockades and spells to ward away people, and venture into a portal/door to their city, which is in a parallel universe. The eldest son is an evil one and about to inherit their recently deceased father's kingdom so Aron had just announced he's going on a mission to find his other six brothers so they can contest the eldest's rule and claim to the throne when Seren walks in. The portly man Aron was bickering with was his friend the portalkeeper who's responsible for the hiding and defence of the portal Seren walked into, somehow bypassing every defence he'd put up. The Viscount is the eldest prince's henchman and was chasing after Aron to stop him from getting away and finding the other princes. The portal Aron pulls her into leads to the home of one of the princes and he took her with him to prevent her being found by the Viscount.
Aron spends most of the time going down to the house helplessly explaining the situation to her, and convincing her it isn't all a dream as he needs her to have her head about her if he's going to find and persuade his brother to join him. It's Seren who actually spots the brother.
When it's over and they return home, Seren goes to bed claiming all the exploring, and manages to convince herself it was all a dream.
(Turn up the volume to hear the heartbeat)
"Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run!" The American couple in the front screeched along to the track playing on the radio. The girl in the back cringed and sank further back into her seat.
"Come on Seren, sing along!" The man driving called over the sound of the radio and the air rushing past the open window.
"I don't sing." Seren replied hesitantly and drew her worn blue hoodie over her head.
"Course you do," Her Uncle laughed. "Or you should with all that music you listen to!" He said and she glanced despairingly at her 11 year old cousin in the seat opposite her. Casie just looked back at her silently with wide, grey eyes from underneath her wispy blonde hair and Seren huffed in resignation. Getting a single syllable out of her was a miracle, getting support against her uncle would be impossible.
"We'll be at uhhh, at...what was it again honey?" He asked his wife as she finished screeching in unison with Bruce Springsteen.
"Tur
Friday, 9 August 2013
Hero of Kvatch - Elder Scrolls
Just posting because I wrote a fair bit.
I can't remember when so the publish date is just a guess.
I don't believe it. From being the finest upcoming archer in the Valenwood Guard to this, stuck in an Imperial cell for some goddamn Imperial bastard. Ok technically I committed a crime.
Hearthfire 19th, 3E 433:
After I declined Jauffre's offer to join the Blades Vilja and I rode in silence to Bruma. Thankfully the story of Kvatch hadn't spread here yet so nobody recognized my cuirass. We went to stay in the Mages Guild overnight and I quickly changed into simple clothing so no one else in the Guild would get any ideas. Vilja went off chatting to J'Skarr while I paused and looked over Volanaro's sleeping body for a few moments. He woke when I brushed my hair away from his face and immediately pulled me down in giggles. X was out doing some pompous duties to the Countess for the day so we made, ah, ample use of her spacious double-sized bedroom... At Volanaro's insistence because my armour had been broken by the slices of a Dremora mace in Kvatch, I "borrowed" one of her spare brocades that rested off my shoulders and Vilja and I left in the morning at the break of dawn before anyone could guess why we'd been here or our involvement with Kvatch.
Hearthfire 20th:
We rode down to the Imperial City on our horses, the weather was clear and we got there by half past 3. "Come on, time to make some gold." I said to Vilja when she asked why we were going, not sure of my intentions. "That letter we got from Umbacano about the statues seems to have the potential for a fair reward. I want to get enough gold to offer to that Statue of Clavicus Vile. It'll be fun! He's only the Daedric Prince of wishes, if we don't make any major ones we should be fine. We need enough to buy weapons and supplies too, god knows we'll need it with these Gates to Oblivion emerging. Besides, we need somewhere to store all this junk." I said and gestured to the various weapons and items with value amassing on tthe horses' packs.
"An what about Jauffre? He said to go see someone about the amulet?" Vilja reminded me and my face darkened. A scrap of guilt passed through my conscience again but I ignored it.
"Well that's their problem now, they're Blades, they're trained for this. Besides we need to get you that book!" I said brightly and Vilja wisely said nothing more about it, and leapt onto the discussion of her sister.
The guards in the Imperial City had heard of Kvatch and, having known me before from getting Heironeous Lex, they recognized me instantly. Thankfully the house was near the main gate and Umbacano did indeed offer us a hefty price for getting more Ayleid Statues for him, double their worth, but the catch was he didn't know which ruins any of them were in.
getting just one of the statues could take months as well as risking our lives so, disheartened, we went outside to find it was pouring down. We ran over to the Market District to buy Vilja's book and she estimated with our current gold, 400, we'd last about a month. Neither of us particularly wanted to do any more fighting or dungeon delving but with no one needing our aid, and I certainly wasn't about to trade our gear, we were doomed to be scavenging gypsies. Then as we were running through the rain towards the Merchants Inn I bumped into a beggar I was friendly with and had always tipped. The rumour of beggars being the Gray Fox's eyes and ears popped into my head and a note I'd gotten from a strange dunmer a while ago suddenly came back. After tipping her a bit more generously and sending a compliment her way she revealed with shifty eyes that if I wanted to find the Gray Fox, I should go to the Dareloth Gardens at the Waterfront around midnight. That was only hours away. Not bothering to rent a room in the Merchants Inn and unload our stuff, we started running from one side of the city to the other, the Waterfront was the poorest and where all the ships docked.
It had stopped raining but a fierce gale was blowing up, and as we ran past the Temple it started throwing it down yet again. When we got there we still had an hour to pass so we stopped in the Blloated Float and met that Dunmer again. She said she only delivered the letters, not write therm, so I let it slide as it was nearing midnight. Vilja didn't want to get involved as she was still concerned with saving her sister, so I went alone. I jumped onto a low roof overlooking the garden's only entrance and waited. An Argonian beggar walked into the garden, surely that wasn't him, the Gray Fox is supposedly a male Imperial! I waited a bit longer and sure enough a Redguard with leather armour and a torch walked in with a leather-clad Bosmer following him - now this looked promising.
I jumped down and introduced myself as having come here by a beggar, seeing as my jailbreak in Bruma was a planned one I wouldn't want to start with a false reputation. The Redguard introduced himself as Armand Cristophe, the doyen for the Gray Fox and member of the Thieves Guild. As it's unusual to have three other applicants he offered one of us the chance to join. Whoever gets the journal of Amantius Allectus, without killing or being seen, wins. He hinted that the beggars might be able to tell me where it is but Meredhel, the Bosmer, seems to be familiar with the competition as she's tried to enter before. Maybe she could make my trial easier, we are petitioning to be Thieves after all...
Hearthfire 22nd:
We raided the spells store in the Imperial City and left with our horses packed to the brim with stolen scrolls, we posed as travelling scholars. We closed an Oblivion gate up to Bruma and got the sigil stone in the nick of time, I only had one arrow left. When we got to Bruma it was already approaching evening and I sold all of the scrolls to Ongar, the fence, for a tidy sum of 200 gold.
Vilja needed to find a picture of a Shy Root of Hunger and we'd been advised by the Imperial City alchemist to ask around int the Mages Guilds' alchemists, so we paid Valandria a visit. She had the picture Vilja needed and decided to stay for the night until we continued on to the Imperial City to get this special job from Armand. However though I was expecting a warm welcome from the cheeky Volanaro -perhaps on the bed- we had our first arguement. He closed the dining room door in my face and later when he was forced to talk to me in the study room as we were alone, he complained about me never being here and how I never used magic, always "that pathetic bow and sticks". We ended up yelling and Volanaro even conjured a sword at the height of the fight. I stormed upstairs and as I angrily pulled on my leather gloves I told Vilja we were leaving. We spent the night at Olav's Tap and Tack and left in the morning. I vowed to myself that after the Imperial City we'd head to Anvil Mage's Guild (the one specialising in Restoration) and I'd study there, just to prove that foolish Altmer wrong.
Frostfall 5th:
I rooted out the spy in the Thieves Guild and am now to report to S'Kirrava in Leyawiin, as I've been advanced beyond Armand's legislation. I helped the Order of the Virtuous Blood track down a vampire whom I spared the life of, as he was a human framed by the real vampire, the leader hiself. Vilja fell ill so I had to take down the vampire cave myself, it wasn't easy but turned out to be very much worth it as the new leader gives me 250 gold for every vampire dust I give him. I have enough to start anew in Leyawiin now as that's unquestionably where I'll go, both the Mages and Thieves Guilds require me to go down there to advance.
When she recovered Vilja persuaded me to go and see Baurus in Green Emporer Way like Jauffre asked. He'd been tracking down Mythic Dawn agents in the Iperial City and I found a book called the 'Xarxes Commandments Volume 1' on the body of the agent who attacked him in the inn basement. Baurus asked me too take the book to an expert in the Arcane University and I did, but that's it.
I closed the Oblivion Gate near the Waterfront too, surely that'll be enough for them. I want no more of this, the Kvatch Cuirass stays locked away in my home/shock along with the 'Xarxes Commandments' 1 & 2, we're going to Leyawiin, our normal armour is repaired and I don't want to be noticed again. Hopefully as it's so distant from Kvatch and the Imperial City, nobody will notice.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
The God That Forgot
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| Loki On Asgard. |
Loki is one of several powerful beings from the realm of Asgard, who have been worshipped, and known as on Earth, as gods. Even though they are really just an alien race. Many years ago Odin, the ruler of the Asgardian gods, led his subjects in a war against their enemy, the frost giants. The giants were defeated. Surveying the spoils of war, the Asgardians discovered a small Asgardian god-sized baby hidden at the giants' main fortress. The infant was Loki, whom the frost giant king had kept hidden due to his shame over his son's diminutive size. Odin remembered his own father's dying words to adopt the son of a father killed by his hands; so Odin adopted Loki into his own family, raising Loki like a son along with his biological son, Thor, and keeping his real heritage a secret from him.
It's been 7 months after the events of The Avengers, when Loki's plot to take over Earth with/for the Frost Giants was foiled and he was taken back to Asgard by Thor, and the rest of the Avengers went back to their "ordinary" lives until such a time that they were needed to assemble once more.Always second best to his older brother and though possessing physical attributes equal to a fit average member of the race of super-beings, the Asgardians, such as enhanced strength; stamina, speed, durability, (his Frost Giant metabolism grants him superhuman levels of physical stamina in practically all activities); he never equalled to the strength, tenacity and bravery of Thor and forever resented him for the love their father lavished upon Thor. And so he relentlessly tried to undermine and gain the upper hand over his older brother, gaining the nickname "The God of Mischief" but as they grew older that mischievousness turned into malice as his lust for power and revenge became stronger. And always Thor tried to stop him, though always reluctant to harm his little brother. [Note, I have yet to see Thor the film so I'm not exact on the relationship between them]
Aside from his superior sorcery abilities and the ability to manifest and manipulate ice, Loki possesses a brilliant intellect, charisma and underneath the steely cold veneer of his trickster charm is a certain vulnerability and sensitivity – the wounded fragility of an outcast brother and son. However, his arrogance, his passionate hatred of Thor, and all-consuming lust for power greatly impeded his ability to bring his well-laid plans to fruition. He is an expert manipulator and schemer, is usually armed with throwing knives, a sword, or a curved, two-pronged staff and has used magical items to enhance his powers.
Though the Avengers were taking a break in the absence of crisis, work on the SHIELD helicarrier never ceased. Their personal and primary technician, systems engineer, tech guru or whatever you want to call it was certainly not one to rest either. It's her job to attend to and upgrade the weapons and defence systems/tools of SHIELD and the arsenal of the Avengers themselves, or any other SHIELD agents. She takes a lot of stick from the geniuses [namely Tony Stark - Iron Man and Bruce Banner - The Hulk] when they waltz in with their skepticism over the tech they'll use to save the world, but for the most part she gets along with the Avengers greatly and follows their ventures and progress eagerly, secretly gleeful that she's the one who's partially responsible for their success.
Her name is Sarah Brett, she's 26 and the call of "Breeeeett!" is commonly heard in the SHIELD helicarrier control room when Tony Stark or any of the other Avengers need to compare notes with her, get something fixed or pretty much anything to do with their arsenal or armour. With straight, flyaway brown hair with remnants of past blonde streaks she couldn't be bothered to replenish, honey-gold light blue eyes and a cheeky grin, she isn't the sultry femme fatale that Avenger Natasha Romanova is but she still gets some playful teases from fellow SHIELD crew members - after all, who can resist a cute, snappy, nerdy gal? Despite this she's actually quite shy, and find's Captain America's old-school [he's from WW2] manners and polite ways with her to be quite sweet. But just because she's inwardly shy doesn't mean she can't hold her own in a match of witty banter, or have outbursts of bravery and confidence in what she does, hence her ability to ward off, and firm friendship with, Tony Stark.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
The Curtain Falls
Every story has a hero, every rebellion has a leader, every martyr has a face. What do you do when they're dead?
20th of July, 2468. The city of Piori/Saimeru/? has been the capital of technological advancement in the world for decades. With over 36 million inhabitants it's also one of the largest, and most sought-after megapolis cities remaining in the world. Countless skyscrapers litter the city, the shiniest and most expensive centred in the middle of the city and looking out on the coastline, while the squatter and grubbier apartments and industrial towers make up everywhere else. Bridges and covered walkways make up a maze between them all and to see a one-storey building is rare, but they do exist on the edges of the city and scattered on the ground, usually in the form of old warehouses. Though the south sector is grim and dark, and the west isn't much better, the centre is a sprawling picturesque place of greenery, technology, glass and cleanliness.Monday, 29 July 2013
The Family
Started on 26/1/2013 this is a story I never finished or likely ever will, probably because I'm not too good at thinking up modern-day baddies xD Basically I was thinking that the bad guys were going to turn out to be a family of criminals who were trying to create a family of perfectly-gened people, or something like that... On with the story!
A portly and slightly grubby man tried desperately to tie down his fruit stall's canvas roof as the brisk late morning New York wind tried just as hard to take it from him. He scowled and grumbled to himself as an FBI agent ran past him and accidentally loosened the canvas just as he tied it. They had blocked off the street where his stall was located and emptied it in a matter of minutes. They'd tried to clear him out too, he refused, they decided he wasn't worth it.
"Late." He grunted to the driver of a blue transit van that had just pulled up in front of the stall.
"Morning Gary, got much business today?" The young driver asked as he hopped out of the van and motioned to the empty street.
"Don't smart mouth me kid. You got a delivery? Deliver it." Gary growled and the driver backed away with his hands raised.
"Alright alright." The driver said and hammered his fist on the side of the van. "Jimmy you heard the man, get out and do as your daddy says."
"Yes Frank." A spotty teenage boy mumbled and half fell out of the passenger seat.
Jimmy ambled forward to open the back of the van and started to unload the fruit crates, under Gary's supervision.
"You're lucky they let us through actually, they've got the place surrounded." Said Frankie who was casually leaning against the van. "Looks like they might be onto something about those attacks, I've never seen so many feds." He continued and nodded to the swarming police over his shoulder, who had now surrounded a large glass high-rise apartment across the road.
Gary just grunted at the blaring lights of the police cars and picked up another crate from the van.
"How'd you get past them then?" Gary asked suspiciously.
"I know someone in the force." Frank said vaguely and smiled to himself.
"You know too many people for your own good." Gary grumbled and frowned curiously at Jimmy who was sweating profusely and glancing nervously at the cops.
"Hey, you should be grateful I'm doing this favour for you, I've got a pal down in the maf who'd pay-" Frank protested and staggered back as he was cut off by a cop barrelling past him.
"What the-?" Gary exclaimed as he almost dropped his crate.
"Agent Curtis is down. I repeat, Agent Curtis is down." The cop called urgently into his radio with a clear British accent.
"Christ he's SIS," Frank exclaimed and brushed himself off. "What's the British secret service doing working with the FBI?" He wondered as they watched the agent run up the street, weaving between abandoned cars and FBI vehicles to the apartment.
"Don't know and don't care." Gary grumbled. "They bring nothing but trouble, always do. Sooner they go, the better." He finished and eyed a troop of agents that ran past as he stacked a row of crates against the wall.
"What is up with you today son?" He barked at Jimmy who had nearly dropped his crate while trying to hide his face in his hood as the agents went past.
"You're unloading fruit not class A drugs." Frank chuckled and took out his iPhone to play on it. Jimmy just laughed weakly and wiped the sweat off his brow with a shaky hand.
A portly and slightly grubby man tried desperately to tie down his fruit stall's canvas roof as the brisk late morning New York wind tried just as hard to take it from him. He scowled and grumbled to himself as an FBI agent ran past him and accidentally loosened the canvas just as he tied it. They had blocked off the street where his stall was located and emptied it in a matter of minutes. They'd tried to clear him out too, he refused, they decided he wasn't worth it.
"Late." He grunted to the driver of a blue transit van that had just pulled up in front of the stall.
"Morning Gary, got much business today?" The young driver asked as he hopped out of the van and motioned to the empty street.
"Don't smart mouth me kid. You got a delivery? Deliver it." Gary growled and the driver backed away with his hands raised.
"Alright alright." The driver said and hammered his fist on the side of the van. "Jimmy you heard the man, get out and do as your daddy says."
"Yes Frank." A spotty teenage boy mumbled and half fell out of the passenger seat.
Jimmy ambled forward to open the back of the van and started to unload the fruit crates, under Gary's supervision.
"You're lucky they let us through actually, they've got the place surrounded." Said Frankie who was casually leaning against the van. "Looks like they might be onto something about those attacks, I've never seen so many feds." He continued and nodded to the swarming police over his shoulder, who had now surrounded a large glass high-rise apartment across the road.
Gary just grunted at the blaring lights of the police cars and picked up another crate from the van.
"How'd you get past them then?" Gary asked suspiciously.
"I know someone in the force." Frank said vaguely and smiled to himself.
"You know too many people for your own good." Gary grumbled and frowned curiously at Jimmy who was sweating profusely and glancing nervously at the cops.
"Hey, you should be grateful I'm doing this favour for you, I've got a pal down in the maf who'd pay-" Frank protested and staggered back as he was cut off by a cop barrelling past him.
"What the-?" Gary exclaimed as he almost dropped his crate.
"Agent Curtis is down. I repeat, Agent Curtis is down." The cop called urgently into his radio with a clear British accent.
"Christ he's SIS," Frank exclaimed and brushed himself off. "What's the British secret service doing working with the FBI?" He wondered as they watched the agent run up the street, weaving between abandoned cars and FBI vehicles to the apartment.
"Don't know and don't care." Gary grumbled. "They bring nothing but trouble, always do. Sooner they go, the better." He finished and eyed a troop of agents that ran past as he stacked a row of crates against the wall.
"What is up with you today son?" He barked at Jimmy who had nearly dropped his crate while trying to hide his face in his hood as the agents went past.
"You're unloading fruit not class A drugs." Frank chuckled and took out his iPhone to play on it. Jimmy just laughed weakly and wiped the sweat off his brow with a shaky hand.
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