Hostages-Michael(open)

[Hollie Clarke]

Hollie couldn't help but notice that, while she enjoyed the embrace, it was only with one arm. Had something else happened to his other one? It was times like these that she wished she could actually see whether something was wrong. Or maybe it was a blessing that she couldn't.
"I'm going to bring a whole new meaning to the prodigal daughter, don't you worry."
It didn't take more than a minute or so to tap into the computer, and she was away.

"I came from the flight deck before I bumped into the others, went to check if there was anything I could do," Luke said, "the route is pretty clear. Give me a gun and I can be up there in a flash."
Hollie was tapping away furiously in the background as Luke caught the Captain's attention.
"I'll stay on comms," he said as he took a gun, "see you on the other side." And with that, he sprinted off down the corridor.

"A bit like Superman, isn't he?" Hollie commented while she focused on her work.

[Michael Clarke]

"Luke!" Before Michael could stop him, he was off. He chuckled slightly at Hollie's comment, responding:
"Superman was invincible. Luke may be lucky most of the time, but he sure can get hurt. I don't need my best pilot risking his neck in impossible odds." But Michael knew how Luke felt; he had felt the same way when he was younger. He wanted to act, to DO something rather than sit on his rear and contemplate what to do. Let the philosophers and politicians do the thinking, he always used to say. But he understood that life was more complex than that. Maybe it was age, maybe it was Hollie, but he was realizing through his time on the Venia that life needed to slow down, to not be impulsive. Of course, now was not the time to be thinking about those issues, not with his ship about to crash into the ground.
"How's it coming?" The ship lurched forward again, Michael's grip tightening in order to make sure she didn't tumble across the control room.
"Tell me something good. Please."

[Hollie Clarke]

"I'm pretty sure avoiding Ally all day long has made him stir crazy," Hollie said, "can't really blame him for wanting to do something." Also, he was the only one who would could fly them out of this mess. The sooner he was able to do that, the better.
The ship lurching around wasn't helping matters, but at least her Dad was keeping her steady. If he wasn't, she would have been lying on the floor by now, urging herself back up.
"Almost... there.." she said, her fingers moving faster than they ever had in her life. She could practically feel the ship creaking under the strain it was taking, entering the atmosphere.
"Ready! Luke said over the comms, crashing into his chair.
"Two seconds."
Tap. Tap. TAP.
"Done!"
The sound of the flight control whirring into life was the best sound Hollie had heard in a long while.
"Your turn."
"Already working."
"Hold onto something," Hollie said, seizing a tight grip on the panels in front of her.

Pretty much everyone on the ship felt the g-force as Luke worked to send the ship shooting back off into space, safe and sound. Now the only thing left to check was what was going on back down in engineering.
Unfortunately, the action came to them.
"Captain," Rebekah's voice came from the doorway, she was holding a gun aimed directly at Hollie's head, "you certainly know how to piss a woman off."

[Michael Clarke]

"That's my girl!" Michael couldn't believe that Hollie had turned a mostly destroyed comm array into a working one. But then again, it ran in the family. Michael heard the strain in Luke's voice over the comm as he tried to navigate the ship out of atmosphere, the Captain fully confident that Luke could do it(if he wasn't confident, he wouldn't have put him onboard in the first place). The pilot would be contacted by Alliance A.I. soon, which meant that they would know of their situation and send reinforcements. So far, so goo...

Apparently, he had spoken too soon.

Rebekah had stormed her way to the rear of the ship and was now ready to put an energy bolt through his daughter's head. Michael turned to the terrorist leader and smiled slightly, responding:
"And you certainly know how to stage a well-trained operation." His sarcastic tone wouldn't help affairs, but he was getting angry: angry at R4's oppression, angry at the arrogance the group possessed in thinking it could control all of known space.
"So where do we go from here Rebekah? Because we both know that you're entire army of thugs has been wiped out and you're the only person on this ship that isn't Alliance brand. You kill me, you'll have the Alliance on you so fast you wouldn't be able to blink."

[Hollie Clarke]

UGH.
Why was it that there was never a moments peace on this ship? All Hollie had wanted to do was hug her Dad and be hugged in return. She'd thought that she'd be able to get her leg bandaged up, maybe get some food, pass out in bed. But ohhhhh no, no such luck. Now she was annoyed.

"You think that fact intimidates me?" Rebekah said, her gun trained on Hollie, "I will not stop until this ship, and the entire Alliance has been brought to its knees. I may not have my army of thugs, but I'm pretty sure putting your daughter here down will cause a stir."

"Right, like that's going to happen."
While Rebekah had been talking Hollie had been messing with her computer. She smacked a button, and the door to the room closed on Rebekah's arm, trapping it between the door and the doorframe. The woman let out a great cry of pain, the gun falling from her hand. As the door opened again, Michael had his chance to grab the gun and end this, once and for all.

[Michael Clarke]

Michael would have shot Rebekah down in cold blood if he had a gun in his hands. It was one thing to threaten his own life, but to make threats against his daughter? That was going too far. Before he could react to Rebekah's threat, the leader's gun was on the ground and she was screaming in agony as the sliding door crushed her arm in a painful vice grip. Michael didn't think twice: he ran over to the gun picked it up with his free hand, leveling it at Rebekah's head as the door slid open. He paused for a moment, watching the pained reaction on Rebekah's face, the anguish of all the sentient beings she had killed coming back to haunt her in one sudden motion. It was as if she had an epiphany of sorts, realizing that all of her work against life had come full circle and she would go the way of all life. He pitied her. He really did. To have to exist in a state of constant anger, to constantly deal with hatred against organic life...it must have been a hard burden. But things had to stop. They had to. A tear trickled down Michael's left eye as he said softly:
"I'm sorry."

Her body crumpled to the ground in an instant, Michael throwing the discharged pistol to the ground in disgust. It felt as if he were the villain, not the person laying on the ground. There was no heroic celebration, no cute women to kiss him on the cheek, none of that pomp and circumstance that accompanied a hero's celebration. Nothing.

Just a hollow, empty shell.

Michael walked over to Hollie and put his arm around her waist, telling her:
"Come on, lets get you to med bay." He then spoke into his comm:
"Luke, has A.I. taken over yet?"

[Hollie Clarke]

Hollie swallowed as the echo of the gun firing reverberated around the room.
It was over.

It was a terrible job to have to kill someone in cold blood like that, but it had to be done. If he hadn't have shot her, then Rebekah would have continued to wreak havoc across the galaxy. Now that the woman was dead, Hollie didn't know what this meant for them, all of the crew, exactly. But they'd think about that later.

"Yes sir," Luke's voice came over the comms in response to the Captain's question, "set on a course to Orion. I'm going to head back down to engineering, see if anyone needs any help. I'll see you in the med bay."

Hollie did her best to hobble along with her Dad, resting her head against his side. "Thank you," she said to him, fruitlessly trying to look in the direction of his face, "for ending it." She didn't know what she would have done if he hadn't been around. She probably wouldn't have even tried to mount an escape in the first place. They'd all still be stuck in their rooms, maybe even be dead right now.

[Michael Clarke]

Michael stopped in front of the med bay as Hollie thanked him, the Captain smiling slightly as he told her:
"It wasn't just me. We all had a part to play in this. Isn't that right, Charlie?"
"Captain Clarke! How nice of you to come and visit the medical bay! What can I help you with?"
"Fix her up, please."
"Right away, Captain. I also am reading that your left arm is..."
"I know what happened, Charlie. Please, just fix her first."
"Please don't bleed on the floor, Captain. I just cleaned it up."
"Can't help it, can I?" Michael brought Hollie to the nearest cot and laid her down gently.
"Charlie's going to be in charge of you for a while. I need to go sort out a few things up on the deck." He looked at his daughter's face and couldn't help feel thankful: thankful that she was alive, thankful she had kept on going...thankful that she loved him. He kissed her on the cheek as Charlie said:
"Captain, I must insist, you are in need of major medical repair on your left tricep."
"Arti-Flesh until we get to Orion."

His arm bandaged(but still not movable. Arti-flesh could only cover the wound up, not restore nerve endings), Michael made his way to the flight deck, where he saw Luke in his usual spot.
"Luke, once we touch down planet-side, I need you to take charge of the ship while I'm gone. Alliance brass is going to suck me into a vortex of questions, so I need you to get the crew back in line and de-brief them." He put a hand on Luke's shoulder, a small smile creeping onto his face as he said:
"You handled yourself well. Almost as good as me." Michael said the last part in jest, knowing full well that Luke was just about ready to surpass Michael in terms of flight skill.

[Hollie Clarke]

Arti-flesh? Oh my God.
In the chaos, she'd actually forgotten to check whether he was okay, what had happened to his arm. By the sounds of it, something had almost taken his arm off. Maybe she didn't want to know.
Swallowing, she lay back, listening to the exchange back and forth. As her Dad leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, it sounded as if he was eager to take off, see how everything was, and whether everyone was okay. The adrenaline now waning, she could feel the pain creeping in.
Before he left though, she said something she hadn't said in a long time, and in fact, had never said to a parental figure, let alone her actual father. "I love you."

Luke looked round at the Captain as he entered, the torn up part of his arm now suitably covered. It was a damn good thing he had a strong stomach, otherwise he, and the other crew members, probably would have lost their lunches.
It had been a tough few weeks, what with the blow up with Ally and their break up. At least, he assumed they were broken up, he hadn't seen her since she'd burned a hole through his heart with those hatred filled eyes. And neither did he want to, he was too afraid of what she might say.
When the Captain told him he was going to be in charge, his eyes almost popped out of his head. But what about... that was right, Katy wasn't on board any more, and they didn't have a First Mate. "Yes, sir."
He smiled slightly at what the Captain said next. After all that had happened, it actually meant a lot to hear something like that. "Thank you, sir."
"How's Hollie?" he asked, "I'm glad she held it together, without her, I don't think we would have made it." Bleeding out from the leg and still managed to save the ship? She deserved a medal. Or maybe some of Sam's cookies. Whichever she preferred.

[Michael Clarke]

"No, we wouldn't have." Michael let out a small laugh, Luke's statement fully sinking into his brain. If it hadn't been for Hollie's hard work, Michael would have been locked away on the deck and the chain of events leading up to where they were currently would vanish.
"She's doing better, thank you for asking. The girl suffered a plasma wound on her left leg and there were some scrapes, but nothing too bad." He grimaced as a bolt of pain wound it's way up his shoulder, indicating that the remains of his triceps was trying to tell him that it was incomplete. The protests would have to wait.

After making a brief announcement over the comm about the situation and their landing on Orion, the Captain told Luke:
"Orion's coming up in a few minutes. Switch to the emergency channel and communicate with flight control from there. You know what to do." As Michael started to leave, he stood still next to Luke's chair, an odd feeling coming over him, as if he would be leaving the ship for a while. Michael hadn't had this feeling but once, and that was after he was docked on Earth, leaving his squadron for good before becoming Captain of the Venia. He didn't believe in listening to emotions, but this time...this time, he felt the emotion had substance to it. So, in accordance with how he felt, he turned to Luke, telling him:
"This ship...this crew. All of them are yours until I'm back. I know you can run this ship just as good as I can." He wanted to say more, but all that came out was:
"See you soon." He left.

"Captain, how nice it is to see you again."
"I wish I could say the same, Charlie."
"But sir, my appendages are quite visible." Michael walked over to Hollie's cot, pulling up a nearby chair and sitting at her side, smiling at her improved condition.
"How you feelin kiddo?"

[Hollie Clarke]

The Captain departed and Luke turned back to the console, letting what the Captain had just said sink in. It sounded almost like the words of a dying man, if he hadn't said 'until I'm back', he would have worried that the man wasn't coming back at all. He was probably just making sure that the ship was going to be okay while he was gone, however long that was. Luke would take care of it. This, and his family, was all he had now. He'd do the man proud.

Hollie smiled as soon as the word Captain resonated from Charlie's speech system. She'd thought that her Dad was going to be off talking to officials and debriefing people left, right and center. But he'd come back to see her. If only she could see him... a thought she hadn't had in a long while.
"Hi," she said turning her head slightly in the direction which her Dad sat, "better. Charlie gave me something to numb the pain, and it's working very well. He also said I should be able to walk again in a day or two, just no exhaustive sports or combat training in the near future. Not like I'd be doing that anyway."
"It was just as a precaution, Ms Sampson."
"I know, I know." She waved a hand at Charlie, "how's your arm? Charlie's spiel earlier made it sound like something from a horror film."

[Michael Clarke]

"Ah, it's nothing too bad. Don't you worry yourself about it."
"I would be worried, Captain. Your nerve endings have been damaged and my scan revealed that if bone exposure continues, your possible infection rate will ascend by seventy five percent."
"You're all doom and gloom, you know that?"
"I just state the facts, Captain. That is why I was put on the ship." Although he was frustrating at times, Charlie was an amazing help when Darcy needed him and an even more amazing source of medical assistance when Darcy was gone(which she was at present).
"I don't have much left of my upper left arm, but I know the staff on Orion should fix me up good." Michael felt the ship shudder slightly, indicating a sharp entry into atmosphere. Although, the shudder was a bit more violent than usual, causing the Captain to remember that the Venia needed some maintenance in her shock absorbers. He would bring it up when he saw the mechanics down on the ground.
"Listen, baby, I'm going to be taking care of things down on the surface. Alliance brass is going to want to ask a lot of questions, so I'll be with them for a while. Just make sure Luke doesn't get himself into too much trouble. As if trouble doesn't follow YOU around already." He laughed slightly, his right hand crossing over to brush a stray lock of hair that had fallen near Hollie's eye as he continued:
"I'll have my comm on the whole time, so if it's an emergency, I'll come runnin."
"Orion arrival in 2 minutes." The ship A.I. chimed. That was his cue.
"Time to go." Michael gave Hollie a quick kiss on the head, saying:
"Once I'm done, I'll take you out to dinner. How's that sound?"

"Fantastic!" Alliance Commander James Starks, a large smile coming across his face as he accompanied Michael to the Alliance embassy. Once the ship had docked, Michael was whisked away by Starks, who commanded the subordinate who had come with him to ensure the crew was properly taken care of. The Captain recounted most of their tale on the way over to the embassy, which prompted the exclamatory remark from Starks.
"It was a group effort, sir. Couldn't have done it without the other members of the crew."
"Of course, of course! Come on, the higher-ups are going to want to hear this."

Michael suffered through an extensive barrage of questions, but the result of the interrogation was too good to pass up. With the threat of R4 essentially gone, the crew would have some time off before their next assignment (Michael was relieved to know that they wouldn't be disbanding the crew) and their funding was upped quite significantly along with a resource boost. He was told that Alliance crews were working on recruiting and that there was a slight possibility of another Venia-like operation within the next decade or so(quite a ways off, but that was how the Alliance thought). For the next few nights however, Michael had been put into one of the finer hotels on Orion, the Captain making sure that the crew would also have a chance to enjoy the planet's activities(Orion was known to be a planetary oasis) by way of sending them all a brief message detailing their situation and how long they would be planet side(a few days at the least). With all that settled, Michael had a date to keep with the most beautiful woman in the world. He opened up his comm channel and spoke:
"Ms. Sampson, where did they put you for the night?"

[Hollie Clarke]

Hollie couldn't help but laugh when her Dad told the poor AI that he was being negative. Stifling the end of it behind her hand, she bit her bottom lip, drawing her mouth into a smirk. The state of his arm wasn't really a laughing matter, but he was taking it in good grace. Rather like she had done with her legs. Maybe she'd inherited that trait from him.
She didn't really get much chance to get a word in edgeways when he said he was leaving to talk to the bigwigs about what had gone down. He was right though, trouble did tend to follow her around.
"I'll keep him out of trouble, don't you worry. I'm well trained in the art of ear pinching."
She grinned at his last sentence before his departure. "I'll hold you to it."

Hollie was up and about a lot faster than Charlie had expected. Apparently, he'd done a better job than even he had imagined. Soon after came the news that the crew would be spending time on Orion relaxing after their ordeal. She was most definitely not complaining. Who cared if she couldn't see a damn thing, just the atmosphere was supposed to be soothing, almost like a haven on a planet.
Hauling up in her room, she hunkered down into the big pile of pillows and quilt, her freshly washed her still smelling of shampoo, despite being thoroughly dried using the funky machine in the bathroom. Her comm beeped, and she grinned.
"Well, Mr. Clarke, I was told it was room 204 in the Plaza, but knowing me, I could have roamed into one of many rooms or hotels, and stolen someone else's." She was joking, of course, but it was fun to mess around now that all the drama was over and done with.
"I'm assuming you have plans for eating? I know my stomach will probably devour itself if it isn't given sustinence soon."

[Michael Clarke]

"That I do. I'll be over in half an hour." Michael looked at himself in the mirror and smiled back at the tired, dirty reflection. That was the usual Michael that stared back at him. But, for his daughter's sake(and the Alliance's sake, for that matter), he would attempt to look like a human being that didn't live in space for most of the year.

After exiting the hotel and finding a clothing store that provided him with suitable attire(black jeans and a red long sleeved shirt), he managed to find where "The Plaza" was on one of the many guidance terminals(The A.I, was almost as frustrating as Charlie. Almost). Once inside the lobby, he couldn't help but smile as he saw a few of the ensigns sitting in the lounge nearby, excitedly talking about the football game on the holo screen. He hadn't seen those boys smile like that since he had seen them first come onto the ship. Good to know that the Alliance was taking care of their own. Michael stepped onto the lift, another man joining him on the elevator. His face was partially obscured due to the wide-brimmed hat on his head that dipped forward. Michael couldn't quite identify the kind of emotion he was feeling about the man's presence, but it wasn't positive. As the lift doors opened, Michael heard the man speak:
"I'd be careful around these parts, Captain. Don't want your daughter gettin hurt now, do you?" Michael almost threw the man up against the lift wall and demanded his identity, but rather asked:
"How do you know I'm a Captain at all?"
"How do you know I'm not tryin to help ya?"
"You might have the wrong man, you know."
"Just makin sure you know what's goin on around Orion is all, Captain." Michael stepped off the elevator, trying to get a look at the man from under his hat as he did so, but the man countered the attempt by pulling the hat further down.
"Who are you?" Michael asked.
"A ghost." And with that, the doors shut. Michael's blood chilled at the way the man said his parting phrase. Almost like he was a ghost. Who in the world could that have been? Anyhow, he would let the hotel know and possibly get some additional security around the town center. Shaking off the encounter, he walked down the hallway and found room 204, knocking on the door.
"Come on now honey, I'm gettin hungry too."

[Hollie Clarke]

Hollie thought that going out to dinner in a bath robe and slippers probably wasn't the best idea she'd ever had, so, now she was clean and relatively battle scar free - what was left of the wound on her leg could be hidden - she dressed up for the first time in a while, picking out one of the dresses she'd managed to toss in her duffel bag before coming here.

She was just slipping her shoes on when she heard the knock at the door. Had it really been half an hour? Since when did it take her that long to get dressed? Anywho. Walking steadily towards the door - her first urge had been to run, but that could have ended disasterously - she opened it up and smiled, assuming that her Dad was standing there. She could certainly smell him.
"You couldn't hear my stomach through the door?" she asked with a grin, "guess my awesome hearing doesn't come from you."
Snatching her bag up in her hand, she linked the other arm with her Dad's, deciding to use him as her guidance system, rather than the laser pen. "I'm assuming you will keep me away from all pot holes and potential tripping hazards. My clumsiness increases ten-fold in these shoes."