The Oceanic

[somerandomhippie1]

Penn couldn't help but grin at Jay's interpretation of medical procedures. "Well, I'll get my needle all threaded up for when you arrive," he told him. "If you get too many, remember to bring me some extra thread." Ah, humor could defuse even the most tense of situations. "I'll let you get back to your fun. Good luck, brother, over and out."
He furrowed his brow at Kiri's question. "I think... It's one floor above us," he realized with a grin. "I haven't heard them in a while, they're probably done their sweep. If we could make it up... Oh, Kiri's ideas always came through just when they needed to. "Besides, what better place to hide than a room with medical supplies?" He walked over the door, and peeked through the window. Deserted.
He looked at Kiri. "I'll go first, to see if there's any one there. Make sure to watch your back though." He opened the door cautiously, then offered his hand again. "Ready to go?"

[scylla]

Jay's sense were telling him flight. The entire hallway was swamped with well trained men and sonar goggles making this feat all too familiar. David and Goliath. Man against the world. Death by crucifix. Moth and the flame. Hell, this would make the perfect aberration story. Ironic. Jay tilted the assault rifle 45 degrees and examined its armament meanwhile spinning his arm around the strap. His heart was still yammering against his ribcage making it impossible to think straight. This was chaos. Absolute, craziness. These people were hell bent on full destruction of this bucket and they wouldn't stop. Jay scanned the corridor down range. Here he was again pressed against time to find the exit. "I feel like I'm in a bloody video game." Nobody should feel that away. There would be no living after this and the "if" factor was great.

You wanna dance? Lets bloody tango. "I'll do you one better," he whispered while momentarily letting out a breath. Time slowed down. He stuck his shoulder out from beneath the corner carefully, slowly stepped out into range. He arched the assault carbine around the corner and fully stepped out squeezing off the trigger in blind, random, sporadic bursts. Bullets carved the hallway filled with mercenaries sparking fuse wires raining down small orange sparks, whining off of metal casings in the ceiling and walls, skidding boldly across the floor keeping the bastards pinned. It wasn't long before the clip clicked. Bone dry. There was the slightest of pauses where nobody moved. Then, "Shi-open fire! Take him down! Take him down!" That was Jay's cue. He dived back behind the corner literally leaving the ground for point three seconds arms stretched wide.

He grunted as he felt his body hit the floor. It wasn't over as he hurriedly lay flat on his stomach arms crooked, hands placed firmly in the floor, gaze stricken with envy, face red. Time was still ticking with what felt like one thousand heart beats per second. He was on his feet tearing down the hallway in mere seconds casting one worried glance over his shoulder as he tore around one corner. Fly, mate, fly. He skirted around one corner on one foot almost toppling over his arms pumping in front of him the burn starting to tighten his leg muscles. It was then that he realized that he had dropped the assault rifle somewhere in the corridor which was now being rushed. Jay now full well heard how ragged his breathing had been. Scared. Frightened. This words did not fit with the situation. It was screwed.

He kept running. His brain telling him there was no escape this time. That he wouldn't be able to lie his way out of this one. His gut tearing through the misconception. There was always a way out. Through the pain he would find it. He had to. He would find it. He would have to without the reassurance of firepower in his hands. There would be no help. He was on his own. He turned a corner. In the hallway stood three men. "Oh shi-" Jay's lips puckered coming to a full stop his arms splayed out on either side of him catching him in mid-stop. The three men trained their rifles. Jay forced his knees to somehow turn the other way the rest of his mind felt frozen. He could feel them squeezing their triggers. Their grins highly volatile hidden behind their helmets.

Sidearm! Of course! Jay reached down for his sidearm strapped to his leg. He raised it above their heads while turning the corner he snapped off several shots causing them to buck. "Hooolllllyy crap!" Jay's voice trailed over his shoulder while he ducked into one of the hallways which happily read "Garbage". He halted at the small door and pried it open with his free hand and without thinking stuck his head through the opening and felt his feet leave the ground just as somebody shouted, "Light him up!" Jay instinctively covered his face in the crook of both arms his mind urging that he wrap his arms around his entire body. The gun felt heavy in his hands and he felt the chute vibrate while he plummeted through the darkness. Jay's conscience reopened. He really wished it hadn't. The shooting...

It had stopped. He opened his eyes his retinas were greeted with gray. He found himself attempting to restore his vision blinking his eyes incessantly. He groaned and felt himself leave his bed and he hit the floor next to it. Hard concrete. He groaned again flipping over onto his back. It smelled like.. detergent. Steam pressed cloth. He found himself beginning to laugh a soft chuckle echoing throughout the anonymous room. He pressed his hand against his forehead fingers ebbing through the his hair line. He closed his eyes as he felt the chuckle pulsate through out his ribcage and his body began to quiver. Then there came the oddest of sounds that made him stop. His ears perked up. He craned his neck towards the direction of the incoming sound his eyes squinting with the effort. It had grenade in the chute written all over it. Holy crap.

Jay vaulted to his feet feeling his body instinctively carry him to the far side of the room weaving in and out between machinery. "I've never seen so many machines in my lifetime." he huffed, scared of his own tone. Straight line is always the longest line. Well, not in this case. He could see no straight line only criss and crosses bringing him to what felt like a freaking maze. Clank-clank-clank-roll-CLICK! The room shook as a white phosphorous white hot cloud folded outward. Jay felt the edge of the blast rasp against his exposed skin sending him over one of the machines and toppling to the floor on the other side. He lay flat on his stomach the front of his legs angled up against the cold machine. He rolled onto his back angling his legs inward to avoid the machine. Fly.

Jay rolled onto his back angling his legs closer to him but feeling the machine brush against his outer leg. He sighed and went limp. "Hell," he huffed indignantly, "I think I just gave birth." His arms fell limp at his sides and he closed his eyes. His entire body ached. He had won this one.

[kiri]

Kiri sat back as Penn finished the conversation with Jay, her mind already leaping ahead to the medical bay. What message they should send, whether it should be encoded or simply a cry for help, where they should send it... All decisions that would have to be made in far too short a period of time. And if any turned out to be the wrong choice, the consequences could very well be death or capture.

"One floor?" she echoed in reply. "That's not bad. Seems like most of the action is going on below us right now..." She rose to her feet slowly and followed him, wincing inwardly at the sound of their footsteps, which in her mind seemed to resonate like drum beats against the floor. "Watch my back. Got it. Ready when you are." She wasn't, but delaying wouldn't help that.

[somerandomhippie1]

Penn grinned, for reasons he couldn't fathom. It was probably the adrenaline, evident in his system since the beginning of the crisis... Or maybe it was something else. Either way, not the time to be thinking about that. Time to be sneaking. He creaked the doors open, and snuck out, Kiri's hand in his.
He found the staircase easily enough-- it was clearly marked all the way down the hall. No need for them to use the back stairs-- the terrorists would have them covered anyways. So no point, really.
Their trek up the stairs and down the main hall was uneventful. They padded silently, and their presence was unacknowledged. Not that there was anyone to acknowledge it.
As they turned the corner, a few feet from the door, his heart stopped. His adrenaline spiked, and he grabbed Kiri's arm, shoving her behind him. The guards raise their guns.
His mind raced. If Kiri could get inside the room, and send out the signal, he could keep the door blocked. As long as Kiri didn't get hurt, or worse, even... No. No. Never. Not while he could do anything about it.
"Get inside! he whispered frantically to Kiri. He started running, and his muscles tensed. Looks like Jay wasn't the only one about to get some excitement.

[scylla]

Jay picked himself up from the floor and having been shifted sideways yet again he had to admit that he still felt disoriented. As he sprightly placed his foot down his entire would did an entire 180. It would be usually wise to keep one's eyes closed while dreaming of large green trees, open popping fields, however, Jay only found that to work when he felt seasick. Therefore he leaned back against one of the closest machines adding support. It was as if standing in silly putty and while he closed his eyes the only thing that he could think of at the moment was gaining as much distance between him and his killers. He checked the sidearm in his hand and was glad to find that it was intact as he slid it back into the holster on his leg. Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts, God.

Discourse your saving song. Get it together and just take the next step. Jay took the step forward finding that his vision was still altered. He took another step and pretty soon he had shoved what it meant to be handicapped and was approaching the door on the far side of the room, pistol in his hand. When he reached the door he pressed his shoulder up against the wall parallel to the door keeping the pistol between himself and the steel wall while his other hand reached for the doorknob. His eyes already tried to make use of the vision he could procure through the narrow slit of the door as he slowly began to open it his knuckles growing white as he craned his head trying to peer around the wall. It seemed clear. "Seemed" wasn't what he was going for. Precision at its best, forever.

Quietly, or as familiarized as he could get with hunting down terrorists aboard a sinking cruise liner happened every day, his mind could only begin to perceive the threat as real. Only, as in just chipping the iceberg. This was big. Huge, almost. The door opened without incident and the first thing to stick through the opening was the pistol Jay keeping his finger just above the firing mechanism. He stuck his free arm out next and craned his head around the wall as he stepped into the room. There was nothing, but that didn't mean the entire ship was now buzzing with para-military activity and by all accounts Penn and Kiri would be having their hands full at the moment. Jay decided to stay off the intercom. Though he couldn't pertain how badly he wanted to see how they were handling the situation, if anything, support.

Again, Jay, self-servient to the situation, was on his own. Then an idea popped into his head right on the spot. This room, Jay thought, while he spun in place observing his surroundings, was secure enough all things considered and with the mercenaries running around like nothing-a-do Jay felt small. He set his pistol on the surface of another machine, softly as to not arouse attention. He was adamant in doing only one complete swoop that would serve as their escape plan as well as take care of those pesky mercenaries that had become fish in the pond. That's all they were. Fish in the pond. His fingers were now operating gingerly on and around the small transceiver device. His fingers pried open the small radio peering inside at the mess of jumbled wires. This would be difficult. He scratched his brow. Difficult, not impossible, concentrated.

What he would need from the little device was mutual cooperation and if the blasted thing refused he would smash it to tiny pieces. So help him. He begin to work trying to avoid shaking, thus, managing to squint his eyes enough to keep his focus trained on succeeding, more like, just boosting the signal in perfect fluctuations so that he wouldn't give away his position, thus, Morse code with something that wasn't built for that. Eighteen minutes later he finally had it and after much trial and error he slid the device into the palm of his hand and to his heart's willy content he began to send out his message to anyone who could understand Morse code. How fun. Not only was the possibility that nobody left alive on this bucket could fully understand Morse code, but the fact was that not many people survived.

Now that he had fooled around with the wires which he hoped somebody would understand his desperation for sacrificing his only means of communication, literally, and thus forgiving the means of going dark without telling anyone on top of that he hoped somebody would get the message. Somebody fighting for the right side and not the other way around which would be very very bad if instead of reinforcements there would be a garrison of evil men with nasty little personalities bent on world domination, rather, mutiny of the ship, inside the meeting point and where was the meeting point? Jay was still working on that as he ripped the ear piece from the inside of his ear and dropped it to the floor. This was all by the play book he was writing as he underwent massive physical trauma to his nervous system. He pulled the pistol into hand.

If only it would be that easy.

[kiri]

As they made their way up the stairs and down the hall, Kiri offered up a quick prayer to whatever god or gods might listen. Please let us make it out of here... alive, or at least in one piece. Please let Jay be okay. Please... She repeated the mantra over and over again in her head, partly as an honest plea, and partly just to keep the panic from welling up in her again. She focused on placing one foot in front of the other, and the warmth of Penn's hand, anything that would keep her mind from imagining men with guns around the next corner.

When they finally did round a corner - the last corner - and see the guards, it was worse than she could have imagined. Fear and panic swept over her and she froze, more than happy to hide behind Penn. His voice barely managed to snap her out of it. She stumbled the first few steps, then broke into a dead run for the door. The men raised their guns and she saw their fingers move as if in slow motion. Then they were at the door and she skidded to a halt just long enough to shove Penn through it first before diving in after him.

She paid for her delay, though. As the first bullets started to fly, one grazed her arm. The pain didn't register until they were both inside the medical bay, the door hastily slammed shut behind them. There, she sank to the floor, right hand clutching at her left shoulder, blood beginning to seep through her shirt. "Quick... blockade the door. I'm fine, keep them out!" Her eyes were still wild with fear, but there was purpose and determination shining in them now as well.

[somerandomhippie1]

Penn yelled at himself mentally for letting Kiri go last in through the door. Now she was hurt, blood soaking into her sweater. She looked far from it, though-- she took charge, and wild energy seemed to be seeping from her. He basked in it, and slammed into the door, which was trying to open.
His shoulder wasn't wide enough, so he tried shoving with his arms, which failed miserably. The door opened a crack, and slammed into his ribs. He grunted. That hurt. A voice floated past him-- "The doctor said to not put large amounts of pressure on those ribs again, or they might fracture..." Great. That was condoling.
He turned around, and slammed into the door with his back. He heard the crunch of small bones, and grinned in a slight victory. "Is it working?" he yelled, over the din of unhappy terrorists. "Toss me a chair when you're not so busy, could you?"

[kiri]

((I guess Jay isn't going to post again?))

Kiri ripped a strip of fabric off the hem of her shirt, adrenaline and fear lending her strength. With the ease of practice, made only slightly awkward by the replacement of a good hand with her teeth, she wrapped the strip around the graze on her arm and tied it - tight, but not too tight - and flexed the arm experimentally. There was a definite twinge of pain when she moved it, but she could still use it.

A glance over at Penn showed that help would definitely be in order, and so she quickly sprang to answer his shout. Many of the seats in the medbay were benches, bolted to the floor alongside the tables, but there were a few chairs at desks along one wall. She snatched one up with her good hand and dragged it over to the door, setting her back against it with feet braced to help Penn hold it closed. "Here, chair. We need to get this secure if we're to have any hope of sending out a beacon."

[somerandomhippie1]

((I guess not... If he comes back, we'll just poke him with a metaphorical stick or something for keeping us hanging, I guess. ))
Penn grinned as she offered him a chair. "Any other day, I'd offer to let you sit on it, but that got dashed the moment the window blew, I believe." Keeping his feet wedged against the door, as a back-up for Kiri, he jammed the chair underneath the doorknob, and wedged the entire thing into the floor. He let go experimentally, and sighed in relief when the chair seemed to hold the door with ease. "Remind me to kiss this chair after," he muttered, as he heard a bang. Damn. The back entrance. By the time he picked up a chair, one guy had already got past the basic lock, so he threw it instead. Lousy shot, but it worked.
Gladly jamming that entrance shut, he turned the now-unconscious mercenary over. Good. Weapons. He grabbed two rather large pistols, and handed one to Kiri. "Just in case," he told her. "Are you OK?" he asked, taking her arm gently. It didn't look too bad, but if there was too much blood loss, it would get worse, fast. "Do you need anything for it? We are in a medical bay, after all... The door would hold. He needed her-- for the signal, sending the signal. He could barely use computers, she was the tech whiz. Plus, seeing her hurt would probably distract him to no end.

[kiri]

Kiri took the pistol and slid it into her belt, barely even shaken by the sudden appearance - and neutralization - of the mercenary. Survival instincts had thoroughly kicked in, so any fear, panic, or other useless emotion had been shoved to the very back of her mind, leaving only an almost cold, but driven sense of purpose behind. It was the same state of mind she slipped in when dealing with a virus outbreak, or doing a shift in the ER back home. Now it would hopefully help save their lives.

She looked up at Penn with a slight smile. The fact that he was so clearly concerned about her made her heart swell and let her actually find the strength to smile. Driven by something she didn't quite understand, she lifted her good arm and cupped her hand behind his head, pulling him down to her level to press her lips to his in a quick, fierce kiss. It was far from a romantic first kiss, and was likely more the result of desperation than anything, but it still sent a shock through her system. Before she knew it, the kiss had gone on several seconds longer than she intended, and she wasn't sure she ever wanted it to end.

[somerandomhippie1]

Kiri being the person she was, Penn had certainly expected her to react less-than-ordinarily. Perhaps she might have suddenly fainted, though he doubted her strength was that limited. Or possibly, she might have dismissed it altogether, and acted like it was never wounded. Somehow, he doubted someone as versed in medicine would have ignored a wound like that. Pulling him into a kiss like that, however, caught him entirely off-guard.
He was still for a moment, as his brain attempted to process such an amazing fact as that. Eventually, it gave up and simply shut off in the sheer rightness of it all. No need to explain it, it was there. Unless he was dreaming, in which case he would be very, very, sorely disappointed. He closed his eyes, which seemed to prove that it had happened while his eyes were open. So must have been awake. Good.
It was nice, he observed. There seemed to be something tense in the whole situation, but as he relaxed, and attempted to hold her upright, so he could straighten a little, it dissipated. As he softened, and kissed her back, he noticed the way she tasted-- warm, and soft, though there was something deep and ineffable beyond his reach. He felt warm, despite the cold adrenaline running through his nerve system, and it felt wonderful. Perfect, even.
He probably would have kept kissing her longer, except for one little alarm going off on the console. Well, little wasn't exactly the right word, it was screeching across the room and attempting to kill his eardrums, but he hadn't noticed it, being preoccupied. He reluctantly drew away, so he could read the sender. UGAP. Damn the government, always busted in on all the wrong moments.
He glanced back to Kiri, his head still spinning. "Sorry, but they'll probably want to know we're still alive," he told her a little drowsily. "As much as I'd love to ignore it."

[kiri]

Kiri was dazed for a long moment after he pulled away. She hadn't the slightest clue why she'd kissed him. It wasn't exactly the rational response to a life-threatening situations. Then again, maybe that was precisely the reason. In the midst of running for their lives and fighting off panic, she'd just needed something irrational and personal to reassure her that they were still, in fact, alive and fighting. That there was still something worth fighting for. A long sigh escaped her lips, the tension threading out of her muscles, mind stuttering back into something resembling normal, non-panicky function.

"Yes. Right. Probably." She rubbed her eyes and grinned crookedly at him, not even bothering to try hiding how much the kiss had affected her. Taking a step back from him was hard, turning away was harder, but once she'd managed that, crossing the short distance to the blinking console was remarkably easy. She motioned Penn closer and punched the "Answer" button. "Hello? This is medical officer Kiriann Brooks of the Venia, who's there?"

[scylla]

At the precise moment it took him to place the converted Morse code device back down, turn around and stumble towards the far door to exit the room the door itself flew open giving birth to at least four guards assault rifles trained directly on Jay. "Surrender. Drop the gun! Drop the gun, now!" Their voices seemed to scare the dark out of the corners of the room while they advanced, knees tucked, shoulders hunched. Jay dropped his pistol and kicked it over throwing his hands up into the air and by the time they were surrounding the room, circling Jay and checking to make sure there were no surprises in store for them Jay was forced to his knees. "Easy!" Jay proclaimed flatly while the gripping hand remained digging finger nail sized holes in his right shoulder.Jay peered at the door where they had barged through.

There was no way he would make it without the four rifles in the room rearranging his spinal fluids and he had no intention of being shot in the back. That hand felt heavy compressing his bucked knees which worked in Jay's advantage. Jay risked the glance over his shoulder which resulted in a swift blow which he felt mostly in the small portion between his nose and upper lip and upon being smashed open handed across the face Jay bucked content with what he saw. Slowly he realigned his gaze clenching his fists and that blow had given him the suppressed anger he wanted. He couldn't account for the three others exploring the room, however, this mercenary would prove invaluable, if not stupid. Maybe, both. Jay swung his arm downward arching his shoulder up and catching the soldier around his ankles toppling him forward. It needed haste.

Jay twirled onto one knee completely turning around his back to the door. Jay fell backwards onto his back to dodge the sporadic burst from the three mercs and upon the sheer hot curtain that caused Jay to cringe his arm reached down to pull the arm still gripping the assault rifle connected to the mercenary who had been foolish enough to begin to pretend he had the upper hand and swing the arm out before the two of them squeezing the trigger and lighting up the entire room and as bullet bounced off laundry machines and machines Jay didn't even know what to call the three others ducked out of view screaming orders at each other and requesting a flanking maneuver. Jay brought down the back of his heel across the mercenary's exposed face crushing his nose and dislocating his jaw. Jay planned to be far away.

They had gone quiet while Jay quickly slid his arm over the crying mercenary for his side arm. Jay's peripheral vision caught a blur and on instinct he found himself ditching the body and diving back behind safe cover. "Damn," the voice was gruff and sounded mechanic. Jay scrambled to pull his legs clear from the edge and leaned against the machine feeling the cold metal rasp against the nape of his exposed neck. Jay's eyes flickered trying to establish the mercenaries next move before they knew what they were doing. Jay's eyes settled back on the door and he found himself licking the bottom half of his lip. "Fuck it." he pulled his entire mass deriving everything he could muster and tore for the door on the far side keeping low as best he could. His brain began to block out the worried yells.

That door tortured his God-given senses and as he found that the door was open and he could feel overwhelming bouts serenading through his heart making it soar it came crashing down instantaneously. Jay's ankle felt like it had exploded, he tipped forward smashing into the door throwing it open and falling to the floor, spinning across the steel floor spewing profanities. "Ahhhh!" he enraged, "Ohho, crap. Crap.", he crawled over his shoulder until he could crawl no more just as two mercenaries hurled through the door. Jay's hand went up to the surface from his position nearest the table and dragged what his fingertips were registering as a weapon. He threw the dish with all his might. One of the mercenaries advanced, laughing manically. "A little birdie told me something interesting." the man's foot extended pushing Jay forcefully onto his back. His voice all too menacing as he leaned over and slapped Jay across the face to prove his point, "I will not prevent this tragedy."

[somerandomhippie1]

((I had said about the metaphorical stick, Jay, but we're just happy to have you back. Not that we're being nice or anything.))

He couldn't help but smile back at Kiri's lopsided grin. His brain was running on happier thoughts now, and it helped release some of his tension. As she nodded him closer, he couldn't help but get a little closer than he probably should have. Testosterone did odd things to the male brain. He let his grin blossom in her presence, and waited for the reply.
He got something garbled about sending down reinforcements. That was good. The connection, however, wasn't, and after a long period of voice manipulation, the radio finally gave way to static. He frowned, and twisted the tuning dial. "Hello? he called. "Do you copy?" Their connection gone, he fiddled until he got something substantial-- in this case, bleeping noises. It bleeped for a while, and he had nearly passed it off as a malfunction until he heard the same pattern come around again. What was it.
"Does this sound like something to you?" he asked Kiri. "It doesn't sound random, but it's not exactly coherent, either."

[kiri]

Kiri leaned forward closer to the speaker, tilting her head to better focus on the odd sound. As Penn twisted the knobs and slowly managed to clarify the sound, she started to be able to pick out the separations between the beeps. Some were longer, some were shorter, and there was a definite pattern to them. It sounded vaguely familiar, although she was far from understanding it. "Is that... Morse code? Listen... short beep, short beep, long beep, short beep, pause... That sounds like Morse code!"

Kiri made the mistake of turning her head to look at Penn. He had moved up behind her, so close she could feel the heat radiating from him against her back. The words she was about to say got stuck in her throat for a long moment. When she finally managed to speak, her voice was shaky and light, audible evidence of the effect he had on her. "I know... I mean, I don't know Morse code. D-Do you?"