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aaaaaaaagh_skyThe door opens from Milliways onto the tumbletown ruins of what used to be an industrial area on the fringes of Arlington. The temperature is summertime-warm, the air dry; the last rains to pass through here are long since gone. Overhead, a scavenger bird or two circles, visible only to people who know what they're looking for. A breeze listlessly stirs the air, kicking up brief dust-devils along the shattered ruin of the local roads. Beyond that, the place is quiet in the way that only emptiness can bring.
"This is where I came in," Ellen says over her shoulder. "Like I mentioned the other day, it's about a day's travel to the Fort Bannister region from here. There's still some pre-war asphalt laid down here but pretty soon it all gives way to open sand and scrub. The nearest radiation source is a hundred yards northeast of here, and we're not going in that direction, so unless my Geiger counter goes off without warning we should be all right."
"This is where I came in," Ellen says over her shoulder. "Like I mentioned the other day, it's about a day's travel to the Fort Bannister region from here. There's still some pre-war asphalt laid down here but pretty soon it all gives way to open sand and scrub. The nearest radiation source is a hundred yards northeast of here, and we're not going in that direction, so unless my Geiger counter goes off without warning we should be all right."
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Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-19 05:47 am (UTC)Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-19 01:17 pm (UTC)Nevertheless, a few more men do drop their weapons. Mysterious voice talking about incomprehensible historical concepts or no, capture by a (presumably) human adversary at least holds out the possibility of survival.
"COWARDS!" screams the captain, who should probably do something about that vein that's starting to throb on his temple. That can't be good for his health.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-19 08:50 pm (UTC)Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-19 11:13 pm (UTC)The captain, however, is not really thinking straight at this point. Rage is funny that way. He grabs the nearest available weapon and snarls, "Come out and fight me!"
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 12:03 am (UTC)"One on one sparring," he says. "No guns. Your Captain can keep his knife. I win, you all do as I say. Your Captain wins, I leave. Anyone other than your Captain attacks me, I leave and pick you off one by one. Maybe a few of you make it back to your base, where my friends are waiting."
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 12:23 am (UTC)Then- prompted, perhaps, by the realization that if he backs down now his men will likely tear him apart for cowardice- the captain drops his assault rifle and holds up his combat knife. "Fine," he says. "Fine. Let's do this thing."
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 01:30 am (UTC)If he did this right, he wouldn't have to kill most of these people within the next few minutes.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 01:43 am (UTC)Well. We'll have to see, won't we.
He's going to have to get in under the big fellow's guard if he's going to come out of this alive.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 01:52 am (UTC)"You've earned your rank," he notes, circling around the opposite direction of the Talon. This wasn't a fair fight at all, but John had a plan, and it didn't actually involve him killing this man in close quarters combat.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 02:05 am (UTC)"You have to, in this outfit," he answers. "If you plan to survive."
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 05:12 am (UTC)The Spartan notices the Captain's actions, and pretends to have left an opening on his flank, exposing his less-armored side.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 05:18 am (UTC)He knows he only gets one chance here, and so he lunges with all the swiftness he can muster.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 06:15 am (UTC)As the Talon mercenary lunges in for a final, suicidal strike, John catches the man, carefully snapping the knife's blade off while guiding the blow to look as if it pierced him just below the ribs, when in fact the knife couldn't even have penetrated the weave of his suit.
He grunts and tumbles to the ground, bringing the Captain following him down to land on top of him, all the while firmly holding onto the Talon's wrist and keeping the broken knife looking as if it was buried up to the hilt.
"They said Talons were good," John coughs wretchedly, loud enough for all of the spectators to hear, "didn't know this good."
Of course, the Captain is aware that his knife is broken, and that the Spartan has his own arm in a grip that could shatter bones, should the soldier so will it. He has been far outclassed.
John stares faceless up at the Captain. His next words are too soft for anyone to hear but the commander. "People like me are at the HQ--Jabsco is dead, and the weapons caches are gone. There's nothing for you there anymore. But these men, they respect you. I don't want to waste their lives, or yours. I want to let you go, but I can't do that unless I tell you something," he breathes quietly. "That woman, Ellen, the one you were hunting--she got that first price on her head by saving a settlement. She was a hero. She helps people. I came here to help her, and look where that got you. Hunting heroes is not good for business. People support heroes. If people want something done, they look to heroes."
He nods at the transfixed men on the sidelines. "If you killed me, they would think you're a hero. They would see that you saved them. You'd earn more than their respect, you'd get their loyalty, and that you can't buy. But there's a problem. Heroes realize some things are more valuable than weapons or bottle caps. They might accept gifts or take jobs to help people, but heroes don't kill indiscriminately for cash. They're not glorified bandits or raiders, and I hate lying, Captain. I don't want your men thinking you're something you're not."
"I know what I said to your men. But that deal was for them. This deal is for you. I can kill you, and take your men as prisoners--let them run free over the wastes or execute them. Or, I can be dead, right now. I let you walk away as a hero, with your men, to fight another day. You can rebuild Talon Company, go your own way, whatever you want. But if I let you go, you have to make sure it isn't a lie, because I will come back to find you. Maybe not next week, maybe not next year, but I will come back to see if you've made a liar out of me. If you become another Jabsco, you'll be removed the same way," the Spartan hisses. "Your choice, Captain."
John relinquishes his grip and goes limp, as if he had finished his last words and died.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-20 06:38 am (UTC)There's a ragged cheer starting among the men, and it's getting louder quickly. The captain puts up both his hands. "Everybody," he says, "quiet! That's an order!"
It's not what they expected to hear. It takes them a moment to obey.
When he gets the silence he wanted the captain surveys the battered, weathered group in front of him. His eyes sweep over the buildings in the distance, and the intervening space between them. Then he says, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Turn around."
The massed men do so, in time to see a pair of armored figures slowly coming their way. The one in power armor is- well, it's hard to tell male from female in a suit like that, but there are a few Talons who recognize that suit and somehow lived to tell about it; their indrawn breaths are plain. So are the gasps from the others as she holds up a set of holotags dripping with green goo, and something that might be a familiar sort of switchblade.
"Is that what I think it is?" the captain asks.
The woman in power armor nods. "Commander Jabsco's holotags," her muffled voice says, "and his knife. There wasn't anything else left."
The captain nods once, and glances at John's figure on the ground. Ellen goes very still at the sight, but the captain says, "He fought well. Real well. Better than anyone we've seen in a long, long time. As far as I'm concerned, you can bury him where he fell, exactly the way he fell."
If there is a protest from the other men, he ignores it. And anyway, it doesn't last long, because he's got more to say:
"I know when I'm beaten. I'm cutting our losses. This isn't a battle I'm willing to keep fighting."
Ellen thinks for a moment, remembering this history lesson and that; she then nods and says, "I'd suggest you leave, now, and find somewhere else to be. Take what you've got- no more than you can carry on your backs- and go. And remember, Moon Shadow and his beasts are still out there."
Not even the captain can quite suppress his shudder at that.
The Talons eventually pull out. It takes them a while. Normally their idea of retreating involves scrambling for their lives under heavy gunfire, not deliberately backing down. The captain keeps them reasonably in line, though, and eventually there's nothing left to see of them but a handful of receding dots in the distance.
Ellen rocks back on her heels and lets out a sigh as the last one fades from sight. "Well," she says, "that's over with. John? I think we're done now... and I think I owe you."
There'll be a lot of rooms to empty out, of course, and Brahmin to load and arrangements to make; but by the look of things, it's probably safe to say that by the end of the day, there's a door in the base that's been opened onto Milliways for whoever wants to go home.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-23 11:25 pm (UTC)He looks away from the Talons to Ellen. "I should go. Ma'am." He nods respectfully before turning to walk toward the military base, where the door awaits.
Re: Team Alpha
Date: 2010-03-23 11:31 pm (UTC)