Re: Opening Salvos

[JanetJulian]

Xi snorted, but continued to watch, tapping her fingers restlessly on the console, but everything else about her remained still. She knew that she had to be a role model, calm in the storm, and she kept herself tamped down, though she did comment softly once.

"If anything happens to Sylvia it's on my head. My call, my decision." She glanced up at Lisa to make sure she understood then looked back out into the field at the visuals they were getting. As they got closer she leaned forward a little, trying to make out just exactly what was happening. It hit her about the same time it hit Lisa and her eyes widened.

She bit her lip. "It will also call Arturus out. He's their only hope - but I don't know if even he can take on a large percentage of an asteroid field. Qun Shi would have known. He's pressing reset."

She took a breath. The real question was what the hell were they going to do about it? She couldn't take on hundreds of Reaver ships even if she was in Nike. And she certainly couldn't in this tub. They couldn't even broadcast a warning until they were out the other side, by which time the Reavers would be out the other side. She blew out a breath and gave Lisa a hug. This was over her head. And yet, she couldn't just do nothing.

But she did have one idea. "I need to check something. Can you hold the fort here?" She asked. "Tell Sylvia to get the hell out of there and back on the ship as quietly as she can manage. We don't need to get their attention. I have a feeling we're not going to find the Alliance fleet."

She rose from her seat and paused to make sure that Lisa was alright before heading out into the ship.

[Seth]

"My recommendation," said Lisa. She acknowledged that she hadn't made the decision, but she'd challenged the Captain's authority, and no amount of intellectual reassurance would change the lingering guilt that she'd carry if anything happened to Sylvia.

"It's not a large percentage," she said. "And maybe he can handle one, or two, or three, but - can he handle a simultaneous assault on a dozen planets and moons?" She bit her lip, scrambling to find some way to try to open a line of communication of some kind, growling when all she received was 'no carrier' messages.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Yeah, I can." She reached down to press the comm button. "Sylvia get the hell back here."

Sylvia's voice came over the radio. "Really? I can't tell what's going on."

Lisa's voice was quiet. "We have zooms on your external cameras. Reavers are dragging those. Get the hell back here, now. Captain's orders. Quiet."

Lisa frowned. "No, we found it, too - some of those ships are Alliance ships. With heavy battle damage. There's no wreckage cause they're not destroying them." she shook her head, biting her lip and trying to figure out something she could do while Xiantha slipped downstairs.

[JanetJulian]

Xi shrugged, leaving Lisa to her lingering guilt.

"Undoubtedly not," she agreed. She waited for Lisa to tell Sylvia to return and looked back at the images, frowning when she realized Lisa was right about the fleet.

"Gods help us all," she said, turning on her heel and heading for the door. She went immediately for the gym training area, intending to find Patrick.

[Seth]

Lisa nodded, frowning.

Lisa nodded once again at Xiantha's final declaration. Patrick was easy to find - he and Ant were in the gymnasium, with nt passing out unloaded weapons while Patrick was giving an explanation of the safety features and some of the basics of aiming. Where he might have normally enjoyed the attention of so many women, the presence of Ant and the sense this might be more serious than a trip through the asteroid belt had given him a razor edge to his tone. The women sensed the danger of their situation, and paid rapt, uncomfortable attention.

He looked over at the doorway when she came in, pausing in his lecture.

[JanetJulian]

Xi waited in the doorway for a moment, watching him lecture, the women hanging on his words, and she was sorry that she had to interrupt him. She could maybe steal Ant easier, but it was his turn, and she wasn't going to short him.

"Sorry," she said when he paused to look at her. "I need you for a bit. Could Ant take over for a while?"

[Seth]

Patrick gave a small nod. "Sure," he said, giving Ant a look. Ant straightened, and looked over them. "Who doesn't have a firearm, yet?" he asked, waiting for a show of hands.

Patrick slipped out of the galley, slipping an arm around her waist to give her a brief embrace. "Hey," he said. "Ant said things were getting serious on the bridge. Didn't expect to see you," he said, still a little surprised that she was off the bridge.

[JanetJulian]

She smiled at Ant and drew Patrick after her, looking up at him. "Very serious," she agreed. "We found the Reaver Fleet and they're dragging asteroids in to the core."

She took his hand and lifted it to his mouth. "I need your help," she told him. "Caradoc was following their fleet, so he should be somewhere close. I need to talk to him. See if he can think of anything. It's ... it's all I can think of."

[Seth]

He blinked, both at the news, and then at her plan.

"Caradoc?" he asked, confused. "Xi, you have to warn people. You have to... find someone in the Core, warn them. That's... that's billions of lives. A fleet, with missiles, if they knew the stakes - " He shook his head. "You can't go chasing for someone you don't know is alive or dead."

He winced after he said it, expecting she might not like the latter possibility.

[JanetJulian]

"He's lived this long, I'm not going to write him off yet. And I'll let Mom know too - she's the only one I can think of who would actually hear me. Who in the core could I tell that wouldn't think they were just going crazy and having a bad dream? Besides, you're forgetting something - most people I can only read. They can't hear me. I can't tell you something from across the room. The only people I've been able to communicate with are others like me - and I think it's working with Mom because she's in River's body, which was altered to force the gifts upon her."

She sighed. "But mostly I'm hoping Caradoc might have an idea. Something that can actually stop them, or at least slow them down. Letting people know - how much good is that really going to do in the end? They have enough there to destroy all the planets and moons in the core. There aren't enough ships to save them all, and no place really for them to go."

She squeezed his hand.

[Seth]

He spread his hands. "You can possess someone," he pointed out. "A general or an admiral, issue an order or something." He nodded, knowing that most people could only be read. He bit his lip, taking a pace, frustrated and anxious. He'd given up dozens of friendships still in the Core - people he'd worked with, friends, acquaintances. Now their faces were flashing through his mind. He hadn't thought much about them when he'd given up his identity as a Marshall and gone on the run - but he was, at his heart, just as much a protector as Ant, and now the prospects of their deaths weighed heavily on him.

"Maybe," he said, shaking his head. "I don't know. I... however I can help. If you can get the news into the hand of someone who can deploy the navy - even if you sacrifice every ship in the fleet to blow apart an asteroid, even if you save a few moons, a few planets - that's still millions of lives." He was thinking about Navy gunrunners which could stop the Reavers dead, shoot the ships out of space before they had a chance to hurl their deadly cargo.

He squeezed back, his free hand balled into a white-knuckled fist.

[JanetJulian]

She looked up at him. "It's not that easy. Possessing someone - it's hard. It helps a lot if I know them. That's why it was fairly easy to do Inara. Over that distance, without that connection, it won't be easy. And I don't really know enough about how they work, what kind of things I'd be able to do or not." She bit her lip. "If I can't find Caradoc ... I'll try. Okay? It's all I can promise. If you know someone who you think would be a good choice, it would help. The more I know the more focused I can be on a particular person."

She caught his white knuckled fist and wrapped her hands around it. "They matter to me too, Patrick. I grew up on Sihnon. As much as I hate what Arturus and Qun Shi have done, those people don't deserve to suffer for it.

"I'll do what I can. I just ... I'm not sure what that is."

[Seth]

He sighed and nodded, guessing it probably wasn't as easy as whipping into someone's body across hundreds of thousands of kilometers. He leaned his head forward, pressing against hers, not able to voice all his worries aloud. "Okay," he said softly. "I'll try to think of someone."

He nodded, knowing she wasn't one to consign people to die based on where they chose to live. He paused and frowned. "How are we - are we going to be safe in the field while you're doing this?"

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a squeeze. There was a sudden lurch in the ship, a grate of metal on metal from the nearby shuttle bay - likely signifying Sylvia had returned, and it wasn't exactly a pretty landing. She could feel a rapid heartbeat from a deck away, and a certain wild-eyed relief.

[JanetJulian]

She nodded, leaning back against him, willing him to steady. She needed him as calm as he could be under the circumstances. "The field is still fairly open. And Lisa's flying. Boat like this is mostly math, so she can handle it until it gets real rough. And Sylvia can help."

She winced at the sound of the landing rocked the ship. "And there she is. She did good out there." She gave Patrick a hug and pulled him closer.

"We might as well go see her. Not that she's back we can use the bed on the ship."

[Seth]

It wasn't easy for him - nothing quite bothered Patrick like being powerless while lives were in danger, and instead of calm he had a sort of bristling edge, a cat on hot tin. He nodded, giving her a squeeze, accepting her words and knowing they were doing the best they could.

He nodded once more, pulling her closer and squeezing her hard for a moment.

"Alright," he said with a nod, letting her go and takign her hand, following her towards the shuttle. Sylvia had either failed to deploy the landing gear, or they hadn't responded properly - the bottom of the shuttle had slid across the bay, and short of a crane it probably wouldn't be oriented to travel back out again. Sylvia was just coming out the door as they arrived, and glowered at the scrape of metal across the cargo bay floor.

"Gears didn't come down," she groaned. "Didn't realize until I was already committed. Damn it."

[JanetJulian]

She didn't expect true calm - he was Patrick after all - but he settled back inside himself and that's all she could ask for. She let him pull her close and hugged him back until he let go and took her hand and they headed to the shuttle together.

She frowned when she saw the ship, but put it away when Sylvia appeared. "Happens," she said, pushing it aside. It wasn't like they could do much with a launch at this point anyway. "At least you're okay." She gave Sylvia a hug and then let her go. "Lisa is waiting for you on the bridge. I need to two of you to get us through the field until I'm done."

She motioned for Patrick. "Let's check it out."

[Seth]

Sylvia looked relieved when Xiantha simply brushed it off, returning the hug fiercely, and then nodding at the instructions. "Okay," she nodded. "I - sorry I couldn't get any closer. I was pretty relieved when you told me what it was and to get out of there." She bit her lip. "And no other signs of the fleet, from what I saw."

Patrick nodded, following her within. Despite the atrocious landing, the bed had weathered it fine. One of the dressers had fallen over on its face, but it was hardly a pressing concern - and time would be of the essence, before the field closed.

[JanetJulian]

Xi nodded, held her breath a moment and then shook her head. "They were there," she told them quietly. "Looked like they'd been boarded, taken over and integrated into the Reaver fleet." She patted Sylvia on the shoulder. "Say hi to Lisa."

Then she drew Patrick after her onto the ship and turned back, pulling him close and kissing him hard, hands running up his body. "Mmm."

[Seth]

She blew out a breath. "Wonder how many ships it means they brought in the first place." She nodded, realizing she was being dismissed, and gave a small wave. "I will," she promised, making a point of disappearing quickly after that.

Patrick responded to the kiss, though his normal, immediate hunger was somewhat banked - she could tell the potential death toll was bothering him, making him feel guilty about the warm, sensual woman in his arms and his reaction to her. He knew it was something she needed, knew she'd be departing to look for help and do what she could for the Core, but he wasn't the brightly burning flame she normally felt with just a kiss. Guilt ate at him, and though he kissed her back, a part of his mind held off.

[JanetJulian]

"Too many," Xi said, waving back and sliding her hand down to take Patrick's and head inside.

She hadn't expected him to leap to action. He wouldn't be her Patrick if he had. She took his hands and moved them to her laces. "I know, Patrick, I know," she said softly. "But this is the best we can do to help. I need you right now."

She ran her fingers into his hair and kissed him again, moving backwards onto the bed, drawing him after her.

[Seth]

Sylvia nodded, agreeing with the point.

He nodded, quietly, not trusting himself to talk - he was afraid he might argue a point out of sheer stubbornness, when he agreed with her and knew - guilty and pleasurable as it was - that this was the best way he could help her right now. He kissed and followed her, pushing her back on the bed with a soft smile, and only then moving his hands down to her laces. He pulled them a few inches down, just baring her sex, deciding he could focus on her until his mind was clear of distractions. He kissed and licked, and a hand reached under the bed, searching for something.

Only then did he really apply himself, his tongue driving inside of her, his mouth nearly covering her. She heard the distant, rumbling sound of a vibrator, a moment before the tip of it was pressed against the bud of pleasure between her legs, a new sensation to build upon the pleasure of his mouth.

[JanetJulian]

She wanted to laugh at the notion of Patrick arguing about not having sex. She'd have to tell Ant later. But she pulled him down on top of her, arching her hips and moaning warmly when he buried his head between her legs. She ran a whisper-light brush across his dimmed white lights and jerked up when he added the vibrator.

"Oh!! Yes!"

[Seth]

Just as much as the brush across his lights, it was the sudden cry and the buck of her hips which really captured his attention. He grinned and pressed again, his tongue focusing on burying within her while the hum of vibrations was focused solely on her button. He began to drive harder, enjoying the way her pants still constricted her.

His mind filled with a hundred ways to tie her up, to pleasure her, to leave her gasping and hungry.

[JanetJulian]

She arched up and bucked, moaning hard as he pushed on, gasping for breath. As she caught his thoughts she managed a few words.

"Scarves ... in the top drawer."

He really did have a very talented tongue.

[Seth]

He glanced up at her words, then caught even the telepath by surprise. His hands were lighting quick, first driving the whole of the vibrator deep inside of her, then reaching to grab her wrists in the aftermath of his assault. He caught and held them, pulling the scarves quickly, then pressed her thighs together with his own to amplify the sensations she was feeling. He twisted her over onto her belly, tying the scarves around her wrist and leaving her hands locked behind her back.

"Now, where was I?" he grinned, rolling her back over onto her back. It had the lovely effect of forcing her breasts to jut upward - they were still bounnd by her vest, but he returned to between her thighs, his mouth working against as he drew the toy out of her.

[JanetJulian]

She gasped when he jammed the vibrator inside her, arching up with a hard moan, completely vulnerable to his snatch and grab. She twisted against him while he reached for the scarves and groaned hard when he pushed her thighs together writhing even harder. She wiggled when he twisted her over and tied her hands together, rolling her back on top of them, not precisely comfortable, but making her confinement impossible for her to ignore. She struggled against them as he dove back between her legs and she jerked hard, moaning when he pulled the toy out.

"Please," she told him. "Please, please ... I want you."

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