[JP] Marshall & Sienelis - A Legacy is Denied (Part III)
Jo Marshall
((Basement, Dragon Rock, Hai Tac Outpost))
Sienelis: I figure we just shoot them and be done with it.
::Full of fury and fear, that fire lent the words a convincing edge that they otherwise might have lacked. She was about as likely to discharge the disruptor into her captive as Bear was to proclaim his true, undying love for her. Valesha Sienelis had never killed anyone, and she wasn't about to start now.::
O. Marshall: I figure you're not wrong.
::His lips thinned with the bitter taste of it, glower thick and intense. Bear stared at the splattered nose of the Romulan in front of him, dark eyebrows stark and perfectly angled. Flicking his eyes down to the Romulan's black jacket, Bear patted it down with the back of his off-hand, looking for a PADD, looking for anything that might offer an explanation. Finding nothing, he exhaled sharply and spoke over his shoulder.::
O. Marshall: You alright?
Sienelis: They didn't hurt me.
::Not much. A couple of bruises where they couldn't be seen, nothing that wouldn't heal on its own. She frowned, staring at the man in front of her. His cheek was already swelling where the case had smashed into his face, and he was being very careful not to move what was likely a broken arm. Yet his injuries had done nothing to diminish the steel in his eyes.::
Sienelis: But I doubt it's just these two.
::No. Where there were two, there were more, and if their motives had been to hurt her, he doubted they would've waited. A blade in the dark was easier than struggling with an irate and half-asleep Romulan. Bear narrowed his eyes, jaw tensing and working back and forth with the thought of what could have happened, then he flicked his thumb onto the back of his phaser. One well placed stun shot landed in the centre of the Romulan's chest. With a stronger constitution than most humanoids, it wouldn't keep him slumped on the floor for long, but long enough.
::One less, Bear exhaled a nearly shaking breath and turned around, eyeing the case on the deck, and then the Romulan holding Terrh against the wall.::
O. Marshall: I thought I told you to keep a weapon on you.
Sienelis: I did. ::Frustration pulled the muscles of her face tight.:: But I was asleep, and they were very light on their feet. I think it got kicked into your room.
O. Marshall: Romulans. ::He shook his head, holstering the phaser.:: You're all made of muscle and move like cats.
::Picking up the silver, albeit green stained case, by the handle, Bear took a glance at the Romulan out cold by the wall, then to the other still awake, breathing, green blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth. An urge to sink his fist into his face an overwhelming one.::
O. Marshall: If there's more coming, we need to move. Get upstairs, find Lena, Ollie... ::He inhaled and exhaled again, the danger of the situation and unpredictability of the plan starting to wear on him.:: Do we take him?
Sienelis: No. ::She frowned, staring into the man's eyes as though she could divine the information she wanted from them. Perhaps she could. Bunching her fingers into the fabric at his shoulder, she gave him a small shove, just enough to test the nerve endings in his injured arm.:: Narihu-difv hwio?3
::He didn't break her gaze, staring back every bit as intently, even as pain carved lines into the skin around his eyes. They were really quite lovely; a delicate shade of grey, bringing to mind the down of a gentle bird. But his eyes weren't soft in that moment, glittering like diamonds as his mind worked behind them.::
Terrh: Hwiiy payr mosmondae, ei?4
::The question made her stiffen, unconsciously leaning away from Terrh. Away from the associations that question implied.::
Sienelis: s'Arhaeielis? ::She hesitated.:: s'Saeihraoi?
::The grey-eyed Romulan smiled, just a little, at that last word. Valesha's heart bottomed out, dread choking the air from her lungs and turning her skin alabaster.::
Terrh: Nei'rrh, seijea iudaiht aekiraekaelhta' ei'krih.5
Sienelis: ::Hissed,:: Fraeta i'iudaiht haenither ahefvi eial.6
::Leaving that demand but a moment to sink in, Valesha whipped the butt of the disruptor into his head, coldcocking him. With short, sharp breaths through her nose, and a brow in danger of permanently knitting together, she stepped away from him, sliding the power cell out as she took the weapon to pieces.::
Sienelis: I'll just get my phaser.
::It took a second for all that to sink through Bear's spirit-fuelled head, and without possessing a thorough understanding of one of the many Romulan languages Valesha had spoken in, the blond human was utterly in the dark — and he didn't like it. Holding onto the case, he smashed the sole of his boot into the remaining disruptor and chased out of the doorway after the darting Romulan.::
O. Marshall: Do you want to tell me what the hell that was about?
Sienelis: No. Were Lena and Zuccaro still upstairs?
::Unsettled as much, if not more than she was angry, Valesha scooped up her phaser and jammed it back into the holster inside her jacket. Her gaze never quite reasserted itself, skimming along just below Bear's. It wasn't a conscious or deliberate effort, but she was definitely avoiding those blue eyes.::
O. Marshall: Lena went out for some weather report, Ollie doing whatever it is Ollie does…
::Opening his mouth to say something else, Bear thought better of it when he caught her gaze - distant, elsewhere. Whatever had rattled her cage, she wasn't about to tell him. Chewing his cheek, Bear glanced back into her room, complete with two unconscious Romulans, and angled his head to the corridor.::
O. Marshall: Let's go find out.
::She nodded in his vague direction, double-checking her phaser as though she hadn't just tucked it away. Her eyes flicked back toward her bloodied kinsmen, and she grimaced. The situation had hardly been simple to begin with, but now it was a whole lot more complicated. Proxies and manipulations, and the tangled threads pulling her life apart suddenly seemed much more likely to be joined than not.::
Sienelis: Romulans and catastrophe. ::She muttered it under her breath and shook her head, trying to ignore the pinch in her heart. Every second moment she seemed to be reminding herself to focus on the now, and as she did so, she glanced toward her fellow fugitive.:: Are you going to be alright? I can smell your breath from here.
O. Marshall: Gee, you're right. I best have a nap first.
::She rolled her eyes, and shaking his head, Bear grabbed his jacket from the bunk and took off down the corridor, taking long strides toward the stairwell. With limited options for anything other than running, his mind had already started to dwell on questions he wasn't going to get answers to. Why were they so easily intercepted when they touched down? Why had the Romulans come?
::How had they known where to find them?::
TBC...
3 What is your name?
4 Can't you guess?
5 Time to come home, nei'rrh. (nei'rrh - small but deadly Romulan bird, used as a nickname in this context)
6 Tell him to leave me alone.
--
Orson Marshall
Fugitive
G239304JM0
&
Fugitive
T238401QR0