RP Like the River, Wash Me Away

[Michiko]

YE35 (Thanks for the correction, Wes!)

How long had it been?

Where was she now?

The dreamer Vigil had taught the faithful to wander, to explore. Michiko wasn't sure if this is what he had meant.

How did it start? Those damned Pirates. She and her crew mates had been sent out to measure the materials of a passing by asteroid. They were in unknown space, nobody knew what anything was, the only person who knew where they were was Abjala, the navigator. Even then, it was truly just a guess. They hadn't seen another vessel in over a month. It had been even longer sense it was an Iroma ship. Regular communications came, but they were lagging behind. The time stamps weren't matching up anymore, there was descent that we were getting too far out. All the same, we explored deeper, and now we were sent out to check this asteroid.

Simple, routine, we had done it before. Activate vector shields, roll in behind the tail real close to avoid the bulk of the debris flying off of it. Scan it with the on board tools. The materials would show up on the heads up display if Michiko cared to see it. She didn't, not really. Not unless she could use it to build towards her dream; making a better VANDR. The debris was causing static on the comm between the various VANDRs and the transport.

chhrkrkkrk- it buzzed at her.

"Come again, Didn't get that, there some interference from the asteroid," She responded coolly.

The speaker crackled again, this time however a scream came through. Michiko finished her scans and pealed off of the asteroid. It was traveling fast, and it had taken her and her crew mates further from the transport that anticipated. But worse, there was another ship. It was black, hodgepodge, and bore no banners. Pirates.

It happened so fast, they must have been lurking, waiting for something like this, and waited for the VANDRs to be dispatched. Once they were caught in the asteroid's interference field they were basically harmless. By the time the transport knew what was happening, it was too late to fire the main guns. Hands on deck were ordered to take up arms and prepare to defend against a boarding party. The boarding party never came, instead a cloud of poisonous gas greeted them, far too quickly to have prepared for it. Her VANDR crew darted out ahead of her, it was all coming across the com now, they all heard the last words of the crew on board.

Michiko was in shock herself. Was this how her family had died? The entire floating colony, gassed, as to avoid any risk of life on the pirates side, and to achieve as much profit as possible? There were civilians there, they were just living their lives. Half of them were probably meditating on how to avoid violence when the gas reached their lungs. Children and Elderly alike, all just dead.

By the time she came out of it the other two VANDRs in her flight had been attempting to engage the pirates ship. Missiles were flying, and Michiko quickly learned that the Vector shields don't really help too much against missiles. Their screams coming through the com unit were cut short as their VANDRS burst into a bloom of Plasma and space dust. First one, then the other, moments later. Michiko had not gone unnoticed, however. And as her systems were warning her of the oncoming missile she leaped into action. First she went up, then she quickly wheeled backwards, flipping over the fading tail of the asteroid. The interference it caused, Michiko was hoping it worked on the missiles too. She zipped up along the debris tail of the asteroid, trying to catch up to the head of it. The missiles entered into the tail trying to catch their target. One faltered and exploded amongst the dust. The second missile managed to navigate up and over the tail and was now approaching from above and behind. Michiko tried to use the same trick. Down, and roll under the tail, now on the opposite corner of the asteroid, she expected it to come flying through the dust and once again explode from a lack of attack signal. It did, but what she wasn't expecting was the third missile. They saw her movements, they knew what she was going to do, and the pirates had thought ahead of her.

Too late, she fired the cannon on the right forearm at the missile. It exploded, but she was caught in the explosion. Her synthetic vision through the neural connection to the Frame went white, her actual eyes burned a little. The tingle suddenly spread to her right arm and both legs. Suddenly she couldn't control them with the power units. They could move, but they were slow and clumsy. The Biomechanical muscles still worked, it seemed, but the power supply had been knocked out of the arms. The nerve hubs must have been destroyed. With what little control she had, she attempted an FTL jump. It was more like a hop or a skip in a VANDR, but it would at least get her away. The burners warmed up and then one of them suddenly burst. The safety standards kicked in and aborted the second engine's charge. The explosion of the engine was enough to throw her onto the asteroid.

She had road it for a long time, waiting for signs of a friendly ship, waiting for the chance to broadcast her FFID friendly code and her distress signal. No luck though, it seems. While she rode the asteroid she decided to take a look at what the report said. What did her entire crew die for? Iron. Common Iron. She road the red commit for as long as it would carry her and eventually she was deposited somewhere out in space. The battery had long died. It was only the bio-mechanical false organs that kept her alive at this point, it had been that way for a while now. Who knew how long that would last before even that failed, then she would only have three days. Three days of air. She only had a little bit of water left at this point, and her rations only had a fraction remaining.

She cried, she slept, but mostly she meditated. Keeping herself calm as she slowly explored her mind, but rather then reflecting on the past she kept coming to how her demise would occur. Slowly, either suffocating as the chamber slowly ran out of air, or from dehydration. Already she was on a bare minimum, so when she ran out it would only be a matter of days before she dried out.

It was in a last bit of conscious effort, but she kicked on the emergency signal. It operated off a separate capacitor circuit. It had one function, send out a retrieval code. Either pick up the damage VANDR and dead Pilot, or come and rescue the Pilot if you were in time to do so. Sense the pirates she hadn't seen a single ship. And it seemed more likely that it would be those very same pirates that would find her. She also prepped the self destruct mechanism. A virus of sorts to the bio-organs. It would first shut them down, and then they would turn all of their organic energy inward and start secreting an enzyme, once there was enough of it gathered a small electrical charge would pulse and ignite it, causing an explosion. In the vacuum of space, it would simply collapse down on its self, turning the outer armor into a useless ball of scrap. This was then synced with her own heart beat via the neuro-port at the point of her right elbow. The arm was useless, might as well connect the self destruct there. Should her heart stop, so would the rest of the VANDR.

But seriously, how long had it been?

 

[Michiko]

Turns out that it was the thirst that would take her.

The gel that flooded the cabin, the 'air' that filled her lungs, was still going strong, but the food was gone, and now so was the water. To make it last she focused her energy inward, meditating, trying to slow her metabolism so that the last drop of filtered water would last her as long as possible. The darkness of meditation didn't last, however, instead her consciousness slipped away from her body as she actually fell unconscious from her lack of nourishment.

When she came too, it was not in her VANDR. The light was dim. At first she thought that perhaps she hadn't detached properly from the VANDR, that her motion and senses were still trying to talk to the machine. But as her eyes dilated to the darkness she began to realize that it really was dark, and she couldn't move her arms or legs because they had been bound. Her hands she could squeeze open and closed, her feet had also been bound, but together she could point them and wiggle her toes. A sigh of relief was in store, if it weren't for the fact that she still didn't really know where she was at. She wrenched hard in a panicked attempt to pull herself free. She tried several more times before her grunts of effort drew the attention of her captors.

Suddenly she was face to face with someone whom she had never seen the likes of before. A balded man, his flesh obscured by mechanical augmentation and plant growth. He said something to her, but she couldn't understand it. The Iroma attempted to respond but he put a cold metallic 'finger' to her mouth and shook his head. Clearly he didn't want to hear her speak. She tried again in her broken common. "Iromakuanhe Pilot, I am. Ab'jala Mohasa, my name. Where I am?"

This time her attempt to communicate was responded to with a much harsher rejection. The man spun around and a flash of white pain struck her in the side of her head. He continued to spin on his one heel as she found herself falling to the deck, still strapped into the chair. The trickle of blood was light enough, but enough to be alarming. Clearly they were not interested in communicating with her. She once again struggled to get herself free, but the bald man came over and suppressed her, prevented her from moving further, another person entered the room, unseen my the woman and before she knew it she had been injected with something.

The world very quickly turned fuzzy before fading to black, punctuated with her head being flopped down onto the cold metal deck below her.

 

[Michiko]

When she awoke again she could tell that things weren't right. A burning sensation where the injection had taken place, a shortness of breath - no, that wasn't right. It was a heaviness of breath, like her lungs were under pressure. Where before it had been nothing but darkness, now it was far too bright. A singular light shined directly into her face, suddenly a sharp pain in her hand. The second finger's Neuro-port, it felt like something was being jammed into it. She tried to move her head so she could see but she found she couldn't move her head. It wasn't that she was being suppressed like she was before. No, now it was that her body wasn't responding.

Another stab of pain interrupted her attempts at figuring out what was going on to her.

It felt quite obvious that she was being dissected or experimented on. If nothing that scientific, then it was because she was being tortured.

The Iroma was dizzy, it was a good thing she couldn't move. About the only respite from her nausea at that point was the periodic jab of pain as her captors explored her body.

The Dreamer had taught his children to wander and explore the world as well as their interior minds, and years of regimented practice in the various arts of meditation, still she could not find a way to enter the meditation to clear her mind, to calm her nerves, or to block out the pain. Her mind was trapped in a non-responsive body, but she could still feel everything that was happening to her. What had she done to not be imparted with a dream forewarning her this day? Fortune had not been with her, all her life.

Or perhaps it had?

She was still alive, despite her families death. She was still alive, despite everyone on her flights death. She was still alive, despite the torture that she was feeling now.

No, perhaps fortune had not been so kind, but it had not abandoned the female pilot.

At least it seemed now that she was not dying of lack of nourishment. For what ever reason her captors, the very same pirates that had destroyed her flight, were keeping her alive.

 

[Michiko]

A new burning sensation seemed to run through veins, her vision went red from the pain and then suddenly the light was shut off. The female Iroma could hear the foot steps of the people in the room leaving. They were saying something to one another, but it was impossible to tell what it was they were saying - it wasn't her native tongue, nor her adopted common. One of their voices sounded like the screeching of machinery, of gears long left without grease.

They were gone for a long time before the pain finally lessened, though she never did get her ability to control her body again. Alone in the dark, unable to control her own body, she was left with nothing but her mind. She entered into a Bahbi meditation, clearing her mind of the poisons around her and closing off her mind to the pain that lingered still. She focused her self, centered her mind, and began to ask herself questions.

Why had the Dreamer lead her to this point?
So that she could explore beyond her realm.

What may be waiting for her in the future?
The potential to achieve her dreams.

What was she willing to give up to achieve it?
What did she have left to give up. She had already lost her family, her friends, and most likely her own nation would think her dead or lost in space. All that she really had left was herself. She only had her body and her mind to give to her dream. She would abandon all material goods to move forward, she was willing to be delivered into the next stage of her life nude. Stripped of her clothes, Stripped of her money, stripped of the life that she used to know. She would trade it all for the life that she didn't know. To the female Iroma pilot, that is what the Dreamer's dreams were all about.

 

[Michiko]

With the deception of lacking luck aside and her new determination to achieve the dreams given to her by the Dreamer Vigil, Michiko focused on what was going to happen next. She had to survive, and to survive she would need to escape her captors. But how? She did not know who they were, she did not know their technology. How was she going to escape? If she could regain her body then she could at least fight. Between her upbringing and her training at the AV academy, she could handle herself fairly well in hand to hand combat.

On that note her self reflective Bahbi meditation shifted and slipped into the more aggressive Abu'Nal meditation. The meditation of the hunter, the meditation of the soldier. She could fell her heart rate change ever so slightly as the meditation started to work on more then just the mental aspects of the preparedness. The pain she felt began to sway and wash away, she began to care less about the numbness in her limbs that prevented her from using them and as the survival instinct began to ripple through her veins she began to attempt to thrash about. Little more then a simple jerk, like being frightened. Again. A little more. Finally another little bit of movement. It was possible, and soon enough Michiko would have complete...ish control of her body. Enough to be able to get up and move about. It might not be graceful, but it was enough to be able to fight. And fighting meant surviving at this point.

In the dark she got up from the table, righted her self, she had to grab her head out of dizziness and she coughed from the poisoned air that filled her lungs. But she didn't care at this point. Once the fog cleared slightly she was up on her feet and moving. She would fight her way to survival. Her Frame Runner must still be around here somewhere... If they had her then they must have her frame, or what was left of it. It couldn't fight back, but if she crippled the ship she might be able to jettison the frame and escape and hide. Hoping that someone else might pick her up.

So there it was, she had her plan.

She moved as quietly as she could. As prepared as she was to fight, she was still reluctant to fight, so she would lurk her way around and try to find her way to the hull without being detected. It didn't take long for that plan to not work out. As she slid past a closed door it opened and a startled shriek filtered by something mechanical, one of the two figures from earlier had spotted her. No time to think, and not able to run fully, her only option was to fight. The freespacer reached his mechanical arm forward to grab hold of her nearly naked body, she instead dropped low to the ground and using her jerky legs planted her heal in his gut. It was thankfully more flesh then mechanical or plant based, so the hard impact stunned him and he dropped back into the room. It was too much noise though, and the female found that out the hard way as she heard the distinct sound of more doors opening. She was trapped in the room at this point, her only way out was through that door which was quickly being occupied by several more of the freespacers on the crew.

She prepared for a charge, to hopefully knock them all down and get passed them, but her legs protested. Still unable to make a decent run, the best she got was a few large steps. Enough to close the distance to the door, but they were armed, and she was not. There, on the right side of the door was a control panel. She took another leaping bound at it and threw her shoulder into the panel. The door suddenly closed and a yellow light on the panel illuminated the silhouette of an old pad lock. She had some how managed to close the door and lock it. To make sure it stayed that way she grabbed a heavy object from a near by desk and smashed at the panel until there was no way to use it.

Now she just had to deal with the man locked in the room with her.

With the object still in her hand, what ever it was, she was unfamiliar with it, she approached the man who still laid on the ground holding his gut. She crouched over his mechanical arm, placed her bare foot on it and with the heavy object she began to smash as close to the shoulder as she could. The sound of hammering came from the door. His other arm, his flesh arm, began to reach for her. More metallic screeching came from the contraption that covered his mouth. The Iroma simply shook her head and said no, urging him to stop. He didn't, so with still jerky limbs she attempted to fend off the the fleshy limb. To do so she had to give up her pin on the mechanical arm. Hopefully she had done enough damage. With no other option left to her she smashed her only weapon into the mans head again and again. The metal contraption that made all the noise was the first thing to come away. The tendrils of plant life that covered his head like hair tangled and wrapped around her hand and she pulled them out by their roots as she struck repeatedly. There was no more noise from him, and only red flecks came out. His grip had stopped and he laid still on the ground under her.

Suddenly the lights turned red and pulsed. A garbling sound came over the intercom, something that she clearly didn't understand. The hammering outside the door paused for a moment and was suddenly replaced with the sound of gun fire. Not lasers, but actual physical bullets and gun powder. What was going on out there? The shrieks of dead rattles filled the space between gun shots and soon the sound of boots moved down the corridor past the door. The sound continued further off, and then not at all. Not for a long time.

The physical effort had taken its tole on the pilot. She fell to her knees and the heavy object rolled out of her hand. It was all she could do to just stay upright. Her arm was wrapped in plant vines, and she had been splattered with oily red blood. As she slowed her breathing and came out of the abu'nal induced state of mind their suddenly came a sound at the door. An arc cutter, she had heard it before. Hell, she had used one before. Capable of cutting through anything with enough time. The door would take no time at all, considering that an arc cutter could cut through frame armor in a pretty decent amount of time. Soon the new door was cut into the locked door and a booted foot knocked the cut section into the room. The next things to enter were guns and men wearing implements on their faces. Scanners, night vision, what ever it was, it was apparently there to help them see, and there was something over their mouths too. Theres were different. The body on the floor was quickly dismissed as the soldiers made their way into the room, their guns pointed at her. The yelled something at her, she didn't catch it. They tried again, and this time she realized it was common. "Who are you!" They demanded.

She answered as best as she could in common before suddenly collapsing onto the ground, unconscious.

 

[Michiko]

When she awoke again she was once again looking up into a bright light. What had happened? Was that all a dream, or had her attempt to escape been foiled by the men with guns. But they didn't speak through screachy metal boxes, nor had any plants growing from them that she could see. Could they have been apart of the pirate crew? No, that didn't seem right...

It was during this pondering that she realized that she could move, though it took more effort then it should have. Through the effort of fatigued limbs, as though she had scaled a mountain and returned in too short a time, she rose from her bed and found herself in some sort of infirmary. It seemed cleaner, more organized perhaps then the last place she had been. While she could move about, she found quickly that she was tethered to the bed by IVs pumping fluid into her body. Beyond that were the clear glass walls, their only indication was the band of grey that was designed to give some privacy by strategically blocking the view of a nude body from just above the knee to about shoulder height for the average person. Speaking of naked body, where had her uniform gone? Oh, right, the fight with the pirate captor, the dissection, the uniform had slowly been being destroyed. She had accepted her fate when floating in space waiting to die or be found that she was willing to be birthed into the next chapter of her life naked. Apparently, she was right.

Beyond the modest privacy paneling on the glass was a uniformed soldier. She recognized the fatigues as the same as those who had cut into the room and demanded who she was. She scanned the uniform for patches, emblems, flags, crests, what ever she could find to tell her who they were, and who she was dealing with. The Astral Commonwealth was relatively young in the space exploration game, but the Vanguard exploration team had trained her in what they did know about the outside universe. She did eventually find it: N.S.M.C. So she was now dealing with Nepselians, if she recalled correctly. It could be worse, the Commonwealth and the DION were on friendly terms, at least when she departed from AV space they were. With FTL capabilities, that could change really quickly.

"Excuse me," She said, trying to catch the guards attention.

No response, had he not heard, or was he just under orders to ignore her please. Could be both. She tried again, the guard still did not respond, with his back turned to her, he couldn't see her. She did catch the attention of someone else, they wore different uniform, almost looked like possibly medical staff? They said something to the guard and he turned around, placed his hand on the glass and spoke, "Sit on the bed. You are being confined until we reach the home world, at which time you will be transferred. Below the foot of the bed you will find a change of clothes. If you need anything, place your hand on the glass and speak. Nod your head if you understand?"

She got most of it, so she nodded her head. The soldier turned around and ignored her until she spoke by putting her hand on the glass. Interesting piece of technology. Easy to use, blocked out sound as there were a vacuum, until you gave it something to resonate with by touching it. It was probably more complicated then that, in truth, but in that way it made sense to the explorer. Her requests for information were ignored, her requests for food and drink were allowed.

It did not take long to get back to the home world and she was transferred from one ship to another, was placed in an empty barracks room and told to wait. The room had four beds, four small closets, and foot lockers. Nothing else, not even covers for the beds were present. A long moment went by before food and drink were brought forward. She ate it, graciously of course, despite its exotic tastes compared to her normal fare, anyways. It was heavy in the stomach, very filling despite its size. After eating she placed the tray by the door and returned back to the center of the room. They must have been monitoring her, because the door opened almost immediately and someone retrieved the tray before the door closed again. Left alone again, she proceeded to enter into a bahbi meditation again.

These were the events that lead up to the events that unfold in the thread, Special Package from Null & Void.