Everflame (Finished)

[KittKat chunky~]

"whadya thinks eatin' those guys?" The Wolf recruit whispered out of the side of his mouth to another marine, but still loud enough for everyone to hear... Annie gave him a sharp slap to the back of the head, growling she stepped aside to allow Tina through...
"You shut yer yapper marine.... or you'l be out of the marine core before you can say Triffid..." The wolf rubbed his head, growling back... but didnt say another word...
"Err... We'l jus' leave you cap'n... I'm just sorry we couldnt do more to save the others... i reckon once we give the engine rooms a once over we can get out of here..." Kitt turned to follow the rest of the marines, and stopped, looking back over his shoulder at the meerkat...
"You guys showed bravery that would put a marine to shame.... it's been an honour to serve with you sir..."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Yeah," the captain said, unmoving. The lynx looked to them, giving a little appreciative nod.

Tina led on over the catwalk and down its shuddering stairs to the cargo hold floor. Across the far side, under where the quarters would be, a heavy, rusted brown door with a wheel at its centre, was swung open. Inside, a huge block sat at the middle of the room, attached to the wall. Metal rotating pipes reached out to small cylinders spread around like worshippers to a monolith. The whole thing rumbled like a growling elephant. There was also the sound of something being scraped or dragged.
"There's one in here," she said, her expression contorted with a growl. "Don't shoot the engine."

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt nodded, having caught up with the other marines..... "Okay... Tina, you stay back out here in the cargo hold.... i reckon only three or four of us should go in... it looks pretty cramped in there, and like you said... we dont wanna hit that engine.."
four of the marines stayed back at the entrance to the doorway, weapons still ready... while Kitt, Annie and another marine readied rifles.... Kitt motioned forwards and to split up quietly with two deft hand signals. The three moved with practiced precision, red laser sights lancing through the steam....

Another dull clank reverberated through the engine room, followed by more scraping.. the noise had come from just around the corner of the main engine block... Kitt knelt down onto one knee, and signalled forward for the second marine. Annie fixed a scope to her rifle, and leant back against the wall of the room, aiming just over the shoulder of the advancing marine.... The timber wolf switched his rifle to full auto, and kept one finger hovering over the switch for the torch that was secured below the barrel of his rifle... creeping quietly around the edge of the engine, the darkness mixed with the constant hissing steam meant visibility was down to a few feet at best....

Outside the engine room, the marine who had been the communications officer for Corporal Crow, hesitantly spoke up... "Uh.... what if theres more than one of those things in there?"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Then they shoot two of them instead of one." Tina looked over to the comms officer. "They've survived this far, they'll be fine."

In the mist, the scraping stopped, and the object was dropped with a clang. There was a click echoing around the room. A flame ignited.  Through the fog, the robot burst out, launching itself at the closest marine, plasma torch raised and burning hot.

[KittKat chunky~]

The Comms officer rubbed the back of his neck, nodding... "yeah.. guess so.... jus' gotta bad feelin' about..." He was cut off suddenly, as a loud scream erupted from the engines room...

The front-most Marine had fallen backwards, clutching at a great scald across the side of his head he pulled the trigger accidentally and a burst of bullets ricochetted around the engine room... Annie shouted in surprise and fired off several rounds of fire into the automaton, it's metal casing sparked as bullets bounced off... Kitt poured his own fire into it as well and droid finally fell to the floor lifeless... Smoke now filled the room and there was a distinct smell of sulphur and burnt fur...

"Oh god! Frack! Eeeerh!" The Marine writhed, clutching at the side of his head, the torch hadn't hit him directly.. but the heat still seemed to have been enough to burn a long scar from one ear down to the base of his neck... Kitt dropped to one knee beside the wolf as Annie inspected the remains of the machine...
"We need a medic in here, pronto!"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

The scream and gunfire filled the ship, and the meerkat and lynx pelted through to the cargo bay.
"What happened?" said the meerkat as they both ran down the shuddering metal catwalk stairs.
"Someone's been hurt, go get the medical supplies," Tina replied. The lynx nodded and headed to the wall beside the door, opening hatch and bringing out a red box. They all headed into the smoke-filled engine room, moving toward the screams. Finding the group, and the destroyed robot, the lynx dropped to the marine's side. He opened the box and pulled out a bandage smeared with a cooling salve attached. He motioned for Kitt to move out of the way, as he applied it to the screaming wolf.






Elsewhere, high above them, the stealth streamer Vee darted over and under all the ships that swarmed around it, firing off lasers and high explosive missiles.
"What the hell you doin' man! Jump!" Tabby yelled as her hands darted over the controls, shooting down whatever she could.
"It's not that easy!" Asia searched through menus screens, while simultaneously flying the ship, swerving around at intense speed. "Got it!" The ship went quite until a dull moan turned into a beastly roar, as the jump drive burst into life. The universe spilled over them and they disappeared from Serra Draconis.

The carriers and larger vessels turned and jumped off in hopeful persuit, emptying the skies, leaving just one destroyer left, looking down on the triffid filled planet, and the little ship hovering in its atmosphere.

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt stood back, watching as the Lynx applied the bandage... the Wolf continued to shout and yell, as soon as the cooling salve touched the burn his screaming subsided to a quiet moan... Annie knelt beside him "Hey there recruit...." The wolf looked up at her through his one good eye, his grasping hand reached for hers, she smiled... "you'll live... seems like a certain green recruit is gettin' some experience under his belt..." The Wolf smirked, still looking up at her...

Kitt frowned, looking up at Tina... "Hey... is it just me... or did it just get a hell of a lot quieter just now?" The marines looked up, frowning as well... "Err.. yeah... wasn't there a battle goin' on above us?"... Patting the Recruit encouragingly on the shoulder he stood up and started off back into the cargo hold...
"Captain?!... We may need to get goin' sometime soon.... we're running outta time here..."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

The meerkat looked up at the ceiling, and chewed his cheek. He headed over to the engine room, popping his head in.
"Tina! Check the engine, see what that thing was doing in there. I'm going to the cockpit." Tina nodded and headed over to the broken pile of white painted metal. Behind it, was a chunk of machinery, heavy and dirt brown.
"Damn, that's not good." She motioned for the marines to join her. "Gonna need a few strong hands here. This is part of the jump drive. It's pulled out of there, you see?" she pointed over to the main block in the centre of the room. There was a gash in its side. She looked back to the component, grabbing and examining it. "It shouldn't be hard to reattach. It took care not to damage anything."

The captain jogged through the to the cockpit, landing himself in the chair and pulling it closer to the console, adjusting for the physical difference from the previous pilot. He powered the ship up, causing the pipes i the engine room, attached between the block and the cylinders, to rotate more energetically. He activated the sensors, and immediately, lights began to flash. He pulled on the comms.
"What's the situation, Tina, because we really have to go."

[KittKat chunky~]

The marines piled into the engine room, bustling around the piece of machinery... "Well strong hands seems to be one thing we got plenty of Tina... you just show us where you need it..."

Marines rolled up the sleeves of their sleeves and all tried to get a good hand-hold onto part of the machinery.... it was chunky and unwieldy... Kitt let his place be taken by another marine and jogged out of the engine room... Running up towards the cockpit he stopped at the doorway... "I'm just gonna guess that those flashing lights mean we are royally screwed... That thing pulled off part of the jump-drive... Tina and the rest of the marines are fixin' it.."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"You grasp the obvious rather well." The captain turned around to Kitt. "How long until its fixed?" The lights around them screamed, and something started to beep. "Ah hell, it's right on top of us, and it's big."
High above them, the destroyer fell through the sky, clouds bursting apart as it tore through. It aimed it's draconic guns. "We gotta go!" The engine room roared and the Admiration lurched as the engine sparked up and screamed. The guns fired and the ship edged out the way, gaining speed. "Tina!" he yelled down the comms. "Sorry about starting the engines but you got work in there, now get that stuff fixed!" He shot another look to Kitt. "You, get on those controls there." He nodded over to the right where a dusty old console sat against the wall. "It won't do anything but it'll make me feel better."

The engine room moved, breathed steam and pipes rotated, excited. "Annie, there's a toolbox in the cupboard over there," Tina nodded over to the far right wall. Her and the rest of the marines heaved the piece of machinery into the block, slotting it into place. "Don't let it fall. Annie, I need a spanner."

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt sat down at the old console and wiped off some of the dust from the screen... most of the controls where inactive but the main view screen was showing a view from the ships bow...... and of course the immense destroyer bearing down on them.....
"Captain.... fly starboard if you can, it will take us into a decent blind-spot of a few of those guns!...." As a marine he'd had basic training of ship statistics in case he ever needed to be stationed on-board one as a boarding party or defence force...


Down in the engine room the marines struggled to keep the machinery in place.... it was heavy, but combined they managed to keep it up... Annie ran back to Tina's side with the toolbox and rifled through its contents, finally finding a spanner....

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"We have extra eyes? Brilliant, useful. Okay, starboard."  The ship swun across the face of the destroyed, munitions, lasers and missiles belting past. A laser clipped the wing and the Admiration swerved through the sky.

The engine room swung with the ship, but the marines held the component in place. Tina grabbed the spanner and repaired the jump drive, securing the machinery into place.
"Thanks Annie." Tina stepped back and dropped the spanner into the toolbox. "The drive is open to the air, but we can fix that later." Grabbing the toolbox, she ran to the cupboard, stuffing it inside. Beside her was the comms, and she pulled out the mic from the wall. "We've done it, Cap. Get us out of here!"

The captain moved and swerved with the ship as he steered around in the sky. He pulled up the comms again.
"Roger that, good work." To the left of him, an orange light turned green, and beside it was a small panel with a keypad, and a big red switch in a plastic case. He turned to Kitt. "Alright, Kid, see that light?" He nodded over to it. "Type in co-ordinates, 77-48-B7-SUNSET, then pull that switch and hold on tight."

[KittKat chunky~]

"Hey, no problem... " Annie smiled happily... they'd done it...
Punching in the co-rordinates, Kitt flipped the plastic case open ready to pull the switch..."Thank you for flying air-admiration... have a pleasant jump ladies and gents..."
In the engine rooms the marines gave a loud "Hoorah!" as Kitt pulled the switch....

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

The pipes in the engine room whirred, span, roared with the engine, cheering and exclaiming. The air around the ship twisted, spread contorted and set ablaze. A firework in the sky, as the Admiration vanished leaving flames and a whoomph of rushing air and burning skies. The destroyer buffeted about, blasted by the blaze. The meerkat, The captain, watched Serra Draconis, the triffids, the GA and all their problems disappear. The stars welcomed them, space embraced them. Criminals, killers, honourable friends and honest people. On the wrong side of the law, in the right place, with a galaxy of change ahead, they smiled.

The meerkat pulled on the comms, speaking to the whole ship. "I think now's a good time for a good meal. Everyone to the dining area." He pushed himself up off the pilots chair, leading Kitt through to the kitchen, with a grimy table in the centre. The lynx was already there, setting up the food. Tina jogged up the stairs laughing and smiling like a child back from boarding school, with the marines close behind. She ran straight to her lynx, clamping herself behind him as he began to cook. The meerkat turned to Kitt.
"Sit down, boy." He pulled up a chair for the cat, then another for himself. Sitting down, he watched everyone arrive. His face changed, becoming solemn, honest. "Now before we celebrate, and I know that we all deserve some fun, I've always felt it prudent to get the important things out of the way." He bowed his head. Tina turned, keeping one hand on the lynx's waist. "We have all lost people," the captain said. "We are also, all fugitives. Ahead of us may well be a nightmare, so I ask you marines with true sincerity. Will you join us so we may help eachother survive, and live  our lives as best we can, aboard this beautiful little ship?"

[KittKat chunky~]

Annie sat down in the chair beside Kitt, laying an arm around his shoulders... "We did it.... we actually did it...." He turn his head to look at her, and the rest of the marines.... Only five or so had survived, and right now they seemed to be on top of the world.... "Yeah... we did it..."

The marines listened to the captain, most falling into the basic military posture simply out of habit.... Kitt pulled out a folded piece of paper from his fatigues, and unfolding it looked down at the image with a mixture of sadness and relief.... Annie too leaned over slightly to look down at it, and smiled sadly....

On it was a photograph, from several years previously after their team had successfully infiltrated an enemy position, with no casualties sustained... Kitt, Annie, several other Marines... Kate and even the deceased Corporal Crow stood proud and in full military regalia for the camera, and at the bottom was several scrawled signatures from that day of happiness....

Kitt looked up at the captain, and then around at the rest of the marines..... "Sir... i'm sure me and my men, would be honoured to help you..."