† 009 [31 july, shortly after fitz's post]

[klutziness]

[even though the feed is garbled, rikkus' frustration and something akin to fear are clear in her voice]

Don't be ▒▓▒▓ing idiots. Get to medbay or somewhere not en▒▓neering! Trust me, you don't want a▒▓ of what's here.

[there's a short pause]

I need my engineering cr▒▓ on deck though. Stay together, stay safe. Find Fitz, stick with him. He'll ▒▓▓▒▒▒

[the feed abruptly cuts to white noise]

Comments

[alsohawkeye]

So you want to run away and probably die instead of staying and fighting? You've decided you'll lose if you fight and are giving up? What the fuck is wrong with you?

[axeyou]

If we run away? We get to be prepared. We get to figure out what we're going to do instead of half-assing this, and letting ourselves get dragged who the hell knows where.

Remember when I told you to be smart?

[alsohawkeye]

So instead we're going to try our luck with telepathic bullshit we don't really understand against an enemy we totally don't understand and try to jump ourselves who the hell knows where?

Yeah, real smart.

What happened to you wanting to take the fight to them? I remember you talking a big game about how you were going to kill Van Rijn and chop up everybody responsible for this. This is what you've been begging for for months and now it's here and you're backing out like a little bitch.

[axeyou]

I will. But guess what? I'll do it when I'm ready. When I've got enough distance for it to be an actual plan, and an actual choice, instead of being stupid enough to think that letting him take us off of this ship is going to do anything except get us in his hands. With no weapons. And no sure chances.

I know the odds, Katie. I'm good at the odds. I'm good at killing people, and I'm good at surviving. See, that's how you get to kill people.

Now shut the up until you know what you're talking about, or I'll do it for you. I'll break all the teeth out of your head so they have to wire your mouth shut.

[alsohawkeye]

You're just scared. All this big talk all this time about all the damage you're going to do the first time you get a chance and all that shit you talked about how it didn't matter how many of them there were you were going to kill them and now when it actually comes time to fight you're fucking scared and choosing to run away. God, what a let-down. If you had a fraction as much balls as you like to pretend with all these threats you'd be right beside me in this.

[axeyou]

[YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW she does not say. Instead, through her teeth:]

Where are you.

hey i was eating that

[alsohawkeye]

Kitchen on 005. Make sure to run the opposite direction so you don't have to actually follow through on your threats.

too late i burned it also switching to action sorry everyone

[axeyou]

[She doesn't bother laughing, or answering. The kitchen on 005 is easy, and Johanna gets there pretty quickly.

She announces her arrival by shoving the door open with her shoulder, striding into the kitchen, and going for Kate. Preferably to grab her by the throat, or by the hair, and slam her against a surface. She will take other grabs if those options are not available to her. She will slam against a vertical or horizontal surface. Not picky.

Obviously her axe is in her hand. Obviously, she's pissed.]

well this is what you get for burning my carrot

[alsohawkeye]

[ Sign #1 that Kate is probably not herself (for those who haven't been keeping track at home until just now): Johanna slams through the door and comes at her, and Kate raises her bow, produces an arrow out of thin air, and shoots. Her aim is perfect at this distance, so it slices into the meat of Johanna's thigh, well wide of the artery but still an arrow in her leg.

Kate doesn't immediately say anything, just sort of stares. ]

you deserved it

[axeyou]

[Johanna's leg twists under her and she goes down, hard. The meat of her palms slaps against the floor. The axe hits with a clatter, but she does not drop it. Her exclamation of pain isn't a scream; a second later and she chokes it off, inhales, sharp, and shifts her weight into her good leg, heaves herself up to throw her axe instead. Even injured, even angry, her technique is perfect.

Which is why she doesn't hit Kate. Nor does her axe strike home anywhere else. The kitchen is all shiny metal and chrome. There's no good soft wood for the axe to bite into and hold. Instead, it hits the solid block of the lower counter.

That's the distraction. Johanna heaves herself up, again. Her knife is soundless when she draws it, no tell-tale snick of the metal. Her charge is just as silent, beyond the extra huff of breath. That one's for her leg. She's mad enough that she doesn't care as she grabs, again, for Kate. A handful of hair seems most likely. Harder to shoot her in close range.]

what!!

[alsohawkeye]

[ The arrow disappears, which is good because it is long and the shaft was sticking out of her leg just asking to cause problems, but bad because the wound is still there and now there's nothing to stop the bleeding.

Kate is distracted from her staring by the axe, and jerks herself out of that only just in time to catch Johanna's charge. She steps aside and reaches out automatically to try to disarm her, pressure on the wrist here, a twist of the elbow there. It's a well-practiced move. ]

We have to fight them, [ Kate says through grit teeth. ] I can't let you try to force a jump no matter how scared everyone is.

[axeyou]

Shut--

[Her grip is good, but Kate's move is smooth enough to nearly lose the knife. It's anger that keeps Johanna's grip--not sustainable enough to last, but enough for the moment. Her open empty palm slaps against the knuckles of her other hand still holding the knife--wrist gripped in Kate's hands, twisted--but Johanna still has enough room to twist, a little, and then to drive her elbow into Kate's stomach.]

--UP!

[--Also through her teeth, the last word a shout that punctuates her strike. If she can get clear of Kate, she will follow it with a slash of the knife, a retaliation that's a little more blind.]