Breaking the Breaker

[Admiral Hart]

After a brief skirmish, the Plunder connected to the Heart Breaker. Hart stepped out first, followed by Miller's and Dane's teams, with Morgan's following Hart, and Dagger behind them.

"Lock down and control this area. Drive people to escape pods and shuttles. One of our primary goals is to capture this ship and I don't want to waste more time fixing it than is necessary." She said over the comm and to her men.

She paused, and then walked straight down the corridor. "Annabelle is mine. Don't kill any officers. Incapacitate, yes, but don't kill them. It's part of the deal."

After everyone else moved off, Hart moved deeper into the ship on her own, knowing exactly where she was going. In very little time at all, she found herself in the gym.

Annabelle was ahead of her, sword out.

"This is where it ends, Josetta." She said softly.

Jo unsheathed her own sword, and the twin blades hummed in unison for a few moments.

"No more chasing. It stops today." LeValle continued, and then the two of them walked forward and, when within striking distance, cursteyed to each other before lashing out with the rapiers, a loud clang signaling the beginning of theirt last duel.

[Jason Thornvaald]

"Not so mighty now are yah, pirate scum."

Thorn sat motionless in the chair they'd chained him to, staring blankly at the floor, and didn't seem to hear the guard's sneering words, let alone acknowledge them. His face was bruised and bloodied, one of his eyes nearly swollen shut, multiple burns marking his chest and back from the kiss of the shock baton. But as bad off as he was, it was nothing compared to what they'd done to Lyra.

She was chained down to a chair in front of him, still nude. Her body covered in more cuts, gashes and bruises than he could count. He wasn't even sure if she was still breathing, she'd long since lost consciousness, her head lolling forward weakly and her hair hanging in front of her face in a matted mess. The scent of her blood was thick in his nose.

It was this that helped Thorn cling to consciousness. That helped him fight through the powerful drugs still coursing through his system. Behind him, his now bloody, torn wrists continued to strain and pull at the cuffs that held him down. And slowly . . . very slowly, a thin layer of frost began to form across the metal.

"I can't wait until we turn you two asses over to Io," the guard continued, blithely unaware of the danger he was in. "You think what the Captain did to her is bad? They're going to chew you up and spit you out raw--,"

The nameless UE soldier was cut short when the titanium cuffs holding Thorn down suddenly snapped free. The supposedly drugged and incapacitated pirate didn't hesitate. The huge man ripped himself the rest of the way from his chair with a low roar. The other man never even had a chance to do more than gasp, as a giant ice-made spike formed in the pirate's fist and then thrust straight through the hapless guard's eyesocket in one powerful downward plunge.

The other man crumpled to the ground, instantly dead.

Thorn stumbled a little afterward, his head swimming somewhat sickeningly with the drugs in his system. But he let out a low growl of determination, shaking his head firmly to clear it. A second later there was a bright spark from the controls, and the door was forced open. Thorn stumbled back a little, a massive ice-made falchion forming in his fist. It took him a moment to realize that the person on the other side wasn't a UE soldier, but rather another Pirate.

Dane Merak to be more precise.

The crazy boarder took one look at him and paled. "Where's my Lyra?" he demanded, tone hoarse.

It took a lot of willpower for Thorn to lower his weapon. To step aside, and allow another man to take care of her. Yet he did, and as soon as Dane got an eyeful of Lyra he hissed, the rest of his color draining away. Before it flooded back in a flush of fury.

"Those sonsabitches," he snarled. "I'm gonna fuckin' kill everyone of 'em!"

Thorn's fist tightened on his falchion. He didn't want to kill all of them. Just one.

Dane rushed forward and knelt, gently pushing her hair back. "Lyra? Baby. Look at me."

The First Mate of the Mjollnir twitched a little, her head lifting slightly. Her voice was barely a thread of sound past her split and swollen lips. "Dane?"

"C'mon, we're gettin' you outta here," the boarder announced firmly, reaching back to begin undoing her bonds. "Gotta get you to the doc. She'll fix you right up. Doc's good at that."

A moment later Dane was lifting the taller woman up into his arms. Lyra's head lolled back slightly, having lost consciousness again. Dane eyed him warily. "You alright? You got my back?"

Thorn scowled, another falchion forming in his other fist, grip steady even if his eyes were still faintly clouded. "Lead the way."

The rest of the ship was now in chaos, pirates from the Plunder flooding the ship. Dane and Thorn's passage was hardly noticed. And the few who did were quickly put down by the massive Norwegian and his frozen weapons. As soon as they boarded the Plunder, Dane made for the med-bay. Thorn followed after, for the moment more concerned for his sister than his revenge. But that day would come eventually, he promised himself. Perhaps not today, nor tomorrow, but Anabelle LeValle would pay for what she'd done to them. What she'd done to Lyra. Nobody hurt his family and lived. No one.

Thorn stood back as Dane put Lyra on one of the exam beds, and the slender Doctor Andromeda Reyes quickly went to work with the help of a pretty, dark-skinned, pink-haired girl. Dane hovered near-by, refusing to leave as well while the tall woman was cleaned up and the worst of her wounds seen to. More than one of them required stitches, a few ribs broken and the doctor was also forced to take care of some internal bleeding. Yet it wasn't long before the skilled female was declaring Lyra stable, and in a more peaceful, pain-killer-induced rest.

Then she turned her golden eyes to him, catching him when he stumbled slightly, head still fuzzy from the sedatives. She approached, expression concerned. "Thorn, you need to sit down. And I should have a look at those wrists."

He hadn't noticed, but they had been steadily bleeding onto the floor. He blinked a little and shook his head slightly to clear it. Then frowned. "I'm fine," he announced gruffly. "See to Lyra."

"I've seen to Lyra," Andromeda assured. "And she's going to be fine. You, I'm not so sure about."

"Don't," he admonished when she reached for his arm.

"Those probably need stitches--,"

"I said get the fuck away from me!" he roared out then, causing the woman to jerk in surprise and stumble back. Behind her, the dark-haired girl jumped nearly a foot in the air and half-cowered behind one of the exam beds, and Dane reached reflexively for one of his guns.

Andromeda just lifted her hands up in surrender, expression calm. "Alright," she soothed softly. "Alright, I'm backing off. Just calm down, okay?"

Thorn heaved a little for breath, his head swimming again. But he continued to shake it off stubbornly. "Just . . . just see to Lyra," he repeated, softer, before he turned and exited the med-bay again.

He wasn't quite sure where he was going at that point. He only knew that he had to keep moving, lest he give into the temptation and pass out.

[Hayden Douglas]

Hayden prowled through the halls of his ship--now crawling with pirates--and then drew up short at the sight of a familiar face. His eyebrow raised in curious wonder.

"Taipan. Looks like you've seen better days." One of his training recruits stood in front of him in battle black--sans patch now that he'd become a pirate--and from the looks of him the new career choice wasn't paying off so well.

The smaller, younger man straightened, reaching up to tug off the bandage that had been wrapped around one side of his face. Even half-swollen, he'd need the other eye if he was going to fight him, after all. "Sidewinder," he returned, tone a mix between pleasant and cautious.

Hayden sighed. "I have to admit, you were the last person I ever thought would go rogue." In the next moment two wicked-long fighting daggers were in the larger man's hands, though most wouldn't have been able to track the movement of him drawing them. Randolph Miller merely mirrored the reaction, in a move just as eerily fluid and quick, causing Hayden to smile. A gesture that was as proud as it was sad. "You were always one of my best students, Taipan. I was sorry to see you go."

"I made a choice," was the quiet young man's simple assessment. "And I'm still convinced it was the right one. Loyalty means nothing without morals."

Hayden's own eyes were slightly haunted at that. "Fair enough," he allowed softly. There was a slight pause between them, and then a faint nod.

In the next breath the two fighters launched forward, blades flashing, almost too quick to follow.

[Dane]

Dane stood over Lyra as she slept, the weapons expert gently pet her hair as the time went on. He honestly didn't have a clue what time it was, time meant nothing to him, nothing did beyond the female he held onto his hand with a firm grip, even in her sleep.

The images of the destruction to get to her replayed in his mind, every bullet, every body in his way was mowed down. Still...it wasn't enough...but, it'd have to be enough, he wasn't going to leave her. Not when she needed him the most.

Eventually another hand on his shoulder broke his trance, he shook his head in surprise and turned to see Andy staring at him.

"Dane, you need to rest, you feel asleep while standing up." he shook his head stubbornly.

"I'm not leaving her doc. Not now. Not ever. You'll have to sedate me to get me out of here, or captain ordering me out." she raised her eyebrow while he cursed to himself under his breathe.

Forgot about that....

Dane sighed, biting his lip. "Please Andy." he explored. " she sighed, pulling a chair up to the side of Lyra's bunk. He smirked at the her. "Thanks Doc. I owe ya, more than I'll probably ever be able to repay." she smiled at that and rolled her eyes, leaving them alone. Dane sat down with a heavy sigh and rested his head on the medical bed, he didn't know how long he sat there, but eventually he passed out.

Doctor Andromeda draped a blanket over his shoulders before shaking her head and going about her business.

[T.K.]

T.K. and Shiyounin were working as quickly as they could.

They'd begun a remote Hack of the Heart Breaker's systems, pretty much putting the ship as their mercy. Following the Captain's Orders, he made all the Life Boats and Escape Pods were still functional.

Currently, he was working on tricking the Ship's systems into giving false reading of an imminent Reactor breach, to force a Ship-wide Evacuation.

If the Captain wanted an intact ship as bloodlessly as possible, he'd do his damnedest to deliver.

After all, two human ships to use against Clara was certainly better than one. Though not perfect. But maybe now that the Captain was functional again, perhaps it was time to offer her a Heist to really stick to the EU.

[Admiral Hart]

Sword matched sword between Hart and LeValle, every strike even, every blow matched. Though she started with the hook, Annabelle quickly replaced it with her fake hand, to continue her habit of switching hands between attacks. Everything looked evenly matched before LeValle smashed Hart in the face with the pommel of her sword and punched her hard in the stomach with her metal hand in the same motion, sending Hart to the ground.

LeValle backed up, watching Hart try hard to catch her breath. "I wanted a real fight, sister. What is this?"

Hart got back to her feet and thrust, which LeValle easily delfected and countered with an elbow jab to the face, not breaking but damaging Hart's nose enough that it was bleeding.

"You're not even trying! Do you want to die here?" Annabelle scoffed. Then she paused at the look in Josetta's eyes that followed. "Oh god. You do."

Jo said nothing and slashed out again, rapiers meeting and recoiling in a flurry of slashes, thrusts, feints, and parries. In one quick slash, Annabelle's rapier just barely grazed Jo's right cheek. However, given the harmonic, vibrating rapier, the gash formed was incredibly deep, and her cheek began to bleed out liberally instantly.

"You're pathetic! All those times you told me to hold on and you won't even follow your own damn advice!" LeValle growled. "Why won't you even try to fight me?"

"Because I failed. I failed you, I failed Cassi, and I failed Clara." Jo growled at last, deflecting a thrust of Annabelle's and countering with a parried slash. "All my skill and all I could do was watch you all turn on me."

"And so the great pirate turns tail and runs at the first sign of trouble." Annabelle growled back, slashed low in a feint that followed with a high slash that was two inches away from tears Hart's stomach open--instead, it ripped open her shirt and a mostly cosmetic gash on her belly. "Oh how the mighty have fallen."

-------------------------

Dagger incapacitated another soldier and made her way down the corridor, twirling her shock-staff idly a few times. It was good to be up and about. Away from the ship and Willie and her child.

And to move again. Dagger had been going crazier than any of them--it was bad enough being forced inside for six months, but she had been in a coma for two weeks prior to that.

Nothing's going your way. That's not new, Dagger honey She sighed inwardly and opened the mess hall door, seeing if any soldiers were hiding in it.

Instead, she saw a man in normal clothes, standing near a pile of food, with a sweet roll in his mouth.

Bounty hunter? Mercenary? Anyone who was here against their will wouldn't be stupid enough to stock up on carbs during a boarding. The man then noticed her, and the sweet roll dropped from his mouth.

[Ulysses Grante]

Holy crap.

Ulysses was, quite simply put, stunned stupid.

This had happened for a couple of different reasons.

One, a person had just managed to sneak up on him completely unnoticed. That didn't happen to often, usually he was very observant. The person had displayed slightly scary ability in being able to do so almost completely silently.

Second, the person in question was quite possibly the most gorgeous thing he'd ever seen. Granted, he didn't have a whole lot of exposure to girls. He'd been taken into deep space by his parents at the age of nine, and afterward his very cautious father had advised as few comm. transmissions and mainframe usage as possible to keep them off the grid.

But this woman . . . gark. She was prettier even than Scarlet Lace--the heretofor most gorgeous lady-pirate that had ever flown, winner of the Sexiest Pirate Contest for ten straight years in a row. Of which he had several life-like action figures and even a poster or two.

Ulysses managed to wrestle enough out of his hormones then to notice the fact that she wasn't in a U.E. uniform, but had a shock staff on proud display. Which she suddenly leveled at him with a cool confidence.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded then, tone a mix of curious and annoyed.

"Uh . . . ."

She sighed somewhat at his dumbfounded lack of articulation, rolling her eyes. She stepped closer, raising her staff. "Put down your weapons and put your hands behind your head."

That sounded just a little too close to military protocol for his peace of mind. He snatched out one of his guns and leveled it at her chest. "Sorry, but I don't do surrender."

A second later his gun was clattering across the floor, having been knocked out of his hands by her staff faster than he could follow. He blinked, eyes wide, then tentatively raised his hands, palms out. "I do, however, do negotiation very well."

"Hands behind your head," she repeated, tone harder now.

Ulysses flexed his fingers a little, feeling out her staff. Most of it was made of plastic and starmetal, but the blades had just enough magnetic pull that he'd be able to effect it. In the next instant he used his powers to rip it out of her hands and then send it flying across the room, embedding into the wall slightly behind him and to the side. He spun back with a triumphant grin, which was removed in the very next breath when her fist lashed out and cracked him across the face.

Ulysses went down immediately. "Ow!" he yelped. "Geez, I think you broke my nose!" The warrior woman merely snatched his hands and twisted them quickly and efficiently behind his back, securing them with a plastic zip-strip. And none to gently. "Ow, ow, ow! Alright! Geez, what's with all this hostility?"

And then she grabbed him by the back of his shirt and he was being yanked back to his feet.

"Can you at least grab some of those sweet rolls? Please? I'm starving . . . ."

The beautiful warrior woman ignored his pleas however, ushering him roughly out of the galley after having recovered her weapon.

[Admiral Hart]

Hart had several more wounds on her by this point, and Annabelle was completely unmarked.

"This is pathetic, Hart." Annabelle said with a sigh. "Seriously pathetic."

Jo slashed forward, and Annabelle moved with her and used her momentum to throw the captain into the padded wall of the gym.

"You lost before you came here, and you want to know why?" LeValle said striding forward, grabbing Hart's hair before she recovered and pulling her head back, putting the sword blade dangerously close to the captain's neck. She could feel the vibrations from the starmetal.

"You have Mamba training. To look at your opponent and see their strengths, their weaknesses. You size them up in an instant, and go for the part that is weakest. Snakes strike at the ankle, after all."

-------

Elsewhere, Miller just barely avoided a slash from Hayden, countering with a double slice at his side, which the security officer dodged and countered with a kick on Miller's blind side, which he only barely dodged.

------

"But you use this training for something different. You see their strengths and weakness and their potential. You use that and you get the best you possibly can out of them. You put together their faults and weaknesses in your head and arrange your crew so they can have maximum potential. You don't listen to nay-sayers, or votes of unconfidence because you know what they can do and you push them towards it." Annabelle pulled her sword away and smashed Hart into the wall again.

"But you've never looked at yourself, Jo. You've never seen what your breaking point is. Congratulations. You've found it. Now you can dust yourself off and move on, or you can sit around and mope and let your crew rot and stagnate." Annabelle growled. "Because, like it or not, you're the only hope we have against Clara. You know her strengths and her weaknesses. You know just how to push her, just how to stop her, and what her breaking point is. If I don't have the luxury of being afraid then neither do you."

The Captain of the Heart Breaker turned to leave the room. From behind her, she heard Hart say, "Annabelle, really. You'd walk away from one last fight?"

She heard the tone in her voice and smiled despite herself. "How about we just have a rain check? You have things to do and so do I." Annabelle activated her comm. "Everyone who has not left due to the reactor, escape now. The ship is lost."

"...it was good to see you again, big sister." Annabelle said at the door.

Jo smiled at her. "Yeah, take care, little sis."

-------------------

Miller lunged and slashed Hayden across the chest, this time making contact. The two were dead evenly matched, despite Miller's pre-existing wounds. Both had more than a few cuts and scrapes that would last them for a few days at elast after this battle.

And then a rapier's hilt smashed Taipan in the temple and knocked him both to the ground and out.

Mr. Douglas looked up at Captain LeValle. "Orders, Ma'am?"

"Full retreat. Our mission was to find Hart and use her to stop Savage. I think she will do that fine on her own." The two made their way to the emergency shuttle, in which were all of her officers save Stouton.

"...Stouton's staying on board and becoming a pirate, isn't she?" LeValle sighed. Her comm officer nodded. "Very well. Back to Luna Base."

"The Tribunal will not like this." Mr. Douglas said at length.

"That is fine. I do not like the tribunal."

-----------------

Hart made her way to the bridge, singing to herself. There, she saw a young woman with partially pink-dyed blond hair sitting at a terminal in UE uniform, chewing gum and running diagnostics.

"...you're aware you were told to retreat." Hart said to her in an amused tone.

The girl shrugged. "Meh. This is my ship. I know 'er better than anyone else. I'm staying and doing my job."

Hart stared at her for a moment before saying, "Well, get into civilian clothes, we're not a military ship."

The girl grinned. "Yes Ma'am! Gunnery Sergeant J.D. Stouton, at your service!"

After she rushed off, already stripping off her uniform, Hart said over the comms on both ships, "Everyone, this is your Captain speaking. We have the Heart Breaker. I want all secondary officers, except for weaponry, to come over here for temporary crew. Don't get too comfortable, ladies and gents, because we have two missions we're going to do. First off, we're getting back Cassi. Second, well, T.K. should have a good idea of what I'm going to do--great minds think alike and all, and I know he'd love a crack at what the second mission is. Right now I'm going to the medbay and getting these cuts sealed closed. And cheer up, guys, we're pirates, no need to be all gloomy and depressed. Hart, out." There was a pause before she opened the comm signal again. "Oh, and don't worry about the pink haired UE soldier, I drafted her. Or, she drafted herself."

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda swallowed hard after the comm. shut off again. She glanced down at her hands to discover they were shaking, and quickly set down the supplies she had been sorting somewhat guiltily. The tall female took a deep, steadying breath. Trying to calm herself down.

She had let herself get her hopes up before, and had been nearly crushed from the disappointment. Andromeda wasn't going to make that same mistake again.

Her traitorous heart wanted to lift at the sound of Josetta's voice, as well. Sounding like the old Captain Hart that she'd known, and had fallen in love with. Yet she did her best to tamp that down as well. Six months of being ignored and rejected tend to leave a bad taste in one's mouth, after all. And that's not even taking into consideration the fact that Jo very well might not want anything to do with her anymore. The challenge was gone, after all. No thrill left in the chase.

Andromeda wrenched the supply cabinet shut, stoutly ignoring the faint glassiness in her vision.

Moments after that, she heard the med-bay doors open, but didn't turn. Not even when she heard a familiar voice purr, "hey gorgeous. Miss me?"

Andromeda's shoulders hunched a little, but otherwise showed no other reaction. She sighed, stepping over to the sink to begin sterilizing her hands. "Katy," she called, still without looking. "Please gather my suture equipment and set it up at exam 2. Captain, if you'd have a seat."

There was a slight pause and then, "Oh, nevermind," Hart pronounced somewhat wryly. "I think I'm going to do some stretches and roll around in some dirt instead."

Andromeda whirled from the sink at that, gold eyes narrowed and mouth compressed somewhat into a thin line. As unamused as she ever was with Jo's odd sense of humor. And a lot of her color bled away at the sight of her numerable injuries.

"Sit," the doctor ground out somewhat hoarsely. "Now. Before you bleed all over my floor."

"At least I got you to look at me," the redhead murmured. Then her expression tensed somewhat, tone more serious as she continued with, "I'd like to be in better condition when I bring in Cassi. She's probably going to nick me a few times."

Andromeda did her best to hide the agony that that statement produced. She cleared her throat somewhat, stepping over to where Katy had brought over her equipment. She began threading the suture needles with methodical, nimble gestures. "The first attempt didn't end so well, Captain," she announced in a deceptively cool tone. "Apparently my sister doesn't want to be found. And the crew won't risk the possibility of dying in order to try."

Forgotten by the other two women, Katy stood in the background and watched the debate, head twisting back and forth between them.

"That's because Morgan didn't have the right plan," Josetta shot back confidently. "You don't send an army to bring back one person. You send one person."

Andromeda turned back to her at that, expression a mix between flabbergasted disbelief and nervous fear. "You're telling me you plan on marching out there into the midst of an army of homicidal mages, alone?"

"Yeah," was Josetta's ready reply, almost off-hand. "And Clara's going to let me take Cassi back, and Cassi and I are going to fight, and I'm probably going to have to disarm her and knock her out when I bring her back here."

Andromeda might have asked Josetta how on earth she could predict all of that. Especially why Clara would so willingly give up one of her army to the enemy. Yet the doctor was for the moment more concerned with the amount of bleeding that Jo was still doing. And besides . . . if Josetta could actually manage to succeed where the rest of them had failed, the why's and how's were rather irrelevant.

"Captain?" she murmured then, somewhat bland. "You're still bleeding on my floor."

Jo finally sat down obediently at that and sighed. "Well stitch me up. I want to be ready for strenuous activity. And I'm only partially talking about rescuing Cassi, Andi."

Andromeda's fingers tightened somewhat on the tray before she took a deep breath and reached for a patch of gauze. Turning to Jo and lifting her hand, beginning to dab away what she could of the blood on the redhead's face. "Yes, I imagine there's lots to see to," she agreed coolly, deliberately playing dense. "You mentioned a second mission after all. I'm sure you'll have lots to occupy your time. I'm going to advise you to light-duty of course, even though I know that will get ignored rather handily."

Josetta just smirked mischievously. "Of course, you could always keep a close eye on me. Make sure I'm not to . . . active."

Her next swipe of the gauze was harder than she'd intended, and even though Jo barely flinched, Andromeda still felt immeasurably guilty. The slender doctor sighed loudly then, supposing she was going to have to be the adult about this. "Captain . . . Jo, I understand that you had a lot to work through. A lot of things to figure out. I don't blame you for that." Even though watching you stare right through me day after day nearly killed me, she added silently. "But six months is a very long time," she finished, tone softer. "And it's really hard to stitch a straight line with you tossing out lewd come-ons."

Josetta's eyebrow twitched. "I could sing a song instead if you'd like."

Andromeda was doing her hardest to keep control of her temper. But Jo, for whatever reason, seemed determined to continue poking her. "I would really rather you not," she growled out a little. "It would be best if you'd just sit there. Quietly. And don't move."

"But if I do that, you won't be angry with me," the Captain murmured then, lips twitching. "And you're really sexy when you're mad."

Andromeda's eyes narrowed. "Why are you doing this?" she hissed, voice pained and raw. "Why are you trying to provoke me? It's not bad enough you ignore me right along with everyone else for six months straight, but then you waltz back in here and continue to flirt with me as if nothing were ever wrong."

"Because I want everything to be like it would be if nothing were ever wrong," was the Captain's soft, solemn reply. "I want life to go on like it would have and I don't want to be held back by my failures anymore." She locked eye with the doctor. "I'm alone now, Andi. I don't have a husband anymore. I don't have my daughters around me now. All I have is you. And I've missed you."

Andromeda couldn't breathe, for several moments. She just gaped somewhat at Josetta before, eventually, her breath started coming back in stabbing pants. To go along with the moisture that suddenly flooded her eyes. Though, for once, they were happy tears. The doctor gave the redhead in front of her a somewhat wobbly smile. "I'd kiss you," she pronounced then, voice quavering, "but I'd get blood all over my coat."

The Captain just smirked in her ever-smarmy way. "I can wait for you to get a surgical apron, if you can."

Andromeda laughed at that, rolling her eyes heavenward before wiping the moisture from them and reaching for her equipment again. "I have a better idea. Why don't you sit still and let me stitch you up, so you don't pass out from blood loss. And then we can finish this discussion properly later."

[Jason Thornvaald]

Thorn sat alone in one of the unoccupied passenger rooms of the Plunder, well on his way to getting as drunk as he possibly could. His wrists had been sewn up and bandaged--no doubt the sneaky Doctor Reyes had managed to track him down when he'd finally collapsed a while ago, and had done it while he'd been insensible.

Not that it really mattered much to him. Now that Lyra was safe and the immediate danger seen to, he was free to wallow in his own depression. He'd suffered the ultimate betrayal after all. His crew had mutinied. Turned him over to the U.E. And then he'd watched as that same witch had his ship blown out of the very sky. Now he was nothing. Worse then nothing.

A Captain is nothing without a ship.

Thorn took another pull off the bottle in his hands, expression shuttered and cold.

~~*~~

In the med-bay, Lyra stirred a little. Her eyes eased open, and she smiled at the sight of Dane sitting at her bedside. Looking rumpled, as if he'd spent the night there. The boarder-crewman smiled back, leaning closer.

"Hey, babe," he murmured gently.

Lyra reached up, one of her hands trailing down his cheek. "Knew you'd come," she murmured affectionately. Causing him to turn slightly and press a kiss into her palm. Then she sighed a little, eyes drifting shut once more. A small, wry smile pulled at her lips. "What the hell took you so long?"