[ York still isn't feeling his best. He's still suffering from Delta's ejection, and struggling to come to terms with the fact that the AI is truly gone, here, at the least can't be reactivated. But with Ratchet and Gail's help he's focusing better and sleeping again, and so he feels up to sneaking out with Wash tonight. The two of them fall into familiar movements and signs, slip past the guards without much trouble. They're not sure what they're looking for exactly, but it feels good to be out and looking for something, anything, that might give them more information.
When the alarm goes off York presses back against the wall, checking for where the guards will be coming from. He hears shouting but it's far off, they'll still have time to go back around the compound but it'll have to be the opposite way they came. He motions for Wash to let him take the lead, slips past his friend and up to the next corner, peering around.
There are three people there. Just a few feet from him is a man with his back turned, dressed for the cold with scruffy long hair and a beard that York can see silhouetted in the lights. A Barrayaran, he must be, which means the compound could be under attack. He moves forward fast and quiet, only one step in the snow before he's chopping at the base of the man's skull before he can turn, knocking him out efficiently and catching him as he falls.
The man was carrying a broadsword, a weapon York isn't familiar with -- knives, he knows, but not swords. He draws it and leaves the native man lying in the snow, offering it to Wash if he wants it. Wash shakes his head so York gets a better grip and holds it himself, because it can't hurt to be armed right now. And then they're moving forward again, and York sees light coming from the compound up ahead. Too much light. A door is open and two figures are darting inside. More of them.
Still no guards around this end of the compound. It's up to them, and he's dying to know what the Barrayarans are here looking for. So he and Wash move forward again, dart into place on either side of the door, ready to go in. They don't have guns but obviously the Barrayarans don't either so he isn't too worried about a fight.
He's about to be worried about something else. He and Wash duck in and York calls out to the figures; a man and a woman, moving like they're expecting to be attacked. ]
Stop. Turn around.
[ And then his eyes go wide, and he's only looking at the man. Maine's face atop seven feet of solid muscle, but is it Maine? Or is the the Meta, the creation that killed Carolina and was hunting them all? He doesn't even ask what the other man is doing here, because what are any of them doing here. What he asks, dropping into a fighting stance and raising the sword, is: ]
Who are you?
[ But he's looking just at Maine, all but ignoring Lakshmi. ]
no subject
When the alarm goes off York presses back against the wall, checking for where the guards will be coming from. He hears shouting but it's far off, they'll still have time to go back around the compound but it'll have to be the opposite way they came. He motions for Wash to let him take the lead, slips past his friend and up to the next corner, peering around.
There are three people there. Just a few feet from him is a man with his back turned, dressed for the cold with scruffy long hair and a beard that York can see silhouetted in the lights. A Barrayaran, he must be, which means the compound could be under attack. He moves forward fast and quiet, only one step in the snow before he's chopping at the base of the man's skull before he can turn, knocking him out efficiently and catching him as he falls.
The man was carrying a broadsword, a weapon York isn't familiar with -- knives, he knows, but not swords. He draws it and leaves the native man lying in the snow, offering it to Wash if he wants it. Wash shakes his head so York gets a better grip and holds it himself, because it can't hurt to be armed right now. And then they're moving forward again, and York sees light coming from the compound up ahead. Too much light. A door is open and two figures are darting inside. More of them.
Still no guards around this end of the compound. It's up to them, and he's dying to know what the Barrayarans are here looking for. So he and Wash move forward again, dart into place on either side of the door, ready to go in. They don't have guns but obviously the Barrayarans don't either so he isn't too worried about a fight.
He's about to be worried about something else. He and Wash duck in and York calls out to the figures; a man and a woman, moving like they're expecting to be attacked. ]
Stop. Turn around.
[ And then his eyes go wide, and he's only looking at the man. Maine's face atop seven feet of solid muscle, but is it Maine? Or is the the Meta, the creation that killed Carolina and was hunting them all? He doesn't even ask what the other man is doing here, because what are any of them doing here. What he asks, dropping into a fighting stance and raising the sword, is: ]
Who are you?
[ But he's looking just at Maine, all but ignoring Lakshmi. ]