I Need Your Help

Posted on Sat Jul 18th, 2020 @ 5:15pm by Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Nollel Livaam (*)

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: Various
Timeline: MD03 20:30
2207 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Nollel sat looking up at the statue as she waited with a glass of onyx wine for potentially Michael to appear if he was going to join her area. Built only a handful of years ago, the group statue in the small garden area outside the crew bar was there to represent life itself and the way different paths intertwine and often lead to similar outcomes.

Every element was crafted and created with superior materials from local suppliers, ensuring this monument will continue to adorn the community for generations to come. Its position within the crew bar was meant to represent the strong unity of the miner and the way everybody is almost considered as one big family but suddenly recently it highlighted to a lot of people how that was becoming less and less.

Burnie paused as he entered the garden, seeing Nollel by the statue he was struck by the contrast - her soft living beauty beside the hard sculpted beauty of the piece. And yet there were soft edges in the statue and a strength in the woman.
He hoped that strength wouldn't be tested too far.

Steeling himself, he came toward her. "Nollel, sorry I'm a little late." He put on a smile and nodded appreciatively at the statue. "Impressive. Is it your design?"

The woman turned and offered a smile to the man before looking back at the statue. "We did not agree it was definitely going to happen. But no not one of mine at all. It has been here about the same amount of time I have been alive." She giggled.

"Well, you can't blame me for thinking you'd make something outstanding like this, right?" Burnie grinned. "And I definitely wanted to see you again. I just got caught up in a bit of a rescue mission - two shipmates took a wrong turn and needed to be pulled out of trouble."

It was nice of him to think of her like that even if it was just flirting. "Oh, you guys were the ones that upset Greta then." It had been the talk of Equinox all afternoon that someone had forced themselves into the mine of a rescue mission. "Are they okay now?" She wondered brushing a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiled back at him.

"Greta, huh? She..." Burnie stopped, considering that Greta might be a friend to people who worked at Equinox. "...seems to be quite a bureaucrat. But I guess I owe her thanks for passes. Quin and Liha are alive, and I'm told they'll recover, which probably wouldn't be the case if we hadn't gone after them."

The blonde could not fail to see that the man checked himself before he spoke and that made her bite her lip to stop grinning. Greta was a bureaucrat or as Nollel referred to her as the gatekeeper."That is one way to describe her." Nollel grinned finally as she moved closer to him. It was a warm evening which meant it was busier than normal. "That is positive. I am glad to hear your friends are alive and on the road to recovery."

"Thanks." He smiled back, a little uneasily knowing he should say something about how not everyone was safely recovered, but hesitated again, noticing the number of people around. It was a lovely evening - perfect if only this could be a normal date. "Hey, why don't we take a walk, somewhere more private. Or I could take you back to the ship." He moved a little closer. "I think I promised you a tour."

"You did promise me a tour? Is Leiddem going to pat me down on the gangway?" She teased a little looking down at her dress and the fact it was easy to see that she carried nothing explosive on her.

Looking at the way the dress clung to her figure, the phrase 'nothing explosive' would not have occurred to Burnie. "I talked to Leiddem. He may not trust you a 100% yet, but he's not going to insist on a pat down," he laughed and winked. "Not if he doesn't want me to blow something up."

“Well I am sure if he did insist he would get a lot more fun out of it than me,” Nollel chuckled just a little at him and held out her hand wiggling her fingertip at the man letting him lead them to where the ship was docked. The ship looked in a bad state compared to the last time that the woman had seen in but she could not help but smile at the figurehead still on the ship. It looked undamaged and as usual, stuck there, she bet Gregnol still hated it. “She is still there then?” She giggled squeezing the mans hand.

"Like I said," he replied, grinning back at her as he lead her up the gangway. "It took me a bit to get used to it, but it gives the ship character. I don't think she'd look right without it now." He nodded at the Henderson, who was watching the gangway - Jake had obviously decided to post someone who wouldn't react to Nollel, which was all to the good. "See, here we are, and no pat downs."

“Was almost looking forward to it.” Nollel grinned and looked around. Not one thing so far had changed. “So where are we starting with this tour?” She wondered thinking About if there was anywhere that she wanted to revisted from her weeks onboard.

"If you were looking forward to a pat down, I'd say my quarters." He flashed a playful grin. "But I'm sure there are places you'd like to see, and there are people who would like to see you." Burnie paused, turning toward her. "There's something I should confess. I wish I could have brought you here just for a tour, but the truth is we need your help."

The woman's bright smiled faded as she took in the way he paused and turned to her from his teasing. She knew something was up but this just proved it, had this been his plan all along? Get under her skin and then pull some stunt. "Me? What could I help you with?" She wondered taking a step back.

"I'm sorry, please..." He lifted his hands helplessly, feeling terrible. "I didn't want to ask you. And if you say 'no' I'm just as happy. I wanted to just blast our way in anyway and..." and I'm rambling... Brilliant. Next the aphasia will kick in and I'll really mess this up.... He took a breath, restarting with short statements to keep from hanging up on anything. "Look, Gregnol was abducted. There was blood. His. All leads point to Equinox. If there's any way you can help... But if you can't, I understand. I made sure we were here before even asking because I was afraid it might be dangerous if anyone there even knew that you knew."

Lots of phases went through her mind as she watched him pleaded before he paused and tried to summon words. Any other time she would have enjoyed the flailing but she was feeling like she needed to hear him out properly at the very least right now. "Rueben is missing?" She whispered for the man having caught her she had a lot of affection for the fact he had let her off and got her the hell away from her family allowing her to forge her own path.

"Yes." Burnie nodded firmly. "And probably injured. We found a pool of his blood at the last place he'd been seen."

"What makes you think it was them?" She wondered folding her arms around herself as she tried to ignore the uneasy feeling that was building in her stomach.

"I know you wouldn't be involved, but it is your company and this won't be easy to hear." Burnie looked at her sympathetically, only keeping himself from reaching out because he figured she needed some space while she processed this. "We were transporting containers for Equinox. There was an accident and one of them broke, and inside... it didn't have what was on the manifest. It was a terraformer, one of ones that are illegal for inhabited worlds, because their basically weapons of mass destruction," he added because he wasn't sure an non-engineer would understand the implications. "After that we opened some others...and found a lot more contraband, including bio-mimetic gel."

So, of course, we reported it. The Colony Administrator was ...not thrilled... basically warned us to drop it. I was at the forge, so I don't really know what happened next, but you know the Captain." Burnie shook his head and expelled a breath, resisting an urge to pace. "Anyway, he went missing, people looked for him and found a pool of blood - his DNA, and traces of bio-mimetic gel. Then we got a tip from ...a very reliable source... that Equinox has him, probably in a basement in head quarters."

"He is a man of the corporation." Nollel frowned a little bit more than what she normally would have. She had no idea what bio-mimetic gel was but it all sounded fishy. "I have been hearing rumours in the crew bar and just hearing it when I should not have over heard stuff. He is not the only one who has gone missing but I do not know what is in the basement other than the labs."

"Others have gone missing?" Burnie took a protective step toward her. "Maybe you shouldn't go back. Jake said we could offer you a place on the ship so you'd be safe if you helped us, but I think you should just stay either way. This is dangerous, and if you don't want to risk it," he gave a lopsided grin, "that just means I get to put together enough grenades and explosive rounds to blast our way in like I'd suggested to begin with."

"You are not going to be able to go that route." Nollel sighed a little and relaxed her arms from around him. "A few have in the two years I have been here." The blonde tried to think on the number. "Quite a few people. One day they are there and talking away and the next they disappear. Some come back but they do not seem to remember you despite having lunch together for weeks. It is like they are a whole new person." It always left her with a strange feeling when something like that happened.

Bio-mimetic gel... He'd only thought about it's use in explosives, but now Burnie considered the other reasons it was so tightly controlled. He wrapped his arms around her. "They might have been. That gel we found - it can be used in cloning, illegal genetic manipulation, biogenic weapons..." He suppressed a shudder at the idea of sending Nollel back where she might be a risk of that, but also cringed at the idea that Reuben might even now be being subjected to it. "You shouldn't go back, but I can't leave the captain. Do you know of any way to get in without blasting our way in?"

"This is not how I imagined tonight going at all." She whispered as she moved her hand from between them to hug him back, her arm wrapping around his neck and his waist as she nestled her closer to him. Nollel's thoughts reflected his now that he had mentioned what exactly the gel could do it. "I can get you guys with my credentials. If you guys are any good at acting and have some stuff to dress up in but I want to talk to this Jake. I want to know that I can at least get off-world if this all goes wrong from the person who seems to be in charge right now."

"Me either," he sighed, pulling her closer. "I'm sure we can manage some disguises, but you head back here where it's safe as soon as possible after we're in. And don't worry. I'll take you to Jake so you can hear it from him, but you'll have a ticket off-world here, otherwise the ship will down a Chief Engineer."

"I am not leaving you guys once I got you inside. I think I can get three of you in without it look suspicious. Is that going to be enough?" She wondered really wishing things had not gone like this at all. It was taking every ounce of bravery she had to not just walk away and leave them to it. "You do not really know me to offer that Michael?" She said pulling back. It was adorably sweet and surprising.

"I know you're the sort of person who offers to help despite the risk," he said, and cupped her cheek, smiling at her. "That's more than enough."

The woman wanted to be warmed by it but she simply nodded and stepped back. "Let's leave that until after we save Reuben and you can give me that tour." She said gently not wanting to say anymore just encase. Who knew what was going to happen now with so many unknowns.