The cast:
- Midnight Storm (ex-Skinner Solace): teenage post apocalyptic rock star who wants to help people. He fights the Wolves of the Maelstrom who want to stop the music. He recently lost his second home, the Starlight, in his efforts to save its crew.
- Manfred (Faceless): A massive man who wears a mask fashioned from a stop sign. He used be a cook on a cattle ship and now cooks for the Starlight. He has shown himself to be brutally deadly.
- Switchblade (Maestro D'): acrobatic woman in a fool's motley who lead a traveling show called the Carnival. She is handy with a knife and friends with Midnight and Manfred.
- Max (Gunlugger): a brutal woman who crash landed on the planet Everette. She is haunted by her past and thinks of herself as a reaver. She is on the lookout for her little sister Hiccup.
- Ekaterina Mikhailova Petrova (Tribal): for generations Ekaterina's people have lived on Everette, adapting themselves to its strange psychic jungles. But the environment has grown too hostile. Ekaterina is leading her people to a place of safety, following the visions her father sees in the maelstrom.
Alien World, Part II
The red spacecraft stretched across the grassy field. Standing as tall a tree and covering an area three times the size of her village, it was the largest man-made object Katya had ever seen.She moved closer, reaching out a hand. Her mind opened to the swirl of psychic energies surrounding all things. The red craft grew cloudy, replaced by the jungle. Her brother, Ilya, stood at its edge. He walked into the jungle and vanished..
She fails on her roll to open her brain. Something happens and it isn't good.
Katya's vision clears. A tall man in mismatched armor watches her.
"What are you doing savage?" he asked.
"I have been seeking this ship."
"Are you some sort of thief? You can't eat that you know." He waved his hand. "Go back to the jungle."
"I am no savage nor a thief. I am Ekaterina Mikhailova Petrova, first warrior of the Baikal tribe."
"You primitives with your silly long names. Sounds made up to me. I'm Shaza. Nice and simple."
"We are a proud people-"
"Like I thought all talk."
As Katya reached for her garrote, Irina hurried over. "Katya! Your brother! He's gone missing."
"Are all your warriors women?" Shaza said. "That explains why you have to hide in the jungle."
Katya relaxed her grip and turned to the town. "Irina, is my father in Tradeport?"
"He's camped with the families near the jungle border."
"I need to see him."
Katya finished recounting her vision. "So father, what do you think? Is Ilya in danger?"
The elderly man closed his intense dark eyes. "Your brother is lost. The jungle has gotten into his mind. You must find him and return him to us."
Katya hurried out of the tent. Irina was waiting there. "Irina Kironova Saltanova, gather the hunters. We will scour the jungle for Ilya."
Manfred and Switch hurried through the jungle. Fern-corals grew up the trees to either side of them obscuring their view of Tradeport.
"I'm starting to think taking a short cut was a bad idea," Switch said as a beetle the size of a rat scuttled past her feet.
Manfred shook his head, trying to get the buzzing out. Whispers intrude on his consciousness. Something is hunting you. No turn left. We know what happened to your crew.
Both roll to deal with the jungle. Both roll poorly. Manfred at least gets a hit. Switch fails. Now the jungle knows about them.
"What did you say?" Switch said, turning her head back and forth. "Who is that? Get back here!"
Switch ran off. Manfred glanced up, spotting the glint of something watching him before tearing off after his friend.
Switch raced faster and faster, scrambling over hidden rocks and swinging over vines and low branches. She didn't even see the warriors of the Baikal tribe moving silently and watchfully through undergrowth.
Manfred did, even as he crashed through vines and small trees. He grabbed Switch by the shoulder.
"Stop! We need to get out of here." He turned to the natives. "How do we get back to the town?"
Katya slipped forward and pointed the way. "Go around the large tree on the scoured side. Avoid the ferns. When you see the mushrooms, you are almost there."
Manfred successfully acted under fire.
The bar was bustling. Max sipped a glass of green liquid in the corner, avoiding the bartender's scowls. The juice made her tongue numb, leaving only a hint of sour and sweet.
"Are you sure you don't want something stronger? Like alcohol?" The old man lingered on the last word.
Max flashed a dangerous grin. "I told you I don't drink."
She leaned back in her chair marvelling at the use of wood.
A large party of music lovers filled the rest of the saloon. After fifteen minutes without a fight and bad renditions of Midnight Storm's greatest hits, Max headed for someplace more interesting.
She soon found herself at the entrance to the Carnival.
"No weapons," the man at the door told her.
Max considered the tattooed man's strong but flabby biceps. Then again she did need to get off world. "Fine."
She dumped her grenade launcher, the submachine gun, the .45 and most of her knives. When security didn't comment on her slightly off gait, she assumed they missed the boot knife. Too bad for them.
Max wandered through the hangar bay. A few locals watched a clown perform or played the games at the booths. Above the high wire and trapeze were empty. Max relaxed a little.
She looked for some sort of diversion. She spotted the glowing sign for the freak show and headed towards it. Then as she passed a booth selling popcorn, she saw her.
Hiccup, her sister, handed a large bag of golden popcorn to a very tan and wrinkled woman. Max's heart beat rapidly as she got in line. Three customers until she was at the head. Three spots until she met her sister.
An eternity later, she stepped forward.
"What would you like," Hiccup started. She went white and back away.
"Hiccup," Max said. "It's me. Maxine."
"What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here."
As Hiccup put the popcorn machine between herself and Max, some of the carnival workers moved towards them.
"I was looking for you. After I got out I mean."
The beefy man at the front gate stepped in Max's way. "Miss, you need to back up. Hiccup is she bothering you?"
"Um, no, not exactly."
He looked at the girl then to Max. "Why don't you leave her alone for now?"
Max considered her options. This man was armed and probably strong. Still not a match for her. But she blew up here, Hiccup would be even less likely to talk. "Okay."
Max let the man, Belter, lead her to the exit. "I'd like to talk to her later. She's my sister. How did she get on this ship?"
"Hiccup would have to tell you. As for talking to her, that's not my call to make."
"Well. Whose call is it?"
"I'll let the captain know that you asked."
Max grit her teeth. "Fine. I'll be in town."
A half hour later Belter stopped Switch as she boarded. "Switch, some woman came on board a little while ago. She said she was Hiccup's sister. Seemed to scare her pretty bad. She still hasn't talked about it."
"What did she look like?"
"Tall, one eye, with scars on the right side of her face. She wore military armor. Brought an arsenal with her too. Where's Manfred?"
"Picking up a new machete. I think I met her in the market. She was looking for passage off world."
"Think she was looking for Hiccup?"
"Maybe. She wasn't particular about her destination. I'll go talk to Hiccup."
She found her "sister" in her quarters, nursing a cup of tea.
"Are you alright?"
"I think so." Hiccup hugged a yellowed doll in one arm.
"Who was it who talk to you? Your sister?"
"Yeah, Max. Maxine. I have seen her since I was a kid."
"You are a kid," Switchblade said sitting down beside her.
"You know what I mean. I was ten when they sent her to the Pit."
"The Pit?"
"It was a prison moon near Shepherd. The elders, my parents even, they said she had turned into a Reaver."
Switch sprang to her feet. "What!? A Reaver? I knew I shouldn't have gone planet side."
"She seemed so much like her old self though. I thought Reavers didn't talk.They just attacked and killed."
"That's true." Switch paced around the small room. "Do you want to talk to her again?"
"I suppose. She is the only family I have left."
Switch tilted her head back and forth. "Okay, here is the plan. I'll set up a meeting. You'll hide in my closet. We'll bring Manfred around for protection. Max wants passage offworld. I'll question her, figure out if we can trust her. If she's a reaver, you stay silent and we'll handle her. Okay?"
"I guess."
Somewhere in this scene Switch manipulated Hiccup and got a 10+ making Hiccup and Ally: Confident (thanks to Midnight storm's Radiant move).
Later that night Max returned to the carnival. Switch met her at the hanger bay entrance.
"So you wanted to travel with us?" Switch asked as Max put her weapons into the bucket.
"Yes. My sister, Hiccup, is also traveling with you?"
"Let's talk in my cabin."
Switch led Max to the front of the ship. The captain's cabin was covered in posters and cheap knickknacks. The massive man she noticed in the market was there wearing his red metal mask.
Switch sat on the four-poster bed with a bounce. "This is Manfred. We need to talk. I need to know you are not a threat to us. Maybe then we can talk about your sister."
"All I want is to find and be with my sister. I have no problems with any of you."
"You are carrying a lot of hardware for that."
"It is a dangerous world," Max said.
Manfred nodded.
"Look I left my weapons at the front," she said, her thought straying to the knives hidden in her boots. And her pack. And her arm's housing. "I'm unarmed. What else do you want?"
"I don't trust you," Switch said. "You'll need to give up your armor too. And any sharp tools you have hidden on you."
Lots of Read a Person rolls but Switch doesn't trust when Max is telling the truth.
Max stifled an itch to draw a weapon. "Fine. I will give up my armor. Can I see Hiccup? Or are you going to keep her in the closet forever?"
"Okay. But Manfred will keep an eye on you. Hiccup do you want to come out?"
Hiccup opened up the closet door.
Switch continued, "you two can talk in the Ferris wheel after Max gives up her gear."
As the carriage on the Ferris wheel slowly rose above the hanger bay floor, Max shuffled uncomfortably.
"You look good," Hiccup said, stumbling over the words.
Max knew how she looked. Wearing cargo pants and a tank top, the extent of her damage was on display. She gripped the side of the carriage with a steel hand. The metal replacement included her entire arm, joining her shoulder at a mass of purple scar tissue.
"No, you look good," Max said with more feeling. "You're almost grown up. You look like." Max stopped before she touched on their shared past. "How did you join the carnival?"
"Well I kind of just ran away. How did you end up here?"
"The ship I was on was attacked. Reavers. The ship we was damaged and we crash landed. Most of us didn't make it."
"Oh."
"A guy named Barns and I got into an escape pod. Some natives found us. They led us here. They also are looking to leave. Some vision about a big red ship. Funny huh?"
Manfred watched silently. Max wondered what he hid behind that mask.
Hiccup chuckled. "I've been with the Carnival for three years now. I've seen some weird stuff. That wouldn't be the strangest."
The sisters talked some more, always moving away from the past. The Ferris wheel came to a stop with their carriage at the bottom. As their conversation petered out, they heard the bangs of nearby gunfire.
Max and Manfred stood up.
"What was that?" Hiccup asked.
"Stay here," the two said as they exited the carriage.
Now to see what everyone else is up to.
Katya stalked along the jungle floor, her bow low and ready. The air buzzed with flying insects and the hum of psychic energy. Soft prints in the ground marked her brother's trail. He passed through a bed of ferns, snapped the stalk of that flower and then stepped onto some soft moss. Then he disappeared.
Katya looked up. Ilya hung in the air twenty feet above her, wound in the chitinous coils of a sanke. The pale body of the sanke wrapped around a branch thirty feet up.
Katya raised a fist then chopped to either side. Silently her warriors moved to flank it.
The sanke continued to slowly raise her brother to its serrated mouth, slowly distending its jaw to swallow him whole. Katya gave the signal.
Arrows flew. Some skittered off the rough shell but many found the soft flesh between its plates. The sanke gave a hoarse cry as shafts sank deep into its body.
Dying its tail unwound from Ilya. Katya dropped her bow and leaped forward, catching him as he fell. They crashed down on the rough ground beside the moss.
Katya lifted her brother's head. Iyla's eyes fluttered.
"What happened?"
Katya helped him up, grunting from her bruised ribs. "The jungle had you, brother."
Mechanically, she seized her brother by force using the warriors then acted under fire save him from the fall. She succeeded on the first and got a soft hit on the second. She took 1-harm from the fall.
"I'm sorry sister."
"It is all right." She directed the others to pull the sanke carcass down and they headed back to their camp.
A spiced scent wafted over the fire lit fields surrounding the Carnival. Midnight picked his way along the uneven ground towards the circle of tents.
Dozens of men, women and children talked, sang, and ate around the bonfire. Pots of meat cooked in piles of smoldering coals.
"Excuse me," the musician said as he reached the sentries on the outer edge. "I heard your songs. Can I join you and listen? I'd love to learn what they mean. I'm a singer myself."
The leather clad man smiled. "Come in. Join us. We celebrate a good hunt and the return of one of our own."
Midnight Storm walked towards the center of the camp. An elderly woman passed him a bowl of heavy spiced meat. The delicate flesh tasted like mint and sage with a smell that reminded him of his mother's pies.
The people seemed eager to share their stories and Midnight happily told them his. They shared songs and a white-haired woman presented him with a bone flute.
Artful and Gracious hit so he gets a gift.
"You came from the red ship?" a brown-skinned woman with long braided hair asked.
He slurped some of the meat stew. "The Carnival? Yes."
"My people wish to travel on the red ship. Can you help us?"
"I can talk to Switch for you. She's the captain. I'm Midnight by the way."
"I am Ekaterina Mikhailova Petrova, first warrior of the Baikal tribe."
"Oh. I guess I'm Midnight Storm then. Where are you headed?"
"I don't know but our shamans tell us that our destiny lies in the stars. We cannot stay here. This world has grown too dangerous for us."
"I'll see what I can do. Hey, I'm giving a concert in town later. You and your people are welcome to come."
"That sounds nice. I will come to hear your songs."
His belly full and his head buzzing, Midnight made his way out of camp towards the Carnival. Halfway along a man shouted to him from the tall grass.
"What are you doing with those savages?" the man said stepping closer.
"Enjoying had some good food and music," he explained to the soldier in mismatched armor. Midnight recalled a name he heard in town, Shaza.
"You like listening to those primitives holler while you eat bug stew? Degenerate. Enjoy it while it lasts. We'll toss those outsiders out soon."
"Hey give them a chance."
"We'll toss you out too. We don't need outsiders filling the air with noise."
Midnight moved up to the man. "It's called music and it seems your town needs us outsiders to survive."
"We don't need you. You'd better g. If I see you again, I'll bust you up."
"Don't mess with the music."
The soldier swung at him. Midnight easily sidestepped him, kicking out a leg and dropping him to the ground.
Seize by force to subdue him.
"You'll never escape Midnight Storm," the man buzzed.
"You things again," Midnight said, putting his weight on the man's back. "I will destroy you if you keep interfering here. I know you can't stand the music. I will belt out a tune to end you. I've done it before. Leave now while you still can."
Midnight goes aggro and succeeds.
The musician let him up. Shaza scampered to the tree line. He fired his gun into the air just before vanishing into the jungle.
Midnight turned back towards the camp and town. Another guard was running in his direction.
"What's going on?" shouted a skinny long-haired man.
"There's no trouble here," Midnight assured him. "Shaza wanted to talk to me but then he had to leave."
Manfred appeared out of the tall grass. Katya and two of her warriors approached slowly from the opposite direction.
"There is nothing to worry about Manfred. No one got shot. Shaza just got overly excited."
Midnight used his disarming presence to stop any violence.
The guard examined the area. "I guess so. Shaza always a weird one. Okay, just try to keep the noise down. People need to sleep."
"Of course."
As the guard left, Katya asked, "is everything okay?"
"It is now. Oh hey, Manfred, this is Ekaterina Mikhailova Petrova. They have some great stew over there. You should try some. Ekaterina, Manfred is the Carnival's cook."
Katya turned to the masked warrior. "You may have some of the sanke meat if you wish."
Manfred shakes his head slowly. "No thank you."
Max strode back to the Carnival as soon as she heard more talking than fighting. Belter let her back on board.
"Can I have my armor?"
"Switch told me that it remains in the drum as long as you are on board."
Max grit her teeth and kept from asking for a weapon.
The concert later that night brought in practically the entire population of Everette. All of Tradeport and Katya’s tribe attended as did many of technicians and guards from King's compound.
The rest watched a private show from Switch the next day.
"I decided we might as well make some jingle while we are here," she explained to King who paid them well for a display of acrobatics and feats of strength.
Chic opened the show with a fire dance, wielding heavy brass rods tipped with burning oils. Switch cartwheeled in, announcing the next act.
"Thank you, Chic," she said, as King leaned in on a golden cane. "Next up is a haunting dance performance by Night and Skins."
Skins and Night performed a dance together, contorting themselves in amazing shapes and moving with unnerving grace. Switch watched them carefully however. Something seemed off about their act.
King clapped as they pranced away.
The faith speaker Narnia ended the show, delivering a rousing speech about hope even in these dark days. The elderly man flagged during her oration, rousing only when Switch returned with an acrobatic flourish.
"Bravo!' he rasped. "Excellent!"
"I'm glad you liked our show."
"I would love another. Can I entice you to perform again tomorrow."
"I'm sorry," Switch said. "We need to prepare for our return to Megaton."
"I can pay well," he said, leaning in expectantly.
Switch shook her head. "The Carnival has important business to resolve I'm afraid."
Switch watched the performers board the Carnival. Across the field Midnight performed again in Tradeport. As the sun set one last time over Everette, Switch relaxed her mind. What am I supposed to do mother, she asked the maelstrom.
She opens her brain.
Her mother appeared in her thoughts. A small woman, delicate and beautiful, but covered in thousands of shiny beetles. Her mother raised a hand, pointing to the camp. Somehow Switch knew she meant the elder of that native tribe, the father of Katya. As the opening chord of Midnight's concert reached her, the acrobat decided to visit him.
But if she did, we lost that scene.
Manfred wandered through the empty streets of Tradeport. The cheers and cries from the saloon sounded softer here.
Manfred bent low, scrutinizing the dirt through the narrow eye holes of his mask. Something passed by here, something large with claws. The juggernaut loosed the strap on his machete and followed the path this creature made around town.
A noise like a bone on stone echoed from his left. He paused. The sound didn't match the construction here.
Manfred succeeds on reading the sitch.
That is when he felt the hot breath of the beast. Standing arms length in front of him, it was completely invisible. Only the barest of remnant of its presence remained in Manfred's mind.
The Kikamora like most predators on Everette is psychic. Specifically it is an ambush predator that psychically cloaks itself.
That was enough. Manfred rushed forward, sweeping his machete out from its sheath in an upward arc. The beast dived low, clamping its massive horizontal jaws on his arm. Having made that mistake, Manfred compounded its error by lifting the creature off the ground with one arm and partially severing its head on his machete.
The insectoid creature flickered into Manfred's vision. The size of a small bull, its head was a mass of crushing jaws and armor plating. Its body and especially neck were mammalian, unarmored and supported by an internal skeleton.
Manfred kept his grip on the beast's mandibles and began to drag it to the Carnival.
A numbness slowly spread over his arm. Manfred used his uninjured arm to attach a thick metal cord to the beast and hoists it off the ground. As he butchered the creature, a small crowd formed.
"A Kikamora," Katya said. "Intact."
Max grunted beside her.
Katya moved closer. "Manfred? My people know how to get the most meat from this creature. We know where poison flows in its body and can remove it. Let us help."
Manfred's machete felt heavy. "Okay."
Max gently took the blade from his hand. "Let's take a look at that wound." She crouched down and pulled a red box from her pack. "You'll need some antitoxin and bandages. Do you feel pain? Numbness? Any other symptoms?"
"Just numbness and a bit of weakness."
Max injected him with a syringe. "That should help."
Max used her medkit.
Max kept an eye on Manfred that night as well as the Kikamora meat. Katya's tribe butchered and smoked it. When Switch returned, she even let Max keep her armor in case another predator decided to attack.
"So you'll take them?" Midnight asked Switch.
The jungle fog thinned around the Carnival as the morning sun rose.
"Sure," Switch said. "Ekaterina."
"You can call me Katya," the Baikal warrior said.
"That will be easier. Okay I'd like to get going soon. Everyone on board as soon as possible."
Katya hurried to mobilize her tribe.
Midnight sighed. "I'm not coming."
"What?"
"I'm staying here. My friends and I will try to build up Tradeport."
"Why?"
"I've been traveling so long looking for a home. I like the Carnival but it is not the Starlight or Lilypad Base 4. You have your own community. I think I need to create my own."
"But on a planet? What about Reavers."
"Everette is cloaked from them. We are safe here. As for other threats, well, I think my being here might help protect these people. Don't look sad, I'll probably do a tour again. And now you always know where I am."
"I'll miss you. Goodbye."
"Goodbye. Stay safe."
Midnight Storm retires to safety. The original cast is gone.
As the sun reached its zenith, the Carnival blasted off, leaving the strange green world behind. The darkness before it promised dangers within and without.
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