Takeshi had that one last errand before he could go back to Alcatraz to trade in Ryker’s sleeve* and claim whatever they had on the offer just to needle cast off this rock, but wouldn’t you know it? That one last errand turned out to be the reason he was now sitting in the hold of some vessel, still in Ryker’s sleeve (oh Ortega* was going to have more than just words with him over this), with some kind of collar around his neck.
He’d been jumped outside The Raven, having just picked up Poe, and it’d happened so fast and sudden, he didn’t have time to get a swing in. He was knocked out cold, possibly stabbed with a knife laced with Reever*. And when he’d come to, he was already inside the vessel. He seemed to be one of many that had been taken off Earth and collared.
The vessel was dark, no windows, and the hold he and the other were kept in was barely humane. He didn’t see any facilities for normal bodily functions, but from the smell, maybe the hold was the facility for such. The hold was sectioned off from the door by something he’d never seen before – a slice of air that was distorted, and where it met the walls it was electric green. There was no way to tell the direction they were going.
He suspected the collar was far more dangerous than just a fashion accessory, and luckily for him, before he tried anything stupid, a fellow captive tried to cause a scene that their guard didn’t take too kindly to. And when this bold protester was joined in voice by a few other captives, the guard, from his side of the hold, showed everyone just what those collars could do.
The electrical shock, activated by a device in the man’s hand, shorted out the man’s stack* instantly, and the man fell down dead – real death*. Not a sound came from anyone else in the hold of the vessel for a very long time.
They were stuck in the vessel for the passing of two meals – at least that’s what Takeshi was awake for. But the passage of time between the meals was longer than one should normally go without food. Which told him his captors were concerned the barest amount for their wellbeing. Not that he really needed any other clues to that fact.
Some hours after the last meal, the vessel’s vibrations changed. None of his companions noticed the change, or if they did, they didn’t make it known. And the guard that kept watch over them didn’t shout it out, either. From this, Takeshi surmised that something had changed but it was normal for the crew.
At least for a few minutes.
Then, it seemed, the floor dropped out from under the vessel. Captives reached for anything they could hold onto as the vessel juked from one side to the next. Takeshi was starting to think there was more to this vessel than his senses had originally told him.
Then the vessel just stopped. The guard was on his feet and heading towards the door, but it opened before he reached it, and shots of red light laced through the opening, striking the guard in the chest. The man fell down, and Takeshi suspected the guard was as real dead as the prisoner who’d died earlier.
So who was doing the killing here now?
[ 1st Asterisk - a 'sleeve' is just the body a person is currently in. The sleeve Takeshi is currently in actually belongs to a person named Elias Ryker - and he's been wrongfully imprisoned. Takeshi helped prove his innocence.
2nd Asterisk - Kristen Ortega is Elias Ryker's girlfriend, who very much wants her boyfriend back.
3rd Asterisk - 'Reever' is a drug that knocks a person out.
4th Asterisk - a 'stack' is what people call the chip implanted at the base of a person's skull, it contains all their memories/identity/etc. Electrical shocks right to the stack destroy the stack.
5th Asterisk - 'Real death' is what people call 'death' in Takeshi's universe. Because a sleeve can be destroyed, but if the stack is undamaged, the person isn't really dead and they can just be put in a new sleeve.]
[there's no task that cassian gives any less than his full care and attention. it's essential, in the field; complicated situations can become even more complicated within seconds, less than, and no mission can afford distraction of any kind. whether it's in the midst of a firefight on some outer rim planet, behind a desk, or anywhere else, he compartmentalizes within a breath when he sets to work.
brushing through jyn's hair as she's seated in front of him, carefully separating it into segments with the ease of someone who's done this many times before (and he had once, a long time ago), is an effort that's no less worth that level of focus.
it's been quiet for a time in their private quarters as he's worked, gently taking out the last of her tangles and considering next steps. in the pause that comes now, though, his lips purse and his head tilts as his hands still.
then, that silence breaks, slowly, like the engine of a grounded u-wing first being brought to life, when he asks,]
One or two?
[braids, he means — and she probably knows he means; he can't remember a time when their conversations have ever been wholly verbal.]
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zvi
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Date: 2021-09-16 04:34 am (UTC)He’d been jumped outside The Raven, having just picked up Poe, and it’d happened so fast and sudden, he didn’t have time to get a swing in. He was knocked out cold, possibly stabbed with a knife laced with Reever*. And when he’d come to, he was already inside the vessel. He seemed to be one of many that had been taken off Earth and collared.
The vessel was dark, no windows, and the hold he and the other were kept in was barely humane. He didn’t see any facilities for normal bodily functions, but from the smell, maybe the hold was the facility for such. The hold was sectioned off from the door by something he’d never seen before – a slice of air that was distorted, and where it met the walls it was electric green. There was no way to tell the direction they were going.
He suspected the collar was far more dangerous than just a fashion accessory, and luckily for him, before he tried anything stupid, a fellow captive tried to cause a scene that their guard didn’t take too kindly to. And when this bold protester was joined in voice by a few other captives, the guard, from his side of the hold, showed everyone just what those collars could do.
The electrical shock, activated by a device in the man’s hand, shorted out the man’s stack* instantly, and the man fell down dead – real death*. Not a sound came from anyone else in the hold of the vessel for a very long time.
They were stuck in the vessel for the passing of two meals – at least that’s what Takeshi was awake for. But the passage of time between the meals was longer than one should normally go without food. Which told him his captors were concerned the barest amount for their wellbeing. Not that he really needed any other clues to that fact.
Some hours after the last meal, the vessel’s vibrations changed. None of his companions noticed the change, or if they did, they didn’t make it known. And the guard that kept watch over them didn’t shout it out, either. From this, Takeshi surmised that something had changed but it was normal for the crew.
At least for a few minutes.
Then, it seemed, the floor dropped out from under the vessel. Captives reached for anything they could hold onto as the vessel juked from one side to the next. Takeshi was starting to think there was more to this vessel than his senses had originally told him.
Then the vessel just stopped. The guard was on his feet and heading towards the door, but it opened before he reached it, and shots of red light laced through the opening, striking the guard in the chest. The man fell down, and Takeshi suspected the guard was as real dead as the prisoner who’d died earlier.
So who was doing the killing here now?
[ 1st Asterisk - a 'sleeve' is just the body a person is currently in. The sleeve Takeshi is currently in actually belongs to a person named Elias Ryker - and he's been wrongfully imprisoned. Takeshi helped prove his innocence.
2nd Asterisk - Kristen Ortega is Elias Ryker's girlfriend, who very much wants her boyfriend back.
3rd Asterisk - 'Reever' is a drug that knocks a person out.
4th Asterisk - a 'stack' is what people call the chip implanted at the base of a person's skull, it contains all their memories/identity/etc. Electrical shocks right to the stack destroy the stack.
5th Asterisk - 'Real death' is what people call 'death' in Takeshi's universe. Because a sleeve can be destroyed, but if the stack is undamaged, the person isn't really dead and they can just be put in a new sleeve.]
and something fluffy
Date: 2023-09-27 12:31 am (UTC)brushing through jyn's hair as she's seated in front of him, carefully separating it into segments with the ease of someone who's done this many times before (and he had once, a long time ago), is an effort that's no less worth that level of focus.
it's been quiet for a time in their private quarters as he's worked, gently taking out the last of her tangles and considering next steps. in the pause that comes now, though, his lips purse and his head tilts as his hands still.
then, that silence breaks, slowly, like the engine of a grounded u-wing first being brought to life, when he asks,]
One or two?
[braids, he means — and she probably knows he means; he can't remember a time when their conversations have ever been wholly verbal.]