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FAR Part 2 - Scene One - The Arrival

Page history last edited by Garry Timmons 16 years, 7 months ago

"Finding Anastasia Romanov" Part 2

 

Scene One: The Arrival

 

August 2nd, 1990: It has been nearly four months since the initial invasion. Not long ago, a member of the Pendragon Renegades went missing. She was the beautiful Russian psychic Anastasia Romanov. It happened just shortly after an expedition to the Land Below. No one was sure just what had happened to her. Through some investigative work by Saka Att, some clues to her location were discovered. She was apparently still in Khartoum. A group of the Pendragon renegades went in, in search of her. The group consisted of Lara Croft (a smart young woman with a large fortune and an adventurous spirit); Morocco Smith (a muslim warrior who wanted to survive this war and make some money to open up his own barber shop in America); The Pretender (a Nile Mystery Man who seemed to have the ability to learn learn skills with ease); Rolfe Wolfe (a werewolf from the land of Orrosh); and Saka Att (a leopard man warrior that the group had met in the Land Below).

 

A ravagon named Brak soon joined the group to help them in their quest. The group discovered that Anastasia Romanov was apparently being held against her will in a personal residence owned by a man named Oliver Blackwind. The group mounted a rescue operation to go in and save their friend. They met tough resistance in the gated yard of the residence in the form of Tainted Ones. The Tainted Ones, a foul and malignant undead craeture from the realm of Asyle had no place here. They were exceptionally powerful and the heroes barely managed to beat them.

 

Once inside, something went terribly wrong. Only one of the group managed to escape with his life - Morocco Smith. He managed to contact Andy and the rest of the Pendragon Renegades two days ago at their compound in Shelbyville, Kentucky. (http://www.shelbyvillekentucky.com/shelbysong.mov) He didn't know if the others were dead or alive, only that he was in bad shape himself, hiding out in the city trying to avoid being found. Andrew Joyce got together a group of his Storm Knights and chartered a plane to Khartoum, the former capital of Sudan.

 

Now Andrew Joyce and his team have arrived. As the plane comes to a stop he loks over at his team. He isn't comfortable yet with most of them. In fact he only really knows Liza Beth - The amazon from the island of Hespera in the Nile Empire. Andy met her on a cruise after he got separated from other members of his team after helping destroy the machine that was robbing the Earth of its momentum. He trusted her, even if she was not all that happy to be working with a bunch of men. Next he looked to Jack Markson. Andrew knew very little about him. All he knew about the man was that the Delphi Council had sent him to work with the Pendragon Renegades as news of their exploits had started to make the news. Andrew wasn't sure if he could trust the man at all, or if he would even be willing to take orders from him. After all, Andy was only 16 years old. He wasn't sure if he could keep this group that he founded in line for long. After all, how can he expect them to follow the lead of someone they view as "just a kid".

 

Andrew finished inspecting his crew by looking over at the other two new recruits. Jason Aari and Kahn Hill. He didn't know much about them either. Apparently Lara Croft had met them on her recent trip to Japan. They were friends who met in Japan. Both were adept martial artists, but past that Andrew really knew nothing. They had only just gotten to the compound to join the Andy's Storm Knight group that Lara had mentioned to them a couple hours after Andy got the call from Morocco Smith. It seemed coincidental, but Andy's other options were limited. Right now he still had two younger kids back at the base that he and Liza Beth had rescued on the cruise ship where they had met. The kids, Billy Mondragon and Jennifer Minor, actually wanted to come, but Andrew wouldn't hear of it. He left Shul and John West to watch the kids. Unfortunately Chris Taine, Jack Frost, Jason Wynn, Thorin and Yarrick were all off on another mission at the moment. So Andy took what he could get. He hates the idea of going into this without knowing the people he is working with very well.

 

The stewardess of the small flight lowers the stairwell out of the plane as the engines come to a halt. Her name badge says Karie-Anne, but it is currently hidden behind her strawberry blonde hair that she took down when the flight had come to an end. She smiles at the odd assemblage as she steps to the side to see them off the plane. They have no bags to get as they only really have the gear and weapons that they brought with them. You'd think that they wouldn't have wanted the weapons on board, but apparently Andrew had paid enough to make them look the other way... after all, they were the only passengers on this flight anyway.

 

The group deplanes. Andrew and Liza Beth are first to get off, followed by Kahn Hill and Jason Aari. Jack Markson is the last to get off the plane. Jack joins the small group as they stand around each other on the runway. Looking past the gated runway they see a whole lot of sand. The co-pilot, Davis Williams, walks up to the group.

 

"We'll be ready to depart in 24 hours. That's all the time Captain Skylark can afford to lay-over here without causing suspicion amongst the enemy government here. We don't want to be implicated as having involvement with you. I hope that is enough time for you to do whatever it is you came here for." The co-pilot is speaking directly to Andrew Joyce since he is the one who is responsible for paying for this flight.

 

Surveying the area, Kahn is anxious to get this expedition underway. Never being much for patience and overhearing Davis William's conversation with Andrew, he remarks "C'mon Shuhan, if we only got tweny-fow owas we needa get bizy!"

Shuhan is Japanese for leader

 

"Agreed, Kahn," Andrew replies. He turns his attention back to the co-pilot. "24 hours, got it. Thanks for taking such a big risk." Andrew grabs his gear and looks back at the others. "Okay, let's get going. I'm not sure if anyone's expecting us, or just some sort of rescue party, to come for the others. Don't know if we'll be expected or not. But, since we only have 24 hours, I think we need to secure some sort of ground transport that'll be enough for all of us and, hopefully, everyone else from the rest of the team."

 

"You'll want to leave the airport through a service exit."explains Davis Williams. "You might attract a lot of suspicion and attention if you trapse through the airport with your weapons and armor. Especially that..." he motions towards the rather large and hard to hide machine gun strapped to the back of Jack Markson.

 

"Thanks, Davis," Andrew replies. He turns his attention back to the team. "As it is, I'm not sure if we should be seen by any guards around the place. I think one of us, preferably someone stealthy, should scout ahead and find us a fast way out of here. Or, at the least, take point and guide the rest of us out fast. Last thing we need to do is get into a fight right off the bat." Andrew stands there, thinking to himself for a minute. He then looks back at Davis Williams and asks, "By the way, ever here of a bar called 'Slippery Sam's' around these parts?"

 

"Nope. Never been here before myself..." explains the co-pilot.

 

"This is my home land so I will lead you men out of here, but we will still need to be careful of the guards" says Liza Beth as she step forward. Then she continues, "wait here, I will go make sure there are no guards around the side of the building." And she then heads off to scout out a way for them to go.

 

Ever the impatient one, Kahn addresses Jason, "Why we gonna hafta wait aroun' heeya for som stupid gurl? You a ninja! How she mo' stealthy than that? You go an' show stupid gurl how things done!" as he looks disapprovingly towards the Amazon.

 

Khan looks as he speaks to Jason, realizing, that Jason is no longer there. A disembodied voice comes from out of nowhere, "You really need to work on your English. Scouting ahead."

 

Looking around, Kahn flusters in response to Jason, "Oooh! I hate it when he do dat! Mow like you needa wuk on you Engrish."

 

Jack Markson looks around warily as both Liza Beth and Jason Aari have gone off scouting, he fidgets with the sleeve on his left arm unconsciously, adjusting it over the bulk of his forearm. Now only Kahn, Jack and Andy are left standing near the plane. He stands near Andy, similar in fashion to a body guard. The co-pilot walks off and joins the Captain and the stewardess as they enter the airport to recuperate from the trip.

 

****

 

Liza Beth walks around the corner of the building. She doesn't even notice that Jason Aari has stealthfully been shadowing her. The two of them notice that there are employee vehicles parked on this side of the building. The cars are much older looking than Jason is used to seeing. They all look like they were made in the thirties or forties. There's about six different cars in all, not to mention a few horses and camels that have been secured to hitching posts. The animals eat from a trough as the patiently await the return of their masters.

 

Beyond that, Jason and Liza Beth make out two airport security monitoring the gate leading into the airport. They watch as they let a small delivery vehicle pass through the wooden barricade which is manually operated. After approving the vehicle for entry and watching it pass by, the two return to their posts. One goes inside a small building just a little bigger than an outhouse that has windows on all four walls. This is apparently the guardpost. The other guard moves over to the end of the wooden barricade. He keeps a hand on his holstered pistol as he looks about for anything out of the ordinary.

 

It doesn't look like there is any way out of the gate without confronting the two guards, unless the team finds an unwatched portion of the 15 foot tall fence to climb. The coils of barbed wire atop the angled fence might prove problematic to get over for some of the team.

 

****

 

Jack adjusts the strap for his machine gun on his back and then brings his M-16 up to the ready position, he switches the safety to burst mode. He looks over to Andrew, "What are our rules of engagement here, sir?"

 

Andrew turns his attention to Jack. "Good question," he replied. "I'd think it'd be safe to say that the first rule of engagement is to avoid it whenever possible." Andrew pauses, then smirks when he realizes an additional, yet unintended, interpretation of his reply. "Our goal is to find out what happened to the other Renegades, and to get the heck out of dodge with as many of them as possible. We'll fight if we need to, but I'd prefer to avoid them if at all possible." Andrew adjusts the force field generator to fit better, and gently rests his hand on the pommel of Nile Sunblade that he wears at his side. "However, our priorities can change before we realize it."

 

The commando nods at Andrew, and further moves the fire selector from burst to single shot. A man wearing an airport jumpsuit walks over towards the group. He looks somewhat nervous because he can see the weapons being held by the group, especially those of Jack. As he approaches, the team can see him gulp hard, he's obviously approaching them against his own will. He couldn't be older than 17 or 18... obviously a baggage loader.

 

"Excuse me... but you guys are gonna have to clear the airfield." says the young man, not taking his eyes off the gun, obviously concerned that it might be used against him.

 

Jack eyes the man up and down, "You obviously don't know who this man is," as he nods at Andrew. Dissmissively he adds to the airport lackey, "I expect you use more respect when addressing him." Markson then directs his comment to Andrew, "Sir, our driver service is obviously late, your orders?"

 

In attempt to go along with Jack, Andrew replies, looking around elsewhere as if his full attention wasn't required to respond to one of his "subordinates." "Wait for the adjuncts to return with any news on these matters. I expected that a command car with a troop escort would've arrived on time, but apparently my presumption on their efficiency was greatly overgenerous." Andrew surveys the area, trying to at least spot the party scouts, though attempting to act like a general officer surveying the defenses.

 

Andy looks around the area. He doesn't see Jason or Liza returning yet. The airfield is fairly bare, there's only a couple of other small planes nearby, and very few people. He can't make out what is happening inside the building however, due to the glare coming off the surface of the windows.

 

"And you are?" The man asks of Andrew.

 

Attempting to sound appropriately haughty for a supposedly high-ranking officer, Andrew starts to reply without even looking at the man. "Colonel Sprucejoy, Covert Counter-Insurgency Task Force. Under direct orders to not disclose mission details to anyone. Currently waiting for a staff car and escort who should have been present at my arrival." Andrew's attnetion is now focused on the luggage handler. "As I am forced to be frugal with my time, I require transportation for my staff and myself. And, before you ask any more questions about something I am not to disclose to anyone but my direct superiors, I would remind you that when dealing with certain matters of state, ignorance is bliss, for yourself and anyone who may be incidentally involved."

 

Kahn takes his chance to interject into the conversation and addresses the luggage handler, "Oh man, you really step in it now! No caw fow Conal Sprujoy... If I woo you, I hide my face an not come back to wuk inna moning!"

 

The boy seemingly doesn't understand a single word that Kahn utters, although he is somewhat mystified with the way Kahn's hair sticks straight up. He shakes off the gaze and returns his eyes back to Andy. "You're like twelve...."

 

The young man then turns to leave, sending his final statement at the man with the big guns, "Clear the airfield in one minute or I'll notify airport security."

 

Liza Beth returns to the others to let them know what she found out. Jason Aari is in tow, still moving with stealth as he relies on his sixth sense to let him know of any impending danger. She sees the other man walking away from the group of Storm Knights and is unsure of what is going on. She clamly looks around to see if there is anyone else around, but doesn't seem to notice anything else happening, staying focused on the man leaving the group.

 

When she finally reaches the rest of the team she looks over at Andy, "What is going on, is there a Problem?"

 

"Well, you heard the man--we have a minute to clear the airfield." Andrew keeps an eye on the luggage handler, trying to see what he's doing, and if he's headed toward anyone. "Didn't really specify how we should do it, though."

 

Suddenly, moving out of the shadows, Jason brushes some unseen lint from his shoulder. He is dressed in a collarless leather jacket, red turtle-neck shirt, brown slacks, and black patent leather shoes. "There are at least two guards by my count. They can easily be taken down..." He can feel his psionic awareness slipping away.

 

Jack is dressed in green camo BDU's battle dress uniform, with a kevlar tactical vest on. He has a large machine gun strapped on his back, and holds an M-16 at the ready. His pockets on his fatigues and vest seem full, probably of ammo. He wears combat boots with nasty looking spikes on the steel reinforced toes. His reddish-brown hair stands up wavy in the air think Spike from Cowboy Bebop.

 

Once the luggage boy is away, he says, "I would've shot for the son of Col. Sprucejoy," Jack shrugs, to Liza and Jason, "Where is the best place to cross the fence, maybe one with a lightpole or tree nearby?" He scans the area, looking for a good place to cross the fence. He becomes slightly distracted as the wind carries some dust into his eyes, forcing him to cut his observations short rolled a 1 on your perception check, luckily you weren't doing something that would cause a contradiction!

 

"By the way," Andrew addresses Jack, "don't have me bluff. I'm not good with on-the-spot bluffs like that." Still focused on the luggage handler who seems to have gone back to performing his normal duties, Andrew continues his conversation with the others. "Well, what looks like the most viable option? Taking down 2 guards and taking a vehicle, or making a break for the fence? We need to do something quick, and hopefully with as little violence as possible--we still need to come back here to catch the plane back out. Or we need to start thinking about finding another way out if we can't come back here."

 

Looking at the group, then to Andy, Liza Beth says" Going over the fence will be a bit hard there is razor sharp wire at the top of it. So I'm not sure what you want to do Andy".

 

Andrew looks at both the fence and the way Jason Aari indicated. "Damnit," he curses. "Jason, lead the way, fast. I'd say the fence seems viable, but if we are going to flee the scene, we best do it in a vehicle and not on foot. Unless anyone can give me a good reason otherwise in a few seconds, we deal with the guards and steal a ride."

 

Andrew looks at Jack and Liza. "Fence has razorwire, and taking people one by one over the fence will be very time-consuming. If we stick together, we have a better chance in a fight than split into 2 groups with a fence between us."

 

Jack Markson nods in agreeance and moves with all do speed with the rest of the group. He caries his M-16 with one hand and readies to fire his grapple at anyone who intercedes them. They reach the side of the building and the odd assortment of heroes park themselves behind an employee vehicle for cover from the eyes of the guards.

 

Realizing the need for a distraction of some sort, without saying a word Kahn begins to concentrate on one of the guards' hand guns, specifically the safety and trigger to make it fire. Without warning, the gun of the security officer that is outside of the booth fires in it's holster. The bullet strikes the ground next to the officer's foot. Not realizing where the shot came from, the man hysterically runs into the building, most likely looking for cover and help.

 

The other officer draws out his pistol and ducks for cover inside the small building. He barely peers out through the windows of the guardpost trying to find their attackers. He looks frightened, but ready to fire if need be. The sound of the gun discharge, and the fleeing guard will likely bring further attention to this area quickly.

 

Jason Aari drops to the ground and begins crawling stealthfully towards the gate. The guard is nervously looking around, while trying to keep low enough that he doesn't present a target to the shooter who fired on his partner before. Jason makes it outside the perimeter of the fenced off area, keeping low to the ground. It looks like he is moving towards the guard in the guard booth.

 

Jack quickly launches his grapple to bust out a car window at his max range. He chooses a car that is 30 feet away, and where the guards won't see him do it. He tells the others, "This will get them looking over there, someone jack this car so we can crash out the gate."

 

The guard stands up straight, pointing his gun at the vehicle that just had it's side window shatter. Jack Markson recoils his grappling hook as quietly as he can. Luckily it doesn't get snagged on the door of the car.

 

Kahn mutters aloudas he opens the vehicle door, "Why no robo-man jack caw? Kahn haffa do evyting!" Kahn gets to work under the vehicle's steering column, trying to figure out how to hotwire a vehicle. Perhaps the mechanics are too simple for Kahn as he is having trouble figuring out how to do it.

 

Jack Markson whispers back to Kahn who is hard at work, "I'm a commando, not a petty criminal. Find me a helo, I'll steal that."

 

"No such thing here, Jack," Andrew replies while moving to get a better view of what Kahn's attempting to do. "Besides, it's not stealing--it's borrowing something from the bad guys to go rescue some captured good guys. Nothing wrong with that here. All nice and Indiana Jones-like."

 

Jack Markson seems to recall the idea of Indiana Jones. He remembers it was a historical figure... possibly fictional, but the reference doesn't seem to hold as much meaning for Jack as it might have held once, before he was flipped over to an alien reality.

 

Not really liking the way things are going Liza Beth keepe quite and watches out for any more guards that my come. She doesn't see anyone else approaching, but it has only been a few seconds since the shot was fired and she knows that, at the very least, the luggage handler who had confronted them earlier was within' earshot of the weapon discharge. He will likely alert authorities, possibly with descriptions of their group since he saw the weapons that many of them carried with them.

 

Jason Aari rises up and opens the door to the guard booth. The startled guard points the gun at the ninja and prepares to fire. Jack realizes that this has the potential to get ugly fast. While remaining hidden, he removes his can of grease paint and quickly and crudely paints on a ceremonial battle mask, resembling a blurred Kato mask.

 

Still under the steering column, Kahn continues to make progress in attempting to hotwire the car. “Stupid no Japaneez caw!” he grumbles, “I toll Robo-man him shudda try jack caw…” it doesn't look good. The technology is too old, making it more difficult for Khan. It is not laid out quite the same way as it is in the more modern vehicles he is used to.

 

Andrew looks around the airport, trying to get an idea of what else is around him. Suddenly, Andrew remembers that he has something with him that could help serve as a distraction and get the guard's attention. Liza Beth watches as Andrew draws reaches into his pack and pulls out a handful of smoke pellets from a pocket inside that he took from the ninja that they fought back on The Carribean Lady. Noticing that there are few other objects nearby which he could toss a smoke pellet at, he decides that he'll toss a pellet at the fence, trying to make the guard look in the opposite direction from where Jason to keep him from shooting. He hopes that it will confuse the guard and give the team more time to do what they need to do.

 

Before Andy can throw the smoke pellet, Jason punches the man in the face. The guard collapses without ever getting a shot off. The horses and camels have begun to panic. Between the gunfire, shattering glass, and the nearby violence, they are trying to tear free from their hitching posts.

 

"Kahn, how's the car coming?" Jack asks the man under the steering column. Khan, struggling with it doesn't answer him at first. "Anyone else thinking stampede," he motions at the horses. "I'm gonna start untying them." Jack starts a fast low crawl towards the animals.

 

Khan sits up in the seat and begins concentrating on the starter, trying to use his telekinesis to start the engine since he can't seem to do it. The psionic strain from the effort is tremendous.

 

"I'll help you untie the animals," says Liza Beth, she begins to crawl after Jack Markson.

 

She and Jack move over to the hitching postd, but at the moment, it doesn't look like anyone else is coming.

 

Jason Aari moves into the building and handcuffs the security guard to the handle on the door. He rises and loks out to see what progress the others have made.

 

Jack quietly asks Liza, "I don't think the ninja can steal that car, how do you feel about taking some horses? These might be too panicked?" He still looks ready to start letting them loose.

 

"That is fine and the way things look we my have to. But we need to try and calm them down first." Then she carefully moves over to the horse talking calmly and rubbing her hand on it to calm it down. Jack helps the amazon calm the horses.

 

Kahn exclaims as he exits the car, "Dis stupid caw broken! Kahn can no make wuk!" He continues, "Summun ess gotta get caw now. Kahn have headache!" Then addressing Jack and the Amazon as they try unsuccessfully to calm the horses, "Kahn eat hoss, no ride hoss!"

 

While the others are busy with their own tasks, Andrew looks at where Kahn was working. He recalls seeing cars being hotwired in movies several times, so he figures he might as well give it a shot. He too has no luck starting the vehicle, perhaps Andrew needs to find a thief to come work for them. Just as he is about to give up, the engine turns over. He's got it going, much to his own surprise.

 

The heroes can hear the sounds of many footfalls coming from the other side of the building, back where they had first come from. They are approaching rapidly.

 

"Jack, Jason, as soon as you get in, be ready to provide cover fire if necessary." shouts Andrew.

 

Jason makes his way to the car and gets in the back. Jack Markson also takes off, leaving the horses behind as he runs for the now purring car. He does not get in; however, waiting to climb in last.

 

Kahn stares for a moment at Andrew in sheer disbelief, marvelling at his defeat of the obviously superior technology (the car). "Das pretty good shuhan! Not even Kahn defeat technagee dat tuff!"

 

Hearing the car start and the footsteps rapidly coming closer to them, Liza Beth rushes over to the front passager side door and opens it quickly and gets in. She looks at Andrew with a smile and says, "great work here, but I think we really need to go now!!"

 

Then she looks over to the others left standing outside and says, "Come on guys, hurry your butts up and get in before it's too late!!"

 

Andrew also hears the approaching footsteps as he sets the car in gear and prepares the car for a quick retreat. Andrew hands Liza Beth the handful of smoke pellets he grabbed out earlier. "Liza Beth, here's a little something to aid our getaway."

 

She remembers the small bombs from the fight of teh Carribean Lady. The ninja had used them to mask himself in smoke. It wasn't a big field of smoke, but it was enough to give the ninja a chance to get away. It disspiated a few seconds later. Though she isn't really familiar with the objects she did she how they worked -- just throw them hard against the ground, or another surface. She is sure she can use them appropriately.

 

Jason prepares for a possible battle with the ord security guards who are coming. A wry smile playing across his face as he pulls out a pair of elaborate pistols covering everyones 'six'. He knows that it wouldn't be appropriate to kill the ords, since they are just trying to live their lives in the reality they have been forced into. Most of them are most likely earthers who flipped over to the Terra axioms when Dr. Mobius invaded Earth with the Nile Empire. But if push comes to shove, the flipped ords are providing support to the High Lord of the realm just by being alive -- even if it isn't their fault.

 

Jack pulls up his M-16, flicking the selector fire to burst, he then fires a burst at the ground where the footsteps should be coming around the building. After being brought back to reality by the gunfire, Kahn gets into the vehicle next to Jason. Jack then gets in forcing Khan over into the middle between himself and Jason, "That should give them something to think about before rounding that corner."

 

Andrew takes off the force field generator so he can sit easier in the driver's seat. "By the way, anyone who's providing cover fire may want to use that thing."

 

Andrew then takes off, charging the vehicle through the barricade arm. They drive off into the depths of the city in search of their rendezvous point...

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