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Chapter 6- The Life Lessons

 
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Kalanna Rai
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:38 am    Post subject: Chapter 6- The Life Lessons Reply with quote

Sorry about the delay. There was RL, comp, and just plain writing issues with this one. Enjoy!
----------------------------

Chapter Six: The Life Lessons

Jasper lunged at the slim man, sensing speed was of the essence. If he was going to beat Angelo, he needed to do it by using rapid blows and catching him off guard. Throwing faints coupled with lightning quick strikes...that was the ticket. It was a good plan yet Jasper realized it didn't have a hope of working as he picked himself up off the deck. He hadn't even seen the blow coming, Angelo didn't seem to have moved. "Wha..."

That was as far as he got before Angelo advanced, causing Jasper to scramble to his feet and bring his blade up barely in time to parry the single handed swing the slim man doled out to him. The jarring force of the impact numbed his hand and sent shockwaves down his arm that rattled his teeth and loosened the roots of his hair. Taking into consideration the total off-hand manner with which the blow had been delivered, Jasper was forced to reevaluate the situation. His chances had just gone from slim...to none.

From a few feet away Angelo shook his head. "So this is the best the next generation can do? A half hearted attempt to stick me that my grandmother would laugh at? I'm not even sweating mate."

Jasper shook his sword hand, flexing his fingers until feeling was restored. He ground his teeth at the insults. Dammit, he still had his pride! He wasn't a quitter! Just like that his anger sparked and his temper came loose. He felt Jade trying to restrain it, to drain it away, and that only made it worse. Leave it! I always fight better pissed!

You always fight wilder when angry. Jasper, your fury is a weapon...but not when used like this! This...this is like using anger as a club, all blunt force and no finesse and you already know finesse is the only thing that will... He cut Jade off with a snarl and hurled himself back at Angelo. With a yawn the slim man locked blades with Jasper, an elegant twist of his wrist trapping Jasper's blade between the blade of his sword and it's massive guards. One good twist and the cutlass would shatter like glass.

Jasper strained with all his might but Angelo wouldn't let him break the lock. "Look at me boy." The firey eyes of the youth and the cold steel grey eyes of the slim man locked. "This cutlass is very old and very dear. I would not break it were it my only option. Yet never have I ever seen it treated so!"

"Then why let me touch it at all? Why not just give me some old and battered blade ready for the scrap heap instead of one of your precious treasures?"

"You fool! That blade wasn't made for my hand! It doesn't follow my commands, make my strokes, or speak to my heart. It doesn't sing for me or call to me or shift it's balance so that I'm never off center no matter how wild the swing! Yet even though it does all these things for you...you treat it as if it were nothing more than some old, battered relic!" Angelo pushed harder, shoving Jasper back despite all he could do.

Angelo's tirade continued. "That blade is kept with my collection because I wanted it kept safe for the son of the man it had chosen! The heir apparent to it's talents! That's right boy...it's your Father's own blade your misusing. It chose you as I knew it would...yet more proof you are the son of the man I knew. Yet it also proves that you are nothing like him."

With a sudden shove Angelo sent Jasper reeling back and started hammering him with massive, bone-snapping blows using the flat of his huge sword. Each word he said was hammered home, litterally, a blow landing each time he spoke. "You. Are. A. Disgrace!" He spun as Jasper swiped a feeble blow at him, his next blow landing twice as hard. "You. Could. Not. Weild. A. Blade. Had. You. Been. Shown. From. Birth!" He dodged back as Jasper aimed a kick at him, his blows landing hard from overhead. "Were. It. Up. To. Me..." he stopped and again locked blades with Jasper, his face coming close to the boy's ear, his voice a harsh whisper as he spoke again.

"Were it up to me...I'd find another son."

From somewhere deep inside the Rage poured forth again, bringing new energy to Jasper. He stood for a few moments, biting his lip until he had the pain under control. Angelo, meanwhile, walked over to where the other five orphans were standing. He grinned at Saul and neatly plucked the bottle from his hand. Saluting the young boy with it, he grinned again. "Time to give your friend a chance mate."

With that he downed the entire bottle, tossing the empty over the side. Then he whipped his massive blade around, staggering a bit as the drink set in. He held the weapon out to Saul. "Here...hold this for me." He dropped it into the boy's outstreached hands, ignoring the thud that followed as the blade's weight, or maybe it's perverse personality, dragged Saul to the deck. Staggering back till he was only five feet from Jasper, Angelo lurched to a stop. "Alright. I'm drunk and unarmed...that's as fair as it's going to get boy."

Looking up Jasper spied an opening. Shoving his pain down deep he moved forward...only to be surprised as Angelo sort of tilted to the side, grabbed the wrist of the had that held his blade, and slapped him hard across the face. The battle disintigrated from there into a series of wild thrusts and wavering blows and near misses and rude gestures. Somehow, by sheer luck it seemed at the best of times, Angelo always managed to avoid the blows. He struck back as well...often missing what looked like his initial blow and landing a 'mistaken' knee or elbow that was always followed up by a 'sorry mate'.

Finally Jasper scored blood. Feinting with a fist he whipped his blade back around and managed to cut Angelo along the cheek. Just a scratch but the slim man raised a trembling hand too it. At the sight of his own blood...the booze haze was gone and the sober Steel was back. All buisness now, Angelo reached out and siezed Jasper by the throat before hurling him across the deck. Utterly exhausted, his reserves and anger spent, Jasper could do little more than drag himself to his feet as Angelo stalked back over.

"You cut my face. You selfish little bastard! I havn't hit you in the face yet and I'm not going to. Everyone says facial scars look cool. Tough and sinister! Pah! All they do is make you squint and make the wenchs less forthcoming. Trust me...I know." Sezing Jasper as he took a seat on the railing he deftly sent the youth sprawling across his knees. "Normally I'd flog a man for that...but nothing I've seen today suggests you're a man. This is a much more fitting punishmet." With that he delivered seven hard blows to the seat of Jaspers trowsers and a cuff to the head before tossing the now limp youth over to the feet of his friends.

It was only then Angelo noticed Jade had collapsed, blood trickling from her nose and the corners of her mouth...livid bruises rising in the same places as Jasper's. "Oh shit. I should really have seen that coming. Quickly...bring them this way." Picking up his blade, which a stubborn Saul was still valiantly struggling to lift, he vanished into the shadowed hatchway. With Jade in Ambroise's arms and Jasper over Donovan's shoulder, the party quickly descended into the ship's passages, following Angelo.

A few moments later the found themselves in a sickbay that outstripped that of most hospital ships. "This is a rough line of work mates. If you can't patch yourself up quick you're going to be the worst kind of hurt...dead. Catch my drift?" He walked over to a control panel, his long fingers dancing across the keys. The two beds in the room activated. "Quickly...put them there. The bioscans should tell the the system what they need."

Donovan settled Jasper with as little jarring as possible, ears drooping so far they might as well have been an ugly haircut. His tail was curled between his legs, shivering twitches replacing it's usual happy wagging. Saul and Cobalt were hovering close to him, Cobalt hovering between rage and sorrow...Saul patting Donovan's shoulder gently. Perhaps only Angelo noted the tender way Ambrois laid Jade out, taking care to fold her hands neatly on her chest...like a man handling a blown glass sculpture.

Pressing more buttons Angelo activated the scans, twitching a finger to bring the orphans over to see the results. "Interesting," he murmered. "Though the injuries are identical in placement and frequency...hers are far less profound. Self-imposed but not actually inflicted." As the orphans gathered close he spoke louder. "Good news and bad news mates. Good news, Jade'll be back on her feet in a couple of hours. Bad new, Jasper won't be back on his feet for a couple of days. Guess I was a little harder on him than intended but my face. Oh! Speaking of which..." He walked over to a small medkit and within moments the damage to his face was gone as if it had never been.

Ambrois, meanwhile, studied the scan results intently. He had the feeling that he was missing something important, something he could have understood if only he knew a little more about human anatomy and this bioscan readouts. Still, what little he did know was throwing up little red warning flags in his brain. Something was definetly different about Jasper and Jade...something that went far beyond a powerful mental link.

A light tap on his shoulder caused him to turn and lock eyes with Angelo. The haze was back, brought on my something found in one of the medkits...a 200 proof something. "Time to hit the sack mate. Long day ahead of us tomorrow." Ambrois shrugged away from the slim man and followed the others out...determined to sneak back in and re-read those bioscans later.

For a few moments Angelo stood alone in the sick bay looking from the scan results to the two young people laying in their pods. He shook his head, silvery hair glittering in the illumination of lights that were powering down. "Red, damn you for a fool. What have you done?" His whispered words echoed back to him hollowly as his hands trailed across the panel, erasing the scan results before he left the bay for the deck and the lonely comfort of the wheel.
-------------------------

Jade woke in a panic. She couldn't sense Jasper! For a moment she wondered if Angelo had killed him...then the muzzy sensation of her brother tingled against the edges of her mind. Not dead then...but deeply asleep and remote. She pressed lightly against the soft shell that covered the top of her recovery bed and it irised back to allow her to get up. For a few moments she hugged herself, the battle and all it's pain replaying itself in her mind's eye. Jasper's anger had fallen away to fear, exhaustion, and shame at the very last and the emotions had swept over her and into her despite all his plundered barriers could do to keep them out.

Now she sat shivering and hugging herself, remembering the look in Angelo's eyes as seen through Jasper's own. That Arcex had no pity...and so much pain. Why? Was whatever secret he kept what drove him to drink? Was it something her father had done? That was something else she was having trouble with...her father a famous pirate. What was it about that fact that sent shivers down her spine. Endless questions began to flow through her head, each of them bringing the chills of dark fears until she was shaking, cold, and ill in the pit of her stomach. Yet she could think of only one way to drive them off. With answers. And the only place she knew to find those answers was with Angelo Steel himself.

"I...I can't face him." But she had to...for Jasper's sake. When he woke her fears would be his fears and the last thing she needed was for her brother to be struck by crippling fear whenever the slim man was around. Hugging that thought to her like a child hugs a blanket or a raw recruit grips a sheild, she got to her feet and started towards the deck, knowing somehow she'd find Angelo at the wheel.
----------------------------

"Cloak up."

The ship glowed a brilliant blue against the starry night of the cosmic sea when the cloaking feild first came to life. Then, though a subtle glow persisted for those onboard, she vanished from the sight of those she might encounter. Angelo sighed and leaned back against the crates covered with netting, one foot resting on the wheel and turning it as was needed. He pretended not to notice the soft, hesitant footsteps that approached him from below until their owner was only a scant foot behind him. "Evening lass."

Jade gave a surprised hiss, sucking her breath in sharply. Then, regaining her composure, she walked up to him and sat on a crate a few feet away. "Evening." For a long while there was silence. Jade took the time to study Angelo's profile in the dim light of the cloaking glow and the shimmer of the stars. She became only more certain her hunch was right. Gathering her courage she finally spoke. "Angelo...I've a question...well several but one will answer others."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "I'm all ears lass."

The first time she asked the question not a sound escaped her. Clearing her throat she managed to whisper it. "Angelo...is Ambrois your son." She knew by the ridged tension that was suddenly apparent in his muscles her hunch had been correct. It wasn't really apparent for the most part but they both had that certain something.

"How did you figure that one out?"

"Well...it's not really resemblence for the most part except from certain angles. It's more...similarities in personality. He carries himself like you do, self-assured and ready for the challenge. He's intelligent...as are you if you really did build this ship. Ambrois...he reads a lot so he knows a lot. He's smarter than his years and that's come in handy many times...and well, there's something else I just can't name. I just figured he was..."

For another long moment there was silence puncuated only by the creaking of the ship. Angelo's head was cocked to the side, as if listening to some far off voice. Finally he sighed. "I know...I know. I suppose..." He looked at Jade. "Along time ago, it seems, I was in love with a woman I had known most of my life. She was like me, in many ways, yet so different. When I built this ship and took to the stars she went with me for a time...but she didn't care for the life I led and I left her with some money on a world she chose. She told me not to come back until I was done with this pirate foolishness...but we both knew better. I always came back, brought her money, saw to her and made sure she was safe. She always waited."

He stopped for a moment, as if considering how much more to tell. "She finally convinced me to give it up at last, settle down. By that time I'd proven what I'd set out to anyway, had no reason to ravage the stars anymore. But that last run I made a mistake I doubt many others have made. It cost me everything...my past, my present...my future. It cost her her life in the end as well. But she told me about my son before she died, told me what he looked like, how much she loved him, what orphanage she sent him to."

"And I bet my father put Jasper and I in the same orphanage just for that reason." It was all falling together now for Jade, things snapping into place. "You were on that world, in that bar, because you were looking out for us...weren't you."

Angelo stared at the stars. "Not you. I've nothing to spare for you but an old promise to a man who thought he knew me. I'm there because Ambrois is a sign that I am what I've always said I am. Free to do what I damn well please lass."

"Are you ever going to tell him?" She asked softly.

Angelo shrugged. "When I get enough."

"Enough what?"

Angelo winked at her. "Enough of a running head start lass."

It made sense to Jade now...why Angelo drank so much. He had things he didn't want to remember, things that he couldn't remember without causing so much pain. The deck creaked and the whole ship bobbed soothingly while Angelo smiled. "There beautiful. I've told someone...happy." The ship dipped. "I know but it's too soon. You think they'd believe me?" Jade stared at the slim man...was he talking to the ship?

"Angelo? Are you...talking?...to this ship?" The slim man was about to reply when the sound of a large bell began to toll, an alarm of some kind...
------------------------------

What is happening? What alarm is going off? What does it mean?
-----------------------------------

There you go! Hope you liked!
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"It's not just about living forever...the trick is living with yourself forever..."

"Music makes you braver."


Last edited by Kalanna Rai on Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:10 am; edited 1 time in total
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Mephistopheles
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

they are about to be attacked! or maybe the ship is under emotional upheaval, and it is a warning that the topic needs to change?

another startling example of your work, rai. good show!
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent chapter! Kind of shifted away from the humour there, but for a plot like this, it needed it I think.

For the DP - The alarm bell is an S.O.S. from another ship.

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really enjoyed this chapter. The plot development was good and had me hooked throughout. There were several simple spelling errors that I was going to point out but I can't do it without tedium. Just use a spell check and it should get most of them except for misplaced words (me in place of be, for instance).

I think it is safe to say that this gets better with each chapter. I'm glad you worked out the issues you had Rai. Worth the read and the wait. Kudo's

_________________
Just another statistic now. I'd always hoped you could be more. Haven't seen you in years. Now, only in my tears- Unseen and restless.
People come and go. But hope, they'll never know- that I had for you and have still for those whom we held close.

I'll see you in my thoughts and dreams.
Try not worry for you- unseen. A child I knew you then- Now amongst the dead spirits of men.

Live on little boy.
My hopeless joy.
I'll hang on if you linger.

Rest your spirit with me.
One friend down. Goodbye Christian.
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Kalanna Rai
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I'm glad you've all enjoyed it so far.

I'd like to see this discussion go on though. There were several revelations in this chapter that nobody's even touched upon with their responses. Think about it, this alarm bell doesn't necessarily need to be something from outside the ship, it could be internal as well.

Just a poke to see what that stirrs up in the pot.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, I'll try not to hit everything in one go. Ambroise has followed Jade out here and overheard the story. The ship was distracted (funny huhn) but the fact Angelo was finally sharing with someone. Turns out he just shared with two people and one of them is someone he needs to distance himself from. It's a loud alarm because it is a big deal for Angelo and the ship knows it. It could also be trying to distract Angelo so that Ambrois, who is listening, doesn't get caught. That would change things a lot and the ship might not be ready for that. It's even possible, under this avenue of thought, that the ship was trying to get Ambroise' attention via the monitor. There may be a connection between him and the ship in a similar way as there is one between Angelo and the ship.

Then there is always the possibility of the news being received by Jade is enough to wake or be fed to Jasper and now he's aware and the ship just is alerting Angelo.

I'll throw something out to the wind, too. Perhaps Jasper and Jade aren't two different people at all.
Ok, ok. I'm done. Was that good enough Rai? Or was I just totally blowing things out of my rear? You Decide 2007! Very Happy

_________________
Just another statistic now. I'd always hoped you could be more. Haven't seen you in years. Now, only in my tears- Unseen and restless.
People come and go. But hope, they'll never know- that I had for you and have still for those whom we held close.

I'll see you in my thoughts and dreams.
Try not worry for you- unseen. A child I knew you then- Now amongst the dead spirits of men.

Live on little boy.
My hopeless joy.
I'll hang on if you linger.

Rest your spirit with me.
One friend down. Goodbye Christian.
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Kalanna Rai
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually...two of your comments hit very close to home. I won't tell you which two, as it would make the story much less worth reading but it's nice to know folks are keeping up with me. Wink

As for Ambrois learning about all of this...it'll be rather interesting to see how he handels it be it now or later. I've only vauge ideas about how that would go. I would, however, like to point out that Angelo hasn't been a bad father considering the circumstances. That'll be taken into consideration irregardless.

And thaks Rune, for brainstorming a bit.

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"Music makes you braver."
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, well that is why I usually try not to think too deeply about something I am interested in that is not complete. I like to be 'surprised' and if I consider too many things, I might figure stuff out I would like to have not known. Of course, when pressed to analyze something for just that purpose I tend to be totally wrong for some reason. Maybe cus the pressure's on. :-P

At any rate, I would prefer not to think too much about the possibilities until you introduce such an amount that I can think through a few and not ruin any good plot or surprises for myself. Of course, I am still wondering about why this world has anthropomorphic people and how they came about. I haven't totally fallen into complacency about that fact just yet.

_________________
Just another statistic now. I'd always hoped you could be more. Haven't seen you in years. Now, only in my tears- Unseen and restless.
People come and go. But hope, they'll never know- that I had for you and have still for those whom we held close.

I'll see you in my thoughts and dreams.
Try not worry for you- unseen. A child I knew you then- Now amongst the dead spirits of men.

Live on little boy.
My hopeless joy.
I'll hang on if you linger.

Rest your spirit with me.
One friend down. Goodbye Christian.
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Kalanna Rai
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Guess what creatures of all ages? It's time to vote once again!

Cast yours now!

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow Rai! This is really good and it keeps getting better.
Voted and looking forward to next chapter Very Happy

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