Post Mortem

[Nick Ryder]

"I'll have you know I can go at least three rounds and I only need like a half hour or so then I'm good." Nick said with a smirk. "I'm thinking Bartyn is the aggressive kind, which means he probably uses up way too much energy and is only focused on his own pleasure. Look at the way 'Ella was walking... that was hardly 'love making' that was fucking." he manifested a fireball. "And I think we have our opening... since you're the only one with a kilden..."

[Rebecca Talon]

"I stand by my original statement," she said dryly. Eyeing him she shook her head, "A kliden or a fireball is hardly discreet. Let's not just whip them out until we have to. We don't need to cause panic." She glanced around looking suspiciously at the women, and a few of the men. "The way I see it there are only two reasons Bartym chose here and now for his liaison. One, and I think it unlikely, he gets a thrill out of flaunting it under our noses. Secondly, the affair is between one of the guests. If that's the case it's not a random nobody. It would be someone like Bella. Attractive and powerful enough to benefit his needs."

[Nick Ryder]

"That's kinda messed up right? That's some daddy issue shit B." he chuckled "He's fucking my ex-wife Becca." Nick cleared his throat and pointed her out. "Noella always has a weird walk afterwards, squeezes her legs together and walks with a bit more hip sway. Trust me, she didn't have Ally, Jack and Eric immaculately." he grimaced as he thought for a moment. "Wait a second..." he glanced back at Noella. "She's wearing strappy heels. Noella never wears those. We were in New York for Fleet Week and her luggage got lost, bought her these expensive strappy heels, thought she'd look cute in 'em... she told me 'they better come with ankle splints and a hypospray' Took her like six months to get used to wearing heels after they were declared part of the Ambassadorial dress code for some inane reason and you know Nancy never wore heels unless she absolutely had to."

He reached out his hand and looked at Bartyn's shuttle. "We're going about this all wrong, we're not ninja monks, we're engineers. How fine of a blade can you get on that kilden? Need something that'll cut the linkages to his drive system, without the computer realizing it, just enough slice that the circuit will still register but once he powers up the vibration will shake it loose. Old trick we used to pull. Dunno if you and I ever did it, but I did it all the time when there was someone we wanted to stick around, cut their linkages, easy enough fix, but they'd have a bricked shuttle."

[Alessandra St. James]

"Good plan." Ally said as she snuck up behind her father. "And you're not serious about mom and Bartyn? Yuck!" she whispered.

"Ally! What are you doing?" Nick glanced at her and rolled his eyes. "Stay with the others."

"You do know I'm not entirely useless in a fight, besides... I've been training." Ally said with a smile. "I'm not the klutz I used to be. Trust me."

"Then why is your dress torn in two places... you stepped on it... admit it." Nick said.

'Not my fault... Ambassador Jelayan's wife stepped on it, should have known better than to wear a floor length, but it was all I had in black at the apartment, all my LBDs were 'borrowed'... " Ally whispered and lifted the bottom of her skirt. "Gives me more place to hide weapons. No one questions me, they think I'm still the same air head I was."

"Good girl, alright... stay back, whatever you do." Nick said as he pulled off a weapon from her selection of phasers and knives. "Knives... seriously?"

"Seriously. Learn a lot when you're a dead girl walking." Ally winked at Becca. "Although if mom is screwing this guy, I'm going to need a puke bucket."

[Rebecca Talon]

"It's a kliden, not a plasma torch," Rebecca replied dryly. "Michelangelo didn't use a broom to paint the Sistine Chapel. You have to use the right tool for the job." She reached into her robes and pulled out a small repair kit rolled up on a leather pouch, and tied closed with a leather thong. "Eveything you could need. A far as the 'screwing and puking' goes you're not alone."

[Nick Ryder]

"If I ever make fun of your robes, smack me." Nick said with a smile as he held the kit. "Although I think I know what mods I need to make to my kilden when I get to my garage." he added as he found the tools he needed. "Might make mine more of a multi-tool, no reason why a kilden can't be a cutting torch, similar principles."

"So this is the mutual engineer geek thing mom always told me about?" Ally said and tapped a small stud on the side of her shoe which turned her high heel into more of a flat. "You guys are kind of adorable in that regard. Which makes me wonder more and more why you ever married her or Julie for that matter."

"Your mom was a friend of mine for a long time and Julie... she wasn't always a raging bitch, she had a side of her that I did enjoy." He gave Becca a glance. "Although Becca always warned me about her, but... Julie was my first and I did attempt a course correct with Noella but Julie returning from the dead at the time... it wasn't a good time for any of us. Alice was probably my first lover that actually was the right choice, similar personality, similar interests, matching IQs, young enough to keep up with me, old enough to settle my ass down." he said while adjusting the tool to the settings he wanted. "Although if there was one thing your mother isn't... she's not the type to have an affair with a murderer." Nick looked at Becca and Ally. "I'm ready... I'll cut the linkages, make sure he doesn't see me... "

[Rebecca Talon]

"And how do you propose we do that? Walk up to him and sing him a song? He's not an idiot. Mind tricks won't work on him."

[Alessandra St. James]

"No, but I think I know something that will." Ally said as she marched up to the shuttle and banged on the back of the hatch. Nick had an 'oh shit what the hell is she doing' look on his face as he quickly ran to the side of the shuttle and got to work.

"The hell...?" Bartyn raised an eyebrow as he saw Ally standing there.

"My mother is a bit old for you Bartyn. Seriously... you passed this up for her?" Ally said as she pulled down the straps of her dress and flashed her breasts at him.

"Ah well ah I a... what?" Bartyn was actually momentarily shocked by the display.

Nick mouthed to Becca "NOW!" in the hopes that she'd seize the momentary distraction and take him down.

"God you're thick." Ally said and slid down one of the blades toward her knee and gave him a swift jab to the groin with her knee, the handle of the blade striking him right in the sensitive spot. A chop to the windpipe and a sedative injection from a false fingernail brought him to the ground. "Y'know Ajem or Fleet or whatever... the girls still work. No one expects lowbrow."

[Anjali Sasyaki]

"That they do." Anjali said as she approached the shuttle. "We will take it from here." she said and three cloaked agents appeared around her. "Nicholas, do me a favor, download his computer core, send it to the Mount. Because I am destroying his shuttle after I do this..." she removed a small blade and jammed it in his back. "He will not die, but I have paralyzed his fighting arm." she said coldly. "Taking no more chances. You win this round Rebecca you will have your way but if he attempts escape, he will be dust."

[Rebecca Talon]

Rebecca eyed the intruder suspiciously, then back to Bartym. Sighing she glanced at Nick, "Go to your family. I'll take care of the shuttle."

She returned her attention to the unconscious form of their foe. Flashes of images came to her. Chaotic at first, and she was unable to make sense of them. Then they slowly started to fall into place. Blood. Lots of blood, and Bartym standing in the center of it laughing. She couldn't see his victims, but she didn't need to. She knew it was people she knew. Some she cared for deeply, and others she didn't.

And then the vision was gone. Blinking she looked around. "He's going to escape, and there will be a bloodbath."