For UG@ in a few months' time

[link_to_revival]

1.

[It's anchor-dropping time for the Chalice, though if anyone were to take a look outside where the Chalice is docking a horde of angry protestors can be seen.  No rotten eggs or tomatoes are visible yet, but there's more than a few signs being held aloft calling for the head of the "Icarus Bomber".    Said "bomber" can only stare for a little while before skulking off to her room.  At least she has some degree of protection on the ship.]

It might be best for me to stay on the ship until we leave here.  I didn't even really need anything out there anyways.

[Being a hero with terribad publicity sucked.  It was worse when it was mostly warranted.]

2.



[Lynn'd made the transfer to pilot, sure, but that hadn't kept her from her mechanic duties.  Far from it in fact; now that her status as a wanted woman was known to the command crew (and everyone else on the Chalice for that matter), one of the only reasons she could stay on the ship was because she was worth more to them this way than as a bounty to be handed in.  And so she was currently slaving away at getting a half-trashed mook in working order, working away at getting its reactor working.]

What do you think, R?  The thing was overclocked to kingdom come, but there's a good chance that faulty conduits are what's keeping it from working.

[And with that she glances to a little digital camera hooked up to a laptop computer, the screen completely blank before lines of text begin to appear all on their own.]



You're more familiar with these kinds of things than I am, Lynn.  Still, working from the top to the bottom might be the best way of doing this.



Good point.  If we know the reactor's in working order, if all else fails we can always just transfer it to another machine.

3.



[BATTLE!  A particularly hectic one, with mooks coming at everyone non-stop!  And that lowly customized security robot's doing what it can to keep afloat in all of this craziness.  Unfortunately, Lynn's still new to this piloting thing and a nearby explosion rocks it, causing the REVIVAL to stumble towards the ground.]

Not good, not good...

R!  I'm going to go for the penetrator rifle!  If we can snipe from a distance-

R, there's too many of them out there and this isn't open to debate!  I can't keep up with everything if we're front and center!

[If you didn't know any better you might think Lynn's arguing with an imaginary friend of hers.]

Comments

1

[lil_tanuki]

Want some company? I don't think they'll react kindly to the girl who wiped out Mt. Everest in a single blow.

[link_to_revival]

[She paused, swallowing a bit nervously.]

It's not like I won't have R to keep me company. And I'm sure you'd be accepted more than I would.

Everest might be large, but you don't get the same body count from blowing it up as you do a London suburb.

[lil_tanuki]

They've already classified me as a weapon of mass destruction since I was a kid. It's a fact of life.

So, are you planning on just moping all day?

[link_to_revival]

It's been something of a constant vigil for me, so it's more business as usual.

[Admittedly it's lessened in recent times. Discovering how flimsy and empty her death wish was did help Lynn put things in perspective.]

[lil_tanuki]

Mmm. Keep your chin up. Okay?

[link_to_revival]

[A hard task, Hayate. A damn hard task.]

... Did you even read the report for what happened because of the Linker System? I'd imagine even the TSAB would've gotten at least some version of it, even if the incident was sixteen years ago.

[lil_tanuki]

I got the cliff notes. But I wanted to hear it from you mostly on what happened. There's a lot of misconceptions out there and I'd rather know what really happened.

[link_to_revival]

[Recounting the events... ooh boy. But then again, most of it was true though.]

What is there to really say? The science was flawed from the start and when I found out I pressed ahead anyways, figuring that someone had just made a math error or two in that calculation.

The day of the big exhibition came around, the wormhole was opened, and...

[Remember telling her to keep her chin up? Yeah, Lynn's not gonna be able to do that.]

... Well, the wormhole collapsed, killing almost everyone in the lab and a London suburb. Everything else they try to pin on me, those massacres at the other two labs... they're false. But everything that went wrong with the Linker System is all me.

"The Icarus Bomber" was the title I got from the news blogs because of that. Flew too close to the sun as it were and then I crashed, taking a lot of innocent people with me.

[lil_tanuki]

[Hayate made a noise in her throat.] I see. And no one's tried to clear your name for the other two sites? No alibis or anything?

[link_to_revival]

Why would they?

There's no evidence that says I didn't besides my own word. And Britannia already has a scapegoat for one of the incidents that happened at one part of the labs, why not use the same one for all three?

[lil_tanuki]

[Hayate folded her arms.] Sounds like shoddy logic to me. Even if they were looking for a scapegoat, a trained investigator could clear your name in days if they had the right connections and information.

[link_to_revival]

It's a case that's been cold for sixteen years and there's no incentive to open it. And no private investigator in all of Britannia would take a job for me, not when they could turn me in to any number of groups for a bounty a hundred or a thousand times greater than anything I could ever pay them.

[lil_tanuki]

Lovely. Looks like all we're going to do then is clear your name. Somehow.

[link_to_revival]

I can live with the reputation. I've been doing it for sixteen years. At most I'd get my bounty reduced. And there's things I would rather do at any rate than waste time trying to breath some warmth into leads that've long since frozen over.

[lil_tanuki]

[Hayate made the same noise again, a sign that she didn't fully agree but the woman was a investigator. And she hated leaving things undone.] If you must.

[link_to_revival]

... Thank you.

I imagine you probably have more important cases to worry about too, ones where people didn't destroy lives and homes in an instant. Those people need you a lot more than I do.

[lil_tanuki]

Never said I'd stop looking, but yeah, people need me and my team.

[link_to_revival]

That's...

You're a good person, Yagami. Never stop helping people, especially when you have a system that works.

[Even years of angst can't kill a sense of altruism.]

[lil_tanuki]

I try. C'mon, if you're going to be stuck in here, we're going to make a meal for people. You're going to help me.

[link_to_revival]

I'm... a terrible cook.

Work at the labs was always so time consuming so I just relied on my microwave.

That or James would cook for me.

[lil_tanuki]

You can still hand me ingredients. C'mon it'll be fun.

[link_to_revival]

[No, no it's not going to be Hayate. Your infectious good spirits don't seem to be working, but Lynn still resigns herself to this.]

It's not like I have anything else planned for today.

[lil_tanuki]

There we go. [Damnit she'll make it fun somehow.]

1

[bakaribbon]

...Icarus Bomber? What's that?

[link_to_revival]

It's...

[Haruka'd only just been born when it'd happened. Lynn wasn't surprised she didn't know.]

It's the title that was given to someone whose reach exceeded their grasp and ended up killing a lot of innocent people as a result.

[bakaribbon]

Huh...

I wonder what they're like...

[link_to_revival]

She's speaking to you right now.

[No use hiding the fact. Not when she'd probably see protestors holding up effigies of her.]

But if you want to know my name, it's Lynn Idris.

[bakaribbon]

She's-EEEEEEEEEH?!

[link_to_revival]

I... guess you didn't hear the news when the truth came out a little while ago.

... I'm sorry for hiding it from everyone, but the Chalice was the only place I could go with so many people putting bounties on me.

[bakaribbon]

No, no, that's fine...I mean, you seem like a really nice person...

[fidget fidget fidget.]

It's just...surprising, is all...

[link_to_revival]

I try to be one.

But stupid mistakes, even just one or two, can... they can really ruin a life. A lot of peoples' lives.

[lastfeather]

You know... for someone with such a huge bounty on her head I'd expect you to look a little more impressive.

[Ryou's just leaning against a doorframe.]

Then again.. I'm not exactly the person to talk about appearances.

[link_to_revival]

You don't need to look like a mass murderer to kill hundreds of people. You just need to disregard a lab report.

Besides, looking conspicuous would've just gotten me noticed sooner.

[lastfeather]

True...

[He seems to give you a somewhat annoyed look before shaking his head.]

Of all the places you had to hide.... it had to be here.

[He has to chuckle a little... it was pretty funny in a way.]

Looks like your bounty's out of my hands.

[link_to_revival]

Plenty of far more noticeable people onboard here. Who'd pay attention to a mere mechanic when Celestial Being, Hayato Jin, and a dozen other noteworthy pilots out there?

And I.. appreciate that last bit. Contract with the Chalice or no, nothing would stop you if you just decided to act on it at some point, or even just sell me out to someone.

[lastfeather]

Heh. Clever way to stay alive.

[Funny thing since he's sort of doing something similar.]

Eh... if I do a deal, I gotta stick to it. Its bad for business if people know I sell out clients. Besides... if I sell you out, I probably won't be seeing much of that money anyway.

[link_to_revival]

If you found the right person, you could probably still walk away from everything with enough money to never work another day in your life.

[James's father would probably pay any price named for the chance to beat her to death with a lead pipe, come to think of it.]