Board Thread:The Mech Bay Bar'n'Grill/@comment-24930445-20140526230330/@comment-24930445-20140602004419

Jack's Back

It had been a quiet morning for Ry. He was currently considering lunch when the call came through from Tarin. “Ryax? I have a request from Travis. He’s stuck on board Krita and needs someone to meet a contact. He asked for you personally.” He could see Tarin shrug slightly.

“He say why?”

She shook her head. “You have everything I have… well, except for the location. Do you want me to tell him I couldn’t reach you?”

Ry chuckled. “Nah, send me the co-ords. I had nuthin better ta do anyway.” Sadly, he actually meant that last part.

The diner was on the far side of town in a district that seemed to be struggling to keep its head above water. The buildings on either side had been condemned and Ry was pretty sure his lunch would not be coming from this place. He mentally shrugged and stepped through the door, a little bell above his head announcing his presence.

Inside seemed a bit better than the outside. The place definitely looked its age, but he could tell it had been well cared for and, more importantly, it was clean. Two waitresses stood behind the counter and one smiled at him. “G’head and sit anywhere hon. Coffee?”

“Nah. Ale if y’ave any.” The fry cook in the back smiled at Ry through the little order window even as the second waitress glanced up from the salt shakers she had been filling. Aside from these three people, there was no one else in the little diner. His waitress disappeared into the back as Ry found a table in the corner and plopped down. It wasn’t an ideal spot, but he wasn’t overly concerned by the little hallway to his left of his table. He was confident enough in his own self preservation to know if someone tried to sneak up on him from that point.

Checking the time, he settled back and waited, his main focus on the door. Within moments, his instincts kicked in. He didn’t sense danger so much as a presence from the hallway. In that same instance, a black leather clad sleeve set a tankard of ale on the table in front of Ry. Slowly, the man stepped further into Ry’s line of sight, making it very clear that he meant no harm.

The guy stood near the chair opposite Ry, his hands away from his sides as he waited. The man was older, Ry judged him to be in his mid to late sixties. Black hair sprinkled with shades of gray and clear blue eyes showed the man’s age was just time with no real effect on the the man’s ability. He was tall and his body suggested he was a man of action.

A timeworn black leather duster covered a simple tee and jeans combination. The entire ensemble was finished with a dusty pair of cowboy boots. The man nodded to the chair he stood next to. “May I?”

Ry nodded lightly, his eyes locked on the man’s. “Feel free.”

“Ta” The word was familiar. He had heard his wife use it often enough in place of a simple ‘thank you.’ For his credit, the man continued to move cautiously, making sure as he sat that his hands never left Ry’s sight. “Thank ye for comin. Did Devon… um… Travers tell you anything?” The man’s voice was lightly accented, what Kat would call ‘a touch of the Irish’, though the accent wasn’t nearly as thick as hers could be.

Ry shook his head at the man’s question. “Not a damn thin’. Wonderin’ wha’ the ‘ell this is all about.”

The man sighed in frustration, closing his eyes and lowering his head as he did so. Without so much as looking back up, he called out “Maggie, a cuppa yer finest if ya please, lass. I expect I’m in for a world of trouble.” He lifted his gaze to Ry, a slight glint of amusement in his eyes. “Be assured that, if you don’t kill me, or Travers first…” he left the rest implied while he waited for the waitress to set his coffee on the table. Once she had turned away, the man lifted his right hand slowly from the table and pushed it forward as if in offering of friendship. “Morghan. Jack Morghan.”

At first, Ry merely raised an eyebrow then took a second or two to once again look over the ghost from Kat’s past before reaching out to accept the offered hand. Instead of shaking it, however, Ry grabbed the hand firmly and pulled Morghan forward. Quickly, Ry’s grip changed, effectively putting the man into a wristlock and laying the man’s upper body across the table. His grip was intractable.

The man calling himself Morghan winced, but he made no other move. Coffee and ale mingled on the tabletop when both had sloshed from their cups at the sudden movement. Morghan sighed heavily. “I get the distinct impression you may not believe me.” He winced again as Ry’s hand twitched slightly, straining his wrist a little further.

Morghan felt the breath across his face as Ry growled in his ear. “I have no reason to believe you an’ ev’ry reason not ta.” Standing, Ry maintained a steady hold on the other man while he took a moment to glance around the room. Nothing had changed. Though the others were watching intently, no one had made a move towards them. Ry flicked the wrist once more just enough to cause discomfort. “Wha’ th’ hell’re ya up ta?”

As if remembering the others in the room suddenly, Morghan called out. “Its alright, Maggie. Just a misunderstanding. It’ll be fine.” He still had made no moves to extricate himself from Ry’s hold. “Alright. Easy enough. Call Travers. Hell, call Joke or any of the other Raiders on Krita. I could give you all the information to prove what I say, but as you mentioned, you have every reason not to believe me. So call someone you will believe.” He stopped suddenly as if thinking of something. “Just… just don’t call Kat. Not yet.”

“Why would th’others keep this kind o’news from Kat?” Even as he asked, Ry used his free hand to pull his comm from his pocket, pushing Travers’ link then setting it up on the table for vid.”

Again Morghan’s mind caught up with his mouth and he cussed softly. “She’s with Travers. Damnit. She can’t find out this way.” It was too late. The call had started to go through so he answered Ry’s question as quickly as he could. “I asked them not to tell her. Its better… She’s better off not knowing. You of all people know that. She has a life now. She has you. She has the kids… ah bugger it.”

“What she doesn’t ‘ave is th’ truth, assumin’ that’s what yer tellin, an’ she deserves that.”

Travers’ face popped up on the vid, though he was clearly distracted. “Yeah. ‘Sup Rrrrrrrrr…” he blinked, realizing who was on screen and why, instantly changing his wording and praying others in the room didn’t notice. “Yeah. Travers here.” With a glance off screen, Travers nodded to someone then clearly took his comm out of the room. “It didn’t go well did it?”

Ry growled. “I don’t see ‘ow this can go well regardless o’ wha’ ya ‘ave t’say, but I want t’hear it anyway. Is this guy who he says he is?”

Travers closed his eyes then shook his head before nodding. “Yes, Ry. He is who he says. I swear by it and I can get five other people to back him. Six… if you want to go that route and include her.”

Travers glanced away from the vid as Ry heard a whispered “It didn’t go well, did it?”

Ry was pissed. “Yeah, we’re goin that route. What th’ hell is wrong wit you people?!” he practically shouted into the comm, but before he could get an answer, he cut off transmission and stuffed the unit back into his pocket. He released Morghan suddenly, stepping away from the man before he hit him.

Wincing, Morghan slowly sat up, rubbing his wrist. “That’s why I asked you here.”

Ry paced into the little hallway only to spin around and returned to stand over Morghan. “‘ow long? ‘ow long ‘ave ya been around?”

Morghan sighed, finally getting the first sip of his coffee before answering. “Do you remember years ago… she was arrested for murder? They technically bled her death.” He didn’t want to watch the emotions flash over the other man’s face, but he continued. “The cop that claimed her body… he was the same one who pulled me from the grave she put me in on Pelvar. He still found a spark of life… his kind can. They revived me all those years ago just as they revived her. The only difference is, I spent seven years in jail. I had only been out a few weeks when I found her on that fucking rock. So did Riley… the cop. She still had a warrant on her. He was going to collect.” He took another long drink from his coffee then continued. “He saved her life after they… Regardless, he’s honorable enough that, with what she went through, he pronounced her sentence for the his warrant had been fulfilled. He let her go.”

He shook his head and sighed. I couldn’t approach her then. Riley had been using me to track her.” His short, cold laugh slipped across the room. “I guess it didn’t matter in the end. He got her anyway.”

Ry had let him talk. He remembered that time well, though he had never heard this version of it before. “She thought she was goin’ crazy. Yer not as good a sneak as ya thought. She saw you… several times.”

Again Ry paced into the hallway only to return a short moment later. “And its taken ya this long t’come around?”

Morghan shook his head. “The day she died, I was in her mind. I couldn’t help her any other way. I remember… She had been talking to me as if she knew…”  He shook his head and Ry could see him drift into a painful past. “She wanted to see someone’s face… one last time. I asked who and… All the pictures in her mind… “ He glanced up, the hurt in his eyes. “They were all of you. You and the kids. I hated you then. It wasn’t me…” He shrugged and shook his head as if to dismiss what he had just said. “But I knew… what she had.. what she has with you is everything she ever wanted. Everything she ever wants. I couldn’t endanger that. So, once I knew she would be alright, I left her with Riley. I made him promise to never tell her I was there. He understood, I think. He got her back to Stinel.”

Ry nodded lightly. “Right, s’yer either full o’ yerself or yer a coward. After all these years, why now? Y’dyin er somthin’?”

Morghan shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “If I were dying, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. She would have gone on believing I was gone years ago. No. From what I know of what is happening with Joslynne, you need all the help you can get… and I want payback. She was the reason for that hell in L’Riahan. She sat in the front row and watched Kat die.” Jack’s eyes narrowed at the memory of it. Blinking the dark thoughts back, he lifted his gaze back to Ryax. “Believe me. If I could keep this in the background, I would. Yeah. Maybe I am a coward, but maybe I love her enough to remain dead so she wouldn’t hurt again.”

Ry frowned, tilting his head slightly. “‘ow th’ hell is findin’ out someone y’love is alive an’ well suppose ta hurt?”

Jack tilted his head as well. “You can answer that question by telling me why you’re so angry. You know her, Ry. How do you think she’s going to react?”

Ry shook his head in disgust. “When she finds out ‘ow long you’ve been around and stayed away, she’s gonna be pissed t’ say th’ least. At you, an’ then at everyone ya got t’lie for ya. An’ I suspect under all that, she’ll be hurt as hell thinkin’ y’ didn’t care enough t’reach out. But, overall, she’ll be happy t’know yer alive.”

Jack shook his head. “They never lied for me, Ryax.” He finished his coffee, then toyed with the handle. “I asked you to meet me because she needs to know. There’ve been too many near run-ins with her lately. I can’t have her finding out that way. I.. just wanted you prepared for it. I’m not asking you to do anything. I’m simply… preparing.” Again, he shook his head, this time in frustration. “No. That’s not right. I am asking you to do something. Be there for her. When it happens… be there.”

Ry’s brow furrowed questioningly. “Where th’hell else would I be? Yer not makin’ any sense. What exactly d’ya expet t’happen when y’reveal yerself?”

Morghan laughed softly. “Its Kat. No one knows what to expect.” Slowly, he held his hand out towards his chest pocket then stopped as Ry’s eyes narrowed slightly. “This damn thing’s been buzzing… my comm. Gonna take it out.” Slowly, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the unit and set it on the table where it immediately began dancing across the peeled formica.

Ry had remained standing behind the chair he had been sitting in previously and his hands flexed on the wood of the back as he absently watched the comm. Annoyed by the vibrating sound on the table, Jack snatched up the device and snapped it open, growling into it.

“Yes, dad, I’m fine. Yes dad, no blood… yet. Yes dad, I’ll be home soon. Yes dad, mom’ll be there too… Jesus Joke! Get off the damn comm!” He hung it up as forcefully as one can by punching a button then shrugged up to Ry. “I guess they thought I would be dead.” Realizing what he said, he rolled his eyes and added “no pun intended, I assure you.”

Slowly, Jack stood then shook his head as he faced Ry. “I guess I should get this over with. That is.. if you’re available now.”

Ry understood. “Where is this meet suppose t’happen?” From the corner of his eye, he saw the second waitress strip off her apron and hand it to Maggie before leaning in and giving her a deep kiss. Her hand reached up and gently caressed Maggie’s face as she pulled away with a whispered “Thank you, Maggie. I’ll be home a little later.”

Jack smiled softly as he watched the two women, speaking even as he continued to witness the love they shared. “She’s on Krita now with Dev. They’re going over the device that comp geek… Lawerence something…  he and his girlfriend smuggled it off Jos’ moon base with the help of Joke’s son.

Ry nodded. “I think any info about Jos can wait until much later. I’m guessin’ yer gonna ‘ave other things t’talk about.”

Jack turned to face Ry. “Yeah. We have a transport. Do you want to come with us or find your own ride?” Ry had suspected all along that Jack hadn’t been alone. It was confirmed when the second waitress approached, a wig under her arm even as she scratched her head to get her own hair back in order. He didn’t recognize her, but he could guess she was the only other woman who had been with the Raiders; Dalia-something.

“I ‘ave my own ride.”

“What about her brother?” The woman glanced between Ry and Jack as if annoyed they had forgotten the mentioned man.

Jack sighed, not sure he really wanted yet another dangerous man pissed at him. “Can you get ahold of Ben and fill him in?”

Ry nodded. “I can do that. I’m sure he’d want t’be there, but I can’t say if he’s available.”

Jack nodded. “Aye, I understand.” He turned to leave followed by the woman who, for a brief moment at the door, turned and blew Maggie a kiss then a wink.

____________

Ry waited until he was in his own transport before contacting Ben.

“What’s up, Ry?” Ben seemed relaxed and smiled at his friend over the video. Ry had seen the room he was in a few times so he knew Ben was at his cabin on the island not far from the Grill.

“I’m on my way t’meet up wi’ Kat. I think she may need ya there. Jack is back.” He watched silently as a range of emotions flashed over Ben’s face.

“Jack who? Wait… that Jack?! Hangon. Damnit!” Ry heard a clattering in the background then a woman’s voice before Ben came back on vid.

“Where are you meeting her?”

“She’s on Krita in dock right now wi’ Travers who, by the way, knows all about it. They all do. Th’ Raiders ‘ave kept it from her this entire time.” He was still pissed. “I can swing by an’ scoop ya up.”

“It’ll be faster if we find our own way. I’ll see ya topside, Ry.” Ben started to talk to someone off screen even before he disconnected.

Ry sighed and got his arse to Krita.