Mountain Man Mayhem

[harleqwn]

Madame sets the fireworks and answers:

" I have been around a long time and I ain't just quite sure yet if I trust these mountain dwellers.( present company excluded of course, lol:) ) Here is what I am gonig to do: I will come to the surface and bring the trusty lopan and read the ora of these here burly fellers. I want to see if their intentions are genuine"

"Protect the old gal Tully, will ya?"

"Aurora? Are you OK with holding ole' Jackson here alone for a bit?"

Aurora smiles and pats Jackson. "Sure thing. I can think of worse things than watching a big strong man for a while."

[BerkaZerka]

Madame Z moves back through the bolthole and up into the mill.  There she joins Tully and looks through some weather-worn holes in the metal siding of the mill to see the mountain man leader.  Getting a read on him with her lopan, she sees that he has an honorable heart, believes in what he’s doing, and is not intentionally lying about Jeremiah Jackson…

BZ

[LadyZerka]

" Tully, this here feller may just be genuine after all". " What do you think we should do about it?"

 Madame Z

[Nestor]

Tully rubs his chin, his face pinched as if he's chewing on something sour.

"Them corpy bastiches like to treat this folk like their own property," he grouses. "It ain't right. And it don't sit right with me to help them use people as prizes for their hunts."

His expression even more unpleasant, he adds, "But the fact is, Memzee, we signed up to bring Jackson in. We don't follow through, our rep'tation goes down the toilet. Not to mention we don't get paid."

Tully looks off in the distance as he muses thoughtfully, "I knew comin' back would bring no joy, but the money was too good." He gives a mild snort of self-reproof. "Should'a listened to my gut instead of my greed."

With a face that looks older than his years, he turns back to his teammate and shakes his head sadly. "I don't know, Mem, I just don't rightly know."

[BerkaZerka]

The Mountain Man leader meanwhile, called back into the mill - "What's the hold up?  You got Jackson or not? 

Or perhaps you put a few too many holes in 'im trying to reel him in?

Look, no sense us and your's should fight it out, when collectivly, we can bring a whole lot of hurt to 'the man'.  Let us talk to Jackson.  There might be a way to salvage this thing, where we all get what we want..."

BZ

[LadyZerka]

Madame Z agrees. How can we " Stick it to the man, and still get our bounty? Oh and keep ole' Jackson here happy as well? "  Any ideas?

[Nestor]

Tully hangs his head for a second then graces Madame Z with a rare grin. "Might as well bring everyone in on the party," he quips.

Loud enough for the other group to hear, he calls out, "Jackson's still suckin' wind. We'll bring him up on your word of truce."

On the comms, he alerts Aurora, "Seems we've been played a bad hand by the corp. I'm headin' down to meet wit'cha, then we'll be bringin' Jackson up to figger how to handle this."

[BerkaZerka]

The Mountain Man leader calls back to Tully - "Ya got our word we won't do anything but talk.  If'in it don't work out a tween us, then you're free to ready yerselves again back in the mill afore we have ta sort things out the hard way."

A few moments later, Mr. Jewels voice comes over the com - "The mountain men are still in position, but seemed to have lowered their weapons."

BZ

[Nestor]

Tully responds to the leader, "Agreed then. I'm headin' off to fetch 'im."

He makes his way down the hole and through the tunnel, calling out to Aurora when he gets close.

[harleqwn]

Tully responds to the leader, "Agreed then. I'm headin' off to fetch 'im."

He makes his way down the hole and through the tunnel, calling out to Aurora when he gets close.

Aurora moves Jackson into position with the others since plans have changed. She's staying alert in case of further traps/ambushes.

[Nestor]

Tully warns Aurora, "Once we get up there, make sure to keep your gun in its holster, but don't let your your hand stray too far. Trust goes just so far." He moves Jackson's restraints to his front, but doesn't remove them.

Back up on the surface, Tully follows his own advice and sheathes the Mare's Leg. With one hand on Jackson's arm, he nods to the others to signal readiness and calls out, "Okay, I got Jackson here. We're steppin' out to palaver."

[LadyZerka]

" Be careful Tully, I will back you up in any way necessary. This old gal still has some fight left. "

[BerkaZerka]

The Mountain Man leader called back up through the opening that led into the sawmill – “OK, we’re coming onto the loading platform.”

A few moments later and he stood there with another that could only be ‘Clem’ – both with their rifles lowered, but within clear sight of their comrades.

The leader wore an armored vest over winter camouflage and heavy cold weather gear.  In addition the 12mm hunting rifle with electronic scope, he was decked out with a 12mm magnum revolver, combat knife, and demolitions kit.

Clem on the other hand, did not have an armored vest, but wore winter camouflage over his cold weather clothing and carried a 9mm sport rifle with optical scope, a combat knife, and optical binoculars.

Clem did not look too bright, though he seemed pleasant enough – smiling through what few teeth he had and offering Tully a half full bottle of old whiskey. “Something to warm ya up?”  He asked.

The Mountain Man leader meanwhile looked at the disabled Jeremiah Jackson, who was now making a lot of noise trying to breath with a collapsed lung.

“Nice shootin’,” he said sarcastically, then turned to Clem – “go get the med kit.”

Then to Tully he continued – “Here’s the deal – all you got to do is let us patch old Jackson up.  After that he’s all yours, with your word that you’ll turn him over for his bounty ‘as is’.  That’s all you got to do to get out a here with your hides and still get paid to boot.

We got a deal?”

BZ

[Nestor]

Clem did not look too bright, though he seemed pleasant enough – smiling through what few teeth he had and offering Tully a half full bottle of old whiskey. “Something to warm ya up?”  He asked.

Tully studies the bottle then takes it. He takes a careful sniff to make sure it's not wood alcohol. then downs a healthy swig before returning the bottle to Clem. "Much obliged," he says in thanks.

The Mountain Man leader meanwhile looked at the disabled Jeremiah Jackson, who was now making a lot of noise trying to breath with a collapsed lung.

“Nice shootin’,” he said sarcastically, then turned to Clem – “go get the med kit.”

Then to Tully he continued – “Here’s the deal – all you got to do is let us patch old Jackson up.  After that he’s all yours, with your word that you’ll turn him over for his bounty ‘as is’.  That’s all you got to do to get out a here with your hides and still get paid to boot.

We got a deal?”

BZ

Tully frowns. "So, if you're letting us go with Jackson, why all this fuss?"

[BerkaZerka]

The Mountain Man leader stares through Tully for a moment, as if gauging what he’s willing to share with him.  At length, he decides to repay trust for trust – as Tully had shown some trust himself by accepting the whiskey.

“Each time Ol’ Montie captures Jackson”, the Mountain Man answered – “they take him out to some remote spot for their little hunt.  We don’t know when or where that’s going to be.  Jackson is good – real good – but at some point his luck will run dry and Monti will move on to some other poor fool.

We don’t intend to let that happen.”

At that point, Clem came back with the med kit.  Taking it, the Mountain Man leader pulled out a tiny piece of electronics about the size of a grain of rice.

“This here is a Net activated tracking beacon.  It goes in Jackson and then we wait till he’s back on Callisto.  At that point, we can activate it across the Net and track where they take him for their hunt.  Only this time Jackson won’t be alone.  Me and my boys will be there with a nice little surprise for Ol’ Montie.”

“And by ‘surprise’ we mean KABOOM! – hyuck yuck yuck!” Clem added with an impish chuckle.

The Mountain Man leader patiently waited for Clem to quiet back down, then concluded – “The only way this stops is when Montague Onasis the Fourth stops; and this is the best chance we got to ambush him on our own terms, out of his ivory tower, and in our own territory.

So you can see why it’s imperative you turn Jackson in ‘as is’ and keep yer mouths shut, collect yer money, and let this play out on its own…”

BZ