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Solomoriah wrote:The last door on the port side belongs to room number one; as that door would provide the best cover for Mansel, he knocked on it. It opened, just a bit. "Mansel, is it?" said a voice quietly. "I take it we have mutineers aboard. How can I help?"

"I need to use this room for cover. I need you to hide as best you can and stay out of site." From this point I'm assuming Tommy can hear Neville talking to a passenger ordering him to drop his weapon and takes it as an opportunity to make his move. He will, as quietly as he can make a move towards the main lounge door but keep as close to the wall as he can. He will very quickly peek around the corner and if Neville is not looking at his direction he will attempt to take a shot. If Neville is looking at him, hopefully it will serve enough of a distraction for whoever he told to put their weapons down to do something or for another passenger to see him and make a distraction so he can get a clean shot. When taking his shot he will aim for the chest.

Mak wrote:Artie surreptitiously feels a corner of the table near him, wondering if it's bolted to the floor and whether it can easily be flipped over to serve as cover.

Artie discovered that the table behind him was not bolted to the floor. On the other hand, he mused, it was behind him. He felt terribly exposed, with nothing but Will's semi-prone body and a couple of toppled lounge chairs between him and Neville. Artie realized that Lily was just as exposed.

rredmond wrote:Will will act scared (not too far off from the truth) and surprised that he's actually got weapons in his hands. If there is no reaction to Artie, or any other diversion, he will then slowly put the weapons down.

crazycrypt wrote:[Tommy] will very quickly peek around the corner and if Neville is not looking at his direction he will attempt to take a shot.

Lt. Mansel leaned out around the doorframe, aiming to take a shot at Lt. Neville; but somehow Neville saw Mansel from the corner of his eye. He swung around quickly and squeezed off a shot at Mansel.

Aided by his partial cover, Mansel avoided being hit. He returned fire; at almost the same moment, Will Thornton saw his chance, firing at Neville from the prone position. Both shots struck home.

Neville fell to one knee, obviously seriously injured, yet still able to press the attack. He fired at Mansel once more, and again failed to hit his target. Once again, both Mansel and Thornton returned fire at him, and once more he was struck by both shots.

By this time, Artie had pulled Lily back to the railing, turned over the table and taken cover behind it. Jean-Paul saw what he was doing, and helped him, and took cover with them.

Letting loose a scream of rage that left a froth of blood on his lips, Neville turned his attention to an easier target: Will Thornton. But even as he turned toward his new target, Will took one more shot at him... and at last, Neville fell face down, dead on the carpeted floor.

For a moment, all was silence.

"Is it over?" asked Lily in a very small voice. She began to sob then, turning to Artie and burying her face in his shoulder.

Jean-Paul got up first, and walked over to Brandon. "He's alive," he said, checking his pulse. "I'm not a doctor, but as far as I can tell he'll survive this wound."

Mansel entered, looking around quickly for other combatants, but there were none. Will Thornton rose, slowly, looking dumbly at the carnage before him. "Here, son," said Dr. Burton, holding out his hands. "Let me take those from you."

"Leftenant Mansel!" came a voice from down the corridor. "If you're quite done there, I need you here!"

"Thank you sir for the help. Use anything you can to tie him up," Tommy points to Brandon, "and stay put here, we have a couple more to deal with down the hall." He will then turn and run back down the hallway towards Briggs, checking to make sure he has his extra clips full on him. When he gets to the door, if there is a window he will peek through the window, if there isn't a window or if there is any immediate danger to opening the door he will crack the door first.

Artie flinches with every shot, but he stays focused on shielding Lily. It reminds him of a time in Chicago when he'd been working his way, musically speaking, into the good graces of a local crime boss who ran a great little speakeasy... until someone ordered the boss killed one night. Five men died in the violence, and Artie distinctly remembers the sound of bullets thunking into the piano he took cover behind. Goddammit, thinks Artie, I thought I'd left all that behind in America.

Solomoriah wrote:"Is it over?" asked Lily in a very small voice. She began to sob then, turning to Artie and burying her face in his shoulder.

"Yes, it's over," says Artie gently, though he's not at all sure himself. Obviously something else was up, for Mansel wouldn't have been called away. And whatever it was, it had to be pretty important to overshadow a pair of gunslinging killers in the passenger lounge!

Artie leans Lily against the table and says, "You wait here. Keep applying pressure to your arm. I'll be right back." He moves around the table to Neville's body, kneeling to pry the weapon from the dead man's fingers. He looks up at Burton approaching Will and says quietly, "Look, doc, things obviously aren't settled here. There could be other crew, maybe even some passengers, involved in whatever's going on here. There's only about three people in this room I'm prepared to trust at this stage, and I'm one of them. This fellow," he says, gesturing at Will, "is another. So let's not be too eager to concentrate all the weapons in one or two hands. No offense. I just think Thornton should hold on to that heater, since he's already done a good job of using to it to save our hides."

"Oh, and by the way, sorry about chucking that stone head," adds Artie apologetically. "It was all I could think of doing at the time."

He tilts his head and listens for the now-familiar chanting...

crazycrypt wrote:"Thank you sir for the help. Use anything you can to tie him up," Tommy points to Brandon, "and stay put here, we have a couple more to deal with down the hall." He will then turn and run back down the hallway towards Briggs, checking to make sure he has his extra clips full on him. When he gets to the door, if there is a window he will peek through the window, if there isn't a window or if there is any immediate danger to opening the door he will crack the door first.

Tommy ran down the passageway. When he came abreast of Briggs at the landing, the First Mate said, "All settled? Good. Now, let's go throw the door open. I'll take the right side, you take the left. The door swings that way. Throw it open and we'll take care of them!"

But beyond the door, Mansel and Briggs saw only an empty balcony, and darkness beyond. Stepping carefully out the door, and looking both ways, Tommy saw a pair of parachutes lying on the deck to the right. Both of the cleverly-made gates worked into the railing swung open.

Looking over the railing, Tommy saw a searchlight far below, scanning the sky and sea in an apparently random fashion.

Mak wrote:He moves around the table to Neville's body, kneeling to pry the weapon from the dead man's fingers. He looks up at Burton approaching Will and says quietly, "Look, doc, things obviously aren't settled here. There could be other crew, maybe even some passengers, involved in whatever's going on here. There's only about three people in this room I'm prepared to trust at this stage, and I'm one of them. This fellow," he says, gesturing at Will, "is another. So let's not be too eager to concentrate all the weapons in one or two hands. No offense. I just think Thornton should hold on to that heater, since he's already done a good job of using to it to save our hides."

"Of course, you're right, my boy," he replied. "Surely, though, you are done with the knife?" he continued, turning back to Will.

Mak wrote:"Oh, and by the way, sorry about chucking that stone head," adds Artie apologetically. "It was all I could think of doing at the time."

"It doesn't look like it was damaged," said Catherine, who had followed her father.

Jean-Paul removed Brandon's tie and opened his shirt, then rolled him over and bound his hands with the tie. Pulling his shirt and jacket down, he examined the wound there. "It seems to have stopped bleeding, but he's very pale."

Mak wrote:He tilts his head and listens for the now-familiar chanting...

Strangely, the voices seemed to be gone...

"Well it seems as though the last of the missing crew members have jumped ship, let us hope that our misfortune is over for this trip," Tommy says to Briggs. "If you don't mind, I would like to go check on the passengers in the main lounge where I had their help in taking down Neville, the forth of our missing crew was lying on the floor as well. I do not think he is dead and would like to take him to the Captain for questioning, if that is alright with you."

"I'll go with you," replied Briggs. "Let me see to the passengers, if you don't mind."

Tommy stood aside, to allow the First Mate lead the way back to the lounge. On arrival, they found Mr. Brandon securely bound, being guarded by Will Thornton and Jean-Paul Stauffacher. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have the situation under control. As far as we know, there were four mutineers in the crew. Leftenant Neville, here, who will trouble no one again, and Mister Brandon, who appears well in hand, were two of them; Leftenant Sullivan and Mister Lusk were the others, and it appears that they have both left the ship."

"Left?" said David Graham, in an angry tone. "How in Hell did they leave?"

"Parachutes," replied Briggs. "We found two parachutes, evidently for these two, and the gates were open. It appears there is a ship waiting somewhere below to recover them." Looking around, Briggs noticed the telephone hanging off the hook. "Here, why is this off the hook?" He picked it up and listened. "It's ringing."

"Neville tried to call the Captain," replied Jean-Paul. "He tried twice."

"If this were ringing in the Captain's quarters, or the bridge, someone would have answered by now," said Briggs. "Curious. Perhaps I should leave it off hook until we find out who he was calling. It couldn't have been the other mutineers, as there is no telephone at the back deck."

By this time, several other passengers, having heard the gunshots (and how could they not have?), had arrived at the doorway to the lounge. For a few moments, there was a cacophony of questions and demands. Briggs finally drew a whistle from his pocket and blew it, loudly.

"Here now! If you were not in the lounge when I got here, I must insist you return to your rooms. The Captain will make a statement when we have figured out what exactly has transpired. Those of you in the lounge who need medical treatment, please let me know. Shortly I'll have Mister Bishop and Mister Greaves in here to help sort things out, and I'm sure the Captain will want to interview each of you when he gets a chance. I can tell you that the mutineers sabotaged the engines, but engineers Green and Lars are hard at work right now repairing them. They also sabotaged the radio, but Mister Markwell says he will have it working again shortly, so if we need some sort of rescue there will be plenty of time to arrange it. So please, remain calm."

Almost on cue, all present felt the rumble of an engine starting. Still grumbling, the passengers returned to their rooms, leaving only those who witnessed the gunfight. "Alright, Mansel," said Briggs, "go ahead and take this mutineer down to the Captain. Tell him we have a corpse up here we need to tend to, and ask him to send up Bishop and Greaves."

Solomoriah wrote:Almost on cue, all present felt the rumble of an engine starting. Still grumbling, the passengers returned to their rooms, leaving only those who witnessed the gunfight. "Alright, Mansel," said Briggs, "go ahead and take this mutineer down to the Captain. Tell him we have a corpse up here we need to tend to, and ask him to send up Bishop and Greaves."

And with those orders, Tommy will heft up Brandon over his shoulder and will head towards the Captain (I'm assuming that Brandon is still unconscious, if not, he can walk with Tommy's gun in his ribs). Once Tommy finds the Captain he will tell him all of the details of what went on and then tell him Briggs asked for Bishop and Greaves to come to the Main Lounge.

OOC: Just a quick post because this was an awesome read and great fun. I do want to read it all over again and make some notes.

Will will stare at his surroundings and his hands, and will start at Dr. Burton's request. When Artie chimes in he will nod at the "trust" part and keep the gun. "How about I put the knife on the back table here, where it won't get hurt, but it won't get into anyone's hands. But you can watch it." He looks over at Artie for agreement that these is an acceptable solution.

Then he starts again when David talks, "let's calm down, we've got to figure out what's going on. Are we sure there are no more sabateurs aboard?" He asks half to himself to start the gears grinding, but he'll scan the crowd at his suggestion as well, to see if he catches anything. Will also keeps half-an-eye on Dr. Burton (sorry paranoid habits die hard) but simply quietly nods in agreement with Artie's explanation of what happened.

OOC: I'm good with the finishing of the fight, certainly the way I was playing it.

Solomoriah wrote:Briggs finally drew a whistle from his pocket and blew it, loudly.

"Here now! If you were not in the lounge when I got here, I must insist you return to your rooms. The Captain will make a statement when we have figured out what exactly has transpired. Those of you in the lounge who need medical treatment, please let me know. Shortly I'll have Mister Bishop and Mister Greaves in here to help sort things out, and I'm sure the Captain will want to interview each of you when he gets a chance. I can tell you that the mutineers sabotaged the engines, but engineers Green and Lars are hard at work right now repairing them. They also sabotaged the radio, but Mister Markwell says he will have it working again shortly, so if we need some sort of rescue there will be plenty of time to arrange it. So please, remain calm."

Almost on cue, all present felt the rumble of an engine starting.

"Lt. Briggs, you should know what everyone in this room knows: Brandon came in here hell bent on filling Dr. Ringstrom here with lead. Called him a traitor to the Fatherland. If this were just a mutiny, he'd have been more likely to put a hole in the captain. This is something else. Political. Which means outside help. Contacts. Who parachutes into the middle of the ocean? I'm just saying: we should all keep our eyes open."