As Wolf finally made it back to where he and Bowmen had left the mule, he took a minute to catch his breath, remove the assault rifle from his back and climbed in. Placing the rifle on the seat beside him he powered it up and moved towards the destroyed jail. As he pulled to a stop he saw Bowmen returning to stand with Ash and the Doc.

"Listen Ash, Wolf, I am going to stay here". Bowman said when Wolf had the mule completely stopped but still powered up "I think these people need a real lawman right now and I think that best be me. You two go help Wyatt and I'll keep this place from going reaver in a hand basket. Besides, I really don't like the idea of going down in a mine anyway. Too cramped and tight for me. Go on!"
“Well sounds like we’re down to the two worst of the bunch, Andrew you take care and keep your head down. Wolf, let’s go help Capt’n, Miss Willow and Sam. If Pearson is down there with Bridget then this ain’t going to be pretty.” Grabbing his guns and gear Ash hopped on the mule. “We ain’t got no surprises left, so let’s just make dust and get to the mine.”
As Ash climbed on looking into the elder man’s eyes Wolf could see that something about the old drifter had changed from the man they’d gotten out of jail. He seemed set on taking up the job of sheriff and with that choice seemed to have found a sort of peace inside himself. Wolf looking into those eyes somehow knew that Bowmen would not be leaving the planet with them, had maybe found a place to stop moving on and once more call it home. Wolf hoping they would get a chance to see him least once more before lifting off gave him a nod.

“I’ll let Wyatt know old man” He said with a sad grin “Via con Dios”
With Ash seated in the passenger seat Wolf increased power to the mule turned it north and headed for the mine and the rest of Rocinante’s crew.

Willow let Wyatt and Sam respond to Brigitte in ways that spoke volumes about the men themselves: Wyatt calm and implacable, the anger banked yet strong, Sam with more heat tinged with guilt and shame. Neither man trusted Brigitte, and let it show enough for Brigitte to focus on. Willow listened to the curvaceous snake twist every situation into someone else's fault, and felt something harden inside of her.

"Enough," Willow waved imperiously and stepped from between the men, "you`re right, Brigitte, most fellas are weak and will fail you when you need them the most. If it weren't for their most obvious uses," she paused to look back at Wyatt and Sam lasciviously before smirking wickedly at Brigitte, "I wouldn`t bother with the lot of 'em . What's a few casualties when there's money to be had? "

She paused and looked askance at the water. "You could have warned me, doll, not to wear any of my nice clothes...some guys go for the naughty doctor look and getting this lab coat cost me a pretty penny." She shrugged off the coat, leaving the key in the pocket, and bundled the coat up before handing it to Sam. With a moue of distaste, she stepped delicately into the water, and tried to not wince as the cold water saturated the boots immediately, ruining the impractical footwear. She sloshed towards Brigitte, seeming to peer at the water but watching the schoolmarm with her peripheral vision.

"Now where would the key go? Where's this ship?"

Hornsilver Mine, Regina, Frisco, Day Nine 11:50 pm Planet Time
"Now where would the key go? Where's this ship?" Willow asked.

“All in good time sugar.” Brigit said with a smile. She watched Willow closely, cautiously with an air of expectation. Clearly, neither woman trusted the other. “I wouldn’t worry about the outfit, cause we’ll be able to by the whole factory after this.”

The area below the old shaft was boarded up but Brigit had pried and removed the boards to reveal a depression about 1 foot deep and 40 feet across covered in ankle deep water. But beneath the water, the ground is metallic – no handles, hinges or seams. “It took me quite some time to find it, but what we needed to find was over here.” And she takes you away from the metal floor to an area off to the left. There is a medical vault security console. It is old, looks dead but Willow has seen them before of hospital vaults that stored meds or things you wouldn’t want getting out. Sure enough, her eyes are quickly drawn to the four symbols she was expecting to find. Willow also notices that there is damage around the console, where it looks like someone has tried prying it off, blasting, and even a corrosive liquid. Brigit shrugs at the significant look from Willow, “I never was good at waiting. So, you got the key and code? Be my guest.”

Frisco, Day Nine 11:40 pm Planet Time
“I’ll let Wyatt know old man” He said with a sad grin “Via con Dios.”

With Ash seated in the passenger seat Wolf increased power to the mule turned it north and headed for the mine and the rest of Rocinante’s crew. The cold morning air blew by them as them as they moved towards the old shaft. Ash’s radio was gone but Wolf still had his – but should they radio ahead? Or keep silent to surprise a possible enemy?

The shotgun Wyatt held was tilted in such a way as to allow him to squeeze of a shot rather casually should he need to. He wasn't about to allow anything to happen to Willow if he could help it, and knew she needed to play the cool, confident leader in this case or she'd lose her positioning, so when she moved down into the water, he moved to the side so he'd still have no chance of hitting the doc should he have to blow the succubi away.

Sam remained where he was, nearly giving up on being able to see anything, he was attempting to strain his hearing to the maximum reaches. Where was that fast-drawing, murderin' son of a...?

The two men waited on Willow as the console was revealed. Wyatt was cautious and disregarded the idea of wealth. Sam couldn't help the thought of such wealth popping into his brainpan like fried eggs in grease, but he did his best to push it aside. He felt like spiders were crawling up and down his spine, and kept looking over his shoulder to check the pervading darkness behind with the thought that they were about to be ambushed. The whole while his concentration was being tried by the message from Tink, and the sad feeling that it was time to move on.

All in all, the tension in the air could have been cut with an arch-welder.

When Willow had a chance to look at the console, she actually felt her racing heart slow down as the advantage shifted marginally back in their favour. She smiled crookedly and tilted her head knowingly at Brigitte, playing the game now from a position of strength.

"Oh, I'll be your guest, sugar, but you will also be mine. Worked a con an a hospital CEO once, and he was proud of these med-vault thingeys. I have the key and the code, but we're going to have to work as a team to get everything out of the ship. Come here Sam, love, I'm all cold from my feet getting wet, I'll want that coat back again."

(Presuming Sam is able and willing to bring her the lab coat) Willow carefully unbundles the coat and slips it back on with a shiver that was only partially faked. She dipped a gloved hand into the pocket and brought out the chess piece, finally letting Brigitte see the item that had caused so much pain and suffering.

"The thing is, Brigitte, I can open that door. And I'm pretty sure we'd want to enter together, to see for ourselves that we can play nice over the pretties inside. Maybe even bring some fine strong men with us to carry the heavy stuff. These med-vaults, though, aren't ordinary armed doors...they don't like to stay open long in case they are holding radiation meds or live viruses or other nastiness. I'm going to tell Sam here the code, and he can re-open the door when it closes, but that means you have to be certain you trust him to let us out again. "

Willow smiled wickedly, "I'm pretty sure he wants me back safe and sound...for our long conversations at night. How about you? Think he'd want to make sure you make it back out ok?"

With Ash seated in the passenger seat Wolf increased power to the mule turned it north and headed for the mine and the rest of Rocinante’s crew. The cold morning air blew by them as them as they moved towards the old shaft. Ash’s radio was gone but Wolf still had his – but should they radio ahead? Or keep silent to surprise a possible enemy?

Hoping Sam still remembered the old codes the two had used on the few smuggling jobs they had done together when they had first met Wolf pressed the call button twice causing the radio to quietly crackle on the other end. If Sam remembered, the two low ’squelches’ should let Sam, Wyatt and Willow know that help was on the way. The only real question now was what would Ash and he find once they arrived at the mine.................

Hornsilver Mine, Regina, Frisco, Day Nine 11:53 pm Planet Time
"The thing is, Brigitte, I can open that door. And I'm pretty sure we'd want to enter together, to see for ourselves that we can play nice over the pretties inside. Maybe even bring some fine strong men with us to carry the heavy stuff. These med-vaults, though, aren't ordinary armed doors...they don't like to stay open long in case they are holding radiation meds or live viruses or other nastiness. I'm going to tell Sam here the code, and he can re-open the door when it closes, but that means you have to be certain you trust him to let us out again. "

Willow smiled wickedly, "I'm pretty sure he wants me back safe and sound...for our long conversations at night. How about you? Think he'd want to make sure you make it back out ok?"

Brigit thought about that for a moment and said, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that, sugar. You may know medical doors but I know about hiding and finding things and I would bet there will be a switch in the other side to open the door. Probably without a code as they want to keep people out, but not trap themselves in. Why don't you go ahead and open it up and we can see? Besides, there is a madman about in this here mine with a rifle, a war's worth of ammo and a good reason to kill Sam so I think I'd rather he come with us than stay behind all on his own."

(making assumption here to move story forward.)

Willow inserted the key into the console as Sam stood by to hide her movements. Brigit made no attempt to watch her though, which only made Willow more suspicious. She carefully punched the four digit Chinese symbols code for "biohazard". There was a moment of nothing and then the console lit up and there was a mechanical sound of a hydraulic releasing. Suddenly the water poured down into a hole and the metal doors slide to side and revealed a shaft below. Lights came on in the shaft and flickered for a moment before stabilizing. It is about 15 feet in diameter and the stone is limestone and quartzite. Ladders on both sides of the newly exposed shaft lead down 20 feet to a drift below. There must be an power source down there as lights can be seen within. Sure enough, there is a door release on the other side of the hatch with no console attached.

Frisco, Day Nine 11:53 pm Planet Time
The hovermule was in the red and the engine was running hot but Wolf didn't care as he pushed the speed to the limit. But there was only so fast that the vehicle could do without the engine blowing completely. He considered the distance they had to travel and the speed and spoke outloud to Ash, "Fifteen minutes or so. This mule wasn't built for speed unfortunately."

Asher checked his guns as the mule slide down the road. It had been a tough night so far and it still wasn’t over. The habit of checking and loading his guns added calm to his routine. Ash felt he needed to prove he could still be count on to be there when he was needed.

Whatever it was Doc had given him was doing what it was suppose to, he was hurt’in but he could keep going.

The hovermule was in the red and the engine was running hot but Wolf didn't care as he pushed the speed to the limit. But there was only so fast that the vehicle could do without the engine blowing completely. He considered the distance they had to travel and the speed and spoke outloud to Ash, "Fifteen minutes or so. This mule wasn't built for speed unfortunately."
Looking over at Wolf, ”You don’t have to stay to road for me. If you can hold it together cutting down there,” he looked across the rocky terrain, “go for it. We gotta fight to finish.”

Wolf had his foot on the hover mules gas pedal ramming it to the floor as if to squeeze out just a little more speed but hovermule was already in the red and it's engine was running hot but the mechanic/gunslinger didn't care as he pushed the speed to the limit. But there was only so fast that the vehicle could do without the engine blowing completely. He considered the distance they had to travel and the speed and spoke out loud to Ash seated beside him, "Fifteen minutes or so. This mule wasn't built for speed unfortunately."
"You don't have to stay to the road for me. If you can hold it together cutting down there", Ash pointed across the rocky terrain, "go for it. We gotta fight to finish".
"Honestly not staying to the road for you, I'm just not willing to risk our transpo to that terrain. Rather get there in fifteen, then not get there at all. If I had to bet on the rest surviving that long I'd bet on them" Wolf replied with a cocky grin to hide his nervousness. For the moment all he could do was what he was doing and hope they got to the mines with enough time to help Willow, Sam and Cap'n Wyatt......

"The thing is, Brigitte, I can open that door. And I'm pretty sure we'd want to enter together, to see for ourselves that we can play nice over the pretties inside. Maybe even bring some fine strong men with us to carry the heavy stuff. These med-vaults, though, aren't ordinary armed doors...they don't like to stay open long in case they are holding radiation meds or live viruses or other nastiness. I'm going to tell Sam here the code, and he can re-open the door when it closes, but that means you have to be certain you trust him to let us out again. "Willow smiled wickedly, "I'm pretty sure he wants me back safe and sound...for our long conversations at night. How about you? Think he'd want to make sure you make it back out ok?"

Sam could barely muster himself from the growing paranoia as the darkness seemed filled with Alliance regulars--swallowing the urge to back slowly from the light of their lantern and disappear into the same darkness, the pilot gave his best roguish smile and took a step towards Willow's lithe figure, leaning forward to accept her "gift".

Wyatt had worked with Willow enough to know when she was in character, and this tough little woman who had one of the two reins in her hands was easily a match for the school marm. Their situation still bothered him, and the longer they drew it out the more he was apt to become as twitchy as Sam.Brigit thought about that for a moment and said, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that, sugar. You may know medical doors but I know about hiding and finding things and I would bet there will be a switch in the other side to open the door. Probably without a code as they want to keep people out, but not trap themselves in. Why don't you go ahead and open it up and we can see? Besides, there is a madman about in this here mine with a rifle, a war's worth of ammo and a good reason to kill Sam so I think I'd rather he come with us than stay behind all on his own.""Reas-" Wyatt and Sam both started to speak. The momentary surprise that had taken them by the revelation about to be released into the dark mine shaft like a terrible quake. For Sam it was the very thing he needed to have th ebottom fall out of his stomach. How much did she know? How was she involved? Was she the reason Tink had given the warning, or was it the new sheriff? Was the crew in any more danger now? Was this all his fault?

Wyatt couldn't help but throw his friend a look that belied his usual calmness before concealing it once again as Willow made to move towards the console, her motion silencing both men at the same time as bringing them back to the reality of the situation.Willow inserted the key into the console as Sam stood by to hide her movements. Brigit made no attempt to watch her though, which only made Willow more suspicious. She carefully punched the four digit Chinese symbols code for "biohazard". There was a moment of nothing and then the console lit up and there was a mechanical sound of a hydraulic releasing. Suddenly the water poured down into a hole and the metal doors slide to side and revealed a shaft below. Lights came on in the shaft and flickered for a moment before stabilizing. It is about 15 feet in diameter and the stone is limestone and quartzite. Ladders on both sides of the newly exposed shaft lead down 20 feet to a drift below. There must be an power source down there as lights can be seen within. Sure enough, there is a door release on the other side of the hatch with no console attached.


"Miss Willow," Wyatt drawled as the new shaft was revealed. "Maybe me or Sam should check it out first."

Though the captain had to play like Willow was in charge, he wasn't about to allow her to leave the protection of either him or Sam. And he'd prefer Sam go down so he could keep an eye on things as by the look of the pilot, Captain Sung wasn't too sure he was going to hold it together much longer unless he was put to task. Summer had always said that idle hands make trouble.

Willow had been presented with more than a few unpleasant surprises in her life, so she accepted Brigitte's response about the door with equanimity. The comment about Pearson having a reason to kill Sam bothered her, though she did her best not to let it show.

She worked the console keys with efficiency, leaning close to Sam so he could see which keys she used but Brigitte could not. The fact that the school marm didn't even try attested to her words about the lock being only one way. That means she has no real reason now to keep any of us alive, other than protection from the townsfolk and strong backs to carry the gold. Must still have a plan to get off-planet...
"Pearson? Wanting to kill Sam? Because of you and him? Oh, honey, half the 'Verse would be after our dear Sam, then; boy can't keep his pants up to save his life! You're gonna have to learn to pick 'em better, imagine losing control of your pigeon like that! Surely he knows you've slept with half the town?!" Willow chattered as the door whooshed open and lights deep within flickered to life.

"Miss Willow," Wyatt drawled as the new shaft was revealed. "Maybe me or Sam should check it out first."

"Good idea, hun, let's have the lovers check it out together...you can cover them and make sure Miss B doesn't ry anything funny." Willow wasn't sure who she was trying to provoke, Pearson or Brigitte, but she knew that when you found a weakness, you just kept poking at it.

Hornsilver Mine level 1, Regina, Frisco, Day Nine 12:10 am Planet Time
If Brigit is effected by Willow verbal barbs, she shows nothing of it as she looks down the new hole in the ground. "You know, for a moment I thought you were bluffing me Willow." she says with a big smile.

Sam goes down the ladder first, followed by Brigit. After a short time, Sam calls out and all clear and Willow and Wyatt go down the shaft to the corridor below. the door above closes behind you but a quick test shows that the release on this side will reopen it without a code. But as Willow descends she sees a small red glow on the opposite side of the hatch. It is a panic button, she recognizes from her medical training for labs that would be working on dangerous pathogens. The button would seal the doors and override all codes in case of a hazard release - which would trap anyone inside forever.

The walls of the drift are formed of rusting hull plating. Its sides slant slightly inward towards a narrow roof supported by steel reinforced trapezoidal arches placed every few feet. The plates are from a ship, that is sure for some are stamped "Warning Exhaust Pipes", Avionics Access C" and "Ground power Connector". Wyatt finds a small registration sign reading "Lucius Newberry - ComTrans - Boros". Brigit smiles widely upon seeing the plate as well. "No doubt now sugar. We found the treasure."

The end of the corridor opens onto a large oval shaped room with concrete arches supporting a domed ceiling of fitted hull plates. Near the edges of the floor are the remains of three big crates. Willow spots a faded cover from one of the crates label in english and chinese - "Control 98242683 - Quarantined Cargo. Do Not Open. Biohazard."

The objects in the centre of the room catches your attention. Three sarcophagi fashioned out of shaped concrete form a triangle in the centre of the room. The top of each sarcophagus has been formed so that it looks like human bones. Chinese figure cross each sarcophagus Jwei Gai Won Se (So guilty as to deserve a thousand deaths). Each lid has matching seals made of metal.

Sam whistles loudly at the sight of the stone coffins. "This ain't no mine." he exclaims, "It's a tomb."

Hornsilver Mine - Topside, Regina, Frisco, Day Nine 12:10 am Planet Time
The hovermule banks up the hill and then Wolf swings it around and comes to a stop. There, before them, is the one shaft to the mine. Not much to look at really. the old building that used to hold the lift for the mine is broken down and faded. The roof is completely gone and the windows smashed out. The twisted metal of the of harness for the lift engine stands like an old armoured warrior over the mouth of some dungeon of Earth that was. the shaft would be about 20x20 feet in size. There is a cover over the shaft, made of quarter inch thick steel plates and 2x4 wooden beams. Which is why Wolf had spun the mule around before stopping. So he could use the winch and pull the cover off. But as you get closer, you see that someone has already been here and opened up a corner of the cover so to slip underneath. Looking down the dark of the shaft, there are many handholds available and the safety ladders mounted to each wall (for when the lift was busted) are still intact.

Hornsilver Mine - Topside, Regina, Frisco, Day Nine 12:10 am Planet Time
As Wolf banked the hovermule up the hill he quickly swung it around and came to a stop facing the mine entrance. There before them was the opening into the one shaft mine, not much to look at really. The old building used to hold the lift for the mine was broken down and faded. The roof completely gone and the windows all smashed out. The twisted metal of the of harness for the lift engine standing like an old armored warrior over the mouth of some dungeon of Earth that was. the shaft would be about 20x20 feet in size. There is a cover over the shaft, made of quarter inch thick steel plates and 2x4 wooden beams.

Having spun the mule around before stopping he could now use the winch to pull the cover off. However as Wolf and Ash climbed out of the Mule they both saw that the cover had been moved just enough to allow single file entrance to the mines interior.
Looking down the dark of the shaft, there are many handholds available and the safety ladders mounted to each wall are still intact. Wolf seeing the cramped quarters knew he would not be taking Ash’s assault rifle with him, so he locked it and the loose ammo for it in the storage area of the mule.

Checking his two Baretta’s and the sawed off pump on his back he turned to Ash

“So rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first?”........


(To Be Continued after Odyson's reply and a DM's call on the rock, paper, scissor's outcome )

Hornsilver Mine - Topside, Regina, Frisco, Day Nine 12:10 am Planet Time
The hover mule banks up the hill and then Wolf swings it around and comes to a stop. There, before them, is the shaft to the mine. There is a cover over the shaft, made of quarter inch thick steel plates and 2x4 wooden beams.

The mule stops, Ash Swings his SPAS30 over his shoulder, leaps out and sprints to the shaft opening. Wolf follows behind checking his guns as he moves.

Someone has already been here and opened up a corner of the cover to be able to slip underneath. Ash peered down into the darkness of the shaft, there are many handholds available and the safety ladders mounted to each wall are still intact.

Wolf turned to Ash, “So rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first?”........
As Wolf raises his hand to throw a sign Ash grabs the cover and step over the edge into the shaft. “I ain’t never been so good at games, looks like you win, I’ll go first. “ Then turning his head back to Wolf he grinned, “ Besides I’ve already been blown up once tonight how much worse can it get.”

Ash also knew that doc’s pain killer wouldn’t last all night and he had to act while he could still move. Dropping on to the ladder, Ash started descending as quickly as he could. The ladder rungs were old and rusty but if they held who ever had gone before him they should hold now. As he slid deeper into the dark he hoped he’d get to his friends in time to help.

"...It's a tomb!"

Sam's declaration drew Wyatt's attention from the side panels and his search for additional boobytraps. There weren't no reason those that left this rig buried wouldn't do more than just bury it to his reckoning. And it was better safe than sorry anyway. So, while Sam had led the way with Bridgette and Willow, Wyatt had hung back a bit to observe and make certain they weren't being followed.

"Da-shiong bao-jah-shr duh la-doo-tze!" Sung breathed as he eyed the containers bearing the skeleton design with some trepedition. All of the symbols for quarantine quite vividly superimposing themselves across his vision.

"No kiddin'," Sam glanced over at Willow, and for a moment Wyatt feared the pilot was going to lose his cool altogether. The look in his eyes was as wild as a hare being chased by a fox.

"Miss Willow," Sam clenched his jaw and as soon as he was sure he had her attention, his eyes began darting about the room looking for signs of the ambush he felt was drawing near. "This some kind of ruse? Them that was here pullin' the wool over our eyes an' such?"

Sung took a deep breath inward before consciously catching himself. Whose to say that the vacuum-sealed containers hadn't received some damage in the crash those years back and whatever contagion was inside hadn't spilled out into the air? The captain's tongue felt like it was coated with a film of dirt all of a sudden. Placing his back near to a bulkhead where he could see to the right and left more easily, covering their front and back, he tried not to think of all the bad luck they had just visted down on themselves while he waited for Willow to answer his friend's question.