<div align="center"><strong>-=Griffin Kingston, Captain - On Bellerephon transferring cargo to The Gamble=-</strong></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Theme Song for this scene - Courtesy of Cassiopeia</div><div class="spoiler_body">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LloIp0HMJjc</div></div><br/>Griff monitored the situation closely, trying to keep as close an eye as he could on the Shāyú’s crew during the transfer. He hoped this would be quick and easy, without any hitches, but he knew plans were made to be foiled and when Abernathy was involved, it was damn near a guarantee. Though he missed Sasha's watchful and controlled presence, he felt a certain relief in the knowledge that she was safely aboard The Gamble along with Mae and Dani. Sasha had wanted nothing to do with this job, considering Abernathy's involvement, and she had made no qualms about making her feelings known back on Persephone. The truth of it was that Griff didn't much like it none either, but then there weren't a whole lot of options left to them and the credits were too good to pass up. So with Sasha remaining behind on The Gamble, he was assured that not only would she be out of any immediate danger planet-side, but he was confident that the ship was in more than capable hands.<br/><br/>Griff was protective of his own; his ship, cargo, his crew - but he was especially protective of the female crew members,  perhaps to a fault. Most might have viewed this as being possessive or territorial of the fairer sex, but in truth, Griff felt more of a responsibility to see to their safety, more so that the men of crew, whom he felt should be able to take care of themselves as men. It was for this reason, in conjunction with the knowledge of whom they were ultimately dealing with that lead to Griff's selection of his shore party. He trusted Si to be ever vigilant and watchful and knew the older man could handle himself in a pinch. He'd seen Vince handle himself in a tough scrape and knew the keen eyed co-pilot seemed to have eyes in the back of his head when he was expecting trouble, and that's exactly what they were expecting. Anwar was the only real question mark, but Griff had it on good authority from Jack that the boy was an asset in a fight,  and so he assigned him to the cargo crew along with himself.<br/><br/>The transfer had gone smoothly for the past half hour and they were nearly finished, only a few more pallets let to load. The cargo hold was now filled nearly to capacity, leaving just enough room to load the skiff and loader inside before the doors would be sealed shut. Griff had long ago removed his sweat soaked shirt thanks to the scorching desert heat, but the crew of both ships had managed to keep cool, thanks in part to the ice cold refreshments and food Dani had prepared for them. Fortunately the sun was beginning to set and the temperature was slowly but surely dropping. Wiping the sweat from his brow with the bandanna tied around his wrist, Griff approached Si, catching a subtle shifting in the older man's eyes meant only for Griff. Si had spotted something that didn't set rigth, and he was quick and discreet to alert Griff. Nodding his head discreetly in return, Griff moved towards the skiff where Anwar and Vince were working together to load a lone, heavy crate. Joining the two men in helping them lift, he took the opportunity to alert the men of impending trouble.<strong>"Look sharp, Si's got a bad vibe."</strong><br/><br/>No sooner had those words left his lips than three of the Shāyú’s crew drew weapons and began to fire on them shouting and yelling directions to each other and locations of Griff's crew. Anwar drew his pistol and fired, catching one of them square between the eyes. The man's body went limp and he collapsed to the ground. Si had quickly taken cover behind one of the last remaining pallets, leveling his gun on a second of Shāyú’s crew, but as he squeezed the trigger, killing a second of the Shāyú’s crew, he took a slug to the leg from a third crew who had ducked behind a small boulder near the canyon's edge. Si yelled out in pain, clutching his wounded leg as he slumped to the ground behind the crate.<strong>"SI!"</strong>Griff called, slipping behind the skiff along with Vince.<strong>"How bad are you hit?!"</strong>He'd lost sight of Anwar somewhere near the Shāyú.<strong>"I'm fine, Captain! Don't worry about me, just go!"</strong>Si had recovered his piece and hunkered down behind the crate in a defensive posture, quickly ripping his belt free and using it as a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding.<br/><br/>One of the Shāyú’s crew, a tall and intimidating looking man with stark white hair (http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj147/icecreamxxheadaches/buffy%20the%20vampire%20slayer/Spike-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-9634.jpg) ducked unseen into The Gamble's cargo hold for cover, unnoticed by Sasha who had to dive for cover as a hail of bullets slammed the crates next to her. Griff peeked around the skiff to scout the situation, and nearly took a bullet in his brain pan, the slug pinging of the metal alloy skinned skiff. He turned to face his attacker, who had him dead to rights, but before the man squeezed the trigger, he collapsed in a crumpled heap. Sasha's aim had been true. There were still a couple of them left by Griff's reckoning. He checked on Vince before making his way towards the Shāyú where he'd last seen Anwar, his gun in hand.