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The St. Anne

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Sir Arthur Crecy
Location: starboard Airlock closed
Arthur went through his hardsuits checklist, it had been quite awhile since he had to use one of these, most of his jobs kept him planetside or on space stations large enough to have a descent artificial gravely system. "Alright locks look good" he said to himself as he lifted the arms, examining the orange and blue hardsuit. Diligently he went over every inch, the helmet it's visor looking like the maw of a tiger was free of cracks, the magnetic boots were still in working condition, he would probably need to replace those parts soon, but for now they would work, the suits gel undercoat and secondary rebreather shouldn't fail anytime soon. Then his eyes fell upon the actual armor plating, it still beared scars from Altair job, the right shoulder blackened from a IED stapled to the side of a civilian cruiser. As well as the battle of tredlr moon where three large but cosmetic scrapes tear down the right leg. "It has been a long time old friend, maybe if this job pays well I can get you a tune up" he promised smiling even as he began the rather lengthy process of putting it on.

As he absentmindedly donned his suit he thought back to how he ended up on the St anne...

The rat bastards from the blue mountain group and descided to really ride his ass after they realized he had been staying on the space station for a day on their dime saying things like "we don't pay you to stay on station boozing and whoring around you piece of shit! Especially when a particularly lucrative contract is about to be struck! Now Get back aboard before I hang your fucking asshole above my mantel!" The mans voice had nearly blown out the speaker in his earpiece but Arthur without any anger simply told him that he would be there on the double and apologizing to his obnoxious employer. He remembered smiling with every word telling the rat bastard everything he wanted to hear. they had no idea that he had struck a deal with a crewmenber of the anne, nor did they realize that he abhored each and every one of the glorified slavers, and what came next would be sweet. His only regret would be the savingon blanc that he would be wasting on these bastards.

Arthur began strapping on the boots of his hardsuit. His body on autopilot as he almost relived the memory.

He didn't exactly know the combat strength of the anne back then, but he did know his associates, they thought this was all over any thought of a fight was so far from their minds that the weapons they brandished would merely for window dressing, "to show they meant business" as they called it. But even as overconfident as they were, once bullets started flying... It would get messy, so to help balance the odds, he descided to play on one of their vices. THEY LOVED TO DRINK, honestly it could be a bit of a problem. So it wasn't hard to get them quite a few sheets to the wind before the whole thing started.

And it was there in the mess hall that many of them died, once the sounds of violence began echoing across the ship, he unsheathed his sword and ended his former coworkers. (Something anyone watching he cameras would have seen) Unfortunately some managed to get a few good hits in, causing some rather unpleasant shoulder damage, but nothing that a field kit couldn't fix (a trained medical professional would vehemently disagree an alcohol bath and sloppy stiches does not a fixed wound make) it kept him going.

He was honestly surprised when he Arived at the cargo bay to find most of the rest hamburger, he offered his services as per the agreement, talking things out with the captain, expressing his need to get out of he system and eventually getting the memo that Jin, wasn't the captain but eventually picking up his cargo and moving it onto the ship.

And with the memory concluding everything started coming back into focus, just as he slid his sword into its sheath across his back. He looked over his Shoulder to the hilt. "Hope I don't need to use you on this ghost ship, but one can never be too careful" looking back down he grabbed one of the maintaince kits as he had taken as well as his usual kit and stepped forward into his new adventure.


--------------------------------

Location: outside the Ticonderoga class assault ship

Arthur was right behind the doctor, when the door to the horror show opened up and not even he could stifle a "dear god" when he realized what he was looking at, the bare illumination from their collective light sources showing what that darkness of space does to a person after they pass, and it is not pretty. He made the equivalent to a cross on his chest and then He began to explore, doing his best not to disturb anything as he floated in the zero g environment. Moving further from the hatch, exploring more into this house of horrors. Seeing tech that should be more Ina museum that a scrap yard "This place is old, I mean like Really old, does anyone have any idea when this bird went dark? How long it may have been here?" He asked the comms trying to focus on hard facts rather than the body that was less than a meter from him. He shined a light from consol to crate. He floated over to it and with as much caution as he could, pried it open, inside were foodstuffs, still wrapped "Looks like we found at least one of the cargo holds though"
 
Iona Knutesdottir
Unknown Ticonderoga Class Ship
Morning Watch
Tagged: All

Violence and danger to the ends of rescuing a shipmate or righting a wrong - the crew of the St. Anne had a surprising depth of morality for all they might be considered scoundrels - and dealing with the gruesome aftermath of their actions was one thing, but stepping into a grove of corpses in a cemetery ship was another. Iona had seen this sort of thing before, though not when she explored the eerily empty St. Anne on her salvage mission, and was not surprised by the reactions, even from Dr. Khan who had likely seen more carnage and death than any of them, even her orange-eyed angel Donovan. Shipwrecks occupied a spooky place in the human soul and always would.

"Stand in place," she ordered. "Everyone reach out and touch a shipmate." Her own hand settled on the cook's suit and she shook the woman slightly, to apply comforting pressure on her inside the suit.

"We're alive. We're alive and we have each other," she said after everyone obeyed. "Every grumble you've made, every time you've cursed my name when I've rolled you out of your bunks or the crapper or from diddling each other or your hand with a drill has been because of this." Iona turned her body to shine the twin lights of her suit into the hold. A man's silently, eternally screaming and vacuum flash frozen face drifted across one corner of their figure eight, followed by his claw like hand. "This shouldn't have happened. Hatches should have been secured, but people left them loose or worse dogged open to save time and for convenience. Bubbles or gumby suits should have been available, close and in enough quantity for some of them to have gotten into them. Shipmates, somebody was careless, careless and stupid, and that's why I'm so hard nosed with you about safety."

"Bitch all you want but damned if I'll let my crew or passengers wind up like these poor souls."

Once she was sure the lesson had sunk in Iona pulled herself inside and pushed a few corpses away from the hatch to make room for the others, seeming not to care that their stiff bodies tumbled and knocked into others.

"The Doctor is right but we don't have the manpower to waste right now securing bodies. Do the best you can but they're just bodies. They can't hurt you." Except to give you nightmares she added to herself. "And I don't want anyone plugging in a power cell to anything until we figure out what happened. She's dead and I want her to stay that way until I know we're not going to bring her back to the same state that caused all of this damned foolishness."

From a pouch on her suit Iona took a marking pen, fat and thick as a cigar, and painted a large circle on the bulkhead by the hatch. Glowing bright neon yellow from the chemicals in it, the circle would show where the exit was for several days. They were commonly used in damage control situations or in evacuations to mark pathways to safety. "Remember to mark as we go. Big bold arrows pointing back here. Add notes underneath."
 
Thomyris “Riz” Heroux
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship
Tagged: All.

Entering into the ship proved little difficulty and Thomyris, middle of the pack, flicked on the small flashlight attached to the side of her T-visor helmet. As she stepped into the derelict ship, she double and triple checked the safety of her sidearm, a recent addition given the tribulations the crew faced prior to this one. To be honest, it was an uncomfortable weight in her hand yet easily forgettable when attached to the magnetic holster on her hip, something she continually reached out to check if it was still there. She hoped it would not be needed on this mission.

She acknowledged the doctor’s warning, already knowing she was here to examine the inanimate technology rather than anything organic. She had her datapad in one hand, ready to record anything of note or access any terminal she might find that could bring light to what this ship was about. Get the shipboard lights reactivated, then maybe find a manifest, then check the logs and see why this ship had to be abandoned. Look at all this old stuff though. Will it even bring a price or value to us?

And then they found it.

A gasp of shock escaped her lips and despite the frozen scene before her, Thomyris still shot her hand to the grip of her sidearm when they encountered the horror. Bodies. Many bodies. All of them perfectly preserved in the dead cold of space yet...still. Lifeless. They floated, like bubbles in the air, either stuck in place from a lack of inertia or shifting ever so slowly from a centuries long game of bumper cars with each other. It was sickening, one that formed a lump in her throat. She had seen dead people before but never in this quantity or circumstances. These were not soldiers or criminals, no mining shaft accident or workplace death. They were innocents by the look of them, helpless colonists who suffered the misfortune of being stranded in space.

At the Captain’s command, Thomyris reached out and put her hand on the Doctor’s shoulders, the other clutching her datapad to her side. She didn’t need the Captain to lecture her twice about protocol, being almost equally as diligent in ensuring all hatches, compartments, and sections were locked and bolted shut when not in use. Heck, she’d even slave the Anne’s locking mechanisms to her datapad if she could, able to shut and open with the mere press of a button. She gulped hard and as Iona began to shift through the bodies, she managed to find her voice.

“I’ll...head to the Bridge, Captain. I’ll look for a manifest of what goods they had and maybe try to get some lights, gravity and life support reactivated?” She inquired for permission, making a guess that the bridge and command centre would be towards the bow of the ship as was the traditional design of most human ships. “I can go alone and stay in radio contact. Maybe even find some outlay maps too to help coordinate the search efforts. That alright?”

Along with anyone who would come with her, Thomyris began to make her way through a separate corridor, trying to keep her bearings straight as she made her way bow-ward. “What do you reckon happened here? Mutiny? Systems failure? Food shortage?” She asked over the comms.
 
Iona Knutesdottir
Unknown Ticonderoga Class Ship
Morning Watch
Tagged: All

"We stay together," Iona countered Thomyris' request. "And nobody supplies power to or powers up anything on this ship without my direct order." Regretting having to step on Thomyris, the girl was trying to show initiative and to volunteer to take a dangerous job as a way of repaying her perceived transgression against her shipmates, Iona still didn't hesitate to assert her commands. It was necessary and if you didn't have the guts to reel in your people when they needed it that was as good as telling them yourself to make damned fool choices.

"I want you to take the lead, the point, getting us there though. That doesn't mean you always are the first into a compartment or passageway though. You've got bodies in your party," she winced and realized bodies was a bad choice of words. "Use them. Tell them what you want them to do."

"I'll bring up the back and mark our path." As she moved to that spot, Iona exchanged a glance with Donovan and cut her eyes towards the front, then latched onto Sonakshi's arm and moved the doctor to the back with her.

"I don't see anyone wearing crew or military uniforms. That strike anyone else as odd?"
 
Jin-Lai Park
Location: Somewhere aboard the Drifting Crypt of the Dead (Apparently Derelict Ticonderoga Class Ship full of dead people)
Morning Watch, (but far from the light of any sun...)
Tagged: ALL


Jin Li had been quiet and reflective. She did almost scream when Riz suggested they split up. She wanted to scream out "Remember what happened last time we split up and then Mateo was kidnapped and Serena disappeared and then Elaine". Jin-Lai had a new rule - stay with the group.

What they were in was , at best, like a tomb. At worst, whatever killed the people here was still here, killing. Actually, that wasn't even the worst. Some sort of space parasite could have zombied the crew, these bodies might be ready to animate at any time.

Jin Li was somewhat glad she only had the soft suit on, it would make her faster and quicker than the halting lerches of the pseudo-dead crew when they rose to come after Jin and her crewmates. Sure, not one of them had yet moved. And technically such a thing had never happened in any documented case. But that was just what they wanted you to think, after all. Wasn't it?

"Good plan" Jin whispered on the comms when the Captain made it clear they would stick together. She was carrying an Engineering and Damage Control Toolkit and was looking if there was anything work taking off. When the Captain mentioned that they had no insigia , she piped up "Perhaps they were mutineers, or maybe the vessel was undergoing decomission and transfer. Or, well, pirates" she added at the end. Somehow , she could deal with pirates better than she could deal with dead pirates.

"Doc, are we super sure that all these bodies are fully 100 percent dead? " She wanted to ask about the alien parasitic influence but she didn't want THEM to know that she knew , that is, in case there really was such a thing. She only knew that if one of them came at her , she was lobbing off an arm with her vibro-blade. Or her short katana. She was not about to be space food!
 
Donovan
Unknown Ticonderoga Class Ship
Morning Watch
Tagged: All


Donovan turned on the twin head lamps on his helmet, more for the sake of the others than himself. Behind the black tinted visor his orange eyes were glowing bright and he could see in the dark not quite perfectly but well enough to not need the aid of the lights. He looked over the floating bodies and frowned. He had seen this scene before, hell he had caused it more than once, most recently on the Gramercy's Run.

Looking over the bodies with a cold disconnection to what they used to be he turned to Iona. "These are civies. There is no sign of them being military or pirate. None of the bodies here have weapons, or anything to signify being in some kind of group."

Walking through the mass of corpses he continued to look over them. "No Jin-Lai, they will not come back to life. I've seen bodies reanimated, they have to be fresh and it involves heavy mechanical augmentations, it's more like they are turned into rotting puppets used for simple tasks. They have no life, no thoughts of their own. There are some nasty groups that use them for shock troops or free labor. These husks are just that. Empty shells."

As he spoke to 'comfort' Jin-Lai he followed Iona's silent order and moved up to Riz clasping his hand to her shoulder. "I have your back kid. It's like Iona said, just because you are leading this doesn't mean you need to take point at every door. Use me as you see fit."
 
Thomyris “Riz” Heroux
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship
Tagged: All.

Thomyris bite her lower lip when the Captain flatly shut her down. Or at least, shut down the possibility of her going alone or with someone else. No, they were going as a group and when the situation was appraised, then would permission be granted to start accessing the ship’s systems. Thomyris saw the merit and prudence in it and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. This way, everyone.” She said, picking a path as best she could through the floating maze of dead bodies, careful not to touch any. Well she was small enough to avoid and duck. The others, not as much possibly. She got to the first threshold that led into a dark corridor and was peering in, when Donovan suddenly touched her shoulder.

She jerked and nearly squeaked in surprise, so focused was she on scouting out this simple passageway. “Y-Yes, I know. I think I can handle a few at least.” Thomyris stated, reaching back to press her hand to Donovan’s in a squeeze of encouragement, for herself at least, before moving forward into the passageway. At the end, perhaps a dozen feet, where only a few bodies drifted, probably thrown here from some inertia, they came to a fork, both branching off perpendicular to where she assumed the bridge was. Thomyris took a deep breath and huffed. Decisions, decisions, and I hope I don’t lead them on some wild goose chase that takes us to the rear of the ship instead.

She decided to take the corridor that branched left, leading them deeper into the ship. Only twice did she send Donovan ahead, when it seemed like a passageway might have many thresholds to other areas, though they only proved to be sealed maintenance hatches into narrow corridors that ran along the hull or between compartments. But after a quarter hour of exploring, or rather, flying through in zero-gee, pushing from threshold to threshold or kicking off walls, they came to another fork, a four way. But here they caught some luck. On the ground there was markings. The way they had come up, an arrow point back the way they came, read in bold letters Habitation. The pass on the right read Bridge, the pass across read Hydroponics, while the pass on their left had four indications, each leveled above each other to show distance; Cryo-Chamber, Cargo-Hold, Armoury, Engineering.

Thomyris’ headlights rested on each one but a moment before she settled on the passageway marked Bridge, fluttering over to it but not pushing inside, turning to face the others. “We still heading this way, Captain?” She inquired, finding the silence and dark to be quite unnerving at times, though trusting in her companions to keep alert.
 
Jin-Lai Park
Location: near the cold storage on a cold lifeless Ticonderoga class hulk full of cold lifeless bodies who died in unknown fashion for unknown reason. All is well. All is well..
Morning Watch
Tagged: ALL

Upon seeing the sign Cryo-chamber , Jin Lai perked up . Dead bodies. Not her thing. Searching through cold storage. Totally her thing "I know my way around a freezer, and i know how people use them to stash valuables Wich eeminds me to note because I never got the change this morning, Captain our previous cook lost track of one of his own packets of booty, I locked it in the quarter master's safe last night and set it to require your code or 2 officers. Not sure exactly how much it is worth but I know finances are tight and that should help. If I knew where the guy was I would shake him to see if we could make any more precious stones drop out of him. "

That was the problem using cold storage to hide your valuables, many times you simply forgot it, it gets frost on it and becomes indistinguishable from that stack of hamburger sliders and the pack of buns . You had to be very organized, or like Jin Lai, have an eidetic memory . Still, searching through cold storage would be much more familiar to her than hunting down dead bodies.

Jin didn't wait to be countermanded, she knew they had no problem speaking up, and she moved to the cryo chamber. As she got close, her comms picked up a slight line of interference. It reminded her of an unshielded wireless transmission on a competing frequency. Funny, why would there be a wireless signal coming from the freezer?

"That's odd, I am picking up un-shielded wireless transmission coming from the Cryo chamber. No indications of any trigger mech or countdowns though. " She used her Multi-scan device that she had slaved into her internal senors and comms. She un-dogged the hatch for the Cryo chamber. Inside , rather than sides of meat and other foodstuffs, there were pods. One of them seemed to be filled with a glowing yellow translucent liquid and there were faint led lights on the pod itself. It was struggling to stay functional but someone was definitely moving inside the pod!


She jumped back and squealed "Something's moving. Pod, in the yellow goo! " She was panting and feeling like she was having a heart attack, although it was more than likely a panic attack.
 
Arthur Crecy
 Location: Another Graveyard in space
Tags: All?

 Arthur touched donnovans shoulder, Arthur mused that it was an odd command but what the heck. It was just a shoulder touch what could it hurt. Before removing it from the mans shoulder.

it would take one hell of a necromancer to bring these guys to life Jin, even if they were somehow brought back, with the cold setting in once life support went out these.. people are.. I doubt they could even move now, their body would snap like an ice sickle.

He looked through a few more containers finding more of the same before the signal came to move on. With The magnetic soles of his boots engaged He walked in the middle of the pack of scavengers, averting his direct gaze from any more of the poor sods who might bar their way, he wouldn't admit it but it was starting to get to him, he began to feel their eyes upon him, he tried to shut them out! But he began to hear the crackle of fire, the calls for help, people begging for their lives! all in beat with the clanging of metal on metal! it drummed in his head! It was getting louder and louder! Until Jin-lai's voice cut through the drumming.

They were at a four way stop, he steadied himself against a wall regaining his bearings. engineering, cryogenic, bridge, and then off went Jin-lai like a bolt of lighting. It was his chance to sort his head out.

dont worry, I'll go after her, I'll stay on com just in case anything too spooky shows up
he assured them already making his way over and down the hall after the cook. he silently thanked the creator for giving him a descent excuse to get his head on straight. But no sooner had he finished repeating the opening of MASH to himself that Jin said something he never wanted to hear "something was moving" he unsheathed his pistol and hoofed it closer.

come on Jin-Kai that's a load of malarkey, this thing has been... Well I'll be..
He trailed off getting a better look at whatever the hell could be living in this wreck. It was a glowing pod, looked like cryogenics the fact it was still on was a miracle, but it wouldn't be for much longer. He dropped the pistol with a clang and slammed down the maintenance kit, rifling through it. this thing would be dead in minutes if he didn't do something, yanking out a panel in the wall he fed in a belt of wires into the breaker there linking 2 power cells to the main system, buying the pod more time, but also turning on the red glow of the few emergency lights that still worked.


And From the bridge of the ship a voice began to speak "anyone please.. Anyone please... Anyone please..." Repeating in the same begging tone over and over again...
 
Doctor Sonakshi Khan
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship
Tagged: The crew and lost souls


It didn't matter how fast her heart was beating, how clumsy everything felt with that suit, how dreary the surroundings were, Sonakshi couldn't sound startled much more or she would make things worse. Nobody wants to hear the doctor's voice tremble, that's never good news. "If they had any sickness, it should be long dead" she said, since the cold and void would have taken care of those. "I just don't want to spread corpse bits everywhere in case something happens" added. Iona was more than right about the safety measures, and Sonakshi couldn't help but feel her passion about it, feeling her devotion to the health of the crew, specially with her so close.

As the inspection moved on, there was nothing of note beyond the colorful guesses of her crew mates, all trying to decipher what happened in that vessel and why a ship that size had not only gone to hell, but also seemed to have just civilians on board. Jin's scream startled her, wondering what she had noticed, hoping that it was just something the woman had imagined.

But they didn't have such luck. "Stop tinkering with that thing at once" Sonakshi barked. "Captain, we could have a quarantine issue here" it wasn't like Sonakshi was usually all laughs and giggles, but she really sounded very much like Doctor Khan, and just her tone showed that she was in charge. "I don't care who is in there if she carries any kind of pathogen that could kill the Anne in hours" added. "We can seal the clinic and take the tests and measures there, we can seal a room here, fill it with air and do the tests here, or..." the doctor paused. It was a tough call to make, but Iona was the captain after all.

"Or we can just leave it unopened" doctor Khan finished.
 
Iona Knutesdottir
Unknown Ticonderoga Class Ship
Morning Watch
Tagged: All

"Everyone go to channel 6," she ordered and used her suit's capabilities to switch over while still monitoring the primary channel with its eerie, repeating voice. A voice she wanted to get out of everyone's ears before it spooked them any more than it had. Iona knew it was just a loop, a bit of electronic waste that was stuck transmitting its broken message across their frequency and there wasn't anything to be scared of, but even the hardened lifelong spacer and Captain felt the hairs on her arm stand up. What it might be doing to the others -

She caught a glimpse of Donovan standing ready by the hatch, looking like a coiled weapon relaxed and ready at the same time,

- okay the others except Donovan worried her. They were already hyped up with the macabre situation and when people got stressed then bad things started to happen, like making impulsive decisions. She had to get a hold on her crew before anything bad happened.

"Everyone up? Okay," she was glad to hear them acknowledge they'd clicked over to a frequency that was clear of the taped plea for help. "Thomyris, take Donovan," damned if she wanted to be without Donovan right now but it was professional not personal, "and get to the bridge. Lock that nonsense down and get us some answers. I especially want to know anything about an illness or an outbreak. If you need something don't wait and think about asking for help, ask for help and then wait."

"Crecy, is the power stable to the pod?" Once he answered affirmative she gave her next order. "Okay, back up everyone. Let's play this cool," like the person in the pod her mind supplied with malice. There wasn't any ice on the pod to brush away with her armored gloves, that had long sublimated into vacuum just like the water from the bodies of the corpses, leaving a clear view into the pod at its occupant. Even through the yellow cryo-fluid the girl's pale complexion and ash blonde hair were striking. No that wasn't the right name for it, what was it? Realizing her mind was trying to fixate on the trivial to avoid thinking about the situation, Iona willed herself to focus.

"Thank you, Doctor Khan. And good job stabilizing the pod, Crecy." Turning her body so she could look at them, especially at Jon-Lai she continued. "If you hadn't been Jane on the spot with noticing the signal, Cookie, we might have missed her - it is a her by the way. Looks like you'll need to start setting an extra place at meals soon," Iona's voice had mirth in it to reassure and praise Jin-Lai. That the Captain didn't feel it wasn't evident, it was just another tool of command.

"We're not opening this thing here and it's not," she said with iron conviction, "going back to the St. Anne. Not until you're one hundred percent satisfied there's no biocontamination or other risk, Doctor."

"We're going to use Donovan's new toy. Start working on getting the pod free, stabilized with power, and ready to transport to the shuttle. Donovan's," she clarified. "Doctor Khan, if you need any additional supplies or equipment from the St. Anne, make a list and we'll get it transferred over before you crack this," her gauntleted hand thumped the pod just above the window, "open. You need someone to assist and provide security but we've got time so be thinking about who you want. We'll leave the shuttle a hundred meters out from the St. Anne and use it as an isolation ward. We still have the Annie and there's no possible way anything can get from vacuum, across empty space, and into the St. Anne. If need be we'll just vent her to space or abandon her and bring y'all back aboard and decontaminate you in a survival bubble before letting you in the hatch."

Donovan and Thomyris had a job and were on it. Crecy and Khan did as well. That left Jin-Lai and Iona needed to keep the cook busy so she didn't have time to think and get rattled. "Cookie," she said and grabbed the side of Jin-Lai's suit to gently orient her to face the pod and the glowing promise of life. "Do you think you can help her out some more? The girl in the pod? Crecy and Khan have got things under control," warm reassurance and confidence in her voice carried over the comms. "Jack in your comms to the pod and just talk to her." Iona indicated a cable patch on the pod that would allow just that. "If she moved she might just be able to hear you, like someone in a coma. I know I'd like to hear a friendly voice from a pretty girl if I was in her situation. Just talk to her, Jin-Lai. Tell her what you're going to make her for her first meal when she wakes up. Anything."

After patting the cook on the shoulder, Iona pushed off and gave the three of them space to work. Dr. Khan would take care of things from here, now that she knew what Iona wanted. At the hatch Iona pulled herself around and used a kick from her legs to sail up the passageway, pushing the occasional corpse from her path and then using finger and toe touches on the bulkheads, overhead, or deck to reorient herself and continue towards not the bridge but the engineering spaces.

A dead ship full of dead men didn't seem to bother her as she went on her solo path.

"I'm heading to Engineering. Thomyris, get us some answers."
 
Jin-Lai Park
Location: What kind of freezer IS this?
Morning Watch
Tagged: Crew of the St. Anne, nice lady who lives in the freezer inside the yellow goo machine

Jin was calm now "I am sorry guys, I have always had this thing about ships of dead people. There is an old story among my people of a ship of the dead , during World War II the Japanese had warehoused prisoners in them and sent them out to sea to die, but the tale was told of one of the ships where the people didnt live but they didn't die, and the sailors of that ship lived to sink the mighty Battleship Yamato." her voice tailed off. "Anyhow these are the stories I was raised with. One of the reasons I broke away from my family."

"Ayhow, aye, captain, I have this. I am ok now"

Jin took out her uni-cable and configured the interface tip to physically jack into the pod. There was some high pitched cybernetic processing as it negotiated the connection protocol, and a pause of about 2 seconds where her comms went out entirely - two seconds of sheer nerves, and then relief as she heard the slight feedback of an established connection as well as the other comms traffic.

"Connection established. Hello in there, in the pod, can you hear me? My name is Jin. Like the drink, except with a J" Although Jin could hear all channels , there was a one way firewall between the private loop back channel with the pod and the other channels. She addressed channel 6 now "You can hear the loop channel but they won't be able to hear you for now" She didn't explain that this was on purpose. She only wanted the pod-person to hear her voice , in case there were some terse moments to come, thus the separation.

Back on the loop with the pod
"Can you hear me in there? What should i call you? So you know aboard our ship, I am the cook. That means as a newbie you will get to have your favorite food , as long as it isnt lamb Of course she hadn't even had a chance to have a special meal for Arthur yet "Heck our crew is due for a feast, and we are definitely stocked for one"
 SHe stopped short of mentioning a full freezer.
 
Ophelia Fitzalan
Stasis Pod within the Ticonderoga Class Ship
Morning Watch, though she doesn't know it yet
Tagged: All


Blankness, unending emptiness...Ophelia’s entire existence had narrowed to at best, repeats of dim bleak memories and at worst, absolute and utter desolation. She was trapped somehow, but she had no idea where or why, what she had done to deserve this merciless punishment. Perhaps this was hell and she deserved each tormented moment locked away as she was, not able to move or even wake completely.

There had been occasions that she had fought whatever it was that so expertly trapped her, and had stirred just enough to regain a slight amount of awareness that she comprehended for a few precious seconds what her otherwise veiled sight perceived. These visions had been so horrific that Ophelia had long since given up fighting to escape the quicksand that bound her so relentlessly.

Emaciated faces had stared down upon her, seemingly frozen in eternal terror. Their eyes glassed over in a grey film, lips pulled to tight, making their teeth monstrous and sinister. Even the few times she had fought her way to the surface, and hadn’t been surrounded by nightmarish beings, the intense pain raging throughout her chest and muscles sent her scurrying back into the abyss.

Though she continued to hope and to fight, emerging each time she found the strength of body and soul...until the last time. She somehow knew it was taking longer and longer between each moment of semi-consciousness, but the need for new stimulus, something other than the stark emptiness drove her to continue her attempts. Only this time…she found her brother. His smile, the warm charming expression she remembered with happiness and joy was now a twisted and terrifying vision, sneering down at her in accusation.

Her heart had bleed seeing him suspended over her and from that moment she had willed her body to die, she no longer wanted to fight. She just wanted to die...but even that was denied her in her ruthless prison. Submerging herself deep into the emptiness, Ophelia didn’t try to escape again.



She was sitting in her old room, listening as her brother told her how he and his friend had tricked their teacher into letting them out of class early. As she looked around, everything appeared washed out, resembling an old painting, faded from years in the sun. She was smiling at her brothers antics and struggling to hear the story. Her brows wrinkled, wondering why everything seemed so dim...foggy.

Ophelia jumped when a soothing female voice came out of nowhere.

Pod?

Jin?

She didn’t understand what was going on, but the more the woman spoke, everything around her seemed to fade even more. There was something itching at the back of her mind, an answer to what was happening, but she couldn’t reach it.

Something about a ship?

Was she out at sea? Everything was a confusing jumble that Ophelia couldn’t seem to make sense of, but the voice continued to talk to her, keeping her from panicking completely, even if she didn’t understand half of what she was hearing. The more she heard, the more she wanted to meet the person behind the bewildering and engaging words.
 
Doctor Sonakshi Khan
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship
Tagged: The crew and lost souls


"Good call. On it" Sonakshi just nodded. She wasn't specially happy with the notion of being floating in space in a small ship with what could be a canister full of something that could have caused the sickness and finally the demise of the crew of that ship, but perhaps the person on the pod was clean and her job would be easy. Like hell, the job was never easy. Doctor Khan made a list of the things she'd need on a datapad, a process most clumsy with the suit on. What she was carrying was mostly things for emergency treatments, and even if she perhaps could manage to do some tests with what she had on her with Sonakshi's usual ghetto medicine style, she had the proper supplies in the Anne, so there was no reason to not do it properly.

She would also need some machinery so she could do a few scans on the person there. At least an echo to check her insides and a few scans more to check for internal injuries and the like. "I can handle them by myself though" she said to Iona before she vanished away. "There is no reason to risk having two people exposed" she said, knowing full well that unless the pod had some highly trained killer or otherwise enhanced murderer she would be able to handle a patient, sedated or not. It would hardly be the first time she got her hands on an unruly patient, specially when it required some emergency amputations.
 
Thomyris “Riz” Heroux
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship/heading towards Bridge.
Tagged: All (mostly Donovan).

“Jin-“ Thomyris attempted to call out but their cook already bolted down towards the Cryo-Chambers, followed by Arthur Crecy. She shut her mouth, watching with pursued lips. Well at least he could handle himself. Which meant of course Jin-Lai would have the best protection. After putting everyone’s life in danger from her own mistakes, she was loathe to see anything bad happen to any one of them. And there were orders too after all. It seemed as if all would be well, until something seemed to snap inside the ship and the voice fluttered through all the comms. Anyone please…anyone please…

Good goddess! It sent icy tingles down her spine, for anyone who ever journeyed through the stars would know the risks of maybe being stranded in deep space. To think such a reality happened here was horrifying, one that evoked deep sorrow and pity for the previous occupants of this ship. It was only Iona’s voice that drew Thomyris out of this dreadful reprieve of her mind, switching channels but not forgetting the voice, which seemed to play on inside her mind. That could have been me even.

“Yes ma’am. we'll report when I'm there.” Thomyris stated through the comms, jerking her head towards Donovan so that they could move on. Despite the stone cold killer at her back, who would have her back through thick and thin, Thomyris still couldn’t shake off the sudden foreboding that came over her. There was something still on this ship she feared but better to face it in the light than the dark, she imagined.

She didn’t activate her own magnetic-soles, throwing herself from threshold to threshold and through corridors in zero-gee as she followed the indicators towards the bridge. A lot more console, monitor, and terminals became prevalent, side nooks with view screens, open wiring and such. It was quite an extensive operation. “Looks like they’re using your toy without you.” She bantered with Donovan as they made their way around, listening to the comms, as it was much better than listening to the silence of life all around. Even though she had the option of sending Donovan first, and despite her own fears, Thomyris still led the way. Only dead bodies right?

At last they came to a set of blast doors that locked off the bridge. Outside, floating though in what seemed to be a seating position, was a corpse. Thomyris nearly screamed when her headlights fell upon it, not noticing it until she was half way towards the final set of doors. She took several deep breaths to steady herself and approached the doors, keeping far away from the body. She tried the door commands but they were inactive, forcing her to rip it apart to get at the wiring. Only…it was completely different from the standardized tech she was used to. After peering at it, she realized there was no point pulling or cutting it blind. “This is way too old for me.” She murmured, glancing back at Donovan with a disappointed face. She didn’t like being useless.

“I don’t suppose you can force these open? Whatever happened to these poor buggers, its very likely the answers on the bridge. They wouldn’t just lock it in and keep…” Thomyris glanced towards the corpse floating outside, clearly locked out by something or someone, highlighting it with her headlights, “…keep him out.”
 
Donovan
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship/ The Hell inside
Tagged: The Devils in I/ Tomyris

"Anyone please…anyone please…" The words rang inside of Donovan's skull the voice slowly changing into one he was familiar with. "Anyone please…anyone please…" Burning orange eyes veiled by the reflective black visor trembled and jerked in all directions as though they were having a fit. Hmhmhmhm. Such a lovely sound isn't it Donovan? The finally pleading of an already dead body that has yet to catch up to it's own demise. It's like her isn't it?" A voice not unlike Donovan's, but still different, colder, less human filled his head. "Silence. You are not real." Donovan dismissed the voice coldly. "Who told you that lie Donovan? You know just how real I am. I am the darkness inside you. That sickly, dying, cancerous THING you try to hide from the rest of your crew. You know exactly who and what I am Donny. Don't deny me my existence in this place, you can't be that cruel, can you?" The similar but different voice taunted. "I told you to be silent" Growled Donovan. HmhmhmhmhehehehehAHAHAHAHA! The voice started laughing, quietly at first but slowly growing in volume until the sound was a physical presence pressing on Donovan.
"Why are you so angry with me Donny? Is it because I know?" The last words were an accusing whisper that ripped through Donovan. His face contorted into a grimace of rage. "That was you! YOU DID THAT TO THEM NOT ME!" Donovan roared in rage. "What happened to me not being real Donny? If I am not real how could it have been me that did that to them? If I am not real then it could have only been you that ghosted those 716,823 souls on the Taimien Space Station. Men, women, children, elderly, you're own allies. If I am not real then you are the one that killed them all. But you have never had a problem with killing before have you Donny? You had a pretty decent body count before they cut me into you." Images of the Taimien Space Station flickered through his head. Thousands on thousands of bodies floating dead inside the husk of the station, killed by the sabotage that they did and the explosives set to breach over a hundred points on the station's hull. The unit was after only seven men who had hidden on the station. They found the fastest solution to get rid of the problem the fastest way possible and leave no chance of escape from the group that they defected from. No chance to spill the secret horrors that were being preformed on everyone involved.

Donovan just growled at the voice to angry to reply with words. He was right. If it wasn't him then it was Donovan that did that. You let me out to play recently. We did it again, after gunning a few of the bastards down. It's so easy to let the cold, efficient vacuum of space take the lives of those simple minded sheeple. Just livestock waiting to be slaughtered, bleating helpless in a desperate attempt to be noticed in this careless life. Only use strong ones deserve to survive Donny. You know this, so why do you stay with these people and keep me locked away?" "Simple, we are no longer part of That and you are just a means to an end when shit hits the fan in the worst ways possible. VH24601JV died in combat on Treexin during that famously botched mission that claimed the lives of an additional 63 'assets' that day. You are a ghost who only exists in my shattered reality. Now silence I have more important things to do than be haunted by myself."

Silence. Sweet glorious silence that was shattered by a kind, familiar voice. "Yeah, I went though all that trouble of fixing it up and I am not even the one to play with it first." He joked back with Riz. The entire time he was inside his head he was following behind the younger woman and reached the locked bulkhead. "Oh it will be my honor to force this open. I have a bit of pent up aggression to vent." He said with a malicious grin hidden behind his visor.

Floating to the door he stood and activated the mag locks on his boots. With his legs squared he drew his combat knife and ran the tip along the seam of the doors. Stopping suddenly he turned the knife perfectly perpendicular with the door and taking the handle in both hand shoved it into the thick steel. It slid in with what looked to be complete ease. Wiggling the triple blade about a little he made a small hole in the metal, large enough for him to fit a couple finger from each hand into it. Sheathing the knife he dug his fingers into the hole and with a grunt started to pull the doors apart.

The whole slowly began to widen, showing that the place Donovan stabbed his knife in was a small gap between the teeth of the interlocking door seams. Metal creaked and groaned and he pulled harder. A strong static started to screech inside his head as he activated the implants in his body to augment his strength. The groaning of steel grew louder and soon Donovan was able to get all of his fingers on each and into the slowly opening gap between the door. The screeching static grew louder and soon the haunting voices of the damned joined the groaning of the metal doors. Gritting his teeth together Donovan pulled harder still feeling the strain on his muscles starting to take hold. Ignoring the pain and cranking up the output of the augmentations he felt the muscles beginning to tear as he pushed his body well beyond it's already impressive limits. "RRRRAAAAAHHHH!" With a defiant yell that could be heard through his helmet Donovan gave a final burst of effort and with a series of sharp metallic snaps the mechanisms holding the door in place gave way and the door glided opened to the fully extended width of Donovan's arms. "Door...is...opened." He said though heavy breaths. Letting his arms fall limp to his sides he let out a shuddering sigh. He was going to hurt later from that. But at least this time he hadn't completely torn something or worse, broken a bone. "Let's find out what they were so eager to keep locked away Riz."
 
Thomyris “Riz” Heroux
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship/Bridge.
Tagged: Donovan, Iona.

Thomyris floated back as Donovan moved forward towards the door. She watched intently as he inspected and formulated how to open it, trying to learn what she can, though seeing nothing from behind the man's body. A knife along the seams, fingers wedging into the gap, before prying them open with strength that Thomyris could only dream of, gasping a little as the metal was forced apart and open. "Do you..." she began to offer, though it was unneeded as she was silenced by the man's vigorous roar of might, prying the doors open, the interior of the Bridge utterly dark, except for the glimpse of twinkling stars through the viewing screens. "Are you alright? That was...yeah, let's see what's inside." She stammered, placing her feet on the bulkhead and launching herself through zero-gee right into the Bridge.

It was a mess.

Bodies floated everywhere. And not ones who looked as if they choked to death on a lack of air. There were bodies everywhere, in the crisp uniform dress of some planetary military or militia. Rifles and firearms were about them, some still grasped, others floating. Same with bullets...and the crimson particles of blood and gore, which hovered about the bodies. There were a dozen or so bodies and there were clearly battle lines drawn, with a few bodies above consoles or terminals, including one who still had his hands over some buttons. "Oh god...goddess..." Thomyris gasped horrified, headlights scanning over the scene and then back again. It looked like a slaughter. A bullet still carried on by inertia over the past few centuries floated across her sight.

It took a moment to recover, gulping hard on the lump in her throat. She shifted more towards the interior of the bridge, careful not to disturb the dead or debris as if it were anathema, coming to what seemed a central platform. The Captain's station perhaps? He was still there, dipped to the side in his chair, strapped down from floating. There was a large bullet hole in the side of his head. Everything that could have leaked out had already floated to the ceiling.

"I'll tell the Captain..." Thomyris informed Donovan, putting her hand to her wristpad to activate her comms. "Captain? Captain, can you hear me? We're in the Bridge now...uh...shall we...activate power now? Just a little bit, enough to access logs perhaps. It's...quite the scene here. Let us know." Thomyris said, voice stuttering a little, evident that what she was seeing at least was disturbing to her. Turning to Donovan, her face clearly shocked behind her visor, she nodded to some of the bodies. "You ever see anything like this? Why would they gun each other down like this?"
 
Iona Knutesdottir
Unknown Ticonderoga Class Ship
Morning Watch
Tagged: All

Quite the scene? What did that mean? Not liking Thomyris' tone, sensing there was something that rightly made her stutter, Iona wanted more information but at the same time needed the girl to buck up in confidence. She'd exhibited good judgment in not alarming the others with a shocked report but still needed to work on being dispassionate when leading. Since Donovan hadn't broadcast anything, even on a side channel, it might be bad, bad and gruesome most likely, but not dangerous.

"Stand by. I'm almost to Engineering and want to do an eyes on before we try to draw power." In her earphones a once every few minutes tick, a scratch across her helmet's speakers, had been picking up to where it was several times a minute, then once every ten or so seconds; particles of ionizing radiation that her suit picked up and warned her about with audible ticks. Armored, hardened against radiation, her suit was a deep space working model where a solar flare or getting caught in the wake of a careless ship might give you a nice set of glowing bones if you weren't wearing it, she wasn't worried but only fools rushed in. As the ticks grew in intensity and frequency the Captain slowed.

At the next corner her helmet speakers positively exploded and the faceplate of her helmet went almost opaque with radiation triggered shielding particles that suddenly aligned and threw themselves between the source and Iona's eyes. A quick flip and kick sent her back around the corner and the levels dropped and she could see again as her helmet cleared.

"Disregard. All hands, stay forward of frame," she leaned in closer to read the numbers, "sixty-three. Severe radiation leak from the Engineering spaces. I'm guessing they either didn't yank out the armor around it or replaced it with water storage and that's why we didn't pick anything up on the way over. No idea what exactly happened inside but it's not worth getting hot to find out." Absently she brushed her hands on her suit, as if radiation was a physical thing she could dust off and be clean of. "Thomyris, you can try to power up. It may be glowing but there might still be working power, backup thermal couplings or something. If not, have your team" - Donovan - "jack some emergency power cells from the kit in and see what you can find."

"I am headed back to assist in getting the pod to the shuttle."
 
Sir Arthur Crecy
Location: 100 years ago by the looks of this damn thing
Morning?

Arthur cursed as sparks showered over him as he worked behind the pod to maintain the cryo pods seal and break it free of the ships main power lines. All the while not disturbing the link that Keeps the girl inside "alive" if that even an applicable title to her anymore,
"Damn thing!" He grunted, as he struggled to quickly replace burnt out wires with what amounted to copper band aids for the geriatric machine. The process was very slow going, it seemed like only hope and a fortuitous blockage of ice had kept the last power cables from degrading to the point of unusablility.
"well she is a lucky one, whoever she is, it is a dang miracle she is still with us. I'm serious Jin had you not come this way when you did, these last few wires woulda snapped, the emergency release would have tried to vent whatever fluid was in there and she would have died in minutes"

he Ducked down low with a blow torch to work on the clamps keeping this rig held down.

"Roger that cap, engineering is green bones" He responded promptly when her voice crackled over his Comms "But you know, something is getting to me... how is it that we are the first Junkers to find this boat? I mean it isn't exactly small, hell it might have even been a colonial ship, it should have had a thousand different reports showing where it was and why it was there..." His voice got quieter clearly talking to himself but his comma still on" there could be stuff here worth a fortune"

Minutes went by As he torched away and with the last latch Giving way and Iona just now getting there, "we are all ready, but do I really have to babysit the doc opening the can up? I'm sure I could be more useful at the bridge, or something.. Besides if I'm in quarantine who is gonna protect our brave and Noble cook from the space zombies?" He added poking fun at his new crew mate, desperately hiding the ever growing lump in his throat.

He disliked this place to be sure, heck he hated it. it brought up memories that were the things of nightmares, but there was opportunity for profit of a high scale and he didn't want to get the short end of the stick. Then there were chemical showers, and the thought of being stuck with the doc for a very extended amount of time, he hadn't really gotten to know her all that well during his stay, and was okay with that continuing to be the case for just a bit longer.
 
Thomyris “Riz” Heroux
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship/Bridge.
Tagged: All.

It was tense enough idling in this silent, dreadful darkness. To Thomyris, it felt like the shadows themselves might come alive with some supernatural intent to suck them all up into the abyss that was this derelict ship. She sighed, not liking the order to stand by and do nothing, yet having no other choice. She tried to make a task of examining the consoles and terminals of the bridge, different technology from a different era, but without power they told her little or nothing at all.

Then the Captain’s warning came blazing through the comms. “Radiation...how come we never detected it from space?” She mused aloud, before feeling her heart skip a beat at the next order to power. It was what she had been wanting to do from the beginning...now she was full of anxiety. Still, she moved to follow her orders.

“Copy, stand by for powering up.” She answered, pushing herself through zero-gee to what seemed a centralized terminal. She took out her datapad and examined the terminal where external devices could be detected. Of course it was an entirely different standard from what she had. But with today’s technology, being thankfully backwards compatible, all she had to do was line her datapad up and it would send out its own frequency to mimick the input of a data plug.

Her pad came alight as dormant processes flashed across her screen. “Activating stage three systems.” Lights, gravity, life support, nothing overly powerful or taxing on supply. The consoles glowed with faint lights to show they were activated, with data flashing across the screens built within them. At first Thomyris tapped at it, but nothing happened. Then she wanted to smack her head. Old technology...use the knobs and dials. It isn’t touch-screen like everything else you’re used to…

Lights would flick on throughout the ship, in corridors and chambers. A low humming would be heard as gravity slowly became restored. Then came the thumps and thuds as bodies and other loose objects began to hit the floor. Finally, the air scrubbers began to whine, though at the same time alerts began to flare out. The ship’s air supply was severely depleted. There was no point in removing one’s helmet at that point so Thomyris quickly deactivated air.

“I’m seeing tertiary power flares in the Cryo-Chambers. Did you find anything there…?” Thomyris asked, eyes moving to and fro as she read each line of data as it came into her pad. If they needed to defreeze someone, she could initiate the process from the Bridge, though there should be a terminal in the Chamber that allowed them to do it on deck as well.
 
Doctor Sonakshi Khan
Location: Ticonderoga class assault ship
Tagged: The crew and lost souls


"Tertiary power flares?" Sonakshi pitched in through the comms. "Is that enough for more survivors?" she wondered, not privy on the technicalities that Riz was talking about on the bridge. "I've my list with all I will need, so we need to get the supplies and get both me and..." Doctor's Khan sigh was audible through the comms, "my patient to the salvaged shuttle" she paused for one moment, looking at their cook. The readings of the pod were normal, and unless they were on a cruel streak of unlucky moments, she probably didn't have anything to worry about. That didn't mean that she wouldn't enforce a strict quarantine, but it mostly meant that for once she was hopeful and ready to cover all risks.

"Jin-Lai" Sonakshi called for the gentle woman. "You can come with me when we release her if you want" she offered. Normally she would limit the risk of exposure to herself, but considering that she didn't estimate that there would be those kind of risks, while an unstable and scared patient could indeed be one, she opted out to offer a spot next to her to Jin-Lai. Of course, she wouldn't give such an order without need, nor ask Iona to do so, specially with her looking a bit distressed, but she offered the chance.

Now she just hoped she wouldn't have to regret it.
 
Jin-Lai Park
Location:Ticonderoga class ship freezer
Morning Watch
Tagged: The Doc, the nice lady in the stasis pod

Jin was calm now, she had done some quick meditation and drawn on her center. She was not going to be scared of ghost stories that had been used to terrorize her as a child . Even if there was such a thing, panic was not the cure for strife. Peace and serenity allowed one to face any struggle. She curled her lips in a smile and was talking to the woman on the closed circuit, basically saying soothing and heartfelt words "We are here, we will get you out, you are not alone"

The doctor spoke to Jin and she nodded back with a warm smile "Yes, I want to help. I am fine now. I let a little childhood phobia get the best of me , but I am calm and centered now. If we can save one life out of this tragedy it will be a win, and I trust you Doc" She smiled. She could do this, and she would do this.

"Just let me know what you need me to do, I am at your disposal. " she paused "Oh and Arthur , thank you for your kind words" she said, she had acted as if she had not heard him earlier but actually she was merely focusing on her meditation. "
 
Ophelia Fitzalan
Stasis Pod within the Ticonderoga Class Ship/Heading for the Shuttle
Morning Watch
Tagged: All



Ophelia was trapped, her home and family had slowly faded away until they disappeared completely, all that was left now was an endless blanket of bleak and terrifying darkness. The only reason she wasn’t screaming and losing her mind was the soft friendly voice that resonated through the gloom. She didn’t catch many of the words the voice was attempting to communicate, but just hearing the hum and tone helped her fight off the devouring emptiness.

She had no idea what was happening to her anymore. The darkness started to vibrate and her fear spiked, making her heart beat so hard and fast it might escape her chest. She tried to move, to use her arms to explore her prison, but she couldn’t, she couldn’t move her arms or even a one of her fingers, no matter how hard she fought. No sight, no smell, no taste or touch...just the quiet chords to let her no she wasn't dead, not yet anyway.

Ophelia tried to concentrate on the soothing tones buried beneath the barren bleakness. She hoped focusing and trying to puzzle out what was being said might distract her, relieve her mounting panic. She closed her eyes and pretended she was back in her room, snuggled in bed for the night...but Ophelia could feel herself slipping away.
 
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