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It's lunch hour (local time) and a large group of crew has gathered in the Mess Hall waiting for the lunch service to begin. Passengers are scattered but scarce today, due to a local festival celebrations dedicated to hunting the eggs of a small animal.
Everto is dutifully at his place behind the serving line, making the last preparations before he can open up for lunch. A few big pans of foods get slid into place behind the sneeze guards, among them an oven-roasted bird of Kamsho origin and some pinkish fruits that look oddly like an onion and an orange had an affair. The large red Hekayti is scrambling, as he's running a bit behind.
Tiana Ryoleli is one of those people hanging about waiting for lunch to get served, the Martian having taken some of her work into the mess with her. No less than three holographic screens are floating around her where she sits at a table, data scrolling through them at a breathtaking rate, and yet, somehow the Martian is keeping up with it all.
Propped against the far wall leans Case, a fairly new face on the Olympus. A red yoyo dangles from the ring finger of his left hand. He rolls it against the floor before giving it a tight jerk which spools it up to the palm of his hand. Drop, tug, drop, tug.
"I'm starvin'." Jack says with an audible stomach growl. "Anyone else starvin'?"
"I swear I just saw you with a sandwich." Roland retorts with a frown, "You did just have a sandwich, didn't you?"
"Roland mate, you know 'ow much I eat, that sandwich was t' key that opened t' floodgates o' me stummach. Ouh." He burps, leaning his head back as some kind of feral war cry.
Static energy comes into life as the crew communication channel opens and a voice, feminine and sounding slightly concerned speaks, "Captain." A pause. "Captain, de electronics in de Command Center are going all... glitchy. You might want to look at this."
"Sorry, sorry," Everto says to the first couple people in line, "Cook troubles, almost ready..." He and the rest of the kitchen staff continue to do their thing, until finally the large chef hefts a sigh. "Alright, we're good," he says, flipping a small paper sign he has placed atop the sneeze guard from 'Closed, Bitches' to 'Eat, Bitches' (written in Hek). Respect, this man has none. He's not the Captain, and certainly isn't an electrician, so he ignores the channel communication for the time being. He notes it, though, by the slight frown that presents itself.
"Wot exactly's goin' on, Kiku?" Tia inquires, switching her comm on with a thought, it being wirelessly connected to her datajack, "Jus' gimme one second an' i'll git down 'ere. So much fer lunch, ah 'spose."
Case's yoyo swoops and dives as he saunters over to the chow line. The comm message elicits a faint quirk of the brow but the spacer remains unconcerned. "Grub best taste like a goddamn slice of heaven after this wait."
Raisa arrives from Starboard Corridor - <Olympus>.
"Yum," Raisa says as she bounces into the mess hall. "Food. So freaking hungry," the Lunite mutters to herself as she eyes the line forming with a scowl. With a huff, she goes to stand in line like a good girl, though her arms cross and she looks more than a little impatient.
In the background, another member of the command crew can be heard over the channel muttering something about the engines and generally swearing like a space sailor. The Afrikaan voice speaks over him, ignoring his attempts to raise the age rating for this scene. "The screen's show a bunch of green numbers and our outside visuals have go--" Communications cut off abruptly. Also, the lights.
"A slice of heaven," Everto laughs at that, as though there is some joke only he caught, "Main course isn't much to be honest, but if you're looking for a slice of heaven, that's the dessert down at the end. Caramel apple creme pie, a recipe I picked up from an angel." He looks Case over, then, "Who the hell are you anyway - The Fonz?" He sticks his thumbs up and grins, "'Eeeey." And that's when the pwoer goes out. "Son of a bitch... Someone please tell me the appliances aren't electric! Where's my flashlight?"
Tiana Ryoleli bolts upright as comms and the lights shut down, one fruitless cry of "Kiku!" Coming from her before it's followed with a strong of expletives in a mixture of Martian Latin and Timonese, "Roland." She calls over, "You stay here an' 'elp keep folk calm, Jack, come wit' me." Her holographic displays seem to have vanished sometime in there, the girl trying to make way towards the hatch without a flashlight to help her find her way.
"The Fonz?" Case stares in blank confusion. The power cuts out before he can draft a suitable reply and his yoyo falls limp by his feet. "Sheeeeyit," Case growls. He winds the string manually around the toy and stuffs it in his pocket. "What, you bastards never hear of emergency lighting?" From somewhere within the depths of his cote Case produces a battered book of Cafe Orion matches. He strikes one and it flares up, illuminating very little for a very short time.
After a moment of darkness the Mess Hall is bathed in dark red emergency lighting and a soft 'ping' sound (think, aeroplane seating bell) cues the floor lights to indicate evacuation outwards. A pleasant toned recording begins to play over the ships speaker system. "Please evacuate to your nearest safe zone. Please evacuate to your nearest safe zone. Please, eeeevaaacua- -ate to yoooooooouuuuuuuuurrr.." There is a low growl below the deck flooring and the whole ship rumbles to the shockwave of an implosion.
"Bitches and freaking hoes," Raisa growls as the lighting goes out. "I just wanted food. Really, is that too much to ask?" The Lunite digs into one of the spacious pockets of her cargo pants and pulls out a small flashlight, flicking it on and sending the narrow beam of light around. As the ship shakes, she staggers to the left and then to the right before regaining her balance and looking around. "That... wasn't good."
Everto observes...
Two pipes burst behind you and a cloud of hot steam billows upwards where it smothers the ceiling. The sous chef catches some of the heat and cries out as he backs away from it.
A cry comes from the kitchen area.
"It takes a sec for it to kick in," Everto remarks lightly, remaining calm and impassive as the red lighting kicks on and the emergency message plays, but jumps at that cry. Being on the other side of the service line, he whips around to see what's going on. "Shit, Gordy," he quickly heads further into the kitchen, and his voice can be heard as he goes. "Stay calm, man, I'm sure you'll be alright - Mil, get some ice, the rest of you shut things down and get out like you're supposed to - hey, Joh, get my bat will you?"
The glorious leader rocks, tripping over a slightly raised floor plate and falling over another table as the shockwave hits. The expletives in mixed languages are coming from her pretty damn rapidfire now. She soon straightens out, snapping back at a few folk behind her, "Case, you shut yer damn face an' make yerself useful. Jack, hurry t'hell u-" A jade eyed glare is sent back to the La Terran who's tried to sneak a bit of pie with him to ease the floodgates of his stomach.
"What's going on?" asks a Livori passenger, looking between those who appear to be crew.
"Man's gotta eat, right?" Jack shouts across to Tiana before moving to one side of the Mess Hall. "Could ye who 'ave no assigned emergency jobs please come to this side of the Hall so's I can brief you on our evacuation procedure. Now miss, the Olympus has passed all safety checks we know of, keep calm and shut up so we can do this proper, like."
Case grips a table's edge and rides out the first shockwave. "I provide constructive criticism," he says, "that's plenty useful." With care he works his way toward those who are assembling before Jack, grabbing pipes, the wall, anything that presents itself to maintain his balance in the event of a second rumble. "What was that? Engines?"
Ah, the sweet, angelic voice of their fearless leader. Raisa turns first in the direction of Jack and his orders, and then back toward Tiana. With a shrug, she heads for the woman, holding her flashlight tightly in front of her to avoid running into potentially panicked people. "Tia," she calls.
Over the crew channel comes another broadcast and a different voice, deep and unusually panicked. In the background the roar of a fire can be heard, "Tiana! We have a pro-"
Over the ship's speaker system a screeching sound whines into life, a strange drawn out cry as though the ships computer systems themselves were in pain.
The crew comms return mid screech, "-ooling system just turned off, we tried t' reset it and there were an explosion. Hold on. How long can we delay reboot Tyrg? Wait, fu-"
There is another rumble below the deck, one which sounded a lot less contained.
[Skill System] Case tests his Perception + Hearing at a modifier of 0. The result is 5.
Case observes...
There is an ominous rumble coming from the bulkhead you are using to support yourself.
"My fist in yer face's more useful'n yer criticism." Tia yells back to Case sharply. Raisa gets no immediate response at the broken up comm message, the screeching cry of the systems cause her to flinch, "Walk an' talk, Raisa. Ah gotta help Lila real fast. She's in pain." And by walk she means run, the girl making a dart for the nearest access panel, "Love!" She calls over comms, "Jus' hold tight, a'right. I'ma plug in, but don't worry, okay?"
Case grips a bulkhead to ride out the second shockwave. He turns to shout something snarky and doubtlessly critical Tia's way, but his mouth hangs open mutely. "Awwwh hell," the spacer roars. "Move!" He pushes off from his perch, shouldering through the press of crew and diving under the nearest dining table.
"Agh," Raisa growls, hands lifting to try and drown our the ship's cries. "What the fuck is going on, Tia?" she says, staggering less than gracefully after the other woman. "Seriously, is this your idea of a firedrill because it /sucks/."
"What?" manages Jack, watching Case with a confused look.
The bulkhead behind Jack erupts open with a pressure burst and flames pour out and upwards like a fiery party popper. Jack is caught central to the liquid heat and is thrown downwards, hitting the deck with a resounding (and well cooked) crunch. A number of other passengers are caught in the blast, though not quite as critically, including the Livori and Refuse, who rolls on the deck attempting to put his fur out.
"Does this really seem like a bloody fire drill t'you?" Tia asks of Raisa as she stumbles a bit and slides down to her knees in front of the panel, the covering pulled off quickly and tossed aside. The bulkhead explosion is ignored as quite obviously, Tia doesn't have the time to pay attention to it, "Raisa, listen. I need you to watch over me and if something comes up, if something starts gettin' t'me too, you just yank that cord right outta me an' drag me off, y'hear?" Cables already plugged in ship side, she raises her hand up and proceeds to plug herself in.
Case scrambles out from beneath the table. He rips his jacket off and /tackles/ Refuse with it, attempting to smother the flames. A barrage of obscenities erupt from behind his clenched teeth.
Raisa just blinks at Tiana for a second with more than a little confusion plastered across her face before she nods, dropping down to her knees as well. She covers her head with her hands as the explosion occurs. "Be careful, Ti," she says sternly, inching in closer to her sister-in-law, looking around in the red covered darkness.
"-set, please respond." Tiana's commlink crackles into life and Rillitan's voice calls out over the channel, "We've got two men down and we're venting coolant into space. Please respond. Fuck, Tiana, pick up!"
Two explosions have rocked the lower decks already and in the Mess Hall one of the bulkheads has had a pressure explosion, with heat and flames licking the sides and upper deck. On the ground are some casualties, a couple of groaning passengers and Refuse the Demarian with Case on top of him, helping to put him out. There is a grotesquely burned body near the rupture.
[Skill System] Tiana Ryoleli tests her Resolve skill at a modifier of 0. The result is 4.
Tiana observes... Plugging into the system gives you an instant headache and you are affronted with a mess of incoherent and glitchy feedback routines.
After having taken care to get his kitchen staff to safety, Everto emerges into the mess hall once again with a massive aluminum bat in his hand. Not that it'll help much in this situation, but it makes the man feel better. He grimaces as he carefully shuffles his hooves over the floor, using the bat as a walking stick, and makes his way to help slide some of the injured parties away from immediate dangers. "Anyone know what the fuck is going on yet?" he asks of the room in general.
Refuse struggles for a moment before his body wilts into a settled pose and he manages a low whine. "Thank you, huuuman." he says lowly, "Off."
A low murmur of pain comes from Tia as the headache strikes out of nowhere, her eyes squinting shut tightly. One gently trembling hand reaches to manually set her comms to speaking mode, voice telling of the pain in her noggin as she speaks, "I- M'ere, Love. There's somethin' wrong wit- wit' t'systems. Virus, probably, but- but ah ain't seen one like 'is 'fore. I' don' make no sense." She presses a hand against the wall to steady herself, a moment taken to steel her resolve before she dives back in fully to the digital world, leaving her largely absent towards the physical.
"You owe me a new jacket, Kitty," Case says as he rolls off and back to his feet. Jack's predicament brings a scowl to Case's face that only deepens when he sees the breach. "Dammit. Somebody get an extinguisher out here."
Raisa chews anxiously on her lower lip as she keeps an eye on Tiana while also letting her gaze sweep around through the large mess. She remains in a crouch, one hand resting lightly against the floor, ready to move at a moment's notice.
[Skill System] Tiana Ryoleli tests her Computer + Cryptography at a modifier of 0. The result is 14.
"No, Tia, you don't understand. Uh, Tia?" Rillitan calls over the channel, "Tyrg says we 'ave to shut off gravity. We need you t' sort out the others. 'Ave you been able to get through to the CC? Tiana!"
The usual hum of engines has now died off and replaced by unusual mechanical noises and generally unsettling ambient quietness.
"On it," Everto replies to Case shortly, the Hek heading back to the nearby kitchen to get one of the extinguishers out of there. On his way, he flips on his comm and adds in, "Tia, you doing alright over there?" Big Red flings the door wide open in his haste and pretty much rips the extinguisher out of the cabinets to bring back out for firefighting - no time to be nice about things, there's fire and chaos!
Tia isn't home right now kids! She's busy wading through a mess of garbled code and feedback routines. Please contact your nearest associate or try again later.
Tiana observes...
A second shot gets you past the initial inertia feeling and allows you some time to work out where the fragmentation is coming from. The problem is base level, some kind of computer worm, and almost impossible to fix in the timeframe which you have. You have access to elements of the ships system, limited access, but the best access you could manage.
Roland calls over to Tiana and Raisa, "This isn't the time to go plugging in, we've got injured people here! Mary of all!" he pulls away from the downed passengers to look across to Everto, "Do we have those stretchers in the kitchen hold?"
"Have at it, Tiny." Case steps back once the hekayti returns with the extinguisher. He yanks the sunglasses down and crams them into his jeans, then moves to the next nearest wounded. There isn't much the spacer can do but open airways and offer hollow assurances.
"Am I supposed to unplug her or something?" Raisa calls back, scowling first at Roland and then at Tiana. "She's trying to... uh, fix this floating bucket of bolts or something. If we pull her out now, who knows what's going to happen to this place or if she's even doing any good."
Clankritich arrives from Starboard Corridor - <Olympus>.
A metallic sound echoes through the walls, originating somewhere further down the station. The rhythmic clanging ceases for a moment, then resumes, sounding closer this time.
Tiana Ryoleli of course makes no response to Roland, the girl quietly and absently murmuring to herself under her breath, "It's okay Lila, m'ere, ah see i'. It's okay." What little system's access she's gained she tries to isolate control of and restore it to the CC, while simultaniously trying to destroy the worm that's infested. Work ain't easy.
"Is anyone there? Mza, pull the fuckin' plug Tyrg, whoever can hear me - we can't get the reactor to shut down, we're shutting down gravity. Hold on to something."
With a slow lifting sensation, a swing up with no downward stroke, gravity leaves the ship.
"Don't just unplug her, haven't you people ever seen 'The Matrix'?" Everto remarks, knowing full well that he's the only person here who'd know what he's talking about. He sets about fighting off the fire as he adds, "I haven't moved them, Rol, so probably. Hey, Fonzie, make yourself useful and get them. Hold's unlocked, but watch - there's a burst steam pipe and--shiiit!" The large red man is not used to working without gravity, and the impulsive jerk has him in the air. Which makes he extinguisher into a little rocket. He's now floating away form teh fire.
Tiana observes... You manage to give external control to the consoles in the Command Center by turning off the infested and malfunctioning consoles off. Of course, now you're floating.
[Skill System] Case tests his Agility + Zero-G at a modifier of 0. The result is 6.
[Skill System] Tiana Ryoleli tests her Agility + Zero-G at a modifier of 0. The result is 7.
[Skill System] Everto rolls a 3 for ZeroG at a modifier of 0. The result is 8.
[Skill System] Clankritich tests its Agility skill at a modifier of 0. The result is 7.
[Skill System] Raisa tests her Agility + Zero-G at a modifier of 0. The result is 5.
Case starts for the stretches just as gravity cuts out. Well, isn't that convenient? He kicks off the deck, spins and grabs a pipe to anchor himself. "Shit just keeps getting better."
The ships speakers open a channel once again, "This is CC. We're locked in but we have control of de consoles again, we 'ope to God you're safe out there. We're sending a distress now."
"Son of a /bitch/," Raisa gripes as her feet lift off the ground without being commanded to do so. She makes a grab for something to keep her in her current location but fails and finds herself floating away. "I hate Zero-G," she growls. "I fucking hate it so much." Instead of being concerned, she sounds more grouchy and is in the process of trying to float close enough to something to grab on before accidentially floating into a fire.
Mechanical sounds clatter in the corridor. Then there'es another series of banging sounds, this time right outside - as if somebody's hitting the outside of the door, hard.
Tiana Ryoleli is still quite unresponsive, no notice take of the fact that she's now floating and only being kept in place by grace of the cable connecting her to the ship that's leading out of the back of her neck. Sturdy cord, apparantly. With her efforts of restoration sorted, it's time to focus on trying to get that worm out before it's too late. The first assault in this battle of Tiana vs. Computer worm begins now.
Everto immediately STOPS using the damn extinguisher. The Hekayti hefts a sigh and looks around. "This can't be so hard," he says to himself, "I have propulsion and a basic understanding of physics." And so he points the extinguisher in the direction he's floating, and pulls the trigger briefly, stopping his drift. And then the man griiins, that wide grin that a mischievous child gets when they see the potential for some serious fun. Again the trigger is pulled, and through a combination of guessing and real thought, manages to effectively rocket himself through the mess hall towards the next fire. Even in the face of chaos and destruction - perhaps especially so - the ex-Demon cackles with delight as he reaches a large hand to a pipe to anchor himself for the dousing of the next batch of flames.
Tiana is plugged in and going computery things with her mind. Raisa is nearby but floating away. Case is clinging to a pipe near the kitchens. There is a scorched body and a number of wounded around. There is, obviously, no gravity anymore. And the red emergency lighting is on.
Case snatches a floating wounded and pushes off from the wall, bringing the burned crew member with him and out of the mess hall, presumably to get him help.
In the centre of the hall Roland wiggles helplessly, trapped with nothing to grab. He throws up. It floats in front of him like chunky shampoo squirted in
"/Hate/ Zero-G," Raisa continues to gripe, eventually able to grab on to a wayward pipe and clinging for dear life. "All I wanted was lunch. But nooo, can't even get that without something blowing up." She starts a very slow return back in the direction of the floating Tiana.
Varal arrives from Starboard Corridor - <Olympus>.
Varal can be found floating helplessly in one of the side-hallways, trying to make it to the command center and essentially hopeless in zero-g. He's doing a lot of useless bellowing, and seems less than happy.
Refuse manages to claw his way towards the door to help Case evacuate one of the injured passengers and pulls it open, staring out the hatch at the source of the knocking.
A crackle emits from the ship's intercoms.
"Hello everybody, Tryg here in engineering. The gentleman down here with all the weapons and whatnot, the name escapes me, seems to have passed out. Anemia? I didn't get to ask. Oh yes, things are not good down here, except for the weightlessness. Makes me nostalgic. Orders?"
There's more banging on the outside of the door. *clang* *clang* *clang* Somebody is in the door is trying to get the attention of anybody inside the mess hall. After a half-dozen strikes, they fall silent. Then there's a faint psionic broadcast into the room. ~heloooooooo!~ the mind-voice whispers gently to anybody that can hear. ~anybody hooooome?~
Tryg observes... Down in engineering you notice something strange. The graviomagnetism machinery begins to power on again without any hard input. It appears to be creating the gravity well on the wrong end of the ship, too.
Volidana arrives from Starboard Corridor - <Olympus>.
Volidana sighs as she floats weightless, rembering vaguely how to do the zero-G thing "Did I pick a bad day to come visit or is this routine?"
[Skill System] Tryg tests his Engineering + Reverse Engineering at a modifier of -1. The result is 14.
Tryg observes...
Working fast, it seems you manage to stop the power up sequence and disconnect the mechanics from the Command Center controls where they were being manipulated from. You're left with a choice, put gravity back on and exacerbate the cooling problem or keep gravity off and let the passengers suffer." to Tryg.
"Bad day," Everto pipes up from his fireman duties, again going into rocketman mode as an unconscious Lotorian floats towards another fire. He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, the massive red Hek doesn't need a trapeze. He has a fire extinguisher.
"Freaking /hate/ Zero-G," Raisa continues to growl as she loses her fingering on a section of wall and floats back several feet. She just floats in the corner, doing what she can to make her way back to Tiana and failing every time.
Another crackle from the comms.
"Oh, what's this? Some idiot's some idiot's shifted the gravity well over to the wrong side of the ship. Command Center. Just a moment."
The comms cut out for a moment, before chiming back on.
"Phew. Well, that takes care of that. I had to choose whether we overheated and potentially all died, or I leave the cooling stable and keep the gravity off. As I'm talking to you all now, I did not pick the 'everybody-die' option. Apologies for acting independently, won't happen again. Anything else need tweaking while I'm awake?"
Tiana observes...
Fighting the virus is fatiguing due to it's immense complexity, your presence in the system seems to be shutting down a lot of attacks, however and a couple of hard lines leading to engineering consoles are cut suggesting Tryg is doing his job. The problem seems to only get worse when the Command Center is reconnected, however, and the AI core has shut itself down and left the system. A scattered attack appears to originate from the CC itself and warnings pop up on the outward consoles. A fire alert is raised on each room of the ship, complete with atmospheric purge protocols.
Sprinklers, embedded in the roof, begin to spray flickers of water across the room. The droplets float around in slow motion, hanging directionless in the Zero-G.
It's probably not the best time for a Timonae to come floating in, happily handling the zero g, singing "Singin' In The Rain'. But then, it's probably never a good time for that. At least Jazz is happy. "And to think I thought hanging around here might be dull!"
Tiana Ryoleli remains floating in the air though as more time passes she seems to go more and more limp, her breathing becoming harder as if she's running a marathon or something. She remains contained in her digital world, trying to fight off the infection in the system to some success, though it's hardly the end of the line yet. Her conciousness is sent this way and that in an effort to block scattered attacks whilst she tries to make her way through it all to the CC. Interestingly enough she instinctively flinches with the gentle telepathic communique, a low moan emiting from her for all in the Mess to hear.
"You've gotta be shitting me," Everto laughs, "NOW the sprinklers kick on, that's great..." He swoops to claim an abandoned bowl and starts flinging water in the directions of any fires he has a clear line of sight towards. He, too, seems to be having a merry old time. And when he hears someone singing? Well, the Hekayti joins in!
"I'm siiinging in the raain,
"Just siiinging in the raain"
What a glooorious feeelin'
"I'm haaappy agaain..."
"Who turned on the SPLINKERS!?" Varal growl-yells.
[Skill System] Tiana Ryoleli tests her Computer + Cryptography at a modifier of 0. The result is 7.
A giant mechanical spider shoulders her way through the open hatch. Clankritich is wearing a partial vacuum-suit, which only covers her head and body, leaving the mechanical limbs free to maneuver. Though currentoly female, the B'hiri is carrying a plasma pistol, and has a few other weapons of some kind strapped to her underbelly. "hiiii, everybody! what's going on?" She asks, switching over to vocalizer. "are we under attack?"
Tiana observes...
"You're finding it more successful at dismissing outward attacks now and the fire alerts end before they have a chance to endanger lives. Focusing on shutting down the reactor, however, requires someone to disconnect the hard line and turn it off in engineering." to Tiana Ryoleli.
Volidana blinks a bit at the sight of the b'hri "not sure"
"There's FIRE, Varal, the spa-rink-lers came on to put it out," Everto stops singing to call, "Quit your griping. Want some help finding a pipe to cling to?" He stops flinging water after a while and extinguisher-rockets over to the Fastheldian. "Here, I'll get you to a wall you can climb across," he remarks, spraying himself to a halt and extending a helping hand. "Be warned, there will be a little flinging."
"I'll consider the deafening silence as a no, and get to work on fixing this coolant problem. You all just hang in there, ho-ho, and I'll get right to work. Tryg out."
And with that, the comms grow silent.
"This is the CC, we're seeing fire alerts all over the ship. Get out of the non-essential quarters before the ship dra - wait, they're disappearing, green lights all over the ship." The feminine voice says with a level of relief in her tone, "Bob is worried about the reactor. We need to eject the core but we're not getting a response on any of our equipment. We have four minutes before engineering becomes a hot zone. Evacuate up, /away/ from the lower deck."
While things within the system have gotten just a little bit easier to deal with, Tia's been getting more and more strained and worn out by the sheer effort it's taken to get things to where they currently are. She really can't go any more limp, her breathing beginning to sound perhaps a bit ragged. These things she doesn't notice per-say, the state of her physical body more like this niggling little detail at the back of her mind that's being overwhelmed by what she's facing right here and now. And so her efforts continue.
"oh my." Clank says daintily, listening to the communication "that sounds awfully dangerous. whatever are we going to do?" Her numerous eyes scan the room through the bubble of her helmet, then she claps her hands. "okay, everybody. looks like it's time to evacuate! stay with the group and don't get lost!"
Varal grimaces at Everto. "Fine. Whatever."
Volidana nods "Ok so we need to get out?"
"Alright," Everto takes the human's arm, and points to a spot on a wall a ways off, not far from Tiana. "See that cluster of pipes that haven't exploded or caught fire? Aiming there." And then he starts them off with an extinguisher boost, guiding the smaller yet meaner man to the pipes. Once they're near enough, he lets Varal go before altering his own course as he takes note of Tiana. "This is why they used chairs with straps in The Matrix," he remarks, landing himself on the floor and hooking a hoof to keep himself down. He takes the human in his arms carefully and gives her a little shake, and a big yell, "TIANA! WAKE UP, WE GOTTA EVAC. GET OUT OF THE DAMN COMPUTER!"
"Oh, really? Right away," go the intercoms, before a hard switch sounds as it switches to ship-wide, "Emergency Announcement: This is Tryg, Engineering and the lower decks are to be /immediately/ evacuated pending a reactor core ejection. I repeat, engineering and the lower decks are to be /immediately/ evacuated pending a reactor core ejection."
Down in the lower decks, a Hekayti engineer turns off his comms and gives a look over to a floating, unconscious Rillitan. Shrugging, he effortlessly pushes himself off a wall to grab the humanoid and take him over a shoulder, then maneuvers himself to point toward the bay's exit and fly outside.
[Skill System] Tiana Ryoleli tests her Computer + Cryptography at a modifier of 0. The result is 7.
[Skill System] Varal tests his Agility skill at a modifier of -1. The result is 8.
With a little help from Everto, Varal manages to make it to those pipes, where he clings for good measure. Frowning.
Volidana hms "Can we move her while she's still connected?" she asks frowning over at tiana
Keeping with the trend of most of the evening, Tia doesn't respond what-so-ever to Everto. Her breathing rate continues to go up, the Hek surely able to feel the faint tremors running through her body.
All that comes from Tia as the countdown begins is a faint murmur.
Keeping with the trend of most of the evening, Tia doesn't respond what-so-ever to Everto. Her breathing rate continues to go up, the Hek surely able to feel the faint tremors running through her body.
Warning. Warning. Core ejection imminent. Countdown beginning. 10, 9, 8...
"Cord's not that long, we'll need to unplug her to move her," Everto remarks, "Shit, is that even safe? Seriously, my only reference here is ancient human works of science fiction. And I'm sure as hell not a programmer, so I can't really get to her in there." He looks up at the countdown, then, "Well, I guess there's not really time anyway. Here's hoping nothing else goes wrong..." He doesn't appear supremely worried about the idea of potentially exploding. He does worry a little over Tiana's limp body though, moving some hair and frowning at her as she shakes.
"I can cut it," Varal offers helpfully.
7, 6, 5, 4...
Volidana hms "If we live, your captain may kill me Tiana we need to get out!
Clankritich skitters lightly over to where Everto and the others are crowded around Tiana. "oh, dear." She says, as a countdown begins over the intercom. "i rather think we're out of time, anyway. i'm afraid you either need to unplug her, or leave her behind."
Tiana Ryoleli flinches sharply from the telepathy coming from Dana but otherwise remains unresponsive.
3, 2, 1...
"I'm not leaving her," Everto remarks, before frowning at the flinch, "Fine, here goes nothing." He reaches to unplug the cable from Tia's datajack, murmuring, "Please don't get hurt from this," and then moves to carry her to a safer position. Can't exactly flee to another deck in 4 seconds anyway.
And he tries to cling in a way that'll be as meatshieldy as possible.
Varal shrugs from his cling-spot. "We don't have time to manage anything. You might as well leave her plugged in, and maybe she can stave off disaster."
Clankritich says, "oh dear oh dear." Clankritich worries as the countdown ticks towards zero. She crowds in close to Tiana with everybody else, wrapping all eight of her heavy metal limbs around the group, hopefully providing a measure of shielding - if not against radiation, then at least against any blast that may come."
Somewhere below, in the Engineering Deck, the reactor core is ejected into space with considerable fan fare. Systems fizzle, but generally hold together. On this deck, however... nothing happens.
CORE EJECTION COMPLETE. SYSTEMS RUNNING ON BACKUP POWER. FULL EVACUATION IN EFFECT.
Clankritich disentangles herself from the pile, and steps back rather gingerly. "well!" she exclaims. "that was exciting, wasn't it!" with a twinge of concern, she asks. "i didn't squish anybody, did i?"
Tiana Ryoleli is a limp noodle in Everto's arms.
Varal frowns. "Okay, everyone to the Fox. If you find a voice-thing, tell everyone to head there. If there's too many people, we can spillover onto some of the other ships." He looks at Everto. "Don't drop her. And try to wake her up."
"Takes more than a Bhiri to squish me," Everto remarks lightly, before frowning down at Tiana with concern, "Tia? Hey... Come on, wake up..." He checks for a pulse, more of a reflex than out of a true believ she might be dead. For the moment, the rest of the Olympus doesn't exist. Including Varal.
And when you're feeling most comfortable that your lives are safe, that's when gravity returns.
"oooh! oooh!" Clankritich comically leans back on her rear four legs, and raises one of her arms into the air. "you can come to my ship, if you like!" The huge, half mechanical spider pauses for a moment, and then adds. "i'll make snacks!"