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Twelve hours. It's been twelve hours since The Apollo and The Tharsis began their second expedition. Two star systems have been checked. And its forty minutes since Tharsis relayed the coordinates of their third target: a G4 class star, two hundred and twelve light years from Comorro. The twin vessels simultaneously jump, the game of racing to the target system abandoned in favor of a more serious and safer mindset since the run-in with those life forms. Jumpspace gives way to Hiverspace. The Calliope-class freighters emerge into a star system home to four terrestrial planets and three gas giants.
Sam spins round in his chair to face the view screen and taps a button on his console, "Mr. Tharsis, can we have a scan again please?"
Tharsis throttles back his Spindrive to settle into sublight speed just short of the star system's outskirts. "Let's hope there's no starship eating critters in this neck of the woods this time around," his voice says over the comm. "Sensors on maximum range. No damn surprises this time."
"Do I really need to tell you that there ain't nyet targets in the area?" Vadim drones from the weapons console. It's where he's been for about the last six hours or so, ever since waking up. The ashtray atop of his console would suggest as much as the pile has grown since waking up. Thank heaven for Co2 filters. In fact he's just about to light his next one up. "Place is emptier than the last one. Nyet traffic, nyet comm chatter, nyet navigational boyies...sure do find the outta the way places, da?"
"Thanks buddy," says the Apollo's captain to that section of the cockpit he's come to focus on when speaking to those on the comm. "Same as last time, let's take them in order." He swivels round to face the Ungstiri, "So I should be, untapped sources should be out of the way."
"Roger that." Tharsis' voice replies. "Course set for the furthest outlying gas giant. I've got my forward arrays configured for full atmospheric analysis."
"As long as we can remember the way home." Vadim notes dryly, running over the consoles interface. "You want me to start progressively scanning too? Or we gonna let Tharsis handle that?" he asks, switching over sensor system while keeping the weapons on stand-by.
"His scanners are better than ours," says Sam. "But another pair of eyes doesn't hurt." He keys in a few buttons on his chair, "Tharsis, we're pulling up on your tail."
Tharsis adjusts to settle into an orbit around the outermost planet. "Roger that. Beginning sweep of first target."
"Da, startin scan too." Vadim adds, keying in the appropriate commands, sparing only a moment in jamming his burning smoke into the corner of his mouth. "By the way, you thought 'bout minin' equipment just yet? Ain't cheap."
The last of the system's great gas giants slowly comes into view. Being at the edge of the stellar system, it's cold. Just 49 degrees above Kelvin. The composition is typical, mainly hydrogen, witha good dose of helium. There's traces of methane, hydrogen deuteride, ammonia, water, ammonium sulphide and methane. It's typical of its type. The system also has three moons.
"Thanks," says Sam to the cockpit air. "Lay in fall-back co-ordinates." He glances over at Vadim, "I have."
[Skill System] Tharsis rolls a Superb with a modifier of 0. The result is Legendary (8).
"Not much to separate this one from all the rest of the gas giants out there, Sam." Tharsis says. "Lots of helium, hydrogen, and damn cold. Temp is... wait a second. Picking something up on short range…”
"Damn...Tharsis's got damn good sensors." Vadim notes. "Only getting helium...oh wait, there's the hydrogen." he blinks, looking over the readouts. Then a pause during the moment Tharsis picks up the signal. "Da, I got it too. Gonna try to hone in on its location."
It doesn't take Tharsis long to determine the signal is a distress call, but very, very weak. Vadim uses his computer to determine the signal is emanating from an area near the third moon, which seems to be an asteroid.
"Close us in on that signal," says Sam. "Cautiously. I want time to react if anything jumps out at us."
"It's a distress call of some kind, Sam. Patching in translation and feeding it to your bridge audio." Tharsis says as he throttles up and sets course towards the source of the signal.
Vadim blanks at what his screen gives. "Think we're too far out to get anything at this range, Kap." he says, eyeballing the ship in front of them on the view screen. "Though he doesn't seem to have a problem with it."
"This is the Olympus, please respond. This is the Olympus, please respond. This is the Olympus, please respond. This is the Olympus, please respond." It repeats over and over on the loudspeaker. Whether it's something to do with Tharsis' translation or the original source isn't clear but it seems to be an ancient computer's automated signal rather than anything recorded and repeated.
Sam just nods to the air unseen, but his command to both of them is simple, "Raise shields and arm weapons please. And bring us in. Slowly."
"This is the Olympus, please respond. This is the Olympus, please respond...."
"Roger that. Shields up, grav mines and grav cannon armed and ready. Pulse turret online, for what good it'll do." Tharsis says, easing towards the signal source. "Pretty damned repetitive... must be on automatic, Sam. I'm bringing up long range sensors to see if I can get any readings from there, but based on the linguistic pattern I think it's sending in Hekayti."
"Done an done, Kap." Vadim replies, shortly after a blue shimmering washes over the front of the view screen before dissipating into an invisible bubble around the ship. The four lights above the view screen flare to life, signal of the weapon systems charging. "Olympus? Huh, that just sounds off for a translation to be of old Earth myths. Crazy odds right there."
As the Calliope freighters turned explorers close in on the signal, it slowly appears on the view screen.
It is HUGE. The approaching starships are dwarfed by the vessel they're approaching. It's barely illuminated by the reflections from the asteroid and planet. It is a cuboid shape and dark gray. Several lights flash on and off around the hull.
As the Apollo and the Tharsis close in and the view screen is filled with the giant starship Sam's eyes just widen, "By the Guardian...."
"By my circuits... that this is HUGE." Tharsis' voice exclaims over the comm. "Trying to get a scan of the ship... from the lights I can guess it's still generating power."
Marina steps through the airlock with an irritated expression. "Hey, has anyone seen my straight....blade....my. That looks...square." She peers at the view screen, leaning against the rail.
"Hoopin 'ell." Vadim mutters under his breath. "An' the damn thing just driftin' out 'ere?" he blinks, before his are torn back onto his screen. "Scannin' for life signs, Kap. Hey, uh, dunno 'bout you guys, but a big ass like that in the middle of nyet man's land. Smells like o'trap to me. Could be pirates? Lure people in wit somethin' like that?"
"Bring us around slow," says Sam. "And transmit greeting on all frequencies." He glances round at Marina and nods and offers the Doc a small smile before facing the view screen. "What have you got Tharsis?" Sam gives a small sharp nod to Vadim, "I'm thinking the same thing."
"I wouldn't bother with the greeting... that thing's as dead as it looks." Tharsis says. "Cargo bay is empty, power's operating at minimum... hell, probably just enough to run the lights. There's a docking bay, though, Sam. It's open if you're curious."
"Funny, I was just going to ask who would be crazy enough to zoom in towards it," Marina smirks to herself. She slips into the Communications Console, flipping her jacket out neatly behind her as she settles. "I'm so glad I came along."
"Ship's dead, Kap." Vadim says reading from screen. "He's right. Doubt there's even enough power bein' regulated to have life-support on. So my guess right now is either somethin's been damaged in engineerin' or whoever was on it last purposely shut things down before they got the hell outta Dodge." As the Apollo passes along the ship's side, he cocks his head to go along with the angle. "Huh...nyet escape pods're gone. So it wasn't an emergency."
Sam sighs and leans forward in his chair. He doesn't look round to Marina, but perhaps he's replying to her more than anyone else. He seems to be debating something, "Who's more crazy..." Perhaps part of an old saying, "Well, we're explorers. And more than that, we're broke explorers." His voice raises a little, "Mr. Tharsis, we're going in. I leave it up to you to decide if you're following us in or not."
"I'm no chicken, Sam. I'm heading in." Tharsis says, and the sensors would indicate he's altered course to head for the open docking bay.
"Or they didn't have time to leave," Marina adds to Vadim's observation. She flips on the station, just to make sure there's no ghostly chatter floating about in the echoes of the target. "Life support or do we
"Da, ain't wrong there." Vadim nods, pausing to lean forward the draw out both of his pistols, flicking them both into a stand-by mode. Don't feel much like waiting for a charge in case of any 'surprises'. "Ship that size...I'd say it'd take 'bout a skeleton crew of ten to fifteen to run'er. A least. Good chance we might find floaties considerin' gravity generators are off." Glancing back at Sam once his pistols are holstered. "Should I go prep some suits?"
Both freighters alter their courses to dock with the massive ship. The docking bay itself is huge, but empty. Not even a dropship. There's some flashing lights indicating landing pads, but they're barely seen through the amount of dust that's piled up inside the docking bay.
Sam takes in the empty docking bay and glances over at Vadim, "I think I see why there's no escape pods, seems like they abandoned ship. Ship like this should have something." He glances over at Marina and Vadim. "We'll we're the ones on duty. We suit up." Sam fixes a steely gaze on Vadim, "And break out the weapons. This place was abandoned for a reason I'm taking no chances."
The dust coating the floor kicks up in a large cloud into the zero gravity of the docking bay as Tharsis fires his thrusters to come to a rest on the docking bay floor. "From this much dust, I figure this bay's been open to space for a least a few decades, Sam. I also suspect that with the life support off and the ship open to space like this, it should be well preserved." he says.
"I'll grab the portable med scanner and meet you in the airlock, then," Marina replies, nose wrinkled.
"Make sure we keep the engines hot. Dun wanna somebody to catch us with pants 'round our ankles." Vadim notes, lifting himself out of his chair. His cigarettes sadly, will have to stay in his pocket for now. Shucks. Unbuckling his weapons belt and throwing it over his shoulder he makes for aft. "Like ol' times." he muses.
Cut scene. Long dark empty corridors. A command center. Dark the only light coming from a few blinking lights on a console. Two of which go from red to green. Another long dark corridor. And finally back to the docking bay. The dust has since settled and the boarding ramp is extended and three figures in space suits, illuminating the area with their headlamps walk down the ramp. The scene cuts again from the figures to a cargo bay. There's a flicker of movement in the shadows and back to the face of...
Sam's voice comes over the suit's comm unit and is relayed on a frequency given to Tharsis, "Feel free to join us buddy." The figure of Sam Gideon is armed with a pulse assault rifle and he glances back at the other two, "We stick together, no wandering off. You see anything interesting, you let everyone know."
Tharsis' ramp starts to open, soundless in the vacuum as it settles to the floor. Tharsis' avatar appears at the top and walks down, his mobile emitter equipped. His voice comes across the comms, his mouth moving in sync. "Rip roaring and ready to go, Sam. Maybe we'll find something sweet on board this ship that might be worth a few Hekayan credits."
Marina offers an awkward salute, shifting the med kit slung about her suit carefully. She's carrying a pistol-type weapon. "What should we be looking for?"
The reason for Vadim taking off his weapon belt was to put it back around his waist once he got his suit on. What might be a weapon of relic proportions since he's the only person in the group -not- from the 41st century, that RNS Mk6 sidearm he has gripped in his hand should most likely belong in a museum. However, it's not that old to the Ungstiri. All things considered, he seems to move quite well in vacuum and zero gravity. Touching a button on his digital tablet strapped to his forearm, the shoulder mounted flashlight blinks to life. "Any signs of this bein; a trap first off. Then I'd wager we either head to engineerin’ or the command center, see if there's any damage to the systems.”
"Unless o'course, Kap's gotta better idea. Sorry, that's what we did when I used to work salvagin' back in Perseverance." Vadim sheepishly adds.
"Just what I was thinking." He turns round to face the Ungstiri and a smile can be seen on the Solan's face lit up by the helmet. "I think on a tub this big, engineering is the best bet," says Sam. He maneuvers round again to face Tharsis. "Can you zero in on the power source?"
"Scanning now...." Tharsis' voice crackles in the comm. "Hmm... strongest readings are coming further aft, about six decks down. Likely an auxiliary reactor."
Marina gives her pack one final space-shove, adhering the Velcro back to her suit. "So we need lifts, then, unless you all want to play with the stairs." She peers around the dark space and then fumbles for the headlamp. "Unless there are objections?" She lifts the lamp angle up to arc into the darkness.
Vadim pivots, turning himself about in a circle to get a view of the landing bay, checking the visible upper corners of the area, almost half expecting something to jump out at them. "Hoopin 'ell. Damn things bigger on the inside. I dunno, Kap. Just dun seem right that somebody would just -leave- a ship like this. Could understand if somethin’s wrong with it but...eh, guess maybe I've heard too many ghost ship stories. Ol' drunk Tovariches use to talk 'bout alotta strange hoop they'd on salvage runs." Regardless of his thought, he's following in step at Sam's side.
The cargo bay. One of the shadows changes shape.
"Works for me," the Captain glances towards one of the corridors. The one leading aft and begins to make his way along the docking bay, his movement is practiced and ordered "I suggest we see what we can do to restore systems and see if they have a computer. My Heykati isn't bad, picked it up when I left Comorro the last time." He shakes his head at Marina, "I wouldn't trust a lift on a tub that's half dead. But a ship like this does have backups, especially stairs." The radio crackles on and off, "Feel free to take point Thar."
Tharsis chuckles. "Yeah. Anything that comes after me won't get nothing but a mouthful of photons." he says, and takes point, scanners taking wide scans as he moves along.
Marina also snickers and follows, more than happy to bring up the rear for now. "Mine isn't so bad, really."
"Learned enough o'it on my 'vacation'." Vadim mutters absently, still looking about, mounted flashlight's beam shooting this way and that. He stalls for a moment when his light passes over a few girders up near ceiling of the bay. Redirecting his light, he sidesteps to see if he really did see movement. "Kap. Up high at three o'clock. There somethin’ up there?" The Mk6 has been raised just slightly, cautious.
As they approach the entrance to the corridor Sam catches Vadim's warning and swings his assault rifle in the direction Vadim indicated and holds.
Tharsis focuses his scanners in that direction. "I'm not picking up anything..." he says, activating a high power light beam and focusing it on the shadowy area.
Marina buttons up whatever smartass remark was next, sweeping her head along the opposite corner from where the light beams are pointing out of habit, and as suits the rear position.
"Don't get jumpy Mayfair," says the Captain frowning in his helmet. The beams from his helmet swing back towards the entrance corridor. And he makes his way down it. "Something did make these people leave, but let's not start jumping at our own shadows just yet."
Vadim shakes his helmeted head, obviously annoyed. "Fuckin' fantastic." the Jackal mutters. "Ain't off the ship for five minute an I'm already seein' shit." The pistol is lowered as well, continuing on with the others.
"Not to worry... if something pops out you'll know it as soon as I do." Tharsis says.
Marina moves again to catch up. "Can we move any faster? Something about the yawning cargo doors is rather creepy."
"Da. Dun like me imagination runnin' 'round thinking what might or might not've happened 'ere." Vadim nods vaguely over at Marina. "Say we hoof it to engineerin’. Be enough time to check the rest o'the ship if we can git power restored."
"Best we conserve our energy, so try to keep the pace measured if we can," says the Solan. He glances back towards the Ungstiri, "It'd make checking out the ship a lot easier if systems could be restored." And forward again.
A long corridor. There is a scratching sound with the rhythm of a horse at a gallop.
"Agreed... I just hope there's enough fuel and that the reactor isn't damaged.” Tharsis says as he walks along through the corridors as they head and descend towards engineering. "Otherwise, we'll be walking in... wait. What the hell is that?" he says, turning up the gain on his audio sensor.
Marina strains to listen too, eyes half-lidded in concentration. "It sounds...sharp. I suggest we pick one side of the corridor or the other, rather than waltzing right down the center?"
"Goddamnit, I -knew- I wasn't seein’’ shit." Vadim grunts, grip on his weapon tightening slightly. "Been gettin' the feelin' like somethin's been watchin' us since we stepped foot on this tin whale." Turning partially to shine a light where they had come from, checking their rear momentarily. Passing by random hatch, he waves hand. "Nothin. These hatches aint' gonna open up till we git the reactor runnin’ back online."
Sam pauses to listen, but the noise has stopped. He glances at the others. "Direction?"
Tharsis frowns a bit. "Couldn't pin it down…the sound pattern was rather odd... almost like a horse galloping, but that's impossible." he says.
Marina frowns, pawing the air to mimic the cadence, as she thinks about it. "Down," she answers Sam.
"Space horses...oh da, we're going crazy." Vadim offers dryly, keeping his weapon up. "Down? Under the deck plating? Hoop, how 'bout we just get to engineering, see if we can shit runnin' an then do an internal scan o'the ship? Though...fuck, if we didn’t' sense any life signs before we came on board? Hmmm.."
"Agreed," nods Sam in Vadim's direction. "Could just be something automated." He gestures, "Eyes peeled, let's go."
Tharsis continues on down, finding an open turbo lift shaft that leads down. "Hey, there's a ladder here..." Tharsis says. "Might be an easier way down." he says, moving his emitter out into the empty shaft and just letting it slowly float down the shaft. "Power source is definitely getting stronger the further down we go."
"Didn't ask for how, just where," Marina replies dryly. "It makes me think of an...an engine or an arm-driven machine." She waits her turn, flexing her fingers inside of the gloves.
"I'll go first, Kap." Vadim states being the perhaps overly protective first mate that he is, pointing his light and pistol down the abyssal looking hole. Seeing that nothing jumps out at him, he lowers himself down into the shaft, using his feet to keep him steady and one arm to assist in going down, while the gun hand is pointed downward incase anything decides to come up at him. "How's it look at the bottom, Thar?"
SCREAM!
[Skill System] Sam rolls his Pain Resistance with a modifier of -2. The result is Fair (4).
[Skill System] Vadim rolls his Pain Resistance with a modifier of -2. The result is Terrible (1).
[Skill System] Marina rolls her Pain Resistance with a modifier of -2. The result is Terrible-1 (0).
[Skill System] Tharsis rolls his Pain Resistance with a modifier of -2. The result is Terrible-2 (-1).
[Skill System] Sam rolls his Reaction with a modifier of -1. The result is Superb (7).
[Skill System] The Scream rolls a Legendary with a modifier of 1. The result is Legendary+4 (12).
The screech lays waste to the small explorer party. Vadim reaching to his ears lets go of the ladder. Fortunately, in the zero-g he just floats down the well. Tharsis temporarily loses control over his ascent and Marina is forced to her knees. The Captain barely manages to hold to his focus, but it doesn't last long as a tail reaches down, lassoing him and dragging him up to the ceiling. The only life form registered by Tharsis's systems is that of the Captain, but that's making a quick getaway further up the long corridor.
The effects of the scream are evident in that Tharsis' image suddenly goes crazy, his form full of distortions and lost parts, his sensors scrambled. The only thing he's able to detect with any coherency is Sam's life sign disappearing at a rapid pace. "Sam!!" he shouts through the comm, then his vocal circuit goes on the fritz sending static across the channel.
"Saints of Sivad," Marina gasps, clutching her hands to her helmet instinctively, pawing to click the comm off. The sound recedes before she does though, and Tharsis' cry causes her to wince again. She looks up, staring at the boots of the captain and trying to stand.
Being already on the ladder when that sound comes screeching over his comms could not come at a worse time. The audio outburst momentarily deafens Vadim, not to mention disorientating him, causing his feet to slip on the ladder rungs. "-FUCK-" is most appropriate expletive he get out, only enough awareness to tighten his grip on the rung his hand. But, that whole 'no gravity' thing is most likely what save his skin. The ringing still there, he manages a look up. "Kap?!" he says louder than he normally would, scrambling to grab at the ladder again to halt his descent. "Shit!" Partially dazed he starts to make it back up the ladder well after whatever took Sam, though it'll be somewhat slow goings until he gets his bearings back.
As the sound subsides, Tharsis' image reforms and he's able to halt his descent. "Where the hell did he go? What the hell was that thing?" Tharsis asks as he adjusts the anti-grav on his emitter to bring himself back up the shaft. "I'm still not picking up any life readings, but he sure as hell didn't just get yanked down the corridor by himself!"
"Vadim..." Marina crawls over to peer down the shaft and breathes a sigh of relief at the sight of the man pulling himself back up. "Tharsis...can you change your avatar? Something less obvious to follow and we'll catch up?" She peers up the shaft now, wishing she had a hand-help torch instead of just the headlamp.
Tharsis's voice is just a garbled murmur in Vadim's ears, but at least his aren't being deceived. He saw Sam get pulled up the turbo lift shaft and that's just where he's going, pace getting faster as the moments go by, skipping handfuls of ladder rungs. "Tharsis, switch to something else! Like vibrations or movements or fuck, just something that doesn't scan for life! Hoop! Goddamn bioscanners dun work 'ere." he bites out, giving chase.
"I am! I've been scanning for infrared, UV, EMF, pressure changes, even fucking temperature changes in the vacuum of space! I'm telling you, whatever the hell that was, it's not registering!" Tharsis says. "Change into what? A damn housecat? If you think it'll help, I can try it."
"Yes they do, Sam showed up," Marina counters. She swings out after Vadim to climb behind him. "I don’t bloody know, Tharsis, just something that doesn't look like us. Maybe something that looks like it belongs here."
Cut to a distant cargo bay. The Solan Captain finds himself wrapped in a slimy gunk. He struggles but can't move. His eyes open to find himself on the cargo bay flood on a heap of collected junk from around the Olympus. There are a heap of eggs near him. One of the eggs crack and a smaller version of the tail pokes out.