ALIEN: SKELETON CREW - PART ONE: ECLIPSE [CHARP LOGS]

Diana · Feb 25, 2015

◊ ALIEN SKELETON CREW -GM McGmpants 05:31 Feb 24

◊ PART ONE – ECLIPSE PHASE -GM McGmpants 05:31 Feb 24

Nia Ana: womp womp, tea's ready -05:31 Feb 24

[Serov drinks some hooch.] -05:31 Feb 24

[GM McGmpants is now known as: Elphias Roth] -05:31 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Six months. One hundred and eighty-four days. Four thousand, four hundred and sixty-four hours. He'd counted every single one of them since he was roused from cyro-sleep for what was supposed to be the arrival of the colonists. Every day since then had been an exercise in managing tedium. Of repeating the same actions over and over, keeping the Anchorpoint station in optimal condition for something he was increasingly convinced wouldn't be happening in his lifetime. -05:32 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Maybe this was their punishment? Himself and his crew of failures and fuck-ups, shipped out here and told to wait perpetually until the Company got bored of toying with them? Maybe they'd been forgotten; something had happened to the venture and a falsely-filed document had resulted in Anchorpoint never being informed. Anything was possible. Elphias knew that this sort of thought process wasn't exactly healthy. -05:32 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: But what the fuck else was there to do out here? -05:32 Feb 24

[Nia Ana tossed for the 7th time in her cryo chamber, gummy limbs sticking out over the open pod and snoring not unlike old, diesel-fueled metal chainsaws rambling out of the hibernation room.] -05:38 Feb 24

[Serov shook two large, plastic jugs filled with a milky, blue-white fluid. He peered at one closely, noting the frothy surface as he paced his reactor deck, the solid metal floor echoing beneath heavy footsteps. He threw a jug in a shallow bucket chair before opening the other, raising it to his nose, and sniffing. "Eugh," he muttered, before tilting it back and drinking straight from it.] -05:40 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Sitting at the station's bridge, Elphias thumbed his way through a book he'd read three times since he arrived. An absent-minded motion, more out of muscle memory than of any desire to read the words printed on the pages. The whir of the computer monitors and their luminous green glow gave the room an ambient feel, something he found surprisingly relaxing. Plus, from here he could keep track of the communications system in the vain hope that they'd receive a transmission today. Anything to break the monotony of life on Anchorpoint. -05:41 Feb 24

[EDO9 monitored Nia's vital signs from a control panel to the left of the cryo chamber, watching her dreams translated into strings of binary. Such curious creatures they were. After six months of wakefulness aboard the station, the cargo was showing signs of mental unrest, despite EDO9's best attempts to provide a calming environment.] -05:41 Feb 24

[Glim sat within the blinking, glimmering egg of the comms room. He was too tall for the operator chair. Too twitchy for the silence. The communications fit was standard, compromised of a 10 and 4 meter hyperstate antenna for interstellar communications and short-range video links. The sensors were mounted on pylons clustered around the forward hull and had two 2m aperture telescopes for optical, spectrographic and infrared resolution. Yet even with a gas chromagraph, a centimetric radar and a synthetic aperture radar, he was a victim. A victim of TOO LITTLE INFORMATION. He hung in the sensory silence, and cursed. ] -05:41 Feb 24

[EDO9 EDO9 had included this detail in its reports to Wayland-Yutani, however, no reply came, not that EDO9 expected to receive one this far out.] -05:43 Feb 24

Holm: Smoke slithers from the tips of his fingers, wrapping around the shadowed corners of his face. A small spec of green flashes on his right cheek - "ED, how are they?" -05:44 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Day in and day out, running planetary scans. Analyzing data. Rise and repeat. Except for days like today, where the tedium was broken up with alternative activities. A girl had to relieve the stress somehow. Rebecca stepped out of the showers with skin flushed, dried and dressed herself quickly. The towel came with her as she headed back, being rubbed furiously through her hair to get out the remaining water. -05:45 Feb 24

EDO9: Looked up from the control panel to the officer, its eyes flashing with an almost metallic glint. A trick of the light from the blinking lights. "The engineer is showing stable signs, though it is inadvisable for her to sleep in the cryo chamber so often, and at such short spurts. They were not designed for this purpose." EDO9 stood, brushing down its immaculate tuxedo, then took a tray from the consol and held it to Holm. It was buttered toast. -05:48 Feb 24

Glim: Five asteroids, no bigger than footballs. That was all that had passed the halo of Anchorpoint's sensors. Glim had cataloged them, arranged them by size, then my mineral composition, then velocity and yaw. He had submitted the report to Weyland Corp...... 19 days ago. Now he drafted another, extrapolating the direction of the asteroids and theorizing on origin bodies. His forefinger, nail bitten raw, hovered over the coffee-stained keyboard. What else could he analyze? Himself? No... it hadn't come to that yet. -05:49 Feb 24

Holm: He presses the burnt end of his cigarette against the control-panel's monitor. Flakes of ash pepper the keyboard below. It's been six months since they woke them up, but still, no one. He doesn't care that much about protocol anymore. Besides, it's not as if he's bothering anyone else with the mess. Except for ED, perhaps, but then, ED can't really be bothered. -05:49 Feb 24

Holm: "Thank you, ED." The buttered toast doesn't taste like butter. -05:49 Feb 24

[Nia Ana fidgets in the cryo pod, the sharp pain of low circulation to her limbs hanging out of the chamer giving her reason enough to finally get up. Still smelling like the hooch she and Serov tested the night before, Nia clambered out and swiped an unclaimed robe and coffee cup, filling it with the flash-frozen caffeinated powder before heading down to the Engineering room. A bleary face ghosted between the tall, stacked bins of tools and spare parts. "Serov. Tell me the hooch is still there and we didn't drink it all." The hella hungover engineer reached over to a small, metal teapot quietly whistling on a turbine turned-makeshift-stove and poured it into the coffee cup.] -05:51 Feb 24

[Serov let the swill of his station-brewed 'hooch' roll on his tongue, savouring the pungent, sweet flavour. It burned going down, leaving a slightly oily residue, and he nodded and shrugged in a single gesture. He sealed the cap on the plastic jug and tossed it onto a nearby table, rattling a set of loose tools. A whirr and a beep drew his attention, and he went to check: standard power-flux warning. Nothing major, just a shift in on/off. He rolled a shoulder; his little tech monkey slept in them too often. She'd suffer from brain damage soon enough, if she hadn't already.] -05:51 Feb 24

Holm: "And how long until her round's over?" -05:51 Feb 24

EDO9: {Er, she just got up and walked past us without a word SO} -05:52 Feb 24

EDO9: {Chalking that up to mental instability} -05:52 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( Wait what? I'll go with mental instability )) -05:54 Feb 24

Glim: To hear that sweet music... to feel the sensor room come alive... to leap from this chair and be the first to run, screaming, onto the bridge, proclaiming "THEY ARE HERE! THEY ARE HERE!" Such a release that would be. Such a dream. -05:54 Feb 24

EDO9: Watched, curious, as Nia slogged past them, apparantly unaware of their presence. "You are the medical expert, Dr. Holm, so I shall defer to your judgement. However, I referenced her behaviour and that of the rest of the crew, with the symptoms in my database." -05:54 Feb 24

EDO9: "The crew is succumbing to 'cabin fever'." It said this with almost a touch of irony. -05:55 Feb 24

[Serov eyed the jug on the nearby table, with the matching one in one of two bucket chairs. "Had you beat, Ana. I always got some of that shit stored somewhere, stewin' up. That ain't all that ready, but, well... Sheeeeit, somethin's better than nothin'."] -05:56 Feb 24

EDO9: "Which would explain the excessive substance abuse," it added, in reference to the cigarettes and unsactioned alcohol making. -05:57 Feb 24

Holm: Holm finishes the rest of his toast. "Alright." His eyes are still focused on the screen - his face don't shift at all. -05:57 Feb 24

[Glim broke from his daydream and pressed his finger to the console, underneath the first row of buttons. He worked along, pressing the casing, before finding the button he wanted. Funny how he did every time - he could never just go straight for a button. He always had to work along the row.] -05:58 Feb 24

Holm: He takes another cigarette from his pack, and rests it against his lips. He can't find his lighter in his pockets. "ED?" -05:59 Feb 24

[Glim opened the comm to the bridge. "Chief Roth?" His voice was monotone, tired. A hint of German. It gave a peculiar sense of emptiness.] -05:59 Feb 24

[Nia Ana sat her narrow behind on the same, old roller chair that now makes a creaking sound from 6 months of her drunken carcass sitting or being strewn over it. "Gimme some hair of the dog that bit me, Serv." Nia held out the half-filled mug at her co-worker, the other hand propped on the arm rest to ease the exertion of having to keep her hand up near her temple, trying to massage the hangover headache away.] -06:00 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Sighing, Elphias lowered the book and hit the button for the speaker. "Speaking, Glim." -06:01 Feb 24

EDO9: "I am afraid my kind retreat from fire." -06:01 Feb 24

[EDO9 it almost sounded like an apology.] -06:02 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Coffee was next on her agenda. If she could call that shit coffee. Everything on this boat tasted of plastic or metal, depending on how dry or how wet it was. The coffee always seemed to tasted like both. Grounded plastic steeped in rusty water. Once she had a mug of the shit in hand, she made her way to the bridge. Her towel now draped around her shoulders and her hair mostly dry. -06:02 Feb 24

Holm: Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary with the cryo pods themselves. Coolant levels are going down, however: definitely due to their constant [mis]use of them. He'll either have to negotiate with Serov, or he'll actually have to follow ED's suggestion. -06:04 Feb 24

[EDO9 in reality, had a lighter in its back pocket, the one Holm had left unattended.] -06:04 Feb 24

[Serov rolled his eyes and let out an aggravated grunt as he pushed his ass off the diagnostics console. It creaked; he didn't care. Grabbing the same jug from seconds before, he poured Nia a healthy serving of his engine hooch, sloshing some onto her hand. It left a sticky, oily residue on her fingers. "Drink, and be merry!" he said sarcastically, dropping the container on the floor next to her and parking his ass on a rolling chair not too far away. It creaked like it wanted to break, then leaned hard to the left. "Freeze your tits off yet?" he joked sarcastically.] -06:04 Feb 24

Glim: "Chief, would you like me to read the radiation report?" If there was desperation there, it wasn't heard in Glim's voice. Perhaps something more akin to ritual. As one monk reaching out to another, in the sanctity and silence. "I changed the schedule from a seven to five point cycle, with new callibrations for the chromagraph. You may find the new fieldset...." There was a pause on the line. There often was. "... interesting." -06:05 Feb 24

Holm: Of course, he'll choose the former - question is, how? He can't think of a good plan of action though, not until his lungs fill up with smoke again. Where is that damn lighter? "ED, don't get slick with me." -06:05 Feb 24

Holm: His eyebrows shift downward - his face's first movement in about five days - as he stares at his robotic partner. -06:07 Feb 24

[Nia Ana pointed bloodshot eyes at Serov and stared for a good minute before slowly tilting her head down to peer at her own chest before replying, "Not yet, you know between EDO and Holm we're never gonna sweat or shiver off all the calories we're not eating." Shaking the excess hooch from her hand before wiping it on the front of her robe. She swiveled the chair around and looked at the blurry wall of monitors and blinking things, "Can I guess what's happened? .... Is iiiiiit.... nothing?"] -06:07 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Elphias had yet to figure the Comm Officer out. He wasn't sure if the man was just OCD or if there were even further underlying issues, but he suspected the latter given that he was stuck out here. "Umm, that won't be necessary Glim. I trust you've got it all in order. Let me know if the buoys pick anything up, yeah?" As fucking if. -06:08 Feb 24

[EDO9 tilted its head, blinking, curious. "I do not comprehend your inference." Then, from its breast pocket, an alarm from EDO9's digital pocket watch. "Please excuse me, Doctor. I have to prepare the crew's elevensies."] -06:08 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Anchorpoint was just one tier above Purgatory. -06:08 Feb 24

[EDO9 spun on its overly shined shoes and made its way to the galley.] -06:09 Feb 24

Holm: "Dammit - and Serov, be more careful with that, now." -06:09 Feb 24

Serov: "Not a fuckin' thing," he said, sipping his own mug of--surprise!--really bad coffee blended with alcohol. "Anchorpoint's maintained by good ol' Serov, so this fucker ain't gonna break." -06:10 Feb 24

[Glim sounded, for the briefest moment, offended. As fucking if, indeed. "Of course," the Comms Officer answered. "And Doctor Prince," he raised his voice, hoping that the science officer was also on the bridge. "I have that report you asked me for." She hadn't asked at all, just agreed to his suggestion when he cornered her in the corridor, five mornings ago. She thought it would keep him busy.] -06:10 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Fancy a cup of coffee?" she asked from behind Elphias. Rebecca had a curious way of being able to silently slip in to a room unnoticed. It was a sharp contrast to some of the more rowdy crew mates. "It's fresh. Hmm. As fresh as it can be anyway." An eyebrow raised when the voice of Glim addressed her. "Thank you, Glim. If you don't mind, I could use a report on the viscosity of the ground soil in Sector 14. Think you can get that for me?" -06:13 Feb 24

Holm: "Medical equipment's much harder to take care of than your usual fare, Serov." -06:13 Feb 24

[Nia Ana spent some time making a show of opening and shutting her eyes, trying to forcefully blink out the residual inebriation. It wasn't quite working. "Mmhn." replied Nia as she sipped on the coffee laden alcohol with one hand, the other giving a mock salute to Serov. Her stomach rumbled a loudly and indignantly, she wasn't sure if it was because she only had a liquid dinner last night or because only liquid had been in her system the past two days.] -06:13 Feb 24

[Serov tilted his head back, looking at Holm nearly upside down. "Tech is tech," he said after a moment, lolling his head back to level before swiveling his chair around. It squeaked obnoxiously as he shuffled his feet. "You break it, I fix it, etcetera, etcetera. Fuck, I might break it on purpose, to have something to do," he said darkly, his smile shifting towards devious.] -06:14 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "...so it tastes like lukewarm industrial waste, then?" Elphias said with a rueful smile, accepting the coffee all the same. "I'd have EDO look at the machine, but I swear she actually made it taste even worse the last time she attempted repairs." -06:15 Feb 24

[Glim pondered the request for a moment, then pressed down the comm dial again. "That report was logged by yourself three weeks ago. It's not due for update until the next quarter." He left the line open while he considered. "Do you think something's changed?"] -06:15 Feb 24

[EDO9 in the galley, EDO9 poured chrysanthemum granules into a steaming thermos, before reaching for the eight slices of toast--two crunchy, one soft, one not toasted, and five semi-toasted.] -06:16 Feb 24

[EDO9 then took up the dull butter knife and began to methodically spread an exact amount on each slice, from corner to corner.] -06:17 Feb 24

Holm: "And my scanners might just break when your liver exam's up." He slides his eyes straight to Ana's stomach. "You should get yourself something to eat, Ana." -06:18 Feb 24

◊ The silence of the Comms Room was suddenly broken as lights begin blinking and a jarring static began to emerge from the speakers set into the corners of the room. Words could be heard amidst it all. -Elphias Roth 06:18 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth is now known as: The Voice in the Static] -06:18 Feb 24

[EDO9 performed this task at an impossible speed] -06:18 Feb 24

◊ shhhhhhkt shhhhhkt shhhhhhkt! -EDO9 06:18 Feb 24

The Voice in the Static: “THIS... ...CTS OCTURAS... ...MONTHS OUT OF LUNA, HEADED FOR... ...REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSIS... ...ULL BREACH... ...FAILING TO... ...ONG RANGE COMMUNICATION IMPOSSIBLE...” -06:18 Feb 24

[The Voice in the Static repeated this, over and over, growing louder and louder as minutes passed] -06:19 Feb 24

[The Voice in the Static is now known as: Elphias Roth] -06:19 Feb 24

Holm: His face returns to its usual, emotionless form. -06:19 Feb 24

[Nia Ana deadpan swivels to look at Holm, using her free mugless hand to squeeze together what little fat she has on her stomach and mime it speaking, "Then feed meeee... !" The alcohol-induced malnutrition was beginning to show on her. Tsk.] -06:20 Feb 24

Serov: "Fuck, I want something to eat," the drunkard grumbled from his chair. "The robot cooking for us? Or does that little shithead tech over there need to fix us up something?" -06:21 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: She flashed a grin at Elphias, who then got to see the roll of her eyes and the amused, but exasperated sigh she was trying to hold back. "There was a minor anomoly. Within acceptable error margins, but a second pair of eyes would-" she was cut off by the communications. Rebecca slipped in to a seat to assist. "Was that the colony ship? The message is mangled pretty bad." -06:21 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Elphias flung the book away as the audio from the Comm Room repeated on the Bridge. He hauled himself out of his chair and was halfway across the room when the beeping from the long-range scanners hit his ears. A ship, detected on approach towards the station. Six months of waiting, and now it was all happening at once. -06:21 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Jesus, I dunno! Sure as hell sounded like it!" Rushing back to his console, Elphias snatched up the speaker. "Glim, are you getting this too?" -06:22 Feb 24

[Glim thought for a moment the transmission was coming from the bridge. He had tried to work out whose voice it was. Serov? Doctor Holm? But then his ears had attuned and his finger had jerked away from the comm dial. Those on the bridge would only have half-heard the transmission. He was left alone.... just him and the transmission, echoing around the bubble of the comms chamber. Immediately he was aware of the sweat on his hands and brow. He stared at the transmitter, and brought his hands down on his thighs, rocking imperceptibly. ] -06:22 Feb 24

[EDO9 arranged the tea and toast on a tray.] -06:22 Feb 24

Holm: "Our food may be crap, but it's still food. Although... you know, you may need that liver scan more than Serov." He feels a cool tingling tickle the back of his head - the smoke, right. His eyes continue their dull stare. "By the way, any of you got a lighter?" -06:24 Feb 24

[EDO9 took up the tray, then set it down, placed an extra stick of artificial butter on the tray, then picked up the tray again.] -06:24 Feb 24

[Glim jolted as Chief Roth opened the line back up. He scrambled from his chair, and worked his finger along the row of buttons before finding the correct ones. He adjusted volume and feedback, tweaking the audio as quickly as he could. "Acknowledged, Chief, I'm sending it through." He set the transmission to broadcast through the central comm.] -06:24 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth stared ahead at the glowing green consoles, silently listening to the repeating message.] -06:25 Feb 24

[Nia Ana crosses one leg over the other, flexing her toes, using the big toe to point to Serov and her's repurposed turbine-stove. "Go light it in there."] -06:25 Feb 24

◊ “THIS... ...CTS OCTURAS... ...MONTHS OUT OF LUNA, HEADED FOR... ...REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSIS... ...ULL BREACH... ...FAILING TO... ...ONG RANGE COMMUNICATION IMPOSSIBLE...” -Glim 06:25 Feb 24

[EDO9 made its way to the bridge. "Tea and toast." It declared to Dr. Prince and Roth. "A distress signal?"] -06:27 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Silently, he reached down and dialled in the command for a station-wide broadcast. -06:27 Feb 24

[Serov gestures his mug to the little jerry-rigged stove-top. It ran off of its own re-purposed li-ion battery. It was, effectively, a little stove. "That do?"] -06:27 Feb 24

[EDO9 set the tray down, peering at one of the bridge consols.] -06:27 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "This is Chief Roth. All available crew to the Bridge, immediately." -06:27 Feb 24

[Glim experienced a brief and powerless moment of total panic. He had to circle the room twice and pressed his thumbs against his temples. Only when he had done that, and dusted down his coveralls, did he return to the seat and begin working in a frenzy. His hands darted over the audio console, adjusting pitch, volume, feedback - anything he could modify to clean up the transmission. His heart was racing. This was it.] -06:28 Feb 24

Holm: "I asked for a lighter, not a ticket to my office." His office, right - he thinks he has a spare lighter there. Though if he's wrong, there's always the cauterizing tool. "Excuse me for a moment -- and there's a chocolate bar in my cryo pod, if you want it." He rushes past Ana and Serov, and makes his way to his office. -06:29 Feb 24

Holm: ....or not. Roth, apparently, has something to say. Something big. "Lighter first, then Roth." He ignores the chief's announcement, and continues his way to his office. -06:30 Feb 24

[Nia Ana 's face contorts to that of a cat tasting beer for the first time. Nia turns to Serov and slowly crosses her eyes before making the struggle of getting up from the rolly chair and stumping down towards the Bridge, the robe's tie slithering behind her like a snake held hostage by the tail.] -06:30 Feb 24

Serov: "The fuck is this--?" Serov said with some surprise and excitement, the station-wide communicae something that hadn't been heard in quite awhile. Even dinner times were only marked with a chime, not an announcement. "Get your ass in gear, techie." With that, Serov hauled ass tot he bridge. -06:30 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg sighs and rolls her eyes] -06:30 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Her arms went up over her head in a silent cheer. They were coming. FINALLY coming! "It's a fucking miracle!" Relief, joy, elation - they all mixed together. Until reality and pessimism started setting in. "It sounds like they're having trouble. What if they don't make it here?" What was the protocol for that? She was just a geologist! -06:32 Feb 24

Holm: Halfway there, he remembers that Roth himself might have a lighter -- and that the flak he'll get for getting to the bridge too late would be much worse than the headache he feels he's about to receive. He turns left at the next intersection, right into an especially darkened corridor of the station, and now makes his way to the bridge. -06:32 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: Peace and quiet could only last so long with this bunch. Interrupting her quiet time with the samples. She pulled off one headphone as she checked her bonsai. -06:33 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "No point in doing the what-if's until we've got more information," Roth replied, punching the speaker for Comms again. "Glim, see if you can hail the Octuras and get a response, okay?" -06:33 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "EDO, get on the scanners and see if you can find out where the ship is." -06:34 Feb 24

[Nia Ana trails behind Serov for a moment before veering off to grab the chocolate bar out of Holm's cryo pod. Nia finally makes it to the bridge, still trying to open the bar with her teeth, the bar itself looking like a very piss poor art student's rendition of a flower as seen through the gluttonous consumerist's eyes with the chocolate being the pollen center and the petals being the frayed paper and aluminium foil surrounding it. The sub-tech gnaws off a square just in time for Elphie to be spouting orders.] -06:34 Feb 24

Holm: Yet another change of face for Holm - this time, a light smile casts on him a brighter aura. He realizes that Roth's announcement must have something to do with their long-awaited guests - at last, his job is finally becoming a proper job! His pace quickens. -06:35 Feb 24

EDO9: "Yes, Chief." EDO9 sat at the scanner consol, making sure to swipe its tux tails out from under it, and began to trace the signal. "There is a lot of interference, Chief. This could take a moment." -06:36 Feb 24

[Serov had already stomped heavy boots onto the bridge only a moment before Nia had. "The fuck is going on? Why are we scanning for a ship?"] -06:36 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "We have a ship?!" -06:37 Feb 24

Holm: He reaches the bridge, right behind Ana and Serov. -06:38 Feb 24

[Glim paused with his hands on the controls. Hail the ship? Was that his job? Was he supposed to do that. For a second he stared ahead blankly, the transmission crackling around him. Then, like a deer pawing fallen fruit, he reached out to the radio dials. He selected the 10m VHF antennae and oriented it to the spectascope. Like firing a musket into the darkness. One hand on the orientation controls, another on the dial, he spoke out. "Octuras, this is Anchorpoint. We are receiving. Please say again. Status not acknowledged." He paused, coughed, stared at his fingers. "Please clear transmission." ] -06:38 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: The loud boots heralded the arrival of the engineering crew. Where they not all out in the void of space, Roth would half expect them to be trailing mud in, too. "Because we may have finally made contact with the Octuras. Glim's attempting to hail them, and EDO is ascertaining their location." -06:39 Feb 24

Holm: His eyes twinkle. -06:39 Feb 24

Holm: "Well, damn." -06:39 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "... Fuck Prince sideways. There's a ship." murmured Nia -06:40 Feb 24

Holm: "Oh, and Roth, you got a light?" -06:40 Feb 24

Serov: "Holy fucking fuck! Finally!" Serov said with some jubillation, downing the rest of his alcohol-laced coffee and smacking it onto the top of EDO's scanner. He crowded over her shoulder, trying to find the small 'blip' of an incoming ship along with her--it. -06:40 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: Candace entered still with her potted bonsai, headphones at the base of her neck. Gloved hands. Pruning shears still in hand so as to hint what they had interrupted and why she was making the face she typically wore around other people anyway. A simple, rising "Oh?" was all she said. -06:40 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca was literally on the edge of seat. There was little else she could do but wait for more information. She cast Nia a wide grim. "If it IS the colony, someone will be." -06:40 Feb 24

Holm: "Wait-how long has Glim been trying to hail them?" -06:41 Feb 24

[Nia Ana nearly choked on the mix of chocolate bits and caffeinated alcohol at Rebecca's reponse to her side comment. But it was true, at least Holm would be around to curtail any new epidemics of the loinal variety.] -06:42 Feb 24

EDO9: "Scanners indicate that Octuras is within range." It peered over its shoulder to Glim. "The ship should be receiving Anchorpoint's guidance signal for docking." -06:42 Feb 24

◊ Static is all that greets Glim's attempts at contact, along the constantly looping, broken message. -Elphias Roth 06:42 Feb 24

Holm: It has been six months, after all. Though it's not uncommon for a lot of missions to get delayed for that long, still, the cause of a good deal of those delays did end up being quite a pain for the receivers. -06:43 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Not long. We only caught the signal in the last ten minutes or so." -06:44 Feb 24

[Glim keyed a command in the door panel. The door cycled open. He ducked through and moved with bent spine down the fifteen foot corridor that separated the sensor room from the bridge. He hovered in the doorway, ready to retreat back to his chamber if need be. "No response," he murmured, not loud enough to be heard. Then he remembered his volume and spoke up clearly. "There's no response. I think the broadcast is automated. They may have a breach." His eyes drifted to Edo's plate. He shuffled forward, grabbed the untoasted piece of bread, and then retreated to the doorway with it. He held the bread and stared at the others.] -06:44 Feb 24

Holm: Case in point: the mess that got him to Anchorpoint in the first place. But nevermind that - Roth's reply. And then Glim's entrance. -06:45 Feb 24

Serov: "Wait-- is anyone flying that big fucker out there? Has the automatic docking sequence kicked in?" -06:45 Feb 24

EDO9: "I've switched it to manual, under the present circumstances." EDO9 said primly. "Your orders, Chief?" -06:47 Feb 24

Holm: "...A breach?" He loses his smile. -06:47 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Keep trying, Glim. There's got to be someone on that fucking thing." Roth leaned over his console, not even bothering with the chair now, tapping away at the keyboard and scanning the monitors. "Automatic docking procedures have been sent, but not received. Don't know if the colony ship's picking up anything." -06:47 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Guide her in, EDO. Within shuttle range, but don't dock it yet. I wanna know what's going on over there." -06:48 Feb 24

EDO9: {Derp. Just assume EDO9 didn't say that, then} -06:48 Feb 24

EDO9: {O-OKAY!} -06:48 Feb 24

Holm: "Who're we sending in?" -06:49 Feb 24

Serov: "Shit, breach... Something blow during FTL, and kept it going? I'm gonna be goddamned busy. You too, techie." -06:49 Feb 24

EDO9: "Affirmative, Chief." -06:49 Feb 24

[Nia Ana kept her eyes on the monitors Elphie was manning, a blind hand rummaging on EDO's plate for a piece of bread and managed to unsheath what was left of the bar from its wrappings and onto the toast, eating it with the second-hand enthusiasm of something finally happening to Anchorpoint.] -06:49 Feb 24

[Glim nodded, hovered, stared at Doctor Prince, then Doctor Flagg. Finally he stuffed the entire slice of untoasted bread into his mouth before turning and shuffling back to the comms room. He ducked into the chair, his cheeks filled with bread, and began tweaking the audio again. He brought the 10m antannae online and synched up the orientation.] -06:50 Feb 24

[Nia Ana 's full cheeks bounced but her brows furrowed at Serov stating that they'll actually be doing shit now that they made contact with the colony ship.] -06:50 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: The mug of steaming "coffee" sat ignored next to his hands. Elphias turned about to face his assembled crew. If they could even be called that. A ragtag batch of people who happened to be deemed 'essential for system maintenance'. -06:51 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Serov, Ana, is the shuttle prep'd?" -06:51 Feb 24

EDO9: "Chief, if there indeed has been a breach, then I volunteer to be the first to enter the Octuras." -06:51 Feb 24

Serov: "Where the fuck did you all find toast..." he muttered before answering the Chief. "Uh, It started last I turned the damn thing on. I can have it prepped in 5." -06:52 Feb 24

EDO9: "My design allows me a better chance at surviving low O2 levels." -06:52 Feb 24

[Nia Ana made a muffled, curt sound through the chocolate and toast before saluting with her coffee mug and lumbering back toward the Engineering room, surreptitiously nabbing another piece of toast or two.] -06:53 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Good stuff, get it ready. Ana, dig out the Compression Suits. We might need them." -06:53 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton arrives contemptuously (and perhaps deliberately) late to the bridge] -06:53 Feb 24

[Glim leaned close to the transmitter. "Octuras, this is Anchorpoint. Please transmit GS coordinates and trajectory. We are transmitting docking procedures on alpha459."] -06:54 Feb 24

Holm: His lowers his head; shadow cloaks his cheeks. He shuffles towards the station's chief, and whispers, "Roth, 'we'? You're not thinking of going in there yourself, now, are you?" -06:55 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "The 'Royal we', Doctor. But let's not rule anything out yet." -06:55 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Let's just stick to getting this thing docked first, EDO. Open the bridge windows, would you?" -06:56 Feb 24

EDO9: "There is no need to prematurely endanger the cargo." EDO9 was referencing the crew. "Allow me to be the first to scout." -06:57 Feb 24

[Nia Ana is seen exiting the bridge to the left, only to be seen going right out in the halls, knocking her mug on the hallway wall to notify Roth she's heading down towards the airlock.] -06:57 Feb 24

EDO9: "Yes, Chief." EDO9 reached out, quickly typing a series of commands. There was a low hum as the bridge windows slugged open. -06:58 Feb 24

[Serov heaved off, his bulkyness shaking the console he was leaning on. He went at a jog down the corridors towards the engineering bay, which was just adjacent to the med bay, the hangar, and the docking bay. The shuttle sat, still and quiet, and Serov took a moment to admire the silver-grey matte surface along the triangle-body. It was an all-purpose thing: freighter, passenger carry, the works. Serov took practiced hands to a nearby console and let them fly, starting a fuel check and pre-flight start-up. Once that was done, he stomped abord and began to go through quick diagnostics start-up. "Chief," he said on the shuttle's comm system, speaking directly towards the bridge. "Shuttle will be ready in less than 2."] -06:58 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca was pretty much useless when it came to prepping for the colony's dock. Her job was examining the planet's surface. The fact she had even been awakened early to do it was just an example of much someone in charge hater her. She watched the flurry of activity from her seat, coffee mug still in hand. Her stomach was flipping with excitement, but she wasn't going to go running around cheering just yet. Not when the colony wasn't responded to messages. Rebecca got up and moved in to the comm room to stand a few paces behind Glim. Her brow furrowed. -06:59 Feb 24

[Glim frowned at the static silence. Why had a transmission been looped and rebroadcast? Why was there no response. If the crew were in cyrosleep, it would explain the latter, but not the former. Had the supervising synthetic gone haywire and started messing with the comms array? Or was this some other system failure? Had asteroid impact truly caused a breach?" He jolted as Doctor Prince entered behind him. He swivelled in his chair and looked up at her, the stare lasting awkward seconds beyond what was acceptable. He rubbed his hands on his pants again and looked away. "I don't understand it, Doctor Prince. Just the same message, over and over. Something's wrong."] -07:01 Feb 24

Holm: Holm steps back. His brow curls, as he recalls his last mission. "I....I should get the medbay ready...the quarantine secured." He turns his head - he can't help but squint his eyes to the sudden burst of light from the opening windows. Then, darkness again, except for the right corner, where the system's golden sun rises from beneath the planet's edge. -07:01 Feb 24

◊ The USCTS Octuras is framed almost perfectly in the view of the Bridge windows; a massive vessel of steel and spaceworthy metals, bearing the Company logo on its hull. But that was not all the hull showed. A vast scar had been etched into it, a vicious tear in the metal. Elsewhere it was dented and battered, the sort of damage no ship could endue without consequence. -Elphias Roth 07:01 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton took Prince's vacated seat and peered out the bridge windows, watching as the Octuras loomed into view] -07:02 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "...we've got a fucking problem, here." -07:02 Feb 24

Holm: --rises, but is swallowed up once more, this time by the Octuras. -07:03 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: Candace gingerly sat down her plant upon hearing the word "shuttle." Baby might have to wait. Still she wouldn't volunteer unless asked. What did they need her for? Checking if the people on that ship were alive or not? Or even on the ship for that matter? Airlocks were still a thing. Ans sometimes, she thought about... That was beside the point. Unless she was called, she'd wait right here with Glim and what's her name. -07:03 Feb 24

[Nia Ana slowly chewed in the thin piece of toast like a factory assembly line, single-handedly taking out 3 compression suits. Somehow magically, prepping up the suits single-handedly was doable, the quiet hiss of the suits filling up with air to accomodate for atmospheric shift was almost as mindless as using a coffee percolator. With the suits a quarter full, Nia used her empty mug to hit the bridge comm, "Suits will be prepped in one, Elphie."] -07:04 Feb 24

EDO9: "At this juncture, Chief, the likelihood of there being many, if any survivors is slim." Then after a beat."Though, if the cryo chambers were undamaged, there may be a chance." -07:05 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca responded to Glim with a grave nod, before she stepped aside to see what Elphias sounded so stunned about. The tear in the arriving ship's hull was impossible to miss. That churning in her stomach shifted from excitement to dread. "I knew it." she muttered under her breath. The colony arriving to take them back home was too good to be true. -07:05 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Break out all the suits, Ana. We're gonna need them." -07:06 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Shit." Warburton hissed. "What the hell happened?" Scanning the length of the tear in the ship's hull, the fate of the colonists on board now came into question in his mind -07:06 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "..... Roger." -07:07 Feb 24

EDO9: "We have sufficient supplies in medbay to treat survivors. The only thing we lack is personnel." They had not anticipated something so catastrophic. With only Holms as medical officer, everyone would have to pitch in to help treat any survivors. -07:07 Feb 24

Holm: "Or--fuck." The long slit of space cut deep into the hull of the Octuras opens deep into darkness. -07:08 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "All?" -07:08 Feb 24

[Nia Ana resigned to using both hands to take out and prep the rest of the compression suits, the extra bit of alcohol in coffee evening out her dying buzz. The quiet throb behind her face keeping her just present enough to securely attach air nozzles to suit ports. Petulantly hitting the bridge comm button again, "All suits prepped, Elphie."] -07:09 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "That's right, 'all'. That fucking ship is supposed to be our ticket home. I need all available bodies on this goddamn problem." -07:09 Feb 24

Holm: Holm hears ED's observations. "I don't think we'll need personnel that much, ED." -07:09 Feb 24

[Nia Ana Nia stuck out her tongue a little at the faceless, inanimate object that was the comm speaker.] -07:10 Feb 24

Serov: Stomping back up to the bridge, Serov was instantly grabbed the image of the wounded USCTS Octuras. "Holy fuck," he said, before announcing, "Shuttle's ready." -07:10 Feb 24

[Glim traced his hands over the console, rubbing bits of dirt away, feeling but not pressing the buttons, miming protocols. As he did this his stare was fixed on the wall, unblinking. When he heard the Chief's orders, he kept his back turned. Not me... please not me. ] -07:10 Feb 24

EDO9: "Nor do I. But my design requires me to consider all possible scenarios simultaneously, Dr. Holm." -07:11 Feb 24

Holm: "...Well, if they were lucky enough to have undamaged cryo chambers, however, it shouldn't be that hard to take care of them all by the two of us. But our cryochambers will need some work for that: we'll need to rerout a lot of our venting systems, especially with the coolant. And speaking of coolant..." -07:12 Feb 24

Holm: "....Serov, the cryochambers are getting a bit low on coolant." -07:12 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "We can't all go investigating at once. Who is going to manage things here?" she gestured her head towards Glim's back. -07:12 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: Candace rose from her seat. Home. For some, she guessed it was more than a mere waypoint. "Alright," she said. "Let's get this out of the way." -07:12 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Protocols and policies raced through Roth's mind. WayYu contingencies and old horror stories. His day had gone from monotony to shitstorm in the space of fifteen minutes. Goddammit. God. Fucking. Dammit. “EDO, fire up the MATRIARCH mainframe. She can keep the station ticking over.” He glanced over to Harold. “If they're not responding to hails, policy is we need to get over there and figure out what's going on.” -07:12 Feb 24

[Glim lowered his head. Matriarch.... no... not that damned machine...] -07:14 Feb 24

EDO9: "Yes, Chief." EDO9 said with a small smile, it rather liked the MATRIARCH'S company. They understood each other, to a point. But mostly, it didn't leave ashes and candy wrappers everywhere. -07:14 Feb 24

[Serov blinked before gazing over at Holm and staring at him for a moment. He face fell flat as his brain ticked over what he just said, before finally he responded, "Who gives a fuck about coolant right now?! Let's get that fucker running, then we can fuck around with all that." ] -07:15 Feb 24

EDO9: "Beep." EDO9 entered in the last security code. "Boop." -07:15 Feb 24

[EDO9 only knew one joke and that was it] -07:15 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Right." Warburton flatly seconded Roth. As loathe as he was to agree with him most of the time, there was no questioning the station chief in a situation like this. "The sooner we lay eyes on the problem, the sooner we can figure out what needs to be done." -07:15 Feb 24

[Glim took his hands away from the console, as lights and code lines announced the Mother's awakening. It was peculiar sense of powerlessness, whenever she took things from him. It brought back memories. It brought back fears. He sat in the seat a moment longer, before turning and staring back down the corridor to the people on the bridge.] -07:17 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Roth hit the button for a station-wide broadcast again. "Everyone down to the Starboard Airlock, ASAP." He glanced over to the synth as he rose from the desk. "Finalise MATRIARCH's start-up then meet us down there, yeah?" -07:19 Feb 24

[Nia Ana hit the bridge comm to add in, "You know. Where all the compression suits are."] -07:20 Feb 24

Holm: "Just a reminder. Anyway, if any of Octuras's crew are still alive and sleeping, you'll need at least one engineer and either me or ED here to fix things up for the transfer, coz' I'm sure you're not just gonna leave them in that mess. MATRIARCH can't handle everything." -07:20 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton rose from his seat and passed Dr. Flagg as he left the bridge heading for the airlock] -07:21 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "We'll figure out who's staying and who's going once we're down there." Roth strode towards the bridge doors. "Let's go, Doctor." -07:21 Feb 24

Serov: "Aw fuck, here we go again," Serov rumbled as he plodded towards the main starboard airlock. -07:22 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "C'mon, Sunshine. Chief's orders." she called to Glim. Rebecca didn't like it. This was putting all of their eggs in one basket. So what if she wasn't a trained marine, or chief, or strategist, whatever. She just didn't want to go walking in to a derelict ship. But, orders were orders and she was soon following to the airlock. -07:22 Feb 24

[Nia Ana sits on one of the emptied yellow cargo boxes, all the suits hanging like unattended babies in their playtime suspenders.] -07:22 Feb 24

EDO9: Once the cargo had left the bridge, an eye icon blinked to life on the consol before EDO9. "Hello, Mother..." EDO9 smiled. -07:22 Feb 24

Holm: Holm sighs, then follows Serov towards the airlock. -07:22 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth is now known as: MATRIARCH] -07:23 Feb 24

[Nia Ana looks down at her coffee stained tanktop and standard issued briefs for a moment before deciding it's completely acceptable to wear inside a compression suit.] -07:23 Feb 24

Holm: On the way there, he shifts to Prince, again asking for a light. -07:23 Feb 24

Glim: "I'm just an analyst." It was said only loud enough for Edo to hear. Glim looked down at his sweating hands, seeming to stare through them, then finally rose from the bucket chair. Behind him, the lights and circuits of a Mother's love were in motion. He stooped down the corridor and back onto the bridge, following after Doctor Prince. -07:23 Feb 24

[MATRIARCH "GOOD MORNING, EDO. FINAL SYSTEM INITIATION IS COMPLETE."] -07:23 Feb 24

Holm: His hands quiver for a bit as he again pulls out a cigarette. -07:24 Feb 24

◊ The skeleton crew of Anchorpoint quickly assembles in the gloomy airlock, the compression suits laid out by Ana waiting for them. -MATRIARCH 07:25 Feb 24

EDO9: "Thank you, Mother. Monitor all comm systems in crew compress suits. Should the scenario become dire please initiate sequence 1-00-Z-Alpha. WayYu's assets must be preserved at all cost." -07:25 Feb 24

[MATRIARCH is now known as: Elphias Roth] -07:25 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "The sooner we get in, the sooner we get out." was Candace's pointed addtion to all the shouting. She followed Warburton, but not without a final look back at her bonsai. -07:26 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: Catching up to Prince and Holm once they reached the airlock, Warburton stood next to the med tech and eyed his trembling hands. "Nervous, Holm?" -07:27 Feb 24

[Serov rubbed at his now-sweat-ladened face; he hadn't realized just how nervous and excited he had gotten at the arrival of the Octuras. He was busy, doing things again; he was ... happy for that. He had done nothing but monitor, and tend to screws for months now. He made sure hoses were tightened, and light-bulbs were screwed in. Now he could do... something meaningful again! "Think we got any deadfuckers on that thing?" he asked absently, wiping greasy hair back underneath his ball cap.] -07:27 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: Elphias glanced over the group, weighing up each of them in a new light: who would be needed for an away team, and who would need to remain behind? -07:27 Feb 24

Holm: "No." The shaking gets worse. "I have Parkinson's. Got a light?" -07:28 Feb 24

[EDO9 made its way to the airlock once its directives were logged into the AI's memory.] -07:28 Feb 24

[Glim saw his compression suit off to one side. It wouldn't be touched by the others. Nia had modified it for his longer limbs. Like a mother restitching his clothes. Damn, he had to stop thinking about that. Switching on the Matriarch always put these thoughts in his head. He missed his family.... did they miss h....? He moved for the suit.] -07:28 Feb 24

[Nia Ana half raises her hand, "Not it!"] -07:28 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth frowns and shakes his head at Nia.] -07:29 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Not this time." she shook her head. Any other time she'd give Holm a light, but this was one time she wanted to get things over with. Rebecca worked on getting herself suited up. Ever so often she'd take a glance at Glim and frown. "I can go." -07:29 Feb 24

[Nia Ana 's raised hand crinkled up like a cat's paw and then she begrudgingly slid down the cargo box and ambled towards an empty suit next to Serov's, "You're gonna give Holm a boner, talking like that."] -07:30 Feb 24

[EDO9 did not have its own compression suit. Thankfully. It would wrinkle the tux. ] -07:31 Feb 24

[Serov made a face as he crossed his arms, leaning his shoulder into the bulkhead. "Hey, you see that bigass hole on that space-liner? It's gotta be vented. If anyone was woken up on that thing..." His voice trailed off.] -07:32 Feb 24

Holm: "Roth, you heard what I said." -07:32 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "There's a hole? A hole?" Nia whipped her head back at Elphias, "There's a hole now? A hole while I've been prepping these suits?!" -07:32 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Alright, I know nobody likes this. I sure as hell don't, but we need to find out what is going on aboard that ship. Serov, Ana? We'll need both of you for the away team. Glim and Prince, we'll need you for their systems, and Flagg for any injured on the Octuras." -07:32 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "A HOLE?!" -07:33 Feb 24

[Glim glanced at Serov. "They wouldn't..." He spoke up. "It wouldn't. The ship's AI wouldn't wake them... if... It wouldn't wake them if the atmosphere was compromised." He rubbed his head and pulled on the long arm of his spacesuit. "They have to be okay."] -07:33 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "XO Warburton will lead the away team, and EDO shall provide assistance. I'll remain here with Doctor Holm to co-ordinate things." -07:33 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Any questions?" -07:33 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "THERE'S A HOLE?!" -07:34 Feb 24

EDO9: "Only so long as the cryo chambers were undamaged during the breach." EDO9 supplied to Glim as it stepped forward. Its presence on the away team went without question. -07:34 Feb 24

Holm: "Roth, the cryo chambers. We might need an engineer here, if the pipes are gonna be rerouted properly." -07:34 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "We won't be re-routing anything until the Octuras is docked with our station, Doctor. And we need as much technical experience as we have on the away team, given the structural damage that ship has suffered." -07:35 Feb 24

[Serov barked a laugh. "Hey, only one way to find out. Ana, go grab my tool bag." With a grunt, he began to force himself into the suits.] -07:36 Feb 24

Holm: "Alright." -07:36 Feb 24

[Glim stared intently at Edo. He didn't like the machine, any more than he liked MATRIARCH. And this one knew as well as he did the fundamental designs of colonial ships. The cryochamber was at the absolute centre... protected from all but the highest velocity breaches. An exterior collision would not have damaged the cryochamber. It was impossible. He refused to believe it. ] -07:37 Feb 24

Holm: "I should get started on the Medbay. If you have any encouraging speeches to give..." He says dryly. -07:38 Feb 24

[Nia Ana gives a wild-eyed and indignant look at Elphias while she totters quickly towards the supply closet to fetch Serov one of the mini-tool bags he's stashed all along Anchorpoint. She'd be the first to admit his deserving of being Head Engineer just for his squirrel-like tendencies alone.] -07:38 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: She hated this. This was a bad idea. But she was suited up and ready to go without a verbal complaint. "We'll want to close up the breach in the hull first and foremost. Then maybe Ed can get the atmospherics back online while we look for survivors?" -07:38 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Fair enough." Warburton chose a suit and began tugging it on over his limbs -07:39 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth smiled at Holm. "I ran out of those six months ago."] -07:39 Feb 24

Holm: "Maybe I should give one, then." Holm chuckles, then steps out of the chamber, and continues towards his office. Finally, he's gonna get his smoke. -07:40 Feb 24

EDO9: "I have 100,000,000 famous speeches in my memory banks." EDO9 supplied helpfully -07:40 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Dunno how we could even begin patching a hull breach like that. Hopefully the mainframe has any de-pressurisation contained." -07:41 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "MATRIARCH, start the launch sequence on the shuttle. The rest of you, get suited and booted." The words sounded strange, hollow, coming from the executive's mouth, and well he knew it. "Good luck, all of you." -07:42 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: Flagg knew better than to argue. The crew was too small for delegating tasks to anyone below. She started to check her kit. She would much rather study things as they functioned than patch up humans as they malfunctioned. Nia was right though. That was a big whole. Did Roth think she or Holms could ressurrect the dead as well? "It'll probably be a short search anyway," she told Dr. Prince as she passed. Hey! It was true, right?! Statistically? -07:43 Feb 24

Serov: "Do the speech from that one guy, Edie-- you know, in that one movie with the king and the sword?" he offered with a sly grin, slapping the helmet locks into place. He took the tool bag from Ana and put the strap around his torso. -07:44 Feb 24

[Glim winced when the chief used that word. Luck. What did that have to do with anything? All of this was calculations. Cold and miserable calculations. Glim's breath steamed on his faceplate. Just get to the bridge. Access the data tables. Initiate the query routines. That's all, Glim. That's all.] -07:44 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Good luck not getting sucked out of that HOLE!" Nia had started murmuring at Serov before raising her voice at the mention of the hole, busying herself with loading down with the floodlights they'd need to properly assess the wiring, if any, that had come askew. -07:45 Feb 24

[EDO9 would assist the engineers with depressurization, then make way to provide secondary life support services with Flagg and Prince.] -07:46 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton secured his suit and glanced around at the other members of his team. "Alright, folks. We ready?"] -07:47 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca made sure Glim actually moved his feet and got on to the shuttle with a gentle push. Then she was muttering a silent prayer just under her breath. Chances were, Dr. Flagg was right. "Good to go." -07:48 Feb 24

[EDO9 fluffed its bow tie. "Affirmative."] -07:48 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "noooooo...." breathed Nia as she flipped on the thick glass helmet visor. -07:48 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth is now known as: MATRIARCH] -07:49 Feb 24

[Glim felt the push and nodded as he climbed aboard, ducking his lanky height into the compartment. He sat immediately behind the flight seat, wringing his gloved hands.] -07:49 Feb 24

MATRIARCH: "SHUTTLE SYSTEMS ARE ONLINE. READY TO LAUNCH ON YOUR COMMAND, XO WARBURTON." -07:49 Feb 24

Serov: "You ain't gonna get sucked out no hole, Ana. Y'know, unless you get too close." He said with a grin, bumping bodily into Ana's suit. -07:52 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg chewed gum. She blew no bubbles. She did have a PhD after all. She watched Warburton intently. "Let's get it done."] -07:52 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton stepped onto the shuttle last, the hatch swinging closed behind him. "Commence launch, MATRIARCH." He remained standing inside. Not reason to try and get comfortable on such a short trip.] -07:53 Feb 24

[Nia Ana 's eyes bug out slightly, the helmet lights emphasizing it and making her look like roadkill frog. "notfunnyserv."] -07:54 Feb 24

EDO9: "Perhaps we should sing a song to lighten the mood." -07:54 Feb 24

MATRIARCH: "LAUNCHING IN FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE..." -07:55 Feb 24

Holm: Holm enters his office. Everything looks cleaner than usual - ED's work, definitely. His spare lighter isn't in its usual cabinet. -07:55 Feb 24

◊ The away team lurch violently as the shuttle hurtles from its dock and out into the void, headed straight for the floating colony ship. -MATRIARCH 07:55 Feb 24

Holm: Suddenly, shaking - the shuttle launch. -07:55 Feb 24

MATRIARCH: "ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL ON THE USCTS OCTURAS... FOUR MINUTES, THIRTY-SEVEN SECONDS." -07:57 Feb 24

MATRIARCH: "DOCKING REQUESTS TO THE USCTS OCTURAS HAVE NOT BEEN ANSWERED. MANUAL DOCKING IS REQUIRED." -07:57 Feb 24

Glim: That feeling he had not felt, since being brought here - a prisoner, an outrage, an embarassment. What were they now? The same prisoners? The same tools smeared with dirt? -07:58 Feb 24

Glim: The momentum of space travel, of delivery. It was like being born, birthed from a careless mother and hurled into the void. -07:59 Feb 24

Serov: "Well, fly us the fuck in, Edy." -07:59 Feb 24

EDO9: (I'm pilot? OK Kewl} -08:00 Feb 24

[Nia Ana fidgeted in her seat, tapping out a beat on her lap to divert from the roiling sense of impending doom.] -08:00 Feb 24

Glim: And what awaited them? No warm embrace? Only a floor of twisted metal, and the faint echo of duty. The faint echo of hope. -08:01 Feb 24

Glim: They were gone from mother, hurtling to their fate, across a chasm that would kill them upon the slightest error. -08:01 Feb 24

Glim: Momentum, only terrible momentum. The aching of the child's heart. The silent wailing... on the inside... for mother. -08:01 Feb 24

Serov: ((Synthetic is slave yes k good.)) -08:01 Feb 24

◊ The engines hum, and the shuttle's course remains smooth. Slowly but inexorably, the away team approaches one of the docking bays that pockmark the hull of the Octuras -MATRIARCH 08:02 Feb 24

Glim: The triangular shuttle, racing like an arrowhead towards the gaping hole of the Octuras - that silent, dead breach that only festered with the promise of horror -08:03 Feb 24

[EDO9 's eyes darted as it maneuvered the shuttle into proper alignment with the Octuras' docking system. Not out of anxiety, but of a hyper awareness. There was a loud CLICK as the shuttle was clamped onto the Octura, like a fish caught in the claws of a crab.] -08:03 Feb 24

[Serov tapped his fingers in sequence against his suit. It was a light tap-tap, barely audible over the soft whirring of the computer and the air recycler. He sung under his breath, his hand holding onto the rail above his head, "Spaaace aasshoooole..."] -08:03 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Ana, Serov. Be ready to dock when we make contact." His commands were terse and dutiful. As bleak as the situation was, he figured playing it stern and by the book was the best way to make it through. -08:03 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca let out a breath, clonking her head against the back of her seat in a steady rhythem. "I should have peed before we left. That fucking coffee." she exclaimed out loud. -08:03 Feb 24

[MATRIARCH is now known as: Elphias Roth] -08:04 Feb 24

Serov: "Be ready to dock? I look like a fuckin' marine, Warburton? Just park the fucker and let's see if the whole spaceliner has vented." -08:04 Feb 24

[EDO9 though it had been deemed 'malfunctioning' EDO9 still possessed the keenest eye for accuracy. And amongst the malfunctioning cargo, its inadequacies were almost invisible. Almost.] -08:04 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Away Team, do you copy?" -08:04 Feb 24

Glim: The momentum arrested. The crash. The beginning of life.. clinging to the bosom of the gashed and wounded animal. -08:05 Feb 24

[Glim blinked and focussed on his surroundings. They had made it.] -08:05 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg swore inwardly. The gum was already losing flavor.] -08:05 Feb 24

EDO9: "Affirmative, Chief." EDO9 answered. "We've docked with the Octuras, bay doors opening now." -08:05 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "We copy, we're speaking from the hole" yelled out, still buckled into her seat. -08:05 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Good. Those suits have several hours of air, so you'll be fine if the ship's completely de-pressurised. Make your way to the Bridge and see if you can't find any of the crew. There's got to be someone who can tell you what the hell's going on. Anchorpoint out." -08:07 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth hit the console command for a broadcast to the med bay. "Doctor, once you're done down there I could use you on the Bridge. Two pairs of eyes are better than one, they say."] -08:07 Feb 24

[Glim unbuckled his belt and twisted from his seat, not bothering to stand until the airlock was open. It was too cramped in here.... already too much. "I... can access the main logs from the bridge while Edo sees to life support and integrity." He played it cool. By declaring a job for himself, he would be less likely to be "volunteered" for something else.] -08:09 Feb 24

Holm: No one responds - the door to the bridge opens. Holm lights the cigarette in his mouth with his cauterizing tool, then slowly walks over to his chief, with his eyes glazed over. -08:11 Feb 24

Holm: "Med bay is ready. What did I miss?" -08:11 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca unbuckled and was out of her seat quick. She wasn't enthusiastic about the mission, but the faster she moved, the sooner they could make they way through the ship and get back to a place she at least knew the evils of. "I can escort Glim and see if there are any survivors on the way." She made sure to have a light. There was no telling how much power was down in the ship. -08:12 Feb 24

[Nia Ana starts chewing on her bottom lip, she actually wanted to get in there just to quicken their return to Anchorpoint. The fantasies of getting off of the ship even for the littlest bit to go somewhere new have turned into dark thoughts, calls of the void, all that shimmered about it is gone. Especially since Elphias decided to not inform her of the hole while she was prepping the suits.] -08:13 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton peered into the dark interior of the Octuras, switching on his suit's mounted lights to get a better view. The pale white beam barely penetrated the pitch black. Taking a tentative step onto the other ship, he turned back to the others before bringing his other foot over the threshold. "You all know what has to be done. Let's make it quick."] -08:13 Feb 24

◊ With a metallic whir, the airlock doors open and the away team is yanked backwards as the air is sucked from the shuttle. Outside, they are greeted by a pitch-black cargo bay. -Elphias Roth 08:13 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Oh look. What's this. The engineers brought the flood lights, didn't we?" -08:14 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Away team's arrived on the colony ship. MATRIARCH, pull up blueprints of the Octuras and map the team's suit transponders to it. I wanna know how they're all progressing." -08:14 Feb 24

Glim: "Emergency lighting's out," Glim spat the words as if they would ward him from danger. He peered over Warbuton's shoulder, into the depths of the cargo bay. "If secondary systems are down, the only thing keeping this ship together are auxiliaries." -08:15 Feb 24

[Nia Ana quite pointedly stayed in her seat, floodlight now heaved up onto her lap. Nia would get up precisely when she had to, not because the XO and comm jockey didn't seem to be gifted with nightvision.] -08:16 Feb 24

[EDO9 wrenches in its seat as the air is sucked out, the safety belts digging into its silicone flesh. Once stabilized, EDO9 unbuckled, giving the team a cursory analysis for injury. When none is perceived, EDO9 makes its way to airlock and into the dark cargo bay.] -08:17 Feb 24

Holm: "Nothing yet. Good. Nothing's the matter down at the Medbay, too, except that we have a bit of a deficiency with the painkillers." -08:18 Feb 24

[Serov flipped on his suit's head-lamp, filling the darkness dead-ahead of him with a broad beam of yellow-white light. "Lights're dead," he said mockingly, stating the obvious, as he looked around for any tech-stations in the hangar bay.] -08:18 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "EDO couldn't be equipped with real flashers? WayYu company techs couldn't have had a sense of humor?" Nia muttered under her breath, she started feeling very self conscious with the large flood light she had on her lap in lieu of bringing an extra tool bag. -08:18 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Ana and Serov, check the systems and find out what we've got. Try and get us some more light if nothing else." -08:19 Feb 24

[(Timeout) Harold Warburton has been fed to the plot bunnies for failure to participate] -08:19 Feb 24

Holm: "I'm not sure if we're gonna be able to treat everyone from Octuras well with our current inventory. A-team'll have to raid the ship for supplements. -08:19 Feb 24

EDO9: "You took my night vision system to fix your distilling chamber, remember?" EDO9 said without a trace of venom. -08:19 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Let's hope they've still got supplies aboard that ship, then. Y'know, assuming they didn't venting out that massive fucking hole in the side." -08:20 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "hrrrrrhh... rrrRRRoger!" Nia sniffed, unbuckling her seatbelt and toddling towards the airlock door, stopping by the synth for a moment as she remembered doing that. "... Still don't regret it." -08:20 Feb 24

[Serov found a small screen with a little key-in entry. He punched several keys, bringing the screen to life-- briefly. "I got nothin' on this end," he said loudly, his voice blaring out of the in-suit microphone.] -08:20 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "yes! Good idea, let's not go out of this nice shuttle that has no holes if we don't have to!" -08:21 Feb 24

[Glim struck his other arm, where his wrist-light was flickering. It gave him two grainy, vomit-yellow beams, which he ran across the bulkhead of the cargo bay. He stared at the back of Warburton's head, waiting for him to advance.] -08:21 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Away Team, you're in the secondary shuttle bay. Should be some doors on the north wall. What's the situation over there?" -08:22 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "No signs of any holes yet...!" -08:23 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton made his way to the bridge, his lights cutting a short distance ahead of him as he walked. ] -08:23 Feb 24

[Nia Ana sighed, laying down the floodlight she had been carrying in her lap on the ride over. Shouldering the bandolier of smaller area lights, she switched it on sniffing again, "This one's got about 5 hours battery life left. I'll set up the 25 meter ones as we go forward."] -08:24 Feb 24

Serov: "Chief, Serov. No power in the secondary bay, so I can't pull up any diagnostics from here." -08:24 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "This is one of those moments that makes me wonder why designers don't make these things a little less creepy." she grumbled, falling in to place behind Glim to bring up the rear end of the Bridge Party. There weren't any signs of... well anything, yet. -08:25 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Fuck, you must be down to the auxillieries then. Head through the doors and take the main corridor to the stairs. You need to head up another level for the bridge." -08:25 Feb 24

[Nia Ana peered into the darkness ahead, the space just partially lit by fading auxillary lights flickering; stepping back into the shuttle to pull out the second large floodlight and handing it to Serov as well as the other bandolier of fluorescents, "Here Serv. Don't stub your toe."] -08:27 Feb 24

[Glim looked over his shoulder at Doctor Prince and Doctor Flagg. In the dim light he could barely tell them apart. "What kind of colonists are aboard? Families? Technical personnel? I was never told."] -08:28 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: Reaching the cargo bay doors, Warburton shined his light through them as they opened. Stepping through, he beckoned Nia to come forward with the floodlight. -08:29 Feb 24

[Nia Ana reached into a small pocket on the bandolier and took out a vial-shaped object at first shaking and breaking it as it burst out into a brilliant green light. Rearing back, Nia lobbed the light as hard as she could.] -08:29 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: Dr Flagg was flanking the others. Her modest medkit hung loosely at her side. She didn't expect to use it. She hoped she wouldn't. She noted people were hoping a lot of things. Hoping there were survivors. Hoping there were extra supplies aboard. Hoping the hull breach had been gentlemanly and not jettisoned too much of anything useful. She picked up her pace, remembering her words before entering the shuttle. No bodies yet, she noted. -08:29 Feb 24

Holm: The tendrils of smoke trailing out of Holm's slightly opened lips falls down to his neck, then embraces his uneasy throat. "I have a bad feeling about this." -08:29 Feb 24

Holm: "Don't you think you should send someone to the cryochambers first, Roth? Just to make sure if anyone's really okay?" -08:31 Feb 24

[Serov grunted, taking the large torch and thumbing the power on. He lanced the yellow-white beam forward; it was much more powerful than their suit lamps, and lit the corridor ahead of them brightly. "Get your ass up here, Ana," he grumbled. "More light!"] -08:31 Feb 24

[Nia Ana looks at Warburton then back at the floodlight she had set down, tottering back to fetch the light she hobbled over to Warbuton like his long lost child bringing him his bathrobe, "Y'know... I brought these tinier ones so we could leave lots of little messes in here instead of just one big one."] -08:31 Feb 24

[Nia Ana yelled back over to Serov, "LOOK DOWN AT YOUR BIG FEET SERV. I LEFT YOU THE OTHER BEACON."] -08:32 Feb 24

Holm: "Because whatever you'll find in the bridge would definitely be less important than whomever you find over there..." -08:32 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: The far end of the corridor now fully illuminated, Warburton proceeded trusting the others would follow suit as they headed towards the bridge. -08:33 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "We don't even know if there's power in the cryochambers. Or anywhere on the ship. Best place to find out is on the Bridge." -08:33 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( Nevermind that last one, hold on. )) -08:33 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "It's a colony. That'll be all of the above, Sunshine." she responded, shining her light at a weird scratch in one of the walls. That could of been anything. "They've got to have protection measures for the cryochambers in case of emergencies. I'm hoping the Doc is wrong and the colonists are okay. " -08:34 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "With all due, respect, I think Holmes is right," Flagg said, immediately regretting it. She liked being right, but she'd implicitly volunteered herself. Now she had to commit. -08:35 Feb 24

◊ Warburton finally reaches the doors to the stairwell that Roth mentioned. -Elphias Roth 08:35 Feb 24

[Nia Ana Nia yelled back to Serov, "Piss it out with Warburton! Just fling the break and shakes out as far as you can!" ....after a moment of silence, Nia yelled again, "They're in the pocket shaped like a weiner on the bandolier!"] -08:35 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth frowns and punches the broadcast button.] -08:36 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Doctor Flagg, you wanna go wandering off on your own in an unknown vessel, be my guest. But I recommend staying with the group." -08:36 Feb 24

[Glim followed after Warburton pausing behind him as he reach the stairwell hatch. He nodded at Prince's words. [I]Families. Mother and children, sleeping softly in the bowels of this wounded ship. The new seeds of humanity, saved by its dregs. He hoped there would be a pay bonus at the end of this. Just to say that he had received one, more than to spend it.] -08:36 Feb 24

[Serov plodded after Warburton, his heavy gait echoing eerily in the Octuras' corridors. The two heavy beams of light carried by the engineering team cast strange, dancing echoes all in front of them; Serov gave them no mind, as he followed the directions towards the bridge. He had one thought: bring power back to the colony ship. And be back to Anchorpoint in time for dinner.] -08:38 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton peers up the stairs, a winding affair leading to an upper level still shrouded in darkness. Shining his own meager suit lights up the first flight, Warburton steadied himself with the railing as he ascended up the first flight.] -08:38 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "Unknown," Flagg repeated under her breath. "They didn't give us schematics? " -08:39 Feb 24

[Nia Ana elbows Warburton, taking out another break'n shake light and pitching it upwards, hearing the light metallic plonk of it landing on the next platform up.] -08:40 Feb 24

◊ The beam from Serov's lights catch hold of something on the walls of the stairwell as they ascend. -Elphias Roth 08:40 Feb 24

◊ Indents, hammered into the metal in a wild, stacatto pattern. -Elphias Roth 08:41 Feb 24

◊ Violent punctures. The vestiges of a weapon discharge. -Elphias Roth 08:41 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Maybe this was a shipful of road repairers." -08:42 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Maybe not." -08:42 Feb 24

[(Logout) EDO9 is off to feed the plot bunnies.] -((08:42 Feb 24))

Serov: "Fucking hell, you think Anchorpoint has schematics on this fancy piece of sh--Woah, fuck, what was..." He let the lamp light he held settle on the bulkhead, staring at the carnage scored into the metal. "... Yo Ana, this look like power failures and coupling over-charges to you?" -08:42 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "We have schematics. But with hull damage like that, who knows what else is wrong with the ship?" -08:43 Feb 24

[Glim toggled his comm irately, cutting off the argument between the Doctor and Chief. "Mister Roth, we have something on the upper level. Looks like projectile damage."] -08:44 Feb 24

[Nia Ana knitted her brows, eyes darting along the metal, "These... I wouldn't say over-charged but... it kind of looks like... " Nia trailed off, trying to make sense as to why there would even be power failures on a ship meant to carry colonists. That sort of thing would have at least triple failsafes to prevent it so why...?] -08:44 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth sighs, and turns back to Holm. "You really think we should send someone to check on Cryo?" The chief's face looks young, suddenly. Lost and nervous.] -08:45 Feb 24

Glim: "Sir?" Glim raised his voice, trying to get a response from the chief. -08:45 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Could of been a mutiny." Rebecca offered. After a few months, or even years in space at a worst case scenario, a mutiny could be very likely. Sometimes she even considered it herself. -08:46 Feb 24

Holm: "Ye-wait." He hears Glim's message. He rushes to the console, punching the proper button, then shouts out a question, "What do you mean 'projectile damage'?" -08:46 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Wait, say again Glim? Projectile damage?" -08:46 Feb 24

[Nia Ana takes out a few more phosphorescent lights, the steady crack and sound of sand in an hour glass as she tosses them to their left and right, looking on even more perplexed at what the bright green light reveals.] -08:46 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "What even..." -08:47 Feb 24

[Glim closed his eyes. The response from Anchorpoint was more of a relief than he dare let on. "Yes, Chief. Small impacts to the bulkhead." ] -08:47 Feb 24

Glim: "I... I think these were rifle rounds..." -08:47 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "...fuck. Do you see any shell casings on the floor? Other signs of what happened?" -08:48 Feb 24

[Glim paused on the stairwell, and like a morbid teenager extended one hand, the finger deploying, entering the bullet hole, probing its insides/] -08:48 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Colony ships are equipped with small arms, but those are only broken out in a Category Five emergeancy under express order by the Captain..." -08:48 Feb 24

[Glim pulled his finger back suddenly and looked around. "Shell casings... er... YES, here!" He took the next few steps and stooped to pinch a metal fragment between his knuckles. "Pulse rounds, Colonial... I think..."] -08:49 Feb 24

Holm: "---Roth, I think you really should send someone to the cryochamber--no, everyone. I don't think the bridge would be a good idea." -08:50 Feb 24

Serov: ((Pulse rifles use caseless munitions lolollo)) -08:50 Feb 24

Glim: (( Your mom uses caseless munitions >:[ )) -08:51 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: ((NOT ANYMORE THEY DON'T)) -08:51 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "The tear in the hull and now this..." Warburton muttered. "What the hell happened?" -08:51 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Ding dong, we shouldn't be heeeere... !" -08:51 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth is beginning to sweat, despite the cold air that fills the bridge. "Only way to get the power back is on the Bridge... but you're right. We need to check on the colonists, find out if they're still in one piece."] -08:52 Feb 24

Holm: "or maybe just pull them back." -08:52 Feb 24

Serov: "So wait, folks were awake? And shootin' guns at each other? Was there a mutiny? Why the fuck would colonists have a mutiny?!" -08:52 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: As if to affirm Roth's retort--to which Flagg had reluctantly conceded--they were now facing signs of things that should not have been. Not if they weren't lying about the Octuras' original purpose. -08:53 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Pull them back?! That ship's supposed to be our way out this shit-tip! What, are we just gonna hide on Anchorpoint and stare at it?" -08:53 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: But people had disputes didn't they? Some days the crew was harder to deal with than others, but surely there had to be some better explanation for the sort of destruction that had happened. -08:54 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Warburton, stay on-course to the Bridge. EDO, I want you to take the stairwell down to the cryo-chambers, check on the state of the crew." -08:54 Feb 24

[Nia Ana feels a cold prickle at the back of her neck, insulated through layers of kevlar and polysynth fibers. "... don'tlikethisdon'tlikethis... iiiiiIIIIIIII don't like thiiiiiiiis..."] -08:55 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "Maybe plants?" said Flagg, thinking aloud. "Sabotage. I don't know why, but... I don't..." She cut herself off. She hated admitting that in front of others. But she wanted answers. -08:56 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth is now known as: EDO9] -08:56 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Roger." Warburton barked into his suit's comlink. As worrying as the signs of damage to the bulkhead were, they had to keep going if they wanted to find out what had happened. "Let's keep moving." -08:57 Feb 24

EDO9: "Very good, Chief. I trust XO Warburton can ensure that our cargo remains intact in my absence." -08:57 Feb 24

Holm: "--you're right." Holm pulls out another cigarette, as his last one is crushed by the heel of his left shoe. -08:57 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Lets not start jumping to conclusions here until we get some more info. Imaginations are often worse than reality." Everybody was panicking, and she didn't blame them. Her insides were flipping and threatening to upchuck in her suit. She marched after Warburton. -08:57 Feb 24

[Nia Ana leans over to Serov and pokes him as best she can through the suits, "Yeah, let's go even further into the bullet punctured walls"] -08:58 Feb 24

EDO9: Without another word, the synthetic turns on its polished heels and begins to head down the stairs. -08:58 Feb 24

EDO9: ((So you lot keeping moving, yes?)) -08:59 Feb 24

[EDO9 is now known as: Elphias Roth] -08:59 Feb 24

[Serov slowly moved his feet, plodding after Warburton. His eyes and the lamp he held stayed on the damage to the bulkhead for several strides before he finally turned and focused on where he was going. Nia Ana's poking brought him back to the present. "I don't fuckin' like this," he told her. "Bullets and holes in the wall and shit. Why were they fightin' each other? Why the fuck is there a hole in the ship?" He was asking no one in particular.] -08:59 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( Further into our sexual innuendoom, sure )) -09:00 Feb 24

[Glim placed the shell casing, carefully, back where he had found it. He didn't know why - it just seemed like the proper thing to do. Then he picked up his pace and followed Warburton and Prince. He gave only one glance back to EDO as she disappeared around the lower corner of the stairwell. Better her than him. "Just get me to the logs, and I can fix this... I mean... I can find out what happened. The mainframe would have recorded it all."] -09:00 Feb 24

Holm: "....Wait--any bodies? Any blood?" -09:01 Feb 24

Serov: "If the bridge even has power," Serov muttered grimly to Glim. -09:01 Feb 24

[Nia Ana perked up at Serov mentioning the hole, "Exactly!" she whispered harshly feeling validated at her needling Elphias about the hole. Waving a glowstick, trying to process what she saw in the green tint. "But... I'm seeing more heavy artillery discharged than small arms... why would they even... ?"] -09:01 Feb 24

Holm: "Do you see anything else beside those blast marks?" -09:02 Feb 24

◊ The away team slowly moves up onto the level containing the ship's bridge. More bullet marks trace the walls, growing more and more frequent as they get closer. Violent red splashes coat the walls in places too. -Elphias Roth 09:02 Feb 24

Holm: "Signs...signs of life?" -09:03 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "... Okay, I can tell you this. There wasn't a mutiny to redecorate the inside of the ship. Because that is most definitely not red paint." -09:03 Feb 24

◊ Crimson puddles, long congealed. Quantities that no human body can continue to function without. -Elphias Roth 09:03 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton continued making his way up the stairs, trying not to listen to all the conjecture from the rest of his team. "Yep." he half-groaned. "We've got blood."] -09:03 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "I'm not seeing any-" she went dead silent. Blood was everywhere. The walls, the floor, the ceiling. She coughed, swallowing that nasty coffee that tried to make it's way back up. -09:04 Feb 24

[Glim stopped abruptly, his flaslight trembling upon the bloodstains. "That's ..." He didn't need to finish the sentence. He just kept the light on it, making sure everyone could see.] -09:04 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "A lot of blood." -09:04 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "we've got a lot of blood..." -09:04 Feb 24

Serov: "Fuuuuuck," he said excitedly, casting his light along the red smears on the corridoor. "That's human paint, there," he said pointedly to Ana. -09:04 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( GODDAMNIT But also ^5 )) -09:04 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: ((I'm imagining the engies saying that simultaineously)) -09:04 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "H-human paint. Seriously, Serov?" -09:05 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( Proceed. )) -09:05 Feb 24

[Nia Ana continues gawking at the large, disturbingly large pool of human blood. "Don't step it in, you'll track it all over Anchorpoint."] -09:05 Feb 24

[Glim came down into a squat, sucking deep breaths, but keeping the flashlight levelled. "What do we do?" He sounded calm, though his trembling betrayed him. "Chief, we have bloodstains. Multiple crew members, I think... we..." He had to stop his report and just focus on breathing.] -09:06 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg noted "So we have signs of a firefight, blood without the bodies that presumably supplied them? How does this even remotely add up?"] -09:06 Feb 24

Holm: "How much? And are there any bodies nearby, or at least drag marks - something?" His temples freeze over. A bit of him regrets not being with the away team. -09:07 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth shivered as cold sweat trickled down his spine. This was not what he was prepared to deal with. This was supposed to be a graveyard post. A whole lot of nothing to cope with, not bulletholes and bloodstains. He sat quietly and let Holm do the talking, breathing heavily.] -09:08 Feb 24

Serov: "Nobody's dead?" he offered Flagg. "Maybe the cryo-pods do work." -09:08 Feb 24

Holm: "Drag marks? How about flesh? Other bits of tissue...?" -09:08 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "No bodies." Warburton said for Holm's benefit, barely stopping himself from adding "Not yet". -09:08 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "If the cryo pods work..." -09:08 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "... We didn't enter a ship." -09:09 Feb 24

Holm: Holm turns to Roth. "Do our guys down there have any weapons with them?" -09:09 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "We entered a graveyard." -09:09 Feb 24

[Nia Ana stares over at Serov, the color flushed out of her face.] -09:10 Feb 24

[Nia Ana mouths the words, "This-is-fucked." at her co-engineer.] -09:11 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth looks up. "The hell are we, Colonial Marines?! Course not. This station doesn't even have weapons on board."] -09:11 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "...it's against Company policy," he adds weakly. -09:12 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg suddenly interjected "I just discovered something!"] -09:13 Feb 24

Holm: Grimly, Holm keeps silent. -09:13 Feb 24

Serov: "Proper Fucked, with a capital 'F'." He returned. "Let's hurry the fuck up." -09:13 Feb 24

[Glim peered up at Doctor Flagg] -09:14 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "We'll wait to hear from EDO about the status of the cryo pods. The bridge should be just ahead." -09:14 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "...I can can actually care less about goddamned policy" she finished -09:14 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "Didn't think it was possible." -09:14 Feb 24

[Glim straightened and muttered at Flagg as he passed her. "And that's the reason most of us are here."] -09:15 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton stepped around the large pool of blood and proceeded towards the bridge] -09:16 Feb 24

[Glim didn't look at his reflection in the pool of blood. It was a shade of himself he couldn't bear to see.] -09:17 Feb 24

◊ More signs of gunfire. More blood. And now scorch marks on the floor, metal having bubbled up and fallen through to the wiring below before re-settling. -Elphias Roth 09:17 Feb 24

◊ The doors to the Bridge are ahead. Sealed shut, and peppered with the signs of repeated gunfire. -Elphias Roth 09:18 Feb 24

[Glim circled a hole where the metal was eaten right though. "Corrosion too." He looked to Serov and Ana. "What kind of chemicals are in the ship pipes?"] -09:18 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Acid...?" she exclaimed, stepping up to the weird scorch marks on the floor and the melted, missing pieces of metal. "How the fuck..." the statement went unfinished as she tilted to look up through the hole in the ceiling. -09:19 Feb 24

Holm: "Acid? I haven't heard of any weapons like that..." -09:19 Feb 24

[Nia Ana tilted her head at the dissolved metal, still not understanding anything they're seeing. "What do you think Serov?"] -09:19 Feb 24

Holm: "At least, not ones deployed in a ship." -09:20 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth nods in agreement with Holm. "Nothing on the ship that could have caused that."] -09:20 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "The usual fare? Except even ultachloridic acid, if it somehow mixed with the aluminide styracine would eat through like that..." -09:20 Feb 24

[Glim felt those acid breaches like the holes in his own head - his rational mind being eaten away by bubbling fears and uncertainty. ] -09:21 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( *wouldn't )) -09:21 Feb 24

◊ The door is sealed shut, but the panel next to it glows a dim green to show that it, unlike the rest of the Octuras, is still active. -Elphias Roth 09:21 Feb 24

Glim: ...."I think the bridge is barricaded. Did anyone bring cutting tools?" -09:21 Feb 24

Serov: "Might not need 'em," he said as he gestured to the dimly-lit screen. Just in case, however, he did lift up his cutting torch. "You got yours... Right, Ana?" -09:22 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: Making his way to the sealed doors, Warburton brushes his hand over the nearby panel. "Let's see what we can do with this. You do the honors, Ana?" -09:23 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg Flagg tilts her head. She wanted to take samples, but she doubted the little medicine cabinet leftovers she'd been given to work with would be able to analyze chemicals of that strength. She would have to make educated guesses for now.] -09:23 Feb 24

[Nia Ana gestures as if to pull something between her legs before feinting and reaching over to a forearm pocket and pulling out her cutting torch, "Always gotta have a light on you."] -09:23 Feb 24

Holm: "Wait! Don't cut into it yet--" -09:23 Feb 24

Holm: "Try knocking, first." -09:24 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( We didn't. We're pulling out our tools. hehehehe )) -09:24 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( oh. .... gj )) -09:24 Feb 24

Serov: ((MINE'S BIGGER.)) -09:24 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth laughs. There's a desperate tone to it. "Manners first, right?"] -09:24 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( MINE HAS A HOTTER FLAME )) -09:25 Feb 24

[Nia Ana sidles her eyes over to Serov, arching her eyebrows before using them to motion over to Holm, and even Elphias back at the ship. They know we supply the tech humor here, right?] -09:25 Feb 24

[Glim found eyes turning to him. He swallowed and shuffled forward, stepping around the engineers. He checked the panel and keyed in the default Colonial commands to open the comm. Then he stared at the waiting speaker for a few moments before moving his lips towards it. "This.. this is the crew of the Anchorpoint. Do... is anyone in there? We're here to help." He trailed off. Was that the right thing to say? Was there even a right thing to say?] -09:26 Feb 24

◊ No response. All that greets Glim's words is empty static, echoing down the silent corridors of the Octuras. -Elphias Roth 09:27 Feb 24

Holm: "Hmm...I can't help but feel that something or someone's still alive in there. Is there anyway you could look inside the bridge without outright breaking open the door?" -09:27 Feb 24

[Serov didn't wait very long at all before pounding onto the bulkhead doors, as hard as he could. "OI! ANYBODY IN THERE?!"] -09:28 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth shakes his head. "No windows. Bridge doors are designed to be the most secure on the ship."] -09:28 Feb 24

[Nia Ana flicks on her cutting torch. "So did you guys wanna dick around more or..."] -09:28 Feb 24

◊ "This is EDO. I have reached the first cryo-chamber. All of the pods are empty. No sign of the colonists." -Elphias Roth 09:29 Feb 24

◊ The synthetic's voice is crackly overly the radio, but distinct. -Elphias Roth 09:30 Feb 24

[Nia Ana immediately flicks off her torch, "Well! Looks like we can leave now-- letsgoguys."] -09:30 Feb 24

Holm: "Dammit! They might be in there..." -09:30 Feb 24

[Glim winced at Holm's voice, coming over from the Anchorpoint. Why the hell was the medical officer giving more direction than the station chief? This situation was breaking them.] -09:30 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Ana. Cut. The damn. Door." -09:31 Feb 24

Holm: "You might end up sucking all the air out of the bridge, if you just open it..." -09:31 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "No-one's responding, Doctor. I don't think anyone's in there." -09:32 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "It would explain why no-one's been responding to our hails." -09:32 Feb 24

[Glim brought his head against the panel and closed his eyes. EDO's report had confirmed it. The colonists had turned upon each other. It had been a massacre among families, among brothers, among friends. He push the comm dial again. "If you can hear me in there, we're coming in. We're... we're going to cut through. We mean you no harm. Okay." He listened to the static for a few more moments before releasing the dial and stepping away, letting the engineers do their work.] -09:32 Feb 24

Holm: "Damn..." -09:32 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton stepped aside for Ana and Serov to get to work with their torches, eyeing the two engineers expectantly ] -09:33 Feb 24

Serov: "Cut the fucking door, Ana," Serov emphasized to his techie. -09:33 Feb 24

[Nia Ana makes indiscriminate noises before flicking her torch back on, touching the flame's tip to the door before quickly looking over to Serov for one more moment of stalling.] -09:33 Feb 24

Holm: Holm sighs. He nods silently. -09:33 Feb 24

[Nia Ana huffs, rebuffed by her senior and gets to cutting out a circular hole.] -09:33 Feb 24

◊ The sound of the cutting torch is deafening against the utter silence of the ship. -Elphias Roth 09:34 Feb 24

Glim: A torch of truth, cutting through the cruel metal of an unfair life. Burning and twisting what once was strong. Reducing all to metal tears. -09:35 Feb 24

[Nia Ana nervously starts humming out an old song while she cuts, mumbling out some of the words, "all the... ingle ladies..... throw y... ands up.... up inna clu... jus' woke up...."] -09:35 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca tugged gently at Glim's arm, a frown across her features. "Don't think about it, Sunshine. You're gonna break down if you do." And she knew it was true, because there was a heavy lump in her own throat. These people were dead. Hundreds of them. If she thought too hard on it, there was no way she was going to get through the search or back home with her sanity in tact. -09:36 Feb 24

◊ "I shall proceed onto the other cryo-chambers," EDO states over the radio. -Elphias Roth 09:36 Feb 24

Holm: "I hope the others are unopened....and still functional." -09:37 Feb 24

[Nia Ana continues humming and sings the improvised words a little louder, "...we're opening a deeeathtraaap..."] -09:38 Feb 24

Holm: The torch burns through the metal with the light of a dying star, the last vestige of hope for the colony ship Octuras... -09:39 Feb 24

[Glim stared at Rebecca's hand, at the fingers that pinched the material of his own coveralls. Why did that feel so comforting? The doctor's face danced in the torch light sparks, like a fire unto itself. ] -09:39 Feb 24

[Nia Ana stands back and looks at the neat little circle she blowtorched into the wall before pushing it like a giant button, the disc of cut metal falling out through the otherside as she reaches in to the interior pad for the manual override code input. The doors hiss like so much air being let out from so long before gradually sliding open. "...Annnd welcome to our deaths."] -09:40 Feb 24

Holm: It lights the cigarette resting on Holm's lips, his fourth one on the bridge. -09:40 Feb 24

Holm: "I'm not usually a pack a day kind of person...Roth, want one?" -09:41 Feb 24

◊ Air rushes out of the circle Ana has cut to greet the void. Inside, the Bridge is gloomy and silent; the lights glow a threatening red, casting eerie shadows on the humanoid shapes slumped on the floor and the consoles... -Elphias Roth 09:41 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth stares for a moment, then nods gratefully. "If ever there was a time to start smoking again..."] -09:42 Feb 24

Holm: "If you've got a better light than this cauterizing torch..." Holm passes the cigarette, and his 'lighter', onto Roth. "Is it open yet?" he asks the others over the intercom. -09:43 Feb 24

[Nia Ana activates a couple more glowsticks and tosses a few them inside as gently as she can, hoping the green light balances out the red to give them a clearer view of the insides. "Color theoryyyy... !" whispers Nia.] -09:43 Feb 24

Glim: "We're through." -09:43 Feb 24

Holm: "What's inside?" -09:44 Feb 24

◊ Ana's glowsticks illuminate the bodies a little further. -Elphias Roth 09:44 Feb 24

◊ The bridge crew, going by their uniforms. -Elphias Roth 09:44 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Mmm... aaybe they're... sleeping." Nia finished lamely. She didn't have anything that was so quietly, threateningly obvious. -09:45 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "We've found some the crew." -09:45 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Not sure if dead or alive." Rebecca took the first, wary steps inside. -09:45 Feb 24

Serov: "Annnnd... we found dead people." -09:45 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Feel free to assess away, the engineer... this engineer has done her job." -09:46 Feb 24

Holm: "How many?" -09:46 Feb 24

[Glim edged inside, keeping his back to the doorframe. His flashlight shone over the helmsmen, navigators, flight officers - a full colonial compliment, now twisted where they had fallen, draped across the consoles as if they had shielded them with their dying breaths.] -09:46 Feb 24

Serov: "Dead or alive? You kidding m-- well, could be." He shined his light on the bridge, illuminating the series of bodies. Boldly, he stepped forward and into the glowing red chamber. -09:47 Feb 24

Glim: "About a dozen." -09:47 Feb 24

Holm: "How--?" -09:47 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Is the helm still active?" -09:48 Feb 24

Serov: Gulping back, sweating like a pig, Serov made his way to the nearest crew-man and gently nudged his booted-foot against their foot. -09:48 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca knelt down next to one of the bodies, checking for vitals. -09:48 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg Flagg sighs and gathers herself. Then, she enters as briskly as she can givine the environment. She begins kneeling to check for signs of life. As though the loss of air might not finish the job. Policy. Procedure and all that. What need did anyone have for common sense when you had policy? She focused more attention on looking for possible causes.] -09:48 Feb 24

[Nia Ana shifts side to side, peering in after Serov, "There's nothing in there for us, right? .... Right???"] -09:48 Feb 24

◊ Prince examines the first body, slumped against the main console. He wears the stripes of the captain. A single bullet hole marks the centre of his head. -Elphias Roth 09:49 Feb 24

Holm: "--how did they die?" -09:49 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "...shit..." she mumbled under her breath. "This one is a shot through the head. Check the others." -09:50 Feb 24

◊ Flagg looks over several of the other corpses. No physical wounds on the body, but signs of decomposition. Stretched and wasted bodies, emaciated frames. -Elphias Roth 09:51 Feb 24

Holm: "Where? I'm assuming you'll get a good readout on this, Flagg--suicide or execution?" -09:51 Feb 24

◊ The remaining bridge crew starved to death, locked inside what became their tomb. -Elphias Roth 09:51 Feb 24

[Glim kept his back to the wall for a long time as the others checked the bodies. Then he tore his eyes away and began circling, rummaging around the consoles, moving papers and clothing, searching for the data banks.] -09:52 Feb 24

[Nia Ana sinks a little further into her compression suit, muttering under her breath, "... I told you guys we're walking into a graveyard..."] -09:52 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg said,"It's likely--unsurprising--that these people have been dead for a long time."] -09:53 Feb 24

Serov: "So they locked themselves up and starved to death?" Serov offered. "Against... mutineers?" -09:54 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "How long?" She opened her kit to take samples. Tissue. Blood. "We'll find out soon enough." -09:54 Feb 24

Holm: Holm again turns to Roth. "Do you think we'll be able to take any of those men to our ship, run some tests, or at least give them a proper burial?" -09:55 Feb 24

◊ Glim quickly finds the terminal he seeks the layout is not dissimilar from the station. It contains the logs and readouts from the Bridge. -Elphias Roth 09:55 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "It's probable," she said. "These bodies don't look like they've been through any of what we saw on the bridge." -09:55 Feb 24

[Nia Ana reluctantly steps into the bridge, stepping aside next to the manual console she used to open the doors. Looking at the crew hunched over the tables, "If... they're all shot in the head... " Nia didn't finish that particularly grisly thought. But wondering how long it took for the last one to die hung over her.] -09:55 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "It would need a few trips back and forth on the shuttle, but we could manage it." Roth takes a deep, greedy drag from his cigarette. -09:56 Feb 24

Holm: "Wait....shuttles. If this was a mutiny, and no one else is there..." -09:57 Feb 24

◊ Rebecca finds a handgun still clutched in the palm of what was once the comm officer. -Elphias Roth 09:57 Feb 24

[Glim felt something akin to comfort, stronger than even Prince's touch. Pulling up a chair, from which a body had slid, he sat and worked at the data terminal, downloading the log files into viewable reports. He began sorting by chronology, calling up the recent days and weeks. Hopefully the data would be intact.] -09:57 Feb 24

Holm: "And has ED reported on the other cryochambers?" -09:57 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Nothing yet. Her transponder shows her almost there, though." -09:58 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "W... waitaminute... why is... why are only some of them shot and the others look like they died of hunger? Prince? Why... why, would you shoot the captain and leave yourself to starve? This is a bad mutiny." -09:58 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton stood behind Glim, eager to find out what had happened] -09:58 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Or a really bad coverup." -09:58 Feb 24

◊ Amidst the empty data, Glim finds a recording dating back three months. -Elphias Roth 09:59 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Why would you stay in the same room as someone you're probably making a mutiny against?" -09:59 Feb 24

Holm: "Alright." Holm returns to the com. "Guys, the shuttles. Check the shuttles." -09:59 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Hmm." Rebecca took the gun and checked the body for additional ammunition. If there was anyone left alive on this boat and they were still hostile, it would likely come in handy. "I don't know. It's not good though. We need to get back to Anchorpoint. I don't think lingering here is a good idea." -10:00 Feb 24

[Glim swallowed and his finger trembled, momentarily, before activating the recording. "I've found something," was all murmured, before the clip played.] -10:00 Feb 24

[Serov began to search the bridge, looking for the closest console without a body draped over it. He had to edge a body off of one, unfortunately, and swore vehemently when it slid with an audible -thud- when it hit the floor. Ignoring it from there, he began to slide his finger across the screen swiftly to check the status of the engine and the reactor.] -10:01 Feb 24

Holm: "Check the data on the shuttles....and if--" he returns to Roth "--should they check the bay themselves?" -10:01 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth is now known as: Recording] -10:02 Feb 24

◊ “Seal the doors! Seal the fucking doors!” -Recording 10:02 Feb 24

◊ “WE STILL HAVE PEOPLE OUT THERE!” -Recording 10:02 Feb 24

◊ “I said seal the fucking doors!” -Recording 10:02 Feb 24

◊ “What the hell ARE those things?!” -Recording 10:02 Feb 24

◊ “No idea, but they're all over the ship. We need de-pressurise the rest of it. Vent the fucking things into space.” -Recording 10:02 Feb 24

Recording: “Belay that, Mister Tenkin! We're not the only ones left!” -10:02 Feb 24

◊ “With respect, sir, there's nothing more we can do for them. Anyone not in their cryo-chambers is done for.” -Recording 10:03 Feb 24

Holm: "....what the hell." -10:03 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "I didn't... I didn't actually want answers to my questions, I just... " -10:03 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg silently mouthed the word, "Things?" as her brow furrowed] -10:03 Feb 24

Holm: "Wait! Cryo chambers...!" -10:03 Feb 24

◊ "I'm not about to let you kill the rest of our crew, Tenkin!" -Recording 10:03 Feb 24

◊ "He's right, sir! You saw us empty an entire fucking magazine into that thing! Didn't even stop it!" -Recording 10:04 Feb 24

◊ "Didn't even hit it!" -Recording 10:04 Feb 24

[Nia Ana hurries over to Serov as the recording plays, facing the opposite direction as he looks at the consoles; Nia sighs finding the scant amount of comfort of her co-engineer.] -10:05 Feb 24

◊ "This is insane. You're talking about mass-murder, you realise?" -Recording 10:05 Feb 24

Serov: "Thing," he mouthed, looking up at the others, his face reflecting the same bewilderment and mild horror they all seemed to have. -10:05 Feb 24

◊ "I'm talking about stopping whatever's on board before it kills everyone. I don't like this any more than you, captain, but it's what needs to be done." -Recording 10:05 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Fff-. Search the bodies for more weapons and any ammo they might have. We may need them." she stated quickly. The calm in voice was a complete facade. At this point she was surprised she HADN'T vomited in her suit. They needed to GO. -10:06 Feb 24

◊ "Absolutely not! Mister Corteau, Mister Rainer? Restrain Mister Tenkin!" -Recording 10:06 Feb 24

[Glim pushed back out of his chair as the recording ended. He was shaking all over, sweat dripping inside his faceplate. "I want to g--" He spun and almost tripped on one of the bodies. He looked to the others. "We need to go. Let's go, okay? Back...back to the shuttle."] -10:06 Feb 24

◊ "...sir, he's right." -Recording 10:07 Feb 24

Holm: "...wait!" -10:07 Feb 24

◊ "DAMMIT, THAT'S A FUCKING ORDER!" -Recording 10:07 Feb 24

Holm: "Maybe they'll mention it....give a description...." -10:07 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Yes, right, I'm with buttonmolester. We should go. Go back, alllllll the way back." -10:07 Feb 24

Holm: "and the cryo-chambers!" -10:07 Feb 24

◊ "...I'm sorry, captain, but I have to save what's left of our cargo." -Recording 10:08 Feb 24

◊ *BOOM* -Recording 10:08 Feb 24

◊ The recording ends. -Recording 10:08 Feb 24

Serov: "Woah, woah, woah--what! WHAT!" -10:08 Feb 24

[Recording is now known as: Elphias Roth] -10:08 Feb 24

Holm: "The cryo chambers! ED, we need a report on them now..." -10:09 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg clinged tightly to her kit. "Let's go. There's nothin here", she says.] -10:09 Feb 24

[Nia Ana tugs on Serov's suit sleeve, "Don't you. Think we. Should be. Going. Back. Now???"] -10:10 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "Christ." Warburton gasped into his visor. "Chief, requesting permission to return aboard Anchorpoint." -10:10 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "There's nothing we can do for them." -10:10 Feb 24

Holm: "There could be fucking survivors!" -10:10 Feb 24

Serov: "Yeah. Yeah. We should be leaving." -10:10 Feb 24

◊ "Hello, Doctor Holm. I have reached the second cyro-chamber now. This one still has pressure, and I am reading life-signs inside." -Elphias Roth 10:10 Feb 24

Holm: "We can still check them out...!" -10:10 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "All of you get the fuck off that boat. Now." -10:10 Feb 24

Serov: "With all due respect, Holm-- fuck off. There's.. something on board, and I want off this thing!" -10:11 Feb 24

Holm: "The cryopods could be transferred here, through the shuttle!" -10:11 Feb 24

Serov: "Hell yeah, first good thing I heard since we got here!" -10:11 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: "I have samples!" Flagg shouted. A moment later she lowered her voice as if afraid that someone--something--might hear her. "We can do more good from the Anchorpoint" -10:11 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Roger, roger, all the rogers born, dead and in-vitro. Let's go!" -10:11 Feb 24

Holm: Holm pulls Roth by the collar, his face afire. "Godammit, man! The others--" -10:12 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "You heard him. We're heading out." Warburton lead the charge back out of the bridge. -10:12 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth elbows Holm away before rounding on him, his eyes wide and manic. "You heard that fucking recording! I am not risking my crew over some fucking colony-rats!"] -10:13 Feb 24

[Serov immediately took up the forward place of the group, using his heavy lamp to light their way back to the hanger bay and the safety of the shuttlecraft.] -10:13 Feb 24

[Glim felt his breath quicken as EDO gave her report. There were still people in the cryopods.] -10:13 Feb 24

Holm: "Well they're-we're-all in the same fucking boat out of those ra-those sleepers!" -10:14 Feb 24

Serov: (( meaning to use his heavy lamp, I meant to write. )) -10:14 Feb 24

[Glim couldn't move his legs, even as the others fled the bridge. "There's people.... there's...." He couldn't move.] -10:14 Feb 24

◊ "Addendum to my last report," EDO chimes in, "Cryo-chambers showing signs of damage to their glass." -Elphias Roth 10:14 Feb 24

Holm: "--and--and you ALREADY risked them when you sent them down there!" -10:14 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Thank god." Had the chief not agreed, there would have been a mutiny for them too. Rebecca wasn't going to stay on that godforsaken ship. Gun in hand, she followed Warburton. She didn't have a lot of experience with firearms, but she felt a fuck of a lot safer with it in her hands. "Don't think about it, Glim!" she stopped and called out over her shoulder. "We can't save them if we die too." -10:14 Feb 24

[Serov stopped before he could charge off further than the bridge doors. "C'mon, Glim! We need to fuckin' go!"] -10:15 Feb 24

[Glim shook himself from his paralysis, and broke into a run, sprinting after Rebecca, stumbling on bodies, slipping on blood, narrowly avoiding the acid holes] -10:15 Feb 24

[Nia Ana hobbles along after Serov, trying to not step all over the blood almost knocking into Glim. Righting herself before looking at him with a withering face, "We-are-going-Glim! Let's GO!" she says sternly, grabbing at both his suit's sleeves and tugging him out towards the door] -10:15 Feb 24

Holm: "THINK! What if we were the ones stuck in that godforsaken mess?!" -10:15 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( FOR FUCK'S SAKE ASSMO )) -10:15 Feb 24

Nia Ana: (( Strike that then )) -10:16 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "You're welcome to try and convince them, Doctor. But I don't think they're gonna listen." -10:16 Feb 24

[Glim felt his sleeves gripped as he almost fell down one of the holes. It was Nia, pulling him. He let himself be pulled. ] -10:16 Feb 24

Holm: "Oh FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Holm pushes Roth away, then screams into the intercom: "If you don't fucking check on those others....I'm not gonna let you back into this station!" -10:17 Feb 24

[Serov used his grease-monkey muscles to help heave both Ana and Glim along, righting them up--just barely--so they wouldn't fall or go tumbling forward in momentum. "Move, you little shits! C'mon!"] -10:17 Feb 24

[Nia Ana hobbles after Serov, attempting to simultaneously run and avoid the large pools of blood, dragging Glim as best she could. "Let's go let's go let's go!" she nearly screamed, the panic flowing into her like a dam just one more crack away from breaking.] -10:18 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: "EDO, you read me?" Warburton breathed heavily into his com as he ran. "Is the cryo pod still viable?" -10:18 Feb 24

Elphias Roth: "Belay that shit!" Roth shoves Holm away from the comms. "MATRIARCH, Executive Override! Ignore all commands from Doctor Holm, and allow the shuttle to return!" -10:19 Feb 24

◊ "They are still viable, XO Warburton. Life-signs are largely stable." -Elphias Roth 10:19 Feb 24

[Glim reached the stairs to the lower level, and stepped on the shell casing he had left there earlier. His foot gave out, and he landed against Rebecca, to the two of them falling down against the wall of the stairwell, their limbs twisted] -10:20 Feb 24

Holm: Holm pulls Roth back from the com and clocks him in the jaw. "I took a fucking oath, goddammit!" -10:20 Feb 24

Holm: He runs out of the bridge, intent on manually disabling the ship's docking systems... -10:20 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth crumples from the sudden blow.] -10:21 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: And down Rebecca crashed in a messy tumble with Glim, the gun slipping from her hands and sliding across the bloodsoaked floor! -10:21 Feb 24

◊ Rebecca and Glim are distantly aware of something skittering along the wall towards them. -Elphias Roth 10:21 Feb 24

◊ Something pale, fleshy. Insect-like. -Elphias Roth 10:22 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: "Get up! GET UP!" She screamed at Glim, frantically shoving him upwards trying to get them both back to their feet. -10:23 Feb 24

[Serov was already too many steps ahead of Rebecca and Glim to even notice they had fallen; he had simply assumed they and his techie were at his heels.] -10:24 Feb 24

[Glim rammed his fingers into the bullet holes on the stairwell wall. It as a perfect grip. He pulled himself up and started stumbling towards the marker lights left by Ana.] -10:24 Feb 24

[Nia Ana attempts to swerve around Glim and Prince, instead stepping into the semi-coagulated blood and sliding out of balance, flinging her limbs to and fro in an attempt to regain equilibrium, "WhaaaAAAaaathefuck!"] -10:24 Feb 24

Holm: Holm reaches the engineering bay. Though he's not very familiar with the systems of the station, his last mission did involve him having to spend a good time alone in a big ship. -10:25 Feb 24

[Elphias Roth is now known as: MATRIARCH] -10:26 Feb 24

[Harold Warburton looked back over his shoulder to find not all of his team were with them. "Fuck!" he rasped. "What's holding them up?" he asked, looking to Serov.] -10:26 Feb 24

Holm: That was enough experience for him to at least know his bearings. He reaches Serov's control panel, and manually deactivates the docking bay doors. -10:26 Feb 24

MATRIARCH: "DOCTOR HOLM, I MUST WARN YOU THAT YOU ARE NOW COMMITTING THREE SEPERATE COMPANY POLICY VIOLATIONS." -10:26 Feb 24

Holm: Holm doesn't respond. He runs back to the bridge to tell the others of the good news... -10:27 Feb 24

◊ The fleshy thing snaps forwards. Too fast to even see. -MATRIARCH 10:28 Feb 24

[Dr. Candace Flagg stops her nervous sprint, the case of samples falling from hugged against her chest to hang at her side. She pants . It can all still be worth it if she can just make it back safe. She will, she tells herself. They had a plan, the Orcturas crew. And it seemed to have worked. No visible threat. They can go back for the ones in the pods. She just needs to catch her breath. She looks ahead to Warburton and Serov. They're looking back, and so she follows suit. "Shit" What could have happened? What could be out there? She hopes its nothing. Incompetents being incompetent. She resumes her sprint for Warburton and the shuttle] -10:28 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: Rebecca scrambled on her hands and knees going for the gun! -10:29 Feb 24

◊ The next second, it's latched onto Rebecca's face-plate. -MATRIARCH 10:29 Feb 24

Serov: "Wait, what?!" Serov yelled, turning back and shining his bright light down into the corridoor behind them. There was no sign of the others. A surge of panic rose up as Serov began to have a hint of worry for his subordinate. "Shit! What happened to them?!" he asked, charging back the way he came and rushing past Doctor Flagg-- and running past the stairwell they had used before, leading back to where the others had stumbled. -10:29 Feb 24

Dr. Candace Flagg: (*incompetents being incompetent, she tells herself.) -10:29 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: A loud shriek let out as she fell backwards! One hand trying to pray the thing off and the other smashing at it with the gun! -10:30 Feb 24

Holm: He flies through the empty tunnels of Anchorpoint like a train rushing to its destination. He slips on reaching the womb of the ship, but quickly recovers with only a sprained ankle - he limps on the way back up to the bridge. -10:30 Feb 24

[Nia Ana continues half-slipping before stabilizing her weight on her feet, stopping a few feet past the flailing Rebecca. She only stopped for a moment before something flew past her and onto Rebecca's faceplate. And that's when she screamed.] -10:30 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "SEROOOOOOV!" -10:30 Feb 24

◊ Though she struggles, the thing is too quick. A thick, burning liquid seeps from it's beak, burning through the glass in seconds. -MATRIARCH 10:31 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: Hearing the screams blaring through his comms, Warburton raced after Serov to find out what in the devil was going on -10:31 Feb 24

[Nia Ana quickly turns on her heel and begins running back toward the shuttle, "SEROOOOOV!"] -10:31 Feb 24

[Glim collided with a beacon light, knocking it over, splaying the shadows. Then he heard Ana's scream. He turned, staring back down the corridor in horror. All he could see was Ana hurtling towards him, and Rebecca on the ground, her legs kicking out, her face robed in sickly shadow] -10:32 Feb 24

◊ As the air seeps out, the creature slithers in. It's scorpion-like tail snaps around Rebecca's neck. -MATRIARCH 10:32 Feb 24

Holm: The rattling of the bridge doors echo throughout the hallway. Inside, Roth, the station's chief, lies writhing in pain. Holm regains a bit of his composure. "Sorry, Roth." He slows his pace on the way to the com, with the pain of his ankle now rushing through the rest of his body. -10:32 Feb 24

Glim: "REBECCA!: -10:32 Feb 24

[Serov heard the echo of his name being called, but the sound came from above and around. There was no direction anymore. He turned, seeing a stairwell--differing from the one they had used before-- and charged up the steps.] -10:32 Feb 24

◊ It's mandibles encompass her face. -MATRIARCH 10:32 Feb 24

◊ Rebecca Prince collapses to the ground, writhing. -MATRIARCH 10:33 Feb 24

Holm: But then he hears the commotion going on in the Octuras. "Wait--what the hell is going on in there?" -10:34 Feb 24

[Nia Ana mashes the comm button back to Anchorpoint, having stopped to catch her breath.] -10:35 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "Oh god... ohgodohgodohgod... Holm! Roth!" -10:35 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "It's Rebecca, she-- heinous, dry coughing-- she got, she got..." -10:35 Feb 24

Holm: "Got what?" -10:35 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "It is fucked here! Why did you send us! Rebecca is--!" -10:35 Feb 24

Holm: "What is it, Ana?" -10:35 Feb 24

[Serov breathed heavily, the transluscent screen of his helm fogging with his rapid breath and stained with specks of spittle. He turned bodily rapidly, adrenaline surging, and in his mild panic surged deeper into the Octuras.] -10:36 Feb 24

[Nia Ana drops her hand off the comm button, bending over and going through an erratic bout of coughing, gasping for air and crying.] -10:36 Feb 24

[Glim burst into motion, rushing back past Ana, plunging into the shadows at the foot of the stairwell. He seized Rebecca's knee, pulled her towards him, then stooped and got her arms up over his shoulders. With sobs and cries, he lifted her, not daring to behold the smashed faceplate or feel the convulsion of her body. She was Rebecca, ever and always, and she had smiled at him. It was enough. He braced his legs and lifted, hauling with all his might.] -10:36 Feb 24

Rebecca Prince: The squealing and writhing stopped. Rebecca was still. -10:36 Feb 24

Holm: Holm looks nervous. Something stings him - regret, maybe, though he'd like to think it's just concern - just a bit of worry. -10:37 Feb 24

Holm: "What the hell happened to Rebecca?!" His voice, now louder, more shaken. -10:38 Feb 24

◊ EDO enters the cargo bay, staring down at the sobbing Ana. Without a word, the synthetic reaches into its jacket and offers her a handkerchief. -MATRIARCH 10:38 Feb 24

Holm: "ED? Are you there, with them? What's going on?" -10:39 Feb 24

Serov: Frustrated, Serov pounds the comms key at the collar of his pressurized suit and practically yelled. "Where the fuck are you all?!" -10:39 Feb 24

Harold Warburton: Warburton stopped at the base of the stairs. "Wait. Serov!" He looked down the stairs they had used before, and then up the ones Serov had ascended. "FUCK!" -10:39 Feb 24

[Nia Ana sucks in breath after breath, each time more air is forced out from the coughing until... she pukes inside her suit.] -10:39 Feb 24

◊ "I am. Engineer Nia has just vomited inside her suit." -MATRIARCH 10:40 Feb 24

[Nia Ana spitting out the bitter taste of vomit made of coffee and alcohol, Nia slams the comm button again and screams into the mic, "Why the fuck did you send us here!"] -10:40 Feb 24

Holm: "What happened to Rebecca?" -10:40 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "She got-- She's been attacked!" -10:41 Feb 24

[Glim swayed and stumbled, his legs burning, his faceplate misted with sweat and tears. He felt his back straining, but adrenal erased all pain. He charged towards the light, pushing between Ana and EDO. "Go!' was all he could manage between painful breaths. He would get her out.... he would get her out....] -10:41 Feb 24

Holm: "By what? What are you talking about?" -10:41 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "You knew something wasn't going to be right! There was a hole in the fucking ship!" -10:41 Feb 24

Holm: "And what about the people in the cryopods? What the fuck is going on?" -10:42 Feb 24

Holm: "ANA start making sense!" -10:42 Feb 24

◊ The away team staggers aboard the shuttle, dragging the seemingly-unconscious Rebecca with them. -MATRIARCH 10:42 Feb 24

Holm: "Where the hell are you?" -10:42 Feb 24

Nia Ana: "I told you it was a deathtrap!" -10:43 Feb 24

◊ And below them, in the bowels of the ship, something untangles itself from its slumber. -MATRIARCH 10:43 Feb 24

◊ END OF PART ONE -MATRIARCH 10:43 Feb 24

[Nia Ana switches her comm off and shuffles after Glim, her coughing coming sporadically and the faceplate splattered with vomit from the inside.] -10:43 Feb 24

MATRIARCH: (( Thanks for the game, everyone. That was awesome. )) -10:44 Feb 24

Serov: (( That was great! Thanks gais. <3 )) -10:46 Feb 24

[(Logout) MATRIARCH escapes to a secret lair!] -((10:48 Feb 24))

[(Logout) Rebecca Prince escapes to a secret lair!] -((10:50 Feb 24))

[(Logout) Harold Warburton fled in terror.] -((10:50 Feb 24))

[(Logout) Nia Ana is off to feed the plot bunnies.] -((10:50 Feb 24))

Holm: ((awesome sauce!)) -10:53 Feb 24

[(Logout) Holm has logged out.] -((10:53 Feb 24))

[(Logout) Glim has logged out.] -((10:53 Feb 24))

[(Timeout) Serov was sacrificed to the roleplay gods by a tribe of wild newbies.] -11:22 Feb 24

[(Timeout) Dr. Candace Flagg got too distracted for their own good...] -11:22 Feb 24

[Chat Cleared by: System::Timeout (No Users)] -11:22 Feb 24

[/I]

ALIEN: SKELETON CREW - PART ONE: ECLIPSE [CHARP LOGS]

Diana

LOOK HOW CALM SHE IS