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Post by InfiniteStrife on May 7, 2013 21:10:35 GMT -5
Things were not adding up. There was no need to travel to so distant a planet for a relatively common resource. There was no reason to land so far away from that resource, especially if it put everyone in imminent danger. Why were the bays off limits? Walker had shot all inquiries down, and he was the only person on the ship that Sam knew could be trusted. He did make it clear that it was for Sam's protection, but if he was hiding something, there was definitely something amiss about this mission.
Maybe the mainframe had some answers. Sam couldn't use any of the main consoles on the bridge or in the lab, but thanks to a friend back home, Sam's dormitory panel had been upgraded with a few "unofficial" programs. Sam locked the door to the room and began to delve through the logs.
Nothing. Everything had either been expunged or covered up. Or, less likely, there was nothing wrong. Maybe they had landed here to rendezvous with the other ship.
The other ship!
Sam pulled up the external communications program and made sure to follow the instructions on how to hide the broadcast origin point . Sam took a breath before clicking the SEND button.
"Attention, unknown crew. This is the Senior Mineralogist of the mining vessel Hephaestus. Identify yourselves at once and sta—"
Sam trailed off in mid sentence when a flashing warning covered the console. The Hephaestus was acquiring a lock on the orbiting ship.
We have GUNS?
"MAYDAY. Belay that order! Do not approach further! Do not—"
Hephaestus had acquired a lock. The guns were arming. The crew, whoever they were, had seconds to react.
"Take immediate evasive action! Repeat, perform immediate evasive—"
Every muscle in Sam's body clenched as the guns discharged.
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Dota
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Post by Dota on May 11, 2013 12:01:04 GMT -5
Apparently even Kell's trust for Mistral only went so far. It was an indication that perhaps the captain wasn't as ignorant and gullible as he tended to appear...probably. The channel to Engineering had been open, so Mistral was able to hear the exchange. Regal wondered what the response would be. His bets were on her using nervous fidgeting and stuttering to get out of the fix. It'd be up to him to make sure Kell didn't fall for it.
"Attention, unknown crew. This is the Senior Mineralogist of the mining vessel Hephaestus. Identify yourselves at once and sta—"
Senior Mineralogist? That title sounded fairly official and fancy for a team of smuggling thugs. He supposed it could all be a front used in case they ran into someone other than their 'customer'.
"MAYDAY."
Regal's blood chilled instantly.
"Belay that order! Do not approach further! Do not—"
The Sadame wasn't much for offense, which saved time on decision-making. Regal had already set the shields to an output sufficient for the rough descent through the atmosphere. His fingers slid around the controls instinctually -- one didn't lower shields in a crisis.
"Take immediate evasive action! Repeat, perform immediate evasive—"
Regal's contribution would likely be enough to keep them in one piece for at least the initial shot. The rest would depend on Kell's manuevering.
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Post by Trunks on May 21, 2013 20:39:40 GMT -5
"MAYDAY. Belay that order! Do not approach further! Do not... Take immediate evasive action! Repeat, perform immediate evasive—"
Kell shot a glance over to Regal and then back down to his controls.
"What in the hell did you get me into?!"
Arthur pulled up a screen for both Kell and Regal to watch the projectiles as they approached. Although it didn't do much good. The first shot was practically exploding against the shields when the screen was at full size.
"Arthur, Delta Seven Alpha Alp..."
Kell didn't get to finish the command. The first shot blasted against the ship sending anything that wasn't bolted down flying throughout the ship.
"Got it, sir."
The engines shut off and gravity took over.
"Hold on!"
The ship fell from the sky seemingly uncontrolled. Kell's knuckles were white as he tried his best to aim the descent. Only a few hundred feet from the volcanic service the engines kicked back in. Kell pulled up hard and the joy stick straightening out the ship. Sadame was screaming at them because the proximity of the planet, but for now they were fine.
Hopefully, their attackers would think they had done the job. If not they would be bracing for another impact here soon.
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Post by InfiniteStrife on May 28, 2013 18:49:02 GMT -5
The hum of the guns warming for a follow-up shot grew louder as the elevator dinged and let Sam off at the bridge.
"Direct hit, Sir. Scans report that the craft is non-operational and losing altitude rapidly. It is unknown if the crew is still alive. Shall we make sure?" The lieutenant's finger hovered eagerly over the Fire button.
Sam ran to Walker and clutched his forearm, pleading desperately without words, calling in every favor Walker owed. The hum had reached a steady tone. The helpless craft could be dust in seconds. Sam suffered the suspense for a few long seconds before Walker gave his decision.
"That won't be necessary. We are on a limited armament for this mission, and that craft is no longer a threat to us. Stand down and carry on as planned."
"...And the girl..boy...plant's unauthorized access, Sir? "
Walker sighed. "Take her to the holding cells."
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Dota
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Post by Dota on Jun 4, 2013 15:44:01 GMT -5
"What in the hell did you get me into?!"
"This wasn't supposed to ha--"
Regal tried to defend himself even while Kell issued evasive maneuvers to Arthur, but was cut off by the impact of the first shot. Through the chaos, Regal was fairly certain that he hit his head off of the console in front of him. Before any confirmation of pain could kick on, though, his stomach dropped out from under him. He was just about to welcome a fatal crash if it would end the sickening feeling when Kell recovered control of Sadame.
Regal's mind struggled to catch up with the situation. A plethora of questions fought for his attention: Why had this happened? Had he been duped? Had Mistral made a peep during the confusion? Was another attack coming?
The last question spurred him into action. Regal tapped away at his screen, assessing damage and remaining shield capacities.
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Post by Sakabatou on Jun 4, 2013 21:11:01 GMT -5
Mistral gazed around the gunmetal gray world that swam in her vision, wondering hazily about the other indistinct blobs of color dotted irregularly around. There was a surreal silence that made it hard to grasp where she was and what she was seeing. Then, there was a sudden doppler-esque sound of engines engaging and her stomach tried to lurch out of her esophagus, as if she were in a free-falling elevator that suddenly hit the bottom floor. The shock kicked her brain awake, and she realized she was lying on her back in engineering, and she wasn't wearing her glasses. She flipped over, and groped toward the small black outline that she could make out through her nearsightedness. Good, they weren't broken.
The room came back into focus, and she noticed that the fingertips of her left glove came away from her temple smeared with red. That explained the headache.
In the last thirty seconds, her brain had mostly reorganized its short-term memory center. She recalled being concerned about Kell's advice that she be seated, because there were no seats in engineering. In a ship designed to be operated by a crew of one, engineering was a maintenance area, not an operations center. For weeks she had argued with herself about taking a station on the bridge like a proper member of the crew, but the desire to avoid all face-to-face contact with Kell and Regal had won every time.
Still, the entry was bumpy but bearable. It was that sudden garbled mayday from the surface that really made her worry, for the couple of seconds she had time to worry. Then the console she had been clinging to was moving away from her at a terrifying velocity, the wall was moving closer at the same speed-- and that was it, until now.
In the time it took Mistral to sort all this out, it became clear that they weren't still being shot at, so that was a bit of good news. She felt a little dizzy, but not drowsy or muddled, so she decided (or convinced herself) that she hadn't been concussed too badly. Embarrassment had kept her down here until now, but a combat scenario was enough to win the argument for the "go to the damn bridge" side of her internal dialogue.
Two minutes later, she was walking onto the bridge, shuffling over to a free console (fully equipped with a chair and safety harness). She kept her eyes down, didn't say a word, and hoped that Kell and Regal would be too distracted to notice the blood smeared across her temple.
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Post by Trunks on Jun 6, 2013 8:10:52 GMT -5
Kell patted himself down checking for injuries. He seemed fine although his heart felt it was going to explode through his chest.
The alarms for being too close to the planet were silenced, but Kell kept a close eye on the altimeter.
"How're we doing? I want to get back there and give them a piece of my mi..."
He trailed off as Mistral walked onto the bridge. Not only had he not seen her in who knows how long, but the girl looked like she would pass out at any moment.
For now he kept his silence because his first priority was their safety, but he would be dragging her down to the med bay in a hurry.
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Post by InfiniteStrife on Jun 12, 2013 5:33:45 GMT -5
An isolated containment cell was a far sight better than an immediate bullet to the head considering the list of protocol violations and procedural no-nos Sam had committed, even if it was only a stopgap until the inevitable bullet to the head. Sam had no intent on letting that happen, or allowing this false operation carried out, leaving another crew to their fate. Still, being escorted by two armed guards and nearing the cell block left Sam short on options. The Eshkoth were hardly known for their brute strength, but they had ways of replicating similar results. Electricity wouldn't work in the cell, but it was quite effective on humans. It was a reprehensible idea, but it was the only one. Sam waited until they had passed another set of guards and come upon an escape shaft just before the cell block.
There was a thunder crack that echoed down the silent corridor. The two guards that had held Sam now lay unconscious and smoking on the floor. They weren't moving. Sam could only blink in disbelief. Causing the death of another being can be a difficult reality to deal with. Fortunately, it was one that would be dealt with later. Some sensor must have detected the energy output and triggered a series of alarms. Before the ship would automatically lock down all the entrances, Sam grabbed the access badge from the guard and slipped out the escape shaft, too stunned to do anything but run.
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Dota
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Post by Dota on Jun 17, 2013 16:20:49 GMT -5
"How're we doing? I want to get back there and give them a piece of my mi..."
The ship wasn't in danger of spontaneous self destruction, but unless they needed to escape the planet, it would probably be best to run a ship-wide diagnostic plus throw on some patches. Regal imagined Mistral and Arthur's reports would be detailed and depressing.
It was then that Mistral appeared on the bridge, though grudgingly, if her body language was any obvious indication. Pouting or not, he hoped she was ready to do her part.
A few finger swipes of analyzing later, Regal announced that either the guns took especially long to reload, or the assault had ended pretty much where it had begun. Now would probably be a good time to make a move.
"What is the engine status? If we're really in the clear, I can divert some shield power as you need......Mistral."
Though it was a concession in their game of Silence, Regal opted to address the living being over the VI, though he had to admit that he had come to see its usefulness after some time on Sadame.
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Post by Sakabatou on Jun 25, 2013 21:07:31 GMT -5
It took Mistral several seconds to realize that Regal had even addressed her. Once she processed what he had said, she drew it out into further seconds of awkward silence as she worked up the nerve to respond.
"N... no, Sadame is built to take more punishment than that. The, uh, engines, I mean. I don't know about the shields, since that's your station, and I don't really like the idea of sacrificing shield power when we don't know if we're safe yet, but that's your call--yours and the captain's, of course--so I don't really..."
Running out of breath made her realize just how stupidly she was rambling. She forced herself to take a slow, deep gulp of air, and exhaled gradually.
"The engines are doing fine for now, but thank you for the suggestion."
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