"Yeah, if we can get some people up we can direct them back to safety with this ship." Drifter says.
"Let's ensure that we have a safe base. Do we want to stay here? Or, retreat back to our ship so that we always have a means of escape?," asks Flatfoot.
"Once we have a base, we start looking for the other people on this ship."
"This room is safe. No one is getting in or out without the key. I think we need to find a way to power the ship up. I doubt we could bring people out of Cryo without more power then this ship has. So we need to get to those fuel ships and get the ball rolling. Drifter suggests.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you solve this!
"Yeah, I don't think we'll find a better base of operations than here. We need to figure out what type of fuel we need to power her up, and we need to scout out the parts of the ship that are dark to us and see who's there."
"So how do we do this? Scout in force? Leave someone here to maintain comms and control? Sounds like we might need to get to the engine room to see the state of the reactor." Mascot double checks his weapons, knowing that whatever happens, he wants then ready to go.
"If we can keep this bridge secure, I would suggest that we all go. In force," states Flatfoot.
"Better to have a large group to support one another. Until we find some vehicles, or the like, a group or person left here would not be able to quickly come to support the explorers. Or, vice versa."
"I'm going to toss out two ideas," says Sandman. "The first idea is that it might be easier to secure one of those Bluestones than the entire mother ship. They may not be jump-capable, but they could certainly get you to the mainworld. It's not entirely clear that Resolution can do that. The Bluestones may even contain parts useful in repairing Resolution. If you are determined to explore the mother ship, I suggest you make the reactor a priority. I think its time is limited."
Spider listens to everyone's input and considers. "We'll want to secure one of the Bluestones eventually, but I think we want to head for the reactor first and see what we'd need to do to refuel it."
Mascot lets his rifle hang from his tac vest and draws his static sword. "Ok, let's do this. I have point." He checks the ship's diagram to plan their route and prepares to exit the bridge.
Drifter puts his pack with tools and explosives on and pulls his gun and moves to the door to back up Mascot.
Now that you have access to the bridge you can see the entire diagram of the ship. Remember that the area labeled "missile bays" on our map is labeled "cryosleep" on your map (there are no missile bays on the ship in our story).
There are a few ways to go. Consulting the diagram, you can take the hatch back to the flight deck, you can try to force the sealed hatch aft towards the staterooms and medical bay, or you can leave by one of the emergency hatches out to the PSM (Primary Structural Members)(which are also welded shut).
Which way, oh intrepid space-scouts?
"We should pass through the Medbay. There may be records of how many are in cryo there." Drifter says.
"Probably a good idea to see if there are any supplies in there too." Mascot nods. "Ok, aft hatch, then."
You've got to cut your way through, as before. This takes you a further twelve minutes. The air is pungent with the acrid smell of smoke as the hatch falls away. What could have convinced the crew to barricade this area so firmly? The passageway beyond seems in poor repair.
<Gandalf>You...should probably...pass! (as in, pass this point and play on...</Gandalf>
Spider nods at Drifter's and Mascot's suggestions. Once the aft hatch is broached, he follows them towards the medbay.
You force open the door from the passageway outside the bridge. Your suit lights play across the darkened space filled with tables and overturned chairs. Dust floats through the beams of your light, lonely sparks in the darkness.
This is a galley, where the crew once ate and congregated. According to the chart, the spaces to your right are officer staterooms while to your left lies an emergency access to the starboard Primary Structural Member.
As you move through the galley, your light makes shadows dance in the corners. Ironically, the large darkened space feels more claustrophobic than the smaller ones.
Just ahead is an armored bulkhead leading towards the medical bays, staterooms, security offices and armory. The door hangs open, which is not supposed to happen on a spaceship, especially on a portal between major hull sections. Wires and other gear dangle from the ceiling in disrepair.
"More signs that something is wandering around. Somehow, I doubt whoever it is will be happy with us coming through their place." Drifter says as they approach the door.
The far door to the passageway between sections also hangs open, evidently forced long ago. Red emergency lighting flickers crazily in the passageway beyond. You can smell a powerful, animal scent from in there. The air tastes strange and slightly bitter.
Mascot sniffs. "Unless one of you has been hitting the body spray a bit hard, I think we have something not quite human that's been through here."
He glances left and right. "Medbay to the right. Armory and Security office to the left. Both would be nice to search before heading to the reactor."
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TOP
BOTTOM
With the reminder that they are not alone in this drifting ship, Flatfoot peers around into the darkness.
"Which way first? The Medbay? Or, the Armory and Security?"
"We need to push on towards the Medbay so we can reach the Flight deck." Drifter says.
"We'll want to look at both, but let's start with the Medbay."
You pass by the heavily armored door to to the armory and arrive at the corridor outside the medical bay. The white wall is dirty and tarnished and wall panels hang askew from the wall. A dull red light blinks fitfully in the ceiling. There is a crash from up ahead and you see a figure dart from the medbay into the large space aft, the common area. The figure is human, or at least humanoid. It's hard to tell in the shifting light. It was dressed in a Deepnight Endeavor jumpsuit and had long hair. It's gone in a flash.
Drifter moves to see what the figure was doing in the Medbay.
Mascot quickly moves up to the edge of the open common space, trying to spot the figure. He keeps the wall to one side in case he needs to use it as cover. "Did any of you catch what it was? There's no way an unaugmented human could have survived this long, right? What if it was in cryo-sleep and woke up alone on the ship?"
He scans the open area with a flashlight.
"I did not get a great look at it. But a few of those in Cryo could have woken up and been stuck here. Or it could be a grandkid of some of the original crew...but I am more concerned about how many of them there are and what they have been eating all this time over how they ended up being awake here in the first place." Drifter says as he moves towards the Medbay.
Flatfoot follows Driver towards the medbay. He has a sneaking suspicion about what the figure, and others like him, might have been eating.
Spider moves alongside Mascot and raises his ACR. He uses the weapon's visual enhancers to scan the room for signs of the person.
Drifter and Flatfoot move into Medbay and find the place a complete shambles. The cabinets have been ransacked and the instruments are scattered across the floor. Computers are smashed.
Spider and Mascot look through the aft hatch into the large open common area. It is far too large for Mascot's light to illuminate the whole room, but what was once probably a galley and common area is now a wreck. Most of the furniture is either shattered or overturned. Some of it is badly stained. Two tables near the door have obvious laser burns on them.
"Well, I don't think we are getting anything useful in here. Maybe we can find a board or two from the computers that aren't destroyed, but even that is doubtful." Drifter shakes his head and wonders how the fighting started.
Mascot views the wreckage of the common area. "This whole ship looks like a battle raged up and down the length. But the crew is still asleep for the most part. There was just a few that woke up, right? So someone boarded them and slaughtered them and they fought the whole length of the ship? Something seems off..."
"Let's check the armory and security office. It's likely destroyed too, but you never know. And if someone did come aboard, I would expect the crew would be trying to get there." Mascot takes another look back at the common area, then moves to the armory.
Flatfoot points to the laser burns on the deck and bulkheads.
"Look there. And there," as he points to another burn.
"All the laser fire seemed to be coming from here, in the medbay. I don't see any marks on the back bulkhead. Looks like a defence was organized here, but whatever they were firing at was not returning fire."
"Do you read it that way, too?"
"Looks like a mutiny. In a ship like this, only the security would really be armed. A few guards, even with guns can be overrun. Then the mutineers would have a few guns to fire back." Drifter said as he looks around. "And there doesn't seem to be any unexplained ships. If word of the Vamps hit them and they decided to just sit out here until things were fixed, it could have gotten pretty ugly. Especially if the main leadership went on that vessel we found crashed into the dome back there. Losing a vessel and the captain would be a blow to morale."
Spider makes a quick scan of the common area's floor to see if the firefight left behind any casualties, then joins the others as they move towards Security.
The scene of the battle is curiously devoid of any bodies. Here and there are messy bloodstains, however. Old and almost completely faded.
"Mutiny?" wonders Flatfoot. "Maybe. If the mutineers were completely unable to get weapons. What might have driven them to attack in the face of the weapons used by the guards?"
"Not the end of things, probably. No dead left behind, so the victors had time to deal with that."
The Security Office is open and surprisingly intact. But you can also see that the magazine stands open...and empty. From here you can access many of the ship's security features.
"Well, it was too much to hope for a fully stocked armory. Let's see what we can pull up from here, though." Mascot examines the security functions.
Drifter sits at a terminal to see what he can find.
Drifter, you can use EDU, but it will take much longer. These aren't the computers you studied in school. Instead of tens of minutes, it could take hours. Meanwhile, the reactor is nearing critical.