Thursday pulls out the medical packs and slaps them on the men's wounds, watching as the devices assess the damage, inject clotting liquids, and automatically seal wounds.
The mechanical voice on the other side of the door continues its muffled, regular cadence of speech as it seems to repeat the same sentence over and over.
The bridge door does not appear to be locked.
Slapping the medpac on his arm Cord winces slightly as the needles penetrate and the fluids within begin to do their magic.
There. Good as new. He says with his usual charming smile.
Sirus sighs. That's the stuff. I'm good to go.
Thursday hadn't trained with this particular shotgun. She made sure a shell was chambered and gave the boys a big smile like she had all the confidence in the world. She buried the butt in her shoulder, sighted loosely along the barrel and moved it back and forth, getting used to the weight. When they were all ready and she couldn't stand that repetitive computer voice anymore, she nodded.
As soon as the door was popped, she moved in low and fast, bringing the barrel around on anyone upright on the bridge. If they looked anything like the pirates they met before, she brought the business end of the shottie up and sent a rain of steel bearings into their center mass. It wasn't personal, just business.
As the door slides up, Thursday sweeps the room with a well-aimed salvo of bulkhead-safe flechette ammo, sure to shred anything not properly armored.
There was a single man hunched over a console, wearing the same dull fatigues and webbing as the previous 'rescue crew' you just encountered. His surprised expression is only momentary as Thursday's expert aiming obliterates his features and sends his body in to a spin, ending in it draping across a nearby chair.
...Low orbit deteriorating... the computer voice indicates
...ship will enter atmosphere and be destroyed in T minus... 4 minutes...
The bridge is awash with blood, and several crew members lie scattered about, the proud badge of the Cinereous emblazoned on the arms of their uniform.
Several ship's consoles are lit and accessible, but immediately all three of you note the reason the ship's CPU has been offline... the core has been ripped from the central column it usually resides in and drag marks show the heavy casing has been dragged to the bridge's emergency airlock.
The radio crackles one more time
...that's it Hal, Seb, if you're still over there then I warned you. Cutting it too close, I'm leaving with our cargo, see you in the next life...
There is the distinct sound of a NavComp being initiated and the hum of an engine power plant going from idle to powered before the comms cut off.
One nearby console shows a single ship docked to the bridge's airlock, and code starts scrolling across the screen as the computer attempts to automatically release the docking clamp and get the airlock closed off...
Unsure what to do, Cord runs to a console and tries to take control of the ship.
Computers are computers and humanity relied on them far too much in Sirus's opinion. Oh no you don't. he grumbles and strides his way over to a nearby panel marked WARNING: FUEL ROUTING NODE UNDER PRESSURE.
He rips open the panel and goes to work.
Highly volatile fluid sprays everywhere and several alarms start sounding. Sirus growls and talks back to the ship with things like, Yaya, I know that's a primary valve! and Not if I jam your purge housing first!
In a few seconds he gives a defiant HA! Pull away from THIS you murderous... his curse is drowned by an almighty CLANG that vibrates through the ship.
Hold on to something, he commands.
A couple seconds later the center section of starboard fuel storage tanks 3,5, and 7 rupture from overpressure and the craft is propelled into a lopsided spin. Good luck undocking when every sensor in your stupid computer tells you it's suicide to do so.
Thursday finds a stanchion near the docking hatch to wrap a leg around in case the umbilical between the ships fails. She jacks another shell into the shotgun's chamber and readies to shoot anyone coming down the gangway.
Cord jumps on the con, wrestling with the controls. The ship seems to respond slightly, evidently the repairs Sirus made have had some effect. Cord is able to stabilise the descent a little, which should at least grant more time before the ship breaks up. Given the low orbit status and offline/damaged engines, it does seem like the ship will be going down though. Cord's hasty checks reveal that the ship is in orbit around a gas giant. Once the ship drops in to the atmosphere it will likely be lost forever...
Sirus' actions result in renewed swearing and cursing over the comms channel, the ships sudden lurching seeming to be all a part of his plan. Cord manages to maintain control of the ship nonetheless, using the inertia from the fuel tank assist his station keeping attempts. All of you are seasoned travelers and it's plain to see there's no chance of safely undocking with the ship in its current spin.
Thursday reloads her weapon whilst bracing herself, and realises that the airlock door is likely to require bypassing if the team want to make it on to the S&R ship, as it's unlikely the pilot will want to open it for you.
Once the ship's gut-churning shimmy quiets to a vertigo-inducing spin, Thursday unlocks her leg and lets centrifugal force slide/shoot her toward the airlock. She slams into the wall with a grunt and begins rascalling the airlock security controls to pop the hatch on their 'taxi'.
Sirus grins like a mad man. They can't leave without a manual disengage now. Let's get over there before this orbit degrades too much!
Let me engage some sort of autopilot to hold things as steady as then can be. Cord says quickly punching out commands.
It takes only a few seconds for Thursday's nimble fingers to tease an unlock from the control circuit of the airlock, and the hiss of the opening door seals the fact that the ship won't be leaving without having dealt with you three.
Cord uses the remaining controls to slave the colossal ship to as slow a re-entry as possible, and to keep holding steady.
The airlock yawns before you, corridor lighting showing a pathway leading in to the search and rescue ship...
then the lights go out...
Thursday slides away from the hatch, grabs the corpse of the pirate, muscles him up along the wall and then push/shoves him into the open hatchway.
The corpse teeters for a moment int he reduced gravity, then collapses to the floor.
There do not appear to be any internal defences in place at present.
Thursday grabs the shotgun and slides along the wall in the hatchway, pushing on into the other ship.
Sirus follows, but further behind. He is not stealthy by any means and doesn't want to give Thrusday away.
It is dark inside the S&R ship, the blackness of the corridor yawns before you. The space opens out slightly in to a cargo area, currently stocked haphazardly with crates dislodged during the forced maneuvers caused by Sirus' forced impromptu starship acrobatics.
The area has a ladder leading to a gantry with doors at either end, and underneath the gantry there are more rooms to investigate.
In a quite hiss Cord informs I know the make of this ship. We are in the lower decks. Cargo, Engine and any passenger berths. Upstairs will be crew quarters, rec areas and the bridge Pistol in hand he advances in the dark. Perhaps we could better arm or armor ourselves from what is down here if we can find find a manifest or even find our own lockers.
No time. We are minutes from hitting atmosphere. We need to get disengaged. Like, yesterday.
He moves to a panel to check if this ship comes with emergency hatch charges. Sometimes rescue ships would place small shaped charges on the end of their docking clamps to blast free of a wreck they needed to leave in a hurry. He desperately hoped this was one of those.
Thursday mounts the ladder heading to the gantry.
Sirus notes the ship is equipped with emergency hatch charges, but notes that if they were used the docking clamps would then be useless until repaired, the ship would be unable to dock with anything.
Thursday swiftly climbs the ladder, as she reaches the last rung there is a *click*...
There is the feeling of pressure bearing down on you as all the sound around you is muted, and then you are picked up and hurled across the cargo bay and in to the walls and crates.
The ringing in your ears gradually fades as you pick yourself up off the floor.
Cord flies across the cabin hitting his head hard on a locker. Frack! Dazed he staggers and eventually manages to stand. Whoever did that, whatever it was, don't do it again.
Sirus just barely covers his ears in time to save his aural implants. It still hurts though. Ugh... Well, whatever that was it probably won't happen again. Get up there! He prepares to blow the charges just in case.
Thursday pulls herself from a crate that broke her fall. She scampers up the ladder again, muttering dark imprecations. This time she carefully avoids the top rung.
As she moves back up the ladder, Thursday notes the telltale burn mark from a pressure mine detonator, someone evidently trapped the top of the ladder...
There is a flash of light and a *chuk* noise...
...there is a *ping* as a projectile ricochets off the upper decking a few inches away from Thursday.
Joining Thursday on the ladder Cord asks quietly Rush them? We are beyond talking I think. Maybe I can bluff them?
I'll whip something up! Sirus calls. He goes to the other side of the door and pulls open the canister of emergency oxygen canisters. He carefully removes the hosing and face shroud on one of them, then he wraps the whole thing in whatever scraps of cloth he can find.
He brings the thing to Thursday and hands it to her. Toss this up there, then shoot it. He says. He then hands out the other three oxygen canisters with their breathing apparatuses still attached.
In theory, the canister should burst into intense flame boosted by the pressurized oxygen. It won't last long, but should disorient and blind the guy up there long enough for us to take him out. Or capture, or whatever. he says. It's gonna smell pretty bad though, so use these as you need to. He gestures to the oxygen.
Thursday was inclined to go with the 'direct approach' - suppressive fire. She aims in the rough direction of the shooter and unloads with the mil-spec shotgun, spraying sleet and hopefully making the shooter duck for cover. KWA-BOOM.
She grins at the weapon's roar and shucks another shell into the chamber. His pea-shooter versus a street howitzer? Bet on the howitzer.
She grabs the offered canister and heads up the ladder. Just below the level of the next gantry, she lofts the canister as far down the gantry as possible.
"Hope you like breathing poison gas!" She yells as she pops just her head and the massive bore of the shotgun above floor level.
Thursday's shotgun blast does not appear to hit anything, as the makeshift explosive is thrown accurately down the corridor and detonates, the resulting flare reveals no-one there even as the flames reach out and fill the corridor before leaving it in darkness once more.
With the toss of the cylinder Cord begins to climb. When it explodes he is climbing fast and looking for both threats and cover.
Thursday waits for the explosion to die down and then hustles through the blast radius and into the corridor beyond.
There is silence beyond, and a corridor stretching before you that leads towards the bridge.
There is no emergency lighting visible at present, once away from the dimly lit cargo bay you will have only the light you bring with you.
You can just make out four doors leading off the corridor, the nearest of which on one side is partially open. You can't make out the end of the corridor as it is too dark.
[b]Anyone have a light?[/b[ Cord asks as he climbs and looks for cover.
You can just make out four doors leading off the corridor, the nearest of which on one side is partially open. You can't make out the end of the corridor as it is too dark.
Thursday finds her scattergun has a small underslung illuminator, battery is low but its enough to provide some light
By the faint light you can make out the legend 'crew cabin' on the nearest partially open door. Across the way you see the other, closed door is labelled 'storage'.
In the dim light of the scattergun's illuminator Thursday is holding, you can just make out the legend 'crew cabin' on the nearest partially open door. Across the way you see the other, closed door is labelled 'storage'.
Unsure where to head to Cord chooses the path with the most cover and begins moving towards that door.
Thursday points at the crew cabin and storage doors, then indicates her eyes. Watch these. Then she moves quickly past both doors and heads another 10' up the corridor that presumably leads to the bridge.
Sirus takes her cue and stand by the storage door
As Thursday moves down the corridor, the door to the storage area opens soundlessly revealing a suited figure brandishing an automatic weapon of some sort.
Sirus doesn't hesitate. He aims for the figure's weapon.