We outgun you. Cord calls out. You do not have to die here. Lower your gun. I am sure all this was not your idea. Lets talk.
You're not too sure, the figure did seem to hesitate a moment, but they were still raising their weapon at Thursday, and Sirus' shot smashes the suit's backpack housing, causing pressurised gas to billow from the ruptured tanks and fill the area with white vapor.
You hear a gun discharge in front of you, where the suited-person was.
Frustrated Cord moves for better cover and readies a shot at any enemy he might see.
Thursday turns quickly, lopes back to the gas-clouded doorway, aims the shotgun casually through the doorway and fires. She glares at Cord. "There are no friendlies here. When the gun is aimed at you - talk all you want. When it's my ass on the line - you better shoot." She looks at Sirus, "I think the game is still the same. We need to get to the bridge, not paly hide and seek."
Sirus nods and looks at the smoke-choked doorway. There's no way to know what's in there, so there's no way to expect what he thinks of doing. He charges into the door, shoulder down, in a blind charge through the smoke, hoping to catch the gunman off guard and give him something to worry about that a gun won't solve.
Bedlam ensues, the subject of the suited assailant's hostility becomes moot, as Thursday discharges her weapon in the doorway and Sirus dives and tackles the enemy, slamming them against the bulkhead with a rattling blow.
They slowly slide down the wall, weapon dangling from unmoving hands. Red oozes slowly from several holes in the faceplate of the helmet.
You become aware of red lights strobing from the end of the corridor, where you suppose the cockpit should be.
Weapon in hand Cord moves towards where he thinks the cockpit should be. After making sure there is no immediate threat he tries to figure out what the red strobe means.
Sirus follows to see if there's a engineering readout.
"Make sure suit-boy hasn't decompressed the bridge."
Thursday confiscates the weapon and then looks around the room to see if there are any more suits here.
The cockpit is a small affair, as befits an S&R rig, three consoles; pilot, command and weapons/systems.
All consoles have multiple warnings scattered across them, but first and foremost is the
>>BIOMETRIC LOCKED<<
showing on the command console screen.
The other two consoles are in poor shape, damage from elsewhere on the ships has caused feedback which has disrupted the delicate electronics. Wires and fried circuits hang down underneath.
Sirus takes a look at the damage, sighs, and gets to work. He relays test commands to Cord and there are a few scary looking sparks, but the mechanic has helm control up and running in short order, though he can't help with the lock.
There's no way we're normally disengaging the locks, not with that stunt I pulled! Blow the charges and lets get out of here before we get cooked! Sirus says, remembering the small charges on the docking clamps designed for just this kind of situation.
At Sirus' declaration, Thursday jogs in. She hrmphs at the BIOMETRIC warning. She slaps her palm on the Ident-plate then starts to shift and rotate her hand, distorting her palm print, trying to fool the reader. She mutters to the device, "Come'on, come'on, drop your panties for me, you metallic b%@$&."
There is a click as the warning clears from the screens and the consoles respond.
Watching both Sirus and Thursday work Cord marvels You two are wizards.
Looking at the status on his own monitor Cord agrees with Sirus. Right. How do we blow the charges? And please don't say we have to be on the Cinereous to do so.
Thursday checks the status board, Suit-boy was the last life sign aboard... and we have a full cargo hold. Lot of people relying on us to get them out of this jam..."
Leave the charges to me. You two strap in and get ready to fly like our lives depend on it. He slides back down to the airlock deck and quickly locates the emergency severance. It's not hard to find a big red handle with waning signs painted all over it and a protective plastic cover to prevent accidental separation. He takes hold of the lever, counts down from three, and pulls...
Cord does not have to be told twice. He takes the pilot's seat after a brief glance over at the weapons chair, and straps in. He spends the rest of his time familiarizing himself with the controls.
Thursday straps in.
The craft shudders and you feel/hear the creaking groan of metal as Sirus' activates the emergency charges in the docking clamps. The ship begins to drift free and through the forward screen you see it on a fast collision course with one of the ruptured fuel tanks...
...Cord slams on the maneuvering thrusters, sending the ship skidding sideways away from the debris, and revealing the literal graveyard of ships you seem to be floating in. The normal black of space is peppered with the glint of metal in the dark, almost as many as the stars. They have formed a weak orbit around the planetoid you are nearby, and form an ever shifting maze of deadly shrapnel.
Feeling the gravity of the planet starting to pull, Cord powers up the main drive and the ship powers forward and away. The only way out seems to be through the debris...
In his element now Cord stays tight in his seat and does his best to dodge debris. He wonders out loud. Anyone recognize the stars here? Any guess where we are?
Sirus just barely managed to get strapped in before the evasive maneuvers start. He brings up the shield display and starts routing power to absorb the small impacts.
And he immediately starts cursing under his breath. I can't re-route power from here! Try not to get hit on the same arc twice!
The ship lurches from side to side as Cord applies thrusters to avoid the largest of the floating junk.
Small pieces of metal and trash pepper your hull and the percussive rattle of debris raining on to the hull is almost deafening.
Finally Cord makes a final adjustment and you are through the ring of scrap and thrusting away from the planetoid.
The NavComp shows a supply station a couple of days travel, but just then a glance at the incessantly beeping console to your right shows you are low on fuel, have two out of your four cannons disabled and are hemorrhaging air...
but at least you're off the derelict ship!