Star Army

Star ArmyⓇ is a landmark of forum roleplaying. Opened in 2002, Star Army is like an internet clubhouse for people who love roleplaying, art, and worldbuilding. Anyone 18 or older may join for free. New members are welcome! Use the "Register" button below.

Note: This is a play-by-post RPG site. If you're looking for the tabletop miniatures wargame "5150: Star Army" instead, see Two Hour Wargames.

  • If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 October and November 2024 are YE 46.8 in the RP.

RP: 21st Fighter Sq [Mission 3.1] Menace in the dark

Nashoba

SARPaholic & Admin
Retired Staff
Inactive Member
Convention Veteran
Elisto's trip to the headquarters of the 2XF consisted of traveling on whatever ships were available. There was not a lot of traffic heading out to the frontier. So the first transport had been an Odori-Class freighter. It took him halfway to his destination, when it rendezvoused with a Henkei-Class 4a Prospector that belonged to the 2XF. It was a compact ship with most of its space dedicated to storage. He was given a room to settle into and left to his own devices.
 
Elisto waited just inside the room for a moment, taking it all in before walking over to the farside and planting his bag down on a bed. He didn't sit down though, instead looking around the room and checking it over for particular items, such as bugs or listening devices. Can never be to cautious, he always told himself, a lesson he learned while in the police academy.

Unzipping the bag, he looked at the contents inside, he didn't bring much - only that which he knew he would need. He glanced over his shoulder for a moment, before unzipping a side pocket and taking out a pair of glasses. He put them on, turned them on for a moment, then shut them off. "Good," he muttered lowly and then took out his ICP.

Putting the bag away, he stood there for a moment in thought and folded his arms over his chest. Guess I'll check the ship over real quick, he glanced off to he right before walking over to the door. He peeked outside, then headed out - his first destination would be the bridge.
 
Eilsto was at the top of the staircase that lead from the lower level where his quarters were to the upper deck when the Akagane was rocked by an explosion from the aft section. The interior lighting flickered a few times then failed and the ship fell back into normal space with a tumble that was strong enough that it affected things in the interior. Elisto was flung from the top of the stair case to crash into one of the tables in the galley on the upper deck.

"All Hands to your Damage Stations, repeat all hands to your damage sta...." came from the speakers cutting off in a squeal and crackle and a hiss.

The emergency lighting switched on providing partial lighting, and it appeared to Elisto that the ship's gravity was operating at around 50% of norm.
 
He felt like he had just been tossed into a blender, as he picked himself off the ground and regained his sense. The first thought that came to his mind was that the bridge had been hit, he placed his hand on the wall and began to push himself toward the bridge, to check and see if everything was ok.
 
The bridge was right next to the galley and as Elisto approached, one of the crew exited the bridge. It was Kondō-Heisho, the crew member who had greetings Elisto when he came aboard. The Heisho had a fresh cut on his head just at the hairline.

"Tereane-Hei, are you okay? Richardson-Taii sent me to check on you. There has been an explosion in the lower engineering section. We are adrift and tumbling. I am heading down to assess the damage, as we can not raise the technicians."

The Akagane shuddered and groaned as the bridge crew worked to arrest the tumble.
 
Elisto braced himself as he felt the ship shudder a bit. "I'm fine, just got tossed around a bit," he replied simply and felt the vibrations. He glanced down the corridor and then asked. "Do you need me to assist with Engineering Heisho?" he asked cautiously.
 
"Always can use an extra pair of hands and eyes, the Akagane's a small ship with a small crew. Let's get down and see what happened, and how the crew members down there fared." Hisao replied as he walked past.

Hisao walked past the galley and the wardroom, and opened the hatch to the interior cargo bay after ensuring it was still pressurized. He walked across the catwalk and to the hatch that led to engineering. The door control showed that the room still had pressure, and from the temp it appeared there was a fire present.
 
Elisto followed close behind; keeping an eye on his surroundings, ready to make any move incase something happened. As they approuched the door, he stopped and waited. "If the techs didn't respond," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Ready when you are," he said quickly afterwords.
 
Hisao opened a Damage Control locker, "Best we suit up. Between the fire and the explosion, there is a good chance the air is toxic." He pulled one out and handed another to Elisto.

He put the suit on with practiced ease. Once he was suited up he grabbed a FOAM extinguisher. He pressed his communicator, "Captain, we are outside engineering. Getting ready to go in."
 
Elisto quickly suited up, and double checked to make sure it was on correctly before giving the Heisho a thumbs up and then grabbed an additional extinguisher.
 
Hisao opened the door and thick acrid smoke poured into the hallway. He stepped in and surveyed the scene. Overall the room appeared to be intact. The main reactor was not damaged, and none of the superstructure was either.

There was a burning console near by and he doused it with the fire extinguisher. "No sign of the crew members up on this level. Take the ladder and check the lower deck when I take care of the equipment on this level.
 
"Will do Heisho," said Elisto as he set the extinguisher aside and grabbed hold of the ladder. He then grabbed the extinguisher with his free hand and carefully made his way down the ladder, having it along just in case it was needed.

As he landed on the lower deck, he looked around.
 
At the foot of the ladder Elisto found the first crew member, lying face down with blood pooling under the body. He also found where it appeared that the explosion had taken place. One of the turbines for the generator had a hole in the side. There were scorch marks on the exterior and the insulation of the turbine was in flames.
 
Elisto shook his head as he knelt down beside the crewmen, looking the mans body over before tapping his communicator. "Heisho? Got a man down here," he said and started checking the soldier over but in his own mind he somewhat knew the soldier was dead. "Also, there's a hole in the side of the turbine," he said when he stared over at the turbine. His police instincts telling him that something didn't seem right.
 
The front of the soldiers throat was torn completely out. Almost as if a chuck of the turbine casing had gouged it out. The soldier was probably dead before he hit the deck.

The exterior of the turbine had a hole about .5 meters across on the side. the edges of it were forced inward, and the top of the turbine was a mess of shattered metal from where the turbine and superheated steam forced their way out.

Hisao finally had the console extinguished, "Any sign of the other crewman? And and what kind of hole?" he called down as he started checking to see what systems he could access from the upper level.
 
Elisto sighed and shook his head. "He's dead," he said and then examined the wound. At least he went quickly, he said sympathically then looked around before his eyes fell onto the reactor.


"Hole is roughly point five meters across, and from the looks of it," he said and shook his head. "It's blown inward, not outward like what you'd normally expect from an internal explosion, I hate to say this Heisho. But I think this was intentional," he said simply and then started looking around for any sign of other crew that might've missed.
 
There was no sign of the other crew member that was supposed to be in Engineering section. he did find some strange bits of material strewn on the floor opposite the hole in the turbine. It did not appear to be part of the casing, it reminded Elisto of residue from an explosive.

From above he could hear Hisao cursing. "I'm going to have to come down there, these controls are too badly fried. We should be able to manual route the steam to the #2 generator and get the main power back up."
 
Elisto examined the residue, to much of a reminder and it brought back memories of previous cases. With the shake of his head he glanced over at the crewmen. Barely into an hour and already someone wants my undivided attention, well, they've gotten it, he moved over to a console.

"Heisho? Can you please inform the Taii that it appears that sabotage is the reason for our problems. We also have a dead crewmen," he shot a glance over his shoulder at the dead body, then turned his attention back to the console.
 
Why do black panels always think something is sabotage or a conspiracy? Are they trained to be paranoid? Hisao thought to himself. He looked over the rail down at Elisto. He was about to ask him what made him think so, but then he noticed some movement to his left. He turned to look.

A brief high pitched whine could be heard, and then the back of Hisao's head erupted in blood and gore. He fell back and landed on the catwalk with a thud.
 
As Elisto was about to do some work on the console; he heard the sudden whine and the thud, his first reflexive action was his pistol which he cleared it's holster and aimed up. "Heisho?!" he shouted and kept a close eye above him, then slowly began to ascend the ladder upwards. His adranaline pumping, and his senses cleared, he was ready for whatever he was about to find.
 
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top