RP: The Fringe [Chapter 2.0] - Salvage

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

"Because the docking clamps are locked!" Amelia answered again, more annoyed than before, she knew the conditions made communications adverse, but it was one of her greatest pet peeves having to repeat herself over and over again.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

This time the silence was longer. Had the captain heard her, or was she incensed by Amelia's annoyed answer? Several seconds ticked by, and no reply other than a few intermittent hisses and clicks of static.

Finally, she heard Sienna's voice again, flat and without inflection. "How's that little robot toy of yours working so far?"

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Amelia found herself studying the details of the derelict's hull as she waited for a reply, but when it came it was like a punch to the gut, since the surprise left her somewhat directionless as she dropped her train of thought and went to the new one. She felt her chest tightening like some invisible hand was squeezing it, making she swallow as she thought about what to say, "What kind of question is that? Did you get my last message?" The astrogator asked after a moment. Could it be possible that the captain had somehow found out, specially when she had been so careful not to reveal anything? It was unlikely, but still possible.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

There wasn't much of a pause this time. "I heard you," Sienna's voice said back coolly. The static crackled again. "...that the docking clamps w... You still didn't answer m..."

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

"It's not what I wanted but it's getting there - why are you asking me this? What do you wanna do about the survivor?" Amelia said hastily. She wasn't exactly lying, but she wasn't telling everything either, and that still made her feel somewhat guilty, because it was still lying to the most conservative of minds.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

"Frak the survivor," Sienna's voice came back, only a trace of terseness in it. "Whoever it is stayed alive this long, they can wait a little longer." The static swelled up briefly, and as far as Amelia could tell, it didn't mask anything the captain said, but she couldn't be absolutely sure. "I'm asking you because...if your little gizmo can go figure out what's keeping the shut..." A brief pause, and the Sienna continued, a leading tone in her voice, as if she already knew something she wasn't telling. "Why so defensive about it?"

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Amelia groaned, looking over at Crash. "The standard procedure in this situation is to assist any survivors immediately; that means right now. But you're asking me about my off-duty hobbies. If their life support has been keeping them alive for this long that means it can run out any minute," She replied back, hoping that the other woman would give up, since she was sure she'd get cornered sooner or later.

Derelict - Passage

Oreza spotted the red light. So the ship had some power afterall. He heard the comment about the survivor in the shuttte bay as he started towards the light.

"If there are surviving crew aboard, our salvage rights are shot" he said to Sienna. The laws of salvage rights were pretty strict, if any crew were still alive one coukd not claim salvage. This just made Oreza all that more glad they had booted Vel, he had got them out here, wasting their fuel for nothing.

"There is some power over here, I am gonna check it out" he added as he made his way carefully down the passage, shining his helmet lamp into each if the open hatchways briefly as he progressed to the light.

Derelict - Upper Deck - Starboard Passageway

Sienna muttered another curse under her breath through gritted teeth, both at the prospect of losing their salvage, and at the uppity tone that Amelia was taking with her. Still with a sneer on her face, though the darkness and her faceplate kept it hidden from her first mate, she waved Oreza down the hall with a curt nod, indicating that she had no objection to him investigating.

As he trudged cautiously down the corridor, brushing various ghostly reminders of the previous occupants aside, Oreza's headlamp penetrated the glass panes to his left. On the other side was what appeared to be a lounge or media room of some sort, although the furniture was in disarray and the contents of a shattered computer box were blown across the room, floating like the rest of the articles around him. One of the window panes was completely covered in a myriad of spiderweb cracks, like something heavy had smashed into it during the disaster with just less than enough force to shatter it completely. Chairs and couches hung suspended in the center of the room, one lay sideways on the ceiling motionless. The room was fairly wide, though strangely appeared smaller than one would expect, perhaps due to the fact that it was filled from wall to wall with debris. Along the opposite wall one could see a similar row of paned glass, perhaps leading to another corridor on the port side similar to this one.

Oreza's headlamp beam briefly illuminated something that stood out from the trash: a barefoot leg, the exposed flesh bloated and an unnatural-looking shade of ghastly white. It was tough to tell if it was attached to anything, but if it was, its body was hidden behind an upturned table floating in his field of view.


Concordia Veil - Cockpit

A burst of static caught Amelia slightly off guard, then Sienna's voice came back again, still with the same cool overtone, although sounding clearly much more forcibly restrained, and her coarse accent was a little more audible. "Let me explain so..." she began amid the interference. "First, on my...standard procedur...s whatever the frak I say it is. Second, for all we know, Mister Hero out ther...his buddies watchin' us right now. So we ain't got...knowin' whether or not that's a genuine distress call. If you're that concerne...end your little spider-toy in there and check it out first, without putting your ass or my ship's on the line. Otherwise, tell them to take a frackin' number."

Derelict - passage

Oreza frowned at the response he hears Sienna give. She really did have a lot to learn about keeping her temper in check. He frowned even harder though when he spotted the leg in the other compartment.

He had been aboard ships in peril befors,one nearly fully decompressing in battle and knew what kind of mess it made of the crew.

"There is a body in the next compartment over" he reported gravely. At least one poor sod had not made it to the lifeboats in time.

He turned away from it and pressed on to the light. They would have to recover and ID the body once they were done with their preliminary exploration of thd ship. Whoever they were, their family deserved some closure.

Derelict - Passage

Six Four fiddled with the picture in its hands, scrubbing off the bits of ice that were forming with its thumb to get a better view of the fading picture. As it studied the picture, the doctor listened into the conversation Sienna was having with Amelia.

"Interjecting: Hate to interject but this one has a feeling that the spider bots intended purpose is..... not for scouting. This one has a few Ideas of what it might be for, however more research is needed."

"Stop external communication." Six Four said to itself before a an audible click was overhead over the groups communication systems. "Doctors Log: 632.QR7." Six Four's unfiltered and natural voice said over the com system, "Subject 324, refered to as Sienna or Captain has increased in verbal hostilities, this time towards a semi functional robot. This one fears that her inner psychie may be compromised, may consider Qualen or Nolern injections or some other calming agent. However, alternative hypothesis may be that she pictures herself as an Alpha Female of the group and robot may be seen as a threat. Simaler behavior in Nepleslian Chimps, common biology with Nepleslians. Further investigation needed. Close Log."

The entire conversation it had with itself was clearly audible over the com channel, Six Four had forgotten that it was comunicating via radio so when its external coms were shut off it only unfiltered its voice, and was still transmitting to the team.

"External Communication resume," It said before another click was heard and Six Fours 'normal' monotone robotic voice was back on the channel. "Query: A body? This one would like to see."

As it spoke it started to make a beeline to where Oreza was, tossing the pictureframe back over its shoulders.

Concordia Veil - Cockpit

Upon hearing the response Amelia took the headset off and threw it on the instruments, then hoisted herself up. She didn't bother to give a reply, instead pacing around the ship as she thought about it. The point that Sienna had raised was more than plausible, so there was still a chance that whoever was in the shuttle could be just lying in wait to ambush the crew. There was, however, the fact that there was a standard procedure to be followed, and that if any of the original crew had survived it would be just like Oreza said, they would have no business there and were obliged to offer aid until the authorities arrived, which was laughable in a place so close to Black Moon. Despite that most of her wanted to believe what her captain said, however, she had to know by herself, or it would just eat her from the inside out, specially after what had happened before in the Black Moon.

"I need you to cover for me, just try and sound like me if she calls again, stall her," she said to Crash, "and if I'm not back in a while just fly off and keep the ship in orbit again," she added, then ran out of the cockpit, already having made up her mind. She had killed one person, so why not try to save another?

Concordia Veil - Central Airlock - A short time later

The inner airlock beeped as it started to cycle, sucking the air out of the room to equalize with the lack of pressure from space. Amelia's clothes lay crumpled in a small pile in a corner, while she was wearing her personal Dusk suit, which she probably had broken some sort of track record by grabbing it and putting it on so fast. She resented the fact that the suit was completely skin-tight, which accentuated every curve of her self-declared modest body, but quickly shrugged that aside when the light on the panel next to the airlock turned green, informing that. She checked that her radio was on and tapped into the crew's frequency and then brushed the pistol holstered on her hips with some confidence, just to make sure it was there in case there would be actually trouble before opening the hatch.

The timer in her PHC started to run just as that happened.

The raven-haired woman hoisted her weightless body up, feeling the magnetic clamps of the suit clamp against the upper hull of the Concordia Veil. The way she seemed awkward, she had to raise her knees higher than normal as she started half-walking, half-running until the side of the ship became the top side for her, them couched down and propelled herself "down", her arms outstreched. For a fraction of a second, the only sound was her breathing and the thumping of her heart in her chest, then her hands came into contact with the derelict's hull, effectively arresting her upper body. Her arms quickly bent back, while her torso rotated forward, bringing the soles of her feet in contact with the hull and within moments she was up again. She had been raised in a ship, so moving around zero gravity was as familiar to her as moving normally in gravity.

Amelia looked around, what a wall suddenly became the ground as she slowly retraced the route that the not-spiderbot took on the derelict in her head, then started moving in the same pace again.

Derelict - Upper Deck - Starboard Passageway - Aft

Sienna's tightly-suit-clad form stiffened and her fists clenched when Six Four spoke. "I know that's not it's intended purpose," she hissed, "if you would just--"

The captain's words stopped short when she heard the Freespacer's ramblings, obviously meant as a memo or some sort of bizarre soliloquy, but broadcasted over the open comms. Her helmeted head slowly rotated around menacingly, as if it were a mechanically driven warship turret, further with each word the doctor uttered. By the time Six Four got to the part comparing her to a chimpanzee, the young woman was fully squared off with the Freespacer, feet planted in a wide stance, her arms at her sides, elbows bent outward, and her fists clenched into tight, quivering little balls.

As the medic moved to join Oreza, Sienna's arm shot across the corridor and her palm slapped hard against the opposite wall, barring its way. The bristling captain stood her ground in barely-contained fury, her blank faceplate "glaring" down at the Freespacer. If it wasn't clear that Sienna's patience was wearing thin before, it was crystal clear now.

"I don't know what the frak you are," the captain growled in a deadly tone, her accent thickening further still, "and I don't frackin' care. However normal these 'observations' are to you, they're pissing me right the hell off. I don't give a damn if you like me or not, all I care about is that you do your goddamn job. And your job right now is to get down there with Oreza, help him with whatever the frak he's doing, and cut the psychoanalysis. I've already spaced one person this trip, won't break my heart none to toss another." Her helmet angled down slightly, looking Six Four over from head to toe. "And this time it wouldn't cost me another suit."



Starboard Passageway - Forward

As Oreza traversed the long passageway to the other side, his headlamp finally illuminated the end, revealing a white and beige hatch. The red light he had seen earlier was still blinking, originating from a control panel with a touchscreen set in the bulkhead to its left. As he approached, the touchscreen flickered, as if attempting to draw power from a dying, insufficient source.


Space - Outside the Derelict - Near the Concordia Veil

This side of the wreck was rapidly losing sunlight as the whole mess continued to tumble slowly, again casting long, eerie shadows across the dead hull. Amelia could see the bits and pieces of what once made up the ship's bow section drifting high above her, backdropped by the huge moon-sized asteroid hanging ominously overhead. The searing starlight was at her back, and the way that Crash had entered the wreck just ahead.

Several moments of walking later, she reached the edge of the blown-open pylon. If she peered over the edge into the inky void below, she could see the twisted, marred remains of what appeared to be a gigantic external airlock door, nearly as big as the Veil itself. Or at least, that's what it appeared to be, there was no reliable way of telling exactly what had once occupied this mangled mess of metal and wire, it only seemed like the most reasonable guess. One thing was certain, however: if she sought to find the source of the distress call, she would find it inside.

Space - Outside the Derelict - Not so near the Concordia Veil

Once she reached the 'edge' of the pylon, Amelia stopped to inspect the damage done to what she guessed was a destroyed airlock, examining to see if it was blown in, or out. With one step, what was the sides became the surface for her again, even though concepts of 'up' and 'down' were moot in space, only depending on the referential; She had to walk slower then, being extra careful of the deformities on the hull. Once she reached the open space of what should've been the shuttle bay's airlock, she repeated the same process, except that she would be standing on the ceiling of the bay, and would promptly suffer a very bad fall if the artificial gravity was still on.

Shuttle Bay

Reaching for her helmet, Amelia quickly turned the headlamp on, shining it on the shuttle to examine it, and actually identify if there was actually just one occupant on the cockpit. Afterwards, she repeated the same thing she had done when she had left the Concordia, crouching down and then propelling herself towards the small spacecraft with her arms outstretched.

Derelict

Six Four starred at Sienna as she raged at it, blinking as the captain unloaded its anger fueled speech at it. Six Four was only half paying attention to what the captain was saying, more concerned on how exactly she had heard the Doctors log that Six Four was preforming, did she have latent psychic potential? No that would of been presented in other ways. The Freespacer then remembered the helmets radio system and how it worked.

"Oh My." Six Four muttered out loud, realizing the mistake it had made, Doctor's logs were supposed to be confidential and this was a reason why.

After a moment of awkward silence the Doctor spoke up, "This one's primary function is that of a medical professional, a job that does not have any time off when working with a crew. This one's analysis is an important part of the overall health of the ship's crew, and is only doing it to benefit everyone as a whole. " Though its speech was its normal robotic monotone, there was something that was very 'matter of fact' about the way it was talking. "Last thing the ship needs is a captain having an aneurysm, a Subconjuctival hemorrhage, or developing a stigmata of the eye due to pent up stress and anger. This one suggest a hobby or some stress reveling activity, such as spending time with a.." The doctor paused for a moment, rubbing its 'chin' finding the right word, "Special friend. Six Four has plenty of other options that it can suggest based on research and personal experience. "

As if to emphasise its research it patted the datapad in its suits pocket, before nodding and continuing towards the body that Oreza had mentioned before hand, "But unless those suggestions are needed in the immediate future, which I wouldn't suggest doing most in this environment the lack of oxygen and gravity complicates things, This one has its other 'job' to do."

Derelict - Upper Deck - Starboard Passageway - Aft

Sienna bristled even more at the Freespacer's machine-like response. Yanking the arm that had been blocking the medic's way off of the bulkhead, the captain thrust a rigid index finger into Six Four's face threateningly, jabbing a few times in the void between them as if she were punctuating a long-winded tirade, but there wasn't a sound uttered, and with her face obscured by the faceplate, it was impossible to discern her facial expressions, or whether or not she was even speaking. Finally, Sienna began to shake slightly, and her index finger snapped back into her fist. An aggravated, raspy and moderately high-pitched groan erupted over the comms as Sienna appeared to barely restrain herself from physically lashing out at Six Four. But instead of an assault, the captain crassly shoved past the medic, striding purposefully back the way they came. "Then git!" Sienna barked over the radio. Just before she stepped back through the cut-away section of the emergency shutter, the young woman reeled up her left leg and delivered a savage stomp-kick with her heel to the huge, burn-marked section of the door that was suspended in space. While it certainly didn't go flying off from the blow, it did slowly begin to drift again towards the rear of the corridor, revealing what it had crushed between it and the bulkhead: the frozen remains of another crew member.


Shuttle Bay

Amelia's headlamp illuminated a scene not entirely unlike the one her scan from earlier had revealed; a floating disarray of splintered crates, bits of machinery and tools, tangled hoses. There was likely a tiny fortune in equipment alone floating around in the wide-open space. The shuttle itself was firmly anchored to the ceiling... or rather, the floor... or perhaps a wall? She wasn't completely sure of her orientation, but whichever the case, the shuttle was firmly fastened in place above her head, directly in front of her momentum's path. It appeared to be mostly powered down, aside from the few dim lights emanating from the forward and side windows. A shadow moved across one of them, confirming that there was indeed someone, or something, alive inside, or at least independently mobile. Her approach went unimpeded as she drew near enough to the shuttle to land.

Shuttle Bay

Amelia watched as the shuttle drew closer and closer, then repeated the same maneuver as before, rotating her torso forward to bring her feet up to the surface as her arms slightly retracted to arrest some of the momentum, turning what was once up to down again. She felt, rather than heard, the 'thud' on the hull of the shuttle as she hit it, and was sure that her footsteps probably had been heard to whoever was inside whenever she took a step on top of it. The only sound that could be heard by her, however, was just her breathing and the occasional beep from the timer.

Amelia drew closer to the canopy of the cockpit, looking down to see whoever was inside and illuminating it with the lamp on her suit's helmet.

Derelict

Oreza watched the interraction between Sienna and Six Four and frowned. He sighed and waited for it to finish with the young Captain stomping off and kicking the burned out chunk of shutter. Her temper was becoming a serious issue, it seemed nearly everything set her off, the navigator, the medic. He frowned. He needed to think kf what he was going to do. His last attempt to talk to her had not done anything.

"Six Four, come here, help me check out this light, then we'll get you in the other compartment so you can examin the body" he said and took thd last few steps to the red light.

Derelict - Medbay

This time, Dylan knew for shure. He felt something again. He thought that it was something hitting his compartiment. He started shouting again: " Hello? Who is there? Please, help me."

Again, no response. " Aah, its no use. It is vacuum out there. Nobody will hear me. I won't get out of here anyway." He kicked around, but to no avail. Little did he know that help was on the way.

Derelict - Upper Deck - Starboard Passageway - Forward

Oreza's peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the flickering panel next to the door, where the slowly pulsing red light was. It was barely able to maintain an image of any kind, so most of what flashed across the screen was indiscernible static, horizontal lines scrolling, and garbled alphanumeric characters. There was, however, an image that it appeared to be repeatedly trying to display, only visible for a fraction of a second at a time. After several iterations, reading a word or two at a time, the first mate could make something out.