RP [NSS Hobby] Mission 0 - The End of Equals

[ShotJon]

"I say we do this checking on carrgo-bay fast and then go to boarrd Harrd Times, it is in arrm 2A, closest to this place." Jen muttered as she waited for the freespacer to do his thing. She just hoped he would not accidentally vent the atmosphere or something. Breathing without air was pretty hard after all. Jen was highly unsure why were they checking the cargo-hold anyway. Those two Fairbanks shipped probably cleaned the place out anyway. From the way Cryd's droids showed their guns earlier it was pretty clear what was the shooting. Unless they gunned someone down, which would be reported by the station computer if it happened, there was nothing of interest in the cargo bay. Seriously what kind of thing could be there, that this group of sailors and marines had to run there and check on it.

 

[Saul]

This was stupid, this was terrible, and he was likely to have killed the entirety of his first crew before they'd even set foot on a proper ship if things went to the worst. Maik took a stock of his situation as the rest of the crew was moving about. There was the maintenance panel that the 'Spacer seemed to be working on before Maik had even seen it. That was good, at least the man had initiative about the situation, rather than the extremely helpful spite coming from a particular pair of NCOs. But Maik held back any comment on something like that. This was not the time for that sort of thing. Maik had already holstered his sidearm and glanced about to take stock of his situation.

The 'Spacer was on the panel, so that was covered.

Corporal Pietra seemed to be - busying himself with a datapad.

And one of his LPOs, McMillan, seemed content on complaining about everything.

So that left him with Corporal Scroggins, Petty Officer Gioni, and Cadet Coelho who weren't moving. And it also left him with the sinking realization that he had messed up. That he had royally messed up and was quickly proving undeserving of the rank he wore if he was feeling particularly critical. Of course that was before he had caught a glimpse through the window of something secured to the side of the cargo bay.

A -- space-bag? To the average Marine it would have looked like a trash bag floating in space. Well, to most people it would have looked like that, but Maik couldn't help that it caught him. He quickly approached the window, one hand resting on it as he stared for a moment. Then he heard the speaker announcement. It drew him to glance around.

"Who was that?" He asked, seemingly to nobody in particular, yet he didn't have time to focus on it.

Leaning with one hand on the window and the other resting on the handle of his holstered pistol, lips pursed as he looked at the bag in the distance. Something about it piqued his interest.

 

[Fian]

Under the Freespacer's expert hands the metal panel pulled away perfectly. Inside were two large compressed air canisers of which only a small part was visible from the hole that was cut. Based on the curvature they were at least 50 CM in diameter and no telling how tall. Behind the canisters were a collection of pipes and valves that were just out of reach. There was a small 7 inch screen presumably the said Auxillary Atmospheric Controls on a small stand between both canisters. It displayed the same 'Low Pressure' readout as the screen next to the door, however there was a different button at the bottom accompanied by warnings.

[START EMERGENCY RE-PRESSURISATION]
WARNING: WILL UNLOCK MAIN DOOR
ESTIMATE: 30 SECONDS OF BREATHABLE ATMOSPHERE.

The notepad that Robert found had the NAM Aerotech logo at the back, it was slightly discolored from where it hit the bulkhead when it was dropped and kicked. Nonetheless due to its robust Nepleslian design it was still fully functional and had a window open.

The notepad that Robert found had the NAM Aerotech logo at the back, it was slightly discolored from where it hit the bulkhead when it was dropped and kicked. Nonetheless due to its robust Nepleslian design it was still fully functional and this was displayed on the last active screen.

MESSAGE HISTORY FOR TIM DRISCOLL
----
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
Reminder to self, once I get back to NAM HQ from this maker forsaken station, find the guy who decided to run the project here. Also the guy who assigned me to lead this project if its a completely different guy. Shoot him/both.
/Message is 10 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
Notes and names of the crew NAM sent me.
Vic Garnet - Pilot, Reckless and will get us killed
Alphonzo Everitt - Gunner, Lazy
Hector Oswald - EW, Shady and clearly has child Elysian porn stored somewhere
Me - Captain, been doing this for too long

Fuck whoever who wrote the brief saying this is a 4 man ship that doesnt need an engineer. I've taken the liberty to get Ray on the team, he will be by far the only other competent person on the ship.
/Message is 9 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
Ray has given me the preliminary inspection report on SX2-00p, the prototype ship we would be testing. Overall it appears to be in good condition, which is bad because this means the last team that tested it didn’t push it too hard, we will have to be careful when redlining the ship.
/Message is 8 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
One of the Twin Plasma Turrets is faulty. As there are no ready TGA-02p replacements I have ordered Ray to replace it with a same-weight Twin Type 1 Chaingun instead. However for safety purposes, only enough ammo to last each test should be loaded into the TTC-01a. Any remaining ammo is to be removed after each test.
/Message is 7 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
Basic engine tests today. It has been noted by previous testers that the ‘Conservative’ co-efficient for the experimental combined drive is 0.7 or lower and today we have discovered that this is still the case. Regardless, Vic kept flooring the pedal at any opportunity while giggling to himself. I will have Ray put in a digital limiter.
/Message is 6 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Ray Everad
I’ve already reprimanded you this morning but I’ll put it down in writing again anyway, STOP leaving your Datapad in the toilet, who knows who else would have looked at it.
/Message is 5 days old/

From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
Nothing wrong with the new Dazzle ECM suite installed on SX2 nor the operator, surprise surprise. Capacitor Cell 2 caught fire today, as a temporary measure Capacitor Cell 1 will have to shoulder the extra load until replacements arrive.
/Message is 5 days old/
---
From: Ray Everad
To: Tim Driscoll
Sorry boss! Won’t happen again. Also I would like to say that if there is one thing that absolutely works on this ship would be the 200mm turret we have mounted on the roof, worked beautifully on weapons test today with the old 3 piece HE shells. I’d say there is a danger of a catastrophic hit in the ammo tower during combat due to generally shit overall armor, but the new plasma shot adapters we will be getting next week will very much significantly reduce the chance and damage a direct hit to the tower would cause.
/Message is 4 days old/
---
From: Eliseo Georgie
To: Tim Driscoll
I am sorry but I will have to deny your request to have the SAVTECH Precipice on the SX2 replaced with a JANE model. While no doubt the JANE would be better to have in an emergency, they have the tendency to moderate the functions of the ship which will in turn moderate your test results.
We have approved the rest of the things your Chief Engineer Ray Everad has requested. He should have informed you that it will be arriving in six days.
Yours faithfully.
/Message is 3 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
Accommodations on Michener Station is atrocious but no worse than that on SX2. Despite this, Hector and Ray continue to insist on ‘testing’ the plumbing onboard the ship. I don’t want to fucking know. We’ll be bumping up the experimental combined drive co-efficient to 0.8 tomorrow for combat speed tests.
/Message is 2 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
That fucker has done it. He took advantage of us informing the AI about the co-efficient value changes and had it changed to 0.9, FUCKING 0.9! We are all lucky to be alive. The irony is that the same G-Forces that would have killed us saved us by preventing that fucker’s feet from fully depressing the accelerator pedal. If HQ doesn’t let me remove Vic from the team, I will remove him from the station via airlock. We all have broken ribs and possible complications from embolisms so I have declared that further testing be delayed until we aren't in any danger of suddenly getting a stroke and kneeling over.
Good news is we now have a new maximum speed record for SX2.
Bad news is the ship has suffered a lot of internal damage, though Ray has informed me that it is mainly due to the emergency deceleration more than the acceleration. I will have to wait for his full damage report tomorrow.
/Message is 1 days old/
---
From: Tim Driscoll
To: Tim Driscoll
Ray has parked SX2 somewhere.
Some of the replacement parts crates have arrived. One of them is shaking.
/Message is 0 days old/

The so called "Spacebag" on closer inspection appears to be a Navy camoflague tarpaulin, asteroid colored. While regular visual camoflague is woefully inadequate for high-tech combat in YE32 by itself, they were effective on both ship and structure alike when used in conjuction with active jamming systems that would usually cover most other avenues with the exception of cameras and regular eyeball. The tarpaulin was tightly secured by cable, with the resulting closeness providing clues in the outlines and shape of its contents. The 'base' appeared to be roughly flat and tapers heavily on both sides functioning like sloped armor, that would have to be moved and angled to properly intercept incoming fire. Jutting out from the top rear of the object was the unmistakable shape of a large turret with a high caliber cannon. Finally, the connector from the arm to the bag was the flimsy type not designed to structually anchor whatever it is attached to, to the station, of note there were cost meters attached to the pipes carrying eletricity and air across the connectors.

 

[ShotJon]

"No idea who it was in te speakerrs, but I am prretty surre dat is a ship. Or some other kind of space-floater," Jen said, pointing her hand at the space-bag. "It won't be verry big, but it is a ship." Jen was curious if it was flyable and who owned it. They were supposed to get out of here and that ship was closest to them. Plus if there is no civilian captain to bother you, you can do your job more efficiently.

 

[Foxtrot 813]

Robert quickly skipped through the messages on the PDA. Most of it just seemed about someone bitching at their job - Which he also did a lot, so it was mostly old news for him but with a different person- and was about to discard the PDA when he set his eyes on the last message. The marine raised an eyebrow at the prospect of what it contained, but decided leaving what to do about it with the brightest and mightiest mind on the groups: The navy officer.

"Check out what I found!" Robert said to Maik as he tossed the PDA on the navy officer's direction with little care, just like a game of 'Catch'. Bonus points if the spacefish was hit.

 

[Saul]

Maik hadn't been expecting the datapad that came his way, but the Marine's call gave him just enough warning to turn from the window to face him. And while his catch wasn't the most graceful, and he couldn't have played it off as casual even if he had wanted to, but he managed to get a hold of it in time. Maik skimmed the messages and came to the same kind of conclusion that Robert had. He was no stranger to the way soldiers and sailors could complain about their posts. But as he read through the messages, he became increasingly suspicious.

"Petty Officer." He regarded McMillan with a glance behind him, "Take a look at this." Then he tossed it for her.

After that he once more looked out the window, "It may not be smart money, but I'd say whatever Mr. Driscoll was talking about, that SX2, is in that space-bag. And there's only one way to really find out, so I hope I'm right."

Maik looked to Corporal Scroggins once more, "Corporal, I want you on point to that space-bag."

 

[viralyte]

Gioni wasn't sure about where the Lieutenant was going with this wild goose chase, and slowly thoughts of ships blowing the station to space scrap were filling his mind. He had orders to evacuate and here he was wandering around with this small band of "contractually bound" investigators. Gioni reached down and grabbed the spacer cadet's shoulder, and turned him around to the rest of the group. "C'mon sir, we are moving out." He fell in behind the corporal as she moved down the hall. He wasn't too thrilled about his current orders, but it wouldn't be the first time he played patsy to an officer's orders.

He fell back next to the Lieutenant and leaned closer, "Sir, with all due respect, what makes you think this ship is going to be unlocked or even in working condition? If whatever scared off the researchers is still there, we are severely lacking on the firepower." He had by then replaced his knife in his holster and was trying to project his sincere concern for the troops, which ended up making him look just as angry as before.

 

[Malefic]

Dixie was in the process of staring at the controls when he felt a hand clasp his shoulder, turning him around and facing him towards the others. He blinked a few times, nearly in sync with the clicking noises the observing drone made. It levitated around his shoulders, staring intensely at the surrounding area.

"Erm... yessir, marine guy, sir!" Quickly he snatched the toolbox off the ground and threw it into his bag haphazardly. "Ready to roll!"

Just then, the Freespacer's Perciever drone bleeped loudly for a few seconds, until Dixie turned his attention to where it was pointed. The miniature drone's lense was pointed towards the cargo bay window. His cybernetic eye clicked and zoomed until several small holes were sighted in the window, gas spurting out of them. Well, there's the problem... Dixie peered over at the problem for a small period of time. Don't all these windows have...

He scratched the back of his head.

He stared at the cargo bay's shutter lever.

He pulled the shutter lever.

 

[Sanderford]

Naomi had chosen not to respond to the other Marine's attitude, or indeed to acknowledge him in any way. She had work to do, and if he wanted to fight her, he could wait. They had a new objective to get to, even if she had no clear idea what they were supposed to do once they reached it.

"Corporal, I want you on point to that space-bag."

That was the Navy officer again. Like all officers the Marine had met he seemed to enjoy giving orders, but at least he seemed to know how to give good ones. A bossy jackass she could readily tolerate. A stupid bossy jackass would be too much.

"Aye, sir," she said, securing her bag on her shoulders and checking her weapon before heading out in the indicated direction, pistol drawn but kept low.

Naomi had no way of knowing what was in the giant bag herself, but the squids seemed to think it was some kind of a ship, which would mean a quick way out of here. That would be ideal, though being cooped up in a ship that small, with some of the people here now...

Naomi shook that off and continued on her way. She had a job to do. Everything else could wait.

 

[ShotJon]

Jenn caught the pad and looked at it. She walked after the rest of the group, reading the lines. Her eyes jumping from side to side. It took her surprisingly little time, but then she looked back up to the young officer. Then at the ship in a bag, that was tied to the station. Then back at the officer.

"Oh goody. You are nae serious. You want to take that prrottypal piece of bolts and use it? I dinnae think that is such a good idea. If it is even worrking." She then said to the Maik. "If it does not have funcional FTL drrive, we are buggerred to hell mate."