RP: SNV Gam'trosha [Prologue] The Gathering, and Launch?

Shots were fired in distance. Shar perked her ears and her tail suddenly stood still for a fraction of a seconds, then she was on move. Her body moving on its own, she started sprinting towards the sounds. She drew her plasma pistole and pressed on.

Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor

It seemed quite obvious that the intruder was surprised at Keri rushing toward them, but that quickly wore off as they side stepped the Kit and brought their sword up to the kit's neck, only to quickly change the direction and slice across the hair - taking a few pieces off and them smacking Keri's sword away with theirs.

Then they sped past them, and came to a stop a few feet away, pivoting quickly on their legs and bringing the sword back into a ready stance. "Is this the best you can do?" taunted the intruder through their helmets speakers, the voice sounding male. The intruder just stood there, waiting for Keri to make the next move.

Mainframe

More status messages appeared, showing what the system was doing and how it was presently storing sensor data and attempting to realign the ships sensors but also clear the static from the system.

Deck 3, near infirmary

Behind Shar, there was the sound of a metallic ring that reverberated down the hallway.

Deck 3, near blast door

The intruders eyes went wide when they saw the My’leke suddenly come charging toward them, their weapon went down for a brief moment in shock, then quickly snapped it back up and started letting loose a hectic spray of fire that only accomplished in showing that their aim was truly not that great.

One shot managed to hit Tite’yanus’s anti-tank module, melting away the targeting system and sending molten metal against his body suit. Another hit his helmet, and melted some of the exterior armor plating and exposing a few of the internal circuits, at most there would be a heat buildup but nothing serious. The remaining shots however just flew past him, splashing across the walls, ceiling, and floor and leaving behind melted metal.

The intruder kept up the fire, getting more and more panic’d before they felt the butt end of Tite’yanus’s anti-tank barrel smash into their chest. Two hundred and twenty pounds of My’leke, combined with the weight of module, caused the intruder’s chest to cave in like it was nothing but air. Rib’s shattered and organs were mashed against the inside of the body; the spine snapping in half when half of their body was pushed ‘under’ the door and left the intruder reeling in pain as they left out a painful, female, scream that punctured the hallway through the person’s helmet speakers.

This person tried to speak, but all that could be heard was gurgling. They tried to move their hand, but found that there was no feeling in it. Blood trickled out of the chest wound, as white medical foam tried to pool around the wound, but both due to the size and the zero-g environment, all it accomplished in doing was leaking out into the air and forming white goblets of goo that floated away.

Bridge

As the shockwave subsided and the radiation from the nuclear explosion began to dissipate, sensors were slowly starting to return. Some displayed sporadic data showing debris in the area along with small rocks and pieces of ships.

The IDS was still out, displaying nothing but static all around the ship.

Sa’kira scowled. “Keep her steady,” she said to Def as the ship rumbled under the shockwave. There was a lot of rumbling going on, and Sa’kira couldn’t tell it was due to the damage the ship had sustained or something else. “See what sensors we have please,” she said, “and scan the general area.”

Deck 3, Blast Door

Tite'Yanus ignored the weapons fire coming at him and rammed into the chest of the intruder, feeling her chest and bones give way beneath the weight and power of him and his armor. Jumping back, Tite watched as she writhed in pain, tempted to save her so he could make her talk. Though it didn't seem like there was anything he could do, he radioed in via his comm.

"Shipmistress, intruder neutralized. I'm gonna need a medical team on Deck 3 if we want her to live."

She was on her way when sound much too resembling two swords clashing could be hear by her. It was not very far too, so rather then go inspect the fired shots, Shar decided to move there. Black furred Daur sprinted as fast as she could.

She slid sideways to the intersection to see small kit, she saw in the restaurant and tall Laibe. They both have their sword in their hands and obviously were fighting.

"OY!" Shar shouted their way. "Arseface! Why dontchu fight someone your own size," she shouted at the Laibe and drew her knife. She could not use her pistol for risk of hurting the kit. Knife should be enough anyway, not that much room for sword in the hallway.

Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor


The intruder let out a throty laugh when they saw Shar pull out a knife. "And you think that will be enough to take me down?" it asked, placing it's free hand onto it's back and pulling out a second sword form a hidden sheath.

It held the sword up int a challenging jester, pointing the end toward Shar and then toward Keri. "It'll take more than just the two of you to take me down, but you're more than welcome to try," it said as the ship rumbled slightly from the activity outside, despite having it's gravity boots engaged, they could feel it. Glancing slightly up at the ceiling, partly distracted by something that Shar nor Keri could see or hear.

Deck 3, near blast door

Tite'yanus's communicator chimed as he received the following message:

Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor

Keri stifled a grimace at just how close his head had come to rolling across the deck -- he's briefly glanced towards the silver-white fur that now drifted towards the floor. He had miscalculated and foolishly underestimated his opponent. If not for the fact that the enemy seemed to obtain some perverse enjoyment from toying with him, the kit would already be a corpse.

Temporarily abandoning offense in favour of a defensive pose, Keri'cruen once more raised his sword and put himself on guard against any strikes from the Laibe. He was not only at a physical disadvantage, but the enemies skill seemed to equal or surpass his own -- odds were too far out of favour for him to hope to prevail alone. His fortune seemed to improve a measure though, when one of the other Gam'trosha crewmembers -- Shar'ica-- arrived just in time to lend him aid.

Shar said:

"OY!" Shar shouted their way. "Arseface! Why dontchu fight someone your own size," she shouted at the Laibe and drew her knife. She could not use her pistol for risk of hurting the kit. Knife should be enough anyway, not that much room for sword in the hallway.

Click to expand...

The kit's relief was short-lived though, as the enemy pulled another blade free from a hidden sheath and faced the two soldiers with apparent disregard for their skills. Keri swollowed. He had fought against dual-blade users before -- but their opponent seemed a skilled killer -- and fighting a duel in competition was a far cry from a life-and-death struggle.

Keri's mental struggle to decide whether to try and press an attack now that Shar'ica was present became interrupted then -- whilst still in a defensive stance, Keri followed the enemy Laibe's gaze slightly upward towards the ceiling.

Shar knew this was not going to be easy. Zero G in the halls was messing things up. If they were in gravity, she would probably had easier times dealing that that arrogant prick, but here? This won't be too easy, especially when she has only a knife. She could try to shoot him down, but his armored suit could protect him, not to mention she could hit the kit.

Shar started walking toward the enemy, her body posture was relaxed. He had two swords and Shar hated people using two swords. What show-offs. She though, two swords were liability. Free hand was much more useful in the fight.

"Oh hell, I could use a smoke right now!" She said to keep herself even relaxed and to make enemy nervous. Shar herself was not afraid, not at all. Some stupid terrorist would not frighten her. Yes he could kill her, but she did not care about that anyway.

When Shar noticed her enemy looked up, she took the chance. Or bait, he might be ready for her, but she did not care. Shar rushed forward, quickly slashing her knife at one of the enemy's wrist, ready to bend back to avoid, any incoming counter-attack.

Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor


"So.. I've outstayed my welcome," muttered the intruder before they cought movement out of the corner of their eye and just barely avoided the knife from Shar, though the intruder already knew it was a poor weapon to use against an armored suit, but when they noticed where the knife was going they couldn't help but smile at least a small bit that the aim was directed toward one of the very 'few' weak points in the armor. Gotta be a marine.. or perhaps a swordsman? thought the intruder as they spun around on their heels and slammed the back of their elbow into Shar's back to push her away from them.

Then they looked over at Keri and grinned. "Kit scared out of his mind? Or has your mother not weened you yet?" They taunted, waiting for the child go give them the opening they'd need to incapacitate and then get out of the ship.

Gam'trosha

The ship began to shudder violently, anything unsecured came crashing down to the deck. In the infirmary, what few medical supplies were there were coming off the shelves and crashing onto the ground, syringes shattered into hundreds of pieces, bottles broke, and cases of bandages popped open.

Bridge

Def'leor slammed her console with her left fist to give vent to her frustration. "Yes Mistress, I will do my best to stabilize the ship, but I fear we may have bigger issues." she replied.

She mentally reviewed her calculations, while trying to get any response from the sensors. They barely had any working sensors prior to this detonation. But what had her more concerned was the proximity. The Gam'Trosha should not have been anywhere near the detonation point. She expected the ship to be buffeted on its exit vector, but nothing like what they experienced. That meant at least one of the nuclear missiles either malfunctioned and went off course, or someone targeted them. Recalling the disappearance of the ship that had been trying to contact them, the later was the more likely.

She sent a command to re-initialize the sensor systems. It was possible that cycling them might clear any faults caused by the proximity of the blast and give the systems a chance to recover. While waiting for that, she pulled up the external visual systems and used that to stabilize the wounded ships attitude in space, and work on getting out of the danger zone.

Thanks to the armoured suit, her back were fine with being hit by his elbow. It was still quite a punch, but nothing too dangerous. Shar walked another few steps and quickly turned around. Laibe's cocky attitude will be his downfall, today or another day, if Shar won't be lucky or good enough. At least now she had Keri right next to her and that meant she had clear line of fire.

As soon as she finished turning she tossed her knife at the enemy. That was merely distraction, something to get him busy, while her hand went down to he belt. Shar's fingers wrapped around the holstered plasma pistol's grip. With gentle yank the pistol left the holster and quickly started being aimed up in direction of the Laibe. Without wasting any time Shar started firing.

First shot went out as soon as the pistol was in the direction of enemy, aiming vaguely at his pelvis and thigs. When Shar pulled the trigger for second time she was already holding pistol with both hands aiming at enemy's chest. Slight recoil helped put the pistol even upper as Shar fired third shot at Laibe's face. Just as she was trained. Three shots, two at the body, one in the head.

Gam'trosha Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor

Keri shifted his feet in order to maintain balance as the Gam'trosha lurched suddenly, his sword still held by one hand in a guarding gesture whilst his other hand braced against the corridor wall. Once the abrupt movement ceased, the kit's attention was firmly fixed upon the enemy once more.

Inexperienced as he was in real combat, Keri wasn't fool enough to rise to the armored Laibe's baiting comments when his opponent was so clearly a better fighter -- Keri simply held his ground and hoped that Shar'ica would be able to shoot him down before the armored Laibe made the attempt to cut his way clear.

Bridge

Visual monitors flipped on, static filled and showed the stars as the ship rotated as Def attempted to stabalize her, other things appeared as well including small pieces of debris and chunks of a rock.

However, something else also appeared, something that flashed into the display for only a second but resembled the leading edges of a planet.

On another display, the system registered Def's command began to cycle the sensors in. Slowly, they started to come back online, first passive, then active....

As the ship slowed, the visual monitors showed a descent sized chunk of an asteriod heading right for them.

Gam'trosha Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor

The intruder watched but barely had time to avoid the knife which cut lightly across their helmet, leaving nothing but a small skrapping of the paint.

Grinning inside the helmet, the intruder suddnely blinked when they saw the business end of the pistol and attempted to evade - but the distance between them and the pistol was much to short and evasion was not possible.

The plasma found it's mark, scoring the buttom of the armor and burning some of it away, while the other shots either missed or merely scrapped against it. The last shot to the head scored along the left side of the helmet, burning away much of the armor plating and exposing the circuits underneath.

The intruder let out a scowl, then a loud scream that could've been mistaken for a banshee. Then they tossed one of their swords aside and rushed forward, knocking Shar out of the way and running the sharp end of their blade right into Keri's shoulder. The armor, which was rated to handle small arms fire and swords, wasn't designed to handle a sword going straight into the fabric.

The threads split and the internal circuirtry parted as the blade ran through, then they kept going until they got the wall, demonstrating just how strong this Laibe was, and pinned Keri against it and ran the sword almost a foot into the wall until it dug into the metal and stopped moving.

The intruder stared into Keri's eyes before a light chuckle could be heard, then drew back, looked at Shar and then took off down the corridor heading for the ships starboard escape pods; though it did appear that the intruder was favoring their left leg.

Medical

After a short while, C'bar Tite'yanus arrived in medical pulling an unconcious intruder behind them. Looking around, he found that the place was empty, there were no lights but there were clings floating around which meant that the artificial gravity plating in the infirmary wasn't functional.

There were several beds that could be used, and Tite'yanus found the closest one to place their guest on before grabbing a medical kit that was floating nearby and started getting to work on them.

Gam'trosha Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor

All thought was completely obliterated -- overwhelmed by the mind-bending pain that suffused Keri'cruen's brain. He screamed as the Laibe's sword penetrated through armor, flesh, bone and the metal plating behind the kit as though the sword was a hot knife carving through butter.

Pinned helplessly against the corridor wall, Keri'cruen dropped his sword and slumped as though boneless -- only to jerk immediately upright with a renewed scream due to his body weight causing the sword to dig up further into his shoulder and magnifying the pain he felt tenfold. Bright crimson life-blood flowed from in his wound, soaking his clothing and dripping into a growing puddle upon the deck.

Sensing his altered vital signs and the breach in its integrity, Keri'cruen's armored body suit began to respond -- releasing its store of medicinal foam in an attempt to prevent Keri from bleeding out.

Erm'olai looked over these errors with interest. This would make interesting evidence and research material for later. Evidence towards the conviction of the intruders to be certain, while the research material could lead to anti-intrusion countermeasure (hopefully better ones than current countermeasures).

So the Laibe began to collect said data and shift it into a file in a separate partition. From there, he copied the partition three times in order to make sure there would be a copy if any other intruders were keeping an eye on the mainframe.

Bridge

Def took a look at the sensory data and swore to herself. Damn computer must have been lying all along to us. Need to get us clear. "Mistress collision alert. Taking evasive." she called out as she hit the ship wide alarm system. "All hands prepare for high acceleration maneuvers collision warning." she sent across the internal communications systems.

Def'leor then expanded the IDT and programmed it to give her constant updates. She then set her fingers dancing across the thruster controls as she feverishly worked to strop the Gam'trosha's tumbling. She said a silent prayer to her patron diety, and as the ship's tumble reduced she hit the main engines on an emergency trajectory. Given the questionable status of their shields she realized she had to fly the ship and avoid all each object that could cross their path.

"Drisa!" Shar shouted as she was shoved aside by much bigger Laibe. Weight and size. Her own weakness. Shar at least ended up better then poor Kit, who got pinned to the wall like precious butterfly. Poor sod could not even collapse in pain.

Shar tried to grab the assailant as he ran by, but was not swift enough. She used the low gravity to toss herself about and got on her feet. "Sorry kid!" She shouted, grabbed Keri by his healthy shoulder to keep him in one place and quickly pulled the sword out with the other one.

Quickly turning against enemy who was trying to get away she raised the sword holding it as a would be javelin. She made a step forward to get some momentum and threw the spear at the Laibe's back, enjoying its low weight and resistance as she sent it at the terrorists back.

Gam'trosha Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor

When the sword was pulled out, it caused the hardened foam to come out with it, resulting the body suit injecting new foam to cover that which had been removed.

The intruder stopped briefly when they got to the escape pod door and slapped the switch to open it, but they only got as far as a foot before the sword now turned javalin punched right through their right shoulder and sent them tumbling into the pod.

Inside, the intruder shouted curses at Shar, then closed the pod and hit the ejection system. There was a loud bang as the pods release locks disengaged and the pod was jettisoned out of the ship and into space.

Mainframe

Several more displays appeared showing more status on ship systems, but also one that showed that the mainframe was currently still backing up files but also restoring some files. It did show that the mainframes ability to control the ships shield generators was back online and that turret control, while restored earlier, was now fully back online.

Bridge

Sa'kira held on as Def flew, their ship while it had inertia dampeners were being stressed to their limit.

As she watched her aviators flying; she addressed the entire ship.

"Shipmaster Sa'kira to all sections, report in please," she wanted to know what was going on, she hadn't heard from her engineers or her marines and that was worrying her.

Gam'trosha

The ship rolled and dove, avoiding the asteriod that had been heading toward it, and disappearing behind the ship.

Distance was made, slowly, but enough that after only a few seconds the ship was out of the debris field generated by the nuclear explosion and comprised of rocks and ship debris. However, being out of the debris field allowed the ships sensors and IDS system to better scan the objective asteriod.

On the ships viewscreen, but also in the IDS, it showed the asteriod split in half. One part, comprised of almost sixty percent of the asteriod, moved 'upward' and away from Levia.

However, the other half, which was the remaining forty percent; moved 'downward' and actually began to accelerate toward the planet.

"Srisa!" Shar shouted as the assailant ran away in pod. She almost got him. Sword flew too much to the left and hit shoulder instead of the backs where spine or lungs are. It did not kill him. No time wailing about such thin, Shar quickly moved and picked up young Keri, who was weightless in zero G. She started moving towards the infirmary and was about to report, when Ship-mistress acutally asked for it.

"Shar here!" Black-furred daur barked into her communicator. "We had another terrorist. I encountered him fighting that young boy that was in the restaurant with us this morning. Bloody kit did not even reported it! Anyway the kit is injured, but the terrorist escaped using escape pod on forward section of pod 3. Shoot it down or something!" She quickly reported, moving fast towards the infirmary.

Gam'trosha Deck 3, Forward Section, Main Corridor

Keri'cruen drew slow quick breaths and then gritted his teeth in preparation for Shar'ica removing the sword from his shoulder. As she drew it free, the kit released an anguished groan through his clenched teeth -- a groan which eventually became and all-out scream as the pain became too much for the kit to hold in. Once the sword was free, the kit sank to the ground.

By the time Shar'ica took Keri into her arms and began treking to the infirmary, Keri'cruen's vision had gone extremely hazy as though everything was covered in white mist -- due to the considerable blood-loss from his injury. After hearing Sa'kira's voice being issued by their communicators and Shar'ica's response to the Shipmaster's request for an update, Keri'cruen added a few barely coherent comments of his own.

"Couldn't... couldn't contact bridge. Comms... were being... jammed. Found... explosive... engineering sabotaged... disarmed the bomb... fixed..." the kit's words were interrupted as he issued a wheezing cough. He bit down on his lip, drawing blood, trying to stop himself from screaming from the sudden mind-blowing increase in pain, "I fixed... fixed what I could..." Unable to bring himself to speak anymore, the young kit's voice drifted off. The only sounds that came from the kit after that point onwards were his pained gasps for fresh air.

Bridge

Def eased upon the controls once they were in the clear. She looked at IDS image. She fed the sensor data into the computer to get an analysis of the rate of acceleration. She wanted to know if it was the gravity or something else pushing it. "Mistress, the asteroid failed to break according to projections. Also the smaller chunk does not appear to be on a trajectory to clear the planet."

She decided to give the radio another try, "NSV Gam'trosha, to other vessels what is your status?" She hoped that she would get an intelligible reply, but was not betting on it.