After a moment, Pidole was able to cycle the airlock, which allowed the the first couple of them onto the unfamiliar starship. She let Cassie go in first since Cassie was in a Mindy, and then stepped inside afterward. They both looked around to see the general condition of the ship's interior. The door closed behind them.
In a moment, the second Ke-T7 shuttle (NG-S1-575-3) with everyone who'd just left White Harbor station arrived on the scene as well. Since the medic was aboard it, the first shuttle moved away and let the second shuttle start docking immediately.
The inside of the ship left much to be desired. It was horribly cold, but nothing like the empty vacuum of space. The walls were dirty and exposed, worn down and cut away without compromising the integrity of the inner workings. It looked like a ship that had been routed out by space pirates: looted, stripped to the bone, and sad to look at after a while.
Pidole stared at Cassie. "Do we have a way to check for good air?" she asked.
"I dunno," Cassie replied, sounding frustrated. "Let me look at the Mindy's manual."
"Oh, a manual! I am a manual," Pidole giggled. She knew power armor repair like the back of her hand. "I've got it! There's an air filter on the Mindy, try turning it on and off again and see if there's outside air you can filter and if works there that means there's air."
"See I knew it was good to bring the technician," Cassie said, impressed. She tried in and found there was indeed some air. "I think we are good." She transmitted her findings to both shuttles. "Resurgence teams, this is Cassie, air is present. Holding position."
Yayoi observed from the shuttle, and grabbed a weapon as she readied herself for possible battle.
After a moment to create a good seal, the second shuttle was connected to the alien ship and the others could enter. Poppy entered the airlock, looking a little nervous about going in without a suit on.
Kinie stayed back on the shuttle. "Let me know if you need me," she meekly said.
Cheilith was ready to go, her armor and rifle held at the ready, securing the perimeter as the other shuttle docked.
Delmira enjoyed the trip over but was up and ready to go hanging onto a strap from the roof of the shuttle ready to go. She winked at Kinie and moved to stand by the door to the shuttle ready for it to open.
Going further in revealed more or less of the same dismantlement and deconstruction. No processes hindered or machinations failing. Just the choppy, unrefined look seen previously. There were only two rooms of significant interest: the bloodied smelting station, which was present on all Senti ships, and the corridor leading to the bridge. A corridor speckled with dried blood, scrapes, scratches, and one large pool of blood since left to sit and coagulate. A body normally associated with this sort of scene was nowhere to be found.
Cheilith's keen eyes scanned the mess in front of them. "Blood, no body. Spooky as all hell." She commented on the scene in front of them.
Cassie joined Cheillith on point and began searching the ship for survivors with her.
Poppy took a sample of the blood and placed it in her medical pack. "It's freezing in here," she shivered.
Yayoi was silent as she followed the others. Since she wasn't spoken to she didn't think to say anything as she kept her eyes on the environment around her. "Agreed" she muttered, it was cold but she could take it, she thought she had been through worse than this.
The corridor split in two, creating a T-Shape with a metal door at the center of the hallway. The trail of blood which came into its own from the mess they found drew a line along the metallic floor, going under the door and to the bridge of the ship. The door would be easy to open once they discovered the entry pad was busted, the glass on the fancy software program shattered and broken.
"Got a door here, Pidole," Cassie announced.
Pidole came up to the door and looked at the shattered controls and decided to hot-wire the thing. "Gloves," she muttered, as the spacesuit slowed her down a little. Her beetle buddy looked around from inside her helmet.
While the others worked, Cheilith made sure that they wouldn't be interrupted by someone suddenly appearing in the darkened hall.
Delmira was out the door and she was looking around where the shuttle docked. She looked at Chelith and gave a nod before moving off to the right to look around hand on the hilt of her NSP.
"Okay," Pidole said, grabbing a device from her tool bag and connecting a door wire. The door slid open to reveal the ship's bridge. "We're in."
The bridge was the least affected area on the entire ship. Dirty and unkempt, but in one piece. Where everything else had been mutilated, the bridge remained in tact. The blood trail continued down the bridge and came to stop under a rolling chair. In that rolling chair sat a young man, pale, sickly, and thin. He leaned forward over the glass top control center, breathing ragged and eyes barely open. His arms hung limply in front of him, likely bracing his slump onto the unit. Raspy inhales sounded pitifully every now and then, and it sent the message. He was in rough shape.
Yayoi was silent as she followed the others. Since she wasn't spoken to she didn't think to say anything as she kept her eyes on the environment around her. "Agreed" she muttered, it was cold but she could take it, she thought she had been through worse than this.
"Medic!" Cassie shouted when she saw the Senti in the brdige chair.
Poppy hustled up to the bridge. "Fuck, I don't know shit about Senti medicine," she hissed. She first made sure the bleeding was stopped.
Pidole checked out the ship's condition while Poppy worked.
Delmira stayed by the second shuttle acting as security for now until called to go elsewhere. "Wish i had more pizza before landing." she said to herself.
Mia Barber's voice suddenly came over the team's audio network. "Hey, I remember in caretaker school when they taught us about making different species comfortable, they said Senti have extreme sensitivity to cold," she offered.
"Okay, let's get him to the shuttle and turn the heat up," Poppy said out loud and over the net. "Cheilith, can you help me carry him? Actually Delmira can you do it so I can keep pressure on the wound?"
"On it." Delmira said and swiftly made her way to the bridge to help out. "We got a stretcher to put him on?"
Cheilith took a small cylinder from her belt and set it on the ground next to the Senti. It unfolded and unrolled into a stretcher. "We knew this was a rescue mission going in." She explained as the edges hardened into handles for Delmira and Cheilith to carry with.
Delmira smirked at Chelith. "Alright on 3 lets load him on," Del moved to position to move him and then grab the handle bars ready to pick him up and move him.
As they positioned the Senti to get him on the stretcher, they would see where the source of bleeding came from. He had a stab wound on his leg, and he was lucky it only got muscle. They would also discover how light he weighed, another hint to his current predicament. Small parts of long hair had started falling out as well, a visual cue of Hypometallucism.
Yayoi observed the activity as her crew worked to help the being she now knew to be a Senti, The environment was a tell tale sign. But the poor sight before her bothered her. She also knew he had to be cold, and she had a feeling she knew what that meant. She turned her attention to the rest of the ship and followed Cassie since the others had him secured.
Delmira and Cheilith hustled the Senti to the shuttle quickly and lay him with a medic inside. Cheilith grabbed another quick stretcher and the two rejoined the rest of the group.
"One subject secured," Cassie reported over the radio. "I'm searching the rest of the ship," she said, moving out to check if there was anyone else on board.
The rest of the ship would be empty. Every corridor devoid of living things. Every room and bunker unoccupied. The only thing the crew would find was the corpse which the pool of blood belonged to. A Senti, long deceased, never smelted into burial steel. His body slumped against the wall limply, a red dried knife in his open palm and a thousand-yard stare in empty eyes. Covered in blood, and very clearly an older Precent. The man was an impressive 6'7", a tall and strapping body gone to waste.
"Got one corpse," Cassie said over the radio. "Beryl, you got any bodybags?"
Yayoi cursed silently as she hovered beside Cassie and observed the body. She thought it was a shame, but nothing they could do so she started moving on.
"Yeah, Thad is bringing one for you." In a moment, Thad arrived with one from the shuttle and helped move the body into the person-sized sack and sealed it up. The bag had two sets of handles on it so he grabbed one and helped haul it back to the shuttle.
