Log:False Distress

A group of would be do-gooders respond to a distress call

OOC Date: December 22, 2019
Location: Unknown Class VI Bulk Freighter
Participants: Lozen, Zul Gradnk, Narsai Ordo, Sion and Hadrix Kora

A Gambit ultra-light can be cramped but it has a small sensor shadow and it's fast. When the Hyperspace tunnel opens and the Redemptor is spit back to realspace in proximity of a Class VI CEC Bulk Freighter.

A hologram of a mustelid like Selonian is on display, "We received the emergency beacon less than an hour ago. The command crew reported their ships were ionized..." The ship is floating dead in space, listing based on the last firing of engines firing uneven and directional thrusters.

"Please board, assess, if anyone can be saved please do, if someone is trying to steal the ship, get it back up and running. We have emergency droids that can be activated to handle piloting if the crew is dead."

An old Imperial Delta-DX9 is attached to the aft end of the ship, and while the Redemptor systems report sensor sweeps going off, the small craft has managed to evade notice for now as it makes for a hatch at the mid-ship, to dock magnetically and connect for access. Hadrix, in full armor, steps from the cockpit to the main cargo and 'dwelling' area nods to the others. <"I'm here for support as needed."> rumbling on his externals. The selonian hologram disappears and the hatch makes a tone declaring a connection and ready to open.

Peering over the pilot's shoulder, Sion makes a quick check of her S5 pistol, then pulls on the helmet of her boarding suit. <Sounds like we'd better be careful. There's a lot of sensor activity for a disabled ship,> she comments, sticking to coms to get into the habit. It's easier to be quiet if you're not relying on sound to communicate. <So just get aboard, find any survivors, and try to salvage the ship... simple in theory, but likely to be a lot more complicated in practice.>

Lozen is in armor and helmet, she is armed with her axe, pistol, dager, and rifle. Sadly she is not here to help the wounded or fix the ship but to handle any hostiles that may be encountered in this mission. <Specialized personel who require guarding please speak up. This would be doctors and engineers, yes?>

Zul Gradnk sighs, reaching towards her hip to have her blasters ready to draw <<"Do... you think they are still alive?">> she asks, sounding hopeful <<"I mean, this ship isn't burning...">> she starts, seeing a Delta <<"And.... there we have our robbers, I suppose?">> she guesses, sighing <<"I hate Delta's. They are plain ugly... they even beat old Sheathipedes">> she mutters, shaking her head <<"Su cuy'gar, Hadrix...">> she begins <<"Mandoa joha hibirar...">> she adds, slowly, thinking over every word "Vercopa jate'kara gedet'ye...">> she says, sighing <<"I hope that was right.">> she mutters, before getting up <<"Do we have a map?">> she asks <<"So.... we have some preparation?">> she wonders <<"Although, it might be too late for it..." she realizes, gulping>> Zul also is in armour and a spacesuit, a few pistols hanging of her belt. She also can't fix exactly, so she likely is supposed to help out with limited fire support

In the back and armored up as usual, Narsai was checking her weaponry over. Sure the ship had called in it was disabled but...well, she'd blundered into a trap or two like this in the past. It -could- be what it looks like however, so the Mandalorian woman turns back to the others and flicks on her AR. Even if they didn't have a map to begin with, she'd let her tagging system search for lifesigns and try to form one. <<"Vac'd is a hell of a way to die,">> she comments aloud, <<"But we'll go through and confirm, help who we can.">>
                                          

<"I almost died that way..."> Hadrix rumbles as he weapon checks. The airlock indicates atmosphere, but lower temperatures, before it snaps open and a spicy sweet smell wafts up on chilly air. The lights are dim, and somewhere they flicker causing what can be seen to warble. It's deathly quiet as well, save for the rasp of air recyclers in the bulk freighter below.

Sion keeps low, easing out into the bulk freighter's upper corridor. <Suggest we walk soft. Better we see them first, if anybody's here looking to make trouble,> she says, moving to cover the party's entry. She nods to Zul. Narsai gets a faint smile. <Once more into the trouble, Red?>

Lozen clarifies firmly <No one will be dying by vacuum this day, eh?> Hadrix gets a firm thump between his shoulderblades to reassure him she's got his back and make sure he is firmly rooted here and now and not dwelling on traumatizing memories before she draws her firearm and and follows.

Zul Gradnk blinks, trying to follow them, attempting to move as silently as she can which.... is still quie easily hearable. Still, she is on her toes. There could be a fire again, or, worse.... shooting people. At least there was no Hutt's <<You know, such an empty ship could make an excellent backdrop for a horror Holo...>>

Zul's comment earns a shudder, a shake of her head. "I've seen a 'ghost ship' with horrors that tried to eat me and my crew before," Narsai muses. "Once was enough, we don't have as many flame throwers this time as we did the last." Drawing her blaster, Narsai moves to try and keep that same stealth. Some are silent, and others slam down through the hatchway with resounding 'CLONKS' when they hit. There is dust swirling through the air kicked up by their landing. The sickly sweet smell surrounding, but the air is close and damp feeling - the echoes from louder landings falling like a file of wet paper on a solid table.

They've landed in the central corridor of the freighter. One way leading for the command decks, the other towards the cargo holds and where the old DX-9 was docked.

<Well, the chart says the crew areas and bridge are this way,> Sion says, looking at the briefing. <That's where we'll most likely find survivors.> She pauses to take a good look at something. <This is weird. This paint shouldn't be spotted this way...> She turns on her helmet lamp for a better look, keeping the illumination down to about 500 lumens. <It's been retouched. Scrapes, blaster scoring... this ship's been in trouble before.>

Lozen comes to stand near Sion, standing watch over the other woman as Sion examines whatever strange thing she has found, Lozen's pistol is up and gaze is seeking possible enemy combatants but rather blind to any more insideous hazards.

Zul Gradnk blinks "Wait..." she says "Do you hear the vents?" she asks"They... rattle. And seem to have run non-stop... something is off here..." she mutters, aiming a blaster at the vent, tilting her ear-cones towards it

The ship remains quiet, but now that they're pointed out - the spots and streaks painted over noted by Sion now impossible to miss - the same as the sounds pointed out by Zul. The rattling sounds of the ship stretching out while the rescue party makes their initial observations.

Sion moves on ahead, towards the command areas, eyes up and pistol ready. <Weird thing to hear in the vents... but hopefully it's got nothing to do with us and our rescue. We'd better move. Could be people in trouble waiting on us.>

Lozen frowns gently, <Strangeness is often at least peripherally related to rescue missions, keep eyes open and foot falls light.> She prowls forward carefull, <Do we know that there ARE survivors?>

Zul Gradnk blinks <"Rattling, sure..."> she says >"Mouse droids...."> she stops <"Pulsing, but nothing from Engineering..."> she says <"Perhaps we should check there?"> she wonders, looking about <"Lo?"> she asks <"Do you think I am paranoid?">

<<Only one way we're going to know for sure,>> Narsai muses, moving with the group. So far, no obvious ambushes and no bodies either. <<Were we getting any signals from the escape pods?>> A pauses, she looks between the pair gesturing in opposite directions. <<If we're splitting, maintain commlink connection.">>

Hatchways are open, but the air smells 'cleaner' as one moves towards the command deck. The dust is thicker - though air flow has kept it from building up. There are no signs of distress, conflict, just the splotches of painted over bulkhead found by Sion earlier. The rattling noted by Zul fades out, humming replaces it, like strip lights getting ready to over-charge and burst.

The scent is only thicker as Zul leads aftward and it begins to feel like a pressure against eyes not protected by a helmet. The air is breathable, but heavy... wrong. Sound is becoming more muffled and a sensation of eyes begins to creep up the spines of those headed for Engineering.

<Guess we're splitting up, then? Good luck,> Sion says, bowing her head respectfully to the aft party. <At least we can stay in touch and let you know what turns up.> She turns to head forward, pausing to check inside the open doors... and falling against one of them with a clatter and a muttered curse. <That... hurt. Funny, these hatches are all open, but there's nothing wrong with them. And it looks like something was dragged down the central corridor... and someone cleaned up after. Just like with the paint. I think something's /very/ wrong on this ship. Heading for the bridge.>

Lozen skitters forward to keep up with Sion or try to when Sion falls. She relaxes when there seems to be nothing other than the fall and follows towards the bridge cautiously, "Wrong how? Besides the fact that I have not seen a single body."

The internal PA system engages, for a few moments, long enough for a feedback loop to start, rising to a point where even sealed helmets begin to buzz from the sheer volume, the lights give out, replaced by sickly orange battery lights and a half-functional 'emergency power' signal goes off to announce life support beginning to disengage in rasping staticky voices going through different languages.

That noise! Sion yowls in pain as her helmet begins to vibrate in sympathy with the tortured air. But it doesn't last long before everything goes dark, emergency lights come on, and system failure announcements for life support begin repeating. <It /is/ a trap!> Sion exclaims. <And we definitely need to get back to our ship. Let's go! We can collect the other once we make sure we have a way off this floating tomb!> She pauses to blast the device with the message on it. She can at least make sure nobody ever uses this piece of gear to sucker people onto this ship again! And then she heads for the Gambit freighter, to make sure it's still there and functioning. Lozen lifts her pistol though she wobbles a bit at the noise and makes a sound of pained discomfort before shaking it off to tug on Sion's shoulder while the other woman fiddles with the controls, <Come on! We must go!>

As the pair hunker down, figures emerge from the crew corridors, hunched, goitered, withered and swollen in places. Perhaps radiation? Genetic experiments? Maybe even generations of inbreeding, but their species can only be described as humanoid and their equipment scavenged.

As one lurches into the hall it's head cocks to one side and then turns to point at Lozen and Sion giving a shriek that sounds like three figures doing so in unison.

So the choice becomes clear, charge through or fall back to the bridge?

<Looks like we go through...> Sion mutters, seeing figures begin to shamble into the halls. She pivots around the doorjamb and opens fire, one of her shots putting an ugly mass of sores and limbs into the deck plating. <Now! Run for it!> She catches hold of Lozen's arm and whips her ahead, casting her clear of the grasping monstrosities. She follows momentarily, barely evading a grasping hands covered in scales and a couple boils. <Head for the ship!>

Lozen takes a shot and then growls in frustration as the second shot goes wide, <Go, I am behind you to provide c-...no. They are not firing. I will make a path." Her pistol is shoved in it's holster and her vibroax is tugged free, <Do not get too close. This is not a tool of discrimination.> as her axe is hefted.

As the two women open fire and charge, the slavering mutants begin to lean for cover, while a pair also peel into the hallway shrieking and gibbering at them while gibbering equipment is drawn. Haphazard slug throwers and fizzing blasters mixed with spears that look like they're made of broken off and sharpened bones attacked to pipes or tied to one another.

As projectiles fill the air between them, the remaining half-dozen attempt to pour into the halls, one with exaggerated suckers on its limbs scuttling across the ceiling.

<No need to tell me twice!> Sion replies, ducking around Lozen as the woman pauses. <But don't get yourself killed!> She's a bit too slow as she starts up again, and a lunging mutant grazes her with claw-things that look to be made of sharpened and serrated bones. The blow doesn't hurt her, but it messily tears the seat out of her protective suit! <Yow!> yelps Sion as she dashes clear, her pink athletic briefs on display. She whirls and fires back into the horde, but three shots burn into the bulkheads without touching them. <Come on, Lozen! There's too many of them!

Lozen cries <<Just stay BEHIND me!>> and with that she begins to cut a path through them, grunting and swinging her axe wide, cutting in a downward arch then across in a brutal horizontal, immediately pressing forward to claim ground as it opens, <Mind your step, Sion!> and as she works <My heart! Are you secure?> it's not graceful and elegant like Sion's swift motions, it's brutal, barbaric, and seemingly well suited through cutting through a fleshy barrier.

The remaining quartet of mutants in the corridors scrabble into the corridor in the wake of the bloodthirsty assault by Lozen that... well leaves naught for Sion to deal with while she gets them pink shorts moving. The gap made enough to let them put distance between them and the creatures hurling spears and firing slipshod blasters after them.

<<"I read, I'm by the hatch... Keeping a path clear">> There's a sound of that massive repeater cannon of his going off on comms, which echoes faintly down the corridor.

<I'm /trying/!> Sion protests, as two of the mutants seem to be evading Lozen's defensive wall of vibrating, mutant-shearing steel. She whirls and darts away as they grab for her, escaping harm, though one's near-miss snags a handful of tatters from her torn suit. Her dash away shreds away most of her suit between her waist and knees. <Agh... dammit! It's freezing in here!> As if the embarrassment wasn't enough! She gets some distance, pausing to fire at the still-advancing mutants. This time she's calmer... or maybe just angrier: One shot splatters the pulpy head of a mutant, another burns solidly into the one next to it. At least they're thinning the numbers down! <We're not far now, Hadrix!>

Lozen's vorpal blade goes snicker-snack through the hordes of mutants, she casts glances backwards trying to make sure she doesn't outpace Sion and leave the woman behind. She flings her head trying to shake off blood and gore from her visor <Almost to you, my heart!>

Hadrix is visible hosing weaponsfire down the hall aft, Zul hanging upside down from the hatchway. There are more of the mutants aftward, huddling between bulkheads and half-way inside hatches while the massive cannon in his arms hurtles blaster bolts down the hall.

Behind the Battle Ladies as they sprint the last remaining of the mutants that they'd been contending with continues to fire its cobbled together weapon. Power suddenly reengages, cutting away the dim lights and allowing for the sounds of the atmospheric systems returning... and a signal throughout the ship giving warning of an imminent hyperspace jump.

<My heart?> Sion asks, somehow curious about this in the middle of a battle, and quite an exceptional battle at that. But they're almost to the ship now, and safety! She whirls and fires three more shots back down the hall, trying to discourage a persistent mutant that has escaped the fate of its ugly brethren. Two of the shots sink home, and the monstrosity finally hits the deck for the last time. The corridor to the rear is clear! Sion leans on the hatchway, gasping. <Please tell me this ship's operational! I'm not sure we want to go wherever this hulk is taking us! Especially not me!> she adds, with a glance down at her mostly-bare legs.

Lozen's breath is becoming a bit labored. To be fair the axe is as tall as lozen is and likely weighs more than half her own weight so as impressive as her cleaving was-it's not infinite. She flicks blood from the weapon and snaps it back into it's sheath, blaster reclaimed as she thunders aboard and pauses, panting and prepared for anything to keep them from making way, <Forgive me, I was speaking to Hadrix.> She flashes a grin towards Sion though her visors hard to see through with gore on it <"Not that you are not also dear in your own way, sion!"> she pants out a quip.

As Sion and Lozen get within range Hadrix drops his repeater to hang from its strap before taking a fistful of the ladies belts. <<"Narsai! Release and punch it!">> Zul has swung up into the ship to make way as the big man's jets ignite as he very suddenly brings both ladies in for an impromptu group hug and they surge upward and back into the Redemptor a moment before the hatch snaps closed and the ultra-light pulls away.

There is silence, and then the sensation of the small craft being dragged into a spin when the Class VI very suddenly leaps to hyperspace.

<"What in the hell was that??> the big man rumbles over his externals.

<Oh... well, good to know! I think you're... pretty dear in ways too, Lozen,> Sion replies, more surprised by the latter than the former; she's guessed it was nothing to do with her. But she doesn't have time to elaborate, for she's suddenly pulled into a hug with Hadrix! She barely has time to grab for holds on the big man's breastplate and Lozens webbing before she feels something clutch at her belt, then suddenly all of them are inside the Gambit! The launch feels very, very ordinary after that, even with the spin. She gasps, slowly stepping free of the grip. <It was... the whole ship was a trap,> she says after a moment. <Somebody's sick experiment, I'll bet. Why else have a ship full of mutants and a phony distress call to lure people in? At least, that's all I can figure out.> She looks around. <Is everybody okay?>

Lozen yelps as she's carried off and away. She shakes her head, "I don't know but it is nothing I wish to encounter again." A pause "I should go hose off my armor before this dries." Bobs her head, "I am well. Tired and hungry and eager for a shower." she is covered like she rolled in mutant entrails or something. She turns and trudes off to do just that.