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[Kel Riever]

Morgan saw Jess head up to the catwalk from a ladder next to the control room.  He followed the catwalk around the walls of the hangar bay.  It was clearly meant as a main accessway for people who came aboard, not simply some maintenance structure.  But the only two exits from the bay evident were the prominent central one that Jess was heading up to, and then another each on the sides of the bay.  It was hard to determine if there were more that had been sealed up or if the two side entrances onto the walkway had been part of the remodeling.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne had only one thing to say, two simple words of human origin that so well summed up his entire thoughts on the ship.

 

"The ****?" He said aloud, looking between the strangeness of the wall, the lack of enemies to engage, and placement of creates as if there were enemies to engage, and the entire decour in general. He'd come in expecting entrenched gurellia-esque combat, what he found instead seemed more like some demented mans idea of a funhouse.

 

The krogan walked towards one of the crates, kicking it lightly with his foot and seeing it was firmly bolted where it was, in the middle of the hanger, for no obvious reason other then to be here.

 

"So they turned the ship into an asylum...just fan-******-tastic..." he said as he looked to the others on engineering team, hoping they felt as uneasy as he did.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul had put away the shockprod in favor of drawing his Cazador submachinegun, his breathing hidden beneath his mask as it stayed at a pretty quick rate. HE didn't like this place. It was too familiar, too close to what he'd lived in, what he'd gone through. It was playing tricks on him, making him think some hopped up varren was going to come barrelling through the corridors at him, and that some where above him was a cheering audience.

 

Essul worked to keep those thoughts at bay however as he focused on keeping guard of captian stone. Watching her get to work and docking the ship in the hanger, which had been re-aranged in a less disturbing but nevertheless creepy way. As she spoke to the others, essul couldn't help but clenched and unclenched his fist, knuckles cracking as he did so.

 

"This is too easy...all of this..." ESsul said aloud as he looked to captian stone, "It is, isn';t it? Why allow our comrades to dock? Is it just for the thrill of a hunt, vouyeristic...or worse?" he said, the last part more to himself as the edge in his voice was apparent. He didn't like how much this felt like a trap, and yet at the same time, so much unlike one. Where were the sentries? Where were the armed ambushers? Where was the gunmen in the walls at least, that would give some rationale to why they'd screwed with the ships o much. But no, there wasn't a rational reason, and as his eyes followed jess's fingers to see what lay in the spine walkway, he couldn't help but shudder.

 

"If I may be so bold, Captain Stone...I don't think any of us should go down there." He said bluntly, not trusting that the mannequin, the stone slab, or the communicator, weren't boobytrapped in some way.

[Terca]

"Noted." Eteon said as she walked past Jess and Essul towards the blockage in the main corridor. Warping through the portal she pressed her hand to the wall and after waiting a moment punched it. Not wrapped with her knuckles, actually drove her fist into the metal refuse. The sound was like a dull thud, and after she dropped her hand she activated the audio-senses in her suit and punched it again.

 

One solid note.

 

A break.

 

Softer note.

 

Several notes.

 

Low tone.

 

Buzzing.

 

Lower tone.

 

Muffling.

 

It continued on like that for a little while with the reverberating sounds bouncing off metal sheets and not-so-complete meshes of whatever. It wasn't easy to tell but it seemed like there was junk crammed in fairly tightly, but the sound that got through the first layer kept dissipating in bizarre ways. So there wasn't just stuff, there was a proverbial crapload of stuff. Probably just pressed together until there was barely enough room for a pyjak, if that.

 

"This wall... Is not one we could break through." She said slowly through their concealed comms channel, stepping away and turning off Audio-Sense. "I probably can't get through this either. It is difficult to tell with such bizarre sounds but it's probable that this block is sixty feet long from here to the other side. Outside my range, not that it would be ideal if it was."

 

She warped back to where Essul and Jess were, flexing her talons a bit.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena drew her pistol and climbed to the catwalk behind Jess. The place completely threw any plans they had out the hatch. "Wing it" came to mind.

 

"My group... just... stay close. We'll deal with things as they come up. F*ck it. Perhaps engineering team take the other route. See what's there. Stay in contact," she said. "We were expected. That's obvious, and Jess, it looks like Luscious betrayed you. I would like to interrogate him before you throw him out the airlock."

[Redbelle]

Jess stood where she was, foot tapping on the floor, hands on her hips.

 

Tap

 

Tap

 

TapTapTap

 

"Oh she's good. She's very good. Listen up people......".

 

"First.... Luscious is an idiot. He couldn't command his way out of a paper bag if it was wet. Maybe he betrayed me, maybe he didn't. But if he had anything to do with what happened to my crew then I'll show you a way to kill people with an airlock you've probably never seen before..... It's messy".

 

"Second..... Yes we're expected. But I'm guessing we've thrown off her timetable of when I'd arrive. What with us moving to the Jeniri and the stop to get VERA transferred. They made the place all cosy like and comfortable for themselves..... But let's not pretend we're going up against professional's here. They've assembled pawns and a gauntlet for us to get through. Probably hoping the crazies will slow us down and alert them to our presence. If I were her I'd give the lunatic's run of the Hanger and shipping crates. They may have trip sensor's between us and the command section. They are probably keeping an eye on the lunatic's behavior. Let's not trip any warning flags if we can help it. If we can't.... oh well, I'm not going to hold it against anyone if we're detected. We're fighting an enemy whose common frame of reference is chaos on a ship where I kept order....."

 

"Third..... This is all aimed at me. She's not expecting any of you. She's underestimated us if she thinks she can unerve us. This ship is a ship with a proud and long history and if it's allowed to stay in her hand's she'll ruin it. She could take it and drop it on a colony. She could ram it into one of the Citadel arms..... She could do anything and everything to turn this vessel into a weapon that would see her history of service in protecting lives in the first contact wars go down in flames. This ship is important to me and everyone who remember's her as a symbol of what one ship and a determined crew can do against the odds. I'm not letting Iyana take that away....."

 

"Yes we're walking into the unknown. Yes we're surrounded by maniac's and probably going to face them soon. And yes this ship could be destroyed on Iyana's whim since she's holding all the cards..... But she's doing this for a reason. She want's me to see something. And there's more than one me running in this group at the moment. So let's keep her guessing. Let's divide her focus and push on".

 

"First order.... If it threatens you, kill it. We'll have to head through the cargo airlocks to bypass the obstruction and I don't care who you have to shoot through to reach command module alive. If anyone's screamish about killing lunatic's... fine. But don't leave anyone behind your back who could pull a gun and show themselves to be a wolf in sheep's clothing".

 

"Second order..... proceed carefully. They've arranged a lot of obvious target's for us. And left a lot of obvious trap's for us to see..... So what it is we are not seeing takes priority in spotting. Stay with a buddy and watch out for each other. If you get in trouble radio in for help and it will come".

 

"Third order..... When in doubt remember this. I expect to see every one of you here at the other end of the spine alive and ready to beat the ever living crap out of the person who put us in this situation. you think it's not fair we're here dealing with this? Think about all the other people whose live's Iyana's going to ruin if we don't stop her. Think about her in the galaxy, turning the part's of it she touches into what we've seen here today. Odd's are you'll be lucky. It's a big galaxy. The chance's you'll encounter her are small..... but if you did, wouldn't you want the people by your side now to be there right when you needed them..."?

 

"....We're here now. The ****** has my ship and a lot to answer for and I'm not stopping till Bernard's put a round in her brain pan".

 

Jess looked around at the assembled group. "Ignore the decor. Give me a good crew and a few welding torch rig's I'll have this place right back in shape and looking like she should. Until then..... Pest control about sum's it up".

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"You heard her. Clear the ship. I'm not going to worry about noise. Use your thermal and night vision, and switch back and forth. Things may show up on one that do not on the other. And remember if you need reserve help, Jenus and Tallis are available," Naleena said, and she turned to Jess, "My guess is that we'll run into Luscious before we meet his mistress. My interrogation will not take long. I will meld with him and extract the information. Then I will meld with you and show you what I saw. You can then do with him as you see fit. Deal?

 

"As far as Iyana goes, after we pulled out of Illium, I received a communication from Sao. Jess, this is my first case. I suspect this is all arranged to wear us down psychologically, and then we'll get to the bridge and she'll be sitting on your throne surrounded by an elite guard. The guard of course will be sacrificed to give her time to escape. Be prepared for one hell of a fight. Did I tell you I hate catwalks and ramps? No cover."

[Kel Riever]

Anika, like a white knight in space, made her way cautiously along the outside of the Medusa, along the spine.  It was evident, as she went, that a large degree of work had been done to modify the interior of the freighter.  Reserve plates and patches had been laid in places from the outside so that anchoring points for structures on the inside wouldn’t cause a breach and decompression.  Torch scarring and other tool work could also be seen, its purpose less understandable.  Either the workers themselves, or through programming a rig, learned as they went, or worse, treated the Medusa as a canvas for some irrational vandalism. 

Without a doubt, the welding rigs had been tampered with, and Anika watched for them as they seemed to move about the hull, on a patrol of sorts.  Despite the track system providing some bit of predictability, it took time for Anika to figure out their movements which were much more inconstant.  The going was slow.  Her goal was to advance down the spine until she could reach the last set of clamps for the cargo pods, then set the charges she brought with her.

Oddly, the blinking light she had noticed came from that point exactly.

Minutes passed.  A slight maneuvering of the Medusa had Anika pause and take a glance around her in all directions.  Behind, she saw barely the lift of the ship’s bow horizon, indicating the forward hangar bay was open.  Her concern was that it might be seen from the bridge, but it was a long way away, and a subtle change likely only noticeable by someone who had spent some time with the Medusa.  Listening on her com to the rest of the team, no change of affairs seemed to have taken place as far as an alert went, and so Anika went on.

Several more minutes passed, and despite a couple of close calls where Anika was almost spotted by a rig, she came within sight of her goal, and an object that held the blinking light.  It was generally rectangular, with sloped sides, and roughly the size of a coffin, or one of the containers that had been discovered in the abandoned hangar of Omega.  Of course it was nothing like those contraptions at all.  In fact it had a very different purpose, one Anika, as an experienced combatant, recognized immediately.

The rectangular shaped object with the blinking light was a bomb.

Whoever was on board had anticipated the possible need to break the hull in half in case of an emergency, or perhaps wanted to break the hull in half to ensure the partial, if not the entire destruction of the vessel.  A control panel was exposed, and the blinking light provided confirmation that the bomb was armed.  Hazard labels unashamedly confirmed the purpose of the device, if one hadn’t figured it out already.  Anika could only determine more about the device by continuing along her path, and seeing it within arms reach.  All while the welding rigs searched for possible intruders.

[Cknarf]

"Not really feelin' the psychological effects, but I have to say, as an engineer, I find these welds to be downright offensive."  Frank shook his head. "Let's check out that other side, huh?" He looked to the rest of the engineering team. "If I stick around here much longer I'm going to barf."

[Terca]

Eteon nodded to Naleena and slid her way over to the secondary exit that was available. Before entering it she opened her omni-tool and activated her defense drone. The small blue sphere circled around her head once before resting behind her head and dimming until it was nearly completely out of sight. So... No restraint. Deal with those on the ship by any means necessary. She took a couple deep breaths before nodding to herself.

 

"Clear together or group into pairs?" She asked Naleena while she fiddled with her carnifex holster.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"There's six of us in our group now and four heading to engineering. One of those is a non-combatant. I think we'll be fine here. Perhaps you should join them," Naleena got on her communicator to Irina, "I'm sending one down to you. Where are you?"
 

"Copy that. We'll come back and meet at the entrance. It won't take long. I wouldn't want anyone wandering alone in here." Irina replied as they moved about the maze.

 

Irina led her group back through the dark maze to where they entered and saw Eteon descending the ladder from the catwalk. Eteon moved quietly across the bay, met up with them. Frank looked relieved to have her on the team.

 

"Alright we've got ground to make up. Let's go," Irina said, "Avan and Eteon take point. This place gives me the bloody creeps. Someone said a "fun house?" Fun houses didn't have guns. We're clearing out everything that remotely looks like it could be a threat. Anything that's survived in this place is in all likelihood insane by now. Captain's orders."

[Terca]

Sensible.. It was better for Eteon to be farther ahead anyways to give her more mobility, something she'd need to make great use of. She placed her carnifex in hand and stood by Avan close to the entrance of the maze of a ship. She was looking back on the group to count heads for later, but the sensation of having an oppressive place behind her made her edgy. Fortunately her helmet obscured her scowl.

 

As they entered the matte black hallways the Cabal switched from natural light imaging to night vision and moved her eyes from the pulsing dim light in the distance to the irregular walls. She kept a modest pace, and relied on the people behind her to watch their backs. There was no direct way through the walls for anyone to ambush them but with such an unsettling setting the certainty was nice. That's the mechanism. She grimly thought to herself.

[Kel Riever]

“La la la,” Iyana abruptly sung as she threw one leg over the arm of the throne and leaned backwards into its corner.

Luscious, now wearing the greatcoat, was perspiring even though the temperature aboard the Medusa was on the colder side of normal.  He had been reading the text on a datapad Iyana had suggested, and he was having a hard time of it.  They were notes from an engineer named ‘Ametheniet’, possibly the strangest name he’d ever heard, and they were recently updated.  The text was on the workings of the Medusa, something Luscious had never really paid much thought to.  And while they confirmed what he already knew in regards to the operation of the ship, in that more crew working together were required to maneuver the vessel, the details made his eyes go bleary.  So the interruption of Iyana’s lilting chime was a good excuse for Luscious to pull himself away.

Iyana, aware of Luscious’ distraction instantly, glanced over at him lazily.  Instead of a cruel rebuke, she asked, “Isn’t it interesting how details of seeming importance are often paid far too much attention to, while other critical details are overlooked?”

Confused, Luscious stared blankly.

“Let’s take you, for example,” Iyana went on.  “You aspire to all the outward appearances of a vessel captain, much like a child, yet when it comes to the important notation of how to actually run the ship, you struggle to maintain the briefest of interest.”

“I…I’ve tried.”

“Of course you have, in your own pathetic way.  But most people are like you, why be ashamed?  Other than having a foolish desire that is shared by many.  If it weren’t for these kinds of inefficiencies in thinking, magicians would have no career.”

“I’m not sure I follow you.”

“Luscious, I do not want you to be anything other than the way you are.  Pathetic, cowardly, ignorant.  You must understand how it leads you to be a useful tool, for your own sake, and learn to take advantage of it.  At least if you want to live much longer.”

As if having a moment of her own introspection, Iyana put a finger to her chin.  “Hah, look at me, trying to give you words of advice when we both know there’s little chance I could get through your alcoholic delirium, let alone that thick skull of yours.”

Luscious’ shoulders sagged, but the abuse was now becoming familiar.

“Sit up!”

Luscious did as he was told.

“Man, listen to what I am saying!  Do you think that if and when Stone comes here she would give you any quarter whatsoever?  You are going to have to come up with something from your repertoire of traits to become that which you say you wish to be so much, particularly if you plan on being a captain without knowing one bit of what it takes to steer your ship.

“It’s been done, Luscious.  You won’t be the first emperor without clothes.  But it will take a kingdom of people to believe you.  I recommend you think on how you are going to get them to do so.”

Slowly, Luscious found himself nodding.

Iyana snorted.  “For your sake, I hope that Stone does come quickly, or you may never really get the chance to become that which I have placed in your hands.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina and Vayne walked behind Frank taking up the rear of the fire team. Lines of sight were short so Irina had her Phalanx drawn.

 

"You know Vayne, I know they gave the order for a clean sweep, but i wonder if there is anyone they don't want killed?" Irina asked.

 

Vayne shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to ask. Probably would be best if we asked now."

 

Irina tapped her com. "Hey, Naleena. Before we start shooting. Is there anyone you don't want killed?"

 

"Luscious. I want to interrogate him."

 

"Well, I don't know what Luscious looks like, so could you send a picture to my omni-tool?" Irina asked.

 

"I've got one." Jess replied, and she sent one to the team. "Be advised he'll probably be wearing captain's garb trying to look important. He won't if he knows what's good for him."

 

"Thanks. If we take him, we'll let you know," Irina replied, "So it's non-lethal on Luscious, Avan and Eteon."

[Terca]

"Then I will try to not cut him with my blades if we see him. I've heard the venom burns nearly 100m of vascular tissue in humans which I'm pretty sure leads to catastrophic internal hemorrhaging." The Cabal said dryly as she approached one of the bends in the hall. "Though then again that seems like a fairly decent 'information gathering' technique itself. Probably against Citadel regulations."

 

She paused at the bend and motioned with her hand for her omni-tool to display the image of Luscious. Eh. She closed it again before leaning around the corner to see what was down the hall.

 

"If there are any more hallways without targets I think this may prove to be the most psychologically taxing trap ever devised." She groaned, mostly to herself.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"I hear that..." Vayne said as he kept his n7 eagle pistol drawn and at the ready. The hallways were black enough that he was getting a hard time judging where they were walking to exactly, and felt the urge to just shove some out of the way. He kept himself under control though, keeping close with the others as he glanced to Irina.

 

"How 'bout you irina? Your trigger finger starting to itch a bit to?" He asked, more to hear something rather then the silence as he kept putting one foot in front of the other, developing a rythem of sorts.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"Going into the unknown...this is not a good idea." Essul said as he had his cazador drawn, checking to make sure the venomized ammunition system was working properly. He was going to make sure to get a few good shots at anything coming for them, hopefully help to take it down even from a few glancing wounds.

 

"However, I find myself without much alternate ideas, either." He said reluctantly, looking to both jess and naleena as he spoke, "After you, captians." he said with a bow of his head.

[Kel Riever]

The teams separated. One, with Irina, Frank, Vayne, Avan, and Eteon went back through where Jess had entered the forward bay from, placing them on the port side of the ship and heading aft.  Jess had warned them of traps, so they were on the lookout for more than inhabitants.  Naleena, Jess, Essul, Morgan and Dahlia headed to the bay exit on the starboard side, and found themselves along a similar hallway, though its path was not symmetrical to its port side partner.  

Switching between thermal and image intensifier helped, though there was not much more to be seen.  The corridors never ran straight for long, and often there were bolted down obstructions making it uncomfortable to pass by.  For the group on the port side, they did not encounter the man Jess described as having seen on her way in.  Neither did the starboard group encounter anyone.  Both groups came shortly to what would be a lockable door to the first cargo  pod on each side of the Medusa.  

[favoritehookeronthecitadel]

They continued down quietly as Avan stayed close behind Eteon, who seemed quiet and agile. She looked the most prepared and ready for what was about to come. Maybe she wouldn't die. Avan confidently walked and scanned ahead, wearing his protective armor, with night vision on like the rest. He kept his Incisor close and an Arc Pistol and Phalanx if they needed to be used.

[Redbelle]

Jess added to the comm. "And don't forget those dossier's on the crew I couldn't account for back on the Citadel luv's. You've got the photo's of whose who from my side of the crew. Even with that said, if you spot my crew incapacitate them and bind them. I don't want to hear how anyone but blind faith in one of mine and found they'd been turned. Sweep and take control of the ship and everyone aboard. We'll sort out the rest later.

 

Jess stood in front of the hand terminal looking it over.

 

Call for assistance?

 

They were playing a game it seemed. Jess looked over at the three airlocks that all led to the cargo container's. Going through one would lead to the interior of the cargo modules, that could be traversed to the secondary airlock, thereby bypassing the obstruction. On the other hand they had brought the vacuum rated airlocks with them that could burn into the cargo modules from the outside. Potenially bypassing anymore of these obstructions......

[Kel Riever]

Morgan had shut off his active light sources and gone dark.  He’d foregone his tech armor, which lit him up as much as it protected him, and went to his Phalanx over his Scimitar shotgun for noise suppression as well.  Killing the laser targeter would lower accuracy but Morgan wasn’t planning on making any long range shots.

Naleena, quiet as he’d ever seen anyone move, was ahead.  Before she went to inspect the entrance to the first cargo module, she handed back a black combat knife to Morgan through Jess.  It would help, since Morgan usually went to his omni-blade for hand to hand.  Up to the door the group went, and they stopped just shy of it as Naleena examined the floor.

“No traps,” Naleena confirmed through subvocals, “But there’s loose sand.  Be ready for anything.”

The group of five set themselves.  Morgan kept an eye behind as the heavy, airtight door to the module was opened. 

Morgan half expected the module to be filled with sand, and for it to come pouring through.  Instead, it seemed there was some space beyond.  Dim lights continued to illuminate ahead, so Morgan’s image intensifier vision gave him a good look at what they were heading into.  Generally, the entire cargo module was clear at ceiling height, but rising like metal fingers towards the ceiling were bolted stacks of metal crates and other material, forming disjointed pillars and spikes which had the effect of interior mountain ranges and walls.  In between the metal construction, and covering the whole deck was sand.  In places the sand covering was low, but in others it rose in dunes, either hugging the construction or forming independent rolling hills.  Cloaked, Naleena moved in, and everyone else waited while she made sure the immediate space past the door was safe to go through.  She de-cloaked to save energy at the nearest artificial mountain wall and waved everyone forward.

One by one the team entered, stealthy, and eyes wide for trouble.  With his recon helmet on, Morgan’s vision was enhanced, but senses like his smell were diminished.  He didn’t prefer the hood for that reason, but for now it appeared necessary.  His ears, too, was reliant on audio enhancement, whereas he preferred hearing natural sound.  But the audio enhancement did pick up what everyone else seemed to start hearing as well, and that was the sound of someone eating sloppily.

The noise came from the right, and Naleena motioned for Morgan to take a look.  He wasn’t the quietest, but his position let him take a set of simple steps along the outer wall to clear a line of sight towards the source.  The sand helped muffle his footfalls, and Morgan crouched until he spotted what was occurring.

There was a jutting slab from one of the series of pillars that looked like black teeth rising out of the sand.  The slab was low, almost table height, and long.  Lying with its back on the slab was the figure of a man under a cream colored sheet.  The figure may have worn armor on its body, but one leg was exposed, bared and covered in blood. 

But the leg was mostly hidden from the man crouched on the slab next to the figure.  With a full, black beard and copious amounts of hair covering his shirtless back, the crouched man feasted on a red, dripping, hunk of flesh with both his hands.  The gore spilled over his arms, chest, beard and face.

Even with all the horrors of war Morgan had witnessed, he had to force down a rising tide of sickness.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Morgan turned and motioned to Naleena there was a hostile. Stealth was required, and he motioned to Naleena. She nodded, drew her blade, and cloaked. Naleena, remembering what her father taught her prayed.

 

Amonkira, lord of hunters, make my blade quick and true.

 

She moved like a cat down the sand until she was near the figure. The floor was soaked with blood from the man who was being eaten. She blocked it out. She was good at that sort of thing. Then taking a long slow deep breath, she held it, and moved deliberately behind the figure enjoying his smorgasbord. With lightning speed she slipped her hand under his chin and ran the blade deeply across his throat, slicing carotid artery. Naleena sprang back to avoid the fountain of blood shooting from the figure's neck. He grabbed his throat in futility and collapsed to the floor in silence.

 

Morgan had turned to face the wall. Naleena walked to him and touched him. Then she touched him with her mind very lightly so that he might not notice sensing the sickness rising, and conveyed "peace." Morgan's sickness subsided. "Are you alright, friend?"

 

Morgan nodded.

 

"I have to check the body," Naleena decloaked and pulled back the sheet. The head was still attached, and the face matched with one of Jess' crew. It was neither Luscious nor the doctor. "Jess, he's one of yours." She replaced the sheet, and stood in silence.

 

Kalahira, guide this one across the ocean.

[Kel Riever]

Morgan sighed.  He hoped the rest of Iyana's soldiers would be put down as easily.

 

That's when the body of the figure laying on the slab sat straight up and screamed.

[Cknarf]

"I've got just the thing." Frank removed the comically large angle grinder that was slung across his back, and approached the first door.  Before he could fire it up, Avan tapped his left shoulder, causing him to look, while he passed him on the right.  By the time Frank had realized what had happened, Avan had already managed to unlock the door.

"Pffft. Showoff." Frank grumbled, while returning the grinder to its position. "Who wants to go first? *cough* not it."
 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena jumped back about 10 feet. Jess ran down to the crewman. He was missing his right leg and his left arm. Apparently someone had applied Medi-gel when the limb was severed, and one of them looked like it had been cauterized as it was severed.

 

Having just opened her mind to  Morgan, Naleena felt the fear in the man tearing at her. She grabbed her head. Dahlia ran to him and put her hand over his mouth and tried to calm him. He bit down on her glove.

 

She withdrew her hand. "Ow! We're not the enemy! He's dead!"

 

The crewman was hyperventilating.

 

"Easy, try to calm down," Dahlia said, "Your Captain's back. Jess."

 

Jess looked at him. "He needs medical attention, badly. And we can't leave him here."

 

"What about the commandos?" Dahlia asked.

 

Naleena was regaining her composure. "Good idea, Dahlia. Jenus, this is Naleena. Morgan is going to send you our position and path. We found one of Jess' crew. He's in need of medical attention. You and Tallis come to our position and take him back to the shuttle."

 

"Copy that," Jenus replied, "We'll be there shortly."

 

"And Jenus.... It's really gruesome in here. It should be clear up to this point, but be careful."

 

"Got it." Jenus replied. "Let's go Tallis, we've got a med-evac."

 

Tallis grabbed her weapon and med kit. "Med-evac. Med-evac."

 

"Don't worry. We have this place locked down," Iole had her Hellbringer ready. and Mira was in position protecting the shuttle. They had been studying the hanger bay for any possible points of entry, and there were only two. Mira was on one, and Iole was on the other. They watched as Tallis and Jenus disappeared down the path instructed by Morgan.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul looked at the man and his condition, swallowing hard as his breathing became shallow, his nerves dulling and his senses finally having something to focus on. Essul was a man who needed goals, liked order and enjoyed predictibility. This ship, its lack of anyone, its strange archetecture, it had done well to mess with his head. This though, a hostile and a wounded hostage, gruesome as it might have been, was enough to snap him back into the right mindset.

 

This was his normal, and he felt himself relax into a proper mindset for dealing with this.

 

"If anyone has medigel or, even better, some form of anesthetic, using it to keep him quiet would do well..." Essul said calmly, pointed to the wounded man while keeping his back towards the others, eyes on the surronding room and corridor for possible signs of other hostiles. "His screaming will have probably echoed a bit. More hostiles could be inbound..." he said to them, hoping they got the message to be prepared.

 

"Captian stone. Please tell me the one we killed wasn't one of your men. It would do well to know she hasn't broken any to this level." he asked her, still doing his job to keep guard of them.