Sigma Madelline or Bust

Sam chokes on the nutrient drink, his throat muscles still rigid and unresponsive for the long hibernation. He calms down after coughing some.

It takes him a few moments to get his bearings. Right. I'm still in the tin can. He sits up and sighs, feeling the familiar sense of mild claustrophobia - the void and blackness just beyond the thin walls of the craft too vast and hostile to contemplate.

Sam has slightly impish features, reminiscent of classical art depictions of a faun, or of the pagan God Pan. He is short of stature, and - when fully awake - moves with quick and precise gestures.
He is slightly awkward with other people, this trait probably an influence on his chosen professional path in life. Sam always found machines and engines easy to be around.
He finds human interactions tricky, but a little easier to negotiate through humour and jokes. But a sharp observer will read the slight social anxiety the veneer of the jests conceals.

The others know him as a talented tinkerer, constantly smudged in grease and engine oil. He comes across as focused and laborious on the job, joking and a little nervous off duty.
His companions know he was born on an asteroid colony, and that all he knows about Earth is second-hand, from videos, popular culture and books.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauties," he mutters in a croaky voice.

Doc nods a very human thank you gesture to the synth as he accepts his nutrient-filled liquid delight. "Cheers," he says quietly to himself.

Knowing the disorientation and nausea will pass, the Doc begins to gather himself and get his bearings. The familiar sense of anxiety and wonder begin to take him, who knows what new scientific frontiers await in the vastness of space. Each trip is unique in its potential, and to a scientist like Dr. Driscoll. . .a chance to gain some renown for a new discovery.

Dr. Driscoll is a tall man at around 6'3" with milk chocolate-like skin. He is often serious and logical in his overall demeanor. His slick bald head often reflects the overhead lights of the ship, which may sometimes make him the brunt of a joke or two, but his overall look would be considered distinguished to some. More often than not in a white lab coat, it is hard to miss the "good" Doctor.

As the crew's Scientist and ad-hoc medical officer, he takes his position very seriously and the crew has come to trust him. His pedigree includes various degrees, including a Ph.D. in both Biochemistry and Ecology. Other areas of his academic study have included Medicine, Biology, and Botany. He is an earthling.

He turns to Sam after hearing his morning salutation. In Doc's own croaky-just-now-awakening voice he responds, "Good morning to you Sam." He looks around to see the others stirring.

Rising and shining about as well as one might expect after months in the tube, Fry roused from his slumber with all the grace and panache of somone who'd spent an intense week of binge drinking, ears ringing and the world spinning. This was the worst part of every trip -- the one part Fry absolutely hated. It wasn't the sleep that was so bad, but waking up? To say he felt like death would be an understatement, and it showed all over his face.

Stumbling out of the cryosleep chamber and onto the steely floor, the lanky pilot shivered as he danced from foot to foot half-heartedly to ward away the discomfort of the chill; nothing quite like waking up to the cold, cruel reality of the ship after spending months in a cold, cruel sleeptank. Groggy, nauseous, and definitely not happy to see Teller's smiling face, the pompadour-sporting navigator snatched the foul-tasting brew from the SAM thanklessly. The artificial thing made him nervous every time he caught a glimpse of its face; like it was always watching him. Which, admittedly, Teller probably was. That didn't make Fry feel any better.

"Gee, Sam. I didn't know you thought I was pret-- pret--" Fry began, his typical sassiness cut short by a sudden welling sensation in his gut as it rocketed up his throat. Unceremoniously and unpleasantly, the ill-feeling star-jockey hurled all over the floor, wretching and keeling over as what little contents survived the trip in his stomach splattered onto the floor. "... pretty. Blech." He gave Doc a feigned smile, then turned his attention back to the disgusting nutrient-rich beverage he still clutched in his hands. Downing it profusely, Fry swished it around, preferring the disgusting taste of the vital cocktail to the one he just experienced. The lesser of two evils, or whatever.

Notoriously snarky, antiauthoritarian, a braggart, and more than a little reckless, Friday "Fry" Jones isn't exactly a by-the-books type. It's no secret he grew up on a space station, and he's more than happy to divulge all the dirty deets of his ne'er-do-well antics when he was running short-range shuttles across the station's exterior (as well as other, more risque things). It's also no secret the only reason he signed his contract was because he wanted to do some real flying with some real starships, and none of that mom-and-pop skimmer garbage. Of middling height at a modest five-foot-ten, Fry's a well-built, good-looking twenty-something with a passion for flying through the black, vain to a fault with his dark brown pompadour haircut immaculately maintained. Despite his abrasive attitude, he's surprisingly well-educated, with a degree in astronavigation, a graduate of the Halley Flight School near Luna, and a certified asshole. He might not be a nice guy, but he is damn good at what he does, and Fry is more than happy to cockily point that out.

Sam grins seeing Fry throw up, then is reminded to check himself for potential tube accidents... luckily none have occurred.

He waves drowsily to Driscoll "Hey Doc. Looks like you got your first patient already. Fry must have eaten too much ice, in cryo..."

Deacon takes his time coming out of the tube. Standing up he slowly stretches and tries to work the kinks out of his body. Moving forward, Deacon heads over to where the others are heading.

While he's serious about keeping everyone safe, everyone knows he's just as quick to tell a joke. With a secret love for anything engineering, Deacon is just as likely to be found with his nose in a tech manual as he is monitoring the security cameras.

Morning everyone...you guys look like I feel.

Sam looks at the to do list and sighs, "I missed you too, Teller. Within normal specified tolerances, that is..." he says sarcastically.

He scrolls the data on the terminal, his attention focusing on the supernova burst. "Can you give me more info on the sensor array incident? Was this an unexpected energy burst? When did it happen?" he asks the android.

"Well that's just super," mused Fry as he rolled his eyes, finally getting his bearings enough to not imitate jello stuffed into a skin suit after managing to hold down his drink.

"When you say 'malfunction,' how bad are we really talking here, Tell? Like, short-range-uh-oh-there's-a-loose-thermal-plate-but-we'll-never-know bad, or oh-god-we-can't-see-those-asteroids-hurtling-towards-us-and-we're-about-to-die-from-explosive-decompression-when-they-hit bad?"

"Better get started then..." he says. "Good job I had a good few hours' sleep."

Walking slowly to allow his body to keep up, he collects his things from the locker by the cryo pod and leaves the LongSleep area.
"Care to join me, Deacon?" he asks the Secondary Engineer as he exits, "in case I forgot how to use a screwdriver?"

He will head to the Workshop to collect pertinent equipment for the diagnostics, with the intention to proceed from there towards starboard, to take a first look at the malfunctioning sensors.

Sure, two heads will be better than one. Deacon follows Sam as they leave the Cryo bay. As they do Deacon begins to run possible scenarios through his head.

Listening carefully to Teller"s technical jargon, Doc knows it is a bit out of his wheelhouse.

*I'll head to the lab and check on things there. Come see me if you're still feeling I'll after an hour or so Fry."

Benton Rogr Leaves the bathroom, having been the first one to awake and to find his shorts spoiled. But that is nothing new. Every time He has gone into cryo, he has soiled himself, so... its par for the course. He returns to the Longsleep room to see everyone already up and already leaving. He walks over to the Trash composter and throws his travel shorts in. 'Travel shorts' is a euphemism for adult diaper. He is an old man. He has been on trips like this many times, traveling the stars, and seeing almost none of it.

Benton (A.K.A. Ben to people who know him. Not many friends per se, but he does have a few acquaintances) is an older man, in his mid 60's if you count time NOT in cryo. If you do include cryo time... well, he is a VERY old man indeed. He is slightly tall at a whopping 6'. Good even number, that. He studied medicine in college, and joined the program right after graduating. He had met a lot of people in his stint, and that has changed him. Not for good or bad, but changed him none-the-less. He has always been a bit cynical, but overall, he is an accomplished medical doctor with a way of getting people to relax. And as a doctor, getting people to relax when you are working on them after they punctured their suit, or they got exposed to the reactor, etc.... Well, it can be the difference between life and death. and it is in bentons best interest to keep everyone alive, because EVERY life counts on a piece of steel out in space

"Do not worry doctor Driscoll. A certain level of sickness is normal after awakening from cryo. I am sure Fry will be fine in a few minuets". Bentom takes in a slow, slightly accented voice as he moves in the same direction as Doc, headed to the medical bay .

OOC:
I went ahead and gave myself a fail on the soiled check. sorry for the late join! had a busy weekend

Sam checks the diagrams on the terminals to find the correct access hatch that will get him to the array unit. Opening the metal hatch, he wears a head flashlight and crawls with his tools in the cramped, dark passage revealed. It is narrow and progress is hindered by the many wires and components all around him. He has to crawl flat on his belly.
Damn... These maintenance passages seem designed for rats, not humans...

He finally reaches the back of the array unit and starts unscrewing it from the rack it is secured in.
Now, let's see what's wrong with these babies...

While Sam is working on the Array, Bentom will check his crew files again to make sure all of the crew's medical and psych records are in proper order, and double check the Cryo machines, Making sure they will be good to go again one everything is back to normal (sterilizing tubes and whatnot). We wouldent want to accidently let the machine get full of mold or germs
After finishing the task at hand, he will turn to the AI and try to learn more information on their current predicament. "Teller, how far are we from our destination? Will be be needing to get back in the cryosleep chambers after Mr Sam returns from fixing the Array, or are we close enough to stay awake for the rest of the trip?"

(I had typed this out an hour ago and evidently forgot to hit "post". my bad :p )

"ah. well, no need to get back in the tube then. thank you". I will finish my task, then set about finding the others. Teller, for all of his expertise and knowledge, is no substitute for a real human conversation. It will be important to keep everything running smoothly, because 3 days in space and NOT in cryo can be an issue for peoples mental wellbeing. so, Bentom will head out, searching for another crew member.

Overhearing Teller and Bentom's exchange Doc releases a sigh of relief when realizing that getting back in cryo will not be necessary.

"Teller, will you please do a scan of the ship and give me a list of all detected biological life forms." As per his routine, the Doc asks for a scan to simply ensure that nothing foreign has taken refuge.

Once satisfied the tests and calibration process are fine, Sam crawls out of the maintenance passage and closes the hatch, careful to collect all the tools.

He wipes his sweat and walks towards the recreational section to get what on board passes for a coffee.

As he sips the underwhelming beverage, he turns on a terminal and checks the logs for the period of hybernation, to check if there are news on the Sigma Madelline status, if there are changes in mission briefings, and generally if anything of importance happened while the crew were asleep.

As sam is sitting in the Rec area, Bentom will enter and get himself something to drink as well. He will turn to Sam, a plain warm water pouch in his in hand(bentom does not like coffee, especially after leaving cryo...) , and try to get an update.

"So, is zee ship back in working condition? have any issues with repairs?"

Benton will take a sip of his beverage, imagining that is is a cup of hot tea instead. but water will work; He doesn't want to waste what precious tea he has. Not waiting for a response, Bentom will continue

"also, I have checked with zee Ai, and it seems that we are 3 days away from the station. Thought you should be kept abreast of zee situation"

"Oh, Ben. Still off the coffee, I see? Don't know how you do it. Sure this ain't the best coffee, but... Works well enough," he says gesturing with his cup.

"The sensors Teller flagged are now all sorted. You can freeze me, but you can't make me forget how to fix things..." he chuckles, stretching his arms.

He reacts to Ben's update with relief, "Three days away. Much better than three light years. We should start plotting our rendezvous route..."

After fixing some coffee as well, Dr. Driscoll joins Sam and Bentom.

Addressing both in conversation, "One does wonder, what sort of disaster do you believe could have occurred at the outpost? Are the details of the disaster scant in the last report?

He sips his black coffee.

"Hey Doc. Hmm... could be anything. These tin boxes we survive in, are so fragile... it's a miracle we can live in space at all, if you think about it - so many things can go wrong. "

He winces at the watery coffee taste, "it's a dangerous life... but at least the coffee sucks," he concludes in jest.

Deacon walks up in time to hear Sam's joke. Flashing a friendly smile he waits until there's a break in the conversation. What do you guys think of running a sensor scan? Just to make everything is on the up and up.

Bentom will sip his water, leaning against a doorframe as they talk.

"Ah, Mr. Shaw. Yes, I think a sensor scan could be justified. Just for peace of mind if nothing else. We are still 3 days away from our destination, so having extra data would not be a bad idea. if ze radiation spike could harm us, it could have harmed ze others as well. I would hate to find out that we left our fellows behind in our blind spot by not simple rolling ze ship"

"A grand suggestion." says Dr. Driscoll in agreement with Bentom regarding Deacon's suggestion. "A high level of radiation would cause more problems for us than we would care to deal with."

"However, that is one plausible theory. . .a radiation spike could have fried their electrical grid and thereby damaging communications and more." Hmmmm...very plausible.

He finishes his coffee.

Sam finishes his coffee, stretches his stiff limbs, then stands up. "Time to have a look at the bridge, while you guys run the sensor check."
He leaves the Rec area and walks through the corridors of the ship, his feet stomping heavily on the floor thanks to the artificial gravity. He feels his muscles still protesting for the long lack of exercise. The recycled air feels stuffy and smells like chemicals.

Once on the bridge, he takes a seat in one of the control workstations. "Now, let's see if this flying tin can has behaved while we were dreaming in the freezer..."

He turns on the many screens around him and starts figuring out their route and positioning relative to their target: the three starships - one cargo transport and two science vessels - that composed the Sigma Madelline Survey Outpost.

He also sends out a standard protocol greeting to the three vessels, more by force of habit than anything. He fully expects that communications are still down on Sigma Madelline. Still asleep, boys and girls?

Doc nods at Sam's suggestion. "I'll take care of the sensor scan." Placing the coffee down and donning his white lab coat he makes his way to the control board for the sensor array. Always anxious for some new discovery, it's these moments that make Doc's palms sweaty with anticipation. Half wanting everything to be normal, and half wanting something new and exciting to be detected. . .his mind is a jumble just moments before running them. He mutters, "Let's see what's what. . ."

He begins a long-range scan toward the targets.

Addressing Sam, "Sensors indicate Science vessel STS Tranquility to be a day away, perhaps a course change there would be most logical. Yes?"

Benton will be listening into the conversation. "I agree with Doc, a course correction could not hurt." After saying that, Bentom will head to the communication area and start listening to any long-range messages, relays, or alerts that came in that, even if they don't pertain to us, might be of interest of what is going on in this or nearby sectors.

"One day... that sounds good to me, Doc. Tranquillity... I like the name already. I'm sure it will be a walk in the park."

on the Bridge of their spacecraft, Sam ponders their options with the others.

"Well, they either really like the dark, in there, or their ship is running in minimal consumption mode, for some reason..." he says, looking at the dark shape of the Tranquillity.

"So... do we want to try an external inspection? Do we have serviceable drone units to send?"

He scratches his goatee beard. "Or we could go the old fashioned way, and prepare a boarding party. What do you say?"

We do an external scan...as well as we can, then we can go with the boarding party. Deacon says as they toss out ideas.

"Very well. I also think a boarding party would be in order, and I volunteer".

Sam gets to work, trying to get a visual survey of the visible parts of the Tranquillity, enhancing and zooming in on the pixelated imagery relayed back by the sensors.

While the others are doing scans, I will be prepping the craft that will be used to do boarding. Double checking the hull, life support, and weapons, as well as prepping 2-3 packs for whatever boarding party goes. I will also prepare the RETURN procedure devices, such as the decontamination chambers and vital checks

While the others are doing scans, I will be prepping the craft that will be used to do boarding. Double checking the hull, life support, and weapons, as well as prepping 2-3 packs for whatever boarding party goes. I will also prepare the RETURN procedure devices, such as the decontamination chambers and vital checks

Sam will share with the crew what he found.
"Phew. Well, that's encouraging. The ship's not dead, just looks in low power. But things seem to be functioning, on board."

Deacon moves up and and punches in an access code. Hopping it's still an active code, he waits to see if it's accepted.

"We should check the Cryo chambers," he says, "see if the crew are having their beauty sleep."

He consults the deck plans to figure out where to go to access a terminal and check the status of the ship and of the crew, see a crew roster, etc.

Deacon slowly unhooks his helmet and takes a breath Life support is still working, it's producing oxygen. There's no sense in keeping the helmets on. Deacon then hooks his helmet onto his belt and makes ready to head out when a decision has been made.

"I agree with Sam. The Cyro bay being froze, so to speak, could account for the crew not being around. I will do what I can to check on them". Bentom pauses for a few seconds, thinking of anything that could help them. Then he remember the first thing that he always greets him when he awakes from Cryo. He looks up at the ship, as if the hunk of metal is a person and he wished to look at it. "Tranquility Ai? do you have a status report?" Benton pauses "Are you... turned on?"

He removes his helmet too, but the recycled air of the Tranquillity he breathes in provides no relief. Same stale smell of any of these tin cans...

He checks the cryo drawers. "Damn it... no late sleepers. Then, why the heck they don't answer, if they're awake?" He says, getting a bad feeling about this ship's crew.

He looks for the nearest computer terminal and tries to use the same security code Deacon punched in the airlock to gain access. If he does, he will look for the ship logbook, to check the latest entries.

If the medical office is near the cryo room (AKA, near the other players), Bentom will head over and try to pull the files on the crew. Medical records, service history, heck, even just their names! He will also check to see if any of the medical/surgical equipment has been used recently

Deacon walks over to the terminal and punches in the codes that he knows. Hopefully these will work.

Does the medical log state where the request came from? Like, what part of the ship? Also, are all of the other camera out, or just the one that was stabbed (aka, can we get a view in engineering without going into engineering?). A thousand things will be going through Bentom's head, but figuring out if the crew can be helped without endangering ourselves would be the first priority.

Does our suits offer any protection from a potential blade? Do WE have any weapons? if not, I will grab a scalpel from the medicine cabinet

"What the heck...? They ran to Engineering - hey, maybe they're still alive there, maybe they need help?" he tells the others, informing them of what he gathered from the logs.

"Surely there's something else... an entire crew wouldn't run and barricade themselves from a single woman?!"

"Mr Deacon, I suggest we proceed with upmost caution. I do not know what is happening, but for the entire crew to baracade themselves is not a good sign. And we do not know if that woman is still on the ship. But I am willing to help in any way possible."
With that, bentom will head to where Deacon is and wait. there is no telling where this thing is, so being near the security guy is the best idea

Deacon to Bentom...I agree with your assessment. I'm on my way to the Security Station located near the bridge. If you would meet me there, we can determine our best course of action from there.

Deacon deactivates the comm unit and proceeds on the quickest path to the Security Station.

"Sounds like a plan. Get some weapons first, then we go check Engineering," he says following Deacon.

I will be right beside them headed that way

Sam grabs a taser, not trusting himself with a projectile gun while in a tin box with deadly vacuum just inches away.

"OK... Now we can... taze people," he says, somehow not reassured by that idea. "Let's go check Engineering, shall we? But maybe... let's call them first. It's... rude to come unannounced, you know?"

Deacon grabs the handgun and ensures it's fully-fledged. Once everyone is ready Deacon gives them a nod of reassurance. Let's head to Engineering and see what damage has been done there.

"No answer. Let's go see what happened to them." He follows the ship plans to find the shortest route to Engineering.

Deacon nods his head as he listens to Sam. Sounds good, let's not lower our guard, there could still be hostiles on board.

Sam starts searching the belongings of the people who gathered here. He is searching for notes, any unusual item, any signs to what could have forced them to abandon living quarters for this emergency accommodation.

"Why would you choose to live here stacked like sardines?..."

"It would not be by choice, I would think..." Bentom will look around as well, seeing if he can find where they went. "And anyway, people do not just 'vanish'. Either they are here, or they are not. If we do not find their bodies, I can think of only 3 possibility's: 1) they have already been rescued by one of the other ships, 2) they tried to use a smaller lifeboat or makeshift ship to make it to a nearby planet, or they were boarded and taken away against their will. Let us pray that it was the first."

Bentom will look for any sort of blood, burn marks, or anything that would indicate the last possibility.

Deacon looks around the room and takes in the makeshift living area. It could be this was a prison cell of sorts. Perhaps the crew was kept here as a way of keeping an eye on them. Yet, I agree with your other assessments. Deacon says as he nods his head at Bentom.

"There's one way to check if the crew left the ship... Let's find the spacesuits bay. If the suits are all accounted for, our friends haven't gone for a spacewalk."

He gets busy on the ship plans, to locate where the suits might be kept. "Generally, they'd be near the main airlock..."

Since we are near the engineering, I will peak a look at any readouts that I can see. Are there any errors, alarms, etc. on the engine screens?

Sam sees the warnings on the monitor that Bentom is observing. He steps over. "Let's have a look at those warnings..."

He cycles through the warning flags, and check what each might be. He also looks at the chain reactor output values.

"Jeez... whoever programmed the safety systems to keep the reactor on minimum power really know their stuff. Not trivial: we are looking at an expert, here..."

He tugs at his goat-beard, "but why would you intentionally get the reactor to the bare functionality?... I can't think of a valid reason."

Bentom will we watching Sam over his shoulder. "I think it best that we be wary of any crew if we find them, especially any crew who was assigned to the engineering department"

Agreed, until we can ascertain what actually happened, we need to be wary of any crewmembers. Deacon says as he stands guard while the others check the monitors.

"Time to check the crew quarters, fellows... Bet we find them all quietly in bed, singing lullabies to each other..." he leads the way, taser kept handy in his hand and ready to stun...

Deacon moves down the corridor staying beside Sam. As they approach the crew quarters, Deacon half expects a door to pop open.

Bentom will smell the putrid wave of air be released threw his mask before calling out "Quickly, Put your breathers back on Gentlemen! There may be a buildup of gasses in there, or worse." He will look over the others shoulders at the room, trying to get an idea of what awaits them in the dark confines room

"It is a bit dark in here, but if we can get them back to zee lab I am sure I could run some test. How about it gentlemen? I doubt they died of old age, but without having a close look I am not sure what could be the cause". if the others are willing to help I will take them back in the lab, but if they are worried I will do the check here

He nods in agreement with Bentom, and puts on his respirator. "It makes sense to carry one of these poor souls in the infirmary, let's do it."

He helps the Med Off carry the body, a grim but necessary task.

With that, Bentom and Sam will start the grim duty of moving the bodies. He would take blankets if they have them and use it as a stretcher/skid to make moving the bodies easy, as well as keep us from being TOO close to the deceased. As soon as we get them to the med bay, Bentom will start investigating and looking for a cause of death, both with his ocular appendages and technological equipment. (he will look and prod)

For once, Sam doesn't feel like cracking a joke, the sight of those horrific wounds sinking in. Whoever butchered these guys might still be on the loose on board this ship.
"Shit, Doc... M-maybe we need better weapons..." he says, looking doubtful at his stun gun.

We wouldn't be lucky enough that the third body is the girl, would we? no? oh well :/

"I concur. Anything that could do...this... is something that might be able to shrug off a stunner. Sadly, the only other weapon I know of is the captain's pistol. but these bodies were left behind, so hopeful the threat has moved on. Considering their state, I don't expect the perpetuator to return for them. but until we find the others, we must be very careful" Benton will finish up, cleaning the tools and replacing everything into its correct location

Well, There are only 2 options then: 1, the woman was smuggled or snuck aboard before the ship left normal space, or 2, she was able to enter the ship after it was moving. Neither sounds good for us. but, if the was smuggled aboard, then she must have had a hiding space. Maybe an empty crate in the cargo hold, or an empty panel that she could hide in? I do not want to imagine that she just 'appeared' here.

"Hmm... Let us head back. I believe Mr. Shaw was going to head to the bridge. that should probably be where we head next"

"Indeed. To the bridge... no way I am staying behind with some blade-happy maniac woman on the loose..." he walks away from the Medical sector, casting nervous glances at every corner and walking close to Bentom.

Deacon carefully looks around the bridge as he keeps his weapon ready. As he advances further into the room, he glances over his shoulder at the others. It appears clear...we should be safe to proceed for now.

Sam points at the strange material that crumbled under their weight, trying to find an intact fragment of the brown crust.

"What is this stuff? We didn't see anything similar, in the rest of the ship... Do you think we could take some samples, to learn more about it, Doctor Bentom? "

He looks at the ceiling to try ascertain whether the strange substance might have poured from above.

"I do believe that is blood. It left to freeze, then returned to normal, it will behave like that. Similar to Freeze dried eggs. The important questions to ask is why is it here, and how did it freeze..." Bentom will look around. Does there seem to be any hull breaches that would have allowed the bridge to freeze over?

Sam looks for a different terminal that might still be alive, in search of a parametric log of the ship status, to see if he can find a drastic drop in temperature recorded, how long it lasted for, and how long ago it happened...

"So the crew survivors tried to barricade themselves in engineering and in the crew quarters, and tried to freeze the rest of the ship. They must have thought that that would have killed whatever threat they were facing. Looks like they were wrong?..." he muses.

Looking at the dried blood on the floor he cannot restrain a shiver.

"In the light of us finding no survivors, and the ship being in a threatened state, I wonder what our next move is? Should we scuttle the ship, sending it into a star or starting the self destruct, or tow/fly it to the research station? gentlemen, I do not know what our course of action should be. All I know is that I am worried..."

He listens to Bentom. He shrugs. "Maybe this ship is... lost, you know? Dead. Maybe we should move to the other two ships, find out if hte same thing happened there..."

He checks records on his personal data pad to ascertain distances between the ships, to figure out what the procedure would be to reach the next closest ship.

Perhaps you're right. We may have found out all we could here. Let's hope the other ships fared better.

"Let's go back to the Pegasus, then?" he says, glad to leave that strange ship, heading toward the airlock for the space walk back.

In the time that we travel, could I have tried to do any test on the dried blood? Looking for things such as chemicals or poisons that would not normally be there

As they approach the science vessel, Deacon begins to run any scans that he can...8n the hopes of learning anything of value.

Would we have information about the crew of the other ships? would I know the captains name (as personnel officer, I imagine it will be in the files?). If so, I would offer it to Mr. Shaw to begin hailing their coms (or just do it myself)

Begin scans...look for obvious damage, docking ports, and signs of life.

Hmmm. This ship looks to be in even worse shape than the last one. Should we depart and explore, or burn all the way to Sigma Madelline and see what it's status is? I would feel horrible to leave anyone on this ship, but our mission was: Get as much info as you can, fix what you can, and when there is nothing left to do, come home and report."

"No harm in a little data gathering, hey Doc? Especially if we can get it from the comfort of our ship... Instead of in person, on some ship infested by a crazed blade-wielding woman..." he adds, encouragingly

Either way, downloading the security logs will help us out. So let's get what we can from here and then make plan to get us over there. Deacon says as they start to hash out ideas.

"To download the logs we have to get on that ship. How about we dash over, download, and sprit back? I am just... uneasy."

Bentom will be sitting down, holding his hands to keep the others from seeing them shake. has been on ships most of his life. Until now, everything has been kind of boring. yes, there was excitement with the occasional hull breach, or even harassments from privateers, but no matter what happened, they always had a goal and clear objectives. Now, after all those years, to not know what is happening was a bit nerve wracking. He is committed to the mission and will do his best, but the lack of information is unnerving to his analytical mind

"Oh I see," he says, his misunderstanding cleared, "OK, boarding it is, then... If we must..."

"if we must..." Bentom is ready to go, however hesitant

"This isn't good. This one's been used as target practice..." he says, witnessing the massive damage the Ravana suffered.

Sam gets to a terminal to take a look at the data from the Ravana. He looks at logs to see what they can learn about the ship's fate.

Sam looks at the video footage in horror. This is no holo-vid... The violence is shockingly real...

He steps away from the terminal, shaking. "They... they massacred them. All of them!" he whispers in horror.

Deacon rests a sympathetic hand on Sam's shoulder. It's okay, we don't need to look at it again. Let's finish collecting what data that we can.

"What are they? How can they move so fast? They're not... Ordinary pirates, right? What cargo could they be targeting?" he asks Deacon, trying to get himself together.

That's a good question, let's check the cargo manifest for both ships.

"Teller, is there any correlation between our malfunctions and the two ships we have investigated? everyone was already out of their stasis pods when they were attacked. that would mean that they were already awakened BEFORE the people showed up. Were there any similar drive issues, or exterior burn marks? also... is it possible to scan not where we are going, but to scan behind us? It is obvious that these... 'savages' are targeting official ships. I would hate to think that they have already been here...."

"You've seen those videos. How can those murderers move so fast? We have to be prepared for a confrontation, they might still be around one of the ships. At the moment, we stand no chance..." he muses in concern.

Then turns to Bentom and Deacon . " Do you know of any stimulants that can alter speed like that? Looks like... I don't know... Military-grade chems? Some secret crap... "

There's always rumors of stuff like that. Illegal drugs, secret projects and such, but I don't know anything concrete. Deacon adds as they toss around theories.

Still rattled by the gory video footage he witnessed, Sam prepares some gear for this next boarding expedition.
Cybernetics, Bentom said. We stand no chance... maybe my tools will be more useful than weapons, here?

"Oh boy. What a welcome..." he mutters mournfully.

He starts to think about this deadly, ultra-fast enemy. Seemingly nothing can stop them...