Scene 1: What are you waiting for?

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Feb 7, 2024 1:41 am
Holroyd's face remains stoic as he moves behind the others and glances within. "We need to leave," he says, "now. The representatives from The Company had been preparing a shuttle for departure, last we heard. We should make our way there immediately."
Last edited February 7, 2024 1:42 am
Feb 7, 2024 3:29 am
Morgan surveys the scene. It's carnage. It's worse than anything he has ever seen, but more for the lack of bodies than the death. He's seen death before, but the bodies told a story, the carnage helped identify what had happened. You could get a sense of your enemy by what they did to their victims. But there were no victims here, just... leftover parts. Everyone had been dragged off.

"Sweet Jesus," he says, lifting the cross from around his neck and holding it to his lips. "This is... wholesale slaughter. I don't... I don't know what this is."

Evil is what it is. They were gone. The whole damn colony from the look of it. It was just plain evil. Whoever did this... whatever did this... it was evil.
Feb 7, 2024 5:00 am
Janice stands just inside the doorway, trying hard to hold it together as she looks around at the appalling scene. As she tries to concentrate on what she hears in the room.

The only movement she sees is the smoke from the smouldering fires, the drips and streams of water that are coming out of some presumably damaged piping in the ceilings.

The only noises she hears sound like the occasional shifting of the fires, the sound of that water, and the hum of the air purification system.
OOC:
Do you @McButterpants or anyone else want to search around here? As always, you might find something useful - my guess is that in this case the cost is time PLUS some additional stress for spending that time around your mangled shredded former friends and colleagues.
Feb 7, 2024 5:04 am
Janice rounds on Halrod and hisses seeming to forget that danger may still be close by Of course you want to leave, you heartless machine! These were friends. People we've known for years. You can't even spare a minute to check if anyone is still alive.

She turns from Halroyd, as if dismissing him, and turns back to the room Leave if you want. I need to know that I'm not leaving someone to die buried under these bodies. With that, Janice moves into the room quietly and begins checking the corpses.
OOC:
Janice will now attempt to search for survivors
Feb 7, 2024 7:44 am
It's getting harder and harder for Janice to keep it together here - nothing in her life has prepared her for the horror of these interminable minutes as she moves through this space, the living quarters, hunting for some sign of life. Confronted by one appalling tableau after another.

But there is not a single survivor alive amongst these ruins.

The colonists clearly made their last stand here. They had tried barricading doors against something - a something that clearly ripped those doors apart.

They seem to have gathered what weapons they could from across the colony to try and protect themselves. After spending ten minutes or so searching through this part of the colony, Janice walks out with some salvaged weapons in her hands - one each of:

- an M41A Pulse Rifle
- an M4A3 Service Pistol
- an M240 Incinerator unit

She didn't find any reloads for any of them, however.
OOC:
Janice takes an additional +1 STRESS
[ +- ] M41A Pulse Rifle
[ +- ] M4A3 Service Pistol
[ +- ] M240 Incinerator unit
Feb 7, 2024 10:06 am
Holroyd stands in silence at Macwhirr's comments, unsure of how to respond. When she returns with the weapons he defers to the others to arm themselves, taking a weapon only if there is one remaining after.

"Are you satisfied with your search," he asks Janice. "We need to leave. I have a responsibility to protect life - we do not know if any of the others have made it, but I do know you each still can be saved. We may have a way to leave, but that window may close at any moment." He looks at her, then the others, pleading, "Please."
Feb 7, 2024 10:33 am
As frightened as Sigg is- he can't quite wrap his head around what could have done this. While helping to look for survivors, he examines the wounds on the bodies. He is also curious about the acid. How did that get here, and what exactly are they dealing with?
'Y-y-yeah... we should go... but what happened here?'
Last edited February 7, 2024 11:09 am
Feb 7, 2024 11:28 am
OOC:
I've found organising loot allocation can take a while in PbP as people try and negotiate, people not wanting to be the person who grabs the fancy weapon etc. Would be quick face-to-face but much slower asynchronously.

Thus, looking at your sheets, I'm suggesting the following allocation for these three weapons, to speed this up a bit.

If you want a different allocation, please speak up - more than happy for this to change - AND maybe this makes things a bit quicker. If I don't hear otherwise this is what I'll assume has happened to the weapons.

- HIRSCH M41A Pulse Rifle
- HOLROYD M4A3 Service Pistol
- SIGG M240 Incinerator unit

That gives everyone a ranged weapon, and the retired marine a chance to hoik his old M41A around...
Feb 7, 2024 12:47 pm
Morgan hefts the pulse rifle, checks the ammo, slings the strap over his shoulder, and holds it ready. Just like the old days. The slight smile fades quickly when he looks up from the gun and is reminded of all the death.

"Mac, Holroyd's right. We gotta get out of here. Whoever... whatever did this..." He gestures vaguely toward the horrors around them. "Look, they knew something was about to happen. They gathered the weapons, the same weapons we have now. There were more of them. They made a stand and..."

He shakes his head, runs his free hand through his hair.

"They were prepared, in a defendable position. This is what happened. Something tore through the walls. Melted... metal? What the hell kind of weapon even does that? If we stay here, we end up like them."
Feb 7, 2024 7:07 pm
"We can't just leave. I can't just leave. Everything I have is here!", Hannah says turning on Holroyd.

She swears and looks at her feet as the others check their rifles. She reaches into her pocket. She pulls out a well loved toy dinosaur. She traces the fading paint and scuff marks with her thumb.

"I'll drive you to landing pad, but I need the documents from my bunk first. Without those, I might as well join them. You don't know the kind of debt I'm in", she says gesturing towards the carnage. Then she looks at Janice with pleading eyes.
OOC:
I don't need a rifle.
Last edited February 7, 2024 7:09 pm
Feb 7, 2024 7:41 pm
‘Debt?! Hannah, let’s get out of here. You have the rest of your life to pay them off….’
Feb 8, 2024 2:40 am
"You don't understand. I said what I said.", Hannah says not attempting to hide her stress and fear.
Feb 8, 2024 2:54 am
Holroyd takes the service pistol and in machine-like sequence clears the weapon, catches the ejected round, loads it back into the clip and looks it over before sliding the clip back into place and pulling the slide back.

"Not weapons," Holroyd says simply. He scans the room, taking it in again. "The colonists didn't do this. The Company..." he pauses briefly, "didn't do this."

Turning to Singleton again, he adds, "No debt is worth your life. We go. Now." He doesn't ask - it is clear this is a statement of fact.
Feb 8, 2024 5:03 am
We are going to need more ammunition if we're going to have any chance of protecting ourselves. Janice turns to Hirsch. Isn't there an Armory in the complex somewhere? There has to be a cache of weapons somewhere in this place.

She runs a shaky hand through her hair. I need a place to hunker down for a few minutes and catch my breath. I need to think.
Feb 8, 2024 6:22 am
"The longer we stay in one spot, the better chance whoever did this comes back. We don't stand a chance against whatever weapons they have."

Morgan steps in front of Janice. "We don't take a break, we don't go get more ammo."

He turns to look at Hannah, "We sure as shit don't go get paperwork."

He hefts his pulse rifle, looks to Holroyd and then Sonny, and finally back to Janice. "Mac, we gotta get out of here. Beeline for the shuttle. This is way beyond what any of us signed up for."

His gaze is shifting left to right. He doesn't want to be here anymore. Waiting means death. He's certain of it. Unconsciously he lifts the tiny cross on a chain to his lips again. Please dear Jesus, keep us safe, he thinks, but doesn't say it out loud.
Feb 8, 2024 7:43 am
OOC:
Some logistics/info:

- you know there's a shuttle on the launch pad

- you are sure you'll need a key-card from either corporate agent Miranda Reynolds, or Weyland-Yutani researcher Theodora Komiskey to open the shuttle door (i.e. next objective probably finding either Reynolds or Komiskey)

- Reynolds took over Hadley's Hope's supervisor Al Simpson's office (on the Level 2 plan it's the next block to the east of the West Lock where you entered the colony buildings, i.e. Block C2, Corporate Offices, it's top right of that block with the "Administrator's Office" just above it

- Harder to guess where Komiskey might be - maybe Medlab (Block E2 on the second level) or the Labs in E1 on the first level, or the Maintenance Bay and Geology labs (on the east side of Sublevel 1) or somewhere else entirely

- no sign of either Reynolds or Komiskey in the bloodbath in the Mass Storage section
Feb 8, 2024 10:13 am
Sonny's head swam. He wanted out of here- like now. He had worked too hard to become a statistic like these poor souls. Fighting through the terror was a small note of rationality, of ... ambition. What if, en route to escape he were to find some proof whatever ripped these people up existed? Surely there must be some scientific evidence left behind? A break like that would surely give him a leg up in the academic world (oh- and opportunities to cash in, lets not be completely naive). All for naught if he was dead though...

'Ill keep my eyes open...' Sigg says to himself. Hirsch's speech snaps him back to reality. The man was right, of course. Sonny hefts his M240 Incinerator Unit. 'Smarter to look for Reynolds rather than hunt through the different spots Komiskey might be... ' he sighs.
Feb 8, 2024 10:53 am
OOC:
Your quickest route up to the office that Reynolds has been using would be back the way you came - up the stairwell labeled "Lad 04". Go up it two levels and you'll have the Administrator's Office just a few metres to your right.
Feb 8, 2024 11:08 am
OOC:
Your quickest route up to the office that Reynolds has been using would be back the way you came - up the stairwell labeled "Lad 04". Go up it two levels and you'll have the Administrator's Office just a few metres to your right.

I'm going to assume you take that route but chime in if you want to do something else.

I'll also assume you're going with Holroyd at the back, Singleton at the front.

@McButterpants/Janice - please make a MOBILITY (Agility) roll - that'll be 3 Base dice, 3 Stress dice.
You make your way back the way you came, and climb up the ladder. Your nerves are on edge, the occasional flickering lamp casting wavering shadows that loom suddenly large against the walls around you.

Everyone's weapons are being held at the ready, waiting for some sign of whatever it is that destroyed so many of your fellow colonists... But there is no sign or trace of what that might have been...

You come out into Level 2, into the Corporate Offices of Block C2. You emerge at the end of a short corridor, which continues to your right as you emerge from the steps. Directly ahead of you is the Administrator's Office, at which point the corridor turns to the right.

You know that if you followed this corridor, you'd come to the Command Crew Quarters (Block B2) - including an office, an operational ready room, and an armoury. However, you also know that this block is keycard locked for command personnel only - and none of you are command personnel.
Feb 8, 2024 11:11 am
OOC:
What tasks does the ‘Commtech’ skill cover?
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