Gothic Space Horror

#1

Terra, Earth, a dozen other names for the cradle of humanity, the one safe place in the galaxy. The great blue green marble of the earth hung heavy in the midnight black sky. The moon hung a distant silver orb, much smaller than the Earth, but still breathtaking. Even the stream of sublight traffic to and fro from the planet surface to the mosaic of colony light on the moon didnt detract from the vision.

Captain Johannes Guildenstern, or Cap'n Stern stood in the medical bay, his face towards the viewscreen. It was artificial, ading windows to a deep space rescue and salvage ship structurally weakened the vessel as well as compromised its protection against radiation. Below him, South Africa, and Cape Town, his place of birth swung past in dramatic slow motion. It would be a long time before he returned to earth, but this was to be his last voyage, he would be retiring upon his return.

"Are you ready for your physical Captain?" Doctor Marney asked. She was a short woman, perhaps five foot four inches with a head of curly dark hair and large eyes. She was perhaps in her forties, and was the second in command after himself.

"Is this necessary, Marney?" Stern asked, it was pain to stand in the medbay with his pants dropped, plus it always made things difficult when dealing with a new crew should they chose to be early, rather than the normal late.

"You know protocol. Everyone gets a standard physical before launch, even you captain." She said.

"Fine, lets get this over with." Stern grunted as the chief medical officer used her offical grip and told him to cough. That being done, he gladly replaced his clothing in the proper location. THe rest of the crew should be arriving soon, if they hadnt already and were just taking their time finding the medical bay.

"I'm going to the bridge, we should be casting off within the hour.

The International Stellar Ship Ballard

#2

The Ballard was not a new ship by any means. Her hull was laid neary eighty-five years ago, during the building boom that followed the success of Armstrong City on the moon. Nearly five hundred ships had been commisioned and built with the aid of the lunar base, new orbital station, and opening of the LaGrange shipyards.

Nearly 350 meters long, the Ballard was one of the largest non-military, non-bulk freighters in system. It had a forward observation deck, lounge facilities, and crew space for nearly 200 people. It only required a crew of ten to operate, the rest of the room was for rescueing crews of badly damaged ships. Aft of the crew compartment was the internal cargo bay/hanger. Four small recovery vessels were packed into the ship, each had to discern from the internal hull due to their tight berths. Two were rescue shuttles, capable of pulling 20 survivors from a wreck. The other two were work shuttles, armed with cutting lasers, and manipulative arms. They would jettison the damaged parts of a ship, or remove damaged fuel cells, or radioactive contaminants.

The Ballard, or Bally as she was called by her crews had a long service record. Nearly 1200 survivors rescued, and 63 ships salvaged, or towed back to a safe locale. The record would rise to 64 ships soon enough.

The main engines, high yield ion drivers could move the ship at great speed, even outpacing the solid fuel motors, and hypergolic rockets of the 20th and 21st centuries. The main power source was a single toroid fusion reactor back up by solar arrays, and a smaller secondary pile of fissionable fuel stock. The back-up reactor had not been used in sixteen years, the the main reactor, a second generation fusion had an exemplary performance record.

Gothic Space Horror

#3

Corpseman Huey Long, just Hue to his friends, floated down the umbilical cord that linked the ship to the docking facility. At the end of the tunnel the airlock was open to admit the crew. A single guard was stationed there, he checked Hue's credentials and commision to the Ballard. Hue was an ex-marine combat medic, nothing really special he just patched up guys and kept them alive until the docs could reach them. He once recieved a bronze star when a squad ran into ambush. Six men imcluding the Staff Sergent were killed instantly but Hue was able to keep the other three alive long enough for a med evac to get them to the field hospital. One died anyway but two were still alive today, Hue was email buddies with them.

Once the guard cleared him he was ordered to stash his duffel bag of clothes and personal items in his quarters then report to the bridge where the Captain was welcoming everyone aboard.

A few short minutes later he stepped onto the medical bay. He immediately saluted the Lt. and began to shout before he caught himself, "Sorry old habits die hard. I'm Corpseman Huey Long, sir and your Lt. Kim Marney. I'm supposed to be your assistant, thanks for taking me aboard."

Gothic Space Horror

#4

"I've read your dossier, Corp." Lt. Marney said. She picked up her medical equipment. "It is impressive, combat medic, decorated. Hopefully this will be a dull flight for us." she said with a smile.

"You know the drill sailor. Everyone gets a physical, and that means you too. Cant have one of the medics go down with something. You cleared the biologicals, but we have to check for hernia, or any other possible defects, you understand."

Gothic Space Horror

#5

Hue smiled tightly, "I can tell you doc I'm probaly not in the best form of my life but I'm probaly in the best form out of this crew. But ah let's get this over with. Mamn"

A few minutes later Hue was checked in healthy condition as ever, and he was right he was one healthiest members of the crew on board. Checked out and ready Hue turned to the Doctor, the medical bay it's self was clean and organized almost the way it was with the military. Hue smiled, "Lt. Marney, should I go ahead and get to work here or is the Captain having an orrientation?"

Gothic Space Horror

#6

"Pockets" Domino found her way onto the ship, looking around. This was going to be an interesting trip. She hadn't shipped out on one of these babies yet. The crewman stationed at the door looked at her rather oddly, wondering just what she had stuffed into the many pockets on her uniform. Some were existing pockets, some she had added herself. But she checked out, and her credentials were good, so he directed her to the med bay. She was a smallish, redhaired woman, with the type of personality that can almost be called offensively cheerful at times, but wasn't. Quite. She found a convienient place to stash her stuff without taking too much of a detour. Soon enough, she arrived at the med bay. "I suppose this is where we report to then. I'm Chief Engineer Jenna Domino, but everyone calls me Pockets. I'm guessing you're Lt. Marney," she said in her friendly way, addressing the woman.

Gothic Space Horror

#7

"Corp. Long, the Captain is currently on the bridge, there is going to be a briefing in thirty minutes in the ships mess. You can wait there if you would like, or you can assist me in giving the last of the physicals. It isnt much work, there are only ten members of this crew, and three are already aboard." Lt. Marney offered.

"It might give you a chance to get a feel for the medbay." she said. The medbay was far from the brilliant white rooms of the training academy, or most planetary facilities, but it was a far cry from the horrid conditions of working in the field, surrounded by gunfire and explosions. One of the overhead lights fluttered, dimmed, and then resumed normal function.

*****

"Pockets, is it?" Marney said with a skeptical look on her face. "Well, we are going to be together for a while so I guess we should get comfortable with one another. Well, we are going to getting under way shortly, the ship has already checked out with the dock authority, and we are having a briefing in the mess in twenty minutes. After that you shouldnt have a hard time finding the engineering compartment." she said.

"I'm not going to lie, I am glad I am not the only woman on board. Being the only woman on a cruise is a rough order."

Gothic Space Horror

#8

Hue looked up a little emberaced then shucked back into his t-shirt and camo pants. "Corpseman Huey Long, mamn friends just call me Hue,: He said. Then left for the bridge to meet the Captain, there wasn't much going on with the examinations being done by the Doctor any work he would of had was already being done. Hue took the lull happily he was pretty sure once they were called out he would get all the work to keep him busy and then some. He stepped onto a lift and it went stright to the bridge. He stepped off. He appreciated the quiet buzz of activity that was the bridge it reminded him of home. Which was the Corps which he had fifeteen years worth of action in.

He came to attention and saluted the Captain. "Corpseman Huey Long reporting, Captain."

Gothic Space Horror

#9

Pockets nodded enthusiastically. "I know. Actually, in some cases, being a woman at all on a crew is rough."
After her physical (which was interrupted several times by loud CLUNK!s as various items fell out of her many pockets), she grinned up at the medic (who stood a full head taller than her). "So, if that's it, I'ma go find the engineering bay now. I wanna get my hammock set up before the briefing. See ya later!"
And with that, she scurried out of the med bay, picking up her stuff on the way. The engineering bay was easy to find. Pockets sighed happily. "Home again, home again, jiggity-jig."

Gothic Space Horror

#10

"Welcome aboard." The captain said, facing the glowing screens that showed a different panorama of the sky. A single vessel showed on a screen, a monster if Hue had ever seen one. From the information on the screen, the captain was reviewing a video, probably taped.

"That is the ship we are going after. I guess there is no harm telling you, but she was on a long range cruise, and contact was lost with her, we dont know what happened, but this is a search and rescue mission. She is the Celeste, a 750 meter long exploration ship, crew of eighty scientists and enlisted men." The captain said.

"She's new, not two years out of the shipyard, and this was her first deep mission."

Gothic Space Horror

#11

After stowing her stuff (and setting up a hammock), Pockets found her way to the bridge. She came in to catch the tail part of the captains statement. She caught sight of the Celeste. "Wow. Shiny." She wondered what condition the engine systems would be in when they found it. "So that's what we're looking for, then?" Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn't introduced herself. "Oh! I'm Pockets, by the way. Chief Engineer."

Gothic Space Horror

#12

Maurice gave a throaty, phlegm-filled cough as he entered the ship. How he longed for a good cigar right now, but he hadnt brought any, and thus he simply sighed, and nodded to the crewman at the door without bothering to speak to him. He gave his credentials, and was sent on his way. Assistant Engineer Officer, Maurice "Pliers" Dulman ran a hand tiredly through his black, though greying hair, studying the ship as he made his way to the medical bay. Early forties and still working strong. The man dropped his bag and belongings just outside the door to the medical bay - he would find a quiet place to sleep, away from the rest of the crew. Probably in the engineering bay, actually - He disliked company of others, and liked the soft hum of machinery. Helped him both think and sleep.

Maurice entered the bay, took one look at the medical officer and the glove she was putting on and frowned, speaking in a rough voice, "Who needs to be abducted to get probed when you can just be a crewman?"

Gothic Space Horror

#13

"A sense of humor and a smokers cough, I like your style sailor." Lt. Marney said as she gave Pliers his examination. You do know that smoking is not allowed aboard this ship, so that means everyone runs and hides to smoke their contraband. Dont worry to much, we are pretty laid back here. Doesnt do to get overly excited, were going to be shipmates for a while." she said with a smile.

"There you go, and welcome aboard sailor. There will be a briefing in the mess, the captains going to tell us what we are going after."

******

"Youre damn right Shiny. Shes new, an entirely new class of ship, has a third generation fusion reactor, advanced electronics and state of the art everything. She was supposed to make a deep run delivery to the Deep Stellar Observatory at Neptune, but vanished off the scopes once she reached the Uranus nav point. Twelve trillion credits worth of starship just up and gone. We have to find her." the captain said.

"Now I believe that the Lt. told everyone to meet in the ships mess, and nothe the bridge. I'll overlook it this time, but there will be discipline on my ship." he said in a stern voice.

Gothic Space Horror

#14

"I just went where I heard voices." Pockets shrugged. "But that reminds me..." She hadn't eaten in a while, and it suddenly occured to her that she was starving. With that, she rabbited out of the room, heading for the mess at top speed. Maybe they would have frozen burritos... "Buuuuuuuuurriiiiiiiiiitoooooooooooos..." Well, this was looking like it was going to be an interesting mission. She, at least wanted to get her hands on that new drive system, take it apart, find out how it worked, and put it back together again a little better.

Gothic Space Horror

#15

Maurice gave a slight nod to Lt. Marney before leaving, grabbing his belongings and making his way to the engineering bay. Upon opening the door to the bay, he blinked once, and studied the hammock which was already hanging in there. After a few seconds, Pliers merely shook his head and grunted, making his way to the far end of the bay and dropping a mattress on the floor, unrolling it to set up his own sleeping area. Once that was complete, he made his way to the Mess - the first one there - and took a seat, crossing arms in front of his chest and closing his eyes, waiting.

Gothic Space Horror

#16

Pockets skidded into the mess, barely missing the wall. It was a bad habit of hers, but she had a tendency to go everywhere at top speed. There was already someone else there, an older, grumpy looking man. "Oh, hi. I'm Pockets." She prowled around the mess for a few moments, before deciding that there was nothing that she wanted. She pulled the flap of a pocket open and extracted a ration bar. She sat down on a table near the man, caught the whiff of stale cigars coming off him, made a face, and moved. Munching happily, she said, "This is my first time going out on something that's not run by one of those little, slightly disreputable salvage operations."

Gothic Space Horror

#17

Maurices eyes opened at the sound of a newcomer, and he peered at her curiosly. "Pliers." Was his response to her name. He watched the girl wander around the hall with his usual faint frown - his face appeared as though a smile hadnt touched it for a good while. "You seem excited about it. Trust me when I say there is hardly any difference between this and those 'self-profit' operations."

Gothic Space Horror

#18

"I don't care. It's a new experience, anyway. And we're sure as heck a lot less likely to get stopped by patrols. Those get annoying after a while." Pockets decided that Pliers was definitely a grouch. "Anyway. All of the crews I've shipped out with, we never were asked to go find a missing ship. Usually we were discouraged from that."

Gothic Space Horror

#19

Hue nodded nad left the bridge, well at least he knew the Captain was a stickler for proper procuedure. He's porbaly an ex-navy bird, all those navy birds were alike. Hue made his way back to the mess, his pace was slower than pockets who flew down the corridors to it. Hue arrived there though only a few minutes later.

Hue grabbed some chow, a plate of meat and fresh vegatables. It was best to take these first becasue they would adventually run out on a ship. Or that had been his experaicne on military troops carriers. Hue started wolfing down the food, he noticed the older man while a grumpy look about him over on the other side of the table. Well it was shaping up to be a really long voyage by the look of Pliers he probaly played cards and smoked. That was good he still had some Fidels left in his cigar case from the deployment to Wanderjar along with some beat up playing cards.

That ship they were after bothered him, for something that new to go missing it wouldn't be mechanical failure a ship that new would have a crack crew that could at least get the ship to limp into a port. Hue almost had a sixth sense abouth this, and he felt there was definately something sinister about the ships disappearance.

Gothic Space Horror

#20

Lt. 1st Class Michaelle "Micky" St. George was the last to board the Ballard. So she thought. She hadn't been on the ship long when she heard the orders to report to the Mess. Still carrying her gear and with orders in hand she made her way to the mess. Micky was a petite woman. 5'2" and only a 130 pounds. But she was almost all lean muscles. Her black curly hair was cropped short and it seemed to form two little horns over her ears. Clad in dark navy flight gear she took a seat, her gear was placed at her feet. Micky's skin was sort of a dusky tan. She removed her sunglasses, old earth replicas, Micky looked to other two over. Having caught the last bit of conversation as she came into the room. "Patrols..hmph. Nothing but little grubbers trying to get their share off of a salvage. Parasites." She had a slightly wolfish grin, it seemed to transform her whole face, making her seem younger than her age. At 29, Lt. Michaelle was one heck of a pilot and a bit reckless at times. She had been recently transferred from the Cataran, a combat vessel. The Cataran was in for repairs and had been issued a new crew. Much to the annoyance of Micky, she had loved that ship. Now here she was...on a salvage rescue ship. Could it get any better?

Gothic Space Horror

#21

A glance was given to one she hadnt noticed before. Darn, she must be slipping. Then again her trasfer had come in late and she had only managed 3 hours of sleep. A weary eye was given to the others as she detected the faint smell of cigars. Not bad..but not a great idea. No doubt the O2 scrubbers would be working over time. But hey, she couldnt complain too much. This would be a joyride compared to her last trip out.

Gothic Space Horror

#22

Santiago Keyes, a Cuban born pilot and navigator swaggered into the mess, his hair a carefully prepared pompador of hair and pomade. A pencil thin mustache adorned his upper lip, and he had the air of Rikki Ricardo mixed with fighter pilot.

"Senora Marney, she is not a gentle mujere." he said in a thick accent. "Mi llamo Corpsman Keyes, you might have heard of me, fighter pilot aboard the Enterprise, ace with sies kills." he said, as proud as a cockerel.

"Ah, si, es muy bien! Cubanos, I wish I had two boxes in my duffel." he said patting a square shape pressed into the side of his pack. "We should be leaving soon, no? There was another pilot waiting for senora Marneys attention, and two more running late."

He said, taking a seat next to Pliers.

Gothic Space Horror

#23

Severin Talbot ran up the tube leading to the medbay, the metalic sound of his feet gave forth a small echo in the air. It was his wery first
mission and he was late. Not a good first impression at all.
He was in his 23 years old, an extremely low age for this kind of job. Normally they let rookies do patrol flights and such for a couple of years.
He had brown hair which he preferred to comb back with gel. His nose was slightly out of place due to the many years of boxing, but that did not bother him. He thought it rather charming.
Raging two meters from the ground always brought him a certain amount of attention. As did the fact that he was the best in his class the year he finished his pilot training. But nontheless, he was a rookie. This was the real thing, not a flight simulator. Neither would his teacher watch his back while he was flying, everebody would expect him to do his part without any errors or questions.

He reached the medbay, his bag and gear over his shoulder.
"Sorry i am late, I had to get my papers checked first."

Gothic Space Horror

#24

"Private Talbot, good of you to make it." Lt. Marney said. "You know you are quite the exception on this cruise, your the only rookie on deck." she said as she administered the physical.

"Well, you seem to be in fine health, and had excellent scores on the simulators, well see how well you handle the real thing, wont we. Do me favor, private, dont go nuts on me. This is going to be a long cruise, and we are going to be shipmates for a long time. I would hate to have to put you down." she said with a wink.

Gothic Space Horror

#25

Hue eye's rolled over to "Micky", he let out a slight sigh, he knew a "Micky" a Lt. like herself had helped his unit out of the fire by taking out a tank that had closed in when Hue was trying to stabilize two men. She had the arrogance of an aero jock maybe she was in and the same.

"Hey, Lt Michaelle, were you at Diamunde?" Diamunde had been one of last major campaigns, a self styled corperate worldlord had taken over and tried to make the interstellar government deal with just him after he obliterated his competition. He held ont the world with an iron fist made of MBT combat tanks that been made there with Diamunde's rich minerals and ores. That was the first tank fight in over three hundred years, the last tank fight had been on old Earth during world war three when American Super Abrams attacked Canada, Canada came back with the straight arrow infantry launched missle it completely negated tanks untill Diamunde which by that time mist anti tank weapons had been decommissioned. It had been a rough campaign for every one.

Gothic Space Horror

#26

Micky looked back to Hue, he did seem familiar. "Yeah, I was there briefly at Diamunde. Would have been there longer, but had to pull out. My bird took some heavy hits, and my wise and all knowing cammander decided to withdraw and let everyone else do the cleanup." She leaned back in the seat. "I would have preffered to stay longer, damaged bird or not. You look familiar, cant quite place it just yet. But wait ..it will come to me. You think I have enough time to go stow my gear before this little meeting?" She folded up the ear pieces on her sunglasses and slipped them into her pocket.

Gothic Space Horror

#27

"Probably not," A tall man said. Judging from his ramrod straight posture and hat, he was the captain of this ship.

"I'd like to welcome everyone aboard the Ballard. Since we are only missing two pilots, I am going to start the briefing now. When they arrive, you can bring them up to speed." he said, puling out a small remote control. He pressed a button, and the room went dark as a small holoprojector ran up to speed.

A vitual image floated above the mess table, a starship, and a big one from the looks of her. The forward command area looked as imposing as the head of a sledgehammer, followed by a narrow spine that extended back through three antenna arrays. The body bloated out again into the manifold accomodations for the crew as well as scientific bays, engineerings and machine bays, and a plethora of sensors that no one present could name. The end grew sizably into the engineering compartment. Siz ion engines, each massing as much as the Ballard alone clamped in a ring around the central spine of the ship.

Somewhere inside of all of that iron and steel was a 3rd generation fusion reactor, plus a computer core likely smart enough to send anyone who was not a computer jock into a Luddite fit of anti-tech raving.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the United Earth Space Ship Celeste. She is 750 meters long and displaced almost point five million metric tons. She cost the UE alot of money, 12 trillion credits. We are going to get a hell of a lot of money for bringing her back. For eveyones information, this is my last cruise, and well it should be, we are all going to be independantly wealthy after this mission." he said.

"Now, there are a few catches involved. The Celeste is still a classified ship. No one talks about her to the outside, no letters, no messages. This is a classified mission.

"Celeste was on her shakedown cruise, running sublight engines only. Yes, I can see that look in your eyes, she has a FTL drive and can leave the Solar System. This in one of the reasons this is a classified mission. The other is that she is armed, the first of her kind. The Celeste is technically a military Light cruiser. Advanced weaponry like you cant imagine.

"This is why we are being paid so well. We dont touch anything we dont have to, and we bring her home no questions asked. Now, I have no idea about survivors, but we will take care of the matter as best we can." he said. He pressed the button again and the holoprojection flickered and faded. The lights came back on.

"Are their any questions?" he asked.

Gothic Space Horror

#28

"I have a question Captain." Micky looked to him. The holographic images had been commited to memory and to a special place in her heart. She loved ships, and that big beast was like the motherload. "A ship like that doesnt just sit out there floating in space. All that technology on board and they need us to rescue it. No offense Captain, but something doesnt smell right." She held up both hands, palms facing outward in the way a person did when they might have said something offensive."I mean this is a good ship and good crew, otherwise we wouldnt be here, but as much money and stuff went into that ship, it dont seem right they would be sending us. Y'know. Especially since it's suppose to be classified."

Gothic Space Horror

#29

Pockets was looking at the holo of the ship in a slightly wistful manner. Clasified meant no touchy, which mean she couldn't examine it as well as she would like. Well, she could look, anyway. She didn't say anything; there were no questions she had that could be answered right now in a timely manner. However, what Micky had said made sense. Naturally, Pockets didn't chime in on this, because she didn't want anyone thinking twice about letting her go. So she just quietly stuffed the ration bar wrapper into a pocket and waited for the answer.

Gothic Space Horror

#30

Hue had the same suspicions as Micky, this mission while the pay looked to be good had Fubar as he would out it written all over. The only thing that didn't make him get up and leave right now that ship was probaly already in a preflight sequence there was no going back now.

Hue let out a long sigh, at least he had brought a weapon aboard. It was a standerd issue Sunjet Laser pistol that he had smuggled out of the base after Diamunde his last campaign. The image of the floating hologram hung in his mind, it was sinister. He had heard stories of ship computers that were so advanced they could pilot a ship with out any human intervention, rumors, but rumors started as fact, distorted yes but they had to come from somewhere.

Hue needed this money, Marines were never paid well and the last view jobs had kept him just afloat. He would go through with this but still didn't feel good about.

"If this is a military cruiser and it is disabled maybe we should take some weapons just in case what ever disabled that comes for us." Hue said his words rang in his ears.

Gothic Space Horror

#31

"Warning, the maneuvers you are performing are exceeding inertial dampeners and compromising structural integrity. Stop immediately..."

"Stupid thing..." Eric "Pere" Johnson shook his head and slowly pulled his rescue craft out of the triple corkscrew he was in and righted his course for the Ballard. He had been given this mission last minute, but was certainly appreciating the opportunity. His money was fine, but there was never a reason to not get more. And besides, he'd been getting bored, so hopefully this would be interesting, at least for a while. As his little craft moved to dock with the Ballard he kissed the small cross he had tattooed on the back of his left hand, and made a silent missive to God.

The craft docked and he grabbed his small bag, taking it down to the crew quarters before heading toward medical, then the bridge. He didn't have much with him, just his Good Book, a couple changes of clothes and a pair of throwing knives he had had made special. He had one tucked into the top of each boot, God forbid he ever had to use them, but practicing with them was typically a rewarding way to burn some time. He arrived in medical and began to look around for the medical officer...

Gothic Space Horror

#32

Maurice, after listening to the questions of the others, voiced in his own opinion in an almost sarcastic voice, "If you will forgive my scepticism, captain. How does a state-of-the-art piece of machinery like that end up needing us to hauled it?" The mans expression hadnt changed since he had gotten into this room, and his voice harbored no fear or curiousity. It was mainly Pliers' pessimistic attitude that caused him to ask this. He had been on enough missions to not really care how dangerous it may be, and quite truthfully, he didnt feel any terrible portent about this mission at all - Its just another job to him.

Gothic Space Horror

#33

Lt Marney was in the process of locking down the medbay when Pere approached her. She noticed the cross on the back of his hand and favored him with a smile.

"I havent been on a ship with a chaplain in a long time." she said. We are still waiting on two pilots, and if they dont show up soon, we will have to pick up replacements when we stop at Europa to refuel."

"I guess that means it is time for the physical, and then you need to get down to the mess as soon as you can. The captain has already started the briefing. Have you done a rescue mission before?" She asked as she grasped him firmly and told him to cough.

Gothic Space Horror

#34

"That is a valid question from our 2nd engineer." the captain said.

"Why do we need to take a jaunt across the solar system to rescue a state of the art classified military craft? There are a number of reasons, first and foremost being that the UESPA has asked us to and they are paying us a small mint to do it.

"But you want details, why this ship, why you." he said addressing their concerns and fears. "The Ballard is the most powerful rescue ship in the fleet. We can dock with the Celeste, and bring her in under our own power. There are not many ships that can make that claim, and none that can do it in a timely manner.

"Secondly, for our engineers, the Celeste does not have a back-up fissionable reactor, or a back-up 2nd gen fusion reactor. She has one 3rd gen fusion reactor, battery banks, and solar arrays. If she had a reactor event," Explosion, meltdown, contamination, radiation leak, and a dozen other nasty words replaced event in the minds of the mechanic and the crewmen who knew about fusion power, "She would be stranded on emergency power. There would not be enough power to run the long range transponder, and thus, she vanishes. This is the scenario the UESPA has given me."

"Good question, any more?"

Gothic Space Horror

#35

"Other than the Ballard obviously, what in the way of equipement and weaponary do we have at our disposal. No offense Captain but I worked with UESPA to accept everything the intel boys say at face value. Anything could ahve causeed that ship to go off tracking. Anything." Hue wasn't one for superstion he just wanted to make sure that they had all the equipement they needed for this. It is better to have a gun and need not use it then not have a gun and need it.

Gothic Space Horror

#36

"An interesting question." The captain said.

"Obviously there is the Ballard herself. Plus she carries four shuttles, two of them rescue boats for pulling survivors out of a ship quickly, and two are salvage scows, armed with plasma cutters, and hydraulic arms. The Ballard also carries ten lifeboats, with a supply duration of one month."

"As for weaponry, Ballard is unarmed. There is no weapons locker, no arsenal aboard this ship. We are rescue salvage, no privateer marines. I have a very lax attitude towards contraband.

"I dont care if you have smuggled cigars, gambling dice, pornography or a damn vibrator. That is your business and as long as it keeps you sane while we are whistling through dead space then all the better. However, if I even hear rumor of a weapon being smuggled on board, there will be hell to pay, you understand me."

"We are heading into deep space, well away from civilian traffic. We cannot afford to loose a crewmate in a dispute of any sort. Every person here is vital to the mission. Plus I would try and remember what happened to the Calypso* (OOC channel) before playing with firearms."

"If in the odd chance that some of you have smuggled weapons aboard, you have an amnesty period of 24 hours to turn the weapon into the drop box at my quarters. There will be no questions asked, nothing pressed. If I find it later, you spend the rest of the mission in a holding cell, and then are released to the proper authority once the mission is complete. Anyone care to spend something like 18 months in solitary confinement?" He asked.

Gothic Space Horror

#37

"Excuse me sir, I have a question." Severin had just entered the room, so he might have missed some vital part of this briefing. Nobody had noticed him when he came in, but they were staring at him now all right.

"I just caught the last part of your briefing, that there are no firearms aboard. I respect rules captain, I would not dream of breaking any of them.
My question is, sir... Do we have any tactical plan or any theory about the why and how? There is some possibility that violence was involved, there has to be. We are talking about a military aircraft."

Severin was cold and sweating, but he had to get his point trough.

"My point is... if we get problems of any hostile sort, do we have a backup plan involving weapons of our own?"

Gothic Space Horror

#38

Pere left the med-bay, glad the examination was finally over, how he hated those things. He walked down the hallway to the mess hall and opened the door. It opened up on what looked like almost the entire crew having some meeting or other. "Sorry I'm late." He slipped in as the door shut and quickly grabbed a seat.

Gothic Space Horror

#39

Micky wasnt liking how this mission was shaping up. But it was either go on the mission or go broke. She sighed. "Cpatian, are you going to stock up on extra O2 scrubbers? It looks like it is going to be a long mission." She knew cigar smoke was hell on the enviro controls. That and O2 scrubbers helped keep the recycled air breathable. It wasnt like they could just open a window. A sound caught her attention. "Hey Captain, I think we got another person on board...maybe lost." She motioned towards the sounds coming from the lift. If they were going to the bridge, boy were they in for a surpise. The crew was meeting down in the Mess. She sat thinking a moment. "We may not have weapons on board but the Celeste is a militray craft. She's bound to have weapons on her.They wouldnt send her out naked...not even on a test run. Would they?" She didnt want underestimate the military's capacity for stupidity.

Gothic Space Horror

#40

Hue didn't need to say anything after that, no captain, on any ship he had never been on didn't carry a weapon of some sort. Hue didn't let anything show on his face but he was relieved he had brought some weapons. At least he knew he could rely on Micky, the rest he would have to find about on the voyage.

Hue caught Micky's eye and gave her a slight nod.