Gothic Space Horror

1. Gothic Space Horror

   #281

   Severin struggled to make sense of the situation. While he wanted to believe that Cap Stern was a complete idiot, he did not seem completely unhinged. Hue and Micky seemed very aggressive though, striking out against anyone in such a manner.
   
   "The shuttle bay, Ao, and we'd better leave soon..." Severin whispered, before he snuck out the doorway, waiting outside to see if Ao followed.

2. Gothic Space Horror

   #282

   Ao backed out into the hallway and turned to the left, casually avoiding glances.
   He gazed for a moment at the colored marker-strips, and then dashed expediently towards the shuttle bay.

3. Gothic Space Horror

   #283

   Micky looked up. realizing Ao and Severin were gone. "Damnit." She rubbed her forehead. Pacing back and forth. Obviously frustrated. Thinking about those old vid movies. Raising her head suddenly." Shit." Hoping to God that she was wrong.
   If this was like an old vid movie than if Ao and Severin took one of the vehicles in the shuttle bay, they would no doubt be killed by some freak explosion. She seemed more frightened than frustrated as she bolted out of the room and down the corridor.
   "Guys..wait. Please." Thinking about how in most of those movies how badly the main ship was damaged in those movies.
   This reminded her of one of those old vidfilms...everything seemed familiar And yet alien and new.
   A slasher movie.... DeepStar 9....or something like that. If it was true, the killer would already be moving in on their next victim.

4. Gothic Space Horror

   #284

   The cavernous shuttlebay was deathly quiet as the two pilots made their way to it. most of the gear was chained in place, to keep it from getting sucked out of the ship should there be a breech in the bay doors, a notable weak point in most ships with internal shuttle bays. Unlike the rest of the ship, there was no sign that the place had been seemingly abandoned. There were no undiscarded food wrappers, no loose papers in the process of being filed, nothing except what was chained down, or strapped in place.
   
   A red line on the floor indicated the direction of the ships magazine, where the capital weapons were held, the ballistic missles mainly. Another line, purple indicated the path to the refueling ports and hoses for the shuttles that didnt use their own internal reactor. A black line indicated the direction to the fighter bay.
   
   Santiago and Taget stood near the doors to the fighter bay, one of the shuttle sized doors manually opened. Ao could see the leering face of one of the fighters from where he stood, with a gaping ramscoop and apair of blister mounted lasers that made the fighter look more like a gargoyle than a sleek hunter. The fact that the entire craft was a strange matte black color didnt help much, with the gold polarized canopy.
   
   "Whatta bunch of wild birds, man. No?" Santiago asked, pulling on a mustache while Taget merely looked on with a mix of distracted boredom and resigned fatality.

5. Gothic Space Horror

   #285

   As the other three left Luke heard the Captains words, and fury roared into his head the swabby was standing there sneering down trying to look down on him.
   The DX-2 pistol was in his hands and lined with between the Captains eyes before Hue even realized.
   
   "I will never know how Marney served you ship for so long with a prick like you but I fucking didn't kill her. You should know a Marine is never without his weapon and if you try to harm me of any other crew member on this ship I personally blow your fucking brains out." Luke tossed the Bio-Scanner to the Captain.
   
   "I left Marney since then I was with Micky, so go jetison yourself." With that Luke back stepped out of hte bridge not turning his back on the Captain, following Micky.
   
   "Fuck," Luke cursed himself, his temper had flared.

6. Gothic Space Horror

   #286

   Pockets tightened her grip on her spanner. "Things are getting mighty out of hand pretty damn fast," she said mildly. She didn't watch the old vid movies, but she had seen people go space-crazy before. And clearly someone on the crew had gone completely nuts. It could be the captain, but it could also be Hue, the way he'd blown his top. Hell, it could even be someone who looked like they were handling it well. All Pockets knew was that it wasn't her. But she sure as all get out wasn't going to be alone with just one crewmember until the killer was caught. She figured that it would be safe enough here with the captain and Pliers.

7. Gothic Space Horror

   #287

   "It looks like these shuttle bay doors have been opened Ao. Everything is so clean here, probably sucked into space." Severin whispered. He looked at the room, trying to discern whether any of the shuttles were missing. Of course he did not know how many there were in the first place...
   
   Warily he made his way towards Santiago and Taget while waving. "Hey guys, are you planning on leaving?" he shouted. Severin was cautious as he approached the two men, keeping close to Ao and watching their moves.

8. Gothic Space Horror

   #288

   "We are intruders here." Taget said, walking a pace or two behind the ever smiling Santiago. The Cuban had a swagger in his step, perhaps it was hereditary.
   
   "I would no say intruder, but I would say this is a ghost ship." Santiago said. "All of the shuttles are still here, and there are another eighteen aerospace fighters, all top notch."
   
   "Ghost ships belong to the dead. No good comes from dealing with them, they are disquieted by our presence." Taget said. He dropped a serrated steel knife into his hand from a concealment in his sleeve. The blade glittered in the lights of the bay.
   
   "Senhor, you grouse, malo muerda, eh?" Santiago said befoe being knifed. The Cuban shuddered, and tryed to escape from the larger ex-marine, but was instead pierced by the knife twice more before collapsing to the ground.
   
   "Ghost ships belong to the dead, dont they Ao, dont they Severin?"

9. Gothic Space Horror

   #289

   Micky came to a sliding halt. Eyes wide and jaw dropped. Catching sight of Santiago dropping before Taget. She scrambled back, not being seen yet. Back tracking down the corridor. Running right into Hue. Her hand went to her mouth trying not to make a sound. Eyes wide.
   She was shaking badly. She pointed towards the shuttle bay. "it's...Taget."

10. Gothic Space Horror

    #290

    Taget didnt see who scrambled back up the corridor, but he heard them easily enough. He scowled, too many to deal with right now, if the rest came in... He hit a button on the wall, and the doors to the shuttlebay began to close, the yellow warning lights coming on, and starting to spin, casting beams of bright yellow across the bay.
    
    "Doors secure in ten seconds, stage one decompression activated." the computer chimed.

11. Gothic Space Horror

    #291

    Severin spun about and started running towards the doorway he came from. "Run Ao!" he screamed before sliding under the closing doorway, escaping the shuttle bay. He waited then, hoping that Ao would follow.

12. Gothic Space Horror

    #292

    Pockets glanced over at the bridge console, automatically keeping track of the readouts. Suddenly, she frowned. "Hey, someone's started decompression in the shuttle bay. That's... there's no reason for anyone to do that." She looked up at Pliers, then glanced at the captain. "Maybe we should be checking on whatever's going on down there?"

13. Gothic Space Horror

    #293

    "Finally some common sense, go check out the shuttle bay and see what is going on. It seems that most of the crew has abandoned the bridge anyway." the captain said. He pulled his sidearm from its holster and handed it to Pockets.
    
    "You were the only person who turned in their weapon properly. When we get back to the docks I will see that you are commended for your actions." the captain said.

14. Gothic Space Horror

    #294

    Ao leapt for the closing door, or, that failing, a good place to hang on and hold his breath. The whistling roar of the air, ripping like invisible dragon's breath out of the shuttle-bay, told him that time was running out.

15. Gothic Space Horror

    #295

    Command override
    Safety protocol activated...
    Terminate Shuttle Bay decompression...
    Door mechanism engaged, air pumps returning to zero
    
    Stern clicked the monitor off. This raynor fellow might have locked the command systems out, but he hadnt overridden the safety protocols. He couldnt command the doors to open from the bridge but he could make them shut, but only if he told the computer that there were people in the bay.
    
    By the monitor there were people in there. Someone must have gone Space-Nuts of something, trying to blow the shuttlebay. Damnation.
    
    For a moment he regretted not investing in the personal communicators, and instead spending the money to put a delux holoprojector in his suite on the Bally.

16. Gothic Space Horror

    #296

    Severin slumped against the wall. His head was spinning and his heart was beating. He did not fully comprehend what was happening. He was in the past again, being berated by his father. "Grow a spine Severin" his father yelled. "You cannot run from your problems all your life".
    
    There came a sound, it sounded as if the shuttlebay decompression had been halted. Severin reopened the door and looked for Ao and Taget. Then courage welled up within him, from a hidden reserve he did not know existed, and he got into his fighting stance, as he had before during all those boxing bouts he had been through. He slowly entered the shuttlebay, searching for Taget and Ao. If it was time to die, he would die with his last shred of dignity.

17. Gothic Space Horror

    #297

    Hue cursed himself, "Right." Cold rage swirled around him. He tunred the safety off the big combat pistol. He walked down the hall slowly. The shuttle bay... He opened the door slowly and went hunting.
    
    All the images of Marney's body came floodin back he the blood, his words with the Captain. Even he survived this he might get time in a penal colony for inspiring mutiny.
    
    He would worry later after vengance was achieved.

18. Gothic Space Horror

    #298

    Micky managed to find one of the service wrenches. Brandishing it as a weapon. She followed Hue. She wasnt going to make him face Taget alone.
    That and she was starting to like having him around. And not just because he had a gun.
    Knowing if any of them survived, time in a penal colony awaited them. She didnt want to die..but she didnt want to serve time either.

19. Gothic Space Horror

    #299

    Taget punched in the access code, and opened the service door to the fighter hanger. The door slid shut with a hiss, and dull clank as the reinforcing bars dropped into place. Normally they served the purpose of protecting the rest of the ship should there be an accidental detonation in the weapons magazine, but it served well enough to keep intruders out of his new place.

20. Gothic Space Horror

    #300

    Pockets hurried down the hall towards the shuttle bay, wondering just what the hell was going on. Everything was craziness and had gone bad way too quickly for her to understand.
    At least she felt safer by herself now that she had a gun. As a rule, she didn't much care for them, but this was different. The spanner she still carried was an okay weapon, but it had no range. She had tucked the gun into one of her many pockets, out of sight but easy to get to in a hurry.
    There was the shuttle bay. Didn't really look like anyone was around. Someone, probably the captain, had used the safety protocols to stop decompression; it would be safe enough. She entered cautiously, looking around.

21. Gothic Space Horror

    #301

    Micky kneeled down by Santiago. Placing her fingertips lightly on his throat, checking for a pulse.
    Hearing a sound behind her. Micky turned, the wrench held defensively. Ready to swing it at a moments notice.
    It was Pockets. Micky lowered the wrench.
    "Pockets..help me.Please." Turning her attention back to Santiago. Placing one hand over the knife wounds. Setting the wrench down, she used her other hand to check for a pulse.
    Her own blood pounding loudly in her ears. Breathing hard in short quick breaths. Obviously doing her best to stay calm, but pretty much failing.
    Her hands trembling slightly. Yeah Mickey was a pilot. And yeah she had been at war before. But being up close and personal with death was still very new to her. She was use to flying into a hostile territory and picking up/dropping off soldiers. Not hand to hand. Never up close and personal til now.
    And to make matters worse, it was a member of their own crew doing this. Marney was dead, and most likely Santiago would be joining her.

22. Gothic Space Horror

    #302

    As Mickey paused next to Santiago Hue moved forward, there was a door at the end with a key pad on it, there was no way to know the combination at least for him. He considered shooting the lock bolt out but waited.
    
    "Pockets do you think you can slice this lock?" The shuttle bay was cold and empty Hue looked nervously at the huge bay doors that held back the freezing vacum. Santiago looked like he had it he was loosing alot of blood. Hue tucked the gun into his belt and ran back over. He patted Mickey on the shoulder, she was after all a pilot and he was a medic.
    
    He took a pressure bandage out of his pocket and ripped Staniago's shirt open so he could get to the stab wound. He placed the bandage over the wound and pressed the sealing edge. It sealed around the stab and pain relievers poured through the bandage into his body. He still looked pretty pale. "That's all I can do now. "Pockets help me with the lock if you can't get it I'm going to blast it off either way you take Santiago back to Medical and hook him up with a blood bag he's lost too much for his body to recover on it's own."

23. Gothic Space Horror

    #303

    Micky moved back. Letting Hue tend to Santiago. Glancing around. No sure of what she could do. She was just a pilot.

24. Gothic Space Horror

    #304

    Pockets stared for a moment, then she got hold of herself and started moving. "What happened here?" she demanded. She took a look at the keypad. She wasn't terribly familiar with locking systems, and this ship might have something completely different involved. But she pried up the access panel nearby and started working on the lock.

25. Gothic Space Horror

    #305

    Severin just stood and watched them all. He wondered where Ao had gone and stood mesmerized as Hue and the others worked efficiently. He was shaking slightly and was short of breath. He had to sit down for a while, and let the others work while he sat unnoticed in the shadows.
    
    Then he began to scan the walls for signs of air vents. If Pockets had problems opening the service door to the fighter hangar, perhaps they could enter through the ducts and shafts of the ventilation system.

26. Gothic Space Horror

    #306

    Micky sat in silence, watching Hue bandage Santiago. Micky felt lost and useless all of a sudden. Some of Santiago's blood covered her hands and alittle stained the front of her clothing. Staring in silence.
    
    Micky then rose to her feet. Rubbing a hand across her cheek, not noticing the bloody streak it left. The wrench clutched in one hand. She looked blankly to the room in which Taget had escaped into.

27. Gothic Space Horror

    #307

    Santiago's color improved slightly, and the tension left his face as the pain relievers and anti-imflammatories went to work on him. His breathing was slightly better also.
    
    "Mi friends..." he said faintly, "To all of you I am indebted."
    
    *****
    The door popped open, the access code having been disabled from the bridge. It was nice that certain areas of th ehsip were protected from lock-out protocols, especially the parts that could be decompressed. Now if the area was already decompressed, the doors would not open no matter what command sequence was entered.
    
    They carried Santiago on an emergency stretcher that had been located in a med-kit cabinet in the hanger. The door to the medbay was open, but it sounded like there was someone inside the room. There was a sound of glass breaking, and the operating table and supplies being knocked open. A hoarse moan came from the room.
    
    Hue was held in a momentary paralysis of disbelief...Marney had pulled herself from the morgue drawer and was now stumbling across the room, her guts hanging out, leaving bloody smears across the floor. She reached for him, bloody lips pulled back from white teeth.

28. Gothic Space Horror

    #308

    Pockets had helped carry Santiago down the hall to the med bay, still awaiting an explanation. But as soon as she saw what was inside med bay, she froze. But not for long. Marney... no, what was left of Marney was reaching for Hue. Pockets let out a yelp that could probably be heard all the way from one end of the ship to the other. Forgetting all about the concealed gun in her pocket, she struck out with the giant spanner, hoping to connect.

29. Gothic Space Horror

    #309

    Ao, clawing himself upward and taking huge breaths of the air that flooded the bay following the re-closure of the bay-doors.
    "Hwaten Jigoku?!" he exclaimed violently, lapsing into the Asian-influenced Lunar English dialect. "Tere ul be kharat iveangeance pora desu," he muttered. 'There will be big payback for this.'

30. Gothic Space Horror

    #310

    Marney's head jerked to the side, the bone of her cheek, and temple cracking loudly. The spanner had connected solidly. The thing that had once been Marney gurgled and rasped loudly as it staggered under the weight of the blow, but dead muscles pulled her back upright, her eyeball hanging out of its ruined socket.
    
    *****
    Ao had a moment to savor his sudden ability to breath again. He heard a shuffling step behind him. It was the sort of thing that happened in the old horror holovids, and some of the stories he had once read, the smell of death...
    
    The dead man, Raynor, stood close behind him, staring at him with eyes that weeped gelatinous viscera, his face a ruin of frostbite and dryness. The skin was split, and showed bloody underneath, but had a disturbingly dry texture. Jimmy put his hand out, touching Ao's shoulder with extended fingers.

31. Gothic Space Horror

    #311

    Pockets stared at the damage she had done with the spanner. That was enough to kill a normal person. "Uh, guys, I'm thinking we should run like hell now."

32. Gothic Space Horror

    #312

    Hue stood shocked for a second as the zombiefied Marney staggered back up from Pocket's blow. Running sounded good, he pulled the big DX2 pistol out and pulled the trigger. The bolt of plasma ejecta spat out of the pistol, in semi automatic shots.
    
    It connected Marney's undead flesh and started burning turning it to cinders. Hue pulled the trigger a couple times a the gun whined again and spat six more plasma gloubules into Marney's corpse and head.
    
    "Oh fuck." Hue simply said. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

33. Gothic Space Horror

    #313

    Micky turned. Watching the shambling corpse reach for Ao. Her expression still blank.
    Moving forward, swinging the wrench like a bat. It moved in a wide arch, putting her full weight behind it. Aiming at the back of Raynor's head.

34. Gothic Space Horror

    #314

    Severin had been moving about in the forehangar, scrutinizing the different tug-craft and shuttles. The situation had gotten so bad, he had decided he was going to prepare some of the tug and repair crafts for emergency evacuation. Problem was Taget, for he had escaped into the fighter hanger and Severin did not wish to be caught in a tug and repair craft, while the murderer Taget blasted him to smithereens using one of those top notch space fighters.
    
    Now Severin was inside a tug craft cockpit, when he suddenly spotted the formerly frozen corpse of James Raynor on the navigational display screen, the dead man was attempting to touch Ao, and Micky was desperately maneuvering to hinder that touch. Instinctively, responding to years of simulator drilling, Severin began firing the fore cannons, but there was no trigger and there was no cannons, his index fingers just tapped the synth leather on the controls. There was no time to engage the repair lasers or welding torches!
    
    Cursing, he opened the floor panel and ran down the ramp, trying to aid Micky in her efforts. In the process he grabbed a small steel-reinforced cargo net that hung on a wall near the floor panel.

35. Gothic Space Horror

    #315

    "This isn't happening, this isn't happening..."
    Ao's voice trailed off, eyes widening in impossible horror. He backed stiffly away from the suppurating corpse, coming up against the cold bulk of the wall. His nails clawed uselessly against chilly metal. His muscles went limp, and he fell to his knees.
    "No-no-no-no..."

36. Gothic Space Horror

    #316

    The wrench connected with a sickening thud to the back of Raynor's head. Bits of dead skin and congealed blood sent flying in an arch. The wrench jarred her arms all the way to her elbows. Without hesitation she lunged onto Raynor, knocking him to the ground. There she continued to beat and pummel the dead man with the heavy wrench. Striking him over and over again, hearing the skull bone eventually giving way. A wet sticky crunch.
    
    Micky had this look in her eyes. This blank..almost cold look. Something inside her brain had snapped. Taking out her fury upon the man who refused to stay dead. The corpse beneath her continued to groan and try to move. But her attack was relentless. "DIE!DIE!DIE!You ugly stinking &#*@&(@*&^! DIE damn you! DIE!"
    
    She only stopped when she could no longer lift her arms without pain. Her wrists, elbows, and shoulders throbbed. Satisfied that Raynor would stay down she moved off of the body. A glance to Ao, but in truth she didnt see him. And for now that was a small blessing. Micky rose to her feet, turn she shuffled to the door Taget had gone through. Bits of congealed blood and other matter speckled her skin in places. Coated in gore and having mentally snapped, she was almost a menacing sight. A look of rage appearing on her once emotionless face. Those white teeth were such a stark contrast compared to the dark gore upon her flesh.
    
    Her hand tightened around the wrench, summoning a few more ounces of strength. She swung the wrench once more. The sound of the wrench hitting the heavy metal echoed throughtout the hanger. Swinging hard enough to leave a small dent in the smooth surface of the door. "Why Taget?? WHY!?!?!?!?!" She beat the wrench against the door a few more times until the strength in her arms gave out. The wrench slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground. Micky hit the door a final time, using her bare hand. Sliding to her knees. She glared at the door. Silently swearing to the old gods and anything that lingered in the dark..that she would not rest until Taget was dead.

37. Gothic Space Horror

    #317

    Ao looked on.
    His face was stunned, but his eyes were darting- Micky seemed to have gone insane, and he couldn't trust the corpse. He stayed backed against the wall, and began to tremble.

38. Gothic Space Horror

    #318

    Severin appeared from around the corner of a tug and repair craft, just as Micky pounded the zombie. He stopped dead in his tracks as Micky assaulted the corpse, uncaring whether she was hurt or not.
    
    When she was through with her beating, and was looking in another direction, Severin snuck towards the corpse and threw the reinforced cargo net beside it. Then he carefully kicked the corpse on top of the net and dragged the entangled corpse towards a space craft.
    
    This one would definitely be shut inside a cargo hold, until they were certain that Raynor was really, really dead.
    
    "Help me, Ao" he whispered, afraid that the corpse would awaken, or that Micky would hear him. While he understood that she was afraid and angry, the fierceness of her assault frightened him. Would they all become murderers and deserters on this trip? Was it murder to kill those technically dead? What was he doing here?
    
    Not waiting for Ao, Severin dragged the entangled corpse of James Raynor toward the cargo hold. He would not wait for it to rise again.

39. Gothic Space Horror

    #319

    Micky's rage did not last long. She sat before the closed and dented door, the wrench not too for from reach. Her head down, shoulders slumped forward. It wasnt right. Marney had been a good and kind person....she didnt deserve to die at the hands of Taget. Raynor's corpse up and walking was the final straw that caused Micky to snap. She had reacted out of fear and a surge or adrenaline which quickly turned into fury. At least Raynor's body was down. History and halo-vid movies showed one certainty, a walking corpse didnt walk around looking for witty conversations. They only brought pain and death to others.
    
    She caught movement from the corner of her eye. Turning her head she looked at Severin. Watching in silence as he dragged the body of Raynor away in a net. A glance back the other way at Ao. Micky saw their fear in their eyes. That look made her sick to her stomach. They were afriad of her.
    
    Her attention shifted to the gore covered wrench and her own hands. Tentatively she reached up and touched her face. Finding more there. No wonder they were afraid of her. Reality pulling back into painful focus. Letting her hands drop into her lap. Another glance to the wrench, then up at the door. Seeing the dents. Stunned that she had caused them.
    
    Silently she rose to her feet a bit shakily. Both hands empty. Micky backed away from both Ao and Severin. An apologetic and frightened look on her face. Micky never intended to freak out like that. But no one ever does. Her voice barely a whisper. "I'm sorry."
    
    Micky turned and ran from the room. The wrench left there by the door.

40. Gothic Space Horror

    #320

    Itching bloodlust in him to blow down the door and chase after Taget burned in him but he would be damned if he let Mickey alone, he had seen too many horrors lived out today.
    
    "Micky! Wait." He ran out after her, the plasma pistol clutched tightly in his hand he couldn't help wondering if the rest of the crew was maybe hunting out there now. Living dead corpses seeking only to consume their flesh. HE caught a faint flash of Micky and poured on the speed. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm.
    
    "Hey... Hey... it's going to be ok."

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