Snippet #1404323

Deladrier and his crew were deep in the barracks area of the derelict. A series of long halls, lined on either side with hexagonal doors, the environment here was perfect for an ambush. The security chief and his five-man team of mercenaries swept room to room, acting separately from the rest of the crew. As they hadn't drawn straws for medical, the bridge, or engineering, the tiny paramilitary group was tasked with sweeping the quarters for survivors.

Surprisingly, in every block that they had traveled through - the ship was massive, and could easily sustain a crew of several hundred comfortably; unlike the Dancer, and therefore the team had covered only a small portion of the quarters - everything had been empty. Kenneth had an uneasy feeling about the fate that the ship's crew had met - he had no idea what had happened to any of them, and they weren't doing anything to make themselves known. So the six-man team continued to slowly and quietly make their way up and down the halls of the ship's residential area, scanning for life, which they did not find.

Until the lights went down.

The red emergency lights that flashed in the hallway made visibility drop to near zero, but luckily the crew's headlamps were all in working order, and soon six high-powered LED bulbs probed into the darkness of the hull. Deladrier thumbed the comms unit on his hip, but when his ear was met with static he flicked it off again. The sound of gunshots from somewhere below them broke the awkward silence as the security team stopped to check their own comms units. Deladrier turned on the external speakers of his hard suit. "Team, split up." He grunted. "Two of you guard the medical team and two of you go to help lock down the bridge. The last one, come with me to Engineering."

The team split without complaints, and Deladrier and his compatriot hoofed it towards Engineering. Something felt deeply wrong to the mercenary, who normally was unshakeable. The security chief scowled and shut down any potentially distracting thoughts, focusing on the little wire-frame map of the ship in the upper right hand corner of his HUD, which guided his progress towards Engineering.