Ghost Ship

[Orrin55]

Mike grinned, Mr.Murphy was a hard-ass, but he was a hard-ass that kept everyone alive and orgainized. He chambered the first round into his Wester Rifle and opened the keyboard on his forearm. While he had his bulletproof laptop on his back he was able to access it just by simply typing into his keyboard and load up schematics on his holoscreen. Only he and the other engineers carried these special suits, the rest just carried small screens that would upload a map once the engineers had it. It also served as an effective way to radio commands, just speak what you wanted and the CPU would write it out and sent it to whoever you said.

He fell behind the Twins "It's been what, 6 weeks since the last time we did a boarding raid?" Mike asked "Hell we didn't even bother to cut through the hatch, we just blew it up and swarmed them." The last boarding they did, they stumbled onto a small moon complete overruled by pirates. Tired of constantly having to fix up their ships, No thanks to Ethan and Mike for brawling with the local criminal lord. They finally turned back around and raided the poor man's ship as a warning. They never heard from him again, rumors had it they were caught by a small destroyer that seemed surprised to find a wanted man begging to move to their ship.

[dinocular]

Starr stood amidst the rest of the boarding party, holding her helmet loosely, while Danial finished arming himself, explaining the boarding procedure while he did so. She mentally filed the information about who would board, when, and what their various jobs would be. The instructions for the engineers did not concern her, but she remembered them just the same because one never knew what little scraps of information from the past would prove useful in the future. The same went for the rest of Danial’s quick, but thorough, explanation. She liked the way that he called her “Doc,” because it made her feel more mature and experienced than she actually was. She breathed a silent sigh of relief when she heard that she would be a part of Danial’s team after the ship had been secured. Knowing that she would be within sight of the kindly, seasoned Captain made her feel less vulnerable, and her sense of adventure started to grow once more.

Danial’s parting words deflated her ephemeral confidence in the salvaging operation. “Oh, and once we’re aboard, this is Mr. Murphy’s party…” Her eyes flew towards the old, wrinkled, second in command, Ezekial. She felt her excitement dwindling further as he talked about backstabbing slaves and the insufficient number of crewmembers that would make up the boarding party. As far as pep talks went, it was horrible. She was not sure if the ‘report everything’ rule applied to her because she would be with Danial in the Beta group and she was only a medic, but she decided that she would stick to the rule, if for no other reason than to keep from getting on the grumpy old man’s bad side. She wished that Ezekial were not in charge after they left the Dancing Rhaem; it made her feel distinctly uncomfortable.

She noticed that everyone else seemed to be donning their helmets, and she looked down at hers, making her final decision. It was not too late to turn back, if she wanted to. She would be considered a coward for the action, of course, but she knew that she had the right to pick between being a brave corpse or a living coward. Sighing, she placed the helmet on her head and waited for it to seal. She would not turn back at the last minute, after all. She had always wanted a bit of adventure in her conservative, scholarly life, and now she was going to get it.

[The Lord of Hats]

Ezekiel surveyed the dismayed expressions on a few of the greenies' faces. His own expression didn't change.

"Sugar-coatin' the situation is th'captain's job. I'm not here to make you feel good about yerselves, I'm here t'keep y'all alive. Yeh ken either go in there feelin' inspired, or yeh can go in there prepared for what yer goin' to face. Me, I've always put more stock in preparation."

His hand strayed down to the lash at his side, but ultimately grasped his baton, holding it firmly at his side.

"Now get yer asses in gear! The captain ain't payin ya to stand around lookin' pretty!"

[LeoOfVgCats]

Sighing with resignation, Ethan suddenly found himself doing a chore again. Throwing on a smile of faked enthusiasm as Team Gamma rushed across the umbilical, Ethan struggled to keep up with the others while carrying about seventy pounds more of welding gear. The team stopped right outside the giant ship's airlock, kneeled down, and waited while Dylan walked up to the door, giving it a procedural check.
Ethan lit up his flame, waiting for the imminent call to cut when the chief engineer failed to open up the airlock by "standard means" like he had for the last....every single boarding.

"Alright, Ethan! Take her down!" Dylan yelled.

Pulling down his goggles, Ethan boosted up the seraphic flare and concentrated it. At a focus as such he was using, just a simple swish could evenly cleave a person in two, but as he flared the airlock, he found he could barely even singe the locking beams.

"Lord almighty...I'll be damned!" he sighed with an onerous tone, "I mean, I've seen this technique used to caulk terrestrial doors, but this type of plating technique is only used in military bastions....Hey Cap'n! I got an idea! Do you think we could just use some B-grade explosi...." one look from Mike told Ethan to stick with his flare, "...alright...geez, I was hoping we could save this for later."

Motioning to Bear, who set down the power pack, Ethan hurridly opened the casing to his welding back and plugged it into the auxiliary battery, instantly beefing up his flame to a point where he could feel the heat though his goggles. As he cut through the ship's hull like a hot knife through instant ramen, sparks flew in all directions, prompting everyone to jump back a line.

"Alrighty! And we're through the first....oh snap...." Ethan whistled as he pried the redhot metal off, "What do ya know? It's got dragon scales and tofu skin....seems like I've cut through the computer panel for their airlock as well...."

As the team peered at his handiwork, they could now easily identify the slide door used on the inside of ships, meaning all they had to do was kick through a flimsy door and they would be in, with no need to consume anymore welding fuel.
The team's morale soared through the roof.

"Hey Cap'n, thing is, this power pack took a good brute on the head with the hull", chuckled Ethan, as he geared the cooling mechanisms on the pack, "About a half of its juice is gone, and it's kinda old too, might fry...".
Taking a deep breath before continuing on with the prognosis, Ethan continued.
"I've gotta feeling we're not going to have too much power tooling before we get power back on this ship. You can still count on me, but you saw this flame without that boostin...."
Ethan didn't have to finish his sentence to see his point was tacit.

Looking around, almost shocked at how much morale had dropped, Ethan quickly turned optimistic, this time with real enthusiasm.
"Aw, c'mon guys. Cheer up, it's not like we're gonna need any of it, right? Geez.....alright, you guys just gonna stand there while I pull down that door all by myself, hm?"
Grinning, Ethan latched up his welding gun and readied his real one.

[The Lord of Hats]

Ezekiel was already waiting in the boaridng chute with his squad when Ethan finally got the door open. He held his shotgun in both hands, his lash and baton at the ready.

"Alright, boys! Let's get this done!"

The other three members of beta squad rushed through the door and into the hallway beyond, hunched low and keeping each other covered. They had all been handpicked by Ezekiel, and were pretty much the best of the best. Francesca, a short stocky Hispanic woman was currently at point. Ex-military, she somehow managed to be even more dour than Ezekiel. Guo Shan, a former mercenary, had her firmly in the sights of his machine gun, twitching at the slightest suspected movement. Probably a side effect of the stimulants he always popped before a mission. He'd be up for days, now with all the chemicals he'd pumped himself with. Finally, closest to the door was Rolf, a tall, lean man of Germanic descent, of which he was intensely proud, his arms covered with symbols of the 5th Reich.

"All clear, boss" came Francesca's crackling voice over the radio.

"Roger that. You heard 'er, everyone! Let's move in!" Ezekiel stepped through the door, and examined his surroundings. It was a three-branched intersection, with passages leading to the fore, aft, and core of the ship. He glanced down all of them. Nothing. A few moments of contemplation, he started for the hallway that would lead to the core of the ship, and presumably sooner or later its command center.

"Beta, we're heading for the command center. Rest of you, priorities are the bunks, the larder, and the armory. If they're holed up anywhere, that'll be it. Pick a hallway, but be ready to turn around when Gamma's got the schematics. Remember to stay in contact. Over and out." Ezekiel made a hand sign, and Beta nodded in acknowledgment. Silently, they began down the corewards hallway.

[7achary]

Deep within the bowels of the ship a small light slowly came to life. It blinked on and off sending a cascade of light over the small room momentarily. In the darkness a whirring sound could be heard of large machines coming to life. With one last flash "Computer Room" could be read above the only door right before it shut. As darkness once again settled over the room and the whirring ceased, one last thing could be heard. A large mechanism of interlocking gears followed by a dull thud. The ship remained dark and quiet, as it always had.

---

Dylan grinned at Mike and Ethan reassuringly as he hefted his shot gun with a wink. "Alrigh', boys. Ya'll ready to get your hands dirty? Make sure you got all you need, 'cause once you go in we ain't comin' back for at least a few hours. Ethan, I brought you some toys."

The large bag Dylan had lugged through the ship sat unassumingly by the supply cabinets that Miss Sans seemed to hover over protectively. "Okey dokey, let's go."

[prophetic_fury]

Jake cleared his three helm screens and brought up fresh images. He switched the main projector into a display of the long range ladar. His left screen was divided into about nine different screens from the crew members' helmet cameras. And finally on the right hand screen was a continously scrolling read out of the ships systems and status. Nervously awaiting a surprise attack Jake lit up another cigarette and puffed away on it hastily. There was nothing he could do but watch and wait. Looking over his shoulder Jake noticed the bridge doors were wide open. With a few swift button presses the bridge's doors slammed shut and locked themselves from the tight. Just incase the Rhaem was boarded they wouldn't be able to access the bridge. In that event he could just vent the oxygen in the rest of the ship and suffocate the boarders. And if they were in void suits he could just wait them out or fly to the nearest friendly port.

Jake's eyes flickered back and forth from this main screen, the ladar, and his left screen, the helmet cams. He didn't bother much with the Rhaem's systems readout. If she was in trouble she'd get audible.

[dinocular]

Starr stared at several of the crewmembers, wide eyed, as they all started down the long tube towards the freshly opened doorway. The look on her face would have completely given away her surprise if anyone had bothered to look. So, what? That’s it? We just go piling into that tube at the same time? Before they’ve checked for danger? Her thoughts ran wild with her confusion and the massive adrenaline rush that she could feel pounding through her system. She took some deep breathes and managed to follow everyone into the umbilical. She knew she must have stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone was acting stealthy and alert, like the actors in action movies, but Starr did not even have a weapon! Instead, she walked awkwardly at the back of the group, carrying the ungainly medical bag at her side. She tried to remember the game plan, and decided that the easiest thing for her to do in this unfamiliar situation would be to go follow the Captain. With that in mind, she began to make her way towards Danial.