Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V)

Sheff · Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:05 pm

The end result of his punch had at first brought confusion to the armored hedgehog, and as the victim of his assault fell to the floor, he just believed that was the end of that. But wait, that thing was coughing. Then the fire began to clear. And then the assumed robot was now magically a bat.

Sheffer's eyes went wide at this, the crystal falling from his head as he was about utter an hasty apology, but he stopped mid-breath, recognizing not only the face, but the voice of burning wreck of a person.

That guy.

He immediately gave a sigh that sounded more of an annoyed groan, shaking his head as the rest of his crystal fell piece by piece to the floor. Out of all the people...

Probably wouldn't be in this mess, pal, if your Gear wasn't more akin to a maneuverable missile, he thought inwardly, but not needing a harsh retort from the suddenly comforting Ace, he kept his mouth shut.

Instead, he turned to Rodolph, knowing full well the unicorn shared his thoughts about the injured bat in their presence.

"I'll agree on that. This is proving pointless."

He threw a glance in Badge's way.

"Bet there's some first aid on our shuttle. Just... drag him there, if that's what it takes."

Kazz · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:49 pm

Rodolf turned to lead the way back... and then suddenly, the unicorn stopped and looked over his shoulder, seemingly struck by an invisible bolt of inspiration. "... one second," he said, almost to himself, his brows furrowing. He spun on his heel, and without another word, headed back into the depths of the living quarters. Brushing a bit of hair out of his face, he forged boldly forward.

He snorted, scanning as quickly as he could-- he was no great fan of the bat's, but he wasn't going to dawdle and leave him to bleed out, sticking his head into any nook and cranny he could find. These were the living quarters, and as such...
And then, a door. On first glance, it was fairly nondescript (possibly thanks to the less-than-ideal state of the ship, ahemhem), but... the door slid open with a few rather unpleasant mechanical sounds, and there, before his very eyes, was exactly what he was hoping for, for among the frozen-in-time disarray of belongings...
A computer.

Keeping his ears ever-alert (just, of course, in case he were to be ambushed), the unicorn approached it gingerly.

NPC · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:59 pm

The set-up was quite basic; a screen, a keyboard, a mouse, all resting on a flat metal desk. To much fortune, the screen was already lit, perhaps had been for many years, but appeared to be fully functioning.

A monotone gray background greeted Rodolph on the screen, a few shortcuts to files condensed into a neat corner. One such shortcut could catch particular interest to the unicorn's eyes.

captainslog_m2d13

Kazz · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:08 pm

Rodolf's eyes narrowed and a bit of a dry smile tugged at his mouth. Bingo.

Still entirely suspicious, he carefully grabbed a hold of the mouse, as though it would break-- no chances being taken, here. He tossed one more look over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't in immediate danger, and opened that sucker of a file up.

NPC · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:04 pm

From the instant the black box popped up, it was obviously a video.

The man who appeared within the screen was middle-aged, his hair beginning to thin, yet his face was graced with a full, black beard. His eyes were those of a man tired, overworked, stressed, and worried, a hand reaching up to rub at his eyes for a brief moment.

"Captain's log number 62 from Erik Basch, captain of the UFS Carnelian," the man said with a tone that showed his familiarity with the opening statement.

"Nothing too new to report. The location of the two shuttles sent down to the planet remain unconfirmed, no word being radioed back from the surface. The crew is starting to think things went for the worse down there, and I can't help but agree. Doesn't help that many of them continue to observe the other abandoned ships in orbit, which most have been recognized in our records."

The captain sighed, looking behind him as if checking to see if no one was eavesdropping.

"It worries me. The men are beginning to report back actions that I had never ordered. I've interviewed many of them about the situations when they believed I did so, and they swore it to be my voice. I admit, I have been fatigued as of late, but I think my memory is in the right order. Someone is hijacking the radios. Whether the perpetrator is part of the crew or something beyond the ship... I do not know, but it is starting to bring disorder and confusion to the crew."

Another sigh slipped past his lips, shaking his head.

"Maybe it would be best to shut off all electronic communication for the time be-"

The view given on the screen suddenly shook, an audible shudder resonating through the speakers of the computer, the captain on screen jerking to an upright position as he glanced around. Soon, the activity stopped, yet the man did not show any signs of relaxing.

His voice was heard again... but this time, his lips did not move.

"Contact with an unidentified object has occurred outside the ship. We merely believe it to be that of a remaining piece of debris from one of the surrounding ships. No damage has been made to the hull. Please stay calm."

The captain's eyes went wide. "That wasn't me... I didn't say a word..."

Another shudder was heard, and suddenly, a metallic screech that echoed from beyond the walls. The captain was out of his chair now, listening to a terrified scream as clanks of metal were heard outside his room.

A voice was heard, although muffled.

"They're comin' outta the god damn walls!!!"

Muted gunfire clattered out of the speakers.

The captain procured a pistol from his hip, aiming it at the door. Yet, on second thought, he rushed back to the camera, sweat now gleaming on his brow as he looked into the recording with wild eyes.

"This is Captain Basch signing out from the UFS Carnelian. This may be my last report. I do not know what has breached our ship, but for whoever finds this, be prepared for hostility. Repeat, be prepared."

And with that, the computer silenced, and there was no more to be seen.

psikeout · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:28 pm

Meanwhile, in the background, Juke had a peculiar interaction with Ace.

His head had been kind of hanging limp (surely afflicted by the pains of melodrama in full swing), but when he realized where he was, and how he was being held, he tensed up, raised his head, and looked straight into Ace's (much-too-close) eyes.

...

He swallowed. He then proceeded to speak as politely as he ever had in his entire life.

"Don't think I don't appreciate this, but I think I can... I can stand now. You can just... help me walk. ... Thanks."

If only one could see his eyes behind those shades...

Sheff · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 3:04 pm

As Roloph went through his sudden and hasty search, Sheffer couldn't help but follow the unicorn into the newly discovered room. The whole time, he just stood there, arms crossed as he peered over Rodolph's soldier, examining the video as it played.

But soon, it was finished, and silence greeted them again.

"...unsettling much?"

The hedgehog sighed, looking about the room, noting a bullet hole or two on the far wall.

"Wonder if that guy managed to get out... Either way, that gives us two ships to find. That is, if it comes to that. I really don't want it to come to that. Going down there..."

He frowned at the statement, turning back to the door.

"We might want to get out of here before another one of those things shows up, or that bat manages to doom us all. More worried about the latter, actually."

Kazz · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 3:11 pm

"That was pleasant," Rodolf said simply; he had watched it with his typical inscrutable, blank face, and wasn't showing it if he was fazed. He looked at the computer one last time, before he turned his head and nodded once at the hedgehog.
"We'll figure out what we do from here, but not now," he said, turning and unceremoniously walking out past the hedgehog, then stopped a few feet away, not looking at him. "Let's get out of here before the bat bleeds out. I'm starting to think he may attract something else that's out to kill us all."

And with that, the unicorn made no further sound aside from the steady klank of his shoes on the metal floor.

Greens · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:47 pm

It was with a rather heavy sort of look that Ace watched his horn-ed teammate run back for one last thing, like he forgot the keys to their space ship. At first, he only stayed that long in the first place to to give Rodolf an annoyed look, but his look slowly softened (and his gaze intensified) as the video on the screen went on. By the end of it, he was only able to shake the whole experience off with a long-winded sigh, shaking his head.

In fact he was so into it, that pretty much the entirety of Juke's words fell on pre-occupied ears. "A'right, c'mon buddy," he spoke, oblivious to the bat's cries. "Let's getchu some help."

NPC · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:41 pm

Suddenly, a voice broke through all their radios, chirpy and slightly panicked yet curiously assertive. “Bad news, and I mean bad!” Astrid’s voice declared. The sound of typing could be heard faintly in the background, as if she were trying frantically to find out something. “Turns out when you got on that ship, well, uhm, you triggered… something. A self-destruct, to be specific. I don’t know why there would be a self-destruct on that ship, it seems so counterintuitive, not to mention unnecce- Oh! I’m rambling.”

Rambling their life away, it would seem.

“Anyway, back on topic, um, well, you need to get off the ship. Fast. It’s going to blow soon and I do not want it taking you out with it, as I’m sure you don’t, either, so try, uhm… get off of it. It might be wise to, well, come back to the ARK for a bit so I can try and run some scans, see if anything else has, well, a ‘boom’ setting… we don’t much need anything else going wrong…”

The reception gave her voice an odd, tinny quality that was somewhat unnerving, especially considering the news it was delivering.

Kazz · Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:57 pm

As the unicorn re-joined the group as a whole, the message came through. Rodolf's brows furrowed for the entirely-too-many-th time that day, more and more as Astrid's message came through. "Great."
The second the squirrel's voice ceased, he turned As if anybody needed the order, he spoke in a clipped tone and relatively high volume:
"We got what we needed, so get to the ship if you don't feel like dying! You hang back, it's your own problem!"

He couldn't be bothered to say more; back to the ship that had deposited his crew, the unicorn went.

Sheff · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:12 am

Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V)

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