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| Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) http://sonic.spindash.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=227 |
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| Author: | NPC [ Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
The ARK continued its slow, counter-clockwise drift into the sunset. Whatever horrific tragedy had been averted by the sudden failure of the missiles to go off properly, it left almost no scars what-so-ever on the titanic space station's surface. The same could not be said for the rest of the ships in orbit. Stretched in a gigantic crescent ring around the planet, a huge cloud of impact-riddled, burned-apart pieces of metal and warped ship hulls drifted around the planet at a few dozen times the speed of sound. Relative to each other, of course, they were very nearly stationary, except for the odd piece of metal that ripped through, even faster, and took a chunk out of something. These pieces were, theoretically, chunks of space-ship, that had been thrown off into the distance by an explosion or and impact with another metal chunk, and had spiralled slowly down around the planet until they smacked into something coming the other way. Some of the old ships that had been brought into orbit around the planet were truly gigantic, however, and — huddled low among smaller clouds of metal — remained relatively unscathed by the constant bombardment of space junk that plagued the graveyard. Providing the expeditionary group's shuttle stayed in the shadow of the large pieces of metal, and did not linger in the open spaces too long, it was almost completely safe. As the shuttled gradually approached the denser, inner section of the graveyard, three of the biggest ships so far loomed in the distance. The least damaged, they also appeared to be the newest. They hung low over the earth's atmosphere, which had lit up a fiery orange as the shuttle approached twilight. The UFS Carnelian was a huge, blocky structure — obviously used as an offensive weapon before it had vanished. It had disappeared a few years ago, while following a patrol program that was supposed to help intercept Dr. Eggman's more world-threatening activities. It was painted white and red, and was fronted with a gigantic, prickly sensor array — ostensibly to be directed planet-ward — that made it look sort of like a giant, intergalactic tooth-brush. Everyone assumed Eggman had destroyed it, and the attempt to watch Eggman from the sky was never repeated. The UFS Palfinger was a small cruiser. It had disappeared while investigating the amount of space junk in higher orbits around earth. Its goal was to establish how necessary it would be to create a recycling plant at that layer, to begin scrubbing space junk out of the sky. The Palfinger's armour and shields had held up excellently through the first half of the mission, and then, in a burst of static, it had vanished out of the sky. It was assumed that a reactor failure had caused the transmission to fail, as well as the shields, and that the ship had been subsequently smashed to pieces by meteors. The UFNC Marmaduke was… no-one really knew. It was an ugly, non-military freighter, and had absolutely no noteworthy news articles dedicated to its disappearance — none that anyone would likely remember, anyway. Of the three of them, the one that warranted the most attention was the one that still had its lights on. The UFS Carnelian gleamed in the sunset. The tiny runner lights dotted along its surface gave it the impression of being riddled with holes — but a closer inspection would reveal what appeared to be an almost fully functional ship, except for the minor and easily over-looked detail of a gigantic, charred hole being punched right through its engine-block, as if it had been taken out with an apple corer. Whatever the Carnelian's level of function, it was never going to move again. searchindextag chapter3bsearch |
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| Author: | Diluss [ Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
Coop had, at the last minute, offered to go on the ride. He did not seem happy to go, but he hadn't seemed happy about anything, recently. Seated in the recesses of the cockpit, he eyeballed the ships balefully. "Huh," he said, with considerable rancour, "nice." He shook his head, after a few seconds, and rubbed his face. "This… is…" He looked back up at the floating hulls, in the distance. "Anyone want to bet that these ships were all working when they got here?" |
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| Author: | Seafarinhare [ Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
Behind the shuttle, a small one-man space vehicle slowly moved with them. Made up of a familiar scheme of white, blue and gold. A "W" emblazened somewhere on it. He kept open coms with the shuttle for the sake of keeping in touch. Needless to say, he was in awe at the situation. Of the 3 most notable ships, the UFS Carnelian stood out for obvious reasons. "I think our best option here would be with that big one with the working lights," He said over the radio to the cockpit of the Shuttle, then added, "What do you think?" |
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| Author: | Kazz [ Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
Rodolf He regarded Hoji's suggestion, and once more breathed out conspicuously. "Unless anyone's in a rush to inspect one of the others, first," he said, regarding the crew he had assembled, "it looks like we're headed to the one that Wild Badge pointed out." Outwardly, he seemed to be somewhat less than thrilled; however, accounting for his usual range of emotional display, he could just as well have been on the verge of jumping for joy and excitement. ... Okay, so that may not have been too likely, but the point was that Rodolf was as blank-faced as ever. "Any complaints?" |
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| Author: | Diluss [ Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:47 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
"Tch," Coop said, with a humourless snort, "I guess so, huh." "I wonder if anyone's alive on that ship," he added, "didn't it disappear years ago?" |
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| Author: | Greens [ Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
Alongside the others, Ace made himself known in the company of ragtag vagrants, gazing through the familiar windows with his helmet in hand. He didn't like what he was looking at, but then again, what could he realistically expect to enjoy seeing? His face was hard to read as he answered: "Yeah, it did. They all did." And with slowly sinking brows, he added, "I'm pretty sure these are all from Earth." |
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| Author: | Diluss [ Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
Coop made an uneasy rumbling noise at the back of his throat. "Yeah," he said, eventually. "Right," he added, to no-one in particular. |
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| Author: | NPC [ Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:12 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
The radio crackled awkwardly. "R--g--muffet, over. Federation, federation. United federation, over. Fe--" A thick, fat-sounding pop of static interrupted the connection. The radio went dead as another wave of the mystical jamming signal engulfed the group's ship. As the Carnelian loomed larger in the ship's viewport, it became increasingly obvious from the line of empty, exhaust-blackened launch tubes that lined the belly of the Carnelian that its escape pods had been ejected. Either everyone had left it behind, or someone had preemptively prevented an escape. |
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| Author: | Diluss [ Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
Coop's head jerked upright. "That," he said, "on the radio! Did you hear that?" |
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| Author: | Kazz [ Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
At the sound of the radio, Rodolf's ears perked up immediately; eyes that were once focused on the ship they approached darted to the radio. His eyebrows furrowed, one corner of his lips drew back, and his nostrils flared, altogether making for a somewhat dour expression. "Yes," he answered Coop's question after a bit of a delay, looking back out once more at the Carnelian looming nearer. "Sounded like the signal's being interrupted." Though his gaze lingered on the chutes that once had held escape pods, he tried not to make the lingering look entirely too obvious-- it was far from the most encouraging sight. He hoisted up his own helmet with one hand, and turned once more to the others. "And I'd say that's reason enough to go inspecting, possibly die, you know. Just the usuals," he said, almost to himself. Always the light-hearted one! |
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| Author: | Sheff [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 10:25 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
More or less like the others, Sheffer found himself transfixed by the view, but, of course, the three ships were what dominated his attention. His eyes flickered to each, and he couldn't help but agree with Badge to head for the one that seemed the most active. Or, if Mako had been within their presence, towards the one that was sparkly. After the brief static and voice over the radio, he looked to the unicorn-in-charge, silently not caring if he was the supposed "leader" of the group, but simply glad it was Rodolph and not the usual head honcho of operations. "We're lucky enough to not have died yet," he stated, looking back out to the planet and its orbiting mess of ships and debris. "Full speed ahead, I say." |
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| Author: | Seafarinhare [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
"No one's dying on my watch." The super hero reassured. Granted, his attempt at reassurance would most likely be taken as a grain of salt. That obviously didn't deter him any. "That transmission, though..." He said in thought. It was similar to the radio-parrots that Rock was trying to contact during the missile crisis not long ago, "Proceed with caution, I have a hunch that our planet-bound friends are waiting for us." And there you have Badge's vote: For. |
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| Author: | Greens [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
The serval gave a wearied groan at the radio the moment he heard the word 'muffet'. He knew what was up. ...Or at least, he was familiar with it. "The transmission is total nonsense," he answered to Badge. "But it showed up just after we found about those freakin' missiles." Answer to everyone else. "If it's coming from that ship, I wanna find out why." |
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| Author: | Diluss [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
A cavernous ribbed hollow in the ship's underbelly quickly became the most obvious place to land, and it was with very little trouble that the ships connected to each other. Going through the airlock proved to be remarkably uneventful, so did traversing the first set of doors directly after the airlock, and so they entered the atrium of the ship. It was small and high-ceilinged and black, but, as the group entered, there was a buzz, and the room lit up. Old lights flickered and buzzed gratingly as they responded to the presence of living creatures on the ship. The entire room flickered slightly, like a badly synced picture. Two long, long hallways stretched out ahead of them, running the length of the ship up to, presumably, the bridge. More doors to their left and right lead to other parts of the shuttle, and a single elevator in the middle was flanked by ladders up and down. As Coop tramped into the middle of the room, he slipped. His foot landed on something small and round, which slipped out from under him, and he fell heavily onto his back. "Gaaaaagh," he spat in frustration, pressing himself up onto his elbows. He stood up. He looked down. Hollow brass tubes were scattered across the floor. Bullet casings. The bullet casings followed a trail through one of the doors to the left. He looked around. Paint had peeled and bubbled off the wall behind him, where the group had exited the airlock, and a huge stream of charred score marks followed the bullets, similarly disappearing chasing across the room to the doorway on the left. The doorway was almost completely black, and the metal in the middle was fused shut; bent out in stringy, lumpy chunks, like melted cheese. It had run together and cooled ages ago, and the door was now one piece of metal. "Great," he said, and then, "so, what are we looking for — signs of life? Or are we just trying to figure out what happened to this place?" |
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| Author: | Sheff [ Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Breathe Out Full Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. V) |
"Doubt we'll have to worry about that first question," said the hedgehog of the group as he walked around, kicking away the shells as to avoid repeating the eagle's fall. "Place just feels... long abandoned, ya know?" For him it did at least, just the smell of the air left in the ship tasted stale. Already he simply wanted to find whatever was useful and then abandon ship hastily, the tubes of metal lying about just bringing an ominous feeling to the situation. Something unpleasant had occurred, if it weren't obvious enough, and he hoped the remnants of whatever brought the conflict weren't hanging around. Visions of old alien flicks were running through his mind already, and he grimaced outwardly just slightly. Soon, he stood before the welded door, examining it. "Anybody want to get in there, or would we rather avoid the possible corpses?" The question came out in a joking manner, but his expression showed a different belief on what rested beyond the tightly shut door. |
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