Massive and imposing are words that come close to describing the holds of CS-8. Close, but even they don't do justice to the size of them. With enough space to house a couple of aircraft carriers you can easily get lost here. Fortunately numerous consoles tell you exactly where you are, and where to find stuff.

<< from Med bay  Troy and Shadow........

   reaching the  Cargo hold.  Kray looks  around,I really should have took the tour...but i wanted to fly my own aircraft in?... I'll have to stydy a layout in my  room when i get a chance....


 Marco?.. Light up Hold 5..to save me some time?

  When they find their  stuff  he  will gather all his belongings to take  up to his barracks ..

 One Bloody thing? never have to worry about hittin' the gym too off..just walkin' around  will keep us in shape?

 Marco?... quickest way to Barracks 9 ?

<< From: Medical Facilities

The empty cryo chamber had been creepy and imposing, but perhaps Micaela had been too out of sorts to truly appreciate it. That wasn't the case now, and the cargo hold was perhaps even more overwhelming. It wasn't that she hadn't been anywhere on this scale, she had worked a few pit mining jobs in the past, it was that the place was so empty. She didn't know she could feel like a place could and would swallow her.

At the entrance she pulled a data pad off of the wall, input her credentials, and let it lead her to her storage unit. Thankfully, personal storage was sectioned off into smaller, less imposing spaces, but it was no less lonely. Once she had it open she took stock of what it contained, if just to give her a sense of normality.

Some of her clothing from home; a few days worth. Transportation was more expensive than fabrication, so most of what she needed would be made here. But everyone was provided a little allowance.

A custom laptop with linked tablet, ear piece, heads up display and glove interface. The system came with a bunch of custom software and was Micaela's rig of choice when operating a drone.

And the rest was mostly mementos. A geode from one of her mining operations, some jewelry from her mother, a newspaper clipping with the obituary of her younger sister, a souvenir hat from the 2026  Peru/Colombia/Ecuador World Cup with the Argentinian team logo on it, a vial of primordial ice from Antarctica that was now primordial water, and so on. She marveled a bit at how little was truly important to her. Between how much of her life she could digitize and put on her laptop and what the Marco Polo would be providing for her, there just wasn't much left.

Still confident that she was absolutely alone, she began stripping out of the jumpsuit and the underwear beneath. The jumpsuit was stiff and unwieldy, and even if she was frozen she had been wearing that underwear for more than a century. Over the fresh underwear she pulled on black leggings, a long white shirt, a shorter forest green top and well worn but still solid hiking boots. Then she ran her fingers through her hair a few times before setting it back into a ponytail.

Feeling better than she had since waking, she took a seat on the floor, powered up her laptop and checked to see if she had a reply from Staff Sergeant Blake Germaine.

Sitting cross legged, alone in the sterile corridors of the cargo hold, the long lines only broken by the door to her unit still hanging open, Micaela's head tilted as she read Blake's response.


And then it hit her what he was asking her to do. Nodding as she typed, she composed a response.


Glad to have something constructive to do she rose to her feet. Then, from her unit she withdrew a messenger bag, slid her laptop within it, slung it over her head and one shoulder, and headed back to where her day has started.

>> To: Cryo Chambers

From: Security Section

   Jen entered the cargo hold and accessed the terminal, entering her name, rank, identification number, and her personal code to gain both directions and access to the military equipment repository.  The Detective opened her locker and withdrew the two duffle bags secured inside.  She slung the strap of the first one over her shoulder, then grabbed the second one in her left hand.  She though for a brief moment about grabbing her personal equipment case from home, but decided that it could wait until sometime in the future.

   As she exited the cargo hold, Jen realized that she had no idea of where she was going.  The Section had some small rooms for section personnel, but Jen didn't want to sleep there.  She knew that she had a small set of quarters somewhere aboard, but she had no idea of where it was.

   "Marco, please identify the location of and directions to the quarters of Lieutenant Jennifer Maxwell."

Lieutenant Maxwell is housed in the upper barracks section. Deck 7, appartment 14. Follow the yellow lines displayed on the floor for your convenience.

Sure enough, the CS-8 suddenly had a yellow set of walking arrows projected on the floor.

   Jen adjusted the strap of the duffle bag on her shoulder and began to follow the yellow arrows to deck seven, apartment number fourteen.  The bags seemed a bit heavier than she expected them to be.  Maybe that long of a nap, even in cryostasis, caused some loss in muscle tone.  The Detective smiled as she walked.  That problem was fixable and the repairs would start at oh-six-hundred hours.

To:  Maxwell Quarters 

From:Security

Walking up to one of the consoles Hans finds the section that holds his possessions.

Finding his bag he opens it up to check everything is in order,few civvies,couple of old photos,books and other sentimental  nicknacks.
He searches the bag for a brown shoebox sized box,which he finds.
With a satisfied Grunt he grabs another bag,this one is a sturdily built but well worn military green bag,a medical symbol stamped on the bag below the name FISCHER embossed on the top.

After locating a few spare sets of uniform and a few other usefull items he sets off to his quarters.

To:Hans Fischer's accommodation

From:  Security

   Maxwell got to the cargo hold.  She realized that the holds would be a great place to test the drones and work on her private theory.  She also realized that she could wander around the holds for a very long time looking for the Major.

   "Marco, what is the current location of Major Ascott?"

¨Back here Lieutenant,¨ a voice echoes throughout the hold. It comes from the back, past a set of huge sliding doors stencilled with a numeral 4.

   Jen made her way back to where the Major was located.  She smiled.  "Sir, I have that few minutes now.  What is it you wish me to see?"

The marine drops down from one of the storage racks, tapping some dust off his thighs.
"Ah yes, Maxwell." He gestures for her to follow him to a set of closed lockers. There he hands Jennifer a set of boltcutters.
"These four lockers, for as far as I know, belong to our four culprits. I thought you might want to investigate them."

   Jen looked at the lockers, then back at the Major.  "These lockers are probably empty, but I'm not going to bet anyone's life on that supposition.  These are the same people who sabotaged the Marco Polo and left us to die, Sir.  That demonstrated disregard for human life means I'm doing this carefully."

   Maxwell keyed her link to the ship.  "Marco, please transmit this to Micaela Nieves."

   "Miss Nieves, this is a high priority assignment.  I need you to equip a drone for opening padlocks in a way that won't destroy the contents of the locker that they are protecting.  Once you have the drone ready, I need you to pilot it and a pair camera drones with recorders to cargo bay four."

   She turned her attention back to Major Ascott.  "For your safety, I will need you and your men to evacuate this area once we start investigating the lockers.  I have to assume that the owners of the lockers left us a lethal going away present."

<< From: Recreational deck

It took Micaela probably 10 minutes to arrive after she pinged confirmation to Lieutenant Maxwell that she was coming. The drones Lou requested were already live, though Micaela always got a little sentimental about sending Tau into dangerous situations.

"Let's take a look before everyone scatters. We might not need to open them to find out what's inside."

"Unit zero one, unit zero two, full scan of these lockers." The scanning hardware these drones were packing was exhaustive, and the lockers would have to have after-market adjustments to block all of it.

As if performing an elaborate dance the drones went to working, swirling around the lockers one by one, following a tightly programmed routine so their scanners could take a look through the lockers' plate metal skin. Their findings were swift, and unanymous. Three of the four lockers were empty. The fourth one contained what was probably clothing, at least cloth material, and what seemed to be a small lockbox. The scanners did not manage to scan the box.

   "Major, this is now the site of an active investigation.  For your own safety, would you and your men please evacuate the hold at this time?"  She didn't smile.  People's lives could be in danger.

With a nod of understanding Ascott sends the few troopers in the hold to the mess for some drinks. The major himself however isn't going anywhere.
"What kind of a man would I be lieutenant if I let you ladies do all the dangerous work all by yourselves? Besides, if the box is a bomb, you might need an expert to disarm it. SAS taught me a few things about bomb disposal. I'll stay back however, its your show." He shoots Micaela a quick wink. "And I wanna see some more of those drones. They are mighty nifty tools you have there."

   This was still Jen's crime scene, even with the Major on the scene as an observer.  "Major, at least move back from the lockers until we have an idea of what we have in there.  The Captain would have my guts for garters if I let anything happen to you.  And speaking about just what is in there..."

   Maxwell turned her attention to Micaela.  "Miss Nieves, what have you detected in the lockers?"

"A small lockbox in this locker here." she indicated with a nod of her head. "The others are empty. I can't tell what's inside the lockbox. The more layers the scan has to go through the less reliable it becomes."

"Unit zero three through unit zero eight. Time to be useful. Full scan of the cargo hold, starting with this section and radiating outward. Execute."

The tagged drones darted away, all in different directions. It looked chaotic, but they had already calculated the best way to split up the work. Down to two regular drones and the custom drone Micaela called Tau, the airspace was far less crowded.

"They will tell us if there are any other surprises in the area. As for what we do about this one, that's your call boss. The paranoid response would be to move far enough away that there is at least one emergency pressure door between us and this, suit up in a vac suit just in case, and have a bird outside ready to pick us up just just in case. These three can do the dirty work."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:07, Wed 14 June 2017.