Finding a gap between and around the marines, a single drone flew into the space. Then, a moment later, it was performing a full scan of the room with every tool and sensor it had.

   Jen saw the drone working it's way through the Marines to the freezer opening.  She had no doubt that Miss Nieves was recording everything.  Marco's top cop moved to the doorway to see what appeared to be the once again lifeless form of Cpl. Patterson.  "Major, I do not advise getting any closer to the body.  We don't know what happened to get him here and we don't know if it is communicable.  I would like to borrow a couple of your people to secure both the scene and Patterson, then escort the body back to Medical once the medics arrive."

   Lt. Maxwell then activated her comm unit.  "Marco, I need a medical Hazmat team at this location to pick up Patterson's body.  Tell the Doc that we found his runaway corpse."

   Once the med team had been requested, Jen turned to face the drone.  "Miss Nieves, keep an eye on things here, then follow the med team back to Medical.  Please make your recordings available to the Doctors trying to understand what in the hell just happened here."  Maxwell didn't know why this happened, but the Marco Polo had enough experts to hopefully figure it out and hopefully keep it from happening again.

Doc Genassi arrived soon enough, three more medics in HazMat suits right behind him. They stopped just outside the door.
"Are we certain the subject is down?" he asked Lt. Maxwell. Even with the major present Genassi knew this was a security issue, and as such Jennifer was in charge.

   Lt. Maxwell took her eyes off of the corpse to answer.  "The subject showed no response to extreme external stimuli.  I have not detected any movement of any kind since we opened the door, not even breathing.  That means that it is down.  I don't know what reanimated Patterson.  I don't know if he will reanimate again.  We could chop the body into component parts with automatic weapon fire just to make sure it stays down, but that could hinder a medical investigation.  Sanders and I will go with you back to Medical in case our wandering corpse has somewhere else to go.  Someone else will be here to keep people out until you can get a biohazard decontamination procedure is done in the freezer."

   She smiled.  "Drone sensor logs will be made available to help your investigation.  Sorry, Doc.  That's all I've got so far, but I'll..."

   Jen's voice trailed off as she heard the call about unauthorized weapons fire in a cargo bay.  She answered, "Miss Nieves, as soon as you have eyes there, let me know what's going on."

   Maxwell made a mental note to talk to the Captain about security section staffing at her first opportunity.  "Major, would you see to the escorting of the Doc and his people?  Also, I need to borrow a couple of your people right now.  There's weapon fire going on in Cargo Bay Three.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:40, Mon 09 Oct 2017.

"You got it Lieutenant. Three section, follow the security officers. Her orders are my orders!" Ascott grins. "I'll come by security later to see what was going on. We'll get our dead man here back to medical."

Genassi looked at Urzica and Fisher.
"Gentlemen, how would you like to proceed? Since you two lost this man in the first place. He seems very dead to me now..."

Hans puffs his cheeks then blows out through his mouth for a few seconds.

"It seemed dead before it jumped up and shived me with a scalpel..."
He squares his shoulders and after only a moments hesitation he walks forward,taking a scanner out of his medical kit and approaching slowly.

Playing dead worked. These things were so primitive. They didn see the difference. How could they. These primitive vessels they used hardly had enough sensory capability to get by. Soon a better vessel would be required.

What was going on? He couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Locked in. He had heard about it, soldiers suffering shocks so big they turned in on themselves. But why? Radiation sickness sure, but this wasn't how that worked. They had trained events like this. He knew this wasn't due to radiation sickness. Patterson could only hope they found a way to get him back.

Repress the vessel. It was coming back again. Stubborn it was for sure. Another annoying aspect of it. Yes, soon a better vessel would be required. Play dead, they reminded themselves. Play dead.

He felt slipping out of consciousness. How could he warn them? He needed to warn them. They needed to know.
There was a guy coming at him. Fisher, he remembered the name. Hey Fisher. Iḿ in here man, wake me up! Wake me up man.
Did he just say he was dead? He wasn't dead. He was in here, come on, everyone could see that right. Right?

There, he was repressed again. Annoying vessel. It needed replacement fast. They should see to that soon.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:07, Fri 20 Oct 2017.

Fisher approaches the body with care, trying to find any readings, any at all, on his scanners. The readings show no signs however, nothing to indicate any trouble.

It clearly says the man is dead.

Hans glances down at the scanner skeptically before looking back and the body slumped against the wall.

He looks back at the team waiting outside,back to the scanner then back to Troy before appearing to come to a decision and directing a well aimed kick at the body.

He purses his lips if nothing happens and slowly kneels down next to the body, doing more extensive readings and for the first time in his life wishing he had a weapon...but his revolver was halfway across the ship in his room.

"Welp...I'm baffled..."He exclaims after several moments.

Ascott steps forward, his weapon at the ready.
"What's the problem medic?" he inquires, his eyes locked on the body of Patterson.
"Dead is dead, or do you want me to put a few caps in him first?"

Drago watched his scanner looking for any sign of activity. "Sorry ah....Major, but not fifteen minutes ago he looked pretty much the same." studying the scanners Drago tried to figure out why Patterson had come here.

"I get that," Ascott replied. "They said a dead man ran from medical, so I figured that much. Want me to put a few rounds in him then?"

Hans backs away from the body with almost indecent haste at Ascott's suggestion.

"I'm not sure that's neccisarry Sir..." Hans frowns and looks around the room
"Why come here? There isn't anything special around here is there? No...Vats of toxic waste or anything is there?"

He shakes his head and clears his throat."Maybe...back to the Medbay...undre restraints maybe?"

   Maxwell took her troops and headed toward the cargo bay.  She commed her people back at the section.  "I need a situation report.  How many people are there?  How are they armed?  Where are they now and where do they appear to be going?  Talk to me, people."

Blake pipes up on the commfeed - "There's three of them, Lee Jay Musashi, Richard Thornby and Colt Jordan. I'm just looking at the video feed now, I'll have an update for you on the armament soon."

In reply to Hans Fischer (msg # 65):

"Agreed. But whatever means we use for restraint will have to be substantial. Whatever is driving the body now seems to be able to surpass human norms." Drago had been pondering why Patterson or his body had chose to hide in the freezer. Was it something that was stored here he or it was seeking or was it the cold itself? "Once we have him secured and moved we should have the contents of the freezer check see if anything is missing. He came here with a purpose we need to figure out what that was."

"Maybe he just likes cold?" Ascott laughed. Then he turned to Maxwell. "Need me to come join you Lt.?"

The commfeed beeps again."They seem to have two pistols between them"

Hans rubs the chin of his bio hazard suit thoughtfully."That might not be completely off the wall Sir, It's possible the virus needed the cold in some way or at least reacted to it negatively...a hibernation cycle maybe?

He shrugs and comms the medbay,requesting some orderlies in biohazard gear to start moving the bodies.

"What a mess...more questions...never answers...Well,time to get him back up to medical...Let's try and keep him cold...and away from knives."

"Wow, serious?" Ascott looked genuinly surprised. "I was kind of joking about the cold though. I'm no medic. you think it could actually need cold?"
He was startled by a message in his earpiece, then turned to look at Genassi and the rest.
"You are on your own here. I'll leave a couple marines, but I'm wanted on the bridge."
Running, he left the recreational deck.

Two medical workers in HAZMAT suits quickly arrive, ready to transport the body of Cpl. Patterson back to autopsy. Three marines, left behind by Ascott as he ran to the bridge, keep a close eye on the proceedings, ready to fill the corporal with lead if he so much as flinches. He might be dead, but the medics at hand did say he looked pretty dead before.
Once they have him on the guerney one of the workers turns to FIsher and Urzica.
"Clear for transport docs?"

In reply to Blake Germaine (msg # 70):

   Jen commed back.  "Roger that.  Two pistols between them."

   The Lt. turned her attention to the Major.  "This is a police matter, Sir.  We've got this.  Besides, I don't know why Patterson took off running, so I don't know if he will do it again.  I would feel a lot better with you taking care of this while I go investigate the shots fired incident."

   The top cop gathered her temporary troops.  "Let's go."


To:  Cargo Bay

Hans nodded,still looking thoughtful before sighing like he had come to some unfortunate conclusion.
Yes...Yes...escort him up there, I'll meet you there...I need to stop off at my quarters first..."

Hans turns and heads towards his room,a stormy expression on his face.

To Hans Quarters

Drago nods to Hans "Very well." Turning to the medics "Okay lets get back to Medical and make sure he is secured this time." Drago then heads out with the medics to Medical.

To Medical