Having cleared the iris, Jack took a breath. "Right. Well, here we go..."

Jack flattened himself and turned his back toward the deck plating. With his pistol held ready in front of him, he slowly pulled himself along the underside of the ATV with his free hand, headed for the vehicle's airlock on the far side. He kept a sharp eye out for movement of any kind.

When he reached the port side of the ATV he let his pistol continue to lead the way over the edge and up toward the top of the vehicle. He waited there, his body under the ATV and only his eyes and gun arm poking out, inspecting the trills near the heatsink and looking for the one he thought might still be active.

Dani's visor turned slightly as Jack glanced at her.  A slight smile did play on her face, Hayden's attitude was understandable and pragmatic, if a bit comical to her.  She held her position and did not let Hayden stray too far behind her, it would not due to have something sneak up on them from above for example.  She held her laser rifle up and at the ready, scanning the opening, and then as it widened, the area behind it.  She continued to move the rifle barrel with her sighting to try and supply the required cover fire, if necessary.  Her sights were firmly locked on the dead trill when Jack set about poking then moving it off to the side.

As Jack moved in, Dani made ready to follow after Doc.  She glanced back once or twice to ensure that Hayden was following close by.

Once inside the vehicle bay, Dani quickly scanned the corners of the bay, sweeping them with the laser rifle sights, just in case.  She had seen the video feeds from the probe, but trusted her own eyes much more readily.  Only once that preliminary scan was done, did she move any further into the bay.  Danica tried to keep mental tabs on where the Trill were that they knew about whether they were free floating bodies or not.

"Right," was all Doc said in response as he focused first on the Drone's feeds and secondly on getting himself and his load through the iris and into the killing bay... while sending the Drone down the backside of the ATV and on around to the airlock side.

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg #256):

Jacques crawls under the ATV.  It is warm to the touch, compared to the frigid deck, and slick with liquid.

Jacques and the drone get to the far side of the ATV.  The situation there is unchanged: one mutilated trill missing a leg, two splayed out trills floating with a puncture wound near the mouth of each, a smaller trill curled up around the ATV's heat exchanger.  It is also motionless.

Jacques is about a meter from the ATV airlock, with the drone hovering near the corner of the top of the ATV.

A hand-written note has been adhesed to the inside of the small airlock window.  In neat handwriting, it reads:

To any who find us,
Sorry about Dr. Paquette in airlock
Nowhere else to stow her
Wake Asher first!

In the smallish bit of window not covered by the note, a vacc-suited figure is visible.  Through the faceplate you can see the several weeks decayed remains of a human female face.  From your memory of her vids, it could be Deidre Paquette.

In reply to Referee (msg #257):

"Shoot each of those Trills before you get within reach, Jack. Just to be sure."

"Yeah, but don't shoot the ATV - especially that heat exchanger!", Jim is quick to reply.

"Hmm, that clinging creature might have prolonged the interior heat - regardless, let me try 'prodding' it, as Thera says," he added, maneuvering the drone to nudge the motionless trill from the side opposite Jack.

Jim pointedly doesn't comment on the note, nor the dead female.  There wasn't much to say.  He still held the medikit and his, er, limp^!, rescue balls ready, hoping to find them of use, but not critical.

OOC: We need a tool to open the airlock?
(^!What could I do - 'uninflated' is not really a word!)

Jack read the note to himself, holding steady so his vid feed could resolve it and send it to the others, then watched Doc's drone nudge the curled up trill. He had his snub trained on the creature, aiming for its head and mouth area.

If the trill is active, Jack will shoot it. "Thera, I appreciate the concern but these others already have holes in their heads..."

"Doctor, I have a corpse to send you. Stay on the other side of the ATV and I'll pass her underneath to you. Then send me a rescue ball and I'll go in."

Jack holstered his snub and planted himself securely between the bay wall and the ATV. Then he opened the airlock.

In reply to Jacques Keveloh (msg #260):

The curled up trill doesn't react in any way to being prodded or dislodged from the heat exchanger.  Unlike its' mates, this one doesn't have any visible wounds.

The airlock door isn't locked and Jacques opens it easily.  The first thing he notices is the 1.0G standard gravity in the airlock, another sign the ATV still has power.

The vacc suited woman is clearly several weeks dead.  The air has been evacuated from the airlock, but anaerobic decay has not been good to her.  Her vacc suit is in bad shape.  A large square section has been cut out of the abdomen of the suit and smaller sections have been cut out of the arm and legs of the suit.  A makeshift bandage appears to have been applied to Dr. Paquette's midsection, probably indicating that someone tried to save her.  Jacques doesn't have the same medical skill as Jim, but even he can tell from the size of the bandage that this woman would have likely needed an ER, or at least a cryoberth, to have survived.  It may have taken her several hours to die, though, and you hope the ATV had proper pain-killers or her slow death would have been agonizing.

Jacques tilts the body towards him, careful to limit contact as much as possible. It is easy to lever her into the zero-G environment of the vehicle bay, and from there to gently push her down to Doc.

The inner door of the airlock is frost free and warm, or at least less cold through the heavily insulated gloves of your vacc suit.  The gravity in the airlock is a welcome relief to your exhausted calf muscles.

The interior of the ATV looks to be in decent shape, though from this view you can see where one of the drawers near the deck may have been kicked rather violently.  You can see most of the way towards the front of the ATV (your left), but not all the way into the back where the small eating area and bunks are (your right).

"Afraid I only tend to the living, Mr. Keveloh," Jim replied as he awkwardly pushed the corpse out of the way - Jack's cam view had shown him everything he was interested in knowing of the dead crew member.

Shorty he appeared at the airlock, awkwardly handing Jack a rescue ball over the gravity gradient.

"Hopefully we will be needing both balls, Jack.  And my services - to wake the living..."

OOC: That was not meant as a ball joke!

Danica started pushing the free-floating trill bodies away from the group with the end of her laser rifle.  She figured that they would be better out of the way than anywhere near them.  Even if they were dead and not moving of their own volition, obviously, in free-fall it is a bit tricky and Dani doesn't have much experience with it - but, at least, she started them on a trajectory away from the boarding party and the ATV.  Where they might finally end up, only Ifni knew.

Dani shook her head slightly as she was passed the body in the airlock.  "Not a great way to go..." she muttered softly over the common crew link.  The ex-FRA officer had seen plenty of people die in her time (a fair number of them under her command), but it didn't make her immune to the finality of it.  She searched for any quick way to secure the body to either the ATV's outer skin or the floor of the wheel bay; activating the corpse's magnetic grapples if present and still working.

Then she waited, rifle at the ready.  Dani wasn't necessarily expecting trouble, but she also knew that the ATV would be cramped quarters; so, she wasn't going in any time soon - too many cooks in kitchen and all that.  She quietly split her attention between watching the video feed from Jack's suit, and anything unusual around the ATV in the vehicle bay.  Danica rolled her shoulders once or twice to try and keep them limber and the tension in them low.

OOC: Forgot to make clear - presume the airlock only has space for one, so Doc would have to remain a target in the bay till Jack cycles thru.  Then he would enter, as appropriate.

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg #264):



OOC: Correct Jim.  Only enough space in the airlock for one at a time. 

Jack muttered an indecipherable sound of sympathy as he pushed the corpse under the ATV toward Doc. While the others were dealing with free-floating bodies, Jack climbed into the lock and inspected the damaged drawer for any sort of indication of what he might expect once he went inside.

He took the rescue ball from Doc. "Copy that. I'll let you know once I'm in and have re-secured the airlock."

Jack rested the ball on the floor of the vehicle's lock and closed the outer hatch. He waited for the indicator to go green then he opened the inner hatch and stepped into the ATV, rescue ball in tow.

Jack sealed the inner hatch and threw quick glances all around, looking for figures - in vacc-suits or not. He quickly examined the control area of the ATV then headed into the back, the quarters area. Noting the green indicator light he said over the comms, "Come on in, Doc..."

As Jack moved deeper into the ATV he kept his eyes open for anyone or anything that would indicate someone named Asher.



OCC: 11:23, Today: Jacques Keveloh rolled 9 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 1,6. Investigate/INT - check ATV drawer.

Jim was in the airlock, medikit and balls rescue ball in hand, as soon as Jack had the inner hatch dogged.  His drone remained in the bay near the heat exchanger hugging Trill.

"Sure .. Damn, full gravity!  About time something worked on this blasted ship."

Doc had felt the tug of the ATV's grav plates, but till he entered the airlock was unaware it amounted to a full G.  Despite what Jack's cam feed was displaying, Doc's attention focused on the airlock status indicators ... did the ATV still have full atmo?

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg #267):

The drawer appears to have been a very solid kick by a booted foot.  Whose or why is unclear.

The control area of the ATV appears to be in order.  Nothing looks damaged or out of the ordinary.  A quick glance at the ATV's fuel gauges reveals that the vehicles has about four days worth of power left.  CO2 filter levels indicate the ATV has at least two weeks worth of air left.

The interior of the ATV is tidy, though there is an unsecured laser rifle on the comms panel desk and a reddish-brown stain on the floor of the ATV that looks like someone put some effort into trying to scrub out.

In the living area of the ATV there are two figures occupying bunks.  Both are supine and are wearing crew suits.  One is in a lower bunk (about thigh level).  He looks to be in his late forties or early fifties. There is no nametape on his suit.  The other is in an upper bunk (about chest level).  He looks about thirty.  The nametape on his coveralls reads "ASHER".

Neither mans opens his eyes or responds to your presence in any way.

OOC: Doc, you're in the airlock and will be in the ATV momentarily.  Danica is in the vehicle bay near the airlock.  Hayden can be in the vehicle bay or workshop (as he desires), once his player gets back from the flu.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:56, Sun 01 Apr 2012.

In reply to Referee (msg #268):

Even before she saw the gauges on the video feed, Thera had been puzzling.
"Guys, those gauges tell us that power is likely to be the first thing to fail, so why are the crew wasting it on gravity? Humans can cope for weeks, even months, in ZG. Something feels wrong. I'd advise extreme caution. Not sure what of, but..."
"Maybe there's a little one loose in there that they're trying to keep down, or something."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:14, Sun 01 Apr 2012.

Jack listened to Thera's pondering, also wondering why the crew here had decided to keep gravity active and potentially waste other more pertinent life support. "I don't know, Thera... nothing's right about this whole damned situation."

When Jack saw the men in the bunks, he stopped. His hand instinctively brushed his snub but he saw the name Asher and took a breath. "Okay, team... here we go..."

Jack stood and examined the men and their surroundings as best he could while disturbing as little as possible. "I'm wondering if they've taken heavy sedatives to reduce their oxygen consumption..."

"Hmmm...," Jim responds to the speculations.

As he waits for the airlock to cycle, Doc replays recordings from their sojourn - allowing the late Claudette Eubanks' voice to be heard over his comm:

... cell for the suit is about gone.  I never thought it would actually end like this.  Asher and the Doctor are probably going to die as well.  (chokes back tears)  ... Oh God, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. ...  Aaron and mission lead are trapped in the ATV.  There are about a half dozen of the things Rolo was calling Trills and a bunch of the little ones ... Aaron said she died of her wounds earlier ... if I can get the ship home before the ATV runs out of power, then at least I won't have been totally useless.

"Possible doctor Talun and the pilot didn't expect to be out this long .. and survive," Jim concluded, adding, "Don't worry Thera - we are being cautious - and I see no reason to turn off the gravity."

"Perhaps Dr. Talun might not have been sure of whatever he intended doing in a non-standard gravity.  Regardless we'll know better if we can talk to him..."

As he left the airlock to head for the living area, "Jack, seems likely Talun left the note - see anything else he might have left?"

---

OOC:
@ref - does Jim recognize Dr. Talun Sargant from Jack's feed?

Assuming he gets there - Jim will examine the bodies:

• 05:40, Today: Dr. Jim D. Jones rolled 11 using 2d6+4 with rolls of 1,6. Medic/INT: Examine crew.
  Holy crap - a natural roll higher than 5!  Must report Dice Roller failure... even a 6 to go with my 1!
  No worries, saving snake eyes for the revival rolls...

Older man is, I presume, Mission lead, Dr. Talun Sargant - a well-known planetologist and known to Jim - and the one whose brother they went after.

No doctor in RL - but would have to have gone beyond a simple 'sedative' unless they just went under in the last day or so - or these guys have a ton of hair and really long fingernails and are fairly dessicated, not to mention having awful bed sores... ;)

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg #271):

OOC: Hopefully RPOL doesn't plan on staying with this color scheme for long.  IT's a bit tough on the eyes.

As Jacques is inspecting the two men, Doc joins him.  To both men the signs of fast drug are obvious.  Their heart rates and breathing have been slowed to the point that signs of life are difficult to detect.  Asher's heart rate is steady at one beat every 19 seconds, within normal range for fast drug. Dr. Sargant's heart rate is erratic, one beat every 14-23 seconds.  This could indicate a potentially serious medical problem.

If clinical evidence weren't enough, the autoinjector containing an empty fast drug ampule on the clock tray in Asher's bunk clinches it.

Jacques, you find a Pathfinder issue snub pistol tucked under Asher's pillow.

Hayden waited in the workshop, watching the progress on his video feed. He also kept an eye out for any critters that might try to slip out of the bay and into the workshop.  He was otherwise quite content to leave any 'close encounters' to the former alien contact professionals.

Jim sets his rescue ball down along with his medikit as he arrives at the bunks and quickly makes to ascertain the state of the immobile men.

"Thank god.  They're alive," Jim declares for the benefit of the others.  "Fast drug," he adds with a nod to Jack.

His cam shows a closeup of Dr. Talun's neck as Jim deftly inspects it - his gloved hands focused around what appears to be an injection point.  "Asher seems nominal, but Dr. Sargant was administered an overdose - and rather ineptly I might add.  Missed the damn carotid by millimeters," he states while backing away.

Jim opens his medikit and removes an ampule and an autoinjector along with a small device - noticing the snub pistol as Jack discovers it. (via cam)

Standing he looks at the two men, "Hmmm... from the look of things I'd say Asher gave Talun the injection and then himself.  That could be rather strange given the note we saw - and I can't see Dr. Talun advising Asher to inject him in the neck instead of an arm, nor with an improper dose."

"It almost looks like either Asher was worried about Dr. Talun or Asher was up to something strange," he elaborated.  "Jack, you're better with computers - this is a survey vehicle, it would surely have recorders that might tell us something useful.  You want to give it a shot?"

"These two can hold for a while - might be better to try to revive them under more ideal circumstances - where we have more support if either of these two cracked."

Dani nods to Doc's assessment of the situation, "I agree, Doc.  Bag'em while they are down for the count.  We can revive them on the Moth under more controlled circumstances."  She glances about the vehicle bay warily, "We should secure the rest of this bay and the port side of the ship and get then see if we can't get the Suzain powered up, turned around and taken back to Box 2."

The Moth's pilot addresses Nino, "Chief, do we have everything we need to transfer fuel to the Suzain when necessary?"  She knows that the Moth is not yet in position, but that will be taken care of in a bit.

She starts to move Paquette's body, pushing it towards Hayden and the open iris to the workshop.  "Should we stow this body with Eubanks' in the Launch?" Danica notes off-hand.  Danica tries to be respectful of the dead in her actions, but she is business-like.  They do have plenty to do before the Suzain can be restarted and redirected.

"Jack, Doc." Dani prompts, "Do we need to move or reposition the ATV to better facilitate transfer of the two men back to the Gypsy Moth?"

In reply to Danica Moreau (msg #275):

Nino's deep voice answers immediately, "Affirmative, First.  Me and Prisa are ready to go."

OOC: Once the two are in rescue balls you should be able to evacuate the ATV to vacuum and take them out the back door instead of trying to get inflated rescue balls into the ATV's tiny airlock.

Jack merely nodded in agreement as Doc assessed the situation. He also checked the snub from under Asher's pillow, ejecting the clip and slipping it and the gun into the empty thigh pocket of his vacc suit. "For what it's worth you're reading my mind, Doctor," Jack said, looking over the men of Suzain. "I wonder why they kept their boots on when they knew they would be down for weeks?... and the gravity... and why was Eubanks in a vacc suit and these two aren't?..."

When Doc asked about surveillance feeds from the ATV, Jack murmured in agreement. "Indeed, I would hope there are logs. But they may not have had enough time to activate a 24/7 protocol... or if they did crack up, someone may have wiped them..."

Jack looked around as the radio chatter turned to moving the unconscious men."You know, this ATV is a perfect rescue ball. We could probably give it a push and send it straight into the Moth's cargo hold."

Jack turned and moved into the control area, looking for a fuel gauge and a computer terminal. "Or, if this ATV has enough fuel, we could leave them in here and turn the whole damn ship..."

Suddenly Jack stopped. "Doc - how long do you think these two have been under?"

"No telling from just an external examination, Mr. Keveloh.  Such would require a blood draw and analyzing platelet morphology and sedimentation.  Any logs might tell use just as accurately," Jim replied.

"But you've a good point on not moving them," he continues, returning the stuff he had removed from his medikit, adding, "Let's get them setup in the rescue balls, unsealed, just in case.  After we get the med bay powered, I can see to stabilizing Dr. Talunt."

Rising with a rescue ball in hand and looking at their dirtied suits, "In fact, if we can arrange refueling without airlock docking the Moth, we won't have to decon her, just the launch.  Assuming Pris and the gang can manage the Moth, we can ride this bird back to Box 2 if we transfer enough supplies..."