Rig rushed down to the low berths at full speed, as soon as he got to the slick coolant covered floor he slowed down so as not to slip. Tepha was by the control panel and breathed a sigh of relief when he showed up.

"Something is loose on the ship. Some kind of assassin or stowaway or something. Silver is tracking it. Head to the bridge. Ledo is looking at the cameras but if something is loose we need his gun."

With that said he looked over the control panel and got to work repairing what he could and bypassing what he couldn't.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Fri 03 Apr 2020.

Tepha could not breath enough sighs of relief when first the computer said the passengers weren't dead and second when Rig came. Look over surveillance for an intruder? That she could do.

She hustled double time up to the bridge to relieve Leo and watch the feeds for the intruder.

Silver poked around with her flashlight making sure the vent was clear before heading back to her room to pick up the combat rifle. Whatever was running amok was going to get a full clip when she found them.

Weaponry secured she pulled up the ship's schematics and had the computer direct her towards the nearest exit point. She was running full tilt, time was of the essence.

In reply to Silver (msg # 57):

Rig goes through the list of damage.

Ledo's patch job is adequate.  But it won't hold long.  That goo will harden in Zero G.  But it stays goopy in atmo.  Worse, it may start to seep into the line and clog it.  Then it's the same problem, different minute.

But for now it should do.

Rig calls up a cryo-chamber schematic from the Computer's library.  The coolant chamber is located on the left side of each chamber.  It functions as a reservoir and valves seep the coolant into the cooling units.  So once the chambers refill in about...ten minutes, he can just seal them, remove the faulty lines, and replace them.  Then start the flow back up.  Easy peasy.  The chambers will run for two hours without coolant.  It will take twenty minutes to replace the lines.

Rig glances through the rest of the listed damage.

The Coolant filter...okay.  He can do that when he's replacing the lines.  His twenty minute work window went up to thirty minutes.   Easy.  Maybe not peasy.

Nutrient system...according to the library that can be done while the passengers sleep.  He can fix the coolant lines and set the computer to do that.

Gauge 4.  He checks the library.  Gauge 4?  That has nothing to do with coolant or nutrient systems.  It's the gauge that monitors chamber door pressure.  It also logs each time a door is open and shut.  How the hell did that get damaged.

The virus is weird.  How the hell did that get in there?  Was there a bug in the ship's mainframe?  Or, if the bug is on the cryochambers system, has it jumped on to the mainframe?  And what is it doing? Passenger information being transmitted?

Rig needs to go get some new line and the appropriate tools.  There's a parts closet in Engineering that will have what he needs.

---

The Slotts-Wexton DZ Oh 8-23 with a Rausch Blow Algorithm scope.

This isn't a combat rifle.  It's a way of life.  Oh yeah baby.  Oh yeah.

At least that's what the commercials say.  Silver makes sure it's ready to go and checks her comm for the schematic.

That vent runs towards the hallway and then hits a T intersection.  One leg goes up.  It runs across the ceiling and down to the other side.  It then splits, one bend heading to the kitchen and one to the bridge.  The other leg heads into the Hold.  If it went that way, it'll be a helluva time finding it.

Silver listens to see if she can hear anything.  Just then the atmo kicks on.  Damn time for temperature control.

She'll have to guess.

---

Tepha hits the bridge just as Ledo finishes the cross reference between the vent schematics, motion logs, and camera feeds.

Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of camera coverage in the vents.  Mostly just the main intersections.  The motion logs are even skimpier.  Then again, between air movement and vermin, the ship would almost always be logging motion in the vent system.

But combing all three gets them something.  First, the place in the Hold where that vent empties out is covered by one of the Hold security cams.  And it's clear.

If it didn't come out into the Hold or head back to Rig's room, it would have had to cross the hall ( which means it can climb) and head towards the Bridge or the Kitchen.

Vents heading on to the Bridge are covered by the motion logs.  It seems...hmmm.  Something was picked up twice at the vent cover that connects to the Bridge.  The first time, Ledo and Tepha were here.  It was when they left port.  The second incident was about a half hour ago.

But whatever it was didn't come onto the Bridge.

A look at that vent cover shows why:  the thing is welded on from this side.  Unless that thing was pretty strong, it couldn't have pushed through the vent grill.

It must have found it's way into Rig's room and was going to come down the hallway to the Bridge while everyone was out.

Well.  Assuming it's intelligent and wants to get on to the Bridge.  If this were a horror movie, it would.

But it's not like this is a horror movie.  Right?

Twenty mintues until Auto Pilot commences Jump protocols

Ledo hit the comms.

"Looks like our guest is trying to get to the bridge. I'll secure Tepha in the bridge and we'll regroup by the kitchen. That's the only place it can come out now."

With a nod he leaves Tepha behind and double times it to the kitchen.

"Roger that, boss."

She grinned as she double checked the mag on her rifle. Time for Betsy to come out and play. She only hoped Rig wouldn't get pissed about having to patch a few bullet holes.

She made a note to double check to make sure she hadn't loaded her armor piercing rounds. Those mags had the blue stripe on the bottom. Now would be a bad time to put a hole through the hull.

Rig needed to get to the engineering closet but he was first and foremost a computer expert and he did NOT want a virus running loose.

He pulled up the ship's security software and went to work squashing their virtual intruder.

OOC:
18:33, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 10 using 2d6+5.  +2 edu, +2 computers +1 ship's expert system.


While he did that he also loaded up the ship's virtual engineer to start getting systems in place so he can better repair the low berth life support.

OOC: Hot dog!
18:34, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 13 using 2d6+1.  virtual engineer.

Tepha was watching the feeds when she realized what Ledo had said.

it was trying to get into the bridge...

The bridge. Where she was now. Without a weapon. She looked around for something, anything she could batter it with. All she owned was a stunner and that was sitting back in her room.

She went back to the monitors, finger hovering over the comm button for the moment she could find the stupid thing.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 59):

Ledo arrives by the galley door as Silver is finishing her check.  The two of them peer through.

The kitchen is divided into four parts.

The 'galley' which is right ahead of them.  Though it's really just a space large enough for one long rectangular table with six chairs pushed around it.

On the other side of that table is an arch leading into the kitchen proper.  It's not the roomiest of places.  Two people in there at the same time is cramped.  There's a sink, an electric stove top, some cabinets, and a therma-oven.  Oh, and the coffee machine.  Arguably the most important piece of non-engineering equipment in the whole ship.

At the other end to the kitchen is the door to the walk in cooler.  It's actually a bigger room than the kitchen.  But then when it's well stocked, it also feels cramped.

Halfway between the kitchen arch and the galley door on the left is a door to a small toilet.

There are a number of vents in here.  But due to safety concerns, none of them connect to the same shafts.  The theory is that if a hole blows in the side of the ship, and the duct lines effected by the breach were closed, some vents would still allow air flow.

But that's not really important.  What is important is that the vent in question, the one most important at the moment, is the one that opens up over the sink.

Which can't be seen from the doorway that Ledo and Silver are standing at.

But they can hear a loud click.  Which is unmistakably the sound of a grate swinging open.

Or something swinging open.  It's that kind of sound.

---

The virus doesn't stand a chance.  Then again, it's not terribly sophisticated. It just latched on to the Vitals Monitor and copied the data, beaming it out to points unknown.  It was a pretty deep dig though.  It was pulling the genetic scan files and sending them.

Rig dials up the mainframe's support function.  He spies a quick way to get the system checks to fall in line and implements them.  The system whirs through it's checklists

Rig gets a boon on any one repair or Engineer roll he'll make during Part 1

Now he just needs those parts...

---

Tepha stares at the screen.

Nothing happens.

Tepha stares some more at the screen.

Nothing happens.

Then she sees something happen.

The camera is installed in the ceiling of the kitchen.  So she has a top down view.

On one side, she can make out the vent above the sink.  It's hard to see at first.  It's just looks like there's maybe little pieces of fuzz on the screen.  But then the grate moves.

It pops out and something behind it stops it from falling.  It pulls the grate back and into the duct.

And then it pokes it's head out.

And it's...

It's...

It's a Bugee.  It's dressed like a little fairy princess.  With a fun little wig of blonde curls set atop it's precious little head.  And this little pink chiffon gown.  It's a really pretty gown.  And there's sparkles all shaken all over it's fur.  Oh!  And it's eyes are heart shaped.

That is just adorable.  Just eat-it-up-scrumptious!

Really.  It if wasn't causing so much havoc, it would just be the cutest thing ever.

Sixteen minutes until Auto Pilot commences Jump protocols

Tepha's mouth opened in surprise.

"Guys...it's a Bugee! It's coming through the kitchen!"

Rig curses as he hustles to get the parts he needs from the Engineering closet.

"That piece of shit was why the cargo was delayed. One of the crates was seven pounds light. Little shit must have snuck aboard and been playing merry havoc this whole time."

Ledo looked at Silver and nodded towards the door.

"Only seven pounds? Must be some kind of mechanical saboteur. Let's finish this."

He charged through the door, looking for one of those stupid toys and preparing to make it eat laser.

OOC:

22:02, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 7 using 2d6+1.  pew pew lasers.

"Roger that. Lighting 'em up."

While Ledo fired more wildly from the hip Silver had been trained properly in breach & clear both as a pirate and as a police officer.

As usual Silver proved to be a quite effective combatant and demonstrated first hand why Ledo should want to keep her on the payroll.

OOC: Yowza. Probably one dead Bugee...
22:04, Today: Silver rolled 11 using 2d6+4.  +1 DEX, 1+ Laser sight +1 PHUD, +1 Guns.
22:05, Today: Silver rolled 11 using 3d6.  pewpewpew damage.

The Bugee jumps down on to the lip of the sink when Ledo's blaster strikes the grate it just left.  It looks up, a look of almost confusion in it's heart shaped eyes.

Or maybe it wasn't.  It's hard to tell in a moment when Silver's shot blasts the top of it's head off.

The Bugee's stubby little arms pinwheel and it falls backwards, into the sink.

From Tepha's POV, it just lays there, twitching.  Like a headless puppy that wants to play ball.

---

Rig finds the exact supplies he needs. This may be an easier fix than anything else he's done today.

Automatically Ledo and Silver move up and secure their victim. Ledo peers closely at it while Silver covers him. They are trying to figure out just what in the hell this thing was.

Rig keeps on fixing on.

The Bugee is twitching still.  But it's more like an autonomic reflex than an actual attempt at movement.  From the torn open neck, a metal prong emerges.

Some quick work with a knife opens the Bugee up.  Inside is a small metal exoskeleton.  Just without a head.

Even to Ledo and Silver's eye, this is obviously highly developed tech.  The metal seems like it would be too thin to support the Bugee.  But it's surprisingly tough.  The chest seems to be some kind of circuit board.  Soft lights glow under the board.

The frame spasms a little longer than seems to go dormant.  The lights go out.

Princess Bugee seems to have left the spaceship.

---

Rig has laid out the lengths of tubing and cut them.   He's blown air through them and determined they don't need any patches.  The coolant reservoir is almost filled.  He should be able to shut off the flow and get the tubes switched out in minutes.

The computer buzzes his com.  The reboot of the Nutrient system is complete.  It's back online.

The virus is wiped as well.  The mainframe has completed a scan and isn't showing any signs of contamination.

After that, the floor will need scrubbing.  The leaked coolant not only smells.  As it evaporates, it will poison the atmo.  Nothing serious.  But according to the computer it will make you nauseous for an extended period of time if enough gets into your lungs.

Can't have that.  This trip has already been crazy enough.

---

Eight minutes until Auto Pilot commences Jump protocols.  Running pre-Jump check now.  Please authorize

The Computer flashes up some screens.  Most of it is information that means nothing to Tepha.  But she does get the gist.  The computer is asking for someone in authority to okay something for Jump.

I'm sure everything will be fine.

Ledo charged up to the bridge to pause their jump. He had a sneaking suspicion that this sabotage wasn't just a random event but directed sabotage and the last thing he wanted was to jump with a malfunctioning drive.

When he got there he pointed Tepha towards the sensors.

"We're going to sweep the ship and see if we can't find any other sabotage. If this was a pirating attempt however there might be someone out there headed this way. I want you on the sensors sweeping for anything out of the ordinary. Load up the co-pilot program to assist.

I am pausing the jump and we will remain here until we've secured the ship but if someone tries to jack us we might have to jump for safety."

With that said he went to the controls and put a pause on the autopilot jump, killing their momentum to avoid any necessities for recalibration.

When all that was finished he went to the galley and pulled out two meals. Time to apologize to their guests.

---

"I cannot express how sorry I am to have put you through this..."

The door to the brig was still locked but Ledo had used the tray to push through the two meals.

"We discovered some kind of robotic assassin robot that had hitched aboard with our cargo. It's been moving through the ship using the ventiliation ducts and performing sabotage this whole time. We think it nearly killed the low berth passengers by sabotaging the cryogenic systems which is why we wanted to secure you as well. It turned out to not be very dangerous, barely more than a toy, but it appears to have been sabotaging systems all over the ship. We'll make sure to check on you every once and awhile though to get you anything you need. Don't worry about using the toilet in there. We'll sweep your rooms first and once we're sure there aren't any "surprises" left behind we'll move you back.

Again, apologies for this but I hope you understand if we were rude or aggressive it was only because we were concerned about everyone's safety."

To illustrate the point Ledo pushed his comm up to the window so the two women could see the blown apart remains of the Bugee saboteur.

"Like I said, basically a kids toy but it was built for stealth and we haven't been able to fully account for its movements throughout the ship."

Tepha slumped down into the co-pilot's chair with a sense of relief.

it was just a toy...it was just a toy...it was just a toy...

As a child she had a been a huge fan of horror movies. She had squealed in joy and terror at holovids of mutant alien monsters moving through the vents and murdering the crew one by one.

As she sat there tapping out active sensor sweep patterns she was suddenly very thankful she had hooked up with Ledo. He had directed everyone with calm confidence under fire, Silver had operated like a trained commando and Rig didn't ask questions, he just ran around fixing everything. They all seemed to be in their element and Tepha was struck with the realization that she was so much younger compared to them, and not just in terms of her age. They had all seen combat and catastrophe and she really hadn't. She had faced other dangers like when she had gone up against Governor Roarke but that had been an existential threat, not a physical "we're about to die" threat.

Her heart wouldn't stop pounding against her chest. Ledo was right, maybe this was just the first step in a pirate attack. Someone like her would be quite the prize for a marauding band of pirates and slavers. The thought of being forced into slavery, of having to pleasure some greasy disgusting outlaw was physically repulsive to her. She resolved to herself that if they arrived at Jone she was going to use some of her savings and purchase a weapon for herself. Like Ledo and the others she would carry it at her side at all times in space so she would have an easy way out if the worst came to pass.

OOC: Well done Tepha!
12:25, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 12 using 2d6+2.  +1 sensors, +1 ship's asssistance.

Right now they didn't have a good place to store the robotic assassin but it was only seven pounds so Silver decided to just carry it with her.

First she carried it down to the cargo hold with her pistol pressed against it if it so much as twitched but once down there she wrapped the thing up in heavy duty cargo straps and then just hooked it on her belt. It bounced and banged but she was happy to know it wasn't going to come back to life and wreck havoc without going through her first.

With the robot secure she started sweeping the ship for more explosives. She tried to get into the mind of the thing, tracing its path from the cargo hold to where they had cornered it and looking for more odd bumps on the walls. Now that she knew it was the size of a large doll she had a better idea of what areas to focus.

OOC: Trying to track down more explosive ridge blows.

Oooh boy, great job Silver!

12:37, Today: Silver rolled 12 using 2d6.  investigate - trace robot's movements.
12:37, Today: Silver rolled 7 using 2d6.  recon -search for more sabotage.

When the system was ready Rig sprang into action swapping out tubing and making sure all lines were secure once again.

OOC:
I effed up this roll. I meant to roll it with a boon. I ended up rerolling the same thing. It didn't record it but for the first roll I got 1,4,3 so +2 = 9

12:41, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 9 using 3d6+2, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 3,2,4.  repair - life support + boon.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 72):

Ada takes the tray and moves to place it on a table.  Sylvia stands, arms crossed, frowning, as Ledo begins.  But her eyebrows go from sloping downwards to upwards as he continues.

"Oh damn.  I hope it's not the Red Bureau."

Ada looks up quickly when Sylvia says this.  She steps away from the table, like the dinner was about to catch fire, and starts glancing around.

"Calm down dear.  They can't get us in here.  Well.  Unless they unlock the door.  But...just calm down."  Sylvia studies the doll.  "Well.  If they were going after the low passengers, it probably wasn't us they were after.

"I...Well.  I don't want to give you information that may be false.  It was only for a moment.  But...when we saw the low berth passengers walking by earlier.  I thought one of them looked familiar.  Like an old pirate who was big news in the Jone system.  It was about a decade ago.  And I only caught a glimpse.  What was the name...what was the name..."

Sylvia shakes her head and the rubs her temples.  "Oh.  Hell.  Scrabbers?  No.  That's too cartoon.  It ended with an -ers.  I'll try to remember.  Anyway.  I could be wrong.  But...given the situation, I suppose I should mention it.

"If you can have the young lady grab us something more comfortable from our luggage. And necessary hygenics.  She'll understand. The young lady.  Not the shooty-growly one with the scar. Thank you."

---

The lines go down like butter.  Well.  What butter is supposed to go down like.  Rig's maybe never had real butter.  Maybe a fungal based imitation.  Then again maybe he has.

The point is:  the line repair goes pretty smooth.

The computer seems to be wrapping up the various reboots.  Rig finishes doing some routine maintenance.

Everything looks like it's going to be fine.

No harm done.

---

Maybe it's the last vestige of the drugs leaving her system.  But Silver is On It Like Sonic.  Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.  She seems to be remembering a lot of shit from her childhood.  Well.  What passed for her childhood.

She becomes one with the Bugee.

Starting from the crate, she's able to make some educated guesses that turn out to be right.  A grate left open here.  A smudge of grease there.  It looks like the Bugee got into the crate, probably about the time Rig was loading the cargo.  It must have tried to make it the bridge shortly after the ship took off.  It was probably what she heard in the grate earlier.  That must have been when it tried to get to the bridge the first time.  Ledo and Tepha would have been there.  So it must have held off doing anything.

After that?  It was on the move. Checking most of the grates in the crew quarters and Hold show them loose.  It was exploring.

She finds a couple more Ridge Blows.  Both rivet types.  One's low to the ground.  The other higher up.  About head level for Rig.  But it's on a strut in the hall, and those things have holes up the side.  If it could climb through the vents, it could climb these struts.

Silver quickly comes to realize a basic truth:  star ships have a lot of rivets in them.  It's going to take some time to go through all these.

---

Tepha dials back the receivers 1, 2 and 4 while pushing up 3 and 5.

Two ships are confirmed, one spinward and one trailing.

The trailing one has a Call ID of O77O2I990B-769.  The library shows it to be a ship named My Wife's Ulcer.  Captain is Wilmark Oberitz.  A trader.  No known criminal affiliations.  A scan seems to indicate My Wife's Ulcer is just gearing up for Jump.

The spinward ship just jumped in about a quarter of an hour ago.  It's a huge boat.  Call ID IZM-O77-824-NJE-9-9.  A naval cruiser.  The IZM Keelhaul.  It's stationed at Jone but makes patrols to Karin as part of it's usual run. It's not paying too much attention to you.  Just seems to be readying itself before heading into Karin's system.

Once everyone had a minute to themselves Ledo called for everyone to reconvene at the galley. Rig gave his status report of how repairs were going, Tepha informed them that local space was not only clear but there was a naval vessel on patrol, Ledo shared that their high passengers thought they might have a pirate on board and Silver showed off her collection of miniature explosives.

"Alright. I think we've delayed things long enough. Hopefully the Bugee was going to be responsible for the signal to detonate any remaining items. It looks like whatever was going to happen is going to be waiting for us in the other system. I'm going to activate the jump but I need everyone on standby.

Rig, get ready with the emergency overrides. If smoke bombs start popping off throughout the ship we need a way to disable them quickly. If necessary let's prepare to vent atmosphere from key decks. We can keep everyone in cryo, seal off the garden and move our passengers to the bridge and just vent the smoke before it clogs up life support.

Tepha, you're on steward duty. Our high priced passengers need to be made comfortable until after we jump. Get them whatever they need, wait for the jump and then escort them back to their quarters.

Silver, you get to clean up cryogenic coolant. Consider this your punishment duty for skipping out on cargo duty earlier.

Alright, everyone move out. Keep your comms open and, when possible, keep an eye out for more of these blasted bombs."

That being said Ledo heads to the science scanner to do a chemical analysis of one of the explosives. Time to find out what surprise was in store.


19:47, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 11 using 2d6+1.  science!!! on explosives.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 77):

The Computer whirrs and makes a lot of impressive noises.  It comes back with it's results of the Ridge Blow.

Analysis complete.

No explosive elements detected.

Components are indicative of sonic production.  Device would emit audio waves in the range of 125 to 145 decibels.  Ranges would cause pain and discomfort to most known sentient life forms.

These are sonic grenades.

---

Everyone gets ready...

Ready to jump?

Ledo first issues out the order for everyone to pick up ear protection from Rig and then he pulls the controls and authorizes the jump.