Guided by the drone, the crew of the Zhidao retraces their steps back the way they came. As they approach the T intersection, they see two men. Both are armed and wearing the same body armor as the CPM security personnel. One man, carrying a shotgun (in a low ready position) is a huge Earther, with Slavic features. The second man, is clearly a Belter of Asian descent, is armed with a SMG slung across his chest, and is operating the drone with his hand terminal.

---

Van and Yuri can see some people coming from the left side if the T intersection. The group consists of two men, two women, a teenage girl, and an old frail woman. No one has any heavy armor, and no one appears to be armed with a long gun.

[Private to Alis Syn; Kala Sui: Please refrain from posting here until everyone gets to where you are. But feel free to post in the other thread if you wish.]

The big Earther with a shotgun is crouched down, and waves in the other group with his left hand. His right hand is still on his shotgun, but his finger is not on the trigger.

"Hi people."

Although clearly somewhat more the worse for wear from her ordeal, Kattalin seems perfectly comfortable holding the pistol in her right hand, her finger on the guard rather than the trigger like an armature.  Mirroring the downward barrel stance of the others she gestures to the drone with her empty left hand and asks quite simply.  ”Is this yours?”

In reply to Kattalin Zubiri (msg # 3):

The Asian man flipped up the HUD he seemed to be using to control the drone, putting a cowboy hat on his head. The drone parked itself on the floor of the duct in front of him.

Mindful that this group might think they had been lured into an ambush Van kept his hands away from his weapons. He gave a tight controlled smile.

"Yes. Am Van. This is Yuri. Earlier I use drone to help you when infected were attacking as you entered the Pachinko parlour.

"Have found smuggler's route to docking bay and we have escape plan. You are welcome to join us." By definition they probably didn't have a good plan themselves or else they wouldn't have followed his drone here.

"Must go now." He started off in a different direction they had taken. The drone lifted off an apparently on automatic started following him on automatic station-keeping mode.

Hope is initially wary due to the outfits, but then eases as she sees a belter in one of them.

When Van makes his offer she asks Sato, "Sounds good, right, bosmang?"

"You're with CPM?" Abang seems ill at ease, even though the drone operator is clearly trying to put off 'we're not here to hurt anyone' vibes.

"Nyet, do I look like some Belter douchebag gangster? was spat out in disgust, but the tone got nicer as the large Earther explained. "We killed a few, them ambushed a few others for their weapons." If one looks at the armor Yuri and Van are wearing it looks like the previous owners had bleed a lot, but the armor itself apears to have not taken any rounds.

Kattalin takes in the growing dynamic at a glance and just shakes her head sadly for a moment before she returns her focus to the events ongoing.  ”Probably not a good idea to stand around here congratulating ourselves for our survival skills.  Perhaps we should just use them, and get going.”

In reply to Dr. Abang Kaos (msg # 6):

Van's eyebrow raised as he glanced down at the hastily-cleaned but still bloodstained armour. He forgot he was wearing the liberated CPM gear. He shook his head.

"Not CPM. Am belta, have ship in docking bay.

Yes. We go. Di di mao."

He nodded to Yuri, then started down the access shaft to follow the other group.

Sato listens to all of the conversation had, opting to remain silent so that he can assess the content of what was being discussed.  He didn't necessarily trust these two...but he also knew that there was strength in numbers and if they faced resistance on their way to the docking bay, a couple extra bodies on their side certainly couldn't hurt.  The belter had indicated they had a ship, though he had no intentions of getting on it, they could certainly be of assistance in helping him and those with him get back to the Zhidao.

He offered Yuri a nod of acceptance: "Lead the way."

Van and Yuri lead the crew of the Zhidao back through the cramped passage that leads back to the server room. They then lead the way across the server room to the second vent grill, now open and removed from the wall. A casino beverage cart is now present, (probably brought down from the casino by Van & Yuri) and has been looted of any booze.

The passage beyond the vent grill is cramped like the previous one but after a ways there is an open ventilation grill. This grill opens up to an old mechanical line tunnel that is about 2 meters wide and high. Some dim light bulbs provide some illumination, but not much.

Within this area is a group of people, most wearing Pur’n Kleen jumpsuits. There are patches indicating they are crew of a ship called the Salisbury. Two of the individuals are wearing CPM armor and are armed. Most everyone else is armed, and one individuals is on a stretcher with a bandage across his stomach.

Characters already present (2 PC's, 7 NPC’s)

• Alis Syn (Not wearing a Pur’n Kleen jumpsuit under CPM armor, and armed with an SMG)
• Kala Sui (Wearing a Pur’n Kleen jumpsuit, armed with a pistol)
• Man on stretcher (Wearing a Pur’n Kleen jumpsuit, has bandage across stomach)
• Woman with arm in sling (Wearing a Pur’n Kleen jumpsuit, armed with a pistol)
• Man wearing CPM body armor, and armed with an auto rifle
• Four other individuals (Wearing a Pur’n Kleen jumpsuits, no race/gender identified yet, three armed with pistols)

New arrivals (5 PC's, 3 NPC's)

• Nguyen Van Loc
• Yuri Ivanovich (NPC)
• Shinsato Hirotsugu
• Kattalin Zubiri
• Dr. Abang Kaos
• Asha Blackburn
• Kaeya (NPC, teenage Belter girl)
• Ms. Hirotsugu (NPC, old frail woman)

OOC: OK the seven player characters can all say hi to each other.

Abang wastes no time with pleasantries, he immediately moves to the cart unslinging his EMT bag as he crosses the room.  By the time he's reached the wounded man he's unlocked it and pulled out multiple probe patches that he applies to the man's neck and wrist.  If he's conscious Dr Kaos begins asking him basic questions, if he's not conscious Dr. Kaos question those closest in proximity, "How long ago was he wounded?  Was it a pistol or knife?" and such as he begins triaging him.


OOC:  Do you want an INT+Med roll?

In reply to Dr. Abang Kaos (msg # 12):

Obviously the man was a doctor so Van didn't interfere. Van just shrugged to show he didn't know when the person was injured, as he hadn't entered the Pur'n Kleen offices at the time.

"Let's get moving. Doctor and patient can catch up later. Need volunteers to assist with portage."

He addressed the new group. "Whoever you are, you should know there are mercenaries in docking bay. Are thoroughly destroying ships. So those will not be available. But they have own ship. Our plan is to navigate via tunnels. Create distraction, ambush them and take their ship. I have my own vessel, Svetlana Savitskaya, if can connect remotely then might be able to use thrusters or weapons."

As the newcomers arrive, Kala will ask each in turn if they know the whereabouts of her girlfriend, Naomi Cooper. About 1.85 meters, Earther. Red-head. Good looking.

When the doctor asks about the wound, she speaks up.

"Pistol, I think. It was all pretty crazy, back in the office, but  I don't remember any knives and ZI do remember a lot of gunshots."

She glances at the 9mm in her hand and puts it away inside her jacket. Out of sight, but easy to reach.

Still holding the pistol she had in her hand when the drone first encountered her Kattalin doesn't make any effort to put it away, although she lacks a jacket, proper shirt, or really any kind of pockets, to put it in so that may be part of why.

As the others focus on various forms of comparing of notes she starts looking around the space they find themselves in, inspecting it and occasionally poking at a door or latching mechanism on one.
[Private to GM:
Kattalin Zubiri rolled 16 using 3d6+4 with the AGE System with rolls of {2}, 4, 6.  perception]

Alis turns towards the sound of the new arrivals and begins to raise her weapon until she see's that it is Van and Yuri leading them.

"She lets her SMG rest on it's sling and waves to them. "Welcome back, made some friends I see." She remarks, adjusting her one size to big CPM helmet.

She regards the newcomers with a mixture of suspicion and relief. She waves again to them. "Hey."

Abang looks over the man on the stretcher who is breathing shallow, unresponsive, and is gut shot. Whomever put the bandage on did so in the proper manner, but that seemed to be the extent of their medical knowledge. It is quite clear that the man could have easily been left behind, but was not. Instead, people carried him up to this point.

[Private to Dr. Abang Kaos:

After an initial assessment you realize that you will need to act fast to find the bullet, remove it and cauterize any damage done to internal organs. The wounded man will need either plasma (if you have a bag), or a blood transfusion. Somebody in the group will have the same blood type or be a universal donor.

You can make a INT+ MED check TN 16 now. Your character sheet gives you two chances to make a successful roll. Pass on the first roll and it is a flawless surgery. Fair one roll and it’s a dicey operation. Fail both and it’s just a case of you not getting to the man in time to save his life, and all you can do is make him comfortable or euthanize him.]

"This man is dying and will die if moved, Hope, stand here, you'll hold the emt duffel open for me," he sets in her arms, slips his hands into self shrinking latex gloves, slaps an anesthetic patch on the man's neck, and begins removing his bandages...


OOC:  23:01, Today: Dr. Abang Kaos rolled 20 using 3d6+7 (5 stunt points) with the AGE System (({5}, 4, 4)).
Spend the stunts on Speed and not depleting medical supplies.
Let me know how long it takes, I'll write up a descriptive post at the appropriate point...

In reply to Dr. Abang Kaos (msg # 18):

Van nodded in understandiung, definitely a medic.

"Understood. Can anyone network our personal hand terminals to provide comms? Network is down or locked out. But can still function as radio in local mode, I think.

"Yuri, Alis, please guard back-trail. Replace grill if possible.

"Will scout our route using drone."

Using the HUD he started to send the drone on ahead, using the sensors to examine the passage for the smuggler's route markings as before.

Having satisfied herself that their aren't any zombies sneaking up on them at the moment Kattalin turns her attention back to the group just as the doctor starts his work, but answers the other question.  ”I can reconfigure your devices as needed, and probably assist in whatever it is you plan to do with the ship, but I no longer have my own to work from so I will need to borrow someone else's or one that has been recovered.”
This message was last edited by the player at 05:28, Fri 18 Feb 2022.

Kala will pass her comm unit over to Kattalin.

"Do your best," she smiles, still uncertain and nervous, but feeling a whole lot better now that there are several of them, somewhat armed and with a purpose and possible route off the rock.

Alis holds he hand out with a hand terminal to Kat.

"Took this off a CPM goon, I managed to unlocked it but, their network was down as well. Maybe you'll have better luck then I did."


She taps her helmet with one finger near her ear. "I also have their radio net up, but it's jibber jabber at this point. Lots of panic."


She looks over at Van. "On it. I barred the door to the parlour as well." She replies, then makes sure the grate they all came it is back in place.

Kattalin accepts however many hand terminals they want to contribute, taking the information from each one set up and applying it to the next so they can not only communicate with each other, but do so at least semi privately.

[Private to GM:
16:32, Today: Secret Roll: Kattalin Zubiri rolled 17 using 3d6+8 (2 stunt points) with the AGE System with rolls of {2}, 2, 5.  Technology (Hacking)
2 stunt points. SPEED DEMON: You complete your test in half the time it would otherwise take]

In reply to Kattalin Zubiri (msg # 23):

He put the drone in hover mode and handed over his hand terminal.

Hope follows Abang's instructions, helping out as he directs. While doing so she replies to Kala that she doesn't know Naomi Cooper.

Shinsato did not trust easily...and placing his trust in these new folk was not easy.  His guard was up and thus his eyes and ears were alert to all that went on around him.  He still felt it odd that they went out of their way to help them...it seemed more like a bait and follow scheme for some, as of yet, unknown purpose.

He stayed near Abang and instructed Kala to watch over his mother close to where he and the doctor were.  Shinsato offered Abang whatever assistance, if any, the man might need.

Kaeya leads Ms. Hirotsugu head down the tunnel to the left away from the surgery but remains within eyesight. The young teenage girl is still holding a piece rebar in her hand, while the older woman looks thoroughly confused.

Dr. Abang Kaos begins working on the gut shot man, while Kattalin Zubiri begins to network everyone’s hand terminals so at least line of site communication can be carried out. Despite having quite a few hand terminals to update the Martian woman quickly and efficiently links them together.

The man armed with an auto rifle heads down the maintenance tunnel with Nguyen Van Loc’s drone following behind. With the dim lighting he soon disappears from view.

[Private to Drone: Upon getting to a T intersection the man stops. He then man uses Belter hand signals to indicate that they need to go right, but also indicates that he will wait before moving on.]

[Private to Dr. Abang Kaos:
You can describe your surgery and getting the man ready to move again.]

Kala takes the moment of downtime to reassess herself, push away the images of lovely Naomi covered with whatever that glowing . . . stuff was, and evaluate her new companions. It's time to stop panicking and start thinking. Though, for the life of her, she cannot think what to do next.

Maybe they can get to the docks. And maybe they can find a ship that hasn't been destroyed. And maybe they can get aboard, fire it up and blast away, evading anything the security goons shoot at them. Maybe. Lots and lots of maybe's.

She checks the pistol, makes sure the magazine is fully loaded, and then looks around to see if she can help anyone else. Take her mind off the spiral of panic.

That kid with the old lady. She looks like she needs help.

She approaches Kaeya and Mrs. Hirotsugu, speaking to the old woman while nodding encouragement to the girl.

"Sounds like we've got a plan to get out of here," she says, as brightly as she can. "Won't be long now."

Kaela looks up at the Earther. "Hey, what ship did you and everyone else crew?"

Dr. Kaos works quickly and mostly quietly, though he is angrily muttering something in Chinese the whole time.  He ruthlessly cauterizes and plugs bleeders as he opens the gut shot wound further and within a few minutes Dr. Kaos has removed the bullet, with a surprisingly small amount of further blood loss to the patient.   Abang spends a bit more time and caution closing his abdomen up.

Dr. Kaos then simply announces, not loudly, but his voice carries across the remaining group, "He is stable, but I need someone who is blood type A or O or this man might not make it."


[Private to group Chinese: He seems to be both cursing the man his "stupidity for stepping in front of a bullet" and calling upon ancient Chinese gods to "bar him from heaven if he dares die on me", it also sounds like a few times he might have pleaded for the man's life, though his tone is always slightly angry and indignant.]

In reply to Kaeya (msg # 30):

"Thank you." He restarted his hand terminal, reestablished contact with the drone. Then linked the video feed from the drone's cameras.

Smiling at Kaeya (he knew she was probably referring to the Pur'N Kleen personnel he offered, "Van Nguyen, captain of Cargo hauler Svetlana Savitskaya. Good people, but not my actual crew.

"Doctor. My blood type is A."

He piloted the drone to go right and scout ahead of Yuri while they waited.

Kattalin Sets each hand terminal aside for its owner to retrieve when ready as she quickly works through them, when she is nearing the end just a few minutes later she looks around briefly to check on the status of the rest of their preparations before moving out again.

”Did you want my help trying to use your ship as a distraction to clear our path, or to see if we can keep it safe from whatever method the mercenaries are using to disable the others?”

In reply to Kattalin Zubiri (msg # 33):

This person seemed to be very technically competent and Van decided to trust her.

While Belter crews usually worked together extremely well, their strong independent streaks meant they still had difficulties trusting one another at first. This meant the innalowdas with more their more interdependent and cooperatively-based societies found it easy to divide and conquer them, playing Belter off Belter. Trusting an Innalowda was practically unheard of.

"Yes. Will share Svetlana's encryption keys now. When closer, can access all ship core command and control systems remotely. Mercenaries are shooting out drive cores with PDC fire. Even if engines are damaged and offline still could be functioning subsystems (waste management expulsion ports, maneuver thrusters, radar, communications lasers, etc.) useful for distraction purpose."

He halted the drone for a moment and passed over his hand terminal so Kattalin could copy his command encryption keys. This was literally like giving her the keys to the ship and every fibre of his Belter being rebelled against doing this, and the other Belters were probably surprised as well, but he controlled himself and betrayed no emotion. If there was ever a time Belter needed trust someone else, even (especially) an innalowda, this was it.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:57, Tue 22 Feb 2022.

"Been on the Salisbury, me," says Kala. "Ice hauler. Five runs. Third shift pilot and navigator. Just arrived on Eros yesterday. Some of these guys work for the same company as me, Pur N Kleen," she taps the logo on her jumpsuit. "But not on the same ship.

"The others," she nods at Zubiri, Loc, and Kaos, "I just met up with them when all this craziness started up this morning.

"How 'bout you? You and Granny living here on Eros?"

"Doc, either we're bringing this guy with us or we're leaving him. We're not going to be able to sit here and do any good."

Seeing no one else speak up Abang turns to Captain Nguyen, "Okay, your up then.  Can you pilot the remote with only one hand?  I'll need you to pump your fist after every heart beat.  Are you left or right handed?"  Dr Kaos wraps the used surgical tools in a sharps resitant contaminants bag, tucks them in an internal pouch and pulls a canvas stretcher out.  He unrolls it on the floor next the cart and then gestures for help in setting the wounded man on it.  After he's arranged, Abang pulls tubing and a pair of cuff-biomonitor from the duffel, closes and locks it with a thumb press, and gestures for Hope to get ready to help him carry the wounded man. "You take the front so I can monitor him."

But first Abang preps Captain Nguyen for the transfusion, "Just walk alongside, try not to jostle your arm too much," he expertly taps into the vein just above Van's elbow, and applies the cuff to the other wrist.  In a moment it displays his blood pressure and temperature, a light flashes in time with his heart beat, and his BPM estimate comes on.  "When this light flashes, gently pump your fist," he taps the hand on the arm that has been hooked up for transfusion, "don't swing your arm, try to keep your elbow straight and relaxed, and just pump your fist.  If your arm starts to hurt anywhere, or cramp, or you feel dizzy or nauseous immediately tell me."

Dr. Kaos opens the valve, lets Van's blood flow through to the stop at the other tap, he inserts into the wounded man's forearm, affixes it in place with a biocuff, and watches the biomonitor until it reads the wounded man's cardio metrics.  He then takes the duffel from Hope, moves to pick the man up from the back of the stretcher and nods to Hope to lift the front.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:25, Tue 22 Feb 2022.

"AB positive, me," replies Kala, checking her dog tags to confirm. She's not happy about bleeding for someone, but she'll do it she's a match. Better that Loc has both hands available.

In reply to Kala Sui (msg # 38):

"Is ok Kala. Will comply," he said as he rolled up his sleeve. He had donated blood before and was reasonably sure he could pilot the drone while this was happening.

"Ok everyone, once route recce is complete, will need to move fash."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:53, Tue 22 Feb 2022.

"Sorry miss, this guy is A negative, AB could kill him.  But if needs be, I can tap you later for plasma if he's still in risk once we're in a secure location.  As it is there is still a small risk this man or the Captain has had immune therapies that might make their hemo-antigens incompatible, but that's something to worry about later.  Kidney and liver failure he can survive hours with, heart failure and brain damage from hemorrhagic shock is not so easily repaired."

With little more than a quick glance and some obviously habit driven touch typing that works even on the unfamiliar hand terminal Kattalin is in to the ship's systems.  If anything the next part happens even faster as she flips through several status screens once each and seems to use them to get some kind of impression of what is going on, or at least what she has to work with.  Then she brings up the sensors interface on the hand terminal and begins a significantly longer process of adjusting things.  ”When we get close enough to communicate with the ship I should be able to monitor it on the move, but not while shooting, so lets get any of the gunplay out of the way before we need to.”
[Private to GM:
Kattalin Zubiri rolled 17 using 3d6+8 (3 stunt points) with the AGE System with rolls of {3}, 3, 3.  Electronic Warfare
Roll Effect: +2 difficulty to target the ship, set all weapons to fire at the first moving visible target in their firing arc.
3 Stunt points: System Damage (weapons) if applicable, otherwise Adrenaline Rush (+3 Fortune)]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:12, Sat 26 Feb 2022.

In reply to Dr. Abang Kaos (msg # 40):

At the mention of if his blood could compromise the patient, he shook his head. Once he gets his hand terminal back from Kattalin he resumed piloting the drone.

Alis returns from securing the grate and dusts her self off with a slight cough.

"Oh! Thank you." She says taking the hand terminal she'd handed over. "Sorry about the porn." She says looking at the hand terminal, swiping thru a few apps, then looks up at Kat. "It's not mine." She adds.

Shinsato had been watching Abang as he went to work on the man.  He went over to where he was and sat down on the floor beside him.  He then started rolling up one of his sleeves.  As he did so, he simply spoke the words: "I'm O negative, take what you need."

With the gut shot man stabilized (for now), and Van donating blood the group is ready to move out again. While Abang and Asha may both be willing to lift the man’s stretcher up a pair of men wearing Pur’n Kleen coveralls are more than willing to do the task themselves. One man explains to Abang that the doctor may need his hand free.

Kattalin tries to gain access to Van’s ship but with the networks down and who knows how many meters of rock between the group no connection can be made.

When the group eventually moves out, they get to a T intersection and are then led right. After traversing a few hundred meters the shaft ends in a dead end that is a ventilation grill.

The ventilation grill has already been removed, indicating someone has passed through here.  Beyond the grill opening is a shaft going upspin (i.e. down) towards the outside of Eros. This shaft has a ladder and is lit by the dim light bulbs used to illuminate the mechanical tunnels. The dim light bulbs do not provide enough illumination to determine just how far the shaft goes...

[Private to Shinsato Hirotsugu: Sato's mother is going to be able to climb down the shaft.]

[Private to Dr. Abang Kaos: Your patient is in no shape to climb down the ladder.]

Alis look down the shaft then back at Van. "Looks like a job for Tink." She murmurs to him, using her phone flashlight to take a preliminary look downwards.

She then looks at the man on the stretcher, then back at the shaft. "Yuri, would you be able to carry him down? On your back?" She asks the strongest looking person in the group. Her tone is more, 'would it even be possible' then 'please do it.' at this point.

Going down would be a lot easier then going up she figures but still.

At a glance Kattalin assesses the hole in the ground, and the man unable to walk let alone climb, then looks around the rest of the growing group.  ”If we are unable to find a long enough rope it will probably be a question of who has spent the most time in high gravity recently, in particular Earth natives who have only recently left home. In either case it is probably a good idea to send a scout if the drone can fly far enough.”

"Thanks XO, I'll see how the patient is after I've taken a pint from the Captain here.  If necessary, we'll tap you next."

Upon seeing the ladder down, "Anyone have duct tape?  We could fashion a harness, strap him to the big guy, Yuri was it?  It's not ideal, he needs bed rest and his wound might reopen, but that would still be preferable to waiting here for him to recover... which in this environment?  Could take days at the minimum."


OOC:  Does Yuri or Kala have their packs?  those could be fashioned into harness for the woudned guy.  Or what type of armor do the armored characters have?  If it has tactical webbing, that might be able to be "rigged/strapped/clipped" to another's tactical webbing (like backpack attachments) so Yuri could carry him down on his back?

In reply to Alis Syn (msg # 46):

Van chuckled. "Tink? Yes. I like name. Is good idea."

He sent the drone down the shaft.

Yuri looks down the shaft, watching the drone extend into its depths until it is no longer seen. "Yes, I can carry him, if we had some sort of harness."

OOC: Both Yuri and Kala are hauling large back packs that contain a heavy vac suit.

"Yuri, could we use your backpack as a overgrown baby-carrier, just need to cut leg holes, slip him into it, you carry him down and we drop the vac suit down to you after he's back on the stretcher?"

Hope is perfectly happy to let someone else carry the wounded man. She doesn't appear particularly strong even by Belter standards.

"Sure but dropping the vac suit down that shaft might break it."

"Maybe tie the arms of the suit around someone else as they go down?"

"That works, here." She says, offering to do the task.

Kattalin looks over at the people working on the space suit problem.  ”I can wear the suit down the ladder, it might even be a good idea to keep most of it on in case I need to go outside to get a signal to the ship quickly.”

Alis shrugged. "Whatever works." She said. "But might I recommend we get Tink moving and then the rest of us after her while we suss out the details?" She added as she handed the garment over.

In reply to Alis Syn (msg # 56):

The drone dropped into the shaft and "descended" down it, rotating so that the FLIR and LLTV cameras could get a look at what was down there.

Yuri, pulls the heavy vac suit out of it’s carrying bag and hands it to Alis. “Going to want this back.” The Earther holds up the bag for whomever is going to turn it into a carrier for the wounded man.

[Private to Alis Syn: Up to you if you hand the Heavy Vac suit over to Kattalin Zubiri]

[Private to Kattalin Zubiri: Putting this here in case you want to ‘decline’ wearing the Heavy Vac Suit as it imposes a -2 to Dex & Speed penalty. With Kattalin still banged up it will be a -3 to Dex & Speed for her.]

Kattalin gestures for Alis to hang on to at least much of the bulk of the suit while she gets in, there being no convenient rack to hold it up.  Her injuries are only somewhat detectable in what are clearly familiar movements making use of one kind of single piece garment or another but she doesn't rush the process none the less.  ”Wearing this will limit my mobility in gravity environments, but it should be a lot better than just my workout clothing if we encounter even a mildly hostile environment, at the very least the tool belt should be compatible with most sidearms.”

Alis looks her over, and clocks her wounds, and what she said.

"Nah, I got it then, we might need to beat feet in a hurry." She says with a radiant smile, tying the vac suit over her own back like a sweater, and to keep the legs from flopping about, ties them around her waist like...a sweater.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:43, Mon 07 Mar 2022.

Shinsato remained with Abang in case the man needed more blood for the procedure he was performing.

Hope continues along with the crowd, not having much to contribute at the moment but definitely wanting to get out of this place.

Dr. Kaos disconnects Captain Nguyen and the wounded man, swabs their needle holes with iodine, then bandages them quickly with gauze and self-sticking tape.  He holds the wounded man's arm to apply pressure and tells the Captain, "Apply pressure, wait two minutes before climbing down, you should be fine.  If you feel dizzy after the climb, let me know."

While doing this he's been watching the wounded man's vitals...

OOC:  Is he good for now, or do we need to tap someone else?

Those who peek at Van’s hand terminal can see that its takes a good five minutes for the drone to go down the ladder/shaft indicating that it is a few hundred meters.

The drone gets to the bottom of the shaft where there is an open vent grill that leads to a large server room. It appears this server room is near the outside of Eros, as computer servers, and the various wiring all appear to be designed to withstand the vacuum of space.

One of the Pur’n Kleen employees takes the vac suit bag (it’s basically a large duffle bag) from Yuri and cut one end open, and makes a pair of leg holes near the bottom on either side of the zipper.

Dr. Kaos, looks over the wounded man who seems stable for now. The man is still unconscious and will need to be ‘loaded’ into the makeshift carrier.

[Private to Dr. Abang Kaos: I think he's good for now. Will probably need to be checked over after the climb down.]

Abang helps load him into the altered duffel, then opens his emt bag and pulls out a short roll of EVA tape, meant for emergency "slap patch" repairs of EVA suits.  He uses it up reinforcing the bag and taping the man into it so he's secure.

"All right Yuri, let's get you loaded up, I'll come down after you and recheck him at the bottom."

Alis will go down the ladder after the drone has certified the area clear taking one of the other Pur-N-Cleen crew with her so they can help Yuri and his cargo when they hit the bottom, as well as have some guns up down there if needs be.

Clearly not surprised by the animosity from Earthers Kattalin still fails to suppress her cringe at the obvious mistreatment of important, if not particularly delicate, survival equipment.

Shaking her head to clear the image she turns her attention back to the screen of her hand terminal to examine the data the drone has sent them, looking for anything that might be helpful but letting the drone's owner keep control of it.

Thise watching the 'drone' feed see two men step in front of it. One man is of African descent, with unnatural looking golden eyes. The second man is of Hindu/Hispanic descent.

The African motions for the drone to follow him, leading out of the server room and across a hallway into a security station. The man then points to a video screen which and then flips through three different camera views of what is at the docks.







The African man then points to the armed individuals and makes a cutting motion across his throat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:28, Sun 13 Mar 2022.

In reply to Darkside Trooper (msg # 68):

The drone bobbed up and down in an approximation of a nod. Then Van set it to hover.

In reply to Dr. Abang Kaos (msg # 63):

Van flexed and rubbed his arm. It felt fine. He was running on adrenaline like everyone else, so he doubted he would notice some minor discomfort.

"Thanks, Doctor. I will let you know if I feel uncomfortable."

He set his hand terminal to display the drone feed to anyone watching. "The shaft is clear. It leads to a server room, then a docking bay control room. Two men are waiting for us there. They seem friendly. There are CCTV monitors showing a heavy frigate with some battle damage and a smaller corvette gunship. No markings visible on either. There are four sentries on the docking bay main level. We saw six earlier so two more may be around. The two men waiting for us indicate they intend to take out the sentries. This sounds like an excellent plan. I shall go meet them now with Alis."

Whatever his physical state he needed to go now. He made sure the SMG was slung on his back and began climbing down the ladder.

"Alis, when we get to the control room please let me go first." At this point they couldn't be choosy about their allies, and he decided to take a chance and trust the strangers. They seemed to be of a like mind and they did not have time for distrust.

Alis nods at Van. "Ok."

Kattalin looks up from watching all the same feeds and doesn't seem to have a different plan in mind, when it comes her time to follow down the ladder with a gun she does offer some addition to those following later.  ”We can work together, or get eaten by whatever the zombies are, or die somewhere in between.” Then she drops quickly down the ladder, retaining her hold on it but taking advantage of the light gravity.

Van followed Alis down the shaft.

Kala managed to keep her panic under control as they started down the shaft again.

"The smaller ship looks undamaged," she notes. "That should be our first choice."

If we get any choice at all, she adds silently in her own mind.

As Alis, Van, Kattalin and Kala head down the ladder shaft they quickly realize it’s going to be a long climb down and flange down the shaft, even in 0.3 G will be fatal.

OOC: those that went down the shaft will have access to another thread.

OOC:  Just waiting on Yuri to go down the ladder so we can follow him.

Yuri waited a bit before going down himself. Beginning his climb he looks at the others, not really sure who to address directly and makes an announcement. “I’ll come back for the old woman”
This message was last updated by the player at 06:10, Fri 18 Mar 2022.

"I will come down shortly after you, to tend to him while you assist Mrs. Shinsato."

Abang waits to give him about five meters of clearance before he carefully begins down.

Nguyen makes a group call.

"All clear down here. They are friendly. Please come as soon as you are able."

Shinsato will assist in getting his mother and her care provider safely down the shaft.

It takes a while, but Yuri returns with an empty backpack carrier. Ms. Hirotsugu, who is clearly unable to climb down herself due to her age is loaded up into the backpack and Yuri begins to transport her down the ladder/shaft.

Everyone else makes the long climb down without any problems.

OOC: I will add everyone here to another post shortly.