"God dammit" Dimitri thinks to himself. "I knew these cold berths were a bad idea." He flips his legs over the side of the bench as vision slowly returns to him.

Assessing the situation Dimitri looks around the room searching for his clothes so he can get out of these unflattering green coveralls and tries to see what's causing all these damn alarms.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:26, Wed 17 Nov 2021.

There's a grey haze in front of your eyes, lighter in the upper parts. You suddenly realise how intensely cold you are.

"Emergency. Emergency. Hull failure in drive room. Hull failure in starboard life-pod bay. All passengers and crew are directed to port life-pod bay. Abandon Ship."

That woman's voice is getting on your nerves. You note she never has anything positive to say.

You step off the surface, you assume it's a bench or something, and for a sickening moment you realise you didn't know how far up you were. The floor a brief moment later breaks your fall and you think it also broke your left little finger. Pain shoots up into your armpit from the damaged digit.

Groping about you come up against something soft and wet. Instantly you realise it's a corpse, wearing the same coveralls you are. That amount of blood intimates that something came here and let it the blood out of the unfortunate individual owing to the fact there's still pressure in the compartment and anything coming through the hull would have left you in vacuum.

Your vision starts to clear, right on schedule. You can only see vague shapes as you crouch there, myopically blinking and holding your left hand under your right armpit with your teeth chattering. You seem to be in a long, narrow compartment with random lighting overhead and along the floor as if some of the lighting panels are damaged. The smell of smoke is strong and tastes of chemicals. The floor is a grate and not a solid panel. Your shipboard knowledge lets you know this means you're not in a passenger area. Normally cold berth passengers never even see the areas they travel in, they get chilled down before entering the ship and come on board essentially as cargo. That doesn't help you any at the moment.

(Make a Recon roll. You still have poor vision which is going to make the next bit 'interesting')

Rubbing his eyes hoping to speed up the vision restoration process, Dimitri tries to take stock of the situation he's in. Feeling his way along the bench to what he hopes is an exit, his finger throbbing and still no sign of the clothes he came in with, he remains alert as his senses slowly get back to normal.

Dimitry Spitnatz rolled 6 using 2d6+1+2.  Recon Check

Your vision has cleared to the point where you can make out objects fairly well but not fine details like text on a sign or similar. Suddenly you hear a door cycling very close to you. Looking around you see the light go green beside the pressure almost next to you signalling that it is opening. The hallway is not as long as you thought, the other end of the room is quite nearby and appears to have some sort of hatch in it . . .

Not knowing the nature of the current emergency, only that there is one Dimitri falls back on his lifelong instincts in these kind of situations. The kind of instincts that enabled him to run his own ship in the conglomerate. Don't give your position away, observe, and strategise. Noticing the hatch at the end of the hallway, he starts making his way towards it at the best pace he can while still struggling to fully see.

"Wont do yourself any favours getting knocked out on a beam you don't see." he thinks to himself.

Feeling the cold deck under him, the grates digging into his bare feet, Dimitri hopes that he finds some clothing a bit more suited to skulking around a beat up ship. "Not going to be any good in a fight if I cant even stand properly." he thinks, but the first order of business is to find somewhere safe, somewhere he can take stock of the situation, preferably with a terminal. He looks up again focusing on the hatch he's making his way towards.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Thu 18 Nov 2021.

The hatch is robust and massive, even more so than the usual pressure door. Swinging it open you hope it hasn't alerted anyone on the bridge. beyond is a cramped area; an odd dual barbette containing what looks like dual sandcasters covering a wide gunnery arc. Each gun is to the side of you separated by its own heavy hatch.

In front of you is a ladder heading up to a heavy hatch in the ceiling. The whole place is industrial grey metal and plastic, massive bulkheads and embedded control panels and ducting and piping. Each sandcaster has a magazine shaft heading off into the dark recesses of the ship that it might be possible to squirm down.
You don't remember ever seeing this setup on any ship you've been on, if this even is a ship. It might be some type of base.

Dimitri stands taking stock of his options, into a dark cramped space which might not even lead anywhere or through the hatch with god knows what behind it or monitoring. The idea of spending his last days stuck in a small cramped space appeals a lot less than being able to fight his way out of whatever he comes across. With the decision made he strides over to the ladder and starts climbing, reaching the hatch his fingers find the release for the lock and gives it a pull.

Carefully opening the hatch, you lift it up and look past the coming. The coming, a heavy lip around most of the hatch to stop people tripping over it, is taller than the actual hatch and has lights embedded inside it that flood the area you are in with a harsh glare,.

The first thing you see are bodies, lots of bodies.

They don't appear to be armed, in fact quite a few had their hands bound. Sickeningly, it's not just adult males out there. While taking that in you realise you can also see four sets of boots from under the rim of the hatch.

"I, I'm not too sure about this . . " says the first voice.
"About what?" Says another.
"What do you fucking think! They shot, they shot kids . . "
"Not 'kids', they were fucking 'witnesses' you pussy. Are you going soft on us?" Says another.
"No, uh, no. It's just, I've never . . . I don't know." Says the first. He sounds young.
"Absolutely right you fucker, you don't know. Now get back to your post or the boss will hear about your sudden attack of a conscience."
"Yes, yes, I didn't mean . . . never mind, I'll get back to it." Says the first one again.

One set of boots walks way, giving the horrific pile of corpses a wide berth.

The second voice says "that guy's going to be trouble, I can bet he'll blurt all this out at Tortuga Outpost and we'll be in the shit."
"Don't worry about him and those other jerks" says the third voice. "There's too many shares as it is, we'll be sorting that out on the trip home, then it's off to Torquemada Station and we'll spit the loot."
They laugh and the last says "right, do another sweep. Shoot anything that moves, the ones we want to keep have already been sorted. Keep a look out for anyone wanting to play hero."

They turn on tactical lights on their weapons and start to sweep the area.

You know of Torquemada Station, it's aptly named. It's the main base of the Black Flag pirates, freebooters who know no moral limits or restraint. They came off worst in The Second Pirate War and no one you know has ever been to their base.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:24, Fri 19 Nov 2021.

"Shit" Dimi mutters to himself "Fucking pirates."

he heard mention of Torquemada Station, that surely meant the Black Flags. Even pirates thought of these guys as scum. no code amongst them, no respect, just brutality and mayhem wherever they go. It certainly made his job simpler, no tears will be shed if any of these "Mudaks" didn't return. And hurting kids, there's things you didn't do. Threatened them yeah, tell their parents what you would do to them if they don't give up their possessions, but you never touch them. Not on his ship anyway.

To many of them to take on his own at the moment, stuck in these shitty coveralls. Need a place to plan and get a lie of the land. A security office would be ideal, get a deck plan of the ship and access to cameras and whatever other systems haven't been shut down. possibly the captains room, there's always equipment in there to monitor the ship. Unfortunately the captains room is normally near the bridge, probably swarming with pirates.

What I need is a distraction something to draw them away. Dimi slips out of the hatchway and into the shadows while the area is clear and sees about finding something to cause a distraction.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:22, Fri 19 Nov 2021.

Back down in the dim accessway you see your options here are limited. off to each side are the sandcasters, big rail-guns that shoot canisters of finely tuned reflective 'sand', actually 50mm gravel, to absorb laser energy. Of course, these things are dangerous weapons as you know all too well.
Often carried by commercial ships as 'non-weapons' a boarding crew on the hull being hit by a sandcaster load are in effect being hammered by a 460mm shotgun blast and would be torn to bits, you've seen it with your own eyes. As such these things are usually sited where they just happen to cover external hatches boarding parties might like to use.

They are fed by a magazine conveyor that grasps the end of each huge cartridge and feeds them through a chute from a magazine somewhere.

There's the door back to cold berths, that door was opening but you have no idea if anyone's still in there.

It should be possible to get outside onto the pressure hull through the turret bays. This is not only risky in that you don't have a pressure suit but also in that the seals aren't designed for this. It will irrevocably depressurise this area until repairs are made.

Glancing about you see that by the green lights on the control panels all the hatches are unlocked. Odd. This isn't the usual practice on a ship, you don't want someone coming down and fooling around with systems they shouldn't have access to.

(refer to the map for more detail)

Looking at his options it seems the only way is back through the cold berth bay. Dimi could go through the magazine racks but it will be a cold day in hell before he will consider crawling through that small space, flashes of being trapped unable to move flow through his head even just looking at the small entry way.

Working his way around the small hatch area he currently stands Dimi tries to extinguishes as many lights as he can in the area. Making this room darker than the cold berth room should help if anyone is still standing in the other room. Crouching low next to the door he hits the switch opening up back to the cold berth room, watching in a combat stance his body set low for any movement, arms forward in a neutral position defending his center line as the door slides open with a hiss.

A shudder runs through the floor grates and the pipes groan and grind.

Emergency. Depressurisation in Section C7. Damage control teams to C7. Abandon ship. Emergency.

There she was, at it again. Fat chance any damage control teams were going to turn up you think. It makes you wonder why there's ongoing depressurisation though, it sounded like the fighting was over. Is the ship, station or whatever breaking up?

You crack the panel on its tracks and slide it up, looking back into the cold berth area. Damn, people there.

Two guys in combat armour holding assault rifles are talking to another guy. This individual isn't wearing any armour and seems unarmed, instead he has standard shipboard coveralls, ankle boots and work gloves. He has a light safety helmet with a visor.

"What the fuck was that?!" Say one of the armoured guys.
The guy with the overalls steadies himself against a berth and says "looks like the hull went out in C7".
"No shit Sherlock" says the other, "but fucking why?"
One of the armoured guys goes to the door and looks out but he blocks your view of what's beyond.
"Why are we even down here?" Says the remaining guard.
"Simple," replies mister coveralls wearily. "I'm gonna hard-chill these fuckers in the berths. Then when we get into space the med-techs will break them down into body parts so we can sell them".
"Shit" says the guard who hasn't spoken yet. "We shouldn't have shot those arseholes in the cargo bay, I didn't know there was money in them."
"Nah, they put up too much of a fuss going into the berths. We'll just make do with these. I'll just download the manifest on the berths to see who they are in case there's any medical problems. Those ones go straight into the trash."

Another shudder runs through the ship.

The guy in the coveralls makes a decision. "You two guys see what the fuck is going on and come back, I'll get this done. I don't like this."

The two armoured troops leave and shut the door behind them while the tech turns his attention to the cold berth console.

Dimitri seeing his opening cracks the door as silently as he can. Sticking to the techs blindspots he moves across the room towards the back of raising arms to apply a chokehold to knock him out.

Dimitry Spitnatz rolled 7 using 2d6+1+2.  Stealth
Dimitry Spitnatz rolled 7 using 2d6+1+2.  Melee

You slide through the hatch and rest your knee on the coping as he turns to the console, his face illuminated by the screen. One soft step brings you up behind him and your wiry firearm goes around his throat.

He stiffens and tries vainly to cry out, his arms scrabble at your forearm but you simply kick his right leg out from under him and his full weight goes onto your arm. Suddenly he starts thrashing and soon after he goes limp. From experience you know it'd be almost impossible to fake that.

Lowering him to the deck you look about but no one has noticed, not surprising considering the heavy doors down here.

"No one heard, great" Dimitri thinks to himself as a lift and twist of the neck makes sure he's not waking up again. "Better than he deserved.".

Dimi pats him down quickly and starts stripping him. "Finally some proper clothes" as he slips on the boots to complete the outfit. Slapping his transit coveralls on him, Dimitri slips him into the pod he vacated and slaps it closed.

With no immediate threat he picks up the datapad the tech was using and checks out the other pods and surrounding area in the room. What other fools almost got sold as parts?

ACTIONS
Change clothes
Put body in empty pod
Check room
Check pods

Checking the console you see that the other 'green light pods', three of them, have two males and a female in them. They vary in ages; Jean-Claude Harris is 15, Carter Al-Barlan is 35 and Susan Hollstetter is 85. You guess Susan would have been killed outright.

Putting on the guy's clothes you wish he'd washed a bit more frequently but the clothes fit you better than they fitted him. The lightweight helmet will really only stop a billy club but it has a helmet-light on one side, integral headset and a flip-down clear visor. You suspect it would darken for welding. He has a a PDA/phone¹ and nearby there's what seems to be a mechanic's toolkit and a hefty crowbar. The coveralls seem a bit stiff, they seem to have light armouring, probably for work in hazardous environments².

You finish this up and switch your attention to the door. Those two arseholes said they were coming back after they'd checked the problem. The problem with this door is it's a proper pressure door and not a hatch, if you open it then it will open all the way. Anyway, it can't be helped. You open the door and step to one side and then take a peek around. Just a hallway . . .

¹ TL10 comm (50km) it links to the helmet headset.
² Armour Value 3
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:14, Mon 22 Nov 2021.

Dimitri leans forward looking each way in the hallway, two doors, no idea what's behind them. Only option is to just go for it. Calming himself he turns to door immediately to his left and opens it, stepping in quickly hoping to catch anyone in there by surprise.

You walk out into a large circulation space, the smell of smoke is strong here. It's both the heavy burnt chemical smell from before and the firecracker stench of weapon propellant.

It appears there was fighting here, bullet marks and laser blasts pock the bulkheads, plastic cartridge cases are scattered about and there's heavy blood trails where it looks like bodies were dragged away through the heavy pressure door just to the north of the one you came through.

This place has the heavy utilitarians of the other crew access areas you have been through. From the low overhead ceiling signs point to various stations; sickbay and medic to your left and launch crew and galley to your right. One the massive double doors you can see "Engineering" stencilled.

A guy is sitting in the crew rest area and is sponging blood of his coveralls, he's dressed much like you. He looks up and smiles as you walk in and then a quizzical look appears on his face.

Seeing the man lookup at him, Dimitri uses the momentum he gained bursting through the door to advance quickly on the man. Vaulting the couch he sends the crowbar sharply out aiming for his throat, trying to prevent him getting of an alert.

Tactics - 12
Details:[2d6+1+2 # (4 5)]

Melee Attack - 9
Details:[2d6+1+2 #  (4 2)]

Damage - 12
Details:[2d6+1 #  (5 6)]
This message was last edited by the player at 10:26, Mon 22 Nov 2021.

The man flinches and the crowbar smacks him right on the ear almost knocking him right off the couch. However though blood is pouring out of a jagged gash on the side of his head he looks like he's groggily trying to retain his feet. He claps his hand to his smashed skull and moans.

With a growl Dimitri slashes down with the crowbar again at the bleeding head trying to finish him off.

Tactics - 11
Details:[2d6+1+2 #  (3 5)]

Attack - 11
Details:[2d6+1+2 #  (3 5)]

Damage - 10
Details:[2d6+1 #  (4 5)]

The man is only just off the deck as the crowbar catches him under the jaw in a savage undercut. His face caves in and his head twists around at an unnatural angle. The force of the blow bodily picks him up and sprawls his lifeless body across the table, scattering a plastic drink. The corpse convulsively twitches a few times and then lies still.

You stand there, scanning the area. There's no sign of anyone noticing the assault.

You realise you were lucky, this guy has an autopistol in a shoulder holster, he could have stood off and pumped you full of rounds as you tried to get to him. You pull it out and check the clip, it's fully loaded and there's another magazine in the matching pouch on the shoulder rig. Looking it over you see it's a Tak-Edge G71 10mm, a good pistol. Otherwise he's equipped pretty much like your last victim except he has a wickedly-long boot-knife strapped to his calf and has no tool kit or crowbar.

Stripping down the body, Dimitri takes the shoulder holster with gun and and slips it on himself. Giving it a couple of test draws he makes sure it slides in and out smoothly. The clip slips easily into his pocket and the knife attaches firmly to his calf. This definitely feels a lot better now.

Looking back down the hallway he sees the area marked "Sickbay and Medic" next to the door he came in through and starts dragging the body down towards it, doing his best to leave no trail.

When he gets to the door he lays the body down and cracks the door slightly to get a look in.

The caved-in skull of the corpse does leak some, but due to the gore splattered all over the ship you think it's highly unlikely anyone would pick what you've done.

Inside the med-bay is the white interior your expect. There's blood here and there and a lot of medical wrappers and discarded trauma tools on the deck and surfaces littering the place, it looks like an abandoned first aid station in a war zone. One of the lights flickers, creating a strange tension. You drag the body in and sash it out of the way.