The passengers who are rousing begin trying to get their friends and family awake enough to get to the escape pods. Some few begin making their way alone. You all just hope there are enough pods for you by the time you all get there.

Anora is confused and scared. The general thinking about getting boarded by pirates is that you are now dead. The faint hope of the escape pods is clouded by the fear that there is nowhere to escape to. But she supposes a small chance is better than no chance.

Checking her weapon and looking at the other dead or disabled pirates to see if they have anything useful for a sudden evacuation of the ship, she nods at Freya.

"OK. Lifeboats it is. Do we need vacuum suits? Will they be down in the escape pod?"

It seems there was a lifeboat drill when they first set out, but she had a cracking hangover . . .

Looking back at Zard he simply shrugs. "Who knows, one can hope. But I ain't leaving without my rifle." He then addresses the young man. "Tyrell, lad, get into one of them lifeboats and make sure nobody launches it before we get there will ya?"

While the vrusk and Tristan are talking, the unknown woman moves among the bodies recovering weapons and ammunition. She collects up a pair of gyrojet pistols, a needler and auto pistol. a stun baton as well as ammunition, a powerbelt pack, gas mask and a pair of shock gloves.

As the passengers than can and the small group of liberators move below to the cargo and escape pods deck they come to a compartment where clearly a pitched battle had taken place between the bulk of the pirates and the government officials. The bodies of several security guards, Truane government types and a few pirates lay about. The government officials are not present. On the deck lay a couple of laser pistols  clearly their powercells pulled and other weapons: a knife and a vibroblade . The government security guards wear civilian skein suits as do the pirates, although the pirate regalia are emblazoned with the devil face and circle of stars . All the government and security folks wear chronocoms.

There is a locked portal to the cargo and passenger baggage area which is clearly marked: CARGO/BAGGAGE - RESTRICTED ACCESS. The red light above the portal indicates the portal is locked. The other side of the chamber is a portal marked LIFEBOATS. The door status indicator light is green.

With a parting smirk at the Doctor, Tristan makes his way down the stairwell, humming a vibrant naval tune.  He takes the steps several at a time, eager to make his way to the cargo bay.  The young man stops cold when he sees the bodies of the government officials, the impromptu ditty dying off into a low growl.

The Gunfighter picks up the vibroblade, as he walks haltingly to the corpses of the administrators  He kneels down amidst them, taking a long look at the faces of the fallen representatives...genuine anger clearly etched on his face.

"What...what have they done...these filthy frackin curs...."

He closes the eyes of an official, his hand resting almost gently on the woman's cheek.  He shakes his head slowly, seeming to deny the deaths.  Yet, with a slight sigh, he licks his upper lip, outrage slipping to pragmatism, and searches the body for identification, while also slipping the spokeswoman's chronocom from the ground into one of his pockets.

Collecting any identification from the official's bodies, Tristan speaks distractedly, "Someone needs to be lookin to that Cargo hatch.  Wilhelm's not the only one staying til' he's collected his belongin's..."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:25, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

Anora feels almost numb at the sight of the carnage below. She approves of the respect the tall young man shows to the dead security guards, but when he expresses a willingness to stay and die rather than lose some object that he owns, she quirks her eyebrows at him.

"The dead own nothing," she says as she loots the bodies down here as well, passing out spare weapons to the passengers who look most likely to be able to fight back if the are ambushed. She takes one of the chronocoms for herself and offers the other to the smaller framed woman with short black hair (Freya), along with one of the gyrojet pistols of she doesn't have one.

"It's not a boy girl thing," she says grimly. "You're the only one who hasn't threatened to run off and find their toys while the rest of us are left waiting around for them to come back."

Moving on to the hatchway access to the lifeboats, she tries to open the door.

Fingers turning white as he grips the two Blasters in his hands, Tristan glares at Zard murderously.  He mutters under his breath while watching to see if any of the individuals in the Bay are able to open the Cargo hatch.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:32, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

Freya moved downstairs picking up any lethal weaponry she could find along the way. Pausing at the bottom of the stairs she spoke to those wishing to get into the cargo hold.

"Nothing in there is worth your lives. I am going to hold a boat." She looked to see if that was what Tyrell was doing as well and will join him if he does.

"Take this. We don't have time to code break. You have about A minute."

She handed him the sonic scalpel in her pocket. "This can cut some metal. If that does not work, forget the stuff. The dead can't enjoy cookies. One minute!"

She emphasized the time and moved toward the life boats.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:02, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

Tristan shakes his head slowly.  "What's left of my family is on the other side of that door.  Fraid we'll have to disagree...  Tis' worth my life and more."

This message was last edited by the player at 21:28, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

"Family?" Anora cocks her head to one side in puzzlement. "In the baggage compartment? Are they stowaways?"

Not that she had anything against the idea. She just wanted to understand what was going on and why this seemingly sane man thought his famiiy was in with the luggage.

The Gunfighter looks up at the ceiling for a long moment...and slowly lowers his eyes to look at Zard.  His smile is anything but kind, as he replies, "you know what...you've cast yer judgmental attitude my direction, once already...don't think I'm gonna give ya another chance.  Run yer mouth mouth reckless again, I'm gonna put a hole in ya.  I'll make sure it's somewhere's that won't kill ya, but I will put it some place very painful.  We'll call it...mmmm....a reminder on how to treat strangers decent.  Just so ya never forget"

Tristan spins the Blaster in his left hand effortlessly, never taking his narrowed eyes from the woman's.  "Go ahead...ask another presumsuous' question...say somethin' stupid...please."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:05, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

The lifeboat bay is empty except for seven tiny lifeboats which each seats about six or eight. The passengers rush forward filling them immediately and begin launching without waiting. There are clearly not enough for all of the passengers of the ship. Clearly they are launching before some of them even have the maximum passengers on them.

The door to the cargo compartment is a hardened door compared to most of the other doors in the ship. There is a card reader pad with a number pad to enter the necessary code.


OOC - Another full minute has passed. Tick-tock. Tick-toc. The door has about 150 structural points. A clip or two of gyrojet slugs should open it. I know that I have told several character in-game that they know about how long you guys have before the pirates arrive.

"Fight after we are done not dying please! I need my rifle!" He approaches the door, uses the card he has taken from the dead guard and quickly scans his chronocom for what could be the password. They were so lousy he was sure he probably had a mail to himself with all the passwords.

No password or pin in the chrono. The door doesn’t open.

Tyrell pulls up his IAC and takes a look at the door.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:32, Sat 06 Aug 2022.

Tyrell connects his IAC and has the door open in just a few clicks.

Tyrell doesn't hesitate and heads into the cargo towards the lockers.

Spinning the Blaster a final time, Tristan slips it into his BDU waistband.  The ice in his gaze evaporates with disarming speed, and he waggles his eyebrows at Zard.  The Gunfighter pantomimes shooting her with his forefinger.  "Be watchin ya," he purrs, chuckling to himself as he rapidly follows Tyrell into the hold, seeking his storage lockers.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Sat 06 Aug 2022.

The doctor was just reaching into his breast pocket, but stopped when Tyrell stepped to the panel to work his magic on the door. As the door opened and human stepped in, the doctor quickly followed suit, and went to locate his luggage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:06, Sat 06 Aug 2022.

Tristan, Wilhelm, Tyrell and the vrusk immediately enter the cargo bay and begin looking for their luggage. Dozens of storage containers line the walls and fill several aisles across the floor of the bay.

Clearly it will take some time to find what they are looking for. They each move to their storage compartment and secure their bags.

OOC - I am assuming that Freya and Zard did not go into the cargo bay but you are standing there when the door opens and the others go in. So you still have that option.

The Doctor cocked his head as something caught his attention. He disappears around a corner.

Tyrell waves to get the others attention and points deeper in the cargo hold.  With exaggerated movement he mouths two words .

With the vrusk moving he draws his pistol and follows at a crouch.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:39, Sat 06 Aug 2022.

Freya gave a surprised expression when Tyrell deftly opened the door to the cargo bay. "Well done. Hurry." While she could have entered for her things, instead she turned away and went to the escape vehicle docking bay. Once there she took the control of a vehicle, flashing the stun gun should anyone dare to argue.

"This ride is having a .....momentary delay."

By the time Freya and Zard arrive there are only two lifeboats remaining with room in them. Freya pushes her way through the group of passengers and she goes to the one that was not been opened yet and keys the door. The Captain of the Serena Dawn had clearly activated authorizations already and her passenger pass card opens the boat  without any delay.


OOC - Tick-tock. Tick tock. We are in combat rounds. There are 20 CR in 1 minute. Each round spent searching the cargo takes 1 Narrative round or three CR. But three or four people searching means you will each be finding things each narrative round.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:38, Sat 06 Aug 2022.

A young man, the pirate who had fled emerges from around the corner with a gyrojet pistol. He doesnt fire. His pistol is leveled on the vrusk. Clearly the pirate is as terrified as the vrush is. "Dont shoot. Please. Dont shoot."

OOC - He has a delay.