U.P.M.C. Ferrum [Inactive]

"Yeah we'll see if we can arrange something." He still felt guilty and helpless. Basically humiliated as a captain. There was so little he could do to feel better.
 
Greg looked at the two, the conversation was getting sad, though after a few beeps from the comm unit the man's face showed visible disgust... "No no no no no! Of all the Damn things that could happen to the reactor it had to be that! IT HAD TO BE THAT... Son of a-" He flipped his comm of for a second, but if you could see his face the stream of expletives was intense, the bad situation had gotten worse. He flipped his comm switch back on and staring at the hull.
 
Grigory and his motley crew of helpers had gathered all of the supplies they could find. Resting now, his mind began to wander, back to the dark places, full of death and fire.


There was a lot of death on the ship. It shouldn't stay that way for long. Bodies meant rot, rot meant infection, and infection could wipe out the skeleton crew that remained.


"Listen up, everyone," he called to all who could hear. "We have a job to do. It is not pretty but it must be done. Everyone who has the stomach, start collecting bodies from this deck and line them in a side hall. Everyone who doesn't, gather sheets to cover them. We can't let all these corpses sit around too long. If we do, we'll all get sick and die. Assuming the scanner-slash-nuclear bomb doesn't kill us first." That drew a few strained chuckles from the small crowd. Then, they set to their grisly task.
 
Greg looked off into space "Alright...there are three parts to the reactor...the main reactor and the Two sub reactors that aid in production of energy, That impact that hit us was so great...it knocked the main reactor out of alignment.... I can't fix that. You need an industrial crew, 4 weeks, and heavy machinery to get that sort of crap fixed. So first off... We cannot restore main power at all. or at least to full levels... it would overload the main... best case scenario, we run it on low... We barely squeeze out 15% of the damn thing and that is pushing the safety limits I would recommend. I'd say 7-10% at the best."


He planted his hands on his face plate like he was cradling his head in his hands, like a man who had a tremendous weight heaped on, Sub reactor 2 can be turned on... but sub reactor 1 is worse off... the thing is totaled, the thing took the brunt of the resulting overload...it's gonna have to be ripped out and replaced...again I can't fix that..."


He turned shaking his head at the captain. "I can give you at most 25 to 30% of our usual amount of power at best... 35% if your feeling adventurous, finally...here's the kicker...the main reactor? yeah it's coolant is shot...not totally shot...but still it's bad. I can promise you after some tinkering it will run, but at some-points it will shut of randomly JUST to keep itself from melting...because that is the only safeguard left we have." He snapped to attention with an exasperated look on his face. All the work he had been putting in seemed to disappear, the light of hope was now broken down to a cinder. "Sir, we are up a creek of [censord] without a paddle... and the front half of the canoe is filled with water..."
 
Felix nodded solemnly."Alright for now this news doesn't leave the engineering crew. There's enough pandaemonium with this entire nuke debacle. The more power we can get the better but keep it in a safe range. The last thing we need is something melting down."
 
"Agreed," Alaric nodded, approaching the hanger bay. "Once we stop the imminent danger, we can begin repairs to the rest of the ship to restore some semblance of functionality. Like the Captain says, keep it quiet and don't scare the rest of the rabbits on the crew."


Alaric sighed, reaching the twisted maw of the hanger bay, before hauling himself inside, his body instantly becoming affected by the ships fluctuating gravity generator, feeling incredibly heavy, before threatening to float off inside the ship.


"You know, just once today I'd like to find some part of the ship that works. Keep your mag-boots active guys, and just hope that the gravity doesn't get strong enough to crush us."
 
Dusk woke to a flashing computer screen, stating "Task Complete"


"I must have drifted off after my call to Sydney. Now, lets see how this scan did."


He walked over to the flashing computer screen and began to analyze the image.


"If this thing is what I think it is, then it should be located here." Dusk pointed to a large red zone on the map.


"Although, in a area with a system jammer, i wouldn't expect heat moving like this, unless there was a person there."


He reached down to his hand and pulled up his communication program.


"To all personnel aboard this ship, this is Dusk, reporting success on finding the location of the system jammer. Meet me in the corridors near the bridge of the ship." He sighed, thinking if he had left anything out, "Ohh, and one more thing. People with weapons, be sure to bring them. WE have guests."


He dropped his hand by his side and went over to the security locker on the wall. Opening it up, Dusk pulled out a security suit and a pistol. The suit appeared to be brand new, and wast straight black, and even had the hood to cover his face.


"Time to test this new gear out." Dusk whispered, getting into the suit, and running down the hall towards the stairwell.
 
The gravity flux was extremely nauseating to Felix. "God if there's anything in here let's find it fast. This...sucks..." He felt too embarrassed to but contemplated getting on all fours to make maneuvering the ridiculous gravity easier. " Then again I also hope there's nothing to find..."
 
Even Greg was getting hit by the gravity flux, gritting his teeth as he trudged forward as if walking through a running stream, "I'm messing with the generator...AS SOON...AS I CAN." He gripped the side of the wall to steady himself. The gravitational waves were like getting hit, with a wave upon wave, upon wave. He took out his Geiger counter looking at it he looked around, "I'm picking up nothing! think it's in deeper?!"
 
Felix's voice was straining through the extreme amount of work it was taking to move. " Well there's multiple docks but three and four are like off the grid entirely, nothing but astroid and tangled metal. So if it's not in two the fucking things not on the ship. Which means we're a lot worse off than we thought." He trudged on like he was waste deep in mud and had one two many drinks
 
(Note to everyone. Read OOC posts if you have not yet.)


Robert ran down stair after stair, face glistening with hope and sweat. He tapped his communicator. "Captain," he said, out of breath. "As soon as you can, I you need on deck five." He puts his hands on his knees, still panting like a dog. "I know how to get us out of this mess."
 
Felix tapped on his comm."Yeah, I'll be right there. And be sure not to go into any redzones unless you're wearing a suit...other than the one you always do..." He turned it off. "Alright gents, as this is looking bleaker and bleaker and Mr. politics needs me I think I can leave you to search the last hangar. Good luck and I'll see you soon." He attempted to show some confidence in the last part of that sentence, no matter how fake. He did care about the two men, They'd been on the ship and worked hard enough for him to get to know and hell even admire a bit. He also wanted them to actually be safe, the last thing he needed was more deaths on his hands. He then made his way to the nearest intact stairwell to go to deck 5
 
Robert grabbed a suit from a storage locker. He entered deck five, devoid of gravity and oxygen. He floated past rows of escape pods. All of them lay dormant and lifeless, though. Robert sighed. "Well, it was worth a try," he whispered to himself. Suddenly, he saw a light in the distance. The electric glow of the escape pod was a beacon of hope in the otherwise pitch-black landscape. He floated towards it as fast as he could. "Captain," he spoke into his communicator. "We have one operational life boat. Just enough to get to the nearest UPA checkpoint and get help for the others."
 
Felix ignored the message deciding seeing would be believing in this situation. As he deactivated his magboots and navigated the zero-g through deck 5 he noticed Robert in the light of a still working escape pod and approached him slowly
 
Alaric slowly scanned the hanger, sweeping his rifle from side to side as he took in everything there was. According to Dusk, there was supposed to be both a nuclear device and a person here, and yet there was no source of radiation anywhere near him, and no movement or heat signatures to speak of, and in a freezing ship exposed to the void, a heat signature from a person would be easy to find.


"Greg?" Alaric asked, turning to face the engineer, grunting as a particularly strong wave of gravity hit him. "Just what the hell is going on here? Where's the nuclear device? there's nothing here, no radiation, no signs of anyone other than us, nothing."
 
Hearing this chatter on his own comms device, Grigory went to the bridge corridors to meet Dusk. He was the only one to do so.


He addressed the mysterious metallic man. "Speaking as ship's doctor, I am concerned. You reported some very alarming things, which led some of our most important engineers to risk their lives. Your reports turned out to be false. I am worried that some of your systems were affected by the impact or have failed in some way. I believe you should undergo diagnostics, as well as a full medical examination."
 
Dusk nodded, "Yes, I agree." He sighed heavily, "This shouldn't have happened, this sensor rig is military grade. Now I just look like a damned fool. I'm just glad I didn't cause any other deaths here aboard this ship. I've already done enough damage. After this is over, I believe I shall retreat to my lab and contemplate what is really happening here."
 
"Dusk, when I get back down there, you and I are going to have a chat about this," Alaric snapped over the radio, before turning back to Greg, dropping to a knee, before forcing himself back up to his feet. "Come on, gravity's getting stronger, I really don't want to be crushed by my own suit."
 
Grigory led Dusk to the triage station. It was highly unfortunate that there was no actual medbay on deck 9. The main medbay had been destroyed by the impact. There were medical supply dispensers on the walls of every deck, but those were meant for treating minor work-related injuries, not a malfunctioning brain computer. He wished he had his tools. His set of diagnostic and check-up instruments had been with him since graduation. His parents gave them to him as a gift. They were made of the same nigh-indestructible alloys used in fighter ships. They cleaned easily, cut quickly and accurately, and just seemed to fit perfectly in his hand. He felt empowered with a scalpel or a syringe in his hand, comfortable, useful. His mind focused completely when he was at work, and didn't drift to dark places like it tended to anytime else. Thinking on this, he realized that his tools were gone, adrift in space. The only things left to connect him to a better time, ripped away by an asteroid. Like his freedom, ripped away by the UPA. Like his friends and family, ripped away by a zealous soldier's bullets.


Struggling to maintain composure, Grigory spoke to Dusk as they arrived at the triage station. He fought to keep the huskiness of pain from his voice.


"I will wait for the engineers to come back. They should examine your systems first, and I want them to help me check up on you. I would hate to cause some unnecessary harm because I am unfamiliar with how your body works."
 
"Very well, I shall wait here." Dusk said, "Although at this point, I don't think it matters. I'm all screwed up anyways. I really don't even think there is a reason for me to still be here other than for Sydney's sake." He looked up shaking his head, "Why does it matter that I keep her a secret anymore, the entire damned ship will soon find out anyways. What is another person knowing ahead of time? If only I could of found more info, if only I had more time." Dusk looked up to the ceiling tears flowing from his one intact eye, "I am sorry, milady, I have failed you. I just hope, that one day, I will see you again, so that I can finally tell you in person."


The tears kept flowing from his eye and drifted down his face, and onto the collar of his shit.


"My task has failed, I have lost all hope."


Dusk shook his head, and wiped the tears from his face. He looked up to Grigory and laughed.


"Damned teenage hormones," Dusk said, tears still falling, but at a slower rate, "Can't control them with this stupid computer inside me. That was very unprofessional,I apologize."
 
Grigory, made very uncomfortable by this display of emotion, maintained his bedside manner.


"All the more reason to get you fixed up as soon as possible. And, for what it's worth, I do hope you see your friend again. Of course, for that to happen, we would need to get of of this wreck. I'm sure we're all hoping for that."
 
"Thank you, and yes, and while I have proven to be unreliable so far, and have done nothing to help with this problem, I hope that I will be able to assist with the rest of this issue." Dusk said sitting down in a corner of the room.
 
Robert grinned widely when Felix arrived. "This is it!" he yelped. "This is our ticket out of this mess!" Robert was so excited, he felt like doing a jig. He restrained himself, though. "Alright. I'll prep the escape pod for launch. Can you get a couple more people up here? We need an engineer in case something else goes wrong. Oh! And maybe someone who can handle a gun. You know, just in case."


Robert turned to the control panel. He fiddled with it for a few seconds. "Now, if I can get this thing to open," he muttered. He pressed a couple more buttons before slamming his fist against the control panel.


He then watched helplessly as the empty escape pod launched into space and slowly faded into the darkness.
 
Alaric strode onto deck 9, removing his helmet and taking a deep non-filtered breath as he tore his helmet from his head. Making his way through the airless and either zero-gravity or high-gravity parts of the ship had not been pleasant, but at least he was back now, that had to count for something.


"Robert? Say again. What are you doing up there?"
 
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