LOCK PLEASE

[Timeskipper]

The captain had been more serious and hasty than usual in the briefing. Aadil couldn't help but think she knew something bad about the current job that they didn't. Her "needing his expertise" only confirmed such suspicions to him. Why would she specifically need a medic - well, sort of a medic - if she didn't know that there was danger down there?

 

Still, he tried to mask his suspicion with some humor: "Can I ask what for, exactly, captain? Are any of you planning on ingesting or inhaling dangerous compounds down there?"

[Makο]

Of all the things Kyy had expected to engage in during the course of his time with Hanna, a wild goose chase over a bloody parchment map of all things was not one of them. More than that, it was a miracle the instructions even led to a real place, though Kyy was notably irritated at having been directed through a series of "no, not there!"s and rapid finger-pointing. Eventually, though, they did reach their destination, hovering over a deep crevasse with signs of a crash lining it. After instructing Kyy to set the Red Witch down, Hanna gathered the crew towards the bridge, rattling off instructions to person after person. After she was done, Kyy, still sitting in the pilot's seat, raised his hand.

 

"Question, Pomo. First of all, I'm Kyy, and it's pronounced kyy. That extra syllable matters. Kokko is the one sleeping in the corner of the bridge in a little bundle. Second, can't me and my brother have a little break? Kokko, at least. He spent an hour in that water-boiling engine room, just trying to keep us afloat. And you and I both know he'll be back in there trying to do a proper fix to the damage done the moment he wakes up."

 

Having touched down, Kyy set the Red Witch to run on cool to save both energy and the let Kokko eventually work in some comfort; not the best for quick escapes, though. Kokko stirred slightly in his sleep, probably having been lulled by the now-silent hum of the engines. His breathing was slow and deep, a trait Kyy was always envious of; good sleep did not come easily to Kyy. Still, looking over his shoulder at his brother, he smiled slightly.

 

"Don't tell him I said this, but isn't his sleeping face kind of cute?"

[a bad post]

"Aye, aye Commander," Nils gave an informal salute, before turning on their heel and grabbing Birdie by the wrist. "Come on, come we've got work to do~!" Before leaving the bridge Nils, still dragging Birdie, made sure to tug on AXLE's arm, though with Nils' tiny stature they certainly weren't dragging him around. "Come on big guy you heard the Commander we got work to do, and us tiny people need big guys like you to carry around the heavy stuff!"

[Shradow]

With orders given, AXLE gave a perfect military salute. Working with various military types for so long had burned the motion into his mind. "Aye aye, commander!" After that, a quick tug on his raised elbow from Nils drew his attention. 

 

"Come on big guy, you heard the commander! We got work to do, and us tiny people need big guys like you to carry around the heavy stuff!" Nils seemed as excited as ever now that the shooting was over with.

 

"Ha, got it! 'Big guy' AXLE's on the scene!" AXLE pointed at his broad chest with his thumb, then motioned as if to roll up his sleeves, though in reality he kept his arms covered. "No better way to start off an extraction than some good ol' fashioned sweat and elbow grease! But, uh, if ya see any on me, let me know, I mighta sprung a leak somewhere." With Nils pulling Birdie along by the wrist and lightly tugging on AXLE as he walked beside them, they headed to the cargo hold. Upon arrival, AXLE realized that the bumpy firefight hadn't been too kind to some of the things lying around. Nothing was broken, but various tools and other small bits and bobs were strewn about haphazardly. AXLE let out an impressed whistle in response. "This place is always pretty messy, but we might be needin' some tidyin' up 'round here once the job's done. But at least everythin's all laid out for us already!" AXLE put himself to work gathering up the larger gear they'd need for the transports, and headed over to where they were kept in the ship for his first trip. The small stuff could wait until their return.

[a coffee]

Birdie nodded once or twice, soaking up the information provided to her before quickly being ripped away by Nils, "Hey, watch the merchandise, Nils!" Birdie crooked her neck to attempt looking behind her as she was being dragged away by the obviously eager Nils, "You got it, Boss! We'll be ready in no time at all!"

 

Upon arriving in the cargo hold, the scout almost had a complete internal meltdown. There was stuff everywhere, and none of it all too safe. The last thing she would want to do is have someone get injured on it while they were working with heavy equipment, but AXLE apparently cared not for the safety concerns, and immediately began getting to work, "Hey C'mon Robro! Don't you think we should maybe clean some of this stuff up first? What good is tidying it up after we get all the stuff we need from here?" It was only a matter of time, however, until AXLE would begin grabbing some of the larger stuff for their journey, a signal that she should, too, get to work. She groaned slightly, skittering towards AXLE to help out with the stuff. Cleaning may have been the safer plan, but not helping him out would be plain rude to her buddy.

 

"Say, think we're gonna run into any more thugs in that giant hole?"

[bury the year]

Hanna shrugged nonchalantly at Kokko- Kyy. She caught herself on that one. “Dress a bit differently next time, guys - we ain’t a circus act. Or at least name tags. You also can’t blame a girl for a bit of brain frazzle after she nearly gets some unwanted ventilation in her forehead.”

“And Aadil, just wanted to check on the med cabinet with you,” she said with a smile, lightly clapping him on the back. It was that particular tone Hanna reserved for when she was withholding information for later. One that she had used a bit too much for the last few days.

The two of them made it down to the well-lit annex in short order, the place that held the crew’s communal supplies. It was half pharmacy, half armory and half hardware store, but Kokko did a good enough job organizing “Don’t tell the others I’ve said it, but y’know those rumors floating around about this place?” Hanna looked at Aadil with a glint in her eye, fraught with meaning. “I’m usually not one to put much stock into whiskey words, but… let’s just say that I think we may need more than just the average med kit.” She fingered a thin ball chain hanging around her neck, little more than a nervous twitch.

Silence hung heavy as the two of them stopped rustling through the cabinets for a second, Aadil with his meds and Hanna with her ammo.

“…okay, they’re ghouls.” She breathed out, letting the secret drop. “All signs of what I’ve heard from the few expeditions have pointed to them wandering the ship still. I know we just got out of a firefight, which I know you’re not fond of, but…”

She then quickly noticed that her words weren’t having much effect on her twitchy doctor. “Listen, Aadil. You’ll be fine. The Red Witch has gotten out of worse scrapes before. And I don’t let my men down.” Hanna gave him another clap, but this time it was more of an awkward hug.

 

(OOC: I'll let y'all make your way onto the wreck at your leisure. Someone set the mood. I don't need to hold y'all's hands. ;))

[a bad post]

"Everything checks out..." Nils said putting away their tablet having finished inventory with Birdie and AXLE. "I've established a wireless signal between my tablet and the transport so we can send it up and down remotely," Nils said to Birdie and AXLE as they stepped onto the transport platform. "Alright... going down." A clank as the transport shifted underneath them, and then a loud mechanical whirring as the they were lowered down into the crevasse. 

 

"I can't see a damn thing down there..." Nils frowned kneeling at the edge of the platform, "I don't like it..." Several minutes later the transport finally reached the bottom of the crevasse finally revealing the derelict skeleton of the Dos Santos. Nils whistled assessing the damage to the wrecked ship. "This may end up being a little harder than we thought."

 

Nils walked forward attempting to get a better look the wrecked ship, however as they neared the vessel Nils stopped in their tracks. Sniffing the air Nils shivered, their face twisting into a look of disgust. "This ship does not smell right... foul." Nils' hand traveled down to their gun. Nils' eyes narrowed as they turned to look back at their allies. "Birdie keep your eyes open, AXLE get ready for a fight... there's something evil here..."

[Timeskipper]

"Ghouls?"
 
The doctor sounded incredulous. While he was certainly not keen on believing saliors' tales about ghosts and ghouls, he knew Hanna rarely bothered to listen to them if she didn't believe there was some truth to them.
 
"Well, this is pretty absurd. But we have seen weird stuff, so I can't rule this out. This poses a little issue, though", the doctor said, trying to at least appear slightly professional. "I'm a doctor, not a technician. I'm afraid I won't be able to help if we meet those".

 

He frowned and extracted a vial from his cabinet.

 

"Well, at least this should make for good protection against radiation, in case there is some down there".

[a coffee]

Birdie scanned the wreckage the best she could; truthfully, it was kind of impossible to see much at the bottom of this thing. She flicked on the flashlight of her rifle, which she had drawn essentially the second they began to descend, and swept the immediate area: nothing but nothing, and a whole lot of it. Still, the completely baron ship deck gave this... feeling to Birdie; it was a wiggling of sorts in her chest. The same kind of feeling you get when a guy has been staring at you from across the bar for well over 10 minutes and hasn't walked over. Her toes cringed inside of her boots, this whole place was giving her the wigglies. Still, scout was her job, and she intended on following it to the end, wherever this particular end may be. When Nils stopped, Birdie would continue just a few steps in front of her, continuing to sweep the area with her flashlight, attempting to make the visibility situation at least a tad easier.

 

"Follow me friends, I can lead in front. Can you hear me up there, Hanna and crew?" Skylar gave a faint call into her communicator; for one reason or another, she felt like the act was of no use. It had only seemed appropriate to her that in a creepy wreckage such as this that her only means of communicating with backup would likely not work. Regardless of whether or not an answer was given, she would continue on to the ship, the clanking of metal and creaking of other rotted materials meeting each of her steps. Hopefully whatever it was they were looking for would show up and be ready for the taking so they could get back into the comfort of their own dump.

 

The three of them would walk for a short while, and even though they had not encountered anything truly absurd just yet, the feeling of dread only grew stronger on Birdie's person. Perhaps it was just her wigging herself out, or being a paranoid person in general, but it felt as if something was closing in on them, and after what Hanna had said about this place, it certainly seemed likely that they would be armed... She wouldn't want to get caught off guard in such a situation. As such, Birdie would continue to occasionally turn back and sweep around them as they explored the ship's top. At least until they reached the one thing Birdie would not just aimlessly wander into: a door. It was a simple ship door, handle on the side to pull towards the left, and as a matter of fact it looked as if it may lead into one of the ship's cargo holds. Certainly not a bad place to start if they were to find what they were after, but something about the whole ordeal sent Birdie's heart into a race. She turned around, eyeing down her companions,

 

"Well... I found the door... but I doubt it's going to be as easy to come back as it was to get here, if we go in. If we're gonna change our plan or call for backup, now would be the time. What do you guys think we should do?" she gripped her gun tighter, the anxiety of her own question having an effect.

[Shradow]

As their small crew descended into the depths of the crevasse, the light began to fade more and more the further down they got. "Ya can't see your hand in front o' your own face down here. But I got just the thing." AXLE activated the search lights in his eyes to give everyone some light, though the way they shone through his helmet gave off an eerie vibe. The last thing you want to see in the darkness is a pair of eyes staring back at you. Birdie also turned on a flashlight, sweeping her vision across the area.

 

By the time they reached the wreckage, nothing out of the ordinary had happened yet. The commander didn't mention it, but AXLE had heard the rumors, that the place was haunted. He'd never seen a ghost before, so he was a bit skeptical, and a few scary stories weren't going to put him down. Nevertheless, AXLE kept Gáe Bolg at the ready, just in case they ran into any real life threats, like Ghouls. Birdie took up the vanguard as they began to search the wreckage. The creaks the ship made were one thing, and the creaks AXLE made were another. Combined with the fact that he was close behind Birdie, andif she were to look behind her she'd have AXLE's glowing eyes to look forward to, he could imagine it wasn't doing kind things for her paranoia. 

 

Eventually they reached a solitary door. "Well... I found the door... but I doubt it's going to be as easy to come back as it was to get here, if we go in. If we're gonna change our plan or call for backup, now would be the time. What do you guys think we should do?"

 

"No use standin' 'round here, I wager." AXLE stepped forward and tried the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. The door looked a bit bashed in, so it was either locked or the crash must have jammed it shut. "Hold on, I got just the thing." With a quick heave-ho, AXLE smashed the door in, using Gáe Bolg like a battering ram. As the door fell inwards with a crash, it knocked up a large cloud of dust. As the dust settled, AXLE put a hand on his hips, pleased with himself. "Best lockpick around."

 

But then something made him look again curiously into the ship. For a split second, AXLE thought he saw some lights shining back at him from within the ship. Two of them, like a pair of eyes, not dissimilar from AXLE's own. After a moment, however, they disappeared, and AXLE turned back to Birdie and Nils. "Did ya see that, too, or are my eyes actin' up again?"

[bury the year]

“…and don’t worry, you two, after this we’re heading for a break on Willow after this. Soak up the sun, relax a bit. Besides,” she said offhandedly over the comm, “y’all aren’t the ones running around down here.”

Hanna and Aadil descended on the winch and stepped into the side entrance, where the rest of the crew was waiting. The door past the main airlock had rusted and fallen open, so it would take no outside interference for them to get into the loading bay through which they entered. However, that was little consolation to the team.

“Alrighty, y’all. Here are my thoughts. AXLE, Aadil, you two should be split up. No need to have the doctor be stuck with a… person? robot? he can’t treat. So let’s do this. Birdie and Aadil, you’ll accompany me to the upper deck to search the munitions and crew storage. AXLE and Nils will head down towards the engine bays and mark what heavy parts can be broken off. We’ll reconvene in two hours, share findings and relay to the Tostenssons to get things hammered out. Keep your comm lines open. If stuff goes hairy, I want an extraction as immediate as possible.”

Hanna stood at attention and let the statements wash over the crew, although her eyes weren’t meeting theirs. They instead swept out, at the dark corridors beyond. One went down, the other up.

She cocked her head at the other party of two. “Well, you’d best get moving. Unless you question my judgment.”

The other trotted off, after which she, Birdie and Aadil crossed the threshold and started the slow trek up. Maybe that was why this place had seen so few expeditions before. It was too goddamn unsettling.

[a bad post]

 "Did ya see that, too, or are my eyes actin' up again?"

 

"What?" Nils turned to face AXLE and obvious edge in their voice. "This isn't the time for jokes AXLE!" However before the group could pursue the subject further the Commander and Aadil finally joined them within the crevasse. Immediately taking command, Hanna began splitting the crew into two teams. Nils was paired with AXLE to head deeper into the ship and assess what they could take with them. 

 

 “Well, you’d best get moving. Unless you question my judgment.”

 

"No I'm sure we'll be fine." Nils said shaking their head. "If anything goes wrong I'm sure AXLE can cover me~" Nils winked before flashing a bright smile at AXLE, hoping to mask their uneasy from earlier. "Come on big man let's get a move on." Turning on their heel Nils headed deeper into the ship AXLE a short ways behind them.

 

"Let's hurry up..." Nils muttered once they pair was finally out of earshot of the other group, "this place gives me the heebie geebies, and I'd rather steer clear of whatever you saw earlier..." 

[Shradow]

AXLE saluted the commander. "Aye aye, sir. No problem at all." As he and Nils ventured into the ship, he knew they'd have a ways to go. The engines would most often be near the back of the ship, and with the way the ship had fallen in the crevasse, that meant going down.

 

"Let's hurry up... This place gives me the heebie geebies, and I'd rather steer clear of whatever you saw earlier..." Nils said while looking around nervously.

 

"Well, then it's a good thing ya've got me coverin' your back, wouldn't want any spooky scary monsters nippin' at your heels." They walked a bit more, the only illumination coming from AXLE's helmet, the only sounds coming from the occasional creaks and groans of the ship. AXLE wasn't a fan of eerie silence so he figured he'd strike up a conversation, with what he thought most appropriate given their current location. "Hey, Nils, ya ever hear the stories 'bout this place? They say it's haunted, now wouldn't that be somethin'? Tales like that always pop up 'round these kind of wreckage sites, like daisies outta the ground. Good reason for it, though, what with the number of Ghouls these sort of places have in 'em." As he spoke his eyes lit up a corner of the room they were walking through, bringing into view a decrepit android, missing an arm and whose lower half had worn off at the hips . "Well, speak of the devil, see this guy? If he was up an' movin' 'round that'd mean we've got Ghouls on this ship."

 

As if responding to AXLE's words, the Ghoul's eyes lit up and it started crawling towards him, very slowly dragging himself along the ground with its one arm. The sight made AXLE chuckle a little. "See what I'm talkin' about? He probably wants to get at me seeing as I've got a nice, juicy power core tucked away in here," AXLE patted his chest, "but unfortunately for him he's in a rough spot, so he's no trouble." AXLE quickly walked forward and stomped the Ghoul's head in, ceasing its movement. "Now this was nothin' to worry 'bout, but if we see any that're still whole, that'll cause problems." As they were about to move on to the next room, they heard a loud banging sound coming from somewhere on the ship. "Ya hear that? Hm, maybe I should just stop talkin'."

[a bad post]

Nils stared down at the immobile ghoul wincing as AXLE stopped it head in. The ghouls might not have been living creatures, but Nils couldn't help but feel sorry for them stuck wandering the derelict ship for the rest of eternity.

 

"Come on... let's go before your rambling attracts more of those things..." Nils said with soft, yet nervous laughter. The pair wandered around the ship for several minutes longer before Nils had finally had enough stopping abruptly. "This is useless. We're never going to find the engine room if we keep walking around without knowing where we're supposed to be going... we look like a pair of damn fools."

 

Pulling out their tablet Nils began feeling along the wall search for something.

 

"Ah! There you are." Nils smiled clearing dust and cobwebs from the wall revealing a small screen and connection port. "Now, to get what I was really looking for." Connecting a small cable from their tablet to the port began clicking away furiously before making a fist pump."Got it!" Nils smiled disconnecting their tablet. "Now we should know exactly where we're going, I downloaded the schematics for the ship onto my tablet. Pretty awesome aren't I?" Nils beamed cocking a brow.

 

"Now if I right, and I usually am, we should head this way to reach the engine room." Nils said pointing to the hallway to the pair's left. "Welp... after you big guy~"

[a coffee]

"You got it boss, let's not waste any time, I want to get out of here, quick!" Birdie was rather unsettled by the atmosphere around her, and who could even blame her? This place was full of the creeps. Nevertheless, Birdie proudly marched up the corridor specified by the commander, sweeping her flashlight back and forth to ensure there was nothing that would surprise her. To the people behind her, not used to having to depend on "birdie speed" for sight, this flashlight sweeping probably looked more like spastic shaking, however, and likely didn't provide much in the way of actual usefulness or vision. Worked fine for her, though.

 

After a short while of a straight shot down the hallway, they reached a 4 way intersection of hallways; must have been either the ships main corridor or the meeting of two rather important directions. Birdie initially ignored the perpendicular path, choosing to forage onward, before a loud creaking noise echoed throughout the hallway, followed by a jarring SLAM of the door on their right side smashing into the ground. Birdie immediately shot her flashlight over to the direction of the noise to identify whatever possible threat it may be but... nothing. Skylar looked back towards the other two thirds of the trio, seeking advice:

 

"Hey, did you guys see anything? I missed whatever knocked over that door, and I doubt it fell on it's own... Should we check it out?" Birdie squeezed the grip on her gun tightly, preparing to aim on a moment's notice if the group did indeed decide to navigate the location of the noise.