trans_9 | The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

While the crew hadn’t yet found the cause of the problems plaguing Deepstar 7, they did have one advantage – they’d captured and subdued one of the original crew members. Whether they could get anything useful out of them was another story… but since his encounter with John and Jamie in Medical, he seemed to have calmed down somewhat. Or at least he no longer had an axe to swing around. He had been confined to crew quarters, but now it was time for a little questioning.

It should bother Howard that he's not terribly intimidated by an axe-crazy crew member. After all, he had Drake in his basement, which kind of inured him to ranting and raving. That doesn't mean he isn't hella wary, but it is nice to be confronted with something scary and yet not feel as if he's about to jump out of his skin.

He drags a folding chair out and takes a seat outside the door to the guy's crew quarters, waiting for someone-slash-anyone to join him. Just because he isn't terrified doesn't mean that he wants to interrogate this guy alone.

Oh it has been quite a while since she's been able to do something like this. Lash was taught a more than a few things about the art of interrogation, but the little one or two on one talks were admittedly very rare in Wars World. Heck, the last time she remembers something similar happening, it was when she and Hawke we brought to Orange Star.

Regardless, she's had her share of maniacs and this could be fun (Lash is weird okay), so the first thing to greet Howard is the wunderkind cracking her knuckles.

Surprisingly, she arrives absolutely quiet, but with a terrible grin attached to her lips one can only assume that this won't last for too long.

Well, in any case, it looked like the two of them had arrived first. There was nothing keeping them from opening the door and having a chat with Sunshine.

...it seemed quiet from within the quarters they've locked him into. Maybe he was asleep?

Edited 2012-01-28 23:55 (UTC)

"Do you want to go in first?" Howard asks Lash, then amends: "you're going in first."

Thankfully, Lash is probably relishing an opportunity to go first.

He peers through the edge of the door to see if he can hear the guy.

"Sure. Let me just go in without checking...not!" Her whisper is harsh but she does something similar to the other youth, only with her gun raised in case she needs to shoot them in the face. "Tsk. Wish I knew what was inside that room. Hard to make a proper interrogation when you don't have the right tools--but I'm sure we'll have plenty of water, if we ever come to need it..."

Wow, that sounds really vague and creepy.

The room continued to be vewwy, vewwy quiet. It was wabbit season.

"I have a knife. Not that I want to use it." Howard budges the door open and shuffles behind Lash.

"When push comes to shove," she whispers harshly, "just make sure you hit the major arteries, the neck, right under the armpit or just aove the thigh."

She knew where to slice open and how terrible it could be. The silence was certainly not how she wanted to get in here for interrogation. It smells like a trap, or at least, her training makes her assume first and foremost to go for the worst scenario. Making a motion with her hand, she pauses and takes out a small mirror from her hair, using it to view what's inside without being seen.

Unfortunately, the field of vision available from outside the door, even with the mirror, was limited. What it did reveal was that the man was nowhere to be seen. He had been lying on one of the beds, last time someone had checked in on him.

He hadn't escaped or anything, had he?

Howard peeks through the crack between the door and the frame to make sure dude isn't hiding behind the door. And then he glances up, because this kind of psycho has a tendency to hang out on ceilings, at least in movies.

Nope, no dude on the ceiling.

"Smoke bomb?" Lash offers, whispering harshly. "We could try flushing him out first, but I only have one mask and...you know what never mind."

Screw it, she was a CO, she didn't tip toe into situations, she barged right into them.

She had training. She could do this. Taking a breath, she moved forward, and...called upon the CO voice. Granted it wasn't anything special or magical, just a normal voice of a superior officer ordering people around. It was also a very stupid move, but lash wasn't about good sensible decisions anyway.

"HEY! YOU GET OUT AND SHOW YOURSELF BEFORE I KICK YOU IN THE NUTS!"

Classy.

"How are you going to kick him in the nuts if you can't find him?" And there goes Howard, asking the obvious.

Nope, no dude on the ceiling.

John and Mendoza had managed to do some basic repairs on the comm relay in Operations. Maybe enough to get a message through, when conditions were right. At least the team could take solace in that, right…?

If anything, having a way to phone home and at least let folks know where they were was a start.

It's just that John's seen far too many movies to feel comfortable with this and he's sure he's creeping himself out without even trying. He kept thinking about that opened panel, the way that Mendoza had seemed...nervous? Like surprised he was sitting parked in front of it. The guy with the axe and all the signs scattered about the Deepstar 7 seemed to have gotten everyone spooked, he kept telling himself, only he kept having a niggling feeling. More like a hunch. Or a weird vibe.

John came back to the comm relay, wanting to check again for any sign of critters. Y'know, just to be sure.

Operations was quiet. No one around, no one jumping out of the shadows. No critters, or at least they had the good sense to hide while he was around.

Nothing from the computer, even.

John deflated, just a bit. Maybe he was starting to jump at shadows. He thought he had a pretty good reason for being jumpy but there was a good healthy dose of paranoia and then there was whipping around looking for bogeymen and getting yourself turned around when the real one was still out there. Still, he told himself he was just making his rounds, checking for anything weird. Or just checking, period.

He wandered over to the computer display and glanced at it, cycling through whatever he could access out of curiosity and seeing if anything was pinging him.

Report, reports, reports, and...

espond. Repeat, mission priorities have changed. Request 013C to retrieve artifact data for R&D, please respond.

Huh, had that been there before? John leaned over to check the time stamp, frowning at the screen flickering in front of him and trying to see who had accessed this. Someone was pinging them. Was this 013C an order or was it a person? Was someone on the mission not telling them the truth about why they were here?

John keyed in a few more strokes, trying to poke around and see what he could find out. He doubted he could bluff his way into making this person think he was the contact, but that didn't mean he couldn't have a a look, either. John was tired of getting jerked around with all the smoke and mirrors here and if they wanted to take something off the base, whatever -- but if they were going to end up collateral damage, then suddenly it was his problem and he had no issues with snooping at that point.

Whatever he'd pressed, John had somehow opened a new window, with a copy of that strange, darkened photo Jake had found in Crew Quarters, followed by a series of unfamiliar-looking glyphs.

Surface conditions deteriorating, read the original output line. Extraction timeline will be delayed, please confirm.

Whatever he'd pressed, John had somehow opened a new window, with a copy of that strange, darkened photo Jake had found in Crew Quarters, followed by a series of unfamiliar-looking glyphs.

Surface conditions deteriorating, read the original output line. Extraction timeline will be delayed, please confirm.

Takagi has, after seeing what the crew has put together, had quiet enough of the general tension and paranoia that's starting to soak into his bones. Despite the fact that he keeps up pretenses of doing business as normal, with his typically-shuttered face betraying no scheming or emotion, he's actually been plotting to leave ever since he learned of the axe-crazy crew man.

Once it seems like almost everyone is asleep, it's time to go. Takagi walks quietly but with purpose towards the little vessel. He can't afford to look suspicious, and thankfully, due to his generally static expression, he could easily pass as someone just routinely checking up on the escape shuttle.

Just checking up on it by revving up the engines, that is.

Funnily enough, Takagi wasn't the only one who was concerned about the shuttle. 'Creeped out' wasn't nearly enough to describe Allenby's mood right now. Always ready for a fight she might be, but there was a big difference between taking on some ridiculously powerful enemy and Deepstar 7. Forget sleeping.

So when she heard the hum of the engines, she pelted the rest of the way down the corridor. "Shit! I knew it!" She skidded into the shuttle to see--waitasec. "Hey!"

Takagi swears the only way he knows how: silently. He can't shut the door before Allenby gets there, so he reaches his arm out and tries to clothesline her instead as she slides in.

"Gaaah!" Not cool, Takagi! Allenby managed to catch herself on her arms rather than just landing flat on her back, but it definitely jarred.

She sprang back to her feet, growling and deciding to tell Takagi just how offended she was with her fist. Nothing like a punch to the gut, right?

Takagi brings his arm down to block her punch, swinging a haymaker at her with his other hand. He throws his whole body into it - even if she blocks the punch, he outweighs her and his momentum will knock her down again.

Probably! Which is why Allenby decides to take a third option and duck under the haymaking arm entirely. She spins 'round as she moves, taking the opportunity to aim another punch at his ribcage and turning so that she faces his back.

"What's your PROBLEM?!"

Takagi stumbles forward, left off-balance by the dodge, and clutches his ribs where Allenby hit him. He shoots her a glare. "Look, this is all going down. If you want to make it out alive we need to leave, now."

Maybe offering her an escape will convince her to go with him instead of foiling his plans.

Clearly he hasn't met Allenby.

Clearly.

Yeah. This place gave anyone with sense the absolute creeps, and Allenby wanted to get out too... when they were done figuring out what the hell was going on. With all of the away team.

"So you're just gonna run off and ditch everyone here?! No way!" This time she punctuated it with a kick towards the spot she'd just punched.

Takagi avoids the kick, but only by a little - Allenby's foot stil clips his hip. "What would you rather? Wait for things to go south and some hero type to stop us going in time?"

Jake doesn't sleep that well. So it's not really a surprise that he's wandering around the station. Fortunately (or unfortunately) he hears the commotion and he decides to drop in to take a look. That sounds like Allenby and one of the crew that was sent down with them.

"Allenby...?"

"I'd rather not abandon my friends!" Allenby wound up for another punch--Takagi really needed to understand how she felt--but Jake's voice pulled her up short.

"Hey, Jake! Guess what this scum was up to!"

Well, he's screwed now.

Takagi glowers with the hatred of a thousand fiery suns, and also an oil rig that is on fire.

Jake's gaze flashes from Allenby to Takagi. The shuttle. Doesn't take him long to put it all together.

"You were going to leave us here, weren't you?"

Shortly after Takagi’s attempt was foiled, another problem arose – the lighting in the Deepstar 7 changed from blue to red and a warning klaxon began to sound.

“Attention,” said a computerized female voice over the ship’s internal comms, “Core conditions deteriorating. Level two life support has been terminated. Repeat, level two life support has been terminated. This includes carbon dioxide scrubbers and the artificial gill system. Power will now be rerouted to support structural integrity. All personnel, please locate the nearest emergency dive suits.”

Edited 2012-01-26 16:33 (UTC)

"GODDAMMIT!" Lash was about to pop a vein or two at this point.

Jamie looked up as the lighting abruptly changed. He didn't need to hear the klaxons to realise that something was wrong. The message was clear enough on that front - even if he had no idea what a carbon dioxide scrubber even was. He did know enough to piece together the rest of what was happening, and that it was not a good thing. At all.

"Och, that's all we need. Where are these dive suit-thingys, anyway?"

And just like that, one of the emergency shutters behind the two of them closed. They were in a long corridor, probably a few minutes away from the airlock in which they'd first arrived in the Killifish submersible. And hadn't there been some form of emergency dive suits onboard? Yes... probably so. Of course, the main problem was that seawater seemed to be pooling at their feet, rising up from vents in the floor. A few of the vents struggled their way shut, but not enough to keep the water level from rising.

There was only one immediate way out -- the other end of the hall. But the shutter there was gradually rolling shut, too...

There was a strong sense of deja vu on Jamie's end, it not being the first time he's had to try and escape from rapidly rising water. Unlike that time, however, that shutter that was rolling shut meant their options were limited - and time very short, indeed. After the briefest of looks at the seawater starting to pool around their feet, Jamie started to run. As he passed by Lash, his hand reached out towards hers. Not that she likely needed the help with running, but years of reflexes meant that by now it was an automatic gesture, and not one he was going to try and fight at the moment.

"Come on, we need to get out of here!"

"Crap."

Time to find a suit. Jake glances at the walls - there has to be some sort of emergency directions or evacuation procedures written here somewhere, right? Where does he find a suit?

There was a solid line of red arrowed lights pointing down the corridor in which Jake is standing. Emergency Station, read the words written above the lights; they were placed at intervals throughout the hall.

Of course, there was also a large, dark purple appendage plastered against the reinforced glass windows that looked out into the ocean outside. It looked like the squid, which had paid them a visit when they'd first come to the habitat, had come calling again. If Jake thought about it, this could be a rare opportunity! You know, to examine the hand-sized suckers that coated the underside of its tentacle. Tooth-like projections rimmed each of the suckers, and from within each individual sucker, there was a long, daggerlike claw growing out from the center, likely to aid in grabbing and tearing at its prey.

The squid had wrapped itself around part of the glass-enclosed hallway and was now squeezing, almost experimentally. At first, nothing happened. Then a small, hairline crack began to appear on the glass where one of the larger claws was pressing against it.

As the klaxon went off, there was one person who wasn't running around trying to find a spare diving suit -- Mendoza, who instead headed straight toward the Core Room. Obviously something had cut off their power source. But what?

One way or another, the crew from Stacy had all made it to the airlock, where the Killifish was waiting to take them back up.

Now it was time to blow this popsicle stand. Right?

A rather wet and cross looking Jamie leaned against one of the walls, breathing deeply in an effort to try and get something resembling air back into his lungs. Things had been closer than he liked, and he was more than ready to get on the Killifish and get out of this place.

"Look, what are we waiting for? Could we not get on yon wee ship and back up to the surface now?"

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Interrogation

[open for company]

[Here comes your bad..der cop vroom vroom beep beep]

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A brief detour [closed to John]

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Takagi [Lisa to NPC]

Someone come stop him!

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Cutoff

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Core Room

Airlock

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