[IC] Destiny of Man

[Hexaflexagon]

The ESV Mahatma slipped out of hyperspace with little more than a shiver in its wake. The reconnaissance craft had been sent in to check on Providence, sending in anything larger out of fear of sparking up resting anger from the war whose scars still shaped the galaxy. The crew inside of the craft getting ready for the operation at hand. Beside the observation team being sent into the Providence, the other twenty six individuals from engineers, technicians, and other assortments of officers keeping the ship adrift through space. The crew had been handpicked for the mission, most of them were well trained individuals with a plethora of experience, they didn't need no young meat accidentally sparking something that should be left long dead. The Mahatma weaved its way through the asteroids surrounding Providence the soft hum of the external shielding being able to be heard as small pieces of debris brushed the ship. After what seemed to take years they finally made it to a clearing in the center of the floating rocks and that was when they saw it... Providence. "You know I've heard stories about this place, but I would of never guessed it would be this big!" Pilot Silas Frederick muttered as he slowly edged the craft towards the grand station that seemed to tower through space stretching on for miles in every direction. Silas was a city boy from Rhea both of his parents were researchers on the planet, he'd seen Alliance dreadnoughts before in action the massive behemoths of the stars as they were called but looking at the Providence well even they would be small compared to the size of the station in front of them. It was a large floating city built out of the hollowed remains of a large mineral rich asteroid, but it felt wrong. Silas knew that for anything this size, ships should of been coming and going like ants surrounding an anthill, but the space around it was empty except for the lone remaisn of a few transport ideally drifting about as if had been left as they were. "Hey Kome try and get a communication line established." Silas told his co-pilot and close friend Kome Zegoli. Kome was born and raised in the slums back on Earth. Kome met Silas at the academy when the two of them had just arrived and the two have been working on Alliance ships together ever since. Though right now just as his friend was feeling, Kome was nervous, nothing felt right but maybe that was just his nerves talking. With a nod Kome pressed a few buttons on his console and brought up a line of communication with their Communications officer. "Hey Aleli, knock on the door and see what is up.", Kome explained. Aleli Keppotko was the Mahatma's communication officer having spent most of her time working against the Separatists signal jammers during the war. She was a nice enough girl but a bit bossy when it came to her work and others trying to tell her that she can do better. She was the third part of Silas' and Kome's odd triangle of banter and sarcasm that can be heard anytime anyone got remotely close to the command deck. "Should I wear a scout uniform and bring cookies?" Aleli responded dryly as she typed in a few commands and opened up the brodcast channel to the Providence. Clearing her throat she spoke her voice being projected to the Providence. "Attention Providence Docking Control. This is the ESV Mahatma requesting permission to dock, repeat this is the ESV Mahatma requisting permission to dock please respond." Silence followed as she waited for a response that never came. That was very strange, every station to have at least one person awake and active at Docking Control to prevent backlog and collisions between incoming and outgoing ships. Though it did seem the Mahatma was the only ship going in or going out. Aleli tried again but this time with another set of frequencies making sure nothing was off on her end and the response or lack of it was the same as before. She radioed back over to Kome who explained the situation to Silas. "What the hell was going on?" Any response that could of been said to the pilot was cut short as suddenly a large flash was seen from the Station. Moments later a laser cannon attached to the Providence designed to crack open large and ancient asteriods slammed into the side of the ship. There was a shock wave as the ship jerked and the warning sirens began to blast. Silas began to work frantically at his consol trying to move the Mahatma out of range but no such luck would be able to o ccur. Moments later the automatic defense systems built into the Providence, defense systems that should of recognized the Mahatma as a friendly craft opened fire. The reconnaissance frigate was belted with heavy laser fire as warning sirens flipped all over Kome's console. Kome made an executive decision at that moment and typed in a command into his consol. A large robotic voice started bombing over the laser fire and the screams and explosions telling all crew members to proceed to the escape pods. "Silas come on we got to move!", Kome yelled as he unstrapped himself from his chair, Silas nodded and began to move but moments later a shot connected with the cockpit and an explosion rocked the ship as the consoles exploded the last thing Kome heard before he hit the floor was Silas's scream. Moments later Kome was being shaken awake as somebody was dragging him down the hallway. His visioned blurred and smoke was filling his lungs but he eventually saw who has savoir was, Aleli. Aleli stopped when she noticed him stirring and pulled him to his feet. The two of them were now outside of the command center fire was licking at the walls as the automatic response kept on telling all crew members to get to the escape pods. A body was pressed against a wall contorted in a manner in which was sicking to just look at. The two of them moved without doing much talking as the two of them moved through the ship, trying to get throught the smoke and the flames. Aleli was just thinking about getting out of there alive while Kome was thinking about Silas he had to be dead, he had to be right? Eventually the two of them made it to the engineering deck where the escape pods were located. Kome typed in a code into the console and one of the pods opened and he stepped inside. Strapping himself into the pilot seat of the small craft he looked back at Aleli and called out to her. "Come on get in here!, We need to get out of here!" Aleli shook her head as she stood outside hanging onto the edge peering into the smoke and fire. "We are the last pod left! We need to wait! We need to make sure nobody else is coming!" Kome let out a curse but nodded, and so they waited the two of them in the burning wreck as the ship neared critical levels the engine about to go critical at any moment and vaporize them. Anyone left who would stumble upon them would find a women yelling at them to get inside quickly. To get in before they were all dead.

[agentmanatee]

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Justeph ran down the halls with his greatest possible speed. He had been rudely awakened and had had to hurriedly get his gear on before being knocked on his ass by a second explosion. As he ran through the corridor that was SUPPOSED to house the life pods he began to notice that it appeared they were all gone. Then, with a moment of pure joy, he saw a woman 8th the doorway of what appeared to be the last lifepod. He barreled past the shouting woman, landed hard in a seat, stopped in, looked at the pilot and said to the pilot, "I'm headed anywhere but here buddy!"

[Traitor]

"...to the escape pods." The calm tone of the robotic voice stood in extreme contrast to the urgency of the matter at hand, though it was properly underlined by the voluminous bass of several projectiles drumming on the Mahatma's side and front as well as illuminated by sparks and small flames emanating from several wall-embedded systems. It took Skye a whole two seconds to react to the signal and another three to reassemble the last parts of her plasma rifle, one point five seconds to shove the energy cell back in, load the weapon through and another one to leave her cabin. The sudden surge of adrenaline made her ignore the burning in her lungs and legs as she sprinted towards the -thankfully close- engineering deck to board an escape pod at her highest possible speed. She didn't even consciously realize she was shouting loud commands at people left and right who were thrown around like toys when the ship buckled during it's last minutes, but almost all of them were unable to move on their own, and she didn't intend to stop and hand out band-aids. This was a run-or-die situation and she knew it. Her repeated "Run or die!" served more to encourage those who could run than to inform anybody about the situation, not that it was possible to miss what was currently happening to the Mahatma. Regardless, she made an effort to hammer her oversized left fist against every door and hatch she passed on the short trip. The biggest shock was seeing the escape pods decimated to a single vessel. "Run or die!" , she shouted back one last time, the last thing she could do to motivate potential followers without forfeiting her own life. She stepped into the pod, up to the shouting officer, jamming her enhanced glove against the low ceiling of the pod's entrance to stabilize against the wildly swinging ground. "Officer Keppotko!" she shouted against the cacophony of bending and breaking steel. "What happened to the pods?" She stepped to the side to not block the entrance of the pod for more possible survivors, and threw a glance over her shoulder to see if there actually were any others on the run, though not much in this world could have moved her to leave the relative safety of the vessel at this point.

[ShiningSector]

With another explosion rocking the vessel once more, the reconnaissance specialist named Cayne found himself briefly in the most unfamiliar of places; in the air. The scout hit the debris covered floor with a hard thud, tossing Cayne into a roll until before inertia finally stopped him. He groaned as he pulled himself back up, still shaky from the blast and impact but slightly pleased that he was suited up ahead of time once Providence in sight; in the back of his head, he knew the damage could have been a lot worse. The ship shook continuously from the station’s concentrated fire, causing Cayne to stumble as he made a mad dash to the escape pods, if of course there were any remaining at all. “This is why I hate flying…” growled Cayne as he slid around the corner at the end of the hallway. To his relief, Cayne saw one escape pod was still waiting for passengers; to his horror, it was the only escape pod left and he could still hear cries echoing throughout the disabled vessel. To him, it was apparent that the situation had escalated too quickly and he needed to move, now. With surging adrenaline coursing though his veins, Cayne bolted to the lone escape pod, bounding over fallen debris and piping with hopes of getting to the pod in time. Within seconds, Cayne’s rush had carried him to the last escape pod as he scrambled in, nearly collapsing into one of the seats as he frantically breathed in what little air he could. Eventually, he buckled himself in, wanting nothing more than for the escape pod to jettison out; the idea of touching the ground, any particular ground sounded wonderful to him.

[Ubermensch]

Ulysses was running as fast as possible, with his tools of the trade strapped right on him. The good news was that the combat engineer was far from claustrophobic. How was it possible that the Providence suddenly turned on the allied ship? Was it hijacked by malcontents? There was no time to ask questions. Cramming himself into a pod, Ulysses wondered who was on the Providence. Lots of money was spent on defense. The last thing he'd want was to be stuck with crazy folk he wouldn't trust with sticks and stones. Eventually Ulysses was able to secure a seat into the nearby escape pod. He stayed silent and hoped for the best. If it was faulty repairs, the mission would have ended in distaster anyway and the man would have nothing to blame but himself. Ulysses was surprisingly stoic during this time, as he hoped that the matter will be handled professionally. No time to lose anyway.

[DAWNSTAR]

Though Mika had been woken in up in such a rude fashion by the speakers, she was quick to react. In a span of one to two minutes, Mika had collected all of her equipment into a small sack, though she had taken out her pistol and smg and placed them in their holsters on her hip. Mika ran out her room and followed the rest of the crew to the nearby escape pods only to be met with closed doors or pods which were packed to capacity, or in some cases beyond capacity. The shaking of the ship caused Mika to stumble about a few times before she finally made it to a hallway leading to engineering. The hallways were filling with smoke and fire in certain areas but Mika was capable of navigating through the corridors rather well. It took her a few minutes to find a pod with a woman standing at the door. Mika rushed in and buckled her straps, waiting for the pod to leave.

[Drake]

Adeola stumbled towards the escape pods. She had suffered a hit to the head against the wall after the initial shock, but besides that she was fine. She openned up her helmet and started running towards the escape pods, knowing the vessel wouldn't last much longer. She was hoping that there was at least one left, but if not, it was her fault for getting knocked out. She didn't think about the assorted crew members that were laying about, she didn't have time. If they couldn't move, they couldn't move, and would do them no good in Providence. That was another thing that was odd, outer rim bases tend to be much busier, but she didn't have time to think about that now. She rounded a corner, saw one last escape pod open and ran towards it. Adeola came to it and quickly ducked inside. "There's nobody else mobile, we gotta move." she said, as she sat down and quickly strapped in.

[Hexaflexagon]

"What happened to the rest of the pods? Well I don't honestly know, I've been too busy trying to not get blown up Ms. Wynters!" Kumo called back through the pod from his position at the front of the craft. He was going through the motions flipping through commands on his console as the door to the pod locked behind them, the hiss as the seal was made and the explosions and warning sirens became muffled behind the large steel plate. Muttering to himself over and over again as he prepared the craft to launch. The escape pod could of course just be launched with little to no pomp or circumstance but that would most likely lead to death of all those involved. Refereed very simply to flying coffins is about as much infomation on the pods than is needed. "Kumo! Shut up and just do your damn job soldier!" Aleli yelled back towards the front end of the pod as she turned back to face Ms. Wynters. Aleli felt her heart somewhere up in her throat, hearing each and every thud in her body resounding like distant mortars slamming in the distance. All of her senses had been brought up several levels, adrenaline coursing through her body to the point as if she could feel every small hair on her body standing on edge, every speck of sweat running down her forehead before cascading off and falling to the floor each and every drop moving in a sort of slowdown resonance. The mining laser fired again and the concentrate beam tore into the craft and the rumble could be felt almost everywhere within the ship including the pod. This rumbled dragged Aleli out of her slow motion induced trance that to the outside eye only lasted a second at most as the world speed back up into normal pace. "Commander Wynters, I have no idea what happened to the pods and all we can do is hope that they have already been released. But right now, I need you to sit down and buckle in before you all go down in flames." Aleli explained gesturing to the seat behind the soldier before moving forward to the front of the pod taking the Co-Pilot seat next to Kumo who was muttering more profanities than Aleli knew existed. She strapped into her chair the reinforced buckles pinning her close to the seat though she had an unpleasant feeling that the straps were just there to keep the body intact when they found the wreckage. The pod slowly titled forward as Kumo finished entering the last of the commands and at the end of the short launch tunnel a door opens to the void of space. "Let's make like trees and get the fuck out of here!" Kumo yelled sounding almost excited as he pushed down hard on the throttle as the engine fluttered to life, first as a small sputter before exploding into a huge blast launching the craft forward. The pod rumbled and groaned as it launched down the tube feeling like at any moment that one bolt could go undone and the whole thing could fall apart at any moment. The little coffin came launching out of the bottom of the Mahatma and soared the dark abyss around it. Kumo did his best to try and avoid the containing volleys from the defense systems abroad the Providence. Somewhere behind them the buring Mahatma was being turned into some new wave art projects with as explosions and continuing blasts left it a ruin, a smoldering ruin floating through an unforgiving void. The pod pushed forward towards the Providence with choices beign either going towards the station or into the asteroid field that would probably turn them to mush. As Kumo did his best to keep things under control compensating for each erratic movement though that did little to help the passengers inside who were thrown each and which way in their seats being pulled up, down, right, and left sometimes begin suspend upside only being held in by the straps and at many moment it could be their last. Aleli had her eyes closed and her hands clenched to the sides of her seat, teeth grited and waiting for them to explode into a ball of death. Things deciedingly took a turn for the worse as despite Kumo's best efforts a bolt from the station hit the top of the pod. Warning lights flared as the pod began to flail about widely and erratically thrown off course. Kumo tried desperately to bring it back into order but nothing of the sort seemed to be allowed. We are all going to die, yep we are all going to die and it is all going to be my fault the pilot thought to himself bitterly as he fought the controls waiting for the explosion. An explosion that never came what came next was either a combination of luck and fate or something much sinister as the craft continued to canter towards Providence under Kumo little direction he had at this point is it continued to spin rapidly his visison a clouded circle unable to see what was what outside of the viewpoint everything decomposing into blurred lines. But the pod did not explode or crash into the side of the station making them paste, rather it found its way into the hanger of the ship spinning and scarping across the bottom before slamming agianst the far wall of the hanger flipping onto its back. --- Aleli had no idea how long she had been out but what she did know was that she was the first to awaken. Hanging upside down the straps digging hard into her shoulders she looked back and forth confused and unsure her head killing her and having the feeling that she needed to vomit somewhere deep within her. Hanging upside was not really helping her and so she pressed the button to undo the straps holding her in place, in retrospect this what not a good idea as she fell straight to the roof of the pod which had know became the floor with a thud. Looking up at the floor of the pod the comprehension of it hurt her brain as she slowly and shakily got to her feet moving to the other end of the pod. Using all her remaining strength she forced upon the wheel holding the pod door shut each jerking moment remanding her how sore her body felt because of the crash. Pushing it open she stepped outside into the hanger which was in shambles due to crash, contestant knocked about everywhere and a huge mark in the floor showing the path that the pod had taken before crashing into the back wall. The pod was in no good shape either crushed and mangled as easily as a piece of tinfoil or wet paper. Aleli took two more steps forward before her legs give way and she fell to the ground moments later lapsing back into the darkness that reached out to greet her. "Hey sleepyhead wake up! Come on wake up you idiot!" Aleli was shaken from her sleep by a firm hand and as her eyes fluttered open she was met by Kumo's face looking down at her and shaking his head. He reached down and helped her up to her feet letting her hang her arm around his shoulder to provide balance. "What happened?" She asked him her head groggily and thoughts and vision unclear. "Our ship blew up and we crashed, I'm guessing you remembered that part considering you were screaming through most of it. I woke up sometime afterwards to find the door of the escape pod open and you knocked out on the floor." Kumo explained to her without a hint of concern to his voice as he looked back towards the crushed pod. "Oh right.... Wait what hapened to everyone else?" "I haven't check on them yet, they were all still knocked out when I awoke." Kumo explained as Aleli flashed him a disappointed glance. "What?.... Fine I'll go check on them you stay here." Kumo explained finalyl relenting as he helped Aleli to the ground before limping back towards the pod and clamored back up and into the thing and began to shake each and every passenger as they still hung upside down yelling as he did. "Wake up assholes! We don't have all day!"

[agentmanatee]

Justeph's head felt like a watermelon about to bust, something had probably smacked him in the head during the crash. And the yelling pilot, shaking him didn't help either."ugh, calm down, I'm awake." He undid his straps and rolled onto the floor. He stood up, wobbled a bit, and started walking out of the pod rubbing his head. "God damn, whoever the hell landed our bucket should have his pilots license taken away." Just after he said that the young man shouted as his left leg exploded in pain."Ah FUCK!" He dropped to the floor holding his leg. "Jesus, what the hell wring with my leg? Do we have medic... this shit hurts"

[Traitor]

Skye pushed herself towards the seats after receiving a somewhat unsatisfactory answer. Considering how fast she had moved, it was highly unlikely that all the other pods had been put to good use. Even more so since she saw just about half the crew unable to walk or otherwise injured - if not dead - on her way here. Maybe one of the volleys had crossed this part of the ship... whichever way she looked at it, they were blessed with hilariously bad luck. Whoever shot down their ship would not roll out the red carpet when...or if they survived the drop. Almost too late, she strapped herself to the seat with a flimsy belt that had seen better times. Mere seconds after the belt closed with a 'clink' almost inaudible over the noises of the dying Mahatma, the interior of the pod was shaken and spun around. Had she been only a little slower, her body and specifically her glove would likely have become deadly projectiles inside the vessel. Gritting her teeth at the notion, she leaned back and closed her eyes, though not in panic. On the contrary. For the next few moments, the fate of all their lifes lied within the hands of the pilot and fate equally, and since there was nothing she could to to influence the outcome of their descent, she actually relaxed a bit - if they would now die, there was nothing to do about it anyway. As soon as the pod entered the hangar, her body tensed again. Maybe they wouldn't die during the landing? What if... Clank! The sheer force of their impact on the hangar wall knocked her lights out. "Wake up assholes! We don't have all day!" Skye snapped awake. Taking two deep breaths, she successfully identified her position as 'upside down', noticed that the gravitational forces of the landing had not ripped her left arm off (surprisingly, considering the weight of the attached tool) and found her weapon where she left it, secure and intact, dangling from a strap tied to her right arm. After several seconds of fruitless effort, she realized that the mechanism of her belt had broken during their wild tumble, luckily jammed shut. Accompanied by an audible buzzing sound, the servo-amplifiers in her glove ignited as she used the tool to crush the malfunctioning belt technology, freeing her from her predicament. Evidently this was not her first time hanging upside-down from a seat, since she managed to land on her feet, not her face, gracelessly but without injury. After a brief moment of processing the shifted gravity, she glared at the pilot who presumably saved all their lifes. She straightened her back, flexing her hurting shoulders while checking the functionality of her rifle and the two differently sized magazines sticking out of it, and directed an angry "Could you maybe keep it low? Whoever shot us down isn't gonna offer us a warm welcome when they realize we survived the elegant landing procedure." at the pilot. Griver's lamentations evoked a sigh and some eye-rolling. Making her own conclusions, Skye suspected that either marauding pirates or rebellious revolutionists seized control over the Providence. Chances of the IFF-systems failing completely without anybody noticing were low enough to expect the worst. As it seemed the two of them had already been outside and survived but this kind of situation usually changed fast. "We need to assess who survived and who is attacking us." And find some aspirin. The hit to her head had left a noticeable impact.

[Ubermensch]

Mr. Carlson already was awake when the pilot was yelling. "Settle down. This could have been worse!" At least they made it in one piece. Right now would be a good time to briefly recuperate to think tactically. Who knows what was truly going on in the Providence? One theory that formulated in his head was that perhaps the crew had gone mad. The ship could have been hijacked prior to investigations, but that had a slim chance. Either way, the mission took priority over rumination. Ulysses wasn't too badly injured, given that he attempted to shield himself during the less than graceful landing entry. He also used his knowledge to release himself from the seat. The technopath knew what to do. Ulysses regrouped with his allies in order to discuss Plan B. "Agreed; we need to plan out our next move."

[ShiningSector]

The sound of someone yelling in the background eventually got to Cayne's consciousness as he slowly began to awaken, his mind still hazy from the crash but still capable of limited recognition. Eventually, his eyes were able to adjust to the surroundings where Cayne found that his current orientation betrayed what he remembered being earlier. "This coming from the pilot who parked up us upside down..." Cayne growled under his breath in regard to the pilot's waking order while he fought with the knotted up belts that kept him suspended and dangling. Finally getting his hand around the handle of his knife, Cayne quickly went to work on the mangles belts, cleanly separating the elastic bonds until gravity took over with Cayne managing to land on his feet despite the present disorientation. Finally making his way out of the escape pod, Cayne checked his equipment for any noticeable damage. To the pilot's credit, at least the impact didn't damage any of the Cayne's already fragile gear, including his drone that reported no operational irregularities on his HUD. Following Skye's valid argument concerning whomever had attacked the Mahatma potentially arriving to finish the job, Cayne unlocked Pathfinder's docking clamps connected to his backpack. No longer held in place, the drone flickered to life as it's rotors quickly spun up and shortly gained altitude until small observer remained hovering in the air. Pathfinder rotated it's frame, scanning the hanger before laying it's optics on the escape pod's orientation and the scarred trail etched into the hangar floor; the drone looked down at Cayne and gave off several static-like chirps. "I know right?" replied Cayne as he armed himself with his own battle rifle. "Pathfinder, engage sentry mode. Sound off if the motion trackers pick up anything." The drone produced another series of sounds in comply, re-positioning itself over the escape pod as a vantage point and configuring the sensor nodes covered all over its frame into a 360 degree ring.

[Zombehs]

Kean jolted back into the world of the conscious rather abruptly and was immediately surveying the situation around him despite being upside down. Given the pod’s orientation, the pilot had managed to make a landing despite the condition; respectable. It seemed that most of the occupants had already awakened which was somewhat of a sore point for him, but things were what they were and there was no point in dwelling on it. Gripping the mangled harness that kept him locked in place, he clenched his fist to crush the mechanism before tearing it away. At the same time, his other hand grabbed the seat’s headrest so he didn’t fall face first into the ground. Landing feet first, he glanced at the two that were still unconscious and tilted his head in thought. Both were rather valuable to the mission given extra bodies were always useful and one was the team’s medic. While he could hear conversation outside the craft, it didn’t seem like his input was necessary as the in-command seemed to be doing fine. Checking up on his equipment as he walked over to the two still hanging from their harnesses he gave them a quick visual. Didn’t look like anything horrible had happened, but it was hard to see if there were any neck or head injuries from his position. Relying on the bio-scanner built into the helmet, he booted the soft and hardware up to let it begin running diagnostics. Given the awkward angle he was positioned to them it would take a while to get full feedback, but it didn’t look like the others were about to start exploring just yet, nor would he have approved of abandoning two allies so readily. Until he knew their conditions though, Kean wasn’t about to move either of them.

[Drake]

Adeola had just had the strangest dream. She was on a mission to check on a mining system by the name of Providence in the outer rim of the Alliance, and it had been emptier than hell. Then, the system's defenses had attacked the ship she was on, and she had to board an escape pod and she got knocked out on the escape pod. Then, she woke up to some guy yelling. Maybe she had slept in too late, she was supposed to be receiving an assignment soon. Her vision was blurry, and she couldn't orientate herself properly, it seemed like there was something wrong with her bloodflow to her lower body, though, because she couldn't feel her toes. When she could actually see and move properly, she saw some guy cocking his head and looking at her. "'Scuse me, sweetheart, but would you mind getting the fuck out of my face?" Adeola asked, kind of bitterly. She would probably apologize later, but right now she had a bad crick in her neck and her shoulders hurt, despite her armor, which probably wasn't a good sign. Wait, armor, but that must mean... she thought, and she was right. She looked around saw she was in fact in an escape pod. She recognized two others, she had met them on the Mahatma very briefly. That means it hadn't been a dream. Before she could really take care of anything, though, Adeola needed to get right side up. She was strapped too tight to reach her katanas on her back, so she grabbed the seat as best she could, and did her best to undo the straps. The belts release, and she fell towards the floor/ceiling of the pod. Though she had the seat to hold onto, he grip slipped, since she didn't have the strength to hold on. She slipped and landed hard on the ground, her blood deprived legs not enjoying the shock much. Adeola stumbled out of the pod, and looked around. The group was in a barren and destroyed hangar. There was an eerie silence surrounding them. She almost would've prefered her chances on the Mahatma at this point. There was something seriously wrong here. She slumped to her knees, her legs no longer able to support her until they got more blood flow. From all the spinning, though, her stomach was already on edge, and with the addition of the realization that something was horribly wrong, well, she puked. No dramtic dry heaving for five minutes or anything, just once, but once was enough. She felt horrible. Once she regained her composure and wiped the vomit from her mouth, she simply muttered. "We're fucked."

[DAWNSTAR]

Mika

Mika was slow to wake up after the crash. It was hard for her to break the grogginess and feeling of nausea. Once Mika truly opened her eyes, she realized why she was nasueous. Hanging upside down was far from fun and was also causing a splitting headache. Mika pressed the button on the seat belt but did not let go off the belt itself. Instead, she held onto the belt as she allowed gravity to fix her postion. With her body in the upright position, Mika dropped down into the pod and began looking around. Her supplies had to be somewhere in the pod. After a few minutes of looking around, Mika found her bag full of medical supplies and her knife. Mika stepped out of the crashed pod to join the others who had woken up. She opened her bag and placed her knife on its holster on her left hip while taking out her med kit and placing on the floor. "We might not be totally screwed here mind you. We at least survived the crash without any deaths. But I agree, we need to get moving. This place is too open for us to stay in. Whoever or whatever shot us down might be coming down here to loot our 'dead' corpses." said Mika as she looked through the kit to make sure nothing was broken, damaged or missing. Nothing was missing or damaged at all but she doubt the kit would be lucky to survive such a crash as that was. Mika stood up as she placed the medical supplies back in the bag and slung it over her right shoulder. "So, where do we go from here?" Mika asked as she fingered her pistol.

[Zombehs]

Turning calmly at the conscious woman Kean gave her a nod and moved back to give her room to work and act. By the time he had turned his attention back to the other it seemed that she had regained conscious too. ‘Good.’ Seeing as there wasn’t much reason for him to monitor them anymore, he gave the escape pod another look over to see if anything of use had been dropped or left behind in the aftermath of the crash. The sound of footsteps hitting the floor outside told him he was now alone in the wreckage and he performed yet another sweep as he headed towards the exit before finally he hopped out to join the others. He took in the situation as well as he could once he saw everyone that had escaped the Mahatama alongside him. Zarubin no longer had his drone with him and he hadn’t noticed any sign of it back in the pod, so it was probably deployed at the moment. Griver was apparently already injured and needed Aurelias’ attention which was great. Sentinel was giving up not only “hope”, but the contents of her stomach as well. All in all? Pretty good considering how they had arrived at such a situation. Replying to the group’s medic though, he nodded at Griver who was on the floor, “Perhaps take care of him?”He wasn’t in command, that was Skye’s job, so ultimately his was simply a suggestion. That aside he turned to face the woman in charge as he grasped his firearm and brought it in front of him, waiting for her orders.

[Hexaflexagon]

The group had formed a sort of misshapen circled outside of the entrance of the pod, the situation forcing them together and survival instincts of the pack mentality already forming. Aleli looked up from her position looking down at the unmoving metall floor beneath her feet to gaze upon those around her looking for anything a sense of hope, a sense of anything but all she got back was vacant and the occasional worried looks. Her eyes finally looked with Kome who looked about as sure as everybody else and in just as good shape, which on a way just didn't make sense in Aleli mind. Ever since she had first met him in the academy he was always the confident one, he was always the one with the plan, he was the valiant knight to Silas calculating tactician. Silas... last time she saw him was when she had dragged Kome away from the cockpit... he was pinned against a fallen piece of metal to his chair, he didn't seem to be awake. She hoped he hadn’t suffered too much. Kome looked around at the small group of people that he was know seemed to be stuck with at the time being. Most of them were talking almost going down in a fiery wreck as well as one could hope and they were not all about to die or anything, that was a plus in his book if any existed. Running a hand through his scraggly head of hair he listened as the others voiced their opinions upon their current situation. The general consensus seemed that they needed to move and move quickly. Whatever or whoever had taken control of the Providence apparently did not appreciate them that much and so sitting around in the hangar like fresh bait was probably not the best way to go about their current situation. Stuck in hostile territory with little information on the current situation and no way to contact anyone for help, it was like the damn war with the Secessionists all over again. But it was not going to end up the same way, he was not going to have another Kryes on his hands. “So... I guess it is decided then. We move further into the labyrinthine complex before us and into the waiting jaws of death.” Kome declared getting to his feet as best as he could his body still alight with pain. “Yeah. Well we still have a mission to complete, so our first objective has not changed just the circumstances of our arrival. We need to get to the Alliance outpost within the station, if anything has happened they should of have followed lockdown procedures and should still be alive.” Aleli explained to the others in her usual standard fashion when push came to shove the communications officer would always fall back on her orders, thats why the upper brass liked her so much her predictability. Though Aleli was concerned Providence was bigger than most cities and was filled with narrow winding paths filled with hundreds of hobbles, dwellings and assortment of the lowest scum in the galaxy, It was like trying to find a piece of hay in a pile of used heroin needles, or as the simple minded would say not a very fun time. “Well, back when I had just graduated from the academy they put me on some low priority supply runs because I managed to piss off my CO in ways that I’m still proud of this day. I’ve made drops to the station before, none of them were as exciting as this mind you but that is beside the point. I’m saying, I think I may remember the way to get their in relatively quick time without us getting totally lost.” Kome explained as he wandered over to the main door leading out of the hanger, the activation panel in the center glowing a muted green. Pressing a few buttons, a small honk was heard in response. That’s interesting the honk was the door announcing that a lockdown procedure had been put into effect, meaning someone in security had decided it was best to not let anyone in or out of the interior of the station. This combined with the general lack of human existence that had shown when they had crashed into the hanger was bothering Kome greatly. Luckily though alliance soldiers are given override codes that work on most standard issue locks such as the one in the hanger with manufacturers having to comply to such codes or face great penalties in the face of the law. (Though these codes only really worked with major access points, with home modules and most company and private organizations having their own locking system.) Problem was Kome was really not the type to remember long sequences of numbers. “Hey, Aleli can you come here for a second, I need your goody two shoes brain that tooks notes on everything our instructors ever said.” Kome called over his shoulder as quietly as he could. Aleli was still with the group who were slowly dishing out what little medical aide they could afford at the moment as well as getting any minor introductions out of the way. She pardoned herself from the group before walking over to where their pilot was and slapped him across the back of the head for good measure before looking at the panel as Kome explained the situation. Sighing she typed in a moderately long sequences of numbers and a soft hum was heard and the panel flashed green once before becoming a gentle sky blue signaling it was unlocked. Aleli looked over at Kome who nodded as she pressed the button and the door opened with little more than a hiss. What the communications officer saw wanted to make her vomit even more as Kome let out a signal profanity and took a step backwards. The hallway connecting the hanger to the rest of the station was filled with bodies. Corpses of men, women and children families, most of them looking like everyday people all processed against the door. It seemed as if they had all come to try and get out of the station, but found the door had been locked. And it seemed they know had a clue of why the station had gone dark. Blood was smeared against the viewports, tinting the blackness of space a crimson red, whatever had happened in this room was not good. The worst thing was the smell, Kome never liked the smell of flesh in the first place but rotting flesh was even worse. Kome had been in some less then desirable positions in his lifetime but nothing compared to the smell he was experiencing right now. It made him want to crawl into his own body and hide away, it made him want to rip off his infernal nose and curse it for ever trusting it again, more importantly it made him want to vomit. But he did no such thing but instead brought his hand up and placed it upon Aleli shoulder steadying her for the look upon her face was as if the poor girl had seen a ghost. Though a ghost would of been more preferable, the hollowed out faces, the gaunt and soulless eyes of a dead child looking back at him, it brought back memories he would of rather left long dead and gone. “Commander Wynters, you are going to want to come here and everyone else.... make sure your firearms are loaded.” Aleli managed to call out taking another step backwards, legs shaking.

[Traitor]

Skye took a few moments to evaluate the damage done to her group of people. Apparently, most of them somehow went really lucky. Well, technically speaking, they all did... everything was better than broken bones within potentially hostile territory. Sentinel looked like she didn't quite enjoy the rollercoaster ride into the hangar, though Skye secretly hoped that was all there was to her. A physically ill group member was more of a liability than a dead one, she remembered that all too well. She mostly ignored Grivers complaints about his leg, and it was not obvious if she considered his potential wound insubstantial, or if she outright didn't care. One could easily assume that she had access to his personal files and forged an antagonizing opinion on the young hacker, if paranoid enough. Her expression did lighten up substantially when the expedition's medic was not only alive and kicking, but also in her right mind. "Alright, if not already done, I want everyone to check their gear and prepare to move. Everything that's malfunctioning or damaged beyond reliable usability stays here. We can't afford to carry dead weight around. Next, I need to remind you of what my job is: your security. Whatever is happening to the people on the Providence is of low priority. My job is to keep you alive, and in order to do that, you need to comply to any command I or the officer issue. Even if that means abandonning someone from the colony's personnel. We're not here to be samaritans and help old ladies across the street." “Commander Wynters, you are going to want to come here and everyone else.... make sure your firearms are loaded.” "Lock and load." She confirmed the officer's order and fired up the plasma battery of her rifle, causing the weapon to emanate a permanent, low buzzing noise together with an increasing amount of heat that could easily melt off human flesh, but didn't do any harm to the power glove she used to hold the middle-front end of the weapon. She swiftly made her way over to the officer and the pilot, who conveniently blocked sight on the gruesome scenery until she caught up with them. The view on countless devastated bodies wasn't even what made her flinch, it was the unbearable stench. She hissed an aggressive "Shit." through her clenched teeth. Skye stared emotionlessly into the corridor for several seconds, processing how this kind of massacre affected the odds of what may have happened here, but also looking for a way to move past the torn bodies. Very intently avoiding to look at any one victim in particular. Nothing good would come from sympathizing with the dead. After moments of silence and low breathing, she turned to Keppotko. "Is this our only way?" Though somehow, she already anticipated the answer.

[agentmanatee]

Justeph slowly stood up, massaging his leg, "Yea thanks alot doc, I'll be sure to write how much you helped an injured comrade in my report" He said after standing up. As he listened to his current leader he rolled his eyes at her little speech. He had heard the same speech a thousand times in a thousand different ways, and what it boiled down to in his mind "I'm in charge, do what I say when I say" and he had problems with that. At the message though he got nervous, he removed his sidearm and made sure it was loaded, and swallowed lowdly. He almost gagged at the awful smell and sight of the bodies, then his mind fired up. He scanned the hall for any sort of access panel or control board for defense systems, but didn't see any. He sighed and looked to his commander, "What a stupid question, do you see another door?"

[Ubermensch]

The amount of bodies that gave ghastly odor did not trouble Carlson. He smelled dead bodies before during the war. Gripping the shotgun, it was to be assumed that someone or something slaughtered the entire crew. It was troubling as a theory already. However, it was best to move forward. Expecting the worst, Ulysses hoped for the best...