Serene

[Anonymous]

Diitcha smirked as he span on his captian's chair, he found it amusing but realised dizzyness was a terrible side effect and stopped. "So what's going on boys and girls," he asked through the com speaker on the arm of his chair. "Bargh nuttin' mush me ol' skipper, juz' sat hair waying for yeh orda's!" replied a strange accented man on the other side of the comm. "Very well then," sighed Diitcha with a small smile on his face, he was a happy fellow but very bored. They had been lurking the open space for any fools, seem's like fools are too stupid to find they're way out here well what was what he and his crew decided at the messhall after many pints and drunken discussions. "Well in that case I shall watch this viral video that I found in a museum about something called the internet!" he said brightly pushing a red button.

The LOL Pirates song began playing and Diitcha nodded his head quaintly to it. "Argh, argh argh, YOU ARE A PIRATE!" he sang along, gesturing his bridge crew to join in, which they did ofcoarse. The childish captian smiled and nodded in content, he span his chair and lent over to bottle, he swiped it with a swift movement, then began sipping it lightly to savour the taste. He sat there a moment but spat the beverage out. "Bad idea! Down it don't taste it!" he blurted through choking and gagging.

The faithful ship:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=3589

[Anonymous]

Jeez. Rastaban could be as cheery as the next man, but sometimes, he wondered about the Captain. Was he missing part of his brain? Had he taken too much damage through all the space pirate battles he seemed to embroil himself into? Personally, Rastaban was not a lover of conflict. He could hold his own if need be (well, uh, sometimes, anyway) but if he could avoid a battle, he usually did. As usual, they seemed to be prowling the wide open space for some fool to happen upon them. And then once they did: swoop! The crew would egg the Captain on and what would happen next? Conflict. Rastaban sighed. Oh well. How did the old saying go? When aboard, do as the Captain does? Hells if this pirate could remember. He only fell into this line of work on accident, after all. Was he really expected to memorize every silly superstition? Every strange, old fashioned idiom?

Not laughing at the Captain's choking disaster, Rastaban did feel a ghost of a smile forming on his otherwise impassive face. He drew closer to the Captain then, eyes narrowing as he looked past the immature man and out into deep space. The ghost of a smile vanished completely.

"Captain, I don't mean to alarm you, but it looks like there's a ship out there..." Indeed, just ahead and slightly to their left was a ship larger than theirs. No communication from them, and no dangerous weapons seemed to be pointing their way. In fact, as their own ship moved closer and Rastaban himself leaned closer to get a better view... He noticed they were probably not going to be threatening them at all.

Bits and pieces of the mystery ship were floating around--they were clearly broken and had been attacked... By something or someone. Was it a trap? Were they pirates waiting to take advantage of a soft heart? Or were they truly happening upon a past disaster. Still no communication.

"Should we try connecting with their captain, Captain?" Rastaban asked with a furrowed brow, barely glancing at the man before gluing his eyes back on the scene outside. What to do now?

[Anonymous]

Diitcha looked down at the newest crew member of his ship, "it's probably a trap, old pirate tales talk about shipwrecks in space.... god know's what horrors lie in there," he replied rubbing his chin, he thought for a moment then clapped his hands, "ok, flux the stars to make us disappear on any scanners, forward sheilds need to be raised to higher power and we need to get accurate scans on that blasted ship wreck," he looked at the ship and smiled, "horrors are nothing compared to what treasures that might be left in there......" he looked back the new crew member, "have you ever been into the sub decks of this very ship?" he asked thoughtfully.

He hopped back onto his chair and place his hands together, watching the thoughtful man with intrigue, this one never seemed to like his tactics or anything, but ofcoarse not alll were so... impressed with Diitcha's captian abilities, but there was always a fine between his genius and the shear madness that glows on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Ah, so the Captain wasn't as dim as he looked. He was aware that it might be a trap and he was taking steps to ensure they weren't ambushed. In fact, if anything, it seemed as if the Serene would be the one ambushing them. If it's a trap. We're still not certain, but I suppose that's why we're giving the old girl a scan before he goes ahead and blasts it to smithereens. Or is he just holding off on that to preserve whatever treasures might lie in there? Rastaban was new on this particular ship, he didn't know the Captain nor his motives so well that he could make an accurate judgment.

"I have not been in the sub decks, Sir," Rastaban said, which was true. He kept to his room and the areas that he'd been directed to work in. He wasn't nosy enough to get himself into trouble wandering where he might not be wanted. "Is there some sort of horror on this ship?"

That seemed to be what the Captain was alluding to. If so, that didn't sound so great to Rastaban. He was no coward, but he certainly didn't go out of his way to throw himself into harm's way.

[Anonymous]

Diitcha smiled wildly, "aye, creatures that feed off generators and such," he stamped on the floor, "the ones down in the sub decks are horrors alright, so I'm thinking that a ship like that has a generator which probably is still active at a low level, thus, there might be some of the creatures in that ship...or worse, but a few engineers in this here ship now how to deal with 'em so after the scans we send a shuttle to that ship," he smiled and began to bounce a ball, he looked the newbie and nodded his head, this one might be a skillful one he thought to himself, "why don't you go aboard with 'em, you seem a sly type and ya might just find your worth!" he laughed punching him lightly on the arm.

He leant over to the chair and pressed the comm panel, "alright lads, it's time to scratching at some relics, watch out for the blighters though!" he chuckled and looked back up at Rastaban, "and we got a thinker here, he'll be handy," he added, smiling at Rastaban with a large fanged grin.

[Anonymous]

Creatures that feed off generators? All right, so now the Captain had piqued his interest. He wondered what sort of creatures did such a thing, and if they were truly horrors as the Captain described them or if it was some pet name for a bunch of coal shovelers. Nah, I doubt that. If this ship still ran on something as archaic as coal, then it wouldn't be so fast and it wouldn't hold up well in space. He had yet to fully form an opinion on what he thought and speculated that these "horrors" could be. Would he scrape up the will to go look for himself or would he pointblank ask the Captain himself? Hm... Well, at the moment, the horrors of the Serene weren't important. What was important was the possible enemy that may lie in wait for them in that broken down ship. Rastaban watched another piece of that ship's debris float by.

He blinked as he was punched in the arm and encouraged to board the ship. "Really? You want me to board the ship, Sir?" He blinked again before smiling. Rastaban didn't know what he might find aboard that ship, enemy or treasure--or something else entirely--but he was actually somewhat flattered that the Captain would allow him to be amongst those who found out. Even if he was just trying to get rid of him in the hopes that he'd die in there (or even possibly just leave him in there while he sped off), Rastaban was excited to get a look at the ship. He was an explorer at heart--it was one reason he had no problem boarding a space pirate's ship and becoming one of his crew. Exploration was a large part of space pirating, after all!

The Captain called him a thinker. Rastaban returned the man's grin with one of his own.

"I don't know... Thinking's not as handy as a fast sword arm." As he said this, he lightly touched the hilt of one of the two blades he kept with him at all times. It was a technological world out there, but Rastaban was a little old fashioned. He owned a gun, to be sure, but he was precisely the type of man who brought a sword to a gun fight. And occasionally won. Rastaban watched the other men aboard the ship, then looked back at the Captain, unable to disguise his acute interest in boarding the other ship. They were almost fully upon it now, and the other men were jostling and joking with one another, fully prepared for a battle. Did Rastaban hope for a fight? Not really. He was an avoider of conflict, remember? But it didn't mean that he wasn't prepared.

"Just give the word, Captain," Rastaban said as the Serene drew close enough to board. He peered through the space and junk floating about and into the wide open docking hatch. He didn't see anything, but he sensed something. Something big. His grip on his sword's hilt tightened. "I'm ready when you are."

[Anonymous]

Diitcha smiled at him and looked away, "well I'm ready, but don't get yourself killed or the others... and you are thinker, sword's take thought while anyone can shoot off a lead slug at anyone" he replied peering at the window, "and maybe we'll find out who could do such a thing..." he looked down thoughtfully touching the handle of his pistol, "let's hope they ain't as powerful as the Serene! And just incase, the hellcannon will be activated and ready to fire!" he announced to the crew, some of them had worried expressions when the true damage of the mystery ship was recognisable. But, this was Captian Diitcha, he invents ships and the Serene is his masterpiece, the only ship he knows that contains three stars for an engine. He smiled as he leant over to a switch and pushed it upwards, it made a loud roar as energy flowed through the devistating weapon. "Argh argh argh, you are a pirate," he whispered, quoting the song he played earlier.

[Anonymous]

"I suppose even if it's just a hunk of junk ship, you can grab extra parts," Rastaban mused, looking back out at the broken down ship. So far, nothing was happening that was in the least threatening. No strange lights gleaming from the dark docking hatch, no weapons being raised. Since the Serene was now close enough, Rastaban scuttled off to do his job and board the other ship. He heard talk of firing the hellcannon and the mutterings of the other men seemed enough to tell him that it was more of a last ditch effort if they happened to be ambushed from within the dark bowels of the mystery ship. From the sounds of it, firing the hellcannon while they were inside the other ship pretty much meant whoever was aboard at the time was a goner. Rastaban frowned slightly, but didn't stop his preparations.

Boarding the other ship didn't take all that long. Rastaban jumped into a smaller transporter with another of the crew members, and they jetted across the space between the two ships. There was no cloaking device for the small transporter, but that was all right, because as they drew nearer, Rastaban was starting to believe there was little to fear from this lost vessel. Of course, that was dead man's thinking. Never assume you're safe. Complacence breeds bad decisions. As he landed the small transporter inside the docking hatch of the other ship, he gave it a wary look before opening up and leaping out--oxygen mask and tank intact (yes, he checked). Then he was moving towards the inner sanctum of the ship. It wasn't easy. The thing was leaning dangerously and one wrong step would have him out floating in space. He walked slowly and entered a hallway through a bent and warped door that had probably once opened on its own. Through the mask he wore, he could see debris and... what looked to be mighty claw marks rent through the metal. Rastaban frowned and touched one of these claw marks.

"Looks like they had a beast aboard this vessel and it went berserk," he speculated.

[Anonymous]

"Aye, me thinks too," said an old reptilian engineer who was part of the group, he was wearing a big goggled breathing apparatus. He walked on ahead,then scratched his chin and knocked one of the decrepid walls, "me also think's there's leaches aboard he hissed as he slid is fingers into a jagged hole that seemed to be chewed into the hull. A few other crew members shook their heads and began to fire air propelled hooks into the walls for their safey harnesses. "Oi maiteh, dun fehget dis," said a thing scraggy one who tossed a piece the harness to Rastaban, "an' dun do not'ing stoopid," he cackled, revving a buzzsaw while the others did the same or pulled out large bolt like guns; they flashed their torches into the shadows and leaning over the edge to look for any leech creatures. "Ahhh, it's an omen!" yelled one through the comm, he was struggling to get a mangled body off of him. Finally getting the body off, him and some others peered into the room.... things were hanging limply upside down. Bodies.

[Anonymous]

Rastaban glanced back at the reptilian engineer as he spoke. He didn't remember the codger's name. He'd never been great with names. Turning away, he caught the piece of the harness that was thrown at him just in time to avoid being smacked across the back of the head with it. He blinked as he looked down at it, but he went about taking the safety precautions and attached himself to it. He hadn't planned on doing anything stupid, but that was the best part about it--stupid could never be planned.

"Right," he said in response, amused. He was going to try and be as smart about this as he could be, if not only just to keep his own head attached to his neck. It was funny how so far, he wasn't so much scared as he was intrigued. What had happened here? He wasn't going to let his guard down, though. It could still be a trap; all these dead bodies... They had to have died somehow, and it didn't look like it was from lack of oxygen. These were brutally beaten and mutilated bodies. Rastaban stared up at the bodies hanging all around them and he ventured further into the room.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr..."

He blinked, his heart had skipped a beat. His mouth went dry and he turned back to the others, most of whom were hovering and looking around, wide-eyed.

"Hear that?" he asked. "What was tha-?" His question was torn right from his throat even as he spoke because something dark was slinking right out of the shadows in the back of the room. Rastaban swallowed and backed up a step, one hand in the air. He'd been about to make a spiel about peace, but one more glance at the bodies and he knew this beast wouldn't grant him such a request--not even if it was capable of it. So he drew a blade with his other hand.

"Maybe we should have just blown the ship to bits," he said, much too cheerfully for somebody who might die in two seconds. Well, he had to have the right attitude, right? If he was going to die today, at least he'd go down smiling. And fighting. Because he wasn't about to just let this thing wrap its jaws around him. The thing let out another growl and lunged.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. He rubbed his temple as the sharp pounding pulsated through his brain. He didn't feel too sick as he had the previous day, so a headache didn't seem too much trouble for the time being, he could handle that better than the rest of the hangover. What day was it? He squinted his eyes to look over at the projecting calendar on his wall and grimaced. It was that day, the day that parents had kicked him out of their house when he had only been a little kid. Well not too little, maybe 15 or was it 16? He couldn't remember.

Lorimar looked over the contents of his desk; various pills and apothecary items were scattered around, tools and instruments that looked more like small weapons than actual doctor's tools. Nowaday's people liked to use laser's for everything. Had a strange growth on your arm? Oh, let's take a laser and cut it off. Nope! Not Lorimar, he liked things the old fashioned way, take a small thin knife, cut off the abnormality and then burn the persons skin with a fine heatstone. Not only did the screams and cries of his patients satisfy his need to torture something, but they seemed to like the drugs that he gave them for the pain. Pain...

Just when he thought that he could have forgotten about the headache, it started back again. Standing up, Lorimar walked over to his cabinet and began to rummage through various pill bottles for some pain killers. Three of them he found could help with his headache. He stood for a moment, deciding on what he could take, shrugging he opened all three bottles and took out a pill each, popping them into his mouth and swallowing them without the need of water. Not that he really drank the stuff. Water was too tasteless. Something more like Rhum or something stronger like Everclear with a bit of something fruity and something to bring about some bubbly would be nice.

He looked up when he heard something over the speakers, he didn't pay much attention to it because his head started to hurt more and that damned noise started to sound through his ears now. He placed a hand on his ear and started out of his room and office to the hallway and towards the bridge. Something was going on, someone on the bridge might be able to tell him, but he didn't even have to get that far when people rushed past him muttering that there was an abandoned broken ship and that they were going to check it out. Count him out! He didn't want anything to do with that. But he could get things prepared in his office in case something went down over there. One couldn't be too careful of injuries. A small smile formed at the corner of his mouth as he thought about it, someone to get injured huh? He hoped so.

[Anonymous]

Diitcha looked over to another crew member lingering in the bridge, "aye matey you seem to be suffering from a headache," he laughed noticing the mans palm rubbing. He looked back at the ship and shook his head from hearing various pecimistic and fearstruck radio transmissions. He raised a comm speaker to his mouth, "oi lads, no such thing as omens and new boi, you ain't dying on my watch," he called through the metallic handset, "jus' watch them shadows and get your ass covered nice like," he added, looking to one the bridge crewmembers with a concerned look.

                                                *     *     *

The lizard man shook his head at the bodies, "me's think we dun 'ave an easy job on arr hands," he replied back over the comm, his voice was shaking slightly. "Ahhh nout me dying," blurted a scared member who pointed his gun all around his person. "Dun be wurried, we li-" the lizard man's sentence was cut short in a blood curdling choke as he fell to the floor and slid backwards into a hole. The terrified pirate screamed and shot randomly at the hole, he looked at Rastaban and shook his head, "I ain't dying!" he screamed running back down the hallways to the shuttle, only to follow a high pitched scream. The four remaining pirates looked at Rastaban with feared expressions being shown through their masks.

                                              *  *  *

Diitcha shook his head and loaded his gun, "OK LADS, WE GOT SOMETHING IN THE DARKNESS, NOT LEECHES READY FOR THE DRILL," he bellowed through the speakers, pointing his gun out to check the sights. "Headacher, you're in charge of security on the armanent deck," he called to the man named Lorimar. He pointed out other two people for defending the other safe decks, "ok, we don't want these things getting on our ship, but I'm getting over there with me boi's" he called punching the door button and took the lift to ship bay. He winked at the worried bridge crew as the doors closed.

[Anonymous]

The strange monster from the darkness had grabbed the poor lizard man and dragged him back into the darkness with him. Rastaban rushed at it and tried to get in a slash, but the speed of the monster was amazing. It was back in the hole with the old man and all Rastaban had managed to do was swing his sword in an useless arc through the air. Letting out a huff of annoyance, he grit his teeth and held tight to the sword, watching the hole. He heard the Captain's voice bellowing something over the speakers, but his mind was already elsewhere. What to do next...

He looked over his shoulder at the four remaining space pirates that were with him, all scared out of their wits. "There's four of you. Get out your guns and keep your finger on the trigger. One of you face each direction. East, west, north, south. Me? I'm going into that hole..."

Rastaban took a step closer to the darkness. He hadn't known any of these men very long, but it didn't mean that he didn't have a soft spot for their lives. If somebody had to die to figure out what was going on here, it could be him. He didn't mind, as long as it was for science. As long as his death meant something. Okay. All right. He cared a little. He was a little scared as he approached what looked like an abyss in the ship, but he wasn't going to show it. If he learned anything from the Captain, it was that you never showed that you were scared of anything in front of others. It inspired confidence when you were confident, but if he panicked, well... His panic would only breed panic.

"I'm going in..." Rastaban looked down the endless hole and he thought he could still hear the poor old man. He didn't know his name, but he was still going in after him. Then he finally jumped into the hole.

[Anonymous]

Lorimar looked over at the Captain as he spoke to him. He was sure that he'd be off to the other ship with the rest of the crew. What was he still doing here on the bridge? He raised an eyebrow at the man, "Aye, I am." He told him. Soon enough the pills should take effect and clear his head of it's pounding monstrosity.

As the captain turned the com speaker on, he places his hands to his head as a small noise emitted from the thing and hit his ears like one of the Train's that floated around in space. He frowned when he talked about no bad omens and no one would be dying. How was a doctor supposed to make it without any patients to heal? He could always go back and get another drink. "A broken arm would be good." He told himself aloud but hadn't realized he spoke his thoughts. Tingly feelings all around his fingertips and toes started to crawl upward, the nice feeling that the drugs were going to be taking place soon.

[Anonymous]

A cat eared man slapped Lorimar on the back, "aye maybe, but what you be getting is much worse wounds from this monster," he growled in a light voice, "you be lucky to put the body the right way up," he laughed, loading his gun and going with the other security personell to guard the decks. A bearded man looked over to the doctor, "you're incharge of this deck, meaning you're lucky or very unlucky if you fail your job," he said in a deep voice, "everyone's lives on this deck is YOUR responsibility and shear idleness will get you stuck on the other ship.
 There was a thumping sound and shadowy figure slipped pass the bridge screen and a screach of metal echoed which was followed by the sound of the air being sucked through a large hole.
The man looked over to Lorimar, "and here's your test matey," he smiled then threw a gun to Lorimar.

                                             *         *        *

 The four survivors waited patiently for Rastaban, they peered at the hole every now and then hoping he would come back soon.
  While the brave adventurer crawled through the tunnels with in the ship there was a sound footsteps up ahead of him, they were loud, overconfident, unafraid and heading straight for him. The echoes of the footsteps got louder and louder as it got closer.

[Anonymous]

WHUMP! He hit the ground on one knee and one hand, and felt lucky he hadn't fallen end over end and in a heap. Because if he had, he never would have had the wherewithal (he'd be too busy untangling his sorry self) to see the humongous tail flying at him.

"Eep!" Rastaban squeaked as he ducked the blow, flattening himself against metal. He wasn't so graceful with the oxygen tank and mask weighing him down. In fact, he was again feeling lucky that his tank hadn't been hit or punctured. He wasn't feeling so lucky, however, when he jumped up and found the tail coming back on a return trip. It smashed into his side and threw him across the room and against a wall. This wasn't going so well. And? Well, he'd managed to drop the sword he'd unsheathed before he leapt down. He darted a glance at it, but soon foul breath was pervading his nostrils and he gagged on the smell. Holding his throat and trying not to breathe too much--even through a tank, it was bad--he tried to call for the old guy.

"Lizard? Lizard, are you still alive?" He was met with a loud growl and then a roar that left spit all over his mask. Gross. He wasn't cleaning that. A claw slashed through the air and he rolled to the ground to snatch his sword--only the beast stepped down on it with another foot. How many feet did it have? From his vantage point, he saw about six. Maybe more. Gulping, he ran the other way and called, "AFTER ME, UGLY!" and then "OLD LIZARD! YOU ALIVE? TELLLLLL ME, PLEASSSE!" even as he sprinted down the hall, monster roaring and smashing things in its wake as it followed him.

[Anonymous]

He didn't expect someone to hit him on his back and therefor was taken a bit by surprise, he turned around to see the cat eared man standing there. The mention of worse wounds and possible dismemberment made a smile creep on his lips. Wonderful! Things to do! Things to keep his mind off his... current state.

Wait a minute! Did he just say that he was in charge of the deck? "I'm sorry, but I'm a doctor, not a leader." he told him, but he didn't think that he was really heard over the yelling of those around him because a gun was thrown at him and he barely caught the thing. "Test for what? I'm not a leader!" Again he didn't think he was being heard, he could feel his head starting to go light from the drugs. Great! Just what he needed, to be put in charge, and almost ready to pass out from the mixture of items he took.

[Anonymous]

There was shouting and gunfire down the hall from Lorimar, "they got in! kill it!" yelled a screechy voice lizard, firing a shotgun at a mass of twisted creatures. "KILL THEM," boomed the bearded man who was stood by Lorimar and the cat guy. There was shotgun shells going off and people falling backwards as the they retreated. "Doc's are smart right," said the young reptile, "what do we do?!" he screeched, tugging on Lorimars arm as he waved his shotgun on the air.
                                          *      *      *
    A hand pulled at Rastabans arm, causing him to fall through a door. "Aye matey, shouting for a deadman means you will be one," said Captian Diitcha, loading his gun and locking the metal door. He grinned wildly and lifted the swordsmen off the ground, "I found the dear ol' man...." the captian place his hand to his heart, "poor guy, his son is on the ship so we best tell him when we get back home," he said sadly and looked around the room, "now is there any other survivors?" he looked at Rastaban with a face of stone, "well matey?"

[Anonymous]

"D....Whoa!" Rastaban was tugged through a door and he faceplanted right into the ground. Then the Captain was dragging him up. "Captain! Captain?! What are you doing in here? Don't you...?" His words disappeared as he was informed that the man he was searching so madly for was long lost to them. He frowned. He didn't like death. He didn't like knowing he wasn't able to save somebody. He looked into the Captain's stony face as he asked about survivors and it was like switching on a light. He came back to life.

"Survivors! Yes. They're... There are four of them, but if we don't do something, that beast is going to go back for them." His gaze went to the door the Captain had locked behind them. "We can't leave them out there."

[Anonymous]

Lorimar turned on his heel to look down the hallway towards the gunfire and shouting. "What the fu--?" Wait! Did someone just yell kill them? He wasn't sure about going down the hall or even towards it. what the hell was he thinking putting me in charge He thought to himself as he looked down and saw something twisted coming in. I fix broken bones, stitch wounds, clean them out and do things to human bodies, I'm not a leader

"I might be somewhat smart," he turned to the young lizard, "when it comes to healing, but I'm not a leader, sorry to disappoint but I'm not sure why he put me in charge around here." he looked around, but he couldn't find anything or anyone that could take his place. "I don't know, kill them?" he told the guy as he started to feel himself about to pass out, his vision, blurry and his body started to get woozy.