Shroud of Doom (Open)

[Ultimatum]

The lines of starlight contracted into distinct points, nebulous gas and far-off galaxies became visible as the ship reentered realspace. For a moment Ultimatum gazed into the void, waiting expectantly for the pilot to punch in the next set of coordinates. The droid had bartered his way aboard a bulk freighter bound Corewards along the Hydian Way, in return for some help with system updating. They had made a minor detour to reach one of the supply worlds and were now returning to the interstellar highway. It promised to be a quick return, only a few hours lost.

When half a minute passed without any noticeable change in the stars, Ultimatum suspected something was wrong. The robot left the small observation hemisphere to begin walking towards the command deck. He passed three of the crewmen, who shared in Ultimatum's ignorance as to why they had stopped. As he moved passed a viewport, Ultimatum noticed another ship in the distance. It's running lights were operating, but it was seemingly dead aside from that. "Perhaps they are looking to send a salvage or rescue ship." Upari was surprisingly quiet at this point, but Ultimatum hardly noticed.

As he stepped through the tight hallways of the cargo vessel, there was a loud bang that reverberated through the ship and Ultimatum suddenly found himself on an ever-steepening decline. Reaching the stairs, now a straightforward path rather than upward, the droid nimbly raced across to the door. Pulling it open, Ultimatum slid down a short hallway before smashing through the thin metal doorway at the end. In the rather command deck meant for five people, two pilots were furiously fighting with their restraints to reach the console. The ship was almost vertical and twisting towards the right as Ultimatum dropped carefully on to the back of one of the seats.

The droid pulled the restraints on the pilot free, and he lurched forward and slapped a button. The ship began righting itself. With visible signs of relief, the Rodian pilot slumped to the floor. The other pilot, a Bith with several cybernetics, finally released the restraints and pulled herself up. Ultimatum looked out the viewport as she began trying to maneuver the vessel. There were many other vessels merely floating in space, some with their running lights on, others seemingly dead. The designs were various, but few were older than a decade. In the distance, a massive grey orb spun in space. A planet it most likely was, but seemingly a gas giant. Its gravity was immense, for the ships were slowly moving towards it. There was a single bright light shining from the world, perhaps a space station in orbit. It was far too large, or the planet too small.

Ultimatum helped the Rodian up; the engines died moments later. All systems are turning off at the same time. As the various persons floated off the ground, Ultimatum realized something else that the other ships all had in common. Every single hatch lay open to the void. The thought left his lips just as the distant sound of air escaping the ship whistled throughout the vessel.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum fell to silence, waiting for his systems to shut off. The pilots were watching as well if something had shut down the ship why not the droid? However, after a few seconds, it seemed apparent that he was fine and there was no sign of an imminent shutdown.

"You're a droid, go check on the others. We'll seal ourselves in; we'll be okay for awhile." The Rodian commanded, in perfect Basic. It was a feat that Ultimatum guessed took the sentient quite some time to master.

"Okay." Ultimatum moved to the passageway and pulled the emergency door closed behind him. The roar of the atmosphere escaping the ship deafened all other noise as he pushed himself through the starship. Without gravity, the ability to traverse the hallways was both easier and more challenging. The robot could achieve higher velocity and therefore reach other locations more readily. However, it also required precision maneuvering so as not to merely start banging into things on a turn.

Without too many incidents, Ultimatum, using his life detection system, moved to the nearest group of sentients. They had managed, with some effort, to create a seal over the galley entrance and were in a state of post-terror calm. They did not respond to his attempts to communicate. Seeing as they were in no immediate physical danger, Ultimatum moved away. He tuned his radio and began calling for others in the ship and perhaps the occupants on other vessels in space.

"This is Ultimatum, is there anyone else out here?"

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

The Hydian Way was not Tugoro's first choice of hyperspace lanes, but it had been the closest route in order to get where he wanted to go. Now that his flight recorder was fixed thanks to a drunken Devaronian on Anzat, there were many opportunities for exploration and discovery, at the cost of trekking through dangerous territories. The route he had taken went straight between Sith and Mandalorian space, eventually teetering along the edge of Mandalorian, sometimes going straight through.

Last he had checked, the armored bruisers were not out for his neck, though he doubted everything would be fine and dandy if they were to capture a Jedi. So, it was months ago that Tugoro decided he in fact was not a Jedi, just an ordinary spacer seeking what anyone else did. Sat within the captain's chair of his freighter, the man silently leaned over the ship console, scrolling through the many logs that the black box had recorded.

The lights were out for the most part, darkness cast through the freighter's interior as Tugoro sat alone in the cockpit. There were no other crew members, and he was feeling a bit tired anyway. No naps would be had today however, for the ship suddenly began to violently quake for a brief moment, before the hyperdrive audibly began to power down out of no where. Glancing out the transparisteel viewport, Tugoro was confused, for the freighter had yet to revert from hyperspace.

Then it happened, the reversion nearly causing the man to slam his face against the computer console before him. Looking to the sensory readouts, it appeared as if his ship had reverted within a gravity well, just barely making it to the edge of the powerful field's grasp. Such anomalies were not unknown to him, though they had mostly been encountered during battle, employed artificially by the Sith to achieve devastating results.

There were other ships out there too, though they had suffered a far worse fate than Tugoro. Narrowing the sensors down to lifeforms, the man waited for the scans to complete, as he sent out a transmission on an open frequency to those in the area. He had just missed [member="Ultimatum"]'s own. "This is freighter Katarn broadcasting, if there are any remaining survivors, please respond." Sitting back, all Tugoro could do was wait, also attempting to initiate a scan on the source of the gravity well. It was unlikely to yield any useful results, though.

 

[Ultimatum]

The droid caught another transmission from another vessel. It brought hope to the droid, who had feared there would be no response. He took a few moments to look into another closed room, but the window was cracked and the airlock door open. There were no bodies within and he hoped that it meant no one was trapped within. His barometer alerted him to the fact that the atmosphere was quickly dispersing. Ultimatum rushed to continue his check as his transmitter spat out a message, "Freighter Katarn, this is transport Opportunity, we are powered down and losing atmosphere."

The next door was open and he heard banging from within. Pushing himself into the room he grasped the doorway when he felt momentum pulling him to the open door to the void. There was a human thrashing against bunk webbing that he had become entangled in. Ultimatum examined the surrounding and found no emergency equipment, so he propelled himself towards the organic and slammed into the wall beside him. The man seemed to be yelling, but the air was already almost entirely dissipated in this room, the droid could not hear what he had to say. With calm precision, the droid grasped and ripped several strands of the secure webbing to break it at key points. With inhuman reflexes he gripped the man's suit as he began to slip from the safety. Pulling him close, almost crushing the air out of him, the droid launched himself back towards the entrance and forced them to continue towards the last safe room. Bashing into the somewhat airproof door, Ultimatum knocked it open long enough to toss the man in and then pulled it closed again before too much of the air could escape.

With the first emergency out of the way, Ultimatum began pulling himself along the ship while he listened again to the transmission waves. He caught the beginning of yet another transmission, "About bloody time! Freighter Katarn, Frigate Blue Sky. We've restored power to life support, but our crew is mostly dead. Got maybe ten people throughout the ship."

An almost inaudible message, filled with stilted words and static, came through soon thereafter, "Katarn. Cruiser Hallowed. Low air, power gone. Need supplies."

The droid continued, now his barometer read zero. The ship's many passageways were likely empty and whatever poor soul had found itself too far away to reach a safe room would be dying the quick death of vacuum exposure. However, the droid had to assume that there could be other survivors and if there were then his programming required that he try to save them. He passed through more dead hallways, without lights they were as dark a cave and the droid was forced to navigate by touch and what little light he produced. He traveled perhaps ten meters before he touched a wall, and when he did he heard the steady clicking of something on metal reverberate through it. He gazed around, almost blind before Upari channeled the Force into his bulbs and increased their luminescence several fold. With that, he could dimly make out the form of a skeletal figure pulling itself towards the droid. For the briefest of moments Ultimatum was shocked, erroneously believing it to be the carapace of some insect species, but then realized it was a Givin. It motioned to Ultimatum, back towards the cargo holds. Ultimatum pointed back down the hallway towards a safe room and the Givin nodded, once more pointing over its shoulder. It was Ultimatum's turn to nod.

The two passed each other and continued in their opposite directions, one to life, the other to the unknown.

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

Tugoro knew that there were multiple ships out there, but he hadn't expected there to be so many survivors. Happening upon gravitational anomalies in space hardly ever ended well for the unprepared. The man himself was still somewhat baffled, unsure of how his ship had managed to avoid being rendered useless. He had examined a few unconventional upgrades to his ship that seemed less than legal, but didn't have a clue as to what they did. He was just getting the hang of piloting a freighter, and he would have to do so if some of these people were to survive.

Stretching his arms along the control console, eventually to the co-pilot side, Tugoro opened the channel and listened to the transmissions that were broadcast by the survivors. Other crew members to help would have been nice, but funnily enough, the Jedi hadn't seen that far ahead. Making a few more adjustments to the scanners, Tugoro tried to see how far apart these ships were, and which was the closest to his position, which was near the edge of the gravity well. It would be a bumpy ride, regardless of where he went first.

With the little information he had, Tugoro pressed a button upon the console in front of him, cycling through the channels, making sure that his inquiries were sent to the correct vessels. "Hallowed, this is Katarn. I need you to tell me, approximately, how many crew members have survived." He needed to take it slow, as to avoid total panic.

"Blue Sky, this is Katarn. Your ship may be filled soon enough, please transmit your coordinates if possible. We'll work through this." The frigate seemed to be in the most dire situation, but could Tugoro really prioritize life? By now, the Jedi's freighter was moving steadily through the dark expanse, heading in the general direction the transmissions had originated from. This wasn't going to be easy.

The last message was the one he dreaded to send, but whoever was on the other end was a lot calmer and collected than the others. [member="Ultimatum"] would pick up the transmission as it was sent out, "Transport Opportunity, hang in there a little longer. How many survivors are with you?" The freighter Tugoro piloted was fairly big, and did have a lot of cargo space, but he could only hope it was enough.

 

[Ultimatum]

The droid stopped at each door as he passed down the silent hall. It was eerie for a starship to be quiet, for sound was the surest sign of life in the depths of space. There was nothing now, no life support, no lights, no hope. Yet, there was little Ultimatum could do but continue and force himself to hope. There had to be more people running this ship, perhaps other passengers as well. If he could save one more, then he would be content; so he lied to himself. There was no pride or rest to be had while there yet remained uncertainty as to the fate of the lost.

The signal was returned, and Ultimatum listened, hoping to catch if any others had spoken as well. Almost immediately the faint voice started, "Katarn- Hall- I see- ou. Two kilo- down -uthwe-t. Onl- one." The message cut out with the sound of a powercell dying. If [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] were to understand and follow the direction, it would point towards a derelict looking vessel with a large gash running from stem to stern.

Then came, after a few minutes, a reply from the other ship, "Katarn, sending coordinates, got the nice bright blue paint job." A set of coordinate leading several hundred kilometers in the same direction, and closer to the station. Tugoro's sensor reading would show no signs aboard the station, though it would reveal an excessive power usage along with several obscure facts about a lack of transmitting equipment, both of which could have been caused by the gravitic anomaly that it orbited. The sensors would also detect a launch from the station, the size and direction were garbled by the gravity well, but would probably become more apparent as it grew closer, assuming it was heading in his direction.

As he rounded a doorway, heading to one of the engineering rooms, Ultimatum was shocked by a floating corpse. If he had been able to, the robot might have vomited at the sight, for the organic body had reacted poorly to the void conditions. There was no saving this one, no point in even trying to. Pulling back to continue his way down towards the cargo hold, the droid then spoke over the comms, "Katarn, this is Opportunity. Things seem stable enough for now. We have maybe half a dozen survivors, or so, thus far, still searching for others though. We don't have the coordinates, but we'll keep this channel open." Without access to any of the ship's equipment for galactic navigation, there was no way for the droid to know his location to any degree of certainty. If the channel were to be used to track him, which was possible with normal equipment and some manipulation, the ship would be shown to be laying in the other direction to the other two ships and a little further than the Hallowed.

He finally reached the first door to the cargo hold. He immediately noted several crates had floated off towards the open loading ramp, which revealed that beneath them lay more than a few cells and cages. In some of them, Ultimatum could see various species of sentients contained. A number of the cages had been broken open, though what had been within was beyond Ultimatum's ability to guess. Most of the cells seemed functional, but their occupants had expired. It could have been easy for the robot to simply assume that there was not a single person alive in here, but Ultimatum did not allow himself that luxury. He had to be certain, these people had been treated horribly already, or so Ultimatum assumed, and he would not allow himself to fail to care for them if some had yet survived.

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

Once the sensors were done their scan of the area, Tugoro began to look over the information with haste. While there wasn't that much to read in the first place, there was much to consider given the situation they had found themselves in. Then the transmissions came in, now giving Tugoro a single set of coordinates, out of the three ships that required assistance. Fortunately, that very thought gave the man an idea. It would be risky, and not guaranteed to work in the slightest. Taking a moment to increase the power to engines, Tugoro maneuvered his freighter carefully, heading in the direction of the disabled space station, cruiser and frigate.

Looking down at the garbled sensor display, the Jedi reached out to type along the console, urgently trying to get a better reception after what he had noticed. An unidentified craft of some sort appeared to have launched from the station, only moments after he had received most of the transmissions, and his ship was headed right for it. The pilot's seat spun quickly as Tugoro kicked, leaping to his feet as he exited the cockpit, sprinting down the narrow corridor of the freighter's top floor.

The door at the other end of the hall slid open, revealing what seemed to be an odd aft gunnery pit. One would realize that it was actually the interior of a detachable starfighter, a VCX-series to be precise. Taking a seat at the controls, Tugoro began to feed the earlier received data into the secondary ship's flight computer, programming an automated course that would take it directly to the transport Opportunity. Heading back into the hallway, Tugoro stopped his run midway, lifting his robotic hand to press at the nearby access panel.

Once more, the man reopened his channel to [member="Ultimatum"], looking back down the hall to watch as the auxiliary fighter detached from the freighter's rear. "Opportunity, sent a small shuttle your way, your survivors will fit. It's got no hyperdrive, so bring it back as soon as you're in. We've got an unknown launch from that derelict station... Could mean trouble. Katarn out." If the computer had calculated the given data and variables correctly, the auxiliary starfighter would hopefully be able to attach itself to the transport.

For now, Tugoro had to worry about that unidentified ship that had left the station. It was impossible to know their intentions, but the man had a few guesses, considering what he had stumbled upon here. Breaking into a sprint once more, Tugoro headed back to the cockpit, soon to be sat within the pilot's chair once again.

 

[Ultimatum]

There was little time to plan or act, the droid received the transmission, and he was presented with a quandary. He had to ensure that there were no survivors in the hold, but at the same time, it was paramount that he take message to the others of the inbound transport. The two possibilities conflicted in his mind for a few moments before the more immediate stimulus outweighed the other. The droid propelled himself towards the cells and crates, pushing aside those that were empty to reach the ones hidden beneath. It was a short while before he came across the first evidence of survivors. Two Diathium trapped within a cell, appearing to have been badly beaten, whether from their captors or the sudden stop was unknown.

Pulling at the cell's floor, Ultimatum broke the weakened bolts and pushed it away from the loading ramp. The energy walls remained strong, however, and Ultimatum tried to motion to the occupants. He hoped they would respond, however when there was no immediate reaction; the droid decided there was no time to wait. He wedged the cell in the entrance to one of the hallways leading to other areas of the ship. He pushed himself back down the hallways as fast as he could. He first returned to the cockpit and tapped the door loudly. He pushed the door open and closed it quickly behind him. "There's a ship coming to pick us up." The droid gazed out the viewport, looking for the trail of the incoming shuttle. At first, he could see nothing, but the minute movement of a light, which could have been mistaken for a star, gave it away.

"There is it!" Ultimatum nodded with the Rodian's observation.

As it quickly grew closer, Ultimatum ordered, "You'll have to move quickly. We are going to have to go through this together; if there are no readily available suits, then I'll have to take each of you individually." The droid had calculated, based on the standard survival of organics being approximately fifteen seconds before being rendered unconscious and then another five to ten minutes before death. Obviously, the longer spent in the void, the more likely for permanent damage to occur. "Where is the closest airlock?"

"About five meters down the hall a left and then the first right. All the suits were in the cargo hold. Perhaps you could retrieve some."

"Unlikely, the loading ramp was open, and the contents of the cargo hold were mostly vented."

The Rodian appeared surprised at this, then a look of concern came over the Bith. He spoke rapidly to the Rodian, and she questioned, "All the cargo?"

Ultimatum nodded, unsure if the Bith had been part of what the droid guessed was a sentient trafficking ring. "As far as I can tell. Anything of value is in space. He would hold out on giving information on the potential survivors until he could identify who had put them there.

The shuttle closed and Ultimatum could feel the briefest vibration as it touched the transport. He looked to the other two and asked, "Who would like to go first?"

The Bith appeared nervous, though he was about to speak when the Rodian cut in, "I'll go. Let's get on with it. You'll need a pilot in the ship anyways." Ultimatum nodded and pulled open the door. The whistling of air filled the room once more, and Ultimatum pulled the Rodian with him into the void. In the last moment, the Rodian blew what air was in her lungs out. The droid closed the door behind him and threw himself down the hall, with a firm grip on the Rodian's suit. The droid had made the first turn when he felt the Rodian resisting more, flailing in the body's attempt to find air. Then it went limp only a moment later, and Ultimatum kept himself from stopping. He had to reach the ship first. It was about a minute of silence, broken only by the occasional time when Ultimatum touched the ship, where he could hear various noises through the reverberating metal. At last he came to the airlock and with a quick gaze out, he saw the shuttle nearby, sitting a few meters from the ship. He paused for a moment, it would not be difficult to reach the shuttle, but it was hazardous in the extreme. Should Ultimatum miss, he would be propelled into the depths of space with no hope of ever seeing anything ever again.

With that concern pushed to the side, Ultimatum jumped from the safety of the transport, Rodian in tow, and in ten seconds slammed into the shuttle. Moving around the exterior he found an entrance and opened it. Taking several seconds for the airlock to open, Ultimatum pulled the pilot aboard and closed the hatch behind him. Carefully lifting and then carrying the limp body, the droid stopped in the main area and laid her carefully on the ground. While he would have wanted to wait, Ultimatum knew there was no option in that regard. He had to bring the others as well so he left. The Bith had been next, and when the droid returned, the Rodian was standing, leaning heavily on a seat in the cockpit. She looked around when the droid stepped in, "So I guess that means I survived?"

"You only just figured that?"

"I thought I had made it when I woke up with a headache."

Ultimatum gave a faux laugh before running off to start bringing the others.

-------

The strange vessel seemed to be aiming for a further off vessel, one of the dead ones that had not responded to the communications. It settled against the hull of the vessel and fell silent as its occupents began what work they had gone to do. It would give [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] plenty of time to act.

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

Sitting upon the pilot's seat within the cockpit of the freighter, Tugoro tried his best to adjust the sensor frequency, eventually coming to the conclusion that he'd need a droid on board after this whole ordeal. A cheap astromech droid wouldn't hurt, especially if he made it out of this mess in one piece. Looking down at the display, the man could tell that the VCX-series fighter had arrived for the transport Opportunity. It wouldn't be the easiest ship to board, and it's own oxygen supply would be limited, considering the small ship's interior, with the entrance at the back, seats in the middle, and cockpit at the front.

While it would be cramped for a crew of half a dozen, they would find more than enough space, even once all the seats had been taken. Tugoro trusted that the crew of the Opportunity would fare well, knowing there was at least one member that was in control of the situation on their end. For now, he needed to focus on his current course, the freighter he flew within having dipped downwards, headed for the cruiser Hallowed.

Once it was close enough, Tugoro examined it from behind the transparisteel viewport of his cockpit, a grave look of attempted indifference upon his face. The damage looked extremely bad, he was unsure how long one person could survive given such circumstances. Easing up on the engines, the man tried to line up the airlock of his ship with whatever access point he could find, in hopes of magnetically attaching his ship to the split open cruiser.

The hallway before Tugoro seemed to stretch on forever, as he made his way to his personal quarters. Opening a compartment within the small room, he retrieved two vacuum masks, emergency equipment he had purchased sometime ago, just in case something went wrong aboard his ship. Once the airlock finished depressurizing and opened up, Tugoro propelled himself forward into the disabled vessel, briefly glancing about his surroundings from beneath the visor.

Finding the single survivor left on board was going to be difficult, but if he were to trust in the force and allow it to guide him, perhaps not. What he feared was the truth he would sense, only able to hope that he had arrived in time. Blaster pistol gripped in one gloved hand, Tugoro began to navigate his way through the darkness of the ship, carefully pushing himself through the cold hallways of the cruiser Hallowed. He had to work quickly, if he were to get the jump on what he assumed were the ones behind this gravity well trap. Salvagers maybe, given the fact they appeared to be harvesting the derelict ships. It meant danger either way, and Tugoro still wished he had another to aid him in this endeavor.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

It had taken another ten minutes or so before the crew had been safely brought aboard. The Givin from before had been generous enough to help as well, his species natural hardiness in the void allowed the duo to complete the transfer in half the time. When Ultimatum had returned to the ship with the final crew member, the Rodian had prepared the ship for the return trip. She had avoided messing with the controls, unsure if the vessel would travel back on its own. She hoped it would because she had no idea where the main ship was.

"Is that everyone? Don't know if this ship will take itself back, or when." She knocked against the walls of the ship lightly; it was a pretty piece of work. Excellent condition, given the age it must have been.

The droid gazed over the people, in various stages of recovery from their first and hopefully the last trip through the void unprotected. "I'll make one last check." The droid knew where he was going to go. He had one more group to pick up.

With a shrug, the Rodian replied, "I wouldn't worry about it, anybody still in there is probably dead."

Ultimatum stated with as much sincerity as he could muster, without giving away his knowledge, "As a droid, I am obligated to save as many as I can. If there is a chance, I must make certain."

With that, Ultimatum left the ship once again. One last time, he hoped. Making his way through the tunnels of steel in the Opportunity, Ultimatum returned to the cargo bay. There he found the cage still wedged securely and inside one of the two beings had stirred. It looked quite disoriented, and Ultimatum once more hoped that they would both be alive. If the droid had believed in a deity, he probably would have prayed to it at that moment; such was his desperateness in that moment. "Upari. If you can hear me, help them." He thought out to his Shard companion. He did not know why Upari had been silent thus far, perhaps something to do with the Force, but Ultimatum could have used the healing capabilities of the Shard. Nothing returned, and the droid forced himself to continue as before.

Ultimatum tugged the cage free and pushed it towards the open loading ramp. Jumping after it, Ultimatum grabbed as tightly as he could, bending the metal slightly as he did so, and began to pull himself along the outside of the ship. It was slow progress, working with one hand and two magnetic feet, the droid had to be careful not to lose hold of the starship and slip out into space. Rounding the ship, he came into sight of the rescue vessel. He released himself and forced the cage behind him while he flew in a simple line towards the shuttle. Slamming into it, Ultimatum was crushed by the cage and felt an almost dangerous pressure on his chassis. Pushing back to give him room to move he pulled the cage along with him and eventually found the airlock. Pushing the cage through the doorway Ultimatum closed the seal.

Almost immediately the Givin raced to the cage and began pulling apart the control box. Most of the other members were surprised, though two appeared more uncertain than the rest. Ultimatum sent a message on the frequency they had been using before, "Everyone is aboard the shuttle. It's a bit tight, will it return to your ship on its own or will our pilot need to take over?"

The droid was glad when, after only a few moments, the cages shields disappeared, and the two people within could be seen to breathe in short quick breaths. Ultimatum knelt down next to the Givin, who was trying to take care of the Diathium closest to him. It was then that Ultimatum could feel the tiny drawing of energy from his processors, Upari was using them to help these two. No doubt the Shard was drawing on the Force to begin the healing process.

--------------------------

Aboard the Hallowed, it would be an eerie trip for most. A ship was supposed to be a pocket of life in the desolateness of space, a fragile beacon of hope in the void. Yet this ship showed signs of destruction and death alone, many of the corridors had fractured, and almost none of the doorways looked as if they could close properly. Every couple of rooms had deceased occupants, evidenced to be older dead by the ice that had formed over them from the moisture in their bodies. The sole survivor on the vessel had locked himself in the cell block of the ship. He had once had enough rations to last a few weeks, but most of them had been damaged or lost through the deteriorating ship. [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] would probably find him behind a semi-closed blast door, with the main doors closed behind it.

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

Attached to the vacuum mask was a small headlight, illuminating the dark interior of the cruiser as Tugoro made his way through the hallways. He saw all that one would expect from a disabled vessel, and while it might have phased him at first, he knew there was work to be done. Still, the man could not help but wonder how long the cruiser Hallowed had been in this condition, especially after witnessing the frozen over corpses that floated along with him.

A thin jumpsuit Tugoro wore under his clothes prevented him from suffering the same fate, the vacuum mask forming a tight seal around his face, providing him with a limited amount of oxygen to work with. Expert control over his breathing allowed him to operate in space longer than the mask would allow, but the real problem was the fact that he only had one.

A transmission came over the built-in comms, breaking the dead silence of the derelict ship. The transport crew had made it safely into the auxiliary fighter, but were unable to automatically return to the freighter's position, as it had moved from the original point of launch. It would have to be manually piloted back to the Katarn. Clicking a button on the side of his mask, Tugoro spoke.

"I've already boarded the Hallowed, you'll have to pick us up on sensors. That or find Sky Blue. Nice bright blue paint job," he relayed, still gliding through the corridors, and even down a brief turbolift shaft. The force guided him, until he came upon the cell block that was only partially closed. Slipping between the blast doors, Tugoro took a glance inside through a small window on the main cell block entrance door. Surely enough, it felt like someone was still in there, alive.

Placing his palms upon both halves of the bulky blast doors, Tugoro allowed the force to flow through him, truly tapping into the mystical energy field after quite some time. The picture in his mind was clear, he imagined it and it slowly began to happen. After a moment or two, the blast door had been sealed shut. Now, he was trapped in the makeshift airlock, with the survivor in the cell block on the other side. Lifting an arm, he slammed his fist upon the entrance a few times, hoping to get whoever's attention. Getting both of them out alive was going to be a difficult task, if they were not equipped with the right gear.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

The droid sent a simple click as an affirmative reply, Ultimatum's mind was whirling with necessary computations and the unnecessary questions that were beginning to enter his mind. The situation was complex, far too complex for a single answer to the issues at hand. Yet, as with all large problems, it would prove more efficient to break it down into a collection of smaller ones that could be handled. Thus, Ultimatum began with the question of flight. Leaving the Givin to tend to the saved Diathium, the robot moved to the cockpit, where the Rodian had apparently familiarized herself with the controls and was messing with the comms unit and scanner.

"We need to look for a ship, Sky Blue, blue paint." He informed the pilot.

She responded with a huff, "Alright, but this kriffing scanner isn't working. At least not all that well. Somethings interefering with it." Manipulating the controls to begin a flight path, the Rodian asked, "Who you talking to? Maybe I could get it up on the comms, so we can all hear."

"Starship Katarn. Their working to get some other ship, the Hallowed. Other survivors on the Sky." Ultimatum automatically took hold of the ship's comms and adjusted them, before moving back towards the hold.

Shaking her head, the pilot opened the comms and asked, "Katarn? This is the pilot of Opportunity. Thanks for the ride, I'll try to bring it back in one piece. This ship supposed to have a bad sensor?"

Ultimatum found most of the people were keeping their distance from the trio near the airlock. The Givin had moved them out of the cage and covered them with what robes he could remove, while still retaining some decency. They were still breathing fairly shallow and Ultimatum knelt down next to the Givin, who spoke for the first time to the droid, in his native tongue, "They do not look good. I've done what I can, but the doctor was still aboard the ship."

The droid's database contained the Givin language and he was able to translate it easily. Ultimatum did not need to tell Upari what needed to be done. The Shard pulled the Force to him and began pushing into the duo, careful not to overwhelm the natural healing process. The droid quiered, in the hopes of perhaps learning more about them and who might have been reponsible for this, "Do you know them?"

The Givin was silent for a long moment, a tear rolled out of the black eye socket, He pointed to the closer of the two, "This one is my wife. I thought I had lost her after the we were seperated in the market."

"You did not know she was on the ship?"

"If I had.... I would have hunted down the people responsible for this on the ship."

Not entirely convinced, but willing to let it slide for the moment, Ultimatum turned to look at the others. They did not understand and the droid stood. "We will offer this one chance. The person behind the illegal transportation of sentients will step forward now and receive punishment according to the law of the next world we land on." Unsurprisingly, not a person stirred, though a few heads turned as if they expected the guilty party to come clean just like that. He continued after a moment, "Very well then. When we discover the person or persons involved, they will be handled according to the law of space." It was a slang term, one that would have put fear into the hearts of most spacers. The void was a cruel and harsh mistress and she did not forgive trangressions in her territory. Ultimatum hoped they would find this ship soon, the more people that were unaffiliated, the more he could hopefully get potential information and unbiased opinions. There would be a court this day, and justice would be served.

----------------------------

There was an immediate return of the banging on the door, though weaker than [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] had given. The man pulled the emergency helmet over his face and tried to push himself upright. Starvation had set in though and he was not quite as strong or as coordinated as he would have liked. Missing the table, h had hoped to catch himself so as to be able to stand, he floated over to the wall and rebounded back towards the door. He had a suit that could maintain pressure, and a decent air supply, however he had nohing for the cold. He hoped that someone was on the other side of the door, he had occasionally heard voices that he thought came from over there, but were in his head. The only thing that had stopped him from opening the doors to try and find others was the fact that he couldn't have heard voices, one space did not carry sound and two the door would have been too thick for that sort of thing anyways.

He pulled at the door, trying to open it, knowing that the only realistic way to get it open now was to pry it or find the manual release. That release would of course be somewhere on the outside, since having a cell with a key on the inside would have been one of the greatest blunders in the galaxy.