Alena followed Wan Min into the airlock, stopping briefly to double check the automated systems had been activated on the Star's End. She tapped several commands into her wristcomp, activating the application that would allow her to control the vessel during their excursion, if need be. Thankfully, Alena didn't feel as if she had much to worry about, the Squib Lenox Ornill had already secured the target vessel in the grasp of his trusty tractor beams. She thanked him silently for that as Wan Min queued the depressurization sequence in the airlock. Air rushed over her EV suit, causing ripples to form where the material wasn't skin tight. Then the outer hatch cracked open in silence, and all Alena could hear was her own breathing.
Space was infinite, endless, not a void but an ocean with no bottom, no surface, no shore. Every time Alena stepped out into the infinite black she was amazed; the weightlessness of it all was still the most exciting part. She felt no fear knowing Ornill's vessel could probably snatch her up if need be. Alena stepped forward into space, following Wan Min across a short gap to the surface of the Hammerhead-class cruiser. The old warship was in one piece, but with chunks missing from it here and there. As Alena activated her mag-boots, sticking her to the surface of the hull with an assumed thump, she gazed around her at the intermittent clouds of debris, the torn hull plating, the carbon scoring streaking the vessel like splashed paint.
They stepped into the bridge of the vessel some minutes later, and Wan Min gave out a cry over the comms. "Minnie, what is i--" Alena's worry broke into laughter as Wan Min pointed out the corpse pinned to the deck plating ahead of them. She couldn't see much detail in the body, which was good considering Alena wasn't a fan of the dead and had never killed anyone herself. She didn't much care to imagine how it had happened either.
Wan Min approached a console and got to work exposing its innards and applying power to its circuits. Moments later the torn metal around them was bathed in a dull glow, and Wan Min was squealing with excitement. Alena smiled and looked around, activating her helmet flashlight. Bright light poured into the rear of the bridge as she turned that way, spotting a sturdy-looking command chair facing away from her. It must have been the center of the bridge, where the commander would sit and give orders to their fleets. I wonder if they died in that chair... Alena thought to herself, leaving Wan Min's side to find out. She pulled herself along the, leaving her mag-boots off for the moment, and dove across the bridge as if she were in the ocean. Alena reached out and grabbed a console to slow herself, then gently pushed the command chair to swing it about. When it came around, she saw it was empty. Whomever they were, I hope they got away and lived. Considering the state of the rest of the ships in the area, Alena knew it was a false hope, but she felt it was better than assuming the worst.
Alena was about to turn away when her flashlight cast a glint on an object some meters away. She glanced back at Wan Min, who was busying herself with wiring and display readouts, then looked at the object once again. It was stuck in something, she couldn't see what. Pushing herself forward, Alena soared over the command chair and then pressed herself against the ceiling and landed near the back of the bridge. She activated her mag-boots and knelt down beside the object; it was cylindrical, roughly twenty centimeters long. It was grasped in a dead, frozen hand, the arm of which was pinned underneath a pile of twisted metal debris.
Alena swallowed nervously and reached for the cold fingers that held the prize. They were stiff, closed by rigor mortis. Alena tugged harder and two of them broke off in a set, floating through space passed her visor. She felt her lip curl in disgust as she leaned away from the floating fingers, slapping them aside with one hand as she would a fly. They spun about crazily and disappeared somewhere amongst a cloud of debris. Alena turned back to the object, finally prying it out of the dead person's grip. She turned the object over in her hands, it looked like it would feel heavy, though she wouldn't be able to tell until they returned to the Star's End. As she looked at one end of it, Alena realised it was severed, wires protruded and a thick ooze gleaned along one side of the interior. Probably the former power source, cut in half... Alena suspected. The object looked oddly familiar, though she couldn't think of what it might be at the moment. As she hefted it in one hand, with the severed end pointing down, the clawed fins of the other end sparked a memory in Alena's mind.
Suddenly, she was sitting in a bar, watching two humans argue over a game of sabacc, when one pushed the other against the bar. The assaulted human drew a blaster from his hip while other wielded a small silver cylinder. She heard a snap-hiss, followed by a blaster shot, which was reflected by the brilliant blue-white blade of energy in the first man's hands.
"A lightsaber. Minnie...I found a lightsaber." Alena muttered over the commlink. She looked up and deactivated her mag-boots, excitement coursing through her. She kicked off and floated towards the center consoles, hefting the lightsaber in her hand as she pushed herself back down and reactivated her boots. "Hey, Minnie, sweets, I found this." She held the cylinder out for Wan Min to see, turning it over in her hands.
"I mean it's broken, got cut up by something but it's still pretty co--" Alena yelped in surprise as her thumb accidentally found the activation button. The weapon jumped in her grip as a glowing red-white blade appeared out of no where and grew to a length of about a half meter before flashing and vanishing. Alena let go of the weapon in shock as its severed end fizzled and spat sparks for several moments, then fell silent once more. She grabbed the lightsaber once more and glanced sheepishly at Wan Min. "Sorry...I didn't think it had any juice left."
[member="DasGeneral"]
