∞ 02 26 ∞
[the captain, as all the passengers know, is easily distracted. he doesn't broadcast what he does, but it's felt a few minutes later. the distant, steady hum of the engines suddenly intensifies, rising into a roar. the ship lurches forward with such force that the systems that normally compensate for inertia are overwhelmed. anything not bolted down is slammed against the walls, people included.
the captain has put the ship at her top speed and the bright flickers that mark the other ships are suddenly left behind. all but one.
it's the exact same ship that was seen on Eos. Orion's ship, the Halley. it keeps pace with the Crucible and for good reason. the burst of speed has cost the ship the power it needed to maintain its shields.
anyone watching from that side of the ship will see the dangerous, almost foolhardy dive the Halley makes towards the ship, guns blazing. at point blank range, she's able to rip a hole through the hull...no, through the bay doors. the Halley crashes through the doors on Maintenance Bay 1, air and debris flying back out through the gaping hole she just made. the inexorable pull does not stop, even after the Halley slams into the opposite wall. as soon as her forward motion is spent, she starts to slide backwards, back out the hole in the doors.
an emergency hatch on top of the ship is blasted open and a familiar figure in suit and helmet struggles to climb out, but he slumps against the metal before he makes it even halfway.
his ship continues to inch back towards the ruptured hull. he needs help, but the doors to the maintenance bay from the interior of the ship have sealed automatically, to protect the rest of the ship from catastrophic decompression.
it looks like no help will be coming]
Details
the captain has put the ship at her top speed and the bright flickers that mark the other ships are suddenly left behind. all but one.
it's the exact same ship that was seen on Eos. Orion's ship, the Halley. it keeps pace with the Crucible and for good reason. the burst of speed has cost the ship the power it needed to maintain its shields.
anyone watching from that side of the ship will see the dangerous, almost foolhardy dive the Halley makes towards the ship, guns blazing. at point blank range, she's able to rip a hole through the hull...no, through the bay doors. the Halley crashes through the doors on Maintenance Bay 1, air and debris flying back out through the gaping hole she just made. the inexorable pull does not stop, even after the Halley slams into the opposite wall. as soon as her forward motion is spent, she starts to slide backwards, back out the hole in the doors.
an emergency hatch on top of the ship is blasted open and a familiar figure in suit and helmet struggles to climb out, but he slumps against the metal before he makes it even halfway.
his ship continues to inch back towards the ruptured hull. he needs help, but the doors to the maintenance bay from the interior of the ship have sealed automatically, to protect the rest of the ship from catastrophic decompression.
it looks like no help will be coming]
Details
- What happens next?
Go here to find out. That entry may be commented to in order to determine where Orion ends up afterward. He won't be responding, seeing as he's in no shape to, but characters may thread however they wish in order to play out his retrieval. Needless to say, security will be going after him; whoever volunteers to take care of him is going to be beset by the robots day and night, so I highly suggest the passengers set up a secure base somewhere for themselves. A place that may be barricaded and defended, until such time as Orion regains consciousness. He's been thrown around quite a lot and despite the Crucible's supply of healers, his head injuries are best left alone until he can recover from them himself. Characters and players have completely free reign to go about doing this however they wish; where do YOU all think would be the safest place? ;D His life is in your hands right now, so take good care of him.
Because of my move and subsequent hiatus, the unconscious Orion will need to be defended until next Tuesday or Wednesday; the robots are controllable NPC characters, so if players would like to thread attacks and so forth, feel free to! The ship has slowed down somewhat, but is still moving at an impressive speed, so it's unlikely that Orion's crewmates are going to be catching up any time soon. It's all up to the passengers. The ship is still in a state of lockdown and robots roam the hallways, looking for the intruder. Their methods have been upgraded from disabling threats to destroying them; they will attack all passengers with extreme prejudice, so anyone out in the halls is at risk. They will not enter cabins unless the cabin in question houses Orion. Rations are still delivered on their usual schedule via the Spheres, so characters can survive even without visiting the shopping levels. Will an Economy passengers get shot at while trying to get to the bathrooms? ...I'm afraid so.
Since I won't be available for the majority of this plot break, I suggest that everyone ask any questions they may have before Friday rolls around. I'll have no means whatsoever to respond until my hiatus is over, so if something does come up that you're not sure about, my suggestion is just use your best judgment. I'm not terribly picky about how characters play out this scenario; the captain's still secure in the bridge, Orion is to remain unconscious, and there happens to be a huge hole in the side of the ship, but seeing as the bay has sealed itself off automatically, this hole cannot be accessed. Even if it could, given the speed of the ship, anyone who steps inside would be dragged out into space, not to mention they would have doomed the rest of the ship in the process.
Now before I go, I'm sure you're all wondering why it was that Oliver's post was the one that got the captain's attention. There were several factors that came into play during this event. Who was doing the contact was part of it; the captain was less likely to listen to people that he didn't like. So if it was the Doctor talking, he was inclined to ignore him. His intelligence was another; the captain, while crazy, wasn't likely to fall for most tricks. For example, the hologram of Orion was an excellent idea, but the captain could see Orion's ship quite clearly on his viewscreen. He wasn't likely to believe Orion had teleported from one ship to another. Then there was his pride. Ganymede is quite used to telling people to do things; he doesn't like backseat drivers. So helpful suggestions and taunts were both as equally likely to be ignored, because to him, the captain always knows best.
The key was in the name of the plot itself: the captain could never pass up the chance to be a hero. The one thing that would get his attention would not be a suggestion, a warning, or a taunt: it would be a plea. Ask him for help, and he'll always come through. It helped that it came from a pretty lady, naturally. ;D So congrats to Oliver and the Doctor for hitting on the correct combination to accomplish this event!
However, I do want to say that this plan was well on its way to accomplishing the same thing. Even if the shield modules could not be destroyed, by creating havoc within the ship, Orion's attention would have been diverted from one crisis to another. He's a solider, through and through, and he would have chosen to combat a closer threat than to continue paying attention to what was really going on. This was the other possible route that passengers could take in solving this event, so kudos to all of you, too! :D
I do think that's everything, so please feel free to comment to Orion's post to work out what happens now, use this entry to plan anything you'd like, and to post any questions you may have regarding the above information!