In The Shadow Of Pompeii

Posted on Mon Nov 18th, 2019 @ 12:07pm by Commanding Officer Soto Nabaal & Commanding Officer Mickey Serendipity & Pilot Allegra Jennings & Executive Officer Kenneth McTigue & Passenger Kol Wescott-Fitzgerald & Comm Tech Wulf Edevane

Mission: The Forgotten Arm
Location: Mech Tunnels, Eros Station
Timeline: Eros Incident T-minus 13 Hours.
Tags: q

Space.
What is space?
The space between atoms? Space left void within buildings and stations? The space between people and their ideals? Between planets? Stars?
Space is relative.

The crew of the Albatross trudged through the mech tunnels of Eros Station like a nagging thought on the cusp of consciousness. Echos of conversation, the distant bass thrum of music, the intermingled scents of a hundred thousand human beings crammed into a rocky potato ten kilometres long. It was like walking within the slow-firing neurons of a god, treading lightly on thoughts.

Here and there were signs covered in dust and condensation, the two making a thick concrete of grime that stuck to hands and faces when touched. Some of the signs were original pieces from the dawn of Eros Station, back before Tycho Industries had dug the five massive pits in the side of the asteroid and embedded the hulking fusion drives that spun it up to a 3rd of a G. Signs pointed to an O2 tank storage for workers in EV suits, but all that was left were the empty brackets in the wall where the lockers had been stowed.

Mickey called a halt as they entered a large nexus of tunnels, the chamber branching off into five directions from the one they had entered. A colony of bioengineered lichen clung to the walls, emitting a weak green luminosity that lit everything in an underwater cast. Dr Takkaden took a wall for herself and slid down it until she landed on the floor, the pooled condensation there splashing a little as she sat there mumbling. For an hour she'd been doing that, holding a private court with herself and the spectres within her own skull. Sheppard, Rimmi, someone called Dresden. Mickey's much hoped for med kit with secret drugs in it had not materialised.

"Wulf, you can be a big man and tell us we're lost," Mickey said as eyed the portals around them. "But can you tell me honestly if we're close to where we need to be?"

"It's the right way," Wulf said, his tone that of a slightly petulant child who was, at least mostly, secure and confident with his sense of direction and counting of the turns. A light sigh, a quick glance to Ken in expectation of verbal abuse, and the comtech shrugged, arms wide and demonstrative in the big space. "Maybe. I think." A frown preceded a "Sorry Mickey," and Wulf wandered over to study a piece of wall that, from a distance, looked just exactly like the every other piece of wall.

A bit of literal spit and polish and a few seconds later, Wulf nodded. He could see where he'd gone wrong now, and the decent thing to do would be to own up to that erroneous decision.

"We're not exactly lost. We're kinda off track," he half-admitted. "But yes, boss, we're close." He pointed to a pale grey conduit snaking off down the darkest of the exits. "It's that way." Wulf said, and he focused all his attention on Mickey, dark brown gaze promising that he was absolutely very much more certain than he had been the last time.

"I'm getting flashbacks to the great software update that left us floating in space for a day. No power. No lights. No atmo recycler. No coffee," Mickey sighed as he looked down at his boot. The maintenance bot resting on the toe looked up at him, it's big myopic camera eye glinting in the weak light. He let out a startled shout, and kicked out, the drone flying off to hit the wall with a rattle of cheaply printed parts. A host of other maintenance drones scurried into the space, drawn by the rattle of their broken comrade.

"That software update saved our butts more times than you know," Wulf said, quietly and defensively. At the time, he'd thought they were all going to die, but he didn't want to revisit that particular set of emotions right now. He watched Rogue Drone vs XO with intrigued amusement, then followed its progress.

A short bout of robotic cannibalism later the flung drone was gone, the others scattering back into the endless tunnels of Eros's shadow to do unspeakable things to the spare parts that had been one of their own.

"I miss bugs," Mickey shook his head. "A nice hopper sandwich would be nice. Greasy, crunchy, with the sort of hot sauce that comes with a waiver form. And now I'm hungry,"

"Gross," she said, giving a look of disapproval to Mickey. She crossed her arms the medkit they'd acquired slung over her shoulder on a strap. Kai didn't want to admit it but she was starting to get a sinking absolute expectation of doom type feeling.

"High in protein, easy to keep and maintain, and if you cook them right I hear they taste like lobster," Mickey grouched. "Makes more sense than a herd of cow's your ancestors took to Mars."

"Problem with crickets is they escape. They always escape, and you'll find a colony in an air recycler six months after you think you cleaned them all out." Ken replied. "But if we ever get back down Earth I'll get us some steaks and sear them myself. Now can we get move, I'm getting antsy standing still too long."

"Yeah, ethnic food," Mickey said with all of the enthusiasm of a kid going to the dentist.

Being at the rear of their group meant Allegra was the ass end, something she didn’t prefer. But it was better than babysitting the crazy doctor lady. If given the choice, she would’ve volunteered to be just where she had been. Thus far it had proved to be uneventful and for that she was ever so grateful. Too much had already been stirred up thanks for ships being blown to pieces. James Holden. And here they were with another piece of the ever growing puzzle about to help the captain pull a James Holden. Seemed rather fitting in a way.

“I don’t know,” she drawled out, turning her head towards the conversation, “I”m with Ken, here, though I’d rather have a juicy steak from Mars.”

"Nothing tastes like a fresh lobster," Wulf said, sounding authoritative in that regard, but distracted as he stood in the middle of the nexus scanning the tunnel entrances in turn. "But hoppers are great if you barbecue them then cover them in yeast extract." He studied the results of his work on his hand terminal and turned to look at the bedraggled little group. "This way," Wulf decided, with a pointing finger indicating a completely different tunnel to the one he had at first and moving towards its gaping mouth. "Port Control is definitely this way."

The hike continued, Ken's rifle sweeping a modest left and right to illuminate the walkway. "How much farther is it?"

"Are we nearly there yet?" Wulf gently mocked the engineer in a singsong voice. "What about now?" He paused. "Now?"

"Keep yapping and I'll force feed you every bit of lichen we come across." Ken replied, clear annoyance in his voice. "Now answer the question."

Wulf stopped in his tracks, screwed up his face and then opened his mouth to say something. It stayed open just long enough for his brain to kick into survival mode, temporarily disengaging his ability to verbally respond in an aim to prevent the lichen-eating threat to become real. With a superhuman effort of will, Wulf bit back a glib response and answered Ken in his politest Russian.

(1)"Eto sovsem nedaleko, yeshche neskol'ko minut khod'by."

(2)"Sabes que no hablo ruso." Ken growled in a clean Spanish accent.

(3) "No, no está lejos amigo. Aquí arriba, luego a la izquierda. Debería estar justo ahí." Wulf responded swiftly, then, for the sake of the rest of the party behind them, he added. "Not far now, should be up here, right then left."

He stopped, as Ken did, and looked up. "Right about... here."

"I think we're lost."

The voice came from directly where Ken was looking, and where the engineer was looking was hatch laid into the ceiling. It had an identification code on it, which if they had had full access to the station info net would have identified it as being the closest tunnel entrance to the Port Control they were liable to find. It was also a hatch that was yanked open. The man who had pulled the hatch up didn't bother looking down, instead of looking across the opening to someone standing on the other side.

"No. Second thought. I know we're lost, because this is not a bar, nor is it happy hour. And as much as I enjoy being rounded up and sobered up by a medi-patch, I do not like my time being wasted on a wild goose chase. So the CPM closed down the Coblt Ward and gave everyone the evening off, it's Eros! That's pratically part of the...the um..."

Tubby in the red Hawaiian shirt had looked down and could see a collection of people below who seemed to be carrying a collection of small arms and compact buzz guns. He frowned, trying to put some thought into what should happen next, as his brain used the chemical equivalent of the pony express to keep things moving.

"Hey!" Called Wulf, reaching upwards. "Can you give us a hand up there, please buddy?"

The guy in red added the request to the processing queue currently fighting the log jam of chemical stimulants from the medi patch, and the last holdovers of the bender's of yesteryear. He closed the hatch.

"...no." Came a handful of seconds later.

Ken released the rifle to hang on his sling and jumped, grabbing the ladder. He pulled it into the hole and climbed out. He glared at the stranger that was still gaping at him as he climbed out. The engineer ran his eyes over the red-shirted man and dismissed him as a threat. "Okay, come up."

"That went well," muttered Wulf as he scuttled swiftly up the ladder after Ken. He took a good look around, checking for any sign of trouble and orientating himself in relation to Port Control.

Mickey followed a moment later, keeping his eyes on the corridor they were climbing into. No nonsense plastic-clad walls, safety notices, and the seal of Eros Station in a fading spray-on mural identified it as part of the administration block. As he stood up, making way for others to get out of the mech tunnel, he noticed something on the floor. He leaned down to pick up the old fashion billfold and flicked it open like he was in a Martian neo-noir film.

"United Nations Investigation Bureau," Mickey read aloud the words revolving around the holofoil logo on the interior of the wallet. "Very serendipitous meeting it would seem. Ken we do not point guns at these people unless they point them at us first okay?"

Kol, Sully's unseen companion, finally made his exit into the tunnels; a look of displeasure painted across his face, "Sully, do you ever not moan?" He groaned as he came into view. The pair had spent the better part of the past hour navigating the network of tunnels winding through Eros in search of what could amount to nothing but wasted time. That hadn't deterred Kol though and Sully knew better to ignore the younger when he had a hunch.

Stopping next to Sully he noticed the other group of people and cut his rant short, "Erm, what are you doing here?" he asked, his attention settling on the id card in Mickey's hands, "And where did you find that?" he asked walking to meet the Albatros' executive officer, "I lost it a few days ago surveying the tunnels" he admitted.

"Sort of thing that they dock your pay for," Mickey said as Captain Soto climbed up the ladder from the tunnel complex and into the corridor of station's control annexe. The bandage on his arm had staunched the bleeding, but the material was still red with blood. The Xo then helped his captain to aid Dr Takkaden out of the tunnel. She was more or less the same as how they'd found her, if perhaps a little more silent.

So five spacers and a stark raving MCRN science geek crawl out of a mech tunnel and into the silent heart of a busy port city command and control centre...it sounded like a bad joke.

"UNIB?" Soto asked, looking at the two men. "Very serendipitous indeed our meeting. I would tell you more now, but we need to get to the port control centre now. All I can tell you now is that there are many lives at risk, and already some lost. On this station alone, there are already dead bodies in the Cobalt Ward warehouses. A dock worker in the wrong place, and two men I suspect were working for ProtoGen."

"I told you, old man" Kol was deadpan and had a glare levelled his partner's way, "We're investigating some suspicious activity being carried out by the CPM. Nothings added up since they took over the contract, they've been ramping up activity recent" he shared.

"Mick, I'd rather get moving again. We're bound to draw attention with Allegra and me dressed the way we are..." Ken said as his eyes started sweeping from side to side.

"Agreed," Mickey said, tapping Soto's arm. "Way I see it, the Fed's here are our fast pass to port control. Eros is a UN-backed polity."

"Hey. HEY!" the man with the paunch and the loud shirt shouted. "You got a point there you rock bucker, we are United Nation's officials. Who the hell are you?"

"The guy asking the question why no one else is here. This is the command hub for Eros Station's port, a lot of traffic coming in and out, and I don't see anyone going anywhere," Mickey said slowly, and then nodded to Ken. "Also we have a lot more guns than you, so there is that."

"You might, but it'd help if we were on the same page" Kol added suspiciously, as he drew protectively towards Sully, "your guns won't help you get past any well guarded CPM checkpoints unless you wanna' start shooting the station up and draw yourselves some unwanted attention. Like you said yourself, we're your fast pass" Kol bargained, arms crossed against his chest.

"Guss that means you're going first. And full story is...weird, long, and you'd not get it," Mickey hooked a thumb back at the still semi-catatonic Dr Takkaden. "Hell she's clued in with the Plot Bible for the story, and even she doesn't seem to get it. Or got it and has now checked out of the Reality Motel. Either way, Port Control is that way according to the sign."

Mickey made an 'after you' hand wave.

"Ken, Allegra...get ready." The XO sighed. "Hell, everyone get ready."