Arc 2 -- Separate ways
Three days prior
"Situation report guard captain! Over."
The sound of heavy gunfire rang out through the radio before the response.
"Moving towards the hanger! ETA 60 seconds! Over."
The ship commander sat in his chair, sweating profusely as the sound of gunfire rang through the radio, tapping on the arm rest restlessly.
"Radio in when you get there, over."
"With all due respect- Erron, I can't do my fucking job when you ask me to babysit the mic. Let me concentrate, please. Over."
There was an awkward pause, followed by more gunshots.
"Understood. Proceed as you please. Over."
The guard captain did not radio back again, raising his massive rifle to his shoulder once more and firing a couple of rounds down the corridor, slugs the size of a human fist erupted from the barrel in a gout of flame and burst through the approaching Slaves, turning their torsos into a chunky meat slurry as the rounds penetrated and thudded into the wall behind them, punching deep into the metal.
Safely sealed within his mechanised armour, the guard captain led the way, heavy boots clumping against the metal flooring, his squad following closely behind, weapons raised and armed, tactically firing at corrupted attackers when they showed themselves in an unorganized manner. So far, the journey had been smooth, the squad encountering little they couldn't shoot down.
He raised his hand, signalling for the team to stop, his helm was informing him about an unusual electrical signal coming from a nearby room, something that didn't match the ships standard profile. They took the next left, heading into the lunch room from earlier that day. The place had been wrecked and showed signs of fighting all over, but not the tactical combat of a well trained squad, this was a bitter last stand. People desperately using anything on hand to defend themselves. Blood stained cutlery and trays were littered over the floor, corpses strewn about overturned tables and chairs, the food tables had been smashed and shoved aside, broken glass and blood mixed into the still hot soups that bubbled gently in their heated containers.
"This is gonna be a pricey clean-up, huh lads?" The captain chuckled, reading the scan signals and following the trail. They left out the other side of the room and continued down the next corridor.
"I think I found our mole... Wait... Is that Lamp's room?!" The captain growled a little as he spoke. Cautiously, the team approached, barging into the room with weapons raised, but it was empty aside from the human corpse laid out in the middle of it.
"What in the stars happened to him?! His heads fukkin' mush! Awh, thats gross." One of the guards turned away from the body, deciding to check somewhere less gory.
Lamp's private dorm was off to the side with the door still closed and her small work office opposite it, within said office, a laptop was jury-rigged up to the wall with far more wires than a normal laptop should require. Strangely, it had a trail of unidentified black ooze down its screen and keyboard.
"She hacked our fukkin' cameras?!" The realisation made the captain swell with anger. "That is the last straw -- I've fukkin' had it with this creepy little shit stain. If she's survived this crap, she's off the ship forever. Ban her ass. Enough is enoug-"
"Boss! You gotta see this!"
One of the guards pushed open the door to Lamp's room, no more than an oversized cupboard with a bed and on-suite wetroom, to the guards on-going horror however, the black goo that was dripping down the laptop was plastered thickly all over the room, coating its walls and bare furnishings, dripping from its ceiling, the bed was heavily damaged and had another green fluid pooled around the middle of it. The place was an complete wreck...
"I'm getting weird readings from this oil goo shit, boss. We'll need to decontaminate when we get back." The techie of the group chimed in, holding his arm out and scanning the room, various blue lasers shining out from the optics on his gauntlet. "There was some sort of struggle in here too, there are tracks in the goo, over the walls... I can't tell what made them though..."
"We'll deal with whatever the hell happened here later, Veigar, get the laptop and clean it up, we need to know how much information has been transmitted. The rest of you, with me. Lets get this ship off the ground." The captain ordered, checking his ammo and armour condition quickly.
The techie, now identified as Veigar nodded and went back to the other room, looking over the laptop as the others marched back into the corridor. The thudding of their armoured boots and hissing of the power armour servos echoing down the empty hallway of the ship as they strode towards their objective.
Veigar briefly scanned the laptop, taking pictures of it and then unplugging it from the wall, as he did so, he heard a presence behind him and span around, drawing his pistol.
Behind him, stood a frail looking woman, covered in the same black goo, her hands grasping something tightly in front of her, too smothered in goo to be identified.
"Is that you, Lamp?" Veigar questioned, but seeing the woman lurch forward prompted a response from him-
*Blam*
The girls body dropped to the floor with a thump, going limp as the bullet punched through her skull.
The object in her hands began to bleep as her arms parted... The techie's eyes bolted open as he recognised the lights barely shining through the goo on the object.
"Oh no... BOSS! SHE HAD A PUNISH-"
A thunderous explosion rattled the corridor, shaking the remainder of the squad in their armour, they immediately turned back and charged straight into the room, finding its interior completely decimated, the metal walls bent outwards by the force of the grenade. In the remains of the office, a broken form of the techie Veigar laid dead, his armour destroyed by the grenade.
Before they could collect their thoughts however, the guts of the ship bellowed with the angry roar of the horde, massing in the corridors nearby, the shuffling of feet could be heard in every direction, closing in on the team. They raised their weapons again and prepared to weather the oncoming storm...
Present day
Diego stumbled out of the captain quarters, clad is loose white shirt and cargo shorts, airy and light, his thick mane of hair had a beautiful sheen to it that complimented his rather happy expression as he propped himself up against the metal walls of the ship and made his way a couple doors down towards the kitchen.
Upon entry, he took a couple minutes to steady himself, leaning against the work surface and catching his breath. I could get used to this... Grabbing some ingredients around the kitchen, he began to prepare something for himself and the anyone else who fancied. Something simple and sweet was on the menu today, a nice treat. He scrubbed his hands, wrists and arms thoroughly in the sink before getting started.
As he began to cut up the fruit and heat a pan, Oxyi made herself known, knocking on the wall as she entered.
"Hey! Diego! I was hoping to catch you! What are you making?" Her face lit up upon seeing him. He cooks too?
She was dressed in a hoodie and some combat slacks, easily the most casual Diego had seen the Lioness.
"Oxyi! Grab a stool! Fancy some fried simonfruit?"
"You can fry simonfruit?" She pulled up a stool and sat opposite him, the line of work surfaces also acting as a breakfast bar.
"Yeah but you gotta be quick, too long and the juices degrade, there's a trick to retaining the flavour and caramelising the outside." He had a sway to his body and a remarkably cute smile as he cut the fruit up and added a splash of oil to the pan.
"Caramel-what-now? You seem to know what you're doing! Sure, i'll have some if you're offering... you seem in a good mood! Did ya' do something with your hair?" Oxyi caught a glimpse of some multi-coloured marks on his neck but couldn't see what they were exactly.
"I'm in a wonderful mood! I'm hopeful and things are looking bright!"
"That... was what I wanted to talk to you about..." She angled herself to see down his shirt a little better as he sliced the fruit into smaller pieces one final time and gathered them up in his hands. There were definitely several glistening amethyst and sapphire marks just slightly visible under his collar on his sable skin. "Erm. Sorry. SO! What is the plan? We've been away from all that hell for a few days now and whilst we're all very glad to be away from it, I wanted to know a little more about what we're actually going to do? You said you might be able to call in help?"
Diego nodded and chucked the fruit into the pan, the sound of sizzling oil filling the room with a sweet aroma accompanying it.
"I have some friends within the Warlocks of Detromus that owe me, when I explain the situation I imagine they'll jump at the chance to help. I reckon I can wrangle half an army at least now that we know what we're dealing with."
"Oh damn! You know the WoD?!" Oxyi struggled to pick her jaw up. "T-that would do it! Could we get some Witch Gunners?! Or Wisps?! Mage knights?!?"
"Hell yeah we could. We'll need to head to an outpost though, they won't accept any action from a call due to imposter tech, so here's my plan. The nearest outpost is about three weeks away at our current pace, I propose we make some short pit-stops at the Nomad stations between us and them to warn them about the threat and the lost freighter, lets ensure people are informed as we go and then we head straight for the outpost. It'll take a few days for the Warlocks to get forces down here so hopefully Leech and Moltezz don't get up to too much trouble during that time."
"I'm guessing those are the other Czarite's responsible for this? Leech and... Meltezz? Metnezz? Mehellnez?"
