Last Ditch Effort, hi-ho,hi-ho it's off to weapons we go...

[Eaton_Kepplinger]

The trip to the armory hadn't been much trouble, and Raquelle had been right. For now it was best to be able to use the shadows to hide if need be. The doors she had opened before made it a quicker journey than last time and her hand was certainly thankful for that. The only ominous thing Kepp had seen was some blood on the wall and a few bits of what could have been flesh, but the Captain didn't stop to find out. Once they reached the initial room of the armory, Kepp glanced back at Raquelle and Marissa with a faint smile. The room itself was practically empty and her curious mind lead her to the info terminal. She swiped her card to access the inventory list and stared at it in shock. There was nearly nothing left. It was odd for a place that was usually stocked.

"Hold back a minute mates. I want to check this room out."

Things weren't adding up. There should have been personnel here, Nomad had said they were all meeting here. Kepp eyed the security door and walked over. With a swipe of her card the door hunkered open and what Kepp was greeted with sent a chill to her very bones. She back stepped slightly and looked back at the other two.

Eaton swallowed thickly. Gore. Blood, flesh...but no actual bodies. No matter how much blood and bits there were, they needed the small amount of weapons that were left. The couple of combat suits would double their chances of preventing injury. Another heavy breath, things were certainly off.

"Right. Here's the plan. We go in, grab whatever is left and get the bloody hell out. I don't like this one bit. Once we finish here we get the hell out of this area and head over the crickin' medical unit."

Kepp glanced around again and sighed. She didn't even want to know what Nomad would have to say. Kepp didn't want to know anything at all. All she wanted to do was get armed, and get out. A glance back to Raquelle and Marissa one last time.

"We stick together right? I don't want to be caught unaware should some grimy whatsit come slithering out of the shadows. Weapons up and ready. And when we get out of here...one of you is giving me a damned cigarette."

[Raquelle]

Raquelle followed the UEC Marine diligently…or…as diligently as he could muster. He still walked with a distinctive sway to his hips and crouched down and out of site only if he absolutely had to. But it pleased him to note that Kepp had listened to his suggestion, and they were still traveling in the not so comforting darkness greeted by the occasional blood spatter or bits of flesh. It was particularly unappetizing stuff, except you really couldn’t decipher which bit came from which body as the bulk of the remains were no larger than his hand. He supposed there was a mixed blessing in that…

When the three of them stopped at the designated armory their fearless leader proceeded to hold Marissa and Raquelle back and swiped a designated access card. Not that he was paying any real attention to the Latina behind him except to note that she was still there and hadn’t shot him in the back.

Kepp moved for the lot of them to make a quick round through the sealed room, in and out to grab what was left of the arms inside. That and she requested a cigarette which Raquelle would gladly supply.

“Girl…once we get this whole thing figured out I plan to settle down with a nice big bottle o’ liquor and drink enough to forget it ever happened, you’re welcome to join me,” he winked with obvious flirtation. And waiting for her count, they proceeded forward as he noted the armory looked like it had been through a war zone. Suddenly the idea of trading in an antique shotgun didn’t seem like a viable plan because there really wasn’t anything left to trade…

The doors had opened to reveal the similar gory scene that had taken place throughout the ship. Whoever had been visible during the start of this supposed “attack” hadn’t made it out alive or even remotely whole. Thus when he stumbled upon a single body armor vest he couldn’t help but laugh. If whatever had started this mess was still on the ship…armor of any kind wasn’t going to do much except slow him down.

His dark eyes narrowed as he spotted two familiar weapons underneath a pile of debris he wasn’t going to even try to identify. They were knives…some sort of military grade and he could tell they were carbon fiber. That was good…knives he could deal with, hell he’d been carrying them ever since he was a kid. There were guns as well although they were limited to small firearms…the kind of things that drug lords and gang bangers could hide in their pants…not something a soldier would feel comfortable using. Or something he imagined would take care of whatever the hell had caused this...not at a range he was comfortable with.

Not to mention they seemed to be out of bullets aside from the empty casings that further cluttered the mess, which posed somewhat of a problem... Holding up his find as he continued to dig through the area in front of him, Raquelle added in a quiet voice.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but them guns aint gonna fire without some proper bullets…anybody happen to have a spare stash? Cause I don’t know how quick we’re gonna find things in here…”

[Eaton_Kepplinger]

Kepp couldn't help but laugh. Raquelle was certainly giving her something in this dark hour, a little bit of light heartedness. Sure, she would never follow through on the flirtation being offered by the cook but it was definitely something to keep her mind from sinking into depression.

"Mate...If you provide it I'll be there. We'll get our rocks off and chase after some pretty ones yeah?" It was war talk. The damned soldiers in the trenches in the Great war of the 1940s probably talked like that.

She'd talked like that in the trenches during the riots. Talking about every goddamned thing you were going to do when you got out of the situation. Her first time around she had been lucky and she had gotten out. The jury was still out on whether or not she would survive this one. Kepp shook her head and looked around the armory. Something was seriously not right, there was absolutely no ammunition. Aside from a few loose casings. That would certainly pose a very big problem. Eaton sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Right. No ammunition here, which leaves the damned guns no use to us. So find anything that may be useful for blunt force. And then we get out of here before we get...." she made a motion around the armory "...whatever the bleedin' fuckin' hell happened to these poor bastards."

Kepp ran a hand through her hair and slid Lady Macbeth from her sheath. Well if anything was set on taking her out she'd slice it up to high holy heavens on her deathbed. There was a toothy grin to Raquelle, who Kepp was really starting to like.

"Now that the big bad marine is thoroughly unnerved lets hurry, because this door was sealed. Which means whatever did this...could very possibly still be in here, and I don't want to meet it." Kepp pulled a small flask from one of her side pockets. She wasn't an alcoholic, but sometimes you needed a nip....this was one of those times. She took a quick swig. "Good for what ails you. Figure I can make an exception to drinking on the job." She smirked and tossed the flask to Raquelle.

[Dollian Teague]

They had been walking quietly for some time, following the wide main corridor between the brig and armory, past several small office wings that were deathly silent. The soft breathing, padded footfalls and occasional mutter from behind him were an oasis of safety in the desert of death that filled the ship. They seemed to have been too late for whatever happened but there was no telling what else lay within the ship so he marched on.

His small flashlight cut a beam of blue-white through the mostly red bathed light revealing the colors of what had been a ship invariably teeming with life and activity. Occasional computer terminals glowed green. On Earth and Mars, green and red were the colors of the planet respectively, and here they were the only signs of life for the ship itself.

The march made his nerves tingle and his mind came into full focus, finally clearing of the haze of fear and anxiety that had sat over his thoughts when he first wandered out of his quarters. His beam of light played out across the floors, walls, passing quarters and sub-sections with his eyes darting across sizing things up in the cataloguing Marine Corp battlefield way. Every nerve stood on end, restrained by will but ready to leap. His hand rested on the cool metal of the pistol in its holster - the last thing he wanted was an accidental exchange of gunfire between survivors, especially near the armory.

Ahead of the junction to the armory he heard voices and noises of rummaging. The junction itself was dark, the light was hanging precariously as if shot and the corridor beyond blinked a bit but was lit. He waved for everyone to stop and he advanced a few paces, with a quick glance back at Cypher and the others before craning his head out a bit and clearing his voice.

He called out - ”Survivors?” The voice carried through the darkness of the junction and into the adjoining corridor to the armory.

[Pilate Harrigan]

“Survivors… or bloodthirsty aliens lying in wait ready to make our insides outsides! Mr. Teague, if I may, I am what you can consider an expert on these alien entities, probably the most knowledgeable person on the ship when it comes to them. Actually…I only know how large they are, but technically that’s more than what you know…. That being so, I suggest you keep your voice down! And if you must shout then please, a more appropriate choice of greeting, for example, ‘I know you’re there you alien bastard.’ Not that I’m in charge. Merely a friendly suggestion.” Pilate explained, his tone acidic yet contained. His confidence was, as always, short lived. He’d already shied away to the rear of the group the moment he heard voices and noises ahead. There were occasional moments in a person’s life when they rather wished their flashlight was an AK 47 or some other destructive weapon. Harrigan was desperately pleading in his mind for anyone to grant that wish, but to no avail. The flashlight was a flashlight, a shaft of dying light in a blood-bathed world. He contemplated shoving Luce forward suddenly; the image of her being eaten first would at least make the whole imminent death ordeal a little nicer to think about. He smirked to himself, but remained silent. Fighting back the raging urge to argue with everything, he stared at Cypher in front of him, vaguely wondering if the man could tell he was looking.

What was it about his worst nightmare coming true that drove him so mad? Was it the fact he was alone, or had this ominous company in the shape of creatures from another world? That feeling, that cold shudder crept over him, the sort of feeling one got when one felt Death’s claw grasp his shoulder tightly. Was he going to die? He wasn’t a particularly hardy human, not resilient or agile… something in the back of his mind was niggling, it was nudging him roughly in the ribs and uttering, ‘shit-for-brains, you should have tried a little harder, done a little better, stuck in, done what you were supposed to have done. Congratulations, you lazy sod, this is it, these are your final hours and you’re wasting them by being the same guy you’ve been for your entire life. Way to go.’ He looked up at the scarlet lights above, their crimson glow making everything seem as blood. He would have liked his end to have come a little later, but that was life. Or death. Either one. They were one million light years from anywhere, Nomad was going as insane as his operators, and there were monsters running amok the length and breadth of the vessel. Pilate rolled up his sleeves and ignored the twinge in his arm. He might as well be prepared.

“Come on, we’re not going to be survivors for much longer are we? I mean, I’m not saying I’m one of those weirdos who sits in the bath and tries to clean themselves with their own blood, but not being funny or anything…we’re all going to die! Let’s face it, everyone else is dead – it’s only by manner of luck and chance we’ve managed to stay alive as long as we have! Then again, I am not welcoming anyone to put me out of my misery, bullets stay in guns for now, but mark my words…none of us are going home…” he said finally, playing up and exaggerating most of his words and sighing the rest. He was only speaking his thoughts, and he was very good at that, thank you very much. Regardless of anyone’s response, despite the ray of hope some would offer, the words of optimism would fall short. They always bloody did.

(ooc ; forgive me for not posting oh God I deserve to die for disappearing like that! I'm back now D; )

[Dollian Teague]

Teague remained where he was, craning his flashlight and head watchfully into the junction that led into the armory corridor. He was glad he was facing away from the group. The sudden flush of anger that had made the hair at the back of his neck bristle and made him feel lighter with the endorphin rush he breathed out silently, letting the man rattle on in the darkness.

It took halfway through the man's words for Teague to settle his mind and keep his awareness throughout the looming darkness. Pilate's words resounded out, but their acidic intentions fell short against his turned back. He was right after all, in a few ways.

Teague let a moment of brief moment of silence settle into corridor before he spoke. He still didn't look away from the junction ahead where his flashlight already proceeded cautiously.
"You're absolutely right mister Harrigan." He kept his voice low, just above a whisper, even in tone and flat of emotion. "We somehow missed the main event that happened. Whatever did this, your 'bloodthirsty aliens', we would stand no chance against."

His head remained turned but his free hand dropped to the butt of his holstered pistol and pulled it halfway out, a move clearly visible to Pilate. "This would be of no use. I dare say we'd probably not be having this conversation but instead we would have our throats torn out."

He let that sink in. "However, since i've met nothing but survivors and we are not dead yet, and whether that's a good thing or not," he paused, "i'm assuming there are more survivors and that we can get ourselves out of here."

He kept his eyes forward and waited for anyone to respond in the armory. The alternative would more likely confirm Pilate's fears.

[Raquelle]

Raquelle caught the flask with one hand as he took a short swig of the liquor inside and smacked his lips with a satisfied sound. He held his hand over his mouth with a grin realizing how loud the noise might have been, but at the moment, he wasn’t taking things too seriously. If he did…well, he didn’t want to that was the point.

“Mmm girl now you talking my language. Lets you and me find something in here worth shootin and get the hell out while we still can,” he said resting his hand over his heart as he fluttered his fingers. Although once the comment left his lips he paused and frowned not hearing a response.

In fact he’d heard nothing from Marissa and that was a problem in itself. He’d purposely been ignoring the temperamental Latina in an effort to make her angry, because that was just too much fun all together. Not to mention it took his mind of the possibilities of what was wrong with the ship and how much Luce was going to kill him for destroying her kitchen. He took another swig from the flask at the thought of that…the bar had been almost completely destroyed and he hadn’t really been minding the kitchen.

“Right now I don’t think work will mind you sneakin the bottle,” Raquelle joked as he kept looking around. “But you have any idea where Miss thing is? I haven’t heard her voice screechin’ behind me for a few minutes,” he added good-naturedly. Of course anyone with eyes could see he was somewhat concerned as he bent over to pick up a .45 and checked the cartridge…empty.

“Like findin a needle in a haystack,” he mumbled, the fact that Marissa was no where to be seen still fresh in his mind. That was of course until he heard it…the noise of Teague’s voice calling out for survivors. His head snapped up, his expression turning serious as he looked towards Kepp. “One of us is missin,” he said, his voice far different from the flirtig, almost teasing male diva he’d originally presented. “Are we sure that the things that did this aren’t human?”

It was fairly obvious what he was hinting to as the sound grew closer. Being that he didn’t know Drawing one of the knives he’d picked up from the rubble, he flipped it so the pointed end faced the ground, blade out. It looked like he’d had some experience with blades as he gestured towards the hallway leading out of the armory. “You’ve got the better pig sticker an no doubt the skill. You wanna play lookout while I see if I can find some bullets?”

Regardless of whether or not Teague and the others were friendly the .45 pistol looked like the only thing that might possibly have ammunition lying around. At least, ammunition that he could see. And with the voices he’d initially heard getting closer and Marissa somehow disappearing…something was definitely not right.

[Eaton_Kepplinger]

"No I guess the job wouldn't would it?" Kepp smirked and shook her head.

The sound of Teague's voice jerked Kepp's attention from Raquelle and instinctively the marine slid Lady Macbeth from her sheath. Kepp's eyes flicked back to Raquelle briefly. No, she wasn't sure what the hell did this. Human or not it didn't matter. Something was inevitably wrong. Kepp didn't believe in aliens, but it was easier than wrapping her mind around human beings doing this sort of carnage. A shiver ran down her spine. Normally she might have been worried about Velez's sudden disappearance, but Kepp ventured the girl could handle herself. Kepp shook the thought from her head and she nodded in response to Raquelle's request.

"Can do mate." she offered the faintest smile and secured her bag around her chest and shoulders.

The distant explosion sounded more like soft thunder, and the aftershock it caused in the armory did little other than shake Kepp's footing slightly. Furrowing a brow she turned to look at Raquelle.

"What in bloody heaven's name was tha-" She was cut off, however when the massive boom echoed against the heavy metal walls, and the entire world around her shook violently.

Kepp lost her footing and slid along the floor. She grunted when her body connected with the wall. The power blew shortly after and the entire area was plunged into blackness. Kepp let out an indecipherable curse and stood slowly, wary as to whether or not another explosion would send her flying again. She glanced around, but her eyes had yet to adjust to the sudden darkness. She dug blindly into her bag and found the penlight she'd shoved there earlier. It probably didn't have much life left in it, but it might be enough to get them to her quarters without killing themselves. There she had a few emergency flares from work she'd done months earlier. Two to be exact. But a few hours of light was better than no light at all right? Right.

"Everyone okay?" Kepp's voice was shaky, still recovering from the walloping the wall had given her.

Her earlier theory that something was very wrong had upgraded to something was seriously bloody awfully wrong. With the power out, there wasn't much she could do to help. No juice in the wires meant nothing she could do would work. Unless of course she somehow got down to the big bad engine room and attempted to find the source of power for the ship. Even then? She wouldn't know what the hell to do. A sigh passed over her lips and she swished the penlight in the darkness. She did hope everyone was alright. Although her main thoughts were on what had caused the explosion and where the hell it had originated. And of course, what the hell else could possibly go wrong.

Why was it whenever she transferred somewhere all hell broke loose? She was beginning to think she was cursed. Kepp sighed and pressed her hand against the wall in order to keep steady. The rumbling that continued only augmented the fears running through her mind. Another slow heavy breath passed over her lips and a hand ran through her hair before Kepp pushed off the wall. They needed to figure out what was going on, but even Kepp had to admit she was beginning to think it was futile and that she just might die on this ship after all. The only comfort, sick as it was, was that she wasn't alone in that possibility. Dying alone was never a pretty thought.

[Pilate Harrigan]

Harrigan frowned. He frowned at Teague, he frowned at the situation, he frowned at the fact that his flashlight was dying, and he frowned at Nomad, which was quite a feat in itself considering Nomad, in theory, did not exist as a physical entity. He had been about to answer Teague back, say something offhanded and rude, but before he could, he heard something. A loud but far away something. A something he didn’t like the sound of. It sounded like a muffled explosion. His frown deepened, eyebrows meeting in a concerned unison, the ground juddering only slightly beneath his feet, the sort of quiet rumbling a large vehicle caused when it thundered past. He held out his hands unnecessarily for balance, then dropped them again, smiling crookedly.

“What the hell was that? You guys feel that? Shit – it sounded kinda close…” he commented, but his relief was short lived. The judder returned, but this time it threw him off his feet and he hit the ground with a yelp, feeling his head hit something. He scrambled forwards, his hand meeting the wall of the corridor, still half slick with blood that wasn’t his own – or at least he hoped wasn’t his own. He laid flat, arms over his head, eyes shut tight until he felt the world stop tilting and spinning. It felt as if the whole ship had capsized. Obviously that was an exaggeration, but to Harrigan, it felt all too real. After a minute or so lying in complete silence, Pilate opened a cautious eye, and then the other. He took his hands away from his head and looked up, pain suddenly shooting through his skull. Reaching a hand to the back of his head, he touched his hair and drew his hand in front of him again, feeling hot blood clinging to his fingers. He could see nothing, and in his panic he thought he had been blinded, however, he was glad he couldn’t see the blood on his fingertips. He blinked a few more times, but nothing materialized out of the darkness, so he hauled himself up to his hands and knees, wrenching his half dead flashlight from his belt and fumbling for its switch. He found it and flipped it, utterly comforted by the fact that he wasn’t blind at all; the corridor had simply had a power outage. The calm left him. Power outage. He whimpered helplessly, but stood up; knowing he probably had a mild concussion.

His fear-filled gray eyes darted to and fro at breakneck speed, dizzying him as he shone the beam of light across every inch of the immediate area. He could see no-one. He’d even welcome the sight of Luce, but only if she was alive. As much as he had wished her dead on several occasions, seeing her limp body would tear him apart – but that secret stayed with him until his death, which could be not too far away… Pilate was more than panicked. He was in a state of pure terror, hyperventilating and moving as quickly as bird, but blindly so. He tried to recall where Teague had been leading the mismatched group, but nothing sprang to mind, so he walked warily forward, dim flashlight beam dully illuminating the pace before his feet. He ran a hand along the wall, as much as it made him ill. His hand stopped at the frame to a door. He felt his eyes widen. “Please, please, please…” he chanted to himself quietly, the flashlight in his hand quivering. He was stumbling in the dark, and yet had inadvertently stumbled into the armory. It was then that his flashlight gave a metaphorical cough and went dead, its battery depleted. Pilate hit it a few times with a shaking palm, but it wouldn’t respond; and so passed another faithful flashlight. He squinted, and saw a light some paces before him. He immediately raised his hands, just in case it was one of those aliens and they knew the arm signals for ‘surrender.’

“Oh god… anyone alive in here…?” he asked in a meek voice, repeating the same words he had used to greet Cassius back in the chemistry department. That all felt like years ago to him now. He had lost all of his confidence – it had vanished the second he had hit the ground out there in the corridor. He could see himself going mad with fear. Maybe not frothing at the mouth mad, but certainly talking to oneself and rocking in the corner sort of mad. The coward in him knew he’d not last five seconds on his own.

[Raquelle]

Raquelle went through the same explosion that Kepp and Pilate had. He’d been knocked off his feet and blacked out for what seemed like a good bit of time, but he hadn’t knocked his head around, having the sense to cover it with his arms when the ship rattled dangerously around them all. But despite these similarities when the sou-chef woke up again he wasn’t so hesitant to proclaim how he felt…despite the fact that he did so somewhat quietly. Because there was a possibility that he and Kepp were being followed by aliens after all.

“Am I okay? Am I okay?” he hissed to Kepp, relieved that she hadn’t disappeared mysteriously like Miss Thing seemed to have. Sitting back against the wall he gratefully took in the little bit of light the Marine seemed to have with her. “Girl here I was mindin my own business, getting into trouble like I should be in my own damn kitchen,” a lie…he knew it was Luce’s kitchen. “When the whole world has to go turn itself upside down... I was makin progress with a very attractive lookin piece of man!” he ranted, raising his voice slightly. The injustice of it all!

“And the next thing I know? I’m lookin at cut up bottles and whatever was left of tall dark and handsome all over the god damn floor…” he grumbled.

Of course Raquelle had feelings just like everyone else, but in such a tense situation, he couldn’t help but have a diva rant. “My clothes are all messed up, my hair is gonna be a mess when we get out of this and bitch I am tired as a motherfucker,” he cursed, resting his head in his arms as he drew his knees to his chest for a moment. Of course he really wasn’t insulting Kepp at this point, he was just in the full swing of things. Judging by the lack of noise whatever he had heard, be it human or not, it had stopped for the moment. “What does a brother have to do to get off a planet without endin’ up in a body bag?” he suddenly rolled his eyes at the heavens.

He felt better after that little outburst, however childish it had been. But when Marissa never came forward he began thinking that the Latina woman was gone for good…whatever that meant. She could never resist adding in a side comment or two when he spoke and he did the same to her…and she hadn’t responded now for a good ten minutes or so…

“Miss Thing is gone,” Raquelle added after a bit of silence. “No way she’d let a diva like myself go off like that without adding in a comment of her own,” he deduced.

“And with the ship playin Russian Roulette we’re gonna need to set our priorities straight…” Raquelle continued. He was trying to form a plan in his head, get things together. Initially he would have been just fine following Kepp and Marissa around like Thelma and Louise and making his way elsewhere if he felt the need. But with the ship dying around them- it didn’t sound like such a good idea anymore. They needed to get to a central area- anything that was in the ship’s rescue plans should they suddenly send out a distress call. Wherever that was there would be people and perhaps someone that knew what in the hell was going on…

Of course, his planning was quite suddenly sidetracked when another light made its way into the picture, Pilate’s. Raquelle lifted his head and frowned for a moment, running his palm over his forehead and relieved to find there wasn’t any blood there…but damn was his eyeliner going to run…

If Pilate turned out to be an alien Raquelle knew he’d have to give the things credit for making such a convincing human…provided that was what was going on. Because when he heard the sound of another person waving their flashlight so wildly around, he was quite convinced it was another crew member. Convinced enough that he signaled to Kepp he was moving out and hoped she would be right behind him with that big knife of hers as he stepped forward.

Raquelle knew how to be silent when he moved. Growing up on the streets had taught him that. And he knew despite the fact that the lights had gone out, waving a torch around wasn’t going to do anyone any good.

An arm seemed to appear out of nowhere as Raquelle hooked Pilate right off his path and slammed him up against the wall. of the ship If he’d been scared earlier, this would no doubt add to the mix as Raquelle let out a grin finding the source of the noise was undoubtedly human. A little scruffy…but not bad looking either…

“Baby I don’t know what you’re thinking waving around that light and praying to god. But the people who’re alive out here won’t be for much longer if you attract something worse than lil old me,” he grinned.

It seemed Raquelle had made a new friend…