"That's a negative, Ray." replied Slayde as he wondered down the corridor. "I will have a look at them, but I'm hoping once we can get the Cruisader's systems working we can make this our base of opperations, so you may as well transfer them over here when we can recieve them."

"You want to use the Cruisader as a base???"

"It makes sence. We have to find out what happened here, and the best place to do that is here." The corridor they were walking down suddenly ended, opening out into a massive room with computer consoles all around the walls. All the lights on them were dead. Along the farr wall was a massive row of windows, similar to the ones on the Quasar, only considerably bigger. "Hold on Captain...we've found the bridge!"

Ivalice's marines moved in, checking the large room for any signs of life. Slayde looked around, sweepng his torch across the masses of equipment, all dead.

"Okay, first we need to get the power back online." he muttered, moving over to the main console at the front of the bridge. "Eternity...your assistance please?"

============================================================

Zoran was following the Kirov marines closely, staring down the deserted corridors silently. Suddenly the marines stopped, shining their torches down the corridor ahead.

Another body floated in the air, but this one was different. It appeared completely unharmed! It was a man, very tall and well built, with a thick beard and moustache. His skin was white, and his clothes looked a little torn, but other than that he seemed uninjured...

...apart for his eyes.

"What's up with his eyes???" asked Leon quietly as the group slowly advanced on the figure. The medic from the marines began examining the body.

Zoran stared into the holes where his eyes should have been. It was as though they had been gouged out cleanly, leaving just the lids.

"I'm detecting optic residue in the eye sockets and on the face." muttered the medig quietly. "It looks like his eyes were liquified and ran down his face like water!"

Zoran narrowed his eyes. "What could do that to the eyes without damaging the skin around the eyes?"

The medic shook his head. "I have no idea! There's something else though...acording to my scans, this guy was dead long before it happened, and I'm detecting evidence of freezing before the cold of space got him...it looks like he was put in the ship's mortuary, then brought out again and brought here!"

"Sir, Ive found some more!" called the voice of another marine further down the corridor. The rest of the group moved over to look.

These two bodies were considerably more grotesque to look at. They were cureled around each other, and both wore nasty looking injuries...

...but it was the position of the bodies that was most terrifying! Both of them had hold of each other, and both were wielding heavy weapons, one a sharp industrial axe, the other a heavy engineering spanner! It looked like they had been in combat with each other...both killing the other one at the same time!

"Why would they fight each other...?" muttered one of the marines, apprehension in his voice.

"Just look at their faces!" exclaimed Leon, backing away from the hideous sight slowly. And it was true...their faces were contorted into grotesque expressions of absolute sheer terror, mouths open, eyes wide and staring!

"We should continue." muttered Zoran, looking away from the bodies and continuing down the corridor. He wasn't one to be scared, but this was really beginning to freak him out!

Ruby had stared at the screen, unblinking, seeing everything yet seeing nothing at all. Her stomach churned in disgust, and it took all her will-power not to rush to the med-bay and be sick. She did not want to leave the controls in case she might be needed short notice. Ruby glanced over at Officer Moore, who looked a little pale at his controls. She guessed that the whole thing didn't sit well with him either.

Now the screen had been partitioned into two sections: The left showed the progress of Slayde and his little group, and the right side showed Zoran and the others. Ruby once again felt that uncomfortable churning in her stomach as she studied the bodies, and this time her ears went flat. It was most definitely a disturbing sight, moreso than the message written in blood. She gave a shaky sigh, momentarily covering her mouth with her hand, and finally decided to sit down in the chair by the monitor.

"Captain Slayde, I trust your logic and I trust you know what you're doing, sir." Ruby said, as steadily as she could. "Zoran...be careful."

"Affirmative," Replied Zoran, and Ruby detected a hint of uneasiness.

Ray continued watching the dual displays on the transmission screen at the very front of bridge, which had just been turned on. Indeed, the bodies were quite disgusting. Through the cameras on the suits of the leading Marine of the team heading for the core, and Slayde's own suit, Ray watched as they proceeded down the empty corridors.

Empty, except for floating debris now and then, as well as dented walls and doors, and also the occasional corroded floor.

"This gives me the creeps," commented one Marine.

"Quiet, Mike. We're Marines, remember?"

"Yeah, you're right."

"If the two of you are done babbling, I believe we've found the core. Radiation levels don't seem high here. And it seems this door's electronically locked," the lead marine commented. "Nelson, it's your turn to shine."

"Aye, Sarge!" the small-built marine said as he put handed his rifle to the leader and removed a compact computer from the side compartment of his suit. He grabbed his miniature toolbox, which contained the tools of the trade. Seemingly ancient, but still useful. He opened the combination lock's electronic number panel and worked his way around the wires, and eventually found the 'appropriate' one. Immediately, he opened the covering of the wire that lead to the locking mechanism, and connected a cable from his computer to the exposed wire. "Here goes nothing!"

Numbers popped out of nowhere on the holographic display of the computer, and all sorts of numbers appeared. The numbers appeared and disappeared at blinding speed as the computer permutated all the possible combinations to the lock.

"Shouldn't take too long..." Nelson muttered. As if to punctuate his statement, the numbers stopped and the door slid open with a barely audible hiss. "Yes! Got it!"

"Okay, let's get to work!" the Sergeant ordered.

"Good news." muttered Slayde as he checked the system. "It looks like the ships systems aren't damaged, just inactive. We should be able to restart them by just flicking switches."

"Why would the systems be switched off?" asked Eternity quietly. "The crew wouldn't have done it...theywould need them. Besides, they were all dead!"

"I dunno." replied layde, standing up and leaning over the control pannel. "But we can check that when we have some semblance of sanity around here." He flicked a switch on the helmet of his suit. "Slayde to all boarding party members, I'm bringing ships systems back online...watch out for floating debris."

He pressed a button on the control pannel, and suddenly gravity restored itself. Objects crashed to the floor around them, rolling and bouncing across the bridge.

In the corridor, the frozen remains of the crew suddenly dropped. Thanks to their fragillity from the cold, they smashed to shards on the metal floor, leaving nothing but a pile of icy remains.

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the ship, awakened by the power drain, something stiired...

Slayde finished going along the row of switches, activating all the systems one at a time. The ship was suddenly bathed in light as the internal lighting flared. Outside, the windows began to light up and the guiding beacons on the ship's extremities flicked on, beginning to flash regularly. The iced up air circulation system slowly grated into life, filling the air with a quiet, background hum.

The Cruisader was alive again!

Slayde flicked the last switch, but a red light appeared below it. "Darn, the rediation filters are malfunctioning. Looks like we'll have to do some repairs before we can get into the engineering section."

He spoke into his radio again. "Okay everyone, it'll take about half an hour for the air to become breathable and for it to warm up enough to take our suits off. Quasar, when everything's ready I want all of you to come over here...we'll meet up in command and work out a plan of action. Kirov, I recommend you come in to dock in airlock 2 on the other side of the ship. Now we can start finding out just what happened here."

He moved over to one of the many chairs on the bridge and swiveled it round, a thin dust of ice drifting away from the joint as he did so. He sat down in it carefully. "Slayde to Zoran, how are things going down there?"

============================================================

"We have just reached the computer core now sir." replied Zoran, looking up at the massive cylinder of circuitry, screens and computer systems stood in the middle of the room. It reached clear from the floor to the roof, and there was a metal gantry half way up, above their heads, so the whole length of the core could be accessed. A thick metal ladder made the route up to the gantry. "Leon and the Kirov marines are surveying the core now."

"Good." replied Slayde's voice. "Leon, how do things look in there?"

In a moment of idle thought, Officer Moore realized that the scanner station had been operated by Ivalice remotely, not long ago! Glancing around the room, he didn't see the robot anywhere. "Where could that tin can be?"

Other personnel had taken position at the communications console, in Ivalice's absence, which wasn't unusual, but it bothered Officer Moore. It felt like Ivalice had deliberately left the scanners! Of course, Officer Moore had no idea that Ivalice was still remotely linked to the scanners of both the Kirov and the Quasar...

Ivalice's marines were all-purpose. They didn't shine as well at the individual tasks the Kirov marines specialized in, excepting combat. These guys were mean. Ivalice2 had currently set their behavior patterns for 'follow orders', 'protect crew', 'suppress uncouth behavior', and 'be vigilant', but he could change them to other modes at any time.

That fact aside, three of them covered the door to the bridge, watching the corridor. Three of them were checking around the room, making sure there was nothing hiding. The other three were prepared to give Captain Slayde and Eternity a hand with the controls, right now getting periphery systems running.

Ivalice was working with the controls, and observing the status of the team as they thawed out. He would need all of them awake. Activating his communicator, he spoke aloud. "Team 2, first priority is to get the scanner linked with the Quasar and Kirov scanners."

The marine working the sensory console replied, "Roger that, Ivalice. Scanners linking now."

Ivalice glanced at the readout on his arm. Perfect! He now had full access to the entire scanner network of all three ships! "Linking confirmed. Captain Slayde, I am reading the same interference from the Crusader's scanners. We will have to eliminate the radiation before we can learn more."

Officer Moore spoke through the comm. "Ivalice, why did you abandon your post without setting up a replacement?"

A sly smile formed on Ivalice's face. "Why, Officer Moore, I must have made a mistake. I had to inspect some things in Cargo Bay 3, to make sure some of my goods were salvageable, and I thought I had asked one of the crew to fill in for me. Perhaps it slipped my mind."

"You're a machine, Ivalice, you don't make mistakes!"

"I am no mere 'machine', Officer Moore. I have true intelligence, and with that comes the consquences of human nature. On occasion, I will make mistakes, too."

This was a partial lie, but no one had any information to prove him wrong. Ivalice had perfect control of his voice, so no one could suspect he had just uttered a lie! Of course he was fallible, as no being is 'perfect'. But his ratio of error was much, much lower than the average human. And, on this occasion, he had made no mistake.

He continued, "But perhaps my crew members were too preoccupied with the 'show' to realize there was a need? Perhaps we all made a mistake, hmm?" Several members on the bridge glanced at each other, embarrasment on their faces for not having been more vigilant. "Oh well, no matter, as all is well now. I will be reporting to the bridge again soon, I have just one more thing to do down here."

Ivalice turned back to the cryo-tubes. He looked down at the console in front of him, and raised a finger over the big, shiny red button that read: 'Awaken'. With a smile on his face, he pressed it. He waited for the process to finish, preparing to give them their orders...

"Affirmative, Cpatain Slayde. We will dock with the airlock," replied Ray. He nodded to the helmsman, and the ship turned, almost gracefully, facing the unused airlock. "Our weapons will remain active. We take no risks, Captain. And... if anything happens, evacuate the ship immediately. Head for the Quasar; the Kirov's marines will cover your retreat. Once you are safe and have disconnected from the airlock, we will scuttle the Crusader."

"Captain Halter, please, don't worry about us. Our marines can do just as good a job. But in the event that things do go wrong, what about your marines?"

"They are more than willing to die to protect anyone critical to our mission. Yes, it may seem wrong to let them die with the ship, but they are the best of the best of the best, and most of them already have nothing to return to. The Kirov is their only home."

There was no response from Slayde for several moments. True; the Kirov's marines were an elite bunch... But did they have to die in such events?

"I still don't agree with it. Losing fourteen good men, just to save a few others."

Ray smiled slightly. "Captain, don't worry. Given how they work, they'll be back on the Quasar before we even scuttle the Crusader. However, all this discussion isn't getting us very far right now. Nothing's happened on the Crusader, so I'm just being unduly worried."

Slayde nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Captain."

"You're welcome," Ray replied, leaning back in his chair.

Just under half an hour later, Slayde was still on the bridge, sat in the communications chair. He was going over some of the ship's last logs, trying to make sence of them, but there was some kind of interference jumbling the information.

Eternity and Ivalice's marines had returned to the airlock to greet the others, and he was alone. Eternity had questioned the wisdom of his isolation, but he had argued that here on the bridge he was in a dead end, with only one entrance and exit...easy to defend. The others would be moving through the corridors and would need the extra eyes.

Personally he was getting tired of it all. Sure, something had happened on this ship, something nasty, but everyone seemed to be acting like they would be dead by the end of the hour. Due caution was required, but this was too much as far as he was concerned.

The atmosphere had warmed up considerably thanks to the ship's life support system, and Slayde had by now removed his helmet. The air still felt cold, and his breath came out in whisps of steam as he breathed, but things were steadily getting warmer.

"Kirov to Cruisader, attaching docking arms now." the radio crackled with the voice of the Kirov pilot.

"Understood Kirov. Welcome to the party." Slayde replied, not without a hint of sarcasm, before closing the channel and returning his eyes to the moniter screen in front of him. The screen showed nothing but static, and the accompanying audio was an indeciferable jumble of unrecognisable sounds. He sighed and leaned his arm on the desk, placing his cheek on his fist. This was gonna be a long day.

Prescence...

He turned round, swiveling his seat. Slowly his eyes panned across the empty bridge. He could feel something...as though someone was there in the room with him...

Nothing.

He shook his head, turning back to the monitor. Slayde, you're letting this ship get to you...

He spun round again, quicker this time. There was something...!

"Hello...?" he called hesitantly, fixing his eyes on the dark corridor leading off the bridge. "Anyone there?" The Cruisader's lighting was back online, but the rooms and corridors of the ship were so big that it was difficult to light them fully, and the atmosphere was still rather gloomy and shadowy.

Silence...

Slayde, what's with you??? Get a grip! Taking a deep breath he once again turned back to the console, looking down at the monitor in front of him...

...he saw the reflection!

He jumped up from the chair, spinning round and raising his hands in front of him!

"Captain! I appologise if I startled you."

"Zoran???" Slayde stared up at the massive figure wide eyed. "What are you playing at, sneaking up like that?"

"My appologies Captain." Zoran replied, bowing low. "You turned away as I entered. I assumed you had seen me."

"As you entered?" echoed Slayde. "You mean, you weren't here before?"

"No sir. I have only just arrived."

Slayde looked around slowly. His imagination must have been playing up after all. "Hm...well, nevermind. Where's Leon?"

"He requested that he be excused from the meeting Captain." replied Zoran. "The Computer Core has sustained considerable damage and he has begun repairs immeadeately. The Kirov marines have remained with him."

Slayde nodded. "Okay. When the others get here we'll run through things we need to do. We'll need to go through the ship and collect any bodies that survived the gravity restoration...see if we can identify any. We'll also need to do repairs, inventory of supplies, all sorts of things." He sat down in the chair again, looking thoughtful. "Thank goodness we have a lot of hands..."

Clang. Clang. Clang.

"Did you hear anything?" asked Michael, standing guard at the door. The motion sensors showed nothing, but he thought he'd heard repeated clanging against the metal.

"It's just your imagination, Mike. Don't worry!" snapped Nelson. "There can't be anything else on this ship! It was completely drained of oxygen!"

Clang. Clang. Clang.

"There it goes again!"

"No way, Mike. Sit down and shut up! Just guard the doors!"

"But... I know I heard something..." Michael sighed as he leaned against the wall, gun in hand. "Those things better not be here."

"They can't be here, Mike. We vaporised them and their supreme being, remember?"

"True..." He looked over to the Sergeant, who was watching Nelson work with the rest of the team who weren't on guard duty. "Sarge?"

"Yeah?" the tall fellow replied, turning to face Michael. Compared to himself, Michael was quite small, but the suit made him just as tall as himself.

"Have you ever questioned Captain Halter's orders?"

"A soldier does what he's ordered to do. A good soldier follows orders without objection, but soldiers aren't without feelings... We have to do our jobs, but we don't have an easy time sometimes."

Michael nodded in understanding. He had fought long and hard alongside his brothers and sisters aboard the Kirov, but sometimes, he wondered whether the Captain was truly a trustworthy man.

"The Captain's proven his worth umpteen times. Not only has he saved the Kirov from destruction multiple times, thereby saving our lives, he has saved the entire universe from obliteration by this alien race we wiped out so long ago."

"Wiped out... Hmm."

As Ivalice walked to the bridge, his mind was occupied. Ivalice3, what is the status of the...modifications, to the engineering section?

I just hope that we have no need to take such a risk. No one else knows that I woke up Team 3, and it shall remain that way until we are ready to act. Be diligent.

Ivalice entered the bridge, and a few curious glances were given his way. "Acting Captain Ruby, Ivalice reporting to the bridge."

~Computer Core~

Michael...

"Listen!"

Nelson sighed. "Mike...shut up. There was no clanging metal and..."

"No it was a voice!"

"A what?"

"A voice! I heard someone call my name!" Mike stepped forward, looking down the corridor. "I'm gonna check it out."

"Mike, you're a professional marine..."

"I know!" retorted Micheal angrily. "I'm telling you I heard it! It was quiet, like it was a long way away...a woman's voice."

Nelson sighed again, this time in resignation. "Fine, take a look, but don't go far."

Mike set off down the corridor, glancing down the offs as he passed them. He kept his gun raised slightly, just in case.

Michael...

He turned off into another corridor, following the noise. It was a soft, flowing voise, almost haunting in it's tone as it echoed down the long hallways.

Michael...Michael, come to me...

"Marines team one to Kirov, have any other teams been disbatched to the Cruisader yet?"

"Negative team one." replied his radio. "You're the only ones."

Suddenly he felt uneasy. All the other members of his team were in the Computer Core, and none of the crew of the Quasar knew his name.

And yet...there was a certain magnetism about the voice, something soothing, like a siren song, reaching into his mind, drawing him forward...

He could feel something in his head. What exactly he didn't know. Nothing physical. It felt warm, comfortable...like it was something that was supposed to be there that had been missing all his life.

That's right Michael...come to me...I need you...I need to find out who you are...

His caution was dissapearing. The voice filled his mind, washing over him in waves, slowly taking over his consiousness...

He came to a massive metal door. He pressed the button on the wall beside it and the door hissed open, revealing a long corridor streaching out into the distance. He stepped through the door slowly, and it hissed closed behind him.

Come to me...come to me...

As the door closed with a deep BOOM, the writing on the two sections came together.

CAUTION: RADIATION SHIELD
Do not open until cleared with the propper authority

(OOC: Quick note...Nobody have their character find out where Mike has gone As far as everyone else is concerned he's just dissapeared)

sir, permission to check computer files for any possible species or disease that could have done this to the crew onboard the Crusaider? If it's something new, which I have a feeling it is, we may be able to report it and stop a disaser like this from happening again.

A was sitting atop a nearby computer terminal, with (if you had been able to read his tiny face's expressions) a worried look about him.

"Where's he going?" Ray asked over the open broadcast channel.

"You mean Mike, sir?" asked Nelson. "He went to check something out."

"Check something out? ALONE? Get him back!" commanded Ray. It was standard operating procedure never to move around alone!

"Don't worry about him, Sir. We'll give him ten minutes. If he's not back by then, we'll send two marines to look for him. And when we find him, we're going to beat him up."

Ray sighed. "Sergeant, you'd better not lose him. There will be no unneccesary and unexplained loss of men; do you understand me?"

"Crystal-clear, Sir."

"Good."

"Permission granted A...good idea." replied Slayde thoughfully. By now everyone had made their way onto the Cruisader's bridge and were standing around expectantly.

"Okay everyone, let's set about solving this mystery." Slayde continued, looking round at the group. "I sugest to be on the safe side we make a rule of nobody is left alone. We have groups of two or more at all times." Personally he didn't really see the need for it, but he also wanted to make it seem to the others like he took their concerns seriuosly. He did, of course, but at this point he didn't see the point of all this worrying.

"Firstly, Captain Halter, Can I request teams of Marines to guard key areas of the ship? There's already one at the Computer Core, and we could use one at Med Bay and maybe the door to the Engineering section. Ivalice's Marines will guard the Bridge."

He turned to Eternity. "Eternity, your jurisdiction will be Med Bay. Check it over, make sure all the systems are in working order, and be prepared for any casuallties we may encounter. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to check over any bodies we find...look for cause of death, try to identify them etc. There's a full crew list in the main computer. Take Zaeda Six with you."

"And speaking of bodies, we'll need someone to collect them. We'll have two teams, so we can cover the ship fast enough. Ruby, you'll be with Ivalice. A, once you've finished your reaserch I'd like you and the others to make up the second team. Any bodies you find bring them to the cargo bays. We'll deal with them from there."

"Zoran, you go back to the Computer Core and continue helping Leon. Amber and I will stay on the bridge and work on decoding the ship's log and any minor repairs here. Captain Halter, can I put you in charge of security...co-ordinating all the Marines and making sure everyone's safe?"

He looked around slowly, running through everyone in his mind. "Did I miss anyone? We'll start immeadeately."

(OOC: Meh...that wasn't very story-oriented...sounded more like a list. Ah well, it moves the story on, that was what it was ment to do.)

"That will not be a problem, Captain Slayde. There are more than enough marines aboard the Kirov to do the job. The Kirov's laser batteries are still locked on the Crusader, just in case..."

"Just in case?" Slayde enquired, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just a precaution; I assure you. Now, for the marines..."

"I'll get right on it, Sir!" the marine standing to Ray's left exclaimed. Ray smiled and nodded to the saluting marine, who turned and sprinted down the corridors. The boy was an enthusiastic and energetic one; he always seemed so full of life.

"He'll bring one team too many," Ray stated with a grin. "Always cautious."

"Hmm. That might be a good idea."

"At any rate, what do you suppose happened here? Couldn't have been as simple as we thought it was..."

Indeed, it wasn't that simple. Dead bodies, their limbs out of position, and their expressions of horror frozen on their dead faces. Ray almost shuddered at the thought of them, but his rational mind commanded his body not to. He mentally sighed, not wanting to have to put up a strong front everytime he felt like showing his weak side.

Ruby nodded, acknowledging her captain's orders. She tried not to let it show that she was revolted at the idea of collecting the many grotesque-looking bodies...it only took a reminder of the ones they had found earlier to make her shudder slightly with unease. The alien woman swallowed her uneasiness as best she could and turned toward Ivalice. The robot nodded at her as she joined him. At the captain's command Officer Moore had boarded the Cruisader bringing large white containers that were shaped like rectangles. They were kept on the Quasar and any other ships in case any fatalities occured; in which, these devices acted as a kind of storage box/trash bag thing. Bodies were placed in them until they could be buried or disposed of otherwise. They had a special sliding lid and buttons that allowed them to grow or shrink depending on the size of the bodies.

They were called D-Holds (The D standed for Death, which was what they were used for), and it was never a pleasant feeling to be in charge of one of these.

Each team was to be assigned three D-Holds; no one expected to find that many bodies since most had probably been destroyed when gravity was re-installed in the ship. Ruby looked at the Hold she was in charge of. It had a handle on one side and wheels so it could be wheeled around with ease. She watched as Officer Moore and another woman officer joined her and Ivalice, both wheeling D-Holds behind them. The other woman had red hair and green eyes, and identified herself as Officer McGrey.

Once Ivalice and Ruby and the two officers had been joined by at least three other personel they started off down the corridors, all, except Ivalice, hoping their stomachs would not make a nuisance of themselves. Ruby also made note not to jump at every single thing that sounded in the quiet halls of the Cruisader....

Everyone wondered off on their own missions and Slayde and Amber were left alone on the Bridge. Ivalice's marines had taken up station just down the corridor, guarding the entrance.

Slayde was working on the log once again, whole Amber was over the other side of the Bridge checking the navigation systems. Both worked in silence, intent on their work.

A distant clang echoed down the corridor, causing Slayde to look round. "Hmph...someone drop something?"

Amber glanced over her shoulder. "Pardon?"

"That noise...sounded like someone dropped something metal."

"What noise?"

Slayde raised an eyebrow. "You didn't hear it?"

Amber shook her head, shrugging. Slayde frowned a moment, then shrugged it off himself. He turned back to the monitor in front of him, focusing on the interference.

The silence was beginning to feel oppresive. "So, Amber, you've been on the ship a while, but we've never really talked." He spoke up, trying to start a conversation. "What planet are you from...tell me a bit about your history."

============================================================

Nelson had sent some marines after Mike, leaving just two guarding the Computer Core, himself and another man. Leon was still hard at work inside, making repairs to the systems. He seemed in a world of his own!

Suddenly a voice echoed down the corridor. "Nelson...Nelson, help!"

Nelson spun round, his eyes wide. "Mike???" Raising his gun, he motioned to the other guard to follow him. The man, glanced into the Computer Core, looking at Leon. "Sir, shouldn't I wait here...?"

"It's only for a moment! He sounds like he's in trouble! Come on!"

The two marines ran off down the corridor, weapons ready.

Inside the Core, Leon hadn't even noticed them leave, so enthralled in his work. Suddenly he stopped though, looking up.

Leon...

He was on the second level of the Core, and looking down through the mesh floor of the gantry, he saw a figure stood in the doorway of the room! She was female, Human, with long black hair and wearing a millitery uniform. He couldn't see her face properly because of the angle he was at.

He jumped in shock. It wasn't one of the Quasar crew, and she wasn't in the Kirov marines body armour either! "Who...who's that?"

"Leon...help me..." she replied, her voice smooth, sweet, pleading with him. "Help me, please!" Without another word, she turned and left the room at pace...

Nelson charged into the corridor with the other fellow, the infamous Roland not far behind him. Despite the fact that he was perspiring like he never had before and that his suit was annoyingly heavy, he managed to run far ahead of Roland.

"Mike! Mike! Where are you?"

"Over here! HELP ME!" came the slightly muffled reply from diwb the corridor. The loud roar of an assault rifle sounded out through the enclosed space of the dimly lit corridor.

"What the hell? Gunshots? Damn!" exclaimed Nelson as he dashed even faster. Roland looked on in shock as the engineer sprinted even faster, and he tried his very best to keep up. He was a marine. A marine who was not supposed to lose to an engineer! "Radiation shield?! DAMN IT ALL!"

"Relax, Nelson!"

"Bah... let's open this door. It's a good thing our suits have protection from radiation." Roland nodded, and assisted Nelson in forcing the radiation shield open. The gargantuan lead door eventually opened, and the duo ran towards the source of gunfire.

"AGGHH!! DIE! DIE! DIE!" came Michael's anger-filled scream. "This can't be happening! You're not supposed to exist!"

Abruptly, the gunfire stopped. He was reloading, Nelson thought. He HAD to be reloading. He'd better be reloading... No, still no gunfire. That can't be... It's impossible. If he were reloading... If he were reloading, he'd have fired by now. As quickly as it had stopped, the gunfire started again, with more primal cries and shouts this time. Unintelligible words were yelled out as well as they proceeded down the corridor. Suddenly, there was silence.

They approached the door ahead and proceeded to open it, pointing their rifles toward it, just in case anything decided to leap out of it.

"You ready? Okay."

When the door slid open, the sight that greeted them was most disturbing. They wished they hadn't seen it...

Suddenly the background hum of the ship's systems dipped in tone, like they were suddenly losing power! The lights all throughout the ship flickered and faded, plunging the entire ship into darkness.

Slayde looked up, looking round urgently. "What the...???"

His communicator on his wrist bleeped, and he held it up, fumbling slighty with the controls in the darkness. "Slayde."

"Captain, this is Ivalice. The Quasar sensors have just detected an energy spike from the Cruisader sir...magnitude off the scale!"

Slayde caught his breath. "Source?"

"Unknown. Also the life scanners are reading a strainge disturbance...not localised. It seems to be throughout the whole ship! Not strong enough to be a life form, but it's...something...!"

"All systems are down...almost like something was draining them of power." muttered Slayde in response. "What in space is going on here???"

============================================================

The Marines stepped backward slowly, eyes widewith fear and shock. Blinding yellow light reflected on their faces as they stared in horror at...

"FIRE!!!"

They raised their guns and a hail of bullets roared into the room. All three figures simply held the triggers, spraying bullets all over...

The yellow light flared...

There was a screech...an animal, bloodcurdling, inhuman roar...

The light blasted forward...

============================================================

"Please don't be afraid...help me..."

The sudden faliure of the lighting had made Leon jump, but still he walked...following the figure ahead of him. He could still see her, despite the darkness...her body was surrounded by an aura of bright yellow light.

She walked the ship's corridors like she knew them off by heart...never looking down, never torning her head, looking only straight ahead. The maze of dark corridors was like a rabbit warren, and Leon was now thoroughly lost.

The woman came to a door, and opened it, pressing the button alongside with a thin hand. Somehow, despite the power shortage, the button worked. She stepped into the room, apparently crew quaters. A bed streached along the far wall, and lots of drawers and coupboardsadorned the other walls.

The woman stopped in the center of the room, still with her back to him. Carefully, Leon stepped through the door, noticing it close behind him. He simply didn't know what to make of the woman! Was she one of the origional crew that had somehow survived?

"Help me..."

Slowly Leon stepped forward, up behind the woman, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Help...with what?"

She spun round.

"Release me!"

Her face was white, her skin leathery and tough. Her jaw was askew, obviously broken, and her nose was hideously disfigured. Her cheeks were sunken and depressed, and where her neck should have been, a gaping hole had been torn in her skin, leaving her spine visable. Her eyes were nonexistant...in the eye sockets a bright yellow light burned, shining out like torches in the darkness.

She was dead!

Leon staggered backwards, screaming. He fell over, slamming his back against the wall, but he quickly stood up again, ignoring the pain. He jabbed the door locking mechanism, but it did nothing.

The corpse began to advance on him slowly, her voice becoming distorted...inhuman.

"Release me!"

============================================================

As quickly as they had gone off, the lights returned and the ship's systems powered up again. Slayde looked around the bridge, and at Amber, who appeared as scared as he was!

"Sir, all readings are returning to normal." reported Ivalice over the intercom.

============================================================

Down in the Engineering section, outside one of the maintanence hatches, lay a gun, the handle of which dripped with blood. The walls and floor were painted red with the stuff, and nearby lay the tattered remains of four Kirov Marines' uniforms, shredded almost beiond recognition.

============================================================

In crew quaters on one of the lower decks, a woman's body lay on the bed. Her throat had been torn out by something, and her eyes had melted and run down her face. It was clear by her leathery white skin that she had been dead some time.

On the floor by the door was another body, this one much fresher, a young Human engineer. His chest had been torn open, and all his internal organs were missing, revealing his spine and the inside of his ribs through the hole. Blood carpeted the floor, and his features were contorted in a hideous look of absolute terror...

"What's going on?!" demanded Ray. "Four marines' vital signs just stopped showing!"

"Sir! I'm not sure! The interference in the engineering section is too high!" came the reply from a panicking Chekov. "Argh..."

"Send a team to check on them. I want them there, now!" commanded Ray.

"Acknowledged! Sergeant Malinsky's team will go! Marines, move!" exclaimed Malinsky over the open broadcast channel.

"They'd better be alive... And it'd better just be the interference..." Ray muttered to himself. The First Officer looked at him skeptically. He was normally not like this; he was always calm and collected. What could possibly have happened?

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, why are you so agitated?"

"The reason is simple! I cannot afford to lose my men!" came the reply. "Fifty two ships... and only three remain. Some fine commander I am."

The First Officer nodded and backed away, not wanting to further aggravate the situation. Ray hadn't been able to get over the seemingly inexplicable loss of more than 90% of his fleet. He blamed himself for everything. And he meant everything! Every single man and woman lost; every single child lost aboard the colony ships. It was an unbearable burden that Ray had born until now, but he was showing signs of breaking.

"Sir?" Malinsky suddenly said. "I... I think you might want to see this, Sir!"

"What...?" Ray said barely audibly. The screen in front of him almost instantly switched to that as streamed by Malinsky's camera.

"They... They're gone, Sir. There's nothing left of them except their blood and uniforms... and this gun." Ray's gut twisted itself into an array of knots as he imagined how they might have died.

"Cause of death?" Ray enquired, wanting to know exactly what had happened.

"Sharp slash marks all over the suits... and some suits have been corroded by what seems to be Adnihilo-strength acid... Sir, if I may speak freely, I think we have quite a situation on our hands..."

"Yes... I know. But those things... They CAN'T be here. They would've destroyed the ship completely. Double the patrols. Remain vigilant! All crew aboard the Crusader, be prepared to run to the airlocks at a moment's notice."

Slayde's left eyebrow rose instantly. "What do you mean, Captain Halter?"

"You'll know when the time is right..."

the spaceship:wrath was in hyper space.but was suddenly gripped by quantum force and is now in a radiation field in uncharted space.
captain!said kyle he was an athletic man in his 20s we cant hold the bay from ion poisoning!all the other crew members are dead!captin ray apone was a healthy man in his 30s.
well get down!!!he said its a black hole!!!

profiles:
name:ray
skills:mechanical spec ops wepons
age:35
mentel state:sane
appearence:eyes ice blue hair ginger skin white
(no racism )star fleet veteren uniform
name:kyle
skills:martial arts negotiation bodyguard
age:20
mentel state:sane
appearence:eyes:dark green/ hair:black /skin:white star fleet marine uniform

OOC: Um...PV, no offense, but I have trouble deciphering that post of yours. By all means you're allowed to join this RP, but it'd be nice if you could make more sense in your writing. And what does ion poisoning and a black hole have to do with the current situation on board the Cruisader? Just wondering.

IC:

Ruby froze in her tracks, suddenly filled with fear. She was not particularly fond of the darkness, and the fact that something strange had happened on this ship made it even worse. She could see the outlines of Ivalice and the other four officers in the dark. She heard Ivalice give a report to Captain Slayde, and she heard Officer Moore let out a silent curse. Her grip tightened on the D-Hold she was wheeling until her knuckles were turning visibly white, even in the darkness.

"Captain Slayde, sir, do our orders remain the same?" Ruby asked through their comm-link as the lights came back on. She didn't particularly relish in the thought of handling the disgusting bodies now that the lights had gone out once, for they might go out again. But if their orders were to remain the same, she would follow them.

"Is everything alright, captain?" She heard Officer Moore say.

(OOC: Hey Vampire. Like SL said, you're welcome to join, and welcome to the RP, but that post was a little hard to understand. Could I ask you to PM me with your ideas plz...I have a few specific ideas for this RP and I'll have to make sure everything fits in.

Let me know what you're thinking and we can work out a way to fit in somehow^^ Also I assume you've already read the posts before this, so you know what the story is about and everything. A note for future referance, not all RP writers may be too keen on someone just popping up out of nowhere if the RP is quite far in lol. It couldn't hurt to PM the writer beforehand to ask if you can join etc.

But yeah, get in touch with me and we'll work something out bud )

IC:

Slayde moved across the bridge to the communications console. "Yeah, orders remain the same Ruby, but stay alert! Until we know what that was we'd better be on guard."

His hands played over the buttons and accessed the Quasar's sensor logs. Forget the log for the moment...that could wait. He had to find out what the power drain was!

Suddenly his communicator bleeped again.

"Captain." This time it was Zoran's voice. "I have reached the Computer Core, and there is no sign of Leon or the Kirov Marines. I do not know where they have gone."

"You what?" Slayde pressed another button on his communicator. "Slayde to Leon, come in....Captain Slayde to Leon, please respond!"

Static answered his call. Switching back to Zoran, he instructed him to remain where he was, then switched again.

"Slayde to Halter, I've just had a report that some of your Marines have gone missing, along with our engineer! You know anything about it???"

"Yes, I do. Those marines' vital signs simply stopped showing around the engineering section, beyond a radiation shield. And my marines have found their torn suits, some parts of which have been corroded by extremely strong acid. As for your engineer, I don't know where he is... I don't think we should risk a search. We don't want to lose more men than we already have. I will send a team to the computer core, and they will remain there."

"I see... All right," replied Slayde. He then turned to his communicator. "Zoran, stay where you are. Marines are on their way."

"Affirmative, Sir."

"Now, for the log..." Slayde muttered as his fingers flew all over the panel of buttons. "Okay, let's see..." His eyes scanned every line, trying to squeeze out any details he could find. He scrolled down, down and down, until he reached one log update that caught his eye. "What the..."

Ruby nodded at Slayde's reply, her tail twitching with a certain distaste. She REALLY didn't want to go through with this, but she also would not let herself question the captain's orders. What Slayde says goes, and she had never let herself even THINK of disobeying. Turning to the others she put on a straight face, trying to hide all traces of fear or ineasiness. The officers looked expectantly at her, and with as level a voice as she could manage she relayed the captain's message with a little message of her own.

"Officers Moore, McGrey, Mahainey, and Robie...we will continue as planned. I know none of you are all that thrilled about collecting 25-year-old corpses. I'm not either. But whether we like it or not, we must do this in order to understand what went on in this ship that caused it to malfunction and whatnot." Ruby eyed the four human officers, watching as they stiffened and nodded.

"Good. Glad we're all on the same page. Now, we must exercise extreme caution, so stay on the lookout for anything strange and watch your step. Officer Robie, take up position at the back of the group. Watch our backs."

Robie nodded, her dark brown hair swaying slightly as she took up her position. When everyone was satisfied that they would be able to see danger coming from their little formation, Ivalice led them off. Ruby forced herself to think of nothing but what she would do once they were off the Cruisader with a complete knowledge of what had happened and were heading far far away.

Sir... there's... nothing. I've checked every recorded case of everything even remotely like this, but none match up. We're dealing with something new here.

A reported, just finishing the search. By now, three others of his race were working at the keyboard, checking and doublechecking everthing just in case something was missed.

Back when he led his whole race into a battle agianst creatures that threaned to destroy them, he hadn't been afraid. he couldn't have been afraid. His mind was the bond that connected all of the others if he died, so did they. He hadn't been afraid, even only but 25 others of his race survived the first wave. He hadn't been afraid when he had to lead those last 25 into the enemy's base. He hadn't been afraid then.

But he was afraid now.

A little way down the corridor, just around a sharp corner in front of Ruby, Ivallice and the others, something strange began to happen to the wall. There was a shimmer of yellow light that flickered over the dull grey metal, then the wall changed...the metal rippled like water, slowly undulating like the steady wave of water in a pond. The ripples slowly dissapated and the wall became flat again, but the consistency was still like a liquid.

Then, as the small group came close to turning the corner, the wall slowly began to bulge outwards, a small promminence about one foot across and one tall, slowly extending forwards by approximately one centemeter every ten seconds...

============================================================

Zoran lowered his communicator and looked around slowly. Complete silence replied to him from the shadowed corridors...outside the Computer Core the dull hum of the electronics wasn't audible, and the ship was completely silent.

He sighed slightly and leaned back against the wall. Nothing to do but wait. He wasn't very good with electronics, so he couldn't continue Leon's work.

He began to think about Leon...where had he got to? His tools were still laid out in the Core, as though he had intended to return. Could he have gone somewhere for spare parts?

Tap...tap...tap...

He didn't notice it at first.

Tap...tap...tap...

He looked up, his already heavy brow dipping further. It sounded like footsteps.

"Is anybody there...?"

The footsteps stopped suddenly, then a hesitant voice called: "H...hello...?"

It was coming from a junction in the corridor a little way away. Zoran slowly reached to his belt, pulling out a small army pistol. He didn't recognise the voice. "Who are you?"

The footsteps began again, somewhat slower than before, and a figure turned the corner.

She was Human, with curly blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and blue eyes. She was thin, and wore the uniform of the Earth Millitery, same as the uniforms the bodies around the ship had been wearing. Her face looked a little scared, and she caught her breath as she spotted Zoran.

"Wh...who are you?"

Zoran was perplexed, but he didn't raise his gun. "My name is Zoran, of the mercinary ship Cruisader." he replied in his slow, precise manner. "Who are you?"

"You're...your from another ship?" she stammered. "Oh thank goodness! Someone's finally come and found us???"

"You are a survivor?" asked Zoran, confused.

"Yes, yes I am! My name is Felicia. I was the ship's weapons officer." she began to walk forward, her eyes beginning to water. "Oh you don't know how good it is to talk to someone after all these years!"

Zoran raised his gun, and Felicia stopped suddenly, eyes wide. "Please forgive me," replied Zoran, "but we have already lost some people in unknown circumstances. I cannot be sure I can trust you. How could you have survived for so long with all ships systems offline?"

Felicia's eyes flicked from the gun to Zoran's face. "I...I was in a space suit. I kept replacing the air tanks from the spares we had in the cargo bays, and we had plenty of ration packs on board...you know, the type that can plug into space suits!" Her hands began to shake, and tears began to run down her cheeks. "Oh please, you can't leave me here. I'm telling the truth! Please, you don't know what these years have been like!"

Zoran stared at her for a moment, then he slowly lowered his weapon. "We will rescue you," he replied, "but first you will have to answer some questions. I will take you to Captain Slayde."

Felicia wiped her eyes and looked at Zoran questioningly. "Captain Slayde...?" she ecchoed. "Is...is he like you?"

"No, he is a Human, like you. He is on the Bridge."

Felicia nodded slowly. "Oh...right." She said hesitantly. "Um...is it okay if we talk a little first...I learn something about you?"

Zoran looked at her questioningly, and she closed her eyes. "I know it sounds strainge, but...often when I was alone, I'd get images appearing to me...things that weren't real. People or things...I'd see them like they were there, but really they weren't. Maybe it's just the loneliness..." Her eyes flicked open again and she stepped forward slowly. "...but, I want to learn about you. You're...different. I want to find out about you. You know, to make sure you're...real..." Her hand slowly came up to his face, and she touched his cheek.

Zoran looked down on her small figure from his massive height. He was unsure what to make of her...even a little uncomfortable at her being so close!

There were tears in her eyes. "It's been so long since I touched anyone." she murmured quietly.

Zoran looked at her tears, and sighed. "My name is Zoran." he replied a little resignedly.

"Zoran?" repeated Felicia quietly, still caressing his cheek. "That's a nice name! You aren't...Human..."

"No. My kind comes from a planet with a high gravitational pull some way from Earth."

"Ah, so the high gravity has made you stronger! You're very impressive Zoran, very impressive indeed!"

Zoran awkwardly reached up and carefully removed her hand from his face with his massive fingers. He was getting embarrassed! "I think we should go and speak to the Captain." he said. "I can assure you I am quite real."

Felicia's facehad been smiling, but her smile dropped at this. "Yeah, okay." she replied, again a little hesitantly. "Listen...I need to go get my things before I come see the Captain, okay? I want to make sure I have everything I need for getting out of here."

"It is dangerous. You should not go alone."

"No, it's okay." she replied, smiling as she began to back down the corridor. "I've survived this long alone...I'll be okay for a few more minutes."

"I cannot allow that." retorted Zoran, holding out a hand.

"No really, it's fine! I'll only be a moment!"

"Felicia!"

She had gone, her footsteps echoing down the corridor. Zoran stepped to the junction and looked after her, but she was nowhere to be seen. She must have turned off into one of the adjoining corridors.

Slowly he replaced the gun in his belt and raised his communicator to his mouth. "Zoran to Captain Slayde, I have something to report."

(OOC: Nobody interact with Felicia I have plans for her)

Malinsky and his marines proceeded down the corridor swiftly, heading for the computer core. At every corner, they stopped, and three marines lined up, then almost instantly wheeled toward the corridor so that they could all fire at any threats. So far, they had encountered none, but they were taking no chances.

"Sarge, what do you think's happening?"

"I don't know, Miller, but keep your eyes peeled. You're on point for now."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you're the one who's been asking all these stupid questions! Now go! William, switch places with him."

Miller sighed, then proceeded to the front of the column. "Dang..."

"I heard that, Miller. Okay, on three. One, two..." Malinsky began. The marines' muscles tensed and their bodies prepared to lunge outwards. "Three!"

Miller turned right and aimed forward, the second marine following suit while the third rolled on the cold floor, got to one knee and pointed his assault rifle down the corridor.

"Nothing, Sarge."

"Good. Go, go, go!"

"Wait... Sarge, wait. I sense something," one of the marines said. From the voice, Malinsky could tell that it was Julia, the squad's psychic. They stopped, crouching and looking around the place.

"What is it?" Malinsky enquired.

"I... I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. Something's up..." she replied, her eyes uncertain. Malinsky nodded. Her premonitions were usually accurate; they always turned out as bad as expected.

"We'll look out for anything suspicious. If you can sense anything - anything in the slightest - tell us. Okay?"

Julia nodded, and they were on their way down their corridors again...

(well my ship has not found the crusadir yet)

the wrath shudderd rabidly.rays' whole body folded into his naval.his whole basic chemistry made a million shapes before he was in his usual form.kyle was no better.hell were in uncharted space now!exclaimed a rather shaken ray.
wait what is that thing?asked kyle it was another ship!(make it one of your ships)

OOC: Perhaps, PV, you could describe your characters a little more. I'm also a little confused about "your ship", as well as how it got there. Was the black hole responsible for that? And as a headsup, you could possibly use quotation marks to signal character speach. (Sorry Wraith, hope I don't seem to be too bossy or to be taking over)

IC:

As they continued on down the hallway, Ruby busied herself with the task of memorizing every detail and pattern on the back of Ivalice's metal exterior. It was rather boring, but it kept her mind off the fact that even if they hadn't seen any bodies so far, they'd come across one sooner or later. Her skin crawled just thinking about those two bodies that the Kirov marines had found...they had been attacking each other, for some reason, and that puzzled and disturbed Ruby. Why would members of the same ship be doing such a thing? Surely it wasn't because they harbored deep hatred for each other..? No, she doubted that.

But what had happened here, about 22 years ago?

Catching Officer Moore's eye, Ruby saw that he was thinking the exact same thing. There was a mixture of curiosity; wanting to know the answer; and there was also hesitation; dreading the answer. A complete reflection of what she was feeling and thinking. They both smiled at each other for reassurance before turning back to what they had been doing before. Ruby tensed as they turned the corner of the corridor.......

"What the heck is that!?"

...and her heart promptly skittered half-way across the galaxy. Officer McGrey, who was standing next to Ivalice at the head of the group was pointing at the wall. Ruby peered around the giant robot, her eyes widening as she saw the bulging wall.

"Everyone...get back! We don't know what it is!" She exclaimed. The others didn't need telling twice. Hastily they backed up, exchanging nervous looks, muscles tense, ready to leave the D-Holds behind should they need to run back the way they came screaming and hollering.

"Captain Slayde! We have a situation here!" Ivalice said through the communications system. He had more confidence at the moment than the others, so he was the first to speak and alert the captain.

The four officers, Ruby, and Ivalice continued to stare at the wall, still wondering if they should start running...

Sure isn't getting any smaller...Ruby thought with a gulp.

(OOC: Not at all SL. don't worry about it.

Vampire, did you read the OOC bit above? As I said before you're quite welcome to join the RP, but I really need to to contact me with your ideas so we can work out how you fit in. Until then I'm afraid we won't be able to interact with you.

Send me an EZmessage with your plans, and we can discuss them and find a way to fit you in. To send me a message, click on my name on one of my posts, then in my profile, click on the "Send me a message" button.

Please let me know what you're planning, so we can fit you into the story.)

IC:

Slayde had been talking to Zoran. "A survivor??? What the hey...?"

"I know it is incredible sir. I thought so myself."

Ivallice's voice cut in over Zoran's: "Captain Slayde! We have a situation here!"

"Okay Zoran, when she returns, bring her up here to see me. Wait for the Kirov marines to reach you first though." Slayde quickly pressed a button on his communicator then spoke again. "Slayde. What's going on?"

"Captain, there appears to be some sort of anomoly in the wall on deck 4, section gamma. It's...wierd..."

"Ivallice tie your cameras into the Cruisader's systems remotely...let me see." Slayde called, pressing a button on the console in front of him and looking down at the screen.

"I'm afraid I can't sir. I'm getting interference from an uniden...id source. I recco..........ppears to be some kind o...."

"Ivallice?" Slayde leaned back in his chair and jabbed buttons on his communicator. "Ivallice respond!"

Static.

Slayde looked across the bridge at Amber, who had paused her repair work and was staring at him wide-eyed. "Let's go." He jumped out of his seat, pulling a rifle from the pile where he had dumped his space suit and equipment. Amber quickly stood up and armed herself too.

They stepped out of the Bridge and into the corridor to see Ivalice's Marines looking round as if in a quandry. "Have they lost contact too?" muttered Amber, worry telling in her voice...

============================================================

Down in the corridor, the metallic projection from the wall was still growing, a shapeless, tubelike blob, extending out from the wall a good foot now. As the group watched, the tube began to grow on one side more than the other, and slowly the blob began to turn, arching round to face them!

The end of the tube began to ripple, almost as though it was forming into some kind of shape...the middle poked outwards, the sides sucked in...

The onlookers watched in horror as the tube's end slowly formed itself into the shape of a human face!

The face continued to advence towards them slowly, it's blank, grey, featureless eyes wide, staring. It's mouth opened into a grotesque yawn, and a loud, shrill, metallic screaching sound filled the air...

The face was screaming...!

OOC: I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while, I've had a few complications in my general RP time.

IC;
Eternity was checking around the med lab, she'd been nervous when the lights had gone, and was greatly relieved when they returned, but was unerved by the disappearances and disturbed by the deaths.
"Zaeda how are your scans going?"
"No radiation is located in this area, atmosphere appears normal, unusual amount of iron but that is all."
"Good, are the the electronics operational?"
"Seemingly, I am running tests right now...affirmative, all electronics in here are in working condition, we are fit for patients and autopsys."
"Thanks Zaeda, now I get to wait."
Eterntiy circled the rom, checking on everything again, she'd fixed up one of the scanners to scan outwardly so it would act as a form of radar, after what she'd heard over the radio and intercomm, she wasn't going to take any chances. Finally certain everything was fine, she clicked on her comm to talk to the captain, unaware of the fact he'd already set off after the body search team and the annomaly they'd discovered.
"Captain Slayde, this is Eternity, med lab is up and running."

OOC: Once again I apologise for my absense.

OOC: Lol, like Gerbil I'm also apologising for my lack of posts, just some trouble.

IC:
Amber was right behind Slayde, she was still numb inside from the loss of Leon, there were no definite reports of his death, but she knew inside that it was true. A silent tear fell unnoticed, her best friend, gone, just like that, after all those times, now he was just...gone. Shaking it off she felt a surge of anger, whatever had got him, would pay, now all she had to do was hope that Ruby, Ivalice and the others were alright. What the hell was up with this crazy ship and its dark secrets and gory clues?!?!?!

Ivalice raised a hand and gestured to the others. "Move back, all of you! You're at the most risk! That's an order!"

Whether or not Ivalice actually had rank over them, his tone of voice told them it was a bright idea. "Surely I can communicate with this thing..."

Holding his ground, Ivalice activated his internal translation program, and began to attempt communication with the anomaly.

"With my scanners and communicators going out with all this interference, I hope my other systems are unaffected."

OOC: After this, I'll edit my profile post to add in the last team. Just for reference, as I'll begin using them soon.

EDIT OOC: Okay, I updated my profile list, so I can use them all now. Refer to the 24th post (I think), which should be on the 2nd page, to see them. Any more questions, feel free to ask.

Ruby's ears were hurting from the power of the scream the wall gave. She was confused and frightened and curious and unsure all at the same time...she wanted to run away from the strange thing, but all she could manage was a few steps back before her feet were rooted to the spot. She glanced at the other officers who had all gathered around her, their faces pale and eyes wide and mesmerized. It seemed they were just as paralyzed as she.

"What the hell is that...and what is it doing???" Officer Moore appeared to be putting on a brave front, and Ruby gave him credit for trying.

Ruby, still wondering what to do, lifted her hand to the communicator headband that had been fastened around her ear. "Captain Slayde! Captain?? Sir, are you there?"

Static answered her call, as well as telling her why Ivalice hadn't tried to further communicate with Slayde.

"Should we move back...or.....run?" Officer Robie asked, her voice a tad shaky.

"...no. We shouldn't run! We're...we should find out what's going on!" Officer Mahainey answered, not taking his eyes off the strange face on the wall.

Ruby just stared.

Suddenly McGrey caught her breath, pointing across the corridor at the wall oppisite the face. This two was beginning to bulge out, like the first, turning towards them slowly!

Suddenly Moore let out a cry, and the team spun round to see him pinned against the wall behind them by several hands!They were embedded in the wall the same as the faces, and as they watched, more appeared from all sides, reaching out towards the group slowly, menacingly!

Moore winced in pain! "Argh, they're pulling me...they're...!" His eyes widened as the hands began to pull, pulling his arms, legs and head in different directions away from each other!

He cried out in agony. "Aaaaah...help me! Get them off...aaaah my shoulders...!!!"

Ruby reached into the belt around her waist and pulled out the blaster she had been given for safety precautions. She had never used it during the time she had been with the Quasar, and she had hoped she never would. But the Grotesnian could not stand Officer Moore's cries of agony. Obviously the hands planned on pulling him until his limbs were popped off, like a little doll! Glancing at the rest of the officers she nodded frantically at the hands approaching them.

"Robie! McGrey! Keep these things away from us! Mahainey, help me free Officer Moore! HURRY!" She shouted, and the others quickly pulled out their own blasters.

Ruby and Officer Trip Mahainey began firing at the hands that were gripping Moore's legs, arms, and head. Around them, they heard Robie and McGrey firing at the other advancing hands. Ruby began to wonder if the hands would stop and let go.

She desperately hoped they would.

"Keep firing!" She shouted. The blasters made an awful lot of noise, and the pained cries from Derek Moore only added to that. Ruby guessed they could be heard from at least a few hallways down, more or less.

"Aaaaagh!" Moore gritted his teeth, extremely frightened. He didn't want to die! Not like this! With all his strength, he began to pull back, drawing his limbs closer together as if he intended to curl up into a ball.

"Watch out for his ankles, Mahainey!" Ruby exlaimed in caution, realizing what Derek was trying to do. She didn't want to hit him by accident, after all!

"Dammit! Let go of him!" Trip said, brow furrowing....

Slayde charged down the corridors, running over to the ladder to drop down a few decks. "Come on!" he called to Amber. "We'll have to be quick!"

He quickly clambered down the ladder and stepped out onto deck 4, turning to help Amber down the last few rungs of the ladder, then the two of them set off down the corridor at top speed...

============================================================

The new set of Kirov Marines reached the Computer Core, rendevouzing with Zoran. Malinsky stepped up to the large figure. "Good to see you're okay man. You're Zoran, right?"

Zoran was stood staring down the corridor, his heavy brow furrowed in thought. "I am." he replied, without looking round.

"Something wrong?"

"I am worried about the survivor. She should have returned by now."

"Oh yeah I heard about that." Malinsky bit his lip. "Hope she's okay."

"We must go and search for her." muttered Zoran, setting off down the corridor with large strides.

"Woah hang on there." replied the Marine. "Our orders were to stay where we are! We've already lost one team...we can't afford any more!"

Zoran turned to look at him. "But her life could be in danger. We are more equipped to handle that danger than she is."

"She seems to have done fine so far." muttered Malinsky wryly.

"Very well." replied Zoran. "Stay if you wish, but I will go. She must be found." Before Malinsky could respond, Zoran turned on his heel and dissapeared into a side corridor.

Miller sidled up to his commander slowly. "So what's the verdict boss...we go after him or not?"

"We'll leave that to Julia," Malinsky replied, looking at her in a manner that said "I expect an answer, now!".

She blankly looked back at him, and eventually she realised that he wanted answer from her as to whether they should follow Zoran.

"Okay..." she muttered, shutting her eyes for a few moments. Come on, speak to me, visions... Speak!

What she saw was most shocking. She could barely see anything; the visions were throwing her all around and changing the angles of her viewpoint so rapidly that she felt that her dinner was going to come out the wrong way. She only caught small glimpses of all sorts of strange things happening, but what startled her most was the background noise. It seemed like the soft, rapid clanging of metal, followed by a groan-like noise, then the clanging again, then the groan. The process repeated itself, with the noises getting louder every cycle, until one point when the groan became a blood-curdling scream. Her ears hurt so much that she was instantly thrown out of her trance, and her eyes shot open so wide she felt that they were going to fly out.

"Her heartrate and BP are spiking!" exclaimed the medic, Eugene, looking at his holographic display of his squad's vital signs. "She's breathing too fast! WAY too fast! She's going to hyperventilate! Shut down the rebreather!"

In response, Malinsky bolted behind Julia and shut off the rebreather unit, hence denying Julia of fresh oxygen. It was actually a good move - hyperventilating would change the concentrations of air and the air pressure in her lungs, which would eventually prevent her from breathing. To correct that, she would have to inhale some carbon dioxide, which was the actual stimulus for breathing.

"Don't let her open the visor or remove her helmet - pin her down!" commanded Malinsky. William and Miller immediately did so, holding Julia's hands to the floor as if they'd nailed her wrists to it. She struggled for more than a minute to remove her helmet, but she could not overcome the weight of a marine and his equipment on each arm.

"Her breathing's stabilised," announced Eugene.

"Okay, Julia. Take your time. Tell me what you saw," Malinsky said, almost in a whisper.

"You will not believe it..."

Later...

"Sarge? You sure this is gonna be all right?" asked Miller.

"Yes, Miller, so shut up or I'll put you on point again!"

"Okay..."

"Now, where's that Zoran?"

Ivalice could see no reaction to his attempts to communicate with the anomaly, nor could he see any coherent attempt at communication from the anomaly. Officer Moore's screams reached his ears. He was well aware of the situation behind him, of Ruby's desperation.

Many of his systems were showing a lot of static, and even most of his nine layers of visual receptors were beginning to malfunction. He was troubled by the lack of data he was able to gather, and what made it worse was that he had lost all connection to the scanners of all the ships, and even his link to his other units was failing.

In the seconds it had taken to confirm his own status, he plotted through all possible outcomes of this situation. It would work best for him if he abandoned Ruby and the others.

The next instant, he had decided to do all he could to protect them and get them out safely, if possible. His fingertips opened up, and he charged them. His beam weapons seemed to be in good working order. He rotated his torso to face behind him, raised his arms, and took aim at the hands that were attacking Moore.

"I hope this works, and if not, I hope my high levels of physical strength will work. And if not..." Ivalice knew the possibilities, and did not like to ponder on them.

"Ruby, at the first opportunity, we should evacuate this area!"

"Agreed!" Ruby shouted over the noise of the blasters. Her ears were ringing by now with the many shots being fired and her pulse was racing ninety-to-nothing.

"Keep it up Officers! We leave no man behind!"

The weaponsfire was blasting chunks out of the grotesque malformations on the walls, but as quickly as one was injured, it liquefied again and restructured, repairing the damage in seconds! Moore managed to pull free of the hands holding him, but even as he did more continued to appear from all sides, and the corridor was beginning to be crowded with them!

And still, the ear-splitting screechblared on, without pausing for breath!

As quickly as they could, which wasn't fast considering how cramped the corridor was getting, the group began to move away...

============================================================

"This way." called Slayde. "They're two sections away!"

He and Amber turned the corner in the corridor at full pelt, weapons drawn. Slayde's mind was racing. Not another death...I won't lose another crewmember!

"Look out!"

Brought back to the present by Amber's shout, Slayde just managed to check himself as the five-ton security door slammed down inches in front of him! He looked up at the thick metal shield, blinking in shock. "What triggered the lockdown???"

There was another loud CRASH as the door at the other end of the corridor crashed down, blocking off the small section of corridor completely! Slayde spun round, staring at the second door in disbelief.

"The security systems were offline!" exclaimed Amber. "The containment doors couldn't have activated!"

"But they have." muttered Slayde in response. "Who activated them??? That's what I want to know!"

Amber was looking from one door to the other, a worried expression on her face. "First we need to find a way out of here though...we're trapped!"

She was scared, and she would have readily admitted it if it would have done them any good. But it didn't, not in this situation. Everyone, even Ivalice, was standing back-to-back, firing constantly at the hands that kept advancing, crowding the corridor. As fast as they could, but not too fast so as not to lose their formation they inched down the hallway. Officer Moore had grabbed his blaster as soon as he was free and within the group, firing a little more sluggishly because of sore limbs.

"Those things really had a grip!" He had said. Everyone nodded slightly, sweating with the effort to concentrate on the task at hand.

Ruby knew that if either one of them decided to break formation and bolt down the hall that it would leave the others vulnerable. She trusted the officers firing bravely around her and hoped they hadn't even thought of deserting the rest.

"Come on officers! We're gonna make it outta this!" Ruby hollered.

(OOC: Ok me and Pompusvampire have been corresponding through IM and worked out some of the details of his characters. I'll give him an intro to come in on. Hope everything goeas well^^)

IC:

On the outskirts of the calm area a flight of Kirov fighters were patrolling the perimeter, oblivious to the chaos unfolding on board the massive ship.

"Man I wish I could be in the infantry forse rather than here." muttered one of the pilots as he adjusted his equipment, his face invisable behind the thick black sun visor of his helmet. "Bet it's so much more exciting!"

"Hey we got a job to do as well, Gamma-Two." replied the wing leader. "We all play our part, so quit whining."

"At the moment ur part doesn't seem to be very much." muttered Gamma-Two dejectedly.

Suddenly the scanners in the fighters bleeped for attention. "Hang on, I'm picking up some kind of energy spike in the Dead Zone. You guys getting it too?"

"Gamma-Three confirms." replied a third voice.

"Yup, here too." muttered Gamma-Leader. "It looks like something out there is desturbing the Tachion field about the Black Holes."

"A ship?"

"Could be...only looks small though. Hang on." Gamma-Leader adjusted his instruments and his display on the control pannel zoomed in on a section of space beond the calm. "Yeah it's a ship." he continued. "Looks like an earth design, but I don't recognise the class. It's as small as a fighter but looks designed for deep space travel!"

The small ship punched through the black holes and into the void, quite close to Gamma Wing. Gamma-Leader immeadeately opened a channel.

"Gamma-Leader of the UENS Kirov to unidentified ship...this is a restricted area. Identify yourself immeadeately or you will be fired upon! Acknowledge."

Ivalice had to make a choice. There were two things he could do right at this moment:

1) He could make a desperate move, shielding the others and getting them out of harm's way, he himself then being surrounded by the anomalies, or:

2) Continue in the course they were pursuing, namely a losing battle against the anomalies, while inching out.

Both plans had chances for success, with differing pros and cons. What complicated the matter more was that he saw and heard down the hall where Slayde and Amber were now trapped.

Seeing an opening, he decided on a course of action. Without a word, he detached his arms from his body, and they moved to either side of Ruby and the Officers. Using his own power source, he had the arms generate a powerful protective shield around them. The arms took off, hovering through the air at a high speed! The shield took its captives with it, stopping only when it hit the containment barrier. The shield faded, and the arms awaited further orders from Ivalice.

The effect this rapid but complicated series of events had was to get his arms, Ruby, and the other Officers out of the anomalies' grasp. This also left Ivalice without his blasters, in the middle of the anomaly. Maybe it would register him as a target, and maybe not. He was a machine, not a human. He might be safe, and he might not be. "I took the gamble, and may have saved them and doomed myself. We shall see."

He gave his arms a series of commands, and they set in motion. The giant hands pried at the metal, and used the floor as leverage to lift the containment doors. It took a moment, but they pried them open far enough for people to get out - or in. Just in case they wanted to retreat the other way, Ivalice programmed the arms to open the other door for them, if they decided to do that.

As the anomaly swirled around his main body, more and more of his systems shut down. He found he could no longer move, though he could still see, hear, and speak. But any longer, and those too might go...

(OOC: Whoops I should really be more specific in my posts I wasn't thinking that Amber and Slayde would be audible or visable from the corridor with the anomalies...they would be several corridors away. I was kinda hoping for them to be trapped alone, and people have to come looking for them...

It's my fault for not being clear enough. Carry on as is. It's just a small detail, not nessecary to the story.)

OOC: Actually, that one would be my fault. I paid attention to the part where Slayde mentioned, 'two sections away', but I realize now I had no idea how long a 'section' was. For some reason I thought intersections (as in city-block sized intersections), and if Ruby's group hadn't been attacked by anomalies, they would've been near enough to be seen. It can still be changed. I just felt I should do something to move forward, so I could edit that part. Gimme the word.

(OOC: I'll leave it up to you Way. I'm easy whatever...the RP is going well and it wouldn't really make any major differences either way. If you wish to edit, go ahead, but if you don't want to, then np.

Incidentally anyone seen Silv around recently? He's instigating a plot point for me but I haven't heard from him since he agreed to do it )

IC:

Zoran was pretty much wondering blind. He had found one entry hatch down to the cargo bays, but it had been sealed off...apparently part of the cargo deck had somehow decompressed. Now he was looking for another way down, but the ship was huge, and he was having trouble memorising the layout.

He paused at an intersection, looking down each of the dark corridors in turn. Silence greeted him, and the empty corridors echoed with a void of emptyness.

She had come this way...he was sure. Where was she?

A noise behind him made him spin round, and in relief he spotted the team of Marines coming down the corridor towards him. He didn't regret his decision to explore, but he was glad the others were with him.

Malinsky was looking round behind his helmet, a little uneasy, but he stepped up to Zoran and nodded curtly. "About time we found you!"

Zoran returned the nod, looking down on the man from his massive height. "Thank you for your assistance."

IC:
Amber turned to where the doors had been ripped open from below her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of what appeared to be Ivalice's arms.
Moving cautiously over she spied the others. She quickly turned back to Slayde,
"Okay what now, where too?...Hang on! Where's Ivalice?" Ducking slightly to get under the door she looked past the others to see weird hand like things pulling outwards from the metal. In the centre she saw Ivalice's still form.
Uncertain for a few moments she took a breathe and recklessly leapt into the fray. She tisted and jumped, avoiding the hands as best she could, firing at them desperately until she reached Ivalice.
"What now?"She thought, as the 'arms' closed around her, she tested to see how heavy Ivalice would be and realised how foolish her plan had been. By now it looked like there was now ay for her to get back so she turned to the floor.
She fired several quick bursts in a circle and hoped their weight would pull them down, there was a groan as she fell below the walls into a service panel below, she'd have to crawl, she prayed they wouldn't get her under the floor too as she started to drag Ivalice to where she hoped the others were...
OOC: Sorry if I disturbed anyones plots/schemings

(OOC: Guess it's on with the show, then. ^^)

"Amber!" Slayde hollered. But it was too late. Ruby watched from her safe point as the anthro woman twisted and turned and wiggled her way through the fray of hands to Ivalice.

With her blaster gripped so firmly in her hand her knuckles were white, the Grotesnian took a step forward intending to help Amber. The captain put his arm in front however, just as Amber and Ivalice suddenly disapeared from their view. Ruby heard Officer Robie gasp. Had the strange anomalies made them dissolve right into the floor? Where were they?

"Where'd they go?" Slayde questioned, only to be met with confused stares. "Can anyone see where they went?"

Officer Mahainey squinted his eyes and stood on tip-toe, eyeing the spot where Amber had disapeared with Ivalice. His eyes widened a little, "Sir, it appears the floor has given way!"

"The floor has given way?" The captain echoed.

"Yes sir!"

"I believe she had fired some shots..." Ruby murmured. Slayde looked at her funny.

"I know that! But where ARE they??"

No one said anything. (OOC: Hope that's alright with you guys)

"Where are we now?" muttered one of the Marines quietly as they moved down the corridor together.

"I believe this section is dedicated to crew quaters." replied Zoran quietly. He stepped up to one of the nearby doors and tapped a button on the doorframe, and the door slid open silently.

He was going to point to the bed inside to prove his point, but the sight stopped him dead! The Marines jumped forward, eyes wide in shock. "Oh good grief..." muttered Malinsky quietly.

============================================================

...deep in the bowels of the ship, somehing shifted. Destracted by the movenent, caught by the emotion, it lost it's concentration. "You shouldn't be here...!"

They were getting too bold. It was time...time to put into opperation the next three stages. It turned away from where it had been concentrating before, and sent out feelers in new directions...

============================================================

Suddenly...as though someone had flicked a switch, the noise in the corridor ceased and the abominations growing from the wall became still.

Silence filled the corridor...a silence so sudden it was opressive!

Ruby was the first to voice their collective thoughts: "What's going on???"

============================================================

"Looks like she's one of the origional crew." muttered Malinsky, standing up from the body on the bed. "I don't recognise his uniform though." he muttered, nodding at the body on the floor near the door.

Zoran was staring down at the body through narrow eyes. "I do." he muttered. Slowly he pulled out his communicator and pressed a button. "Zoran to Captain Slayde. We have located Leon...he is dead."

============================================================

The silence in the corridor dipped to a new low as Zoran's message came through. Slayde was speechless for a moment, then he managed to whisper: "Dead....how?"

"His body has been savaged, much the same way some of the other bodies we found were. Apparently whatever caused this disaster has not left like we assumed."

Slayde put a hand to his forehead. He had secretly been worried that Leon had died, but he still hoped he was wrong. Apparently he wasn't. "Zoran, you and the Marines pull back right now. This changes everything...we need to discuss our cause of action from here. We'll meet in Med bay. Slayde out."

He shut down his communicator and turned to Ruby. "Okay Eternity is already in Med bay, so we'll rendevous there. First we need to find Ivallice and Amber though." He looked across at the shapes in the corridor, still unmoving, frozen solid. His eyes caught one of the faces. "I know that face...!"

He thought for a moment, but couldn't place it. With a sigh he gave up. "Come on, let's see if we can get to that hole...and slowly, in case they start moving again!"

============================================================

Zoran shut down his communicator.

"Back to Med bay then." muttered Malinsky, not without a sence of relief in his voice.

"You go ahead." muttered Zoran, stepping out of the cabin. "I have to find Felicia."

"But your Captain just ordered you to..."

"If something on this ship klilled Leon, then she is in danger to. I must find her...then I will bring her to Med bay along with me."

"Now wait a minute...!"

"She trusted me." interrupted Zoran, turning to face the Marine. "I have to make sure she is okay."

There was silence for a moment, then Malinsky sighed. "Well, we can't let you go off on your own." he muttered. "But let's be quick about it okay?"

============================================================

It was further than it had tried before, but it knew it could do it. They were close enough. And no one could escape...

============================================================

On board the Kirov, Ray was reviewing reports and trying to keep up with everything that was happening all at once. It was exhausting work! He sat back in his chair for a moment, closing his eyes. What was going on here???

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice. "Sir, I'm picking up some strainge sensor readings..."

Ray looked up at the woman at the scanner console. "Define "strainge"."

"I don't know, sir...it could be a life form..."

"Where? I'll warn Captain Slayde right away!"

"Sir...it isn't on the Cruisader...it's here, on board the Kirov! Down in Engineering...one of the secondary service tubes. It's very faint, but there's SOMETHING there...!"

(OOC: Groovygerbil, I know Eternity is in Med bay with nothing much to do atm...sorry. When I see characters with nothing to do I usually try to find something for them, but in this case I asked Silver to instigate that part of the story, since it fitted in nicely with what his characters were doing. Unfortunately he must be a little buisy atm.

Sorry if you're getting a little bored. I'll try to contact Silv and if I can't get him I'll intro that point myself.

And Silv, no worries if you are buisy man, everyone has it sometimes^^ Just let me know how you're doing soon as k? Thx^^)