gollee
Lore Master 
I write things
Posts: 828 
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Post by gollee on Oct 7, 2013 21:59:51 GMT
Here is the first bit of Nikolai's request, this will turn into a very long thread{Nikolais Request}…Target Located
Target: Independent Trader, Starglider
Location: Galactic Coordinates: 8685, 4765, 8523, Linear Plane 7
Cargo: Primitive Antimatter Weaponry
Threat Assessment: Minimal
Crew Assessment: Suitable
Destination: Galactic Coordinates: 8682, 4750, 8522, Linear Plane 7
Time to arrival: seventy two cycles
Time until experiment completion: thirty cycles
Experiment Primed.
Initialising…
The Starglider floated soundlessly in the vacuum of space, it’s smooth, matt-black hull near invisible against the backdrop of stars. Its chameleon plating matching the stars perfectly, the only inconsistency being the round protrusions indicating weapons and sensors scattered across its hull. The ship itself was inactive; repairs were in effect from a small meteor strike that had damaged a section of chameleon plating, an unacceptable risk, given their current cargo.
The engineers worked efficiently quickly stripping off the damaged panel and reattaching a pristine one. The damaged panel was ferried inside so repairs could begin. Not one of the engineers testing the new panel noticed the small spike of debris floating near the ship, not even their sensors, advanced though they were, could detect it, as it drifted through the vacuum towards the ship. When it approached within one hundred metres of the hull, it began to rotate; turning to face a specific place in the hull, then, with a small blast of pressurised air, a small projectile was launched at the ship. The dart cut through the hull effortlessly, its advanced propulsion system sealing the breach behind it, completely undetectable. It had breached the crew quarters, where a number of people were resting, and its infiltration programs soon selected a suitable subject. The dart gave a burst of speed and collided with a sleeping man’s neck.
Adam Lovell jerked awake, “Ow!” He quickly unravelled his arms from his sleeping harness and felt his neck, he couldn’t find anything. He rubbed his neck for several minutes, trying in vain to find the source of the short flash of pain, but he could find nothing. He gave up, letting his arms float in the zero gravity, with the engines offline during the repairs the crew had been under the effects of freefall for two hours. Adam yawned, and checked his watch; it was still another hour until his shift, though the ship was meant to be back online in the next few minutes. He might as well get up now; have something to eat before he was stuck on the bridge for the next twelve hours with the captain. Unlike the Navigations officer, Amber, he was lucky enough to have other people on the ship who could do his job, so he could have a rest. Amber Teague had been awake for the four days, living off stimulants and stress; it was amazing that she could still think clearly enough to fly.
Adam floated around the cabin, struggling into his jumpsuit before drifting out into the corridor and down towards the canteen. About halfway down the corridor, he heard a rumbling, and dropped to the ground, Adam smiled, the ship was under way again, the sooner they delivered their cargo the better.
Five antimatter torpedoes were loaded in the cargo bay, highly illegal, they had been contracted by the planetary government of Proxima Centauri to deliver the missiles to their capital, to ensure they won the newly ignited conflict between Proxima and Alpha. The missiles themselves were relatively unremarkable, but each one of them was capable of causing damage on a planetary scale. Antimatter weapons had only been used once before, a small antimatter bomb was dropped on Mars during the intersolar war. After the bomb was dropped, Mars was abandoned; the colonists fled the system, leaving two hundred million corpses behind. Antimatter weapons were the pinnacle of human technology, the ultimate Doomsday weapon, and their vessel was carrying five. No wonder everyone was nervous, but Proxima had offered two billion credits per missile, easily enough to make them all rich for life, especially with the added bonus of delivering an antimatter expert, Proxima was paying another five billion for the services of a Mr Isaac Stuart.
In the canteen, Adam quickly assembled a cheese sandwich with an apple, the advantages of Cryogenic food storage, and sat down with the engineers, just in from fixing the ship. They were discussing the repairs.
“I have never seen that sort of strike, I mean, it hit in just the way to shut down the panel, practically nothing else was damaged, just that panel, you don’t think someone is following us?” John Cade said, worriedly, his English breakfast sitting untouched in front of him. “Bah! You worry too much! If someone was following us, we would sure as hell know about it, and even if they were, they don’t stand a shadow’s chance in hell against us, the captain ordered the torpedoes to be loaded in case we are attacked.” Kaylee snorted, biting into her black pudding. David and Ben nodded along with Kaylee, “It was just a fluke, John, and crap happens, that is why we get paid to fix it,”
Adam sat at the edge of the group; he didn’t have much of an appetite all of a sudden, he had felt fine a moment ago, but now he felt…odd, he forced down his sandwich, and leant into the conversation, “The captain loaded the Torpedoes? About damn time, I have been telling him to do it for days,” Kaylee nodded, and then indicated his apple, lying untouched on his plate, “You not eating that?” She drawled, the leant over and snatched it from his plate, taking a large bite out of it. Adam grinned and stood up, “Nah, not feeling as hungry as I did when I got the food, you can have it,” He picked up his empty plate and left.
Adam made his way towards the bridge, moving swiftly now that the artificial gravity had been restored, he was still feeling quite sick, but he didn’t want to go to the medical staff, in case it was serious, if the captain thought he might engender the operation… He might kill him, the cargo was worth that much, and Adam was not irreplaceable, like Amber.
When he reached the bridge he relieved Dudley, who had been taking the opposing shift to him, “You look exhausted, go get some rest, it is my turn on shift.” Adam said, slapping Dudley on the shoulder, Dudley grunted, stretched, stood up and left, his massive, muscled form nearly filling the bridge bulkhead as he left. Adam slipped into the seat and began running diagnostics on the weapon systems. While it was running, he glanced across at Amber.
Amber, normally a bright, happy woman, was hunched in her chair, her face sunken with fatigue as she constantly ran checks on their course; her wide, dilated pupils indicated heavy stimulant use. She had been getting progressively worse throughout the trip, the Captain, Caleb Donavon forcing her to stay on the bridge at all times, relying on stimulants to stay conscious. Her body, normally lithe and athletic, was now emaciated, the stimulants depriving her of an appetite.
Adam looked at her mournfully; the captain had refused her request for a second Navigations officer, stating that it would be too expensive and risky for this mission; instead, he had ordered the medical staff to inject her with a large dose of Calotine every hour, forcing her to stay awake, when on normal trips she would be allowed to sleep. To the captain, this mission was of too much importance to allow her any rest.
Adam’s console beeped at him resentfully, waking him from his contemplation, the console was now detecting the torpedoes in their tubes, Adam gave a satisfied smile, if anyone tried to rob them now, they would cease to exist. Adam sat back in his chair, content to sit and doze for another twelve hours, confident that his console would wake him if he was needed.
Three hours later
Kaylee
Kaylee threw up violently into the toilet basin, vomit splattering the floor as she convulsed. For the last hour or so she had been feeling very sick, her skin had gone pale, she had a cold sweat, her stomach felt like it was being torn apart. Kaylee retched again, and this time, there was blood.
Daniel
Daniel Calvert rushed into the dormitories, carrying his medical kit, before being directed to the bathroom by a very pale engineer. He gasped in disgust when he entered, then gave a shout of shock when he saw Kaylee, lying unconscious in a pool of vomit and blood,
Daniel knelt down next to her, and checked her pulse, it was there, but weak. He searched through his medical kit, pulling out several injectors; He applied the injectors one after the other to Kaylee’s neck, while another medic, Callum, pulled up a stretcher. Daniel and Callum, with practiced ease, loaded Kaylee onto the stretcher, attaching an oxygen mask to her face, and wheeled her out of the dormitories, one of the engineers, Ben Elder, had already got a mop and bucket and went into the bathroom after they left.
The two medics barrelled down the corridor, dragging the stretcher, as they reached the medical bay, Kaylee began to convulse again, throwing up into her mask, splattering her face with her own blood. Daniel quickly pulled her mask off, and cleared her throat of blood, so she could breathe.
Adam
Adam was still dozing when the intercom activated, “Captain, something is wrong with Kaylee, she has some sort of disease, or a poison or something, she is dying” Crackled the intercom into the quiet of the bridge. The bridge remained silent for a long moment before Caleb stood, and said to his two officers, “Watch the bridge,” before rushing out. Adam glanced at Amber, who did not seem to have heard or noticed the events, she was still staring at her console, adjusting the course. “Amber? What do you think is wrong with her?” Adam asked, hoping to stir her from her stupor. Amber was silent for a moment, then, she said quietly, “Don’t know, sounds bad” before returning to her console. Adam looked at her again, and then began running diagnostics again, he had given Kaylee that apple, maybe he was infected? Or maybe he infected her…
Caleb
Caleb tore through the medbay bulkheads, “Alright, what the hell is going on? Who the hell did it?” The medics flinched, the captain was known for treating failure harshly, Laura spoke up, “W-We don’t know sir, we can’t detect any known poisons, and she was perfectly healthy yesterday…” The captain stood, fuming for a moment, before walking over the Kaylee’s treatment pod, the lifesign readings on the side were dangerously low, and were still dropping. “Is it a disease?” He asked of Daniel, who was also stood next to the pod. Daniel nodded slowly, “We don’t know, it might be,” Caleb stood silent for a moment, and then spoke again, “Is there anyway for her to survive?” Laura shook her head, “No, even the best medical packages we have are failing, she has minutes left at the most.” Caleb nodded slowly, reaching out to depolarise the pods lid, so he could see the damage for himself. Upon seeing what remained of Kaylee, he gave a shout of horror and backed away from the pod.
Kaylee, this morning she had been a lively, if rude, and healthy woman, now she was little more than a corpse, her flesh had erupted in sores and buboes, her eyes sunken and bloodshot, glancing around, as blood oozed from her mouth.
Caleb gulped, and then said, weakly, “Switch it off… Switch off the life support, I will not allow her to live with this any longer, she is dead now.” The medics hesitated, and then deactivated the pod. The four of them heard Kaylee let out one more ragged breath, and then stop, her lifesigns flat lined, she was gone.
…First Casualty inflicted
Infiltration has reached 41.176%
Subjects show little resistance
Insufficient Data, continue experiment.
Confirm, Continue Experiment…
David
David Johansson was in the canteen storeroom, helping Mark Jackson look through some crates. “Come on… there has to be some alcohol in here somewhere,” Mark muttered, scrolling through the cargo manifest. “There had better be, we are going to need it before this trip ends,” Called David from behind a pile of crates, “With all the crap that is- Found it!” David exclaimed. Mark dropped the manifest and rushed over, helping David pull cans of beer and bottles of whiskey from a small crate.
David grabbed a can and opened it, pouring it down his throat, “Good stuff,” He grunted, collecting another dozen cans, “I will take these, John and Ben will want some, and after Kaylee is out of the medbay there might, maybe, be some left for her,” David grinned, putting the cans in a bag. He gave a wave to Mark, and then left through the canteen.
On his way through, an intercom near him activated. “Crew, this is your Captain speaking. Kaylee is dead, some sort of disease, or poison, we don’t know. But what we do know, is that it is deadly, very deadly, I want all departments quarantined until we reach Proxima, they have the medical facilities to deal with this. Donavon out.” David stood, staring at the intercom in disbelief, Kaylee was dead? That couldn’t be possible. She was fine this morning…David began to sweat slightly, and his stomach felt unsettled, like he was going to puke from fear. He had to get back to their cabin, he should be safe there.
Adam
Adam stared down at his left hand, a small blister had formed between his ring and index fingers, oozing pus, it hadn’t been there a minute ago, he had just felt a sharp pain, and then it was there… He glanced across at Amber; she was still staring, unblinkingly at her console, lethargically checking the systems. At least she hadn’t noticed his reaction to the Intercom, in fact, he wasn’t sure if she had even heard it at all, she was so heavily stimmed. He thanked god for small blessings, they should arrive at Proxima in just under a week, and then he could get treatment. He had to wait until then, if the Captain thought he was sick… he would kill him. Throw him out of an airlock; shoot him in the head, anything to stop the disease from spreading. A burst of pain drew his attention back to his hand; another blister had opened up, closer to his palm than the first, but still weeping pus.
5 hours after infection
Daniel
After the Captain had left, Daniel and the other medics, Callum and Laura had done what they could to prepare for a disease outbreak, but there was little they could do, their medical supplies were scarce as it was, and the Captain had ignored their requests to improve their stocks, citing the price as a valid reason. David glanced around, and noticed that Callum was moving sluggishly, sweat appearing on his brow as he moved medical supplies from one table to another, David also noticed that Laura was also moving more slowly, and her skin had gone exceptionally pale.
David felt like his heart had burst as he realised what had happened, they were all infected. “Oh no…. Callum… Laura… We are infected…. We are showing the same symptoms” The other two stopped for a moment, and then turned to face him, Callum’s mouth was ringed with vomit. “We know,” He wheezed, “Nothing we can do, have to stick it out,” Laura stared at both of them, then a look of horror spread across her face, “There is nothing we can do… we have to warn everyone, try and keep at least someone clean.” She activated the intercom on the wall beside her.
Adam
The intercom crackled again, “Sir, this is Laura” The captain, who had been sitting in his chair, gave a start, then activated his intercom, “Acknowledged, what is it?”
“Sir…Daniel, Callum and I…. We… We are infected, we have sealed ourselves in, we have to get medical help sir, we need to stop at a planet, they may be able to help us.” Adam looked at the captain, who was staring at his intercom. “Denied, we cannot stop, it is too risky” Caleb’s hand reached slowly for his console. “Sir! If you don’t stop, we will die! We need-“Caleb pushed a button on his console.
Immediately alarms began flashing on Adam’s console, and an alert siren sounded.
#! Alert! Decompression detected in the Medical bay! Alert!!#
Caleb slowly drew his hand away from the console, and deactivated his intercom, Adam was staring at him, appalled, Amber had not noticed, she was still staring down at her console; her eyes seemed to be closed.
Caleb stared back at Adam, his cold eyes glinting, “It had to be done, they would have died anyway, and this way, we each get paid more,” Adam looked down, he wasn’t going to risk that happening to him, he turned back to his console, making sure to keep his left hand, which now a dozen blisters, hidden, he didn’t want the Captain seeing it.
Isaac
Isaac Stuart sat on his bunk, trying to understand the magnitude of the calamity that had befallen the ship, within four hours of the repair of the chameleon panel; four of the seventeen crewmembers were dead, killed by some sort of disease. Isaac felt confident that he would not be infected, as soon as the journey had begun, he had sealed himself away in his cabin, with enough freeze dried food to last the trip, it never hurt to be safe, especially in times like these.
Dudley
Dudley felt sick, very sick, his head was pounding, his throat was sore, he knew it couldn’t have been what got Kaylee, he had been nowhere near her for the whole trip, though he had wanted to be. It must just be some sort of cold, or flu, it would be better not to tell the Captain, he may get the wrong idea. Dudley heaved himself to his feet; he had been sitting on a chair in the cabin he shared with Simon and Kate, listening to an audiovid, trying to take his mind off his sickness. He trudged towards the shared bathroom, and stepped inside, looking at the mirror. He was quite shocked to see a sore had opened on his temple, trickling blood down the side of his face, he had not even felt it. He put his hand up, to touch the sore, and saw similar wounds all along his arm. Dudley’s head was spinning, how hadn’t he noticed? Why didn’t he feel anything? As he watched, the flesh on his hand began to sag, peeling off the bone as it rotted.
Dudley gave a shriek of fear and ran back into the cabin, colliding with Simon as he ran over to see what the shout had been about. They fell to the ground, Simon splattered with the infected gore of Dudley’s rotting flesh. Simon tried to rise to his feet, but Dudley was too heavy, crushing him into the ground.
Dudley still couldn’t feel any pain… It was almost like he had been….Blessed, that was it… Blessed, some god had decided that he was worthy, and had granted him divine boons. Dudley began to laugh, an insane, maniacal laugh. Using his good hand, he grabbed Simon by the throat, pinning him to the ground, then as Simon began to shout, he drove his rotted hand through Simon’s stomach, the flesh splitting apart like a rotten melon.
Simon tried to shout, but Dudley’s grip on his throat reduced it to a strangled gasp, the pain was incredible, Dudley had grabbed hold of Simon’s spine, through his stomach, and was pulling on it, slowly bringing it to breaking point.
With a loud snap, Simon’s spine snapped, and he went limp, Dudley rose to his feet, covered in Simon’s blood. At that moment, Kate entered the cabin, and on seeing the abattoir that Dudley had made, unloaded her pistol through his skull, which gave way with a sickening, rotten crunch, and Dudley slowly toppled to the ground, dead.
Adam
The intercom crackled again, “Sir! Dudley killed Simon! Dudley… He… He was rotting sir, from the inside out, I had to put him down” Caleb rose to his feet, “Damn it!” He roared down the intercom, “Did you get touched, are you infected?”
There was silence on the intercom for a moment, “I was hit by splatter, sir… I know what I have to do…” A loud crack echoed over the intercom, followed by a loud thud. Kate had shot herself. Caleb sank back into his chair, brooding. Adam looked down at his left arm, he had lost all feeling in it thirty minutes ago, the blisters had been replaced with large, open sores, he was thankful that his console was to the left of the Captain’s, it made hiding it easier. Caleb stirred in his chair, and then leant to his intercom, “I want a roll call, who is alive?”
The intercom crackled, “Engineer David here sir, John, Ben and I are fine” “Stanley Jenkins here sir, all cargo loaders are accounted for.” “Isaac Stuart, Captain, I am alive,”
Caleb held his face in his hands, “seven dead, in five hours, god preserve us…”
David
David, John and Ben were sat in their cabin, drinking beer in silence; the atmosphere had gone from worry to fear upon hearing about Kaylee, they each knew that any of the others could be infected. Upon hearing about the Security and Medical teams, the fear turned to outright terror.
“We have to get out, screw the mission, I didn’t sign on to die like Kaylee,” John hurled an empty can across the room, “We can’t get paid if we are dead, and if the Daniel, Laura and Callum couldn’t handle it, like hell we can.” Ben nodded, taking another swig from his can, “This crap all started when we took that Stuart aboard, smarmy bastard doesn’t even eat with us... he has his own food.”
David sat for a moment, thinking, “Do ya think he poisoned our food? If he has his own…” David fist clenched, crushing the empty can in his hand. “I bet he did… you can’t trust those science types… no morals, I bet he is using us for some sort of twisted social experiment!” The other engineers gave angry yells of agreement, none of them noticing the sweat beading on their faces, “We can go and kill that bastard! Get our own back!” With roars of rage, the engineers picked up tools and makeshift weapons, and stormed out of the room.
…Infiltration at 76.470%
Subject countermeasures are ineffective
Casualties have increased to 41.176%
Different strains proceeding in line with projections…
Isaac
Isaac was still sat on his bunk, reading, when something scraped against his door. He stood with a start, seeing the end of a crowbar sliding through his door, levering it open. Isaac leant down and snatched his pistol from his bedside table, levelling it at the door, “Stop, whoever you are! I am armed!” The door continued to open; it was nearly wide enough to admit a person. He fired a shot, but it missed and flattened against the door.
The door fully opened, and the three enraged engineers poured in, Isaac managed to get two shots off, striking Ben in the chest, before he was struck down, a crowbar splitting his skull, he collapsed to the ground as David and John continued to beat his body into an unrecognisable mass. Ben lay on the ground, oozing thick, dark red ichor, from his wounds, his veins were completely clogged with it, with the viscous slime blocking his arteries, he died in seconds, within a few moments, David and John also began to collapse, their body’s unable to sustain themselves as their hearts burst from the over pressure of trying to pump their thick blood.
Seven hours after infection
Adam
Adam could barely keep his eyes open, the sores had spread over his torso now, the Captain still hadn’t noticed, he was too caught up in looking through the ships cameras, the remaining three engineers had killed the passenger, driven insane by whatever this disease was, they had beaten him to a pulp, before collapsing themselves from some unknown symptom of the disease. He blearily glanced across at Amber, she was still in the same position, staring at her console, surely she would be able to help him? He could barely feel anything now; most of his body was numb, covered in the sores, which were spreading up his neck, I can’t tell the Captain… he would kill me….
Mark
Mark’s eyesight was blurring, he had taken shelter with the other cargo loaders in their cabin, playing cards to pass the time, but now he couldn’t see properly, he glanced up at Stanley, and gave a shout of terror, in his place was a colossal lizard man, fangs dripping blood, unlike everything else he could see, it was perfectly clear, Mark threw himself from the table, distantly hearing cries of alarm, but all he could see were two monsters rushing towards him, talons outstretched, teeth glistening with blood and gore. Mark scrambled to his feet, but one of the Lizard men grabbed his arm, Mark rammed his elbow back into the creatures face, hearing a satisfying snap as it’s face caved in around the blow, he turned to the other creature, and leapt at it, invigorated by his new found strength, after he killed this one, he would be safe, so he could play cards with Liam and Stanley.
Mark collided with the other creature, knocking it to the ground, as they fell, he felt a curious, burning sensation in his abdomen, he glanced down and was shocked to see an energy knife driven into his torso, just below his heart. Mark looked back at the lizard creature, and grasped it’s neck, determined to take it with him, it struggled, but to no avail, it could not withstand his strength, he crushed it’s throat, then rolled to the side, smiling to himself, he had done well, he had saved Stanley and Liam, he may have die, but at least they would live.
Adam
“Oh no….no no no…” Caleb muttered, and then looked around the bridge, “Mark just killed Stanley and Liam… we are the only ones left.” He glanced around at Amber and Adam, and then froze, staring at Adam.
Adam felt a cold rush of fear spread through him as the Captain slowly reached for his pistol. Adam jumped to his feet and dived towards Amber as the Captain fired at him. Several shots hit his legs, but he couldn’t feel them, more however, struck Amber in the back, and she fell to the side without a sound, her eyes blankly staring. Adam scrambled to his feet again, and ran towards the Captain, who unloaded his pistol into Adam’s chest, but he couldn’t feel it, he leapt at the Captain, knocking him to the ground before grabbing his throat and squeezing. Caleb struggled for a moment, trying to buck Adam off, but after a minute, his movements slowed, and he stopped breathing entirely.
Adam fell to his side, the blood loss of the bullets holes finally reaching him, his last thought as he passed out to die was, What have I done…
…Experiment Concluded
100% casualty rate achieved
Time for experiment reduced from thirty cycles to four, a vast improvement…
…Confirm, Experiment Successful…
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