The Oceanic

[somerandomhippie1]

((Hey! For all who didn't sign up for the Hostages plot, there's an big liner called the Oceanic that's about to be blown up. Good thread material? I think so. Let's jam!))


Penn was standing at the bar, watching various diplomats saunter around the Oceanic. Quite the ship, it was-- much like the ancient, doomed Titanic had been imagined. High society on a ship, defying all expectations of the matter beneath them. Even the decor seemed to rebel-- the smooth, tranquil, blue lighting of the ocean-esque ship seemed odd, and out of place, with the fiery planet beneath them.
As the quartet tuned up for another piece, Penn got himself something vintage. Grasshopper, maybe. Long as he didn't go past five mugs, he could keep it down. No need to stay sober-- what was there to stay sober for?
Just then, the ship lurched. Penn's beer slopped all over the floor, and his fancy dress shoes. Great. Now he would have to clean them. Then a couple windows shattered. Little bit more serious. The auto-sphere emergency locks soon kicked in, and no one seemed hurt, all the glass blowing outwards. Penn set his beer down on the counter. It promptly slid off. Penn frowned. Since when had the bar been off-level? He had a bad feeling about this. Time to go check on the rest of his shipmates, see if anything needed to be dealt with. His bad feelings were usually right.

[scylla]

"Talon One, sitrep?" There was that droning, monotonous tone again. It always seemed to privy the most unexpected moments. These halls were filled with pictures of grandeur rationality. It would be out of place to not have any security in place. Hearts needed to be inspired that they were safe while their classical music kept their mental capacity available for their next drink while they conversed with fellow passengers dressed equally in golden linens that always seemed to match the skin color of the individual wearer so perfectly that it looked as if the dress was actually apart of them; like their second skin. Jay moved with the escort as if they were computers designated to stay on course. There were people milling around in every direction making this incoming communication hazardous. Anything could happen and thus caused Jay to tense up somewhat. It was all over shortly.

Jay noticed that the escort leader had loosened his posture. Granted. They all did. It wasn't cause to drop one's guard. At any second some fool could come running out from the middle of the crowd with eight pounds of explosives strapped to their waist. It was Jay's job to jump onto that to minimize the damage. This was where the Oceanic needed him and it was sure as hell where the captain of the Venia would have wanted. Jay felt clustered. It would be difficult to minimize the damage in such close quarters like this. Subsequently, this hallway wasn't very ideal for protection. It was to narrow and thus threw the advantage in the hands of the foolish. Not that Jay had any idea where the attack would come from if there was indeed an attack in the works. This job was messy, very messy.

They turned the corner up ahead growing closer to their destination which happened to be the personal quarters of the representative they had been tasked with keep an eye on. Jay kept his position on the right of the tightly knit escort nudging people out of the way with subtle warning. They had every right to mill about mindlessly in the hall and quite frankly it smelled like passion. Gorgeous women in tight dresses showed off their doubly stunning white grins while older men told them how beautiful they were. All that this hallway needed at that moment was some slow beat to motivate the passion further. Jay kept observant, his face tight. His eyes scanning left and right. Jay was also enthralled to be passing the amount of caged morality as it faded behind them. He felt that much more light hearted as if being able to breath again.

That passion sucked the breathable atmosphere out of that tiny hallway. He was about to grumble his displeasure when the ground beneath him gave way and he was shifted sideways into the closest group of people. He threw his arms out as he spun causing him to fall backwards. When one finds themselves in a situation like this one their mind immediately flips a switch to panic. Instead of being caught, like Jay had hoped, the group had scattered. He found himself bracing himself on the wall palm planted firmly shoulder pressed up. He could hear above the raucous screaming orders being thrown around. This was his life. Not attending some party to promote some donation. He was better off jumping stomach flat onto a grenade. "Damage across all decks. Damage across all decks." The disembodied voice came over the PA system and the lights immediately flashed crimson.

Jay picked himself up from the wall. The escort was gone. Swallowed up by the ocean of panicking donators. This was one of the back hallways of the ship. It wasn't as well fortified as the main rooms. His training kicked in flooding his veins as his testosterone fired up flashing the ship's schematics before his eyes. He sprinted down the way he had come making sure to swing his arm up over the crowd for the instant it took him to dodge epic failure in crashing back down to the floor. The door ahead was closing and fast. "Everyone back the other way!" There were still panicked their minds white with fear. He withdrew his sidearm which was enough. Those close to him turned around and sprinted back the other way. Women having to pick up their dress hems. Jay sprinted back towards the door.

He felt his body leaving the ground while he threw all of his adrenaline into his legs. He cleared the closing gap having to twist his waist vaulting the last few inches. This corridor was still flooded with anonymous flashing obnoxious eyegasmic red. He took the few seconds he had in complete isolation to catch his breath. He then pressed his fingers to the receiver in his ear. "Venia, come in." He knew that if there were any Venia crew members still on board they would get the message.

[kiri]

Kiri had been on board the Venia less than a week. It had been a hectic week to be sure - filled with meeting new people who's names she forgot moments later, learning her new duties, and settling in to life in this strange new setting. In many ways it felt much longer than five days, while at the same time it felt like only moments had passed since she'd agreed to take the post. She knew part of the strange time-displacement she was feeling was due to the fact that she hadn't had a minute to herself to process any of this since she'd set foot on board.

Which was why it was wonderful that most of the crew had been given some leave time on the Oceanic. The moment she'd been set free, she'd made a beeline for the greenhouse area of the ship, not bothering to do more than slip into a comfortable pair of jeans and throw her hair up into a ponytail. If there was one thing she missed more than anything else from her life back home, it was the trees and the plants. While there was little in the way of actual trees in the Oceanic's pleasure garden, the flowers and grass went a long way to restoring that small part of Kiri's spirit that had been starving for greenery.

She spent several hours wandering the neat, perfectly trimmed footpaths, watching a few children run and play, their laughter the only sound beyond the constant, low hum of the engines. Once her feet started to hurt, she sought out the nearest source of food and drink, which happened to be the cruise liner's bar, passing several of her fellow Venia crewmates in the hallways on the way there.

Stepping in to the bar, she immediately felt underdressed. Her shirt was clean - fortunately - but was little more than a black pullover sweater. And while her jeans were comfortable, they were decidedly shabby, as were her walking shoes. The soft music and elegant decor of the bar would have gone better with a sleek cocktail dress, or even slacks and a nice shirt. Still, she was hungry and thirsty and this was guaranteed to be light-years better than ship fare. So she squared her shoulders and found a seat at the bar, glancing around for people she might know.

One of her fellow medical officers, Penn, was seated several chairs from her. She was about to call out to him in greeting when the floor shifted and she had to grab for the bar to keep from falling off her stool. The ship lurched again and windows shattered, glass flying. A shard grazed her hand, but it left barely more than a scratch, and she hardly even noticed in the sudden swell of mindless panic that threatened to overwhelm her. A tinny voice from the bud in her ear dragged her back to herself.

"Venia, come in," came the voice of the first mate, a man she'd had only the briefest of contacts with. Still, it was an indescribable relief to hear his voice in her ear. She lurched to her feet, noticing vaguely that the floor didn't seem to be quite on a level. She fumbled for the control for the comm.

"Y-yes, hello, K-Kiriann Brooks, Medical Officer, reporting." She glanced over at Penn to see if he'd heard Jack's call as well. Whatever had just happened, it wasn't good, and the Venia crew needed to stick together.

[somerandomhippie1]

Penn heard the voice First Mate come in through the implanted bud in his ear. He had been skeptical about getting it implanted at first- who would want a phone implanted in their ear?- but he had to admit, it did come in handy at times like this. He pressed his hand to his ear-- the sound was a bit bad in the chaos that had broke out on the initiation of the Code Red.
"Penn Gwyther, Medical Officer, reporting in," he spoke to the mate. "Have we got anyone else here?" He glanced around, and caught sight of Kiri Brooks. She worked in his section- sweet lass, smart- though she seemed a little out of her element. He scampered over to her, grateful he had worn board shorts under his kilt. He took it off as he weaved his way through the people- he had saved it to his virtual closet, it would give him another one- and made his way over to Kiri.
"Hey," he greeted her with a quick grin. She had dressed well for a crisis-- no bunchy skirts or anything. Smart lass.
"I'm with Miss Brooks, where are you?" he asked the commander through his earpiece. "People seem OK around here, no serious injuries, but if something busted down in the engine room, they might be hurt. We could meet you up there."

[scylla]

Suddenly the link went silent. There was nothing, not one stir, that came from the upper floors. For the moment Jay was out of the loop. He could only begin to imagine what was happening on the other floors. He turned to look over his shoulder to see that the way he had come had been sealed shut behind him. There was only one way to go. When in doubt, go up. Jay looked up. His eyes tracing the flashing ceiling for any signs that he could use to his advantage. Nothing in the training manual had trained him for something like this. Nor could he remember where the closest emergency shaft was located. For all he knew he was trapped between two blast shield doors. Subsequently he was running out of breathable air and the last place he wanted to die was in an airtight hallway. He needed assurance.

There was nothing he could see that lined the upper portion of the ceiling that would proved faithful. He began to walk the entire hallway staring at the ceiling. It took him thirty seconds to what he assumed was halfway when his receiver softly crackled filling his ear with a soft voice. Y-yes. Hello. Jay found the voice to be strong, or trying to be. As soon as he had the name he activated his piece. "Hi, Kiriann." he said almost immediately afterwords, "You are going to be fine. I am right here with you. Just several decks below you." Jay found himself squinting momentarily at the ceiling. "You will be fine." It was the fact that he felt overwhelmed with relief to hear the voice of at least one of Venia crew members uninjured, however, boldly he hid his sentiments.

There was some advantage to being the right hand man of the Captain. "Focus and tell me what you see around you." There was the off chance that they were the only two that survived the initial shockwave and if there were more of them around he needed to know. Plus he also wished to be informed of the entailing situation. There were multiple kinds of explosions. Every one of them had the nasty effect to be biased enough to cripple one section of the ship. It would be an advantage and some serious inter-organization trust points if the martyr happened to take some lives in the process. Jay began to trace the outer wall near his shoulder. He could begin to feel the effects of being trapped. It was getting harder to breathe. His fingers brushed the wall in which he knew contained his exit. Hopefully.

It would be in his best interest to seek immediate evacuation from this enclosed space. Composing himself was the hardest part. When he hadn't heard from the medical officer he had begun to wonder just what in the blue Hell was going on up there. Just then his fingers brushed over an embrasure in the wall. It was slight, hidden. This lighting was doing wonders to impede his progress. He backtracked. He immediately let his shoulders relax at the wonderful vigor that he soon felt upon proving his assumption correct. Just to be safe he tried the handle. It shivered underneath his touch. He realized he was holding in his breath. He let it out savoring the situation. Now only to hear from Kiriann. He pulled open the door moving aside so it could meet its full swing into the hallway. He peered up into the shimmering emergency shaft.

"Kiriann, are you with me?" His voice seemed to echo up the shaft while he spoke. Time suddenly felt short. He reached out for the support ladder when his ear piece crackled again. He thought it was Kiriann. Penn Gwyther. Reporting in. Jay pulled his arm back as if the ladder was scorching. "Its good to hear your voice, brother." Upon the second feeling of vigor Jay looked back out into the shaft, first up and then down, and stepped back out into the hallway. This day was proving to be productive. Maybe it wouldn't end as horribly as Jay pictured it would. "Not that I know of." Venia didn't know how badly things had turned for them. Jay took one final step back into the hallway facing the shaft scratching his head and pondering heavily after Penn's report.

Jay found it ironic for some reason that they were both in the same place at the same time and that both of them appeared to be okay. "Be advised, engineering may be compromised and venting atmosphere." Jay hated to say it, but there was a very good chance engineering might have been the bomber's target. On the other hand Penn was right. "I'm several decks below you and Ms. Brooks. From where I was standing it felt as if engineering got hit pretty bad. Almost took the life right out of me." Something needed to budge. It was then that Jay gave in and quickly pressed in the activation button. "Work your way to engineering with Ms. Brooks. Keep an eye out for damaged sections, eh? Keep in touch. If it appears as if engineering is indeed compromised fall back. That's an order."

Jay approached the shaft looking down into the empty abyss once more. Communications also needed to be checked on. He jumped for the closest rung and descended.

[kiri]

Kiri fiddled with her comm, pressing the button repeatedly but getting none of the soft background static she was used to when the link was active. A closer examination revealed a piece of window glass embedded in the back - she was lucky it had worked at all. Picking her way through the mess of glass and overturned tables and chairs, she made her way across the room to Penn.

"My comm is busted," she said quietly, waving the remote in the air. "Is everything okay? What does he want us to do?" This was just the sort of crisis they'd all trained for, but rational discussions in a boardroom were a far cry from facing it head-on. She honestly didn't know where to start. It was a relief to have at least a minimum of contact with a superior officer - following orders she could do. Following orders was easy.

[somerandomhippie1]

"Copy that, mate, we'll be on our way," he spoke into his receiver. He turned to Kiri, who had come up beside him. He raised a brow at her comm-- the glass had went clean through, like a knife in butter. "Glad that only hit the comm, and not you," he told her. "That was some blast." He looked around for an exit that wasn't overflowed with screaming people. "The first mate wants us to head down to the engineering decks, to see what we can do," he told her. There-- a small door, looking like it lead to the kitchens. He offered a hand to Kiri. "Off we go, then," he smiled, and headed off to the doorway.
It did lead to the kitchens, which were relatively deserted. The appliances all seemed to be shot, and glass was everywhere. They poked their way through, and Penn managed to grab half a biscuit on his way by. He hadn't eaten in ages, and if people needed tending, he probably wouldn't be getting anything any time soon.
They found a staircase, and managed to descend low enough to get to some bay doors. Penn could just make out some voices behind the thick steel, and poked his head up the window, to check who it was. No need to dash in there like a child. He ducked as he saw a large man, with an even larger gun, saunter past the door. He was pretty sure people didn't carry firepower on the engineering decks.
He turned on his comm again. "I think we've got company down here," he told the first mate quietly, raising an eyebrow at Kiri. Bad feelings ran through his gut. This wasn't an accident, this was planned.

[scylla]

Just another day on the job, Jay thought in the enclosed space he now found himself in as he descended slowly passing the decks below his previous position. There were so many possibilities that flooded his mental capacity. His training had long taken over. He was now operating on 15% adrenaline his heart hammering inside his chest in the full anticipation that all this had turned out to be was pure mechanical failure with enough force from the failing gears to throw the engine room past critical taking the life of about several dozen workers and rocking the ship past however much the inertial dampeners could sustain. Jay knew this was nothing but lies his brain was telling him to desensitize his already spiking serotonin levels. Dammit, there it was. He was now finished trying to be rational with himself. This was an attack. No doubt.

Each rung brought him closer to communications which he could only assume had been compromised as well. Everything about this felt fishy. Attackers, bombers mostly, didn't take out the engines without proper motivations and when the engines were taken out it was most probably that the ships attendees, including citizens and anybody who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time were targeted as well. There were no signs of a firefight, so why all the secrecy? "Holy crap holy, I don't get paid enough for this," Jay's voice was nothing but an audible whisper, or grumble. I'm checking! You space rat! Jay stopped. He looked past his shoulder into the darkness below. Slowly, and very subtly, into the dimly lit emergency shaft shone the narrowest cones of light skinning the rest of the way down. Jay studied it.

It seemed foreign studying it as if he had never seen light before and the briefest of flickers blotched inside the inner layer casting out over the edge below him. Hastily he reached out for the door handle behind him with one arm stretching with increased sensitivity. As he did so the shaft was immediately illuminated with fresh light. He threw himself through the now open door sliding onto his back and quickly pulling his legs clear of the opening. Almost immediately after the second light that he had seen wooshed up the shaft hung around for several seconds and clicked off. Jay lay flat on his back staring up at the ceiling. His arms tucked inward like that of a lost puppy begging for food. He suddenly felt out of breath. ~"Deck 14, clear."~, there came the subtle static of radio chatter. This couldn't be good.

Jay's craned the direction he head heard it, kicked the emergency shaft door closed with his heel and scampered for cover on the opposite side of the hallway, pressing his back against the wall once settled. "Jesus.", he panted, whispering. For several seconds there came nothing. "Yeah, I'm on 12. Looks clear." Damn. That voice was closer. Jay peered around the corner of the doorway he found himself using for cover. In the shadow of the hallway beyond came someone armed with an assault rifle balanced lazily on his shoulder as he held it straight up into the air like a cowboy. Jay pulled back pressing against the wall sharply gulping for air. Jay pressed the ear piece hearing Penn's voice radio through. "Requesting radio silence, please," Jay responded as quietly as he could, still feeling the loss of oxygen.

 

[kiri]

Kiri hesitated for a moment, looking from Penn's hand to his face. It seemed ludicrous in this situation, with the screams of the panicked civilians mixing with the distant sound of creaking metal as the ship strained, but she felt a momentary flush of nervousness at the thought of taking his hand. Quit acting like a teenager, she told herself sternly, forcing herself into a more professional mindset. At least it was keeping her from panicking.

She locked hands with Penn and let him pull her through the kitchens, doing her best to simply avoid stepping on glass or tripping over anything. Down the staircase to the bay doors that lead to Engineering. While Penn peeked through the window, she contented herself with huddling against the door below the window, finally feeling a quiver of true fear at Penn's words.

"Company?" she mouthed, not daring to make a sound, glancing uneasily up at the window.

[somerandomhippie1]

Penn saw Kiri mouth her word, and nodded. "He wants radio silence," he mouthed back, pointing to his earpiece. Something about that bothered Penn. Either the first mate was stating the obvious for them, which seemed a little unlikely, or there was something- or someone- in his vicinity that he wanted to keep hidden from. That thought didn't bode well.
Suddenly, footsteps got louder, behind the doors. Penn grabbed Kiri, hopefully not too hard, and sat the both of them down behind the door just as it swung open viciously.
"Engineering sweep done, heading up a level," a burly man stated, probably into a comm. A pack of men with guns, including the one Penn had seen from the door, followed him. Penn took Kiri's hand again, and dashed behind the doors, in case one of them looked back. Luckily, none of them did.
Penn turned around. The place was blasted to smithereens. All the equipment was in shards on the floor, nothing but bits of wire and metal strewn at their feet. "I don't think we can help anyone here," he told Kiri, his throat tightening a little. No one could have survived a blast like this.

[scylla]

Jay hugged his corner as if trying to avoid something dangerous. With each bated breath he could feel the ominous shadow growing closer its long arm still reaching towards the ceiling for conviction. It would be seconds before this man converged on his position. With each step this stranger took it seemed to take ounces off of Jay's life. His shoulders pressed as far back against the niche of the wall he had found himself using. In all likelihood the man would pass. Likely, not probable. This cover would prove to be useless in eighteen point three seconds and for the moment had to admit that he didn't like these chances. His mind was mulling over his options. Heavily armed goon, carbine assault rifle. Radio. Body armor. Grenades, probably. Extra ammo. Thick armor plating. Shooting the sap was out of the question entirely. This sucked, extremely.

Sixteen seconds. When one finds themselves in this kind of situation the well trained would be adamant in piecing together on the spot that the window for marginal error was minimal. Every step this strange man took caused Jay's breathing to become thin and harder to breathe. This is what happens when someone that you consciously know that is two times your weight, three times your height and armed to take on a small armada happens to be right around the corner. Jay had the advantage of surprise, he concluded. It still wasn't comforting. Fifteen seconds. He could hear the man exhibit the most confidant of coughs from several feet around the corner. Jay, sitting with his back planted against the wall, his hand firmly placed to either side of him, his eyes wide with anticipation know the moment of reckoning was fast approaching. There was another cough.

Jay needed something that comforted him in the context of a plan. If he couldn't surmise one in the next eight seconds there wouldn't be a next time. He had to assure himself of that. He could now hear the man's instilled footsteps echoing throughout the hallway. Falling like soft bags of sand on marble concrete. Jay shivered with excitement his jaw clenched to the point where it hurt. Thirteen seconds. Unlucky. Jay had his advancement planned out in his head. Every detail nullified for effect the chance of it actually working; minimal, at best. He slowly turned his head so that his nose lined up with the corner. He could smell the man's hubris. Adapting the muscles of a feline Jay turned on his right heel softly turning into the corner arms bent down fingertips grazing the floor like that of a marathon runner, ready.

These next few minutes would have to play out very carefully. One shot to the larynx, disable the kneecap, discombobulate, disorient, knock out. Jay's tongue traced the inner lower right corner of his bottom lip. His heart seemed to freeze his senses stimulated. It would be game on. Eleven seconds. Jay bent his kneecaps straining the capacity waiting to bolt around the corner. He wouldn't have to bolt very far. He could hear the heavy breathing of his soon to be first kill of the night. I'll make a beast out of myself., the only thought running through the mind of Jay while he waited to pounce in solid defense of hundreds of people. It was time for vengeance. I'll make a beast out of myself. Four seconds and the man's shadow crossed the threshold. Jay tilted his head up waiting.

There was quiet, except for those footsteps. Jay vaulted the corner lashing out his hand connecting with the lump of the man's only exposed Adam's apple. He gagged. Jay shot his foot out impacted the man's extended knee, he gasped. Jay slapped both ears at the same time open hand, the man's eyes went wide. Jay threw his arm out pressing the man's nose as far back into his cortex as it would permit the man stumbled backwards. Jay reached for the assault rifle now dangling precariously by a strap. Grabbing it he skirted around the back of the man raising the handle of the rifle and squeezing his throat pinning it against hard steel. With the added weight of the armor both men topped over using Jay as a cushion between the hard floor. As Jay grunted the man began to kick hastily. Good.

It wasn't long before the man started to fling his arms in every which direction his eyes bulging out of its sockets his skin turning a sickening purple hue. Jay held onto it not letting this piece of human garbage regain the advantage. Jay's tongue now traced the outside of his bottom lip lapping up the sweat as his own veins began to pop with frustration. He wrapped his legs around the man's waist signaling any sign of the man's faith pretty much negative. To Jay's dismay the man held on much longer than he had first anticipated now beginning to rock from side to side trying to break the leg hold while also flinging his arms in the distant hope of finding Jay's eyeballs. Then the wheezing started and the man moved no more. Jay relaxed. Letting out an"uhh" and going limp.

Jay took his time gathering all of his oxygen for the next phase of the evacuation which is what this crapfest had turned into. He kicked the much heavier man off making sure to prioritize use of that rifle. He flung the strap over his shoulder feeling the rifle bounce off his lower back and prepped to report into Penn to see how they were managing. ~Tango Whiskey has gone dark. Seek out.~ Goddammit! Jay shot his glance in the direction of the hallway's shadow. It was immediately lit up with staccato gunfire momentarily as Jay ducked around the corner into the adjacent hallway. These guys were trained. Communications was sacked and now they knew they had a fight on their hands.

Game on.

[kiri]

Kiri was trembling, her heart pounding, panic choking her and making it hard to breathe. She was glad Penn seemed to be calm enough to function, because she surely wasn't. When he tugged her down to hide behind the door, all she could was cling to him, burying her face in his shoulder and trying not to make a sound, barely even daring to inhale. The men with guns strode by, some miracle keeping them from glancing behind the door, and she found herself pulled to her feet and around the doors, her hand in Penn's again.

What she saw there, beyond the doors, nearly brought her to tears. Everything was destroyed. The blast had wiped out the entire deck. This ship was as good as dead in the water, and they were trapped on it. No one could have survived this. Penn was right, they were useless here. Slowly the fear curling in her chest began to be replaced with a dark sort of numbness. "Wh-What do we do n-now?" she managed to stammer.

[somerandomhippie1]

Penn shook his head. "I don't know," he confessed. "I really don't know..." What could they do now? The ship was destroyed, a sitting duck in the water. They were thousands of miles above Proxy 5, with no way of getting a distress signal out-- at least, not without going up to the flight deck. And with those terrorists out on patrol, that would be too risky. He didn't want to put Kiri in that kind of danger.
"I could sneak up to the flight deck, and try to get an emergency broadcast out..." he offered to Kiri. Wait... What about Jay? Maybe he was closer to the flight deck, he could get something out, maybe...
He tapped the receiver in his ear. Nothing. He yanked it out, and tried playing with the frequency. There-- static. Something was coming in. "Kiri, can you hear this?" he asked, leaning forward. It sounded vaguely like artillery fire... "Can you make any of this out?" He tapped the bud. "Mate, can you hear me? Jay?" he called, as loudly as he dared. "The entire engineering deck is wiped out, there's nothing left. Where are you?"

[scylla]

Jay's escape was narrow. He could feel the bullets as they carved the atmosphere where he had been standing seconds before. These hallways seemed to be stretching on forever as he slid around each corner trying to find the primary exit and with the feeling of those mercenaries now straight on his tail Jay could feel that rewarding feeling of escaping an airtight room slowly fading from grasp. Everything that he had worked for until this moment was now slipping away and there was not a single thing he could do about it if he intended to get as many people out alive as he could. Maybe that obligation was too heavy a burden and now that he thought about as he raced around each corner and the thing that seemed to have slipped from his plan was managing to grab the dead mercenary's radio. Everything was slippingThis was turning real murky real fast. Jay cradled the assault rifle in his hands one hand grasping the trigger mount. In one instant as he ran he made sure to turn his waist to check for any sign of a tail. The hallways behind him seemed naked from the usual din and clamor. There was no doubt in his mind that there would soon be approximately a dozen mercenaries giving chase assault rifles buzzing as they advanced slowly trying to cordon Jay into a net like some insect.

Upon running blindly through the hallways Jay had reached a cross intersection in which he stopped just before the split. It was this moment that caused him to stop to regather his senses. He felt panicked and lost. He needed to reconcile with Kiriann and Penn, however, the last thing he wanted was to drag them into a firefight. Plan B.

Just as Jay's ear piece precariously hissed its incoming radio signal the simple whang of a stray bullet carved its way into the bulkhead sending Jay to dive for cover behind the right corridor wall corner. "That was fast!" Jay called over his shoulder now gaining cover once again. He peered around the corner just enough so that his eye poked out causing him to quickly pull back now holding the assault rifle fully erect inches from his chest. He rested the back of his head against the wall. Jay raised one of his free hands and activated his radio. "I noticed.", Jay said hugging the wall. Jay found himself stepping closer to the wall straightening his posture and it seemed for the moment that the suppressing fire had stopped. Probably pre-positioning their units. Jay sucked on his lower lip in thought.

"Several decks from the bridge and by the looks of it, brother, that has been compromised as well. We're stuck with some friends. Find a place to settle down this is no-" Jay risked sticking his head out once more. They were bunkered down covering the hallway. Christ Almighty. "Do me a favor will you? Take care of Kiriann, eh? Find some meatlocker somewhere and stick yourselves in there. I will find you. Besides, which ranking medical officer on this bucket is going to sow my bullet holes up with you kids dead?" Jay could feel the testosterone radiating from every hallway, every junction, every door, every room, hell this deck was going to get nice and red in a few minutes. What Jay needed now was some bloody miracle. He turned the corner sticking the rifle out first and let it rip squeezing the trigger to maximize the effect. His face was lit up momentarily with anger as he squinted to block the sheer amount of force behind his fire. As he fired he strafed covering the entire hallway in front of him. He wasn't going to wait. If they wanted their fight, Jay would be glad to serve it to them.

Within seconds Jay found himself seeking cover against the opposite wall. Not very productive. Jay pressed back up against his cover. He was lucky he had suppressed the hallway for the time he needed. He let out a breath. Everything ceased to move. What was worse was that they weren't trying to negotiate. This meant they had orders to kill every single living, breathable walking human not wearing their insignia. Jay didn't really feel like talking either. They had crossed the line and Jay was only one man up against what seemed to be a small militia. Jay had orders too. He was to protect every single person who was perceived as a threat and keep them safe. He was bred to keep fighting until his last damn breath. He wouldn't take no for an answer and he could only hope that Penn was doing exactly what he had wanted. This was going to be fun, all things considered. Jay readjusted his grip on the front mount keeping his other finger pressing lightly against the trigger.

[kiri]

Kiri listened to Penn, head shaking slowly. Trying to get to the flight deck would never work. There were sure to be more men with guns up there, and staying away from the guns was currently first on Kiri's list of priorities. "No... no, bad idea..." was all she could whisper in reply.

He went for his radio and Kiri leaned in obediently, her head inches from his as she strained to catch the tinny sounds barely audible from the earbud. Still, she could make out the sound of gunshots well enough to make her bite her lip and shiver. Hearing Jay's voice relieved a tiny amount of tension - at least he was still alive - but finding anywhere even remotely safe to hide seemed simply impossible.

Her mind was racing now, in full survival mode. Where could they hide? Better, how could they escape this disaster? If they could make it to the medical bay they could at least find some supplies to help if there were any other survivors. And, if it was anything like the Venia... there would be a transmitter equipped with an emergency beacon! Specifically for medical emergencies or quarantine broadcasts, but any contact outside the Oceanic would work now. "Penn... Penn, do you know where the medbay on this ship is?" she asked quietly, unable to keep the excitement from threading through her voice.