Intruders

[~ ADMIN]

Gjogarn grunted as their shuttle pod bumped and ground to a halt in the foreign ship's hangar bay. They'd been watching the 'humans' for a while now, intercepting transmissions, and from their scans and intelligence they had decided that making their way on board this ship would be the best way to steal vital information, weapons, and technology. There were only a few humans left on board the ship, they would be easy to take out if they got in the way.

He let out a quiet hiss, letting his soldiers know that they were to move out. They would get what they wanted, and get out of there.

-x-

Anna was laying on the floor in the gym. It seemed like a pretty pointless exercise, considering she wasn't dressed for exercise or training of any sort, but her mind had been buzzing with thoughts and she didn't fancy lying on the hard, metal floor out in the hallway - the gym mats were more comfortable.

Ben was on her mind. It was hard to get him off her mind, to be honest. Ever since he'd blown up at Will, she'd seen hide nor hair of him, and it was irritating. It shouldn't be so easy for him to hide on a ship like this. Although, even if she did find him, she wasn't exactly sure what she would say. As his superior, she should probably have him reprimanded for attacking another crew member without any real cause. But as someone who cared for him... she just wanted to know whether he was okay.

Letting out a deep sigh, she watched as her stomach sunk inwards, her top doing the same, the outlines of her ribs now showing faintly. She needed something to do other than lying here feeling... whatever she was feeling. The computer panel on the wall started flashing, and she cast her gaze over to it to see the words 'INTRUDER ALERT' appear on the screen in bold. Oh, that wasn't good.

-x-

With a stylus between his clenched teeth, John blinked hard, his eyes straining now as he stared at the computer screen. It was times like this when his job really sucked. He was supposed to be helping catch criminals, using his smarts and experience, not cooped up on board a ship with a headache, a numb ass, and barely any clean clothes. Reaching over, he lifted his coffee cup up off the table and could tell immediately that it had no coffee left in it - it was too light.

John slid the computer onto the desk, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger before pulling his legs down from where he'd had them propped up on another chair, and climbed to his feet. Time to make a trip to the mess hall for some more coffee - the good stuff that the chef had - and hopefully some food as well.

He was making his way down the corridor when he heard heavy footfalls coming the opposite way. It sounded like several people jogging, several pretty weighty people if he heard correctly. What did he mean 'if'? Of course he heard correctly. Without thinking, he slipped quickly and quietly into a nearby supply closet - it looked like it had been looted from the disarray of the items in there - and watched through the crack in the door as the people passed.

Except, they weren't people. They were aliens.

[somerandomhippie]

Katy sighed happily, gathering up the last of her things, stuffing them in her bag. Oh, being home was going to be so nice. She would get a nice big apartment, she could cook her own food, finally get back to her squad... Maybe she'd buy drinks. Yes, that was it. She would get back, put in a good day, and take her squad out for alcohol until they dropped. That sounded wonderful. She grabbed her gun out of her nightstand, stuffing it in her back pocket, and went to say good-bye to Ciara, and log out.

As she stepped out, she knew something was wrong. Unless someone was watching an old war movie with the volume turned up to an obscene level, that marching was coming down the hallway quite fast. No one marched on the Venia. She slid her bag off her shoulders, setting it back in her room. Her hand tensed, wanting to grab her pistol. She waited.

Some aliens turned the corner. Oh, great. Fish people. Lovely. They were wearing leather, with rather large guns nestled in every person's arm. One at the front pointed at her, and they all simultaneously stopped, priming their weapons.

Without a second thought, she whipped her revolver out, sending off a few shots at the front lines. One went down, and she turned tail, dashing down the hallway, firing behind her randomly. The floor was being torn up, literally, as the aliens dashed after her, denting up the ground with heavy artillery. Well, this was putting a bit of a kink in her day. She flew by a terminal in the wall, managing to smack the big red button on her way past. Lights immediately went off around her. Good. Maybe someone would get the message and come give her a little help.

[Evangeline Irvine]

In all honesty, Ciara was pretty useless on the Venia. They rarely received a message that wasn't in English, which meant that her work as a communications officer was pretty uneventful. In fact, she'd resorted to playing waitress, running around and asking people if they wanted coffee or whatnot from the mess and fetching it for them if they said yes. While it was good for learning her way around the ship, it wasn't what she was being paid for.

The only other eventful way she spent her time was hanging around with her old pal Katy. But now that they were on Delta Prime, that way of passing time was disappearing, as Katy got to go home now. She'd only said goodbye to her a little while ago, and was now on her way back to her work station on the flight deck. Not that she'd have anything to do there, but at least then she'd be out of everyone else's hair.

Just as she turned the corner, Katy ran flat into her and the two women tumbled to the floor. "Ouch, what--Katy? What're you--" And then she saw them. "Uh oh." Aliens. A whole team of them. And they didn't look to be here for a good time. Scrambling to her feet and pulling Katy up with her, the two of them took off, only just dodging the gunfire shot after them.

"What's going on?!" she shrieked at Katy as the brunette fired her gun behind them willy-nilly, aiming at anything that moved. "What are they doing here?!"

Natalie was exhausted. She'd just come off one of the longest shifts she'd ever taken, and was ready to head back to the sleeping quarters and take a long over-due nap. Then maybe when she woke up Will would have finished his own shift--not that he ever really stopped working that long--and the two of them could go and grab a bite to eat together.

She was about to enter the sleeping quarters when she noticed the dents in the floor. Looking a little closer, she realized that they were from gunshots. Unless Anna and Ben were playing some twisted tactical version of tag, which didn't seem likely, that meant something really bad. She followed the shots back to their origin, noticing a few other, different marks decorating the floor. Had someone been firing back?

Before Natalie could think on it for too long, there was the sound of heavy footfalls announced that several people were coming down the hall behind her. They sounded too heavy to be anyone from the crew, too organized. A marching unit of some description. Throwing a frantic glance around, she dove into the first source of shelter she could find--a supply closet. And she wasn't the only one in there.

Someone stumbled backward when she pushed the door open, and she had to forcefully clench her jaw to stop from screaming. It was just John, for goodness sakes! Throwing him a mildly apologetic look she turned back to the door and peered out as he'd no doubt been doing before to watch as fish-like aliens marched by.

"Huh... aliens? Never dealt with them before. This ought to be interesting," she murmured, pulling back from the door and turning to face John again. "I'm Natalie, in case you don't know." Not that now was exactly the best time for an introduction, but it seemed necessary he know her name.

[jsneill]

"Mother of-" John hopped, rather ungracefully, backwards away from the door as someone came barrelling through it, just about keeping his footing. They very nearly ended up as a tangled heap on the floor; wouldn't that have been fun? There was a swish of blonde hair, and the woman turned to reveal that it was Natalie, one of the engineers. He'd read through her file along with everyone else's, so he knew who each of the crew members were. "John," he responded off-handedly, peering towards the door.

The sound of the footfalls slowly drew into a silence, and John let out a breath. They'd been carrying some heavy artillery, and he wasn't the biggest fan of guns. "I guess we have company," he said, stating the obvious. He wasn't familiar with the species, as he'd rarely seen any 'aliens' around, but they were ugly with thick skin that looked hard to penetrate. He could imagine stunning them would be difficult as well.

Checking that the coast was clear, he stepped back out in the hallway, gesturing to Natalie that it was safe, then ran a hand through his hair. To be honest, he was a little bit lost as to what to do. They had to have a reason for being here, except for mercilessly slaughtering the rest of the crew. "We should find out what they want," he said, looking up and down the hall at the scorch marks in the floor. If there was a peaceful solution to this, then he would take it. But, they couldn't exactly go after them unnarmed - they ran the risk of injury or death, neither he fancied, despite how boring work was at the moment.

"Where's the nearest arms locker?" he asked Natalie, figuring she stood a better chance of knowing than he did.

[chrisshooter]

As the spaceship Venia floated in orbit around the planet Delta Prime, Chris had chosen to remain on board to do some work on a weapon which he recently had been working on. It was an improvement of a previous weapon that was considered to be the best one on the ship, it was a large two handed weapon with a firepower that could kill or knock out three or more at once, by shooting a blue blaster shock wave, only harming living organism by breaking up the particles in the body, turning it to dust. But with the improvements Chris modified, he also made it more simple to load as well giving it a laser, such that others who use it could know where the shot would hit. And inside the arms locker room, he sat working with it when the alarm suddenly went on. It instantly caught his attention and quickly he tried to finish the weapon he was improving, but as little time he got on doing it ready he made the adjustment in a hurry, hoping it still would work.

Fast he stood up and took the weapon in his hands, while at the same time sound of marching footsteps could be heard outside the door and also gunfire. It sounded as if the crew were having trouble, but as Chris now got the weapon ready he hoped to use it against the intruders. He wondered who it could be, but wanted a challenge that he could win. While standing there for a short time, he figured that some pistols and guns could be useful to have along in case more of the crew he would meet on the way. Quickly he moved to the shelf's and the boards where the weapons and ammo rested upon, grabbing everything useful that he could carry.

This was exactly what he wanted, and exactly what he had waited for. It was his time to shine, and with a smile on his face he prepared satisfied. Thought wanted the best outcome, without any deaths of those he knew. Heavier and heavier the footsteps outside the door could be heard approaching, quickly Chris turned toward the door with his new adapted gun in his hands, prepared to fire if any enemy would enter.

[somerandomhippie]

Katy let out an 'oof' as she careened into Ciara. "Come on!" she yelled, dragging Ciara up and hitting the floor again. These fish-people were an efficient army, obviously versed well in both combat and tactics. It was a bit of a struggle trying to keep up a defense-- she could only do her best backwards shooting and hold her ground. Turning a corner, she skidded slightly, her loafers scrabbling for grip. She really needed some better shoes.

"I have no idea!" she hollered back, swinging her leg around awkwardly to avoid some gunfire. "Maybe they're here to raid the kitchen!" Life had dramatically improved since they had gotten the chef aboard. Real food was incredibly underrated-- she could actually drink real tea in the morning. Beautiful stuff, almost as good as making it yourself.

She turned her shoulder, bashing into a doorway. It opened normally, but seemed much slower-- they usually did in a crisis. It was so much more fun- not to mention more dramatic- to barrel into a door with hinges. She managed to dart aside, to avoid a guy with a large weapon in his hands. "Am I ever glad to see you!" she grinned at him. Right, he was the new weapon tech. Perfect timing to run into him. "Are you going to be dashing around with us, or have you set something up?"

[~ ADMIN]

Who could be invading the ship? Anna thought, mentally scratching her head. It could be the terrorist group R4, but they wouldn't try something so bold unless they knew that their mission would be fulproof. Anna didn't get so much time to think though as pounding footsteps began to approach the gym. It was a single pair of footsteps, but they were heavy. This intruder must have weighed a tonne.

Anna pushed with her arms, flipping up onto her bare feet, before scurrying over to the wall by the door, flattening herself against it. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the alien; it was over seven feet tall with hard scaly skin, thick armour, and a menacing demeanour. These buggers were going to be hard to kill, she just knew it.

Not particularly fancying going into hand to hand combat with the thing, she stayed where she was. It stopped at the door to the gym, placing a foot inside the door, looking around. Anna held her breath, frozen like a statue where she stood, unmoving. Once the alien decided that there was nothing of interest, it backed out, carrying on its way. Anna took a deep breath, and peeled herself from the wall. She needed a weapon, and now.

[chrisshooter]

Suddenly as the door opened in front of him, and just before he were to pull the trigger on the weapon, he realized that it was Katherine who stumbled inside. Luckily he recognized her before it was to late, if he had not seen properly on the target before firing she would had been killed by a mistake. Slowly he lowered the weapon in his hands as he listened to what she said when she noticed him, in return he gave her serious look as he went to help her up from the floor. "You should be more careful, I could have shot you." He replied in a firm tone, then suddenly the marching outside the door could be heard more clearly, something was coming. As Chris turned to see who it could be through the opening on the door, he got his first look on two real aliens marching down the corridor, large and ugly beasts. Nasty to look at, and a surprise for the eye, as never before had Chris seen an alien. Both seeming to look for somebody, or something.

Quickly Chris turned to the door panel and closed the door, before any of them noticed them. Then as safe they now where, he turned to Catherine to see if she were wounded or not. "Are you wounded? I heard shooting outside just before you entered."

In response to her previous question, he answered. "Yes, I will aid the crew with whatever assistance they need. And I am just about to set something up..." He said and turned his back on her, as he headed for a turret tower that he was about to set online inside the Arms Locker Room, in case intruders would try and get in. It was modified to know the difference between an intruder and a crew member, that way no friendly would be shot by a mistake.

Quickly he turned it on and as he headed back to speak more with her, he gave her a gun. "Now take this, its gun and you will need it do defend yourself. Either you are coming with me to look for the others, or you can stay here protected by the turret tower I just have put online. I need to see if the others are alright, and what we are dealing with." Chris spoke serious and wanted them all to be safe, cause whatever it was who had entered the ship, it surely did not sound or seem friendly. Then just as he spoke finish to hear her answer, a alien presence could be heard just outside the door. In silent movements, Chris turned his attention to the door, aiming at it again in case it would open.

[somerandomhippie]

Katy sighed. She knew he was right, of course, but they were in a bit of a crisis here. The last thing she wanted was to get distracted by knocking on the door. So, she pursed her lips instead, and focused her attention on their pursers. They sounded close, but they had stopped shooting. That was good, for now.

Katy nodded, flexing experimentally. "I'm fine-- Ciara? You all good?" Hopefully she was OK, she had been doing everything in heels, after all. Not the easiest choice in footwear. Chris went to put up the turret tower, leaving her time to think. They needed back-up, fast. They couldn't deal with this on their own, not half a crew against a battalion of alien life forms. They didn't even know what they were up against. Chris came back with a gun, but Katy shrugged it off.

"I got my own," she told him, pointing out her pride and joy. "Listen, we can't take this on our own. We've got everyone spread out across the ship, with little weapons training, and probably no weapons to use without training at any rate." She looked at them, hard. "I can get us some back-up. They'll need to rendezvous at a certain point in the ship, though, with someone there to wait for them. If your tower can hold those things off for long enough, I'll stay, and make sure they stay off your tail, hopefully with some help." She heard footsteps, and turned to the door. "See you guys in a bit," she grinned, holding her gun in one hand, whipping out her comm with another.

"Hello? Tom?" she muttered into the mic. "Yeah, I'm back! Am I ever glad to hear your voice. Listen, I'm in a bit of a jam, I need-- yeah, again. Hold on, just a minute..." She turned to Chris, eyebrows raised. "Well? Are you going on your scavenger hunt or not? Oop--" She grabbed a handheld blaster off the wall, tossing it to Ciara. "Might need that. Have fun! Now, where were we?" she continued, turning back to her phone.

((Aaaand Katy gets a spin-off! You can stick around with her if you want, but I'll be gone, so she'll be rather unresponsive. Your pick.))

[Natalie Blake]

"Easier said than done," Natalie mumbled in response to John's comment about finding out what the aliens wanted. "But feel free to try and communicate with them if you want. I'll just wait here and write your eulogy." She glanced around the hall with him once they'd stepped out of the supply closet.

He asked about a weapons locker, and she paused to think about it. The nearest she could think of was outside tactical, and they'd have to follow the aliens to get there--not the best idea. But they were right by the sleeping quarters, and she had a couple of pistols in her closet. While she wasn't thrilled with the idea of having John in her room, leaving him there would be pointless. "All right, follow me."

Ciara cursed herself for wearing heels. What had she been thinking? Sure, just because she worked up on the flight-deck in a comfortable chair didn't mean that things like this would never happen! And now she had to run in them. What glorious fun. Thankfully, she was too freaked to notice any pain in her feet, running for all she was worth with Katy by her side.

The said woman suddenly turned the corner and used her shoulder to slam a door open, and together they slipped inside. Ciara stifled a scream when she found a gun pointed at the both of them, but then relaxed when she saw it was Chris wielding it. She'd already met him once, in the gym, and he was a nice enough fellow.

"I-I think I'm o-o-okay," she stammered, blinking a little wildly. Most of what the two of them were talking about flew right over her head, and she gaped a little at Katy when she thrust the gun at her. "I work in communications, not tactical," she mumbled blankly. Not that using it would be too hard, all she had to do was point and pull the trigger. She turned back to Chris then, eyes wide. "I think I'll stick with you."

[jsneill]

"You'd better do a good job with it," John quipped back, "and don't include the part where I got killed talking to a giant fish. I'm sure the angels at the gates of heaven will already be laughing at me when I roll up." She was trying to point the absurdities in what he planned, and yet, he hadn't quite meant stroll up to the big fish people twice his size and ask them to reveal their evil plans.

She seemed to become more serious after her remark, thinking about his question. He was getting to know the ship like the palm of his hand, but he didn't pay any particular attention to where the weapons were stashed. He usually had no intention of using them. "All right." They set off at a jog, and soon it became apparent where Natalie was leading him, obviously she had something stashed away in her sleeping quarters.

They entered the common room, and John came to a halt. He didn't need to invade the privacy of someone else's room. Besides, it was still too tempting to try out his sticky fingers when he was around people's possessions, just to see if he still had it. He became alert when one of the doors to the other rooms slid open, tensing for a moment till he saw who it was.

Anna had decided that her sleeping quarters were the best place to retrieve a weapon. If the aliens had any sense, they'd be keeping an eye on the arms locker, as it would be one of the first places the crew would go in order to arm themselves. So, in order to avoid another run in with them, she'd made her way to her sleeping quarters, digging her phase pistol out of the bottom of her wardrobe. All the rest of her weapons were in tactical.

She whipped out her gun upon sight of John, but then when she realised it was just one of the ship's resident UGAP liaison's, she lowered it again. "John, what are you doing here?" Looking around, Natalie's door was open, and she could hear someone moving around in there. They must have come here for the same reason. "Are you both all right?"

[Natalie Blake]

Natalie snorted at John's remark. "In all honesty, I'd probably just say that you died trying to save the Venia from an alien attack." Not that it really mattered, because no-one was going to die if they could avoid it. The two of them quickly entered the sleeping quarters, and she was a little grateful when John politely chose to wait in the common room while she rushed into her quarters.

She wasn't sure why she bothered keeping a gun under her mattress, but she did, and that was the first one she went to retrieve for herself. Then she went over to her closet and reached up to grab a small box from the shelf above the hanger rack. John could use this one. When she came back out, a familiar red-head had joined them.

"Hey Anna," Natalie said in means of greeting, handing John one of the guns. "I think we're okay, so far. How about you?" She didn't look to be injured in any way, but it never hurt to ask. Besides, if she was, they were in the sleeping quarters, so there was bound to be a first aid kit around here somewhere.