Shark Muscle

[Hadleigh Purkis]

The door to Hadleigh's room slid open.

Her apartment had been tossed about, with a the shattered remnants of extremely expensive whiskey on the floor and Hadleigh straining to get up next to it. "What the feth happened....?" She groans, looking to Ghorua as if she had just woken up from a restless sleep.

Elsewhere things were not going according to plan either.

Ghorua's comms blare to life with static-filled chatter. The signals were being jammed.

"The---.....*static* At th--....---addi--the captain...---*more static.*..---the bridge!" And finally the signals were cut off completely by whatever's interfering. Hadleigh finally stood upright and supported herself against the island counter of the kitchen. "What's going on, Ghorua?" She says with now with a more defined tone and serious stare.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua jumped slightly as the door slid open, almost accidentally carving a groove in the wall with his blade. He cursed himself, sheathing the weapon, staring down at the small human with concern, and obvious relief.

He let his blowhole flare, picking up the scent of fine alcohol. Had she been drinking in there by herself? Ghorua decided not to press the question, instead turning his focus to Hadleigh. She seemed unhurt, if not a little frazzled.

The Shark probably looked a little frazzled himself.

"Not sure..." Ghorua started, glancing behind him at the four guards he'd ordered along. They all seemed just as clueless as him. Then the Herglic heard static erupt from his wrist.

He listened to the message through the jamming, straining his ears. Looking up at Hadleigh, he let out an audible sigh, as if he were thinking hard.

"Alright..." Ghorua activated his wrist weapons, watching them extend from his arms as if they grew naturally from his armor. "We're going to the bridge. See what's going on." The Shark primed his wrist blasters, taking little comfort in them. He gestured for the guards to form around the small form of Hadleigh, forming a tight square of armor around his charge. WIth that, he charged forward again, intent on throwing himself at whatever dangers were in the way. The Shark pieced together the situation.

The explosion, the communication jamming...

They were under attack.

- [member="Hadleigh Purkis"] -

 

[Hadleigh Purkis]

Hadleigh stumbles a bit, this time with no violent shake to have caused it.

"The bridge... Ghorua, if they take control of the bridge. This ship has automated security, if they slice into it it's over; they win..." She didn't even know who 'they were' but she, like him, wasn't clueless to the fact the ship is under attack. But who? Why? More anarchists? A little elaborate considering the fact they're aboard a company ship, with company crew.

When the guards formed their protective square around the noblewoman, Hadleigh tensed up a bit.

For only now did it hit her. Her own life is under threat, she may very well be the target.

She didn't expect it to be here of all places.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

As they went through the halls, Ghorua checked his corners, careful of a flanking attack from...

He wasn't entirely sure who.

He was aware that Kuat Drive Yards had it's share of enemies, as that came with being a powerful company with a storied history. He'd heard plenty of things about them while he was sniffing around in the underworld; apparently, they had made some shady people very angry. Why or how, he didn't know.

He didn't like not knowing who he was facing. Sadly, it was starting to become the norm, instead of the exception.

They reached the door to the bridge, the red accent lights shining around it like a dark halo. Ghorua stepped back from the door, turning to Hadleigh and his guards. "Hadleigh, stay here with the guards. If you see anything, anything at all, get me!" The Shark's voice was crsip and clear, holding none of the fear that had begun to creep up into his chest.

The voice disguiser in Ghorua's helmet altered his voice again, his deep vibrato dropping even further, becoming robotic and gravelly. "Let's see who we're up against, eh?" A bit of pre-battle humor never hurt anyone, after all.

Ghorua placed his massive hands on the contours of the door, feeling where it would slide apart. The Herglic jammed his fingers into the groove, and tensed his muscles.

The door forced apart, and Ghorua raised his wrist weaponry to the air, ready for anything.

- [member="Hadleigh Purkis"] -

 

[Hadleigh Purkis]

The ship stood still in eerie silence.

Hadleigh had been following Ghorua under the protection of some of her other guards, when he gave the other for her to stay put it was the guards themselves that tightened around her. Even if she did object they wouldn't. Their orders were to protect her, and so they would. "Be careful," the woman mutters with some concern. She didn't hire him to die.

When the doors pulled apart, what Ghorua found is what he probably didn't expect. Nothing. No one. The captain, the crew... All gone and no sign of a struggle. How they managed to do it? Well, who 'they' were was probably starting to sound like the right question to find an answer to. Ghorua--as well as anyone else for that matter--would begin to hear a noise. Movement in the ventilation shafts hidden behind the ceiling.

These shafts moved throughout the ship, allowing a proper flow of oxygen with several shut off points to compartmentalize corridors and rooms should anything happen.

Seconds later something worse happens. Another ship drops out of hyperspace, in view of the bridge for all to see. The vessel dwarfs the K-D-Y frigate in comparison, a heavy cruiser or light star destroyer. Armed to the teeth. By its design one could guess Outer Rim or Wild Space, and it sported strange markings and symbolism that even for aliens was well alien.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua broke the door's magnetic lock, pushing the sliding panels apart to reveal... nothing. The crew had apparently vanished. A second of stunned silence passed across Ghorua's features behind his visor as his brain went into overdrive. He moved into the room, wrist blasters up and at the ready.

The crew wouldn't just abandon their posts during a crisis. And while his helmet filtered out the scent of blood, he couldn't see any of the stuff. They apparently hadn't been slaughtered, either. What had happened, then?

Ghorua heard a noise from above, and looked up, the sensors in his helmet struggling to pick up any signals through the chaos. The Shark could guess that it wasn't good, however. Why would the crew try to escape through the vents? That couldn't be standard KDY procedure. Without a word, Ghorua raised his weapons to the ceiling, and fired at the openings of the ventilation system with his wrist tensor.

The loud, concussive, consecutive waves of energy slammed into the entrance, crumpling the metal and forcing it closed. Whatever it was up there, he didn't want to deal with it right now.

Ghorua, satisfied with his work, looked over his shoulder. "Alright, come on in. It's nice and cozy." Then, with more seriousness; "Keep your eyes on the ceiling, I don't like those noises."

Ghorua jogged forward, placing his large hands on a terminal, furiously typing away with deft fingers, trying to start it up. In emergency mode, the central computer would still be intact and operational, if not a little slow. Looking up, he motioned Hadleigh over, returning to his clacking. "Does this ship have diagnostic scans? I'd like to know what happened, and if we can fix it." Ghorua shot a glance at the ceiling, deciding he could do no more about it. "Also, a ventilation scan would be nice."

As Ghorua worked on the terminal, he didn't see the cruiser drop out of hyperspace. He was only alerted to it by the sudden intake of air by a few of the guards. Ghorua looked up distractedly, saw the new ship, and gasped, his eyes widening. Ghorua gravitated towards the viewport, removing his helmet as he spoke.

"That is not good. Kark, that is not good at all." Ghorua held his helm at his side loosely, as if he had forgotten about it.

The situation had gone from bad to dire.

- [member="Hadleigh Purkis"] -

 

[Hadleigh Purkis]

Hadleigh flinched as Ghorua fired upon the ceiling, wondering what could possibly be up there.

She had her thoughts on the matter, but with everything going on decided to keep them to herself until a more appropriate time to strategize arose. "Yes, there's a diagnostics tool in every K-D-Y ship, we often run it during prototype runs. On ship scanners will require a power reroute during emergency mode, that's something I--" The woman's voice cut off the moment the new vessel dropped out of hyperspace.

Without weapons armed, and shields at minimum capacity, the frigate sat defenseless with no means of escape. "Feth!" Hadleigh grunts, her heart pounding with added pressure.

"We need to get whatever systems we can online. We better hope they're not here to destroy us," she says in an effort to regain her composure more than anything. That hope would go a long way, though.

Hadleigh rushes through her guardians, escaping the circle before they had a chance to react during the distraction. She rushes over to the computer near Ghorua. "Step aside, I can handle things from the bridge. Leave me with two of your men and take the rest to the engine room. You need to get this vessel back online and quick. I can prep the retreat to hyperspace, but it won't do much with the drive offline."
[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua shook himself from his stupor, plunking his helm back on his smooth head, once again hiding his beastly features.

He turned to Hadleigh, his shoulders squaring in anticipation. She had a plan, and the Shark trusted her.

"You're the boss, Purkis," he said, nodding sharply. "You, and you," he jabbed his finger at two of the guards. "Stay with her. You two're with me." Then, he turned to Hadleigh again. "If anyone gives you trouble up here, comm me."

He didn't see how it would help for her to tell him if he were half-way across the ship, but those were details Ghorua would rather not think about at the moment. "Let's go."

Ghorua and the two guards sprinted into the hall, once again on the move. Every once in a while, they would pass a confused shipmate or vigilant guard, and Ghorua would send them to the bridge to help with... whatever Hadleigh thought she could do.

Eventually, they made it to the engine room. Ghorua took a deep breath in, nodded to his men, and forced open the door.

The first thing Ghorua perceived was the blood. Lots of blood. Ghorua felt slightly queasy as he entered the room, his wrists raised. He immediately saw two mechanics lying dead on the floor, scorch marks all over them. They laid around the remains of a hyperdrive, which had been blasted apart. The ship's main engine was also damaged, but probably could be repaired easily enough.

"Watch the door," the Shark said, removing his helmet. "Stop anyone that tries to get in. I'm gonna try to salvage what I can from this situation."

He turned on his wrist comm, and scraped together a few tools that had been knocked on the floor. "Hadleigh, I made it to the engine room. It's looking pretty bad, not gonna lie. I'm gonna see if I can get things patched up."

He pulled a small circular ball from his bandolier, and activated it, revealing an exasporated twitter from one of his modular probe droids. The engineer droid would be a great help in this situation.

"Alright, Brik, I need your help." The little probe began to hover, quipping something most likely derogatory towards the Shark. "I'm sure I'd be offended if I could understand you. Now, I'm going to get the engine back up and running, and you're going to start on the hyperdrive." Another sassy beep.

"Don't forget, if this ship is destroyed, you are too." That seemed to motivate it.

- [member="Hadleigh Purkis"] -

 

[Hadleigh Purkis]

Hadleigh remained at the bridge, punching in whatever prompts she knew were there.

Diagnostics... Bad.

Shields... Worse.

Weapons... Offline.

Prognostics? Very poor.

However, she managed to unscramble ship-wide communications. When Ghorua called her on the comms she replies using the engine room's speakers. "Ghorua, glad to hear you. Things on the bridge are looking bad, and..." There's a pause. The ship begins to shake violently, "we're caught in their tractor beams! They're pulling us in!" With the ship being physically dragged through space towards the alien craft, Hadleigh had little options.

"Get those engines online!"

[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua heard her voice over the comms, working hard to repair things in the engine room. He'd pried open a few panels, and realized quickly that the engine could be fixed. He'd gotten to work, replacing wires and creating alternate routes of energy, when he felt the sudden tug that alluded to a tractor beam lock.

The Shark finished his rush-work, starting up the engine. The entire ship groaned into life, but definitely not enough to escape any tractor beam of any kind. He comm'd back using the ship, his voice showing his defeat. "Engine's online, but it's weak."

"We may be in trouble."

Keying off the comms, Ghorua looked to Brik with a curious glance. With some finality Ghorua placed the droid's control node into the ventilation system, hiding it to some degree. "Brik?" Ghorua questioned, growling. "You are going to stay here, stay out of sight, and fix the hyperdrive. Yeah? You'll actually do it?" Despite the droid's less-than-flattering response, Ghorua nodded. "I'll assume you said yes."

Ghorua ran back to the bridge, stepping through the door with obvious discomfort. "I don't like this. What do you want to do, Ms. Purkis?"

- [member="Hadleigh Purkis"] -