Rust Bucket Of A Chance

Posted on Sat Feb 17th, 2018 @ 4:07am by Dixoho Saa (*)

Mission: Mission 5 - Liberation
Location: Deck 6 - Cargo Holds
Timeline: MD 04 06:45
1337 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

OFF::

It was dark and dingy in the Cargo Bay as the small group spread out walking through. They hadn't wanted to alert if there was stowaway onboard to any change in the routine and she could now see the logic in the security drills that had been run recently. It was easy to see how each month the crew was starting to flow together more and more. The flashlight the woman had in her tight grip shone out but barely allowed her enough light to not full over cargo.

Micheal moved more slowly and quietly than his bulk would have seemed to allow. The fact that there had Bern several reports of crew hearing disembodied voices, then the fact that the internal sensors had started to pick up additional biosignatures after the new spaces were initially opened, he wasn't taking any chances. He had his disruptor pistol at the ready, his right hand never moving too far from the holster. In his left hand, he held a flashlight, which he slowly moved through the darkness. He could hear Dixoho, shuffling a little, behind him. Glancing back over his right shoulder, he asked, "How are you doing back there?"

"Fine." Dixoho quickly piped up. She was really starting to get worried about falling over, she had stumbled into a few boxes already. "You okay?" She asked softly thinking they needed to talk but having Lorenzo there was awkward. The man wouldn't want to hear it.

Lorenzo moved through the cargo bay quietly humming to himself. He stopped every now and again to shine his light down the dark rows of crates. He could hear the other two people searching the bay somewhere to his left, the occasional word and the sounds of their foot steps. He opened a crate and peered in, just as it said on the manifest he held and on the side of the crate, it was full of onions, large sacks of them. He closed the lid, mentally marking its location for later. He moved along, still quietly humming.

"Well, just watch your footing. There are still some weakspots in the flooring in here," Micheal said, the concern for her safety clear in his voice. Speaking louder, so Lorenzo could here as well, "Same to you, Lorenzo. Watch your step. I don't need the guy who just learned how to make my favorite drink to fall to his death. And stay where we can see each other."

"He is more worried about that you know," Dixoho said softly as she turned to go down one of the lines and check properly. She would still be able to see and hear them but it would give her a little break from the man and whatever was happening between them.

Lorenzo chuckled, "Don't you worry, nobody would be sadder than I if I were to fall to my death." He looked around, mentally marking the locations of his companions. "These cargo bays are large, aren't they. It wouldn't do to get lost in one of them."

"There are like five other ones that are bigger than this," Dixoho called as she let out a curse as she bumped into yet another low pallet. It still amused her that The Collector converted half the ship into cargo space, it was interesting as to what he used the space for. "I have to inspect some of the equipment we are carrying regularly." She added once she had gotten over smarting her leg again.

"You okay?" Micheal's voice called out in the darkness. It contained a fair measure of concern in its tone.

Dixoho froze at the tone in his voice and held her tongue for a moment before she slowly started back so she was in sight. "Yeah, just another bruise to add to my collection." She explained with a shrug. It wasn't a big deal at all, she bruised easily.

Micheal shook his head and grinned slightly. "Just be careful, will ya?"

Lorenzo looked up, slightly concerned as he heard cursing coming from across the bay. "Yes, be careful, I'm not a doctor, I can't help you if you hurt yourself."

The trio continued deeper into the cargo bay, finding nothing out of the ordinary, until, the came to the aft bulkhead. There was clear evidence that the area that they were in had been sectioned off from the rest of the ship. However, part of the makeshift bulkhead was a corridor emergency containment door, typically used to seal off sections of the ship, should there be a hull breach and emergency forcefields had not activated. As there was no exterior hull damage, the door should not have engaged. What was more, was that at the bottom of the door, where it met the deck, there was a circle of corrosion, almost as if the door had closed on something wet that was never cleaned up.

"Wonder what caused that?" Micheal asked aloud, as the three of them shone their lights on the spot.

"I'm fine," Dixoho muttered to herself as she joined the pair at the end of the cargo bay all of them staring at the wall. "Never noticed before. But lighting even when it is on properly isn't exactly bright." The woman said with a shrug not worried. It would be Gregnol's issue if he wanted to open the containment door.

"I suppose we should tell the Captain about this," Micheal spoke up. "No telling what caused that corrosion, or if it's a threat to the ship."

Lorenzo peered closely at the circle "Rust?" he looked at the other two "why would the door be rusting?" he sniffed the air, "it still smells damp back here, I think we should be more careful where we tread back here." Lorenzo wasn't quite sure why, but something about the corrosion was disturbing him greatly.

"It does smell damp." Saa seconded. "Engineers will have a field day over here." The woman commented on running a hand along the rusted door looking at the dirt that came off. "Careful indeed... sounds like a..." The redhead didn't get a chance to answer as she stepped on a plating that cracked and buckled under her small weight. Without anything other than a small cry the woman disappeared from sight into the deck below sending up white dust from below.

"DI!!!" Micheal exclaimed as he tried, and failed, to catch Dixoho as the young woman dissapeared through a hole in the decking. He quickly dropped to his knees, trying to see into the hole through the dust. Through the cloud, he saw what looked like a transporter control console. He suddenly knew exactly where she was. Jumping up to his feet, he bolted for the cargobay doors, shouting over his shoulder, "C'mon, Lorenzo!! I know where she is!!" The Armory Chief didn't wait for the bartender to catch up, he was too concerned with the wellbeing of Dixoho, the woman with whom he had started to fall in love with.

"Be careful, we could fall through too" Lorenzo had frozen the moment Saa had fallen through the floor. The other man seemed to not hear him and Lorenzo cursed as he raced off. Much more slowly and carefully Lorenzo followed, praying that he wouldn't fall through the deck due to his weight.

Deciding to forgo the slow turbolift, Micheal instead made a beeline for the nearest intradeck ladder. Grabbing the red painted rungs, he slid down to the deck below. Once down on the lower deck, he sped off to the transporter room that he and Dixoho had discovered earlier. Quickly forcing his way through the hole in the sealed bulkhead, he made it to the transporter room less than five minutes from when Dixoho had fallen. This time, however, the doors wouldn't open fully.

OFF::

Micheal Robertson
Chief Armory Officer/Bounty Hunter
SS Mary Rose/Shuttle Alexandria

Dixoho Saa
Chief Navigator
SS Mary Rose

Lorenzo Di Julio
Chef
SS Mary Rose