Even worse than being lost at sea

by **Calvin Strong** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:27 pm

The Messenger's wreck drifted in space. It had been three days since they had been thrown here, and the lot of the X-Men had not improved significantly.

The Skrull's body was cycled through the airlock, and people's wounds had been tended to the best of their current capabilities. The rations seemed to be sufficient for them to last quite a while (probably longer than they were likely to be able to, by Cal's estimation), but the very fact that they had limits seemed to add another layer of strain to everyone. The lack of a reply to their distress signal was another layer of worry entirely.

Personally, Cal had not moved much since being hooked up to the systems. He continued to provide power for the ship's life support, communications systems, sensors, and whatever else was vital, and he continued to interface with the computer to try to regulate the self-repair functions without much success. He ate when it was suggested (or when it was brought to him, really), but always seemed to lose focus on what was going on before too long.

by **ASHLIE** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:40 pm

ASHLIE, for whatever reason, spend most of her time outside the ship, clamped to the hull and trying to salvage what little there was to salvage to repair what she could and stop what systems worked from failing entirely. The few times she was inside she spent folded together, sitting in a corner, staring at her old 'face'.

by **Kevin Gravis** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:44 pm

Kevin sat near a viewport, gazing out at the stars with palpable disappointment. He had long dreamed of riding in a starship to see some distant part of the universe. Now he would die there. This... this was not what he had in mind.

"Space sucks..." he sighed.

by **Bobby Bowen** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:30 pm

bobby had been pacing, fixing whatever he could repair on his own inside the ship. He was going a little stir crazy.

"What a way to go. Definitely not how I pictured it."

by **ASHLIE** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:48 pm

"I... am. . . sorry." ASHLIE looks up, speaking up for the first time in days.

by **Kevin Gravis** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:58 pm

Kevin looked at ASHLIE.

"To be honest... if not for you we'd be dead already."

by **ASHLIE** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:09 pm

"I failed to prevent extensive damage to the ship and my inefficiency is directly responsible for the destruction of the Raptor. And still I am going to be the only one to persist." she says, doing her best to sound guilty with the voicebox she has.

by **Bobby Bowen** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:13 pm

"Well, when you eventually drift into a planets atmo, you can make it up to us by burying us."

bobby sounded a little bitter and frustrated, par for the last few days.

by **Daniel Uriel** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:30 pm

"This lasts much longer, I'll get out there and push us," Daniel said in a flat voice.

by **Taliyah Malik** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:46 pm

"We should start preparing for the worst."

by **Calvin Strong** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:52 pm

Cal didn't seem to be listening to anyone from where he was, up in the cockpit. Currently, he was monitoring the oxygen levels and optimizing the life support for minimal power drain.

Code: Select all: Communications relay registered: message acknowledgement.

Interesting, he thought with complete disinterest, his focus barely shifting from the task at hand.

by **Taliyah Malik** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:45 am

Taliyah walks over to where Calvin is, sitting in his lap.

"Anything interesting?"

by **Calvin Strong** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:52 am

He answered in a slow, mostly uninflected tone. "A passing meteor left an ion trail that polarized the hull, and I'm monitoring the collapse of a nebula at the edge of our sensor range," he said. "Nothing else of interest in the past twenty hours except a momentary acknowledgement received by the comm system."

by **Melody Martens** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:53 am

"A momentary WHAT?" Melody exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and rushing over to Cal.

by **Calvin Strong** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:05 am

"A comm recognition signal was received point eight three six hours ago on a priority subspace band just... just as..." He blinked, still unseeing. "Just..." He shook his head, trying to clear it, and the lights on the shuttle flickered a bit.

by **Melody Martens** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:08 am

Melody's head darted around as the lights flickered. "Easy...easy Cal," she said trying to reign in her excitement a bit. "What did it say?"

by **Calvin Strong** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:12 am

"It... didn't say anything. It was just a... standard confirmation of our distress signal," he said, blinking. "I... didn't check it over very much when it came in..." His arm closed instinctively around Taliyah as he spoke.

by **Melody Martens** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:43 am

"Can you tell who or what confirmed it? She asked excitedly.

by **Kevin Gravis** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 6:22 pm

"Yeah dude, I'm not getting my hopes up but it has to tell us something right?" Kev asked as he stood just outside the cockpit.

by **Calvin Strong** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 8:03 pm

Cal closed his eyes, considering the signal, and what he'd have to look for. He swallowed, trying to focus, then slumped back into his seat. "Don't make me go back in there yet..." he pleaded quietly.

by **Kevin Gravis** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 8:37 pm

"Oh..." Kevin frowned, "Cal... I'm sorry... we just.."

"...we need to know..."

by **Calvin Strong** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:06 pm

Cal swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. All right..." He took a deep breath, then pushed his mind back into the systems. His body relaxed back into the seat, his demeanor again growing detatched. "Recognition code X53423985, Emergency band 323.55412," he said mechanically.

by **Bobby Bowen** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:10 pm

"Can we track it? Can we do anything?"

Bobby crossed his arms, skeptical.

by **Calvin Strong** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:29 pm

"Navigational systems are unavailable after the loss of the navigational computer two point nine six days ago," Cal replied in the same noninflected voice. "The logical course of action is to stand by for further contact."

by **Kevin Gravis** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:49 pm

Kevin already hated himself for asking his friend to put himself through this, even though their lives were hanging in the balance.

I'm sorry Cal...

"Anything in there about who or what received our signal?"

by **Calvin Strong** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:08 pm

"System location data is projected by the navigational systems. Navigational computer is nonresponsive."

He hesitated a moment, then cocked his head. "Proximity sensors register a vessel dropping to subluminal bearing three three five behind our vessel."

by **Melody Martens** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:00 pm

Melody rose from her position hunched over and talking closely to Cal, with her hands on her knees to straighten her back and look at the rest of her teammates. While she was hopeful that someone had found them, at the same time, there was a slight twinge of fear...probably from watching so many horror movies set in space.

"I think it's probably a good idea to keep our guard up a bit..." she suggested quietly.

by **Kevin Gravis** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:08 pm

"Yeah, that..." Kevin said, imagining an alien burst out of his chest and marching across the room with a hat and cane, "... sounds like a good idea."

by **Rachel O'Brien** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:39 pm

"I'll see if I can pick up anything." Rachel said, reaching her mind towards the ship.

by **Calvin Strong** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:09 pm

There was a thump as something impacted the ship.

"Internal sensors register that the vessel has locked onto our rear airlock," Cal reported. "Readings show that it is a heavily modified Kree freighter, with improved engine core and weapons capabilities."

by **Daniel Uriel** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:13 pm

Daniel, meanwhile, had been sitting, still, against the wall for quite some time. At this last revelation, he calmly stood up, turning to face the others with fire blazing in his eyes. "All right... so either they're going to rescue us, or they're going to try to board and take us hostage or something. Anyone else up for dumping them into space and taking their ship if they try that?"

by **Rachel O'Brien** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:24 pm

"How about we see what their intentions are before we get the Kree pissed at us too?" Rachel replied.

by **Kevin Gravis** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:27 pm

"And, hey, if they don't like the Shi'ar they can't be all that bad... right?"

by **Daniel Uriel** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:29 pm

"Which is why I said 'if they try that'," Daniel said. This is going to be one of those trips again...

by **Bobby Bowen** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:21 pm

"Fine, if they try that."

bobby dutifully took position, waiting for whoever it was to attempt to board.

by **Calvin Strong** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:25 pm

There was a sudden explosion above them that rocked the ship.

"They have opened fire with their weapons," Cal reported calmly. "That was a direct hit to the power junction that runs power to life support for this vessel."

by **Kevin Gravis** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:33 pm

"So much for the peaceful approach," Kev sighed.

"Okay Cal, we need you out of there. Fast."

by **Calvin Strong** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:36 pm

"Logically, unhooking me would be a strategically unsound maneuver before you have taken the other ship," Cal answered. "Registering two more ships entering subluminal space," he added.

by **Bobby Bowen** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:38 pm

"Well shit, that doesn't sound good.."

bobby took a defensive position, closer to the explosion.

by **Rachel O'Brien** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:39 pm

"I guess you were right, Daniel." Rachel said, bending down to grab her weapon Cal, want us to unhook you?

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