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MRS Morey - PBF

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Xander Morhaime:
Prologue: Hard Landings

Passenger carriers. For all the advancements humanity has made, comfortable and efficient passenger travel for the masses seemed to constantly elude it. With the onset of interstellar travel, the problem only got worse. The jump drives were large and expensive - too much so to be mounted on large numbers of craft. The space bus had to make do with something else. And so, the passenger carriers were made - massive haulers with barely a skeleton crew, carrying orbital shuttles between planets of destination. For lack of supplies, passengers were put in cold sleep for the duration of the trips, and only woken up when their respective shuttle was landing at its destination. It was neither fast, nor comfortable... but it was cheap, and for most it was the only option available.

So it was that you had booked passage on board Carrier Line 42 to the same destination. Work reassignment, contract hunting or simply going to check up on the refurbishment of your ship, there was little reason to share your reasons with your shuttle-mates. You'd be in cold sleep for the trip, which doesn't lend itself to conversation. You dressed down for the procedure, stowed your luggage into the overhead compartments, climbed into the sleeping pod, and let darkness take you.



Time passed...



Waking up from cold sleep is rarely a pleasant experience, but nothing like this. A constant rumbling, travelling through the structure of the shuttle and the sleeping pods would have jarred you awake, had the automated systems not done it themselves. And that feeling in your gut that tells you you're going much faster than you should be, and in the wrong direction. The shuttle is tumbling - whatever you're near has a gravity pull strong enough to overrride that of the shuttle, and you feel every twist and turn it makes. A few times you can feel a shockwave striking the hull and adding even more vibration to the whole structure. There's no sound, save the constant rumbling and the desperate whine of the engines. Then, for a moment, everything goes silent... thankfully the moment is too short for the realisation to sink in that there's no more sound from the engines.

The shuttle hits something - the rumbling and vibration ends, with a resounding crash and a powerful impact, felt even in the relative safety of the sleeping pods. For a moment there's the screech of metal grinding against something, and another crash, fading to silence.

The sleeping pods open with a soft hiss. You climb out, unsteady and bruised, but otherwise unharmed. The interior of the shuttle was bathed in a red light from the emergency power. Structurally, the shuttle seems sound - none of the sleeping pods have been damaged, though a quick glance would show that aside from your four, the others are empty. The only noticeable damage is the wall separating the pilot's compartment from the passengers' compartment bending rather ominously inwards, as if it had suffered some massive impact.

The drowsiness brought on by cold sleep has passed from your mind, and you can think clearly again...

Gargulec:
Second after marine mind cleared of cold sleep, instincts kicked in. Shioban quickly dived into her slumber pod, and emerged second later, armed with big and antique looking pistol in her hand. For a moment, she inspected her surroundings, but noticed no apparent threat... unless her travel mates were one.
Slowly, she turned towards them, lowering her weapon, though still having it prepared, and asked most obvious and most common question.
"What the hell is going out here?"

Silhar:
Another soldier leaves his sleeping pod, still shuddering, not yet fully conscious and slightly shocked after the impact. He crawls to a wall, sits under it and hastily reloads his shotgun, frantically looking around. Hearing Shioban's (very accurate) question, Van Silharrius raises his head and looks at her, then answers with deep, low and husky voice : "I don't know !... Pilot should hope he'll be dead before I'll take care of him ! Everyone's ok ?" - he adds after a few seconds, sweeping the shuttleboard for survivors.

Gargulec:
Shioban pointed towards bulkhead that separated their compartment from cockpit.
"It looks like that pilot do not need to hope for becoming dead, actually.'

Silhar:
"Oh shit. Seems like wherever we are, we aren't leaving too quickly...", he said, looking towards the bulkhead. Shotgun, loaded and cocked, was waiting patiently. Vince reached for his backpack in the overhead locker and checked if everything's alright. Loss of such a load of medical equipment would be hard to take. Then he wore his flak jacket, a backpack, and cleaned the old-fashioned googles.

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