Petra followed behind Nat, keeping close (but not too close to hamper movement); she drifted quietly and with assurance between anchoring points.  She glanced forwards and backwards, trying to keep her head on a swivel and remain alert.

"Still clear behind." she narrate quietly, trying to both keep her volume low and also let those in the immediately vicinity remain aware that at least one avenue of escape still existed, as necessary.

---

[OOC:  Perception and Alien Environments: Zero-G perhaps (or as necessary)?

  16:16, Today: Petra Jelinek rolled 81 using 1d100+32 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5).  Perception: Staying alert. – 81
  16:17, Today: Petra Jelinek rolled 116 using 1d100+22 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5).  Alien Env: Zero-G: And oriented.. – 116]

Round Summary

The human-shaped adversary lifts it hand and fires what look like a blaster bolts from its palm.  The first one is aimed at Hugh, who is directly before it in the engineering room.  It strikes Hugh and the burning impact is substantial, but not fatal.  Hugh fires his struptor gun at it, the energy seeming to glance off the thing's skin or armor [you did 1 hit].  Lev yells some sort of battle cry and fires his laser rifle at it, but his shot also seems to glance off.  becoming aware of Lev, it turns the second blast on to him, hitting him square on and causing minor burns.  Before staggering back, Lev fires his rifle a second time and the searing blast hits the thing in the head!  The creature flass back from the impact, floating in the zero gravity slowly away from Hugh and the group, unmoving.  There is a steady stream of black fluid coming out of the head.

---

Round order:
 - Fire Phase 1 (Lev, Hugh and Creature fire)
 - Movement Phase (Petra and Natakkoa move up; Hugh can move if he wants to)
 - Fire Phase 2 (Lev and Creature fire again, Hugh can fire again if he wants to)
 - Melee Phase (no one in melee range)

I used no OB modifier for Lev based on not having Alien Environments.  I added the creature's OB, subtracted DB and other modifier, for it.

Hugh did 1 hit to the creature.  He can fire again on Fir Phase 2 or he can move in some way.
The creature scored a 5A on Hugh, the critical was only +1 hit (fire phase 1)
Lev's first shot (fire phase 1) does no damage to the creature.
The creature's second shot is an 8B on Lev, Minor burns, forced to parry for 2 rounds, +8 hits and bleeding 1/rnd. (fire phase 2)
Lev's second shot (fire phase 2) is a 6C, but he rolled 100 on the critical, searing blast knocks foe out, bleeding 7/rnd, +15 hits.

Creature took 22 hits, is bleeding 7/rnd, and is knocked out.
Hugh took 6 total hits.
Lev took 16 hits and is bleeding 1/rnd.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 254):

"Oof"

Hugh is knocked back ever so slightly by the blast and takes a half a moment to assess if he's taken any serious damage. Seeing his shot splash off the target, he swings his struptor away on it's sling and pulls his sidearm. He takes a moment to line up a shot when he sees Lev's second shot hit home.

Whew.

Knowing he's not braced for recoil he keeps his sights lined up but holds off on the shot to see if the creature moves of it's own volition.

Staying close to Petra, as much as to provide them both cover as to keep her within reach for stability, Nat was moving toward Hugh and Lew when a succession of blaster bolts roared back and forth between the two men and an unseen assailant.

She sees Lev take a hard shot to the chest and go down.  She sees Hugh recover quickly from a shot, switching to a smaller weapon, and then pause, as if waiting for something.

Unsure if those behind her had as clear a view, she whispers to them:  "Lev's down, and might be hurt!  Quirell, I've got some med-tabs, but not much skill beyond using them." She looked at Hugh, focused on the Engineering room, then turned to Petra's light green eyes.  "I don't know how clear it is, but that was a wicked bolt Lev took  -  we might need to make a move for him."

"HUGH!" she whisper-shouted.  "What's the status?"

In reply to Natakkoa Tukumpeh (msg # 256):

Hugh keeps his sidearm leveled on the hostile as he responds.

"One target appears to be down. I'm giving it a moment to see if the other one is nearby and responds to the ruckus. They've got some kind of heavy armor with integrated weaponry."

Lev shakes his head a couple of time as though to clear his focus, then inhales as one who had the wind knocked out of him.  Slinging the rifle clumsily in the zero-g, he presses down on his chest and seems to be applying pressure where blood was pooling.

The creature floating in engineering before Hugh is still 'bleeding' some sort of black, viscous fluid, coming out in bead-like drops and then clumping together by its head into one large orb.

---

Lev is bleeding one per round and failed his First Aid.

In reply to Lev Serdtse (msg # 258):

"I'll leave Lev to you and Quirrel. I'm going to make sure there's no more threat."

Hugh keeps his MLA pistol lined up on the hostile and pushes off towards it, keeping his peripheral senses open for the other hostile.


Has Hugh heard about any aliens or androids that bleed black? He has no appropriate skill or training, so I rolled without any bonus (can add Memory if appropriate maybe):

17:12, Today: Hugh Shinjison Hoshikawa rolled 103 using 1d100 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5) ((100,3)).

She cringed when the barrage of energy bolts was fired.  She tried to make herself small and take cover behind the woman with the deflector shield.  All the while, Petra kept one hand steady and firmly fixed on Nat and the other casting about - following where her eyes were scanning to make sure that there wasn't anyone behind them.

Petra took the hand that was on Nat's shoulder (the one that was not holding her stunner), and quickly motioned to Quirell and then towards Lev when it became obvious the large man was hurt.  She gritted her teeth, for while she wanted to help - the lithe pilot knew that her to administer first aid (especially with an actual qualified medical tech next to her) was like asking the med tech to fly a space shuttle through an asteroid field instead of the seasoned pilot next to them.

She said a silent prayer for Hugh as the man volunteered to take point and potentially flush out the remaining enemy.  Glancing over Natakkoa's shoulder, she could barely see through the haze of the deflector shield.  But even her partially obscured line of sight could see the unnatural color of blood the enemy was spurting.  "What the hel- ..." escaped her lips before she could stifle her reaction.

Forcing herself to refocus while she felt relatively useless in this situation, Petra tried to make herself useful by keeping her eyes open for the second (reputed) bogie and helping keep Natakkoa oriented.  Her gesturing hand resumed its place on the Professor's shoulder, while Petra's feet tried to keep the both of them from pronating by navigating footholds on the wall and floor.

Quirell bounces over to Lev and starts tending to the big man, though he is having difficulty in the zero gravity.

Hugh has no specific memory, but the fluid looks like ferrofluid: iron dissolved in oil.

---

How close to it will he approach?

Anyone entering the engineering space can also roll Power Systems Tech or Theory

In reply to Game Master (msg # 261):

Hugh will get as close as he can and still maintain sufficient contact with a surface that he has evasive options if the second intruder shows up. If the hostile twitches or otherwise starts moving under it's own control, he'll shoot it. He doesn't have either of those, so I'll roll at -30...and wow:
08:57, Today: Hugh Shinjison Hoshikawa rolled 102 using 1d100-30 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5) ((98,34)).

In reply to Game Master (msg # 261):

Nodding agreement as Petra gestured toward Lev to Quirell, she was preparing to move that way as well, to provide cover, when the Medic dodged out from behind her and her shield and made for the wounded man.

"QUIRELL!  DAMMIT!"  Giving the hand on her should a hard squeeze, she glanced back at Petra.  "He's got no cover!  There's at least one more out there  -  we've got to buy Quirell some time." Dark brown gazed into hazel green, confirming what she aleady knew.

Turning to Yom next to her, at the edge of her shield  -  "I suggest moving with us, to maintain cover, but we'll be slow  -  easy targets for anything that might still be out there.  Your call if you want to move with us, or let speed be your defense."

Giving Yom a moment to decide, she looked at Petra.  "Let's go."

Coordinating with Petra to maintain control, Nat - and presumably Petra  -  moves to where Quirell is tending the wounded man.  Maximum speed possible without spinning out.

"On it..." Petra muttered through gritted teeth.  With Quirell occupied, she was now trying to guide Nat and keep an eye on the rear guard.

With her attention split, the young pilot wasn't the most graceful or observant; still, she tried to ensure that even if they were drifting slightly off-course, that their trajectory wouldn't carry them into either the injured man or his caregiver.

---

[OOC:  Not sure if we need to roll anything here.  But just in case...

  11:41, Today: Petra Jelinek rolled 62 using 1d100+32 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5).  Perception:  Rear guard. – 62
  11:42, Today: Petra Jelinek rolled 39 using 1d100+22 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5).  Alien Env: Zero-G: Moving towards Lev and Quirell. – 39

Unsurprisingly, neither is a very stellar roll ... :(  But at least there was no fumbles.]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:47, Tue 30 Jan.

Natakkoa and Petra move up to stand between Quirell and his patient and the engineering compartment.  From that vantage they can see the creature floating in zero gravity before Hugh, the black fluid congealing near its head, and the open reactor chamber.  Fortunately the reactor is offline or everyone would be dead from the radiation.  Petra can tell that much, her experience on starships covers such basic safety protocols.

Meanwhile, though not skilled in power systems theory or maintenance, Hugh is still a citizen of a highly advanced technological culture, and some things people just pick up from the media.  The creature was attaching some conduit to the reactor, perhaps trying to tap power directly, and there are all sorts of breakers and other switches that are in the 'off' position.  Whatever it was doing, it involved bypassing many if not all safety protocols.

Yom follows the ladies close behind, but stays by the corner peering around to look into engineering.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:08, Fri 02 Feb.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 265):

Not seeing any other hostiles, Hugh gets to a new stable position where he can see the intruder and the rest of the group.

"This one seems disabled and, maybe, mechanical. It's leaking what looks like a ferrofluid and I don't see anything biological. It's disabled the power in a way I don't dare touch, but if we follow this conduit, we'll probably get to it's partner or it's ship or whatever it's objective here is. Unless one of you can undo this mess, we're best finding a way off this station before we freeze to death."

Petra shook her head at Hugh's query if anyone else had experience with power systems engineering.  She gave a sheepish shrug, "Sorry, I mainly deal with the other end of the vehicle; engine startup is usually just a matter of going through the checklist for me..."  And here there was no checklist.  Hell, they were way off-script as far as she could tell.

The lithe pilot nodded grimly, her auburn-colored ponytail bobbing in microgravity.  "If there is a second bogie, we need to deal with it." she readily agreed, "And I suppose if we are quick enough, we may still have time to try and save the station.  Otherwise, they are likely trying to jump start their own craft.  And then we need that ship to survive..."  Petra frowned slightly, as it was a bit disturbing to her how quickly her attitude shifted into the 'Us vs. Them' mentality.  Especially when the 'Them' didn't appear to be human...

Her grip on Nat's shoulder tightened a touch, as if she found the contact comforting.  And anchoring in more ways than one.

Leaving the main reactor as they found it for fear of doing more damage than good, the erstwhile team follows the cable jury-rigged into it as Hugh suggested.  The cable runs back out the door you entered and then down the perimeter corridor further forward, through the door where Lev was covering.  Lev no takes up the rear, with Quirrel just ahead, and Yom ahead of him...

---

I presume the Hugh is leading the way, with Petra and Natakkoa following, then Yom, Quirrel and Lev.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 268):

Hugh tightens the strap on his struptor so it doesn't float up and interfere and proceeds with his MLA pistol at the ready in front as he takes point and works his way along the cable's path as quietly as he can.

Petra followed behind Nat and her shield as they pushed passed the reactor and its jury-rigging.  Her stunner was gripped tightly in her right hand, even as her left kept a hold on the Professor's shoulder to ensure proper spacing and help orient the pair.  She stole a glance in the direction of the wiring, just to see if anything obvious leapt out at her; but the lithe pilot knew that her engineering skills were primarily focused on electronics (mainly avionics) and computerized systems.  Diverting power and mechanical tech was much less familiar to her.

---

[OOC:  Not sure if a roll is really in order, but here's an Electronics Technics check just in case...

21:09, Today: Petra Jelinek rolled a fumble of -2 using 1d100+33 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5).  Electronics Technics check: Does this have anything to do with the jury-rigged reactor? – -2

Heh.  That was potentially a fumble.  Electronics, what electronics?]

Following the cable takes the group further along the perimeter of the station to an emergency access ladder shaft; the cable proceeds down the shaft to the level below.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 271):

Hugh floats over to the ladder and inverts himself. He gets his head down near the floor to see if he can hear any movement below before he pushes off.


23:10, Today: Hugh Shinjison Hoshikawa rolled 9 using 1d100+18 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5) ((4,13)).

Petra's brow furrowed as she glanced at the cable disappearing down to the next level.  "What's down there?" she half-asked and half-mused aloud, "Avionics? Escape pods?  Airlock?"  Her green eyes darted towards Nat then Yom and Quirell to see if any of them had any ideas.  She could only think that from engineering that it would be more machinery.  Or the end of the station.

---

[OOC:  Not even sure what to roll here... uh, her Power Technics sucks...

  15:59, Today: Petra Jelinek rolled 76 using 1d100-11 with the Role/Spacemaster system (fumble range of 1 to 5).  Power Technics, perhaps? – 76

If something else is more appropriate, I can either re-roll or the switch the bonus (hate to waste a good '87'... :D]

After thoroughly exploring the station, the castaways did not find the other xenomorph that Ilione reported.  In fact, they found no sign of Ilione either.  The crew of the station, all Colosian, were killed violently.  The TBD controls were sabotaged as was the main reactor.  Fortunately, before the life support ran out, a privateer with transponder codes registered at Hyperion IX using Emerich Rach's identifier arrived to exfiltrate everyone.  The captain of the ship has no information as to the nature of your mission, he was told to stand by until a a timer had run down and then come to retrieve you.  He also informs you that he brought you out here, though none of you remember it.  His engineer theorizes that the xenomorph was a nano-colony robot.  Considering the damage, loss of life, and the potential for a Von Newman event, the captain suggests finishing the reactor sabotage to induce a critical overload and erase any evidence as to what transpired; better to give the Colosians a mystery than a scapegoat.  Assuming no objections, that is what is done and the station self-destructs as the ship pulls away.

It is a week or so to return to Hyperion IX.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 274):

Would it have been possible to get a sample of the black "blood" before we escaped? Not that Hugh would know what to do with it, but he would know it's potentially important.

The black blood the ship’s engineer identified as a nano fluid and fear that the nano bots would run amok is one reason why they wanted to blow up the station.  Essentially, the fear that the bots were designed to self repair or replicate and eat everything.  That is the Von Newman event, nanos that turn everything they come into contact with into more copies of themselves, a doomsday event.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 276):

Makes sense. Guess Hugh gets to be paranoid that there might be one still running around out there...