Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run [FINISHED]

[Murometz]

Angus took this ever-so-brief down time to don one of the Drakonov suits from the armory. What the hell was he thinking before? Nevermind he decided, he wasn't thinking before.

He also pocketed another six frags, and hefted the AK-1047 Assault Rifle. He decided he liked its weight, and grabbed two magazines to go with it. Additionally, he carried the gasoline tanks back to the Mary Sue. "You never know when this might come in handy. Boom! Amirite?" He said to no one in particular.

Angus palmed his phone then and offered it to Phil. "We can use this too, Cappo." he deadpanned, ignoring the fact that he had never bothered to mention the mobile before.

Looking around, he found himself ignoring the "reunion" until he heard old lady Angelica speak, as she and Frank dipped in and out of the armory, along with Angus.

"That only leaves the bay doors, and the Powered Suit, if we want that"

"Yes, we want it. Who's with me? Let's go!" He announced. He needed to keep busy to not think about cocaine.

[valadaar]

"Hold your horses there Angus !  I'm really starting to hate surprises, so  I'd like to get Mary patched in like Winnona says to see if we can get some better intel."

Phil looked at the phone curiously, not entirely sure what he was supposed to do with it...

 

[Murometz]

"Get Mary patched in, Cap, to see if we can get some better intel", Angus added mimicking Marion's voice and grinning.

[Gossamer]

Katherine nodded while she worked, she had fetched an old blood sample from Theo, and now introduced the G'kraun blood into the petri-dish.
"I see. Mary, First of all close the ramp, please. I don't want anyone entering or leaving until further notice, implement quarantine protocol, authorization code, five zero delta nine K. Additionally I want you to assist Theo in learning the incubation period of this disease we're dealing with, and if at all possible we need to start working on a cure, or at the very least a temporary fix. From now on, I'm introducing a new protocol, I want you to scan all crew-members within 30 minute intervals, check for abnormal changes in temperature, anything that can't be rationalized away. This protocol will remain active until further notice."

With that she flicked on the intercomm.

"Attention all personnel, report to med-bay immidiately, no exceptions." She switched off the intercomm.

"I want new blood samples taken, these are to be mandatory for all." With that she took out a clean syringe, removed the wrapper and pricked herself, as her blood filled the vial she spoke again.
"And anyone who didn't leave the Sue during the battle is to be equipped with a firearm or similar, anyone else is to be monitored closely." At that, she handed Theo a gun. "Here. If you're not familiar with it, take some potassium chloride syringes, I don't want you unarmed when anyone could potentially be infected." - "Sue, I want a log of all personnel that was outside during the battle."

-

As everyone was gathered, Katherine started by quietly telling Phil her intentions, then she turned and addressed them all.
"Listen up! From now on all non-millitary personnel operates under the buddy system, nobody goes anywhere without company. And nobody enters the ship without another group to welcome then. Though preferably nobody should be outside unless it can't be helped, the fumes outside are hazardous to inhale, take special precaution if you choose to exit. Now, form two orderly lines, we must collect blood samples from all of you, we're dealing with a highly contagious and virulent disease. This test is mandatory, I don't want to hear any objections."


Summary

What I want from Sue, implement quarantine for the time being.
A log of everyone who left the ship during the battle, these are to be closely monitored.
Check incubation period of the G'kraun disease, if possible I want Theo and Sue starting on a cure, vaccine or temporary fix.
Implement 30 min interval Scans of all personnel.
Blood samples collected from all personnel.

[EchoMirage]

Standing next to Phil while being poked with needles, Rebecca finally got to answering his question.
"The power suit was red..."
She received an incredulous look, so swiftly continued: "More than two meters tall, without obvious armaments. Perhaps it just carries guns, or they are attachable. Conceivably, smaller calibers may be incorporated in the design and deployed at need."

Truth be said, she liked how the suit looked, red and glossy, sleek and intimidating. Only, if it was not inhabited by Evil Katherine.

[Murometz]

"My veins are sensitive, Doc" Angus said as he approached Katherine for his shot. "Perhaps the buttocks?" He began undoing his pants. "Nothing you haven't seen, my dear, amirite?" he nodded toward Theodora.

[valadaar]

Phil had previously handed off the phone to Winonna and was now trying to unsee the proceedings...

[Ancient Gamer]

She casually walked forward, dragging the Katana after her, letting the tip barely touch the floor as she did so. Looking down she noticed two rocket backpacks. She smiled nostalgically, bent down and touched the engine.

"Ракетно Рюкзак. Model 2107 I believe. It has been a long time since I used on of those."

She looked wistful for a short time. Then she noticed the trembling of the steel grid floor. Looking up she saw an enormous G'Kraun. It looked around, scouting for enemies.

Did it smell me? Oh... It heard me.

She thought about beheading it, but decided against it. The thing was enormous, and she left it alone.

***

"Mary Sue, can you please inform Captain Phil Marion that he has a guest that wants to enter?", she said.

***

Katherine squirted with the syringe, removing oxygen, when Mary Sue spoke.

"Captain Phil, we have a visitor outside. She wants to enter. Shall I lower the ramp?"

[valadaar]

"No on the ramp, not until I give the order."

"Mary Sue, can you scan our potential guest for weapons or whatever? Can you patch me through?"

An affirmative.

"Greetings guest. This is Captain Phil Marion of the Mary Sue. Please identify yourself and state your intentions."

[Ancient Gamer]

"Mary Sue, can you scan our potential guest for weapons or whatever? Can you patch me through?", Phil said.

"I have already done so, Captain Phil. I cannot find her, though judging from her voice, she should be right outside. I am blind to her, Captain"

***

 "Greetings guest. This is Captain Phil Marion of the Mary Sue. Please identify yourself and state your intentions.", the Captain demanded.

"This is Professor Sandra van de Wiel, formerly of the Copernicus. I wish to speak with you, poor, lost children. Please let me in. Don't led an elderly lady wait at the doorstep. I merely wish to parlay"

[Murometz]

'Elderly lady, my ass!" he said, rubbing his backside after Katherine's needle torture.

 Angus scanned his mind for everyone he had ever known inside the Copernicus...

"Nope, never heard of a van de Wiel, Cap." he shrugged, "Then again, my brain isn't working at its maximum capacity at the moment."

[valadaar]

"I would love to let you in, however you would need to submit to our current rigorous quarantine procedures due to a biological threat in the area.  And since every person or thing on this d**n planet we have met so far has tried to kill us, I would like to know a little more about you - for one, why we cannot see you.  There are aliens about, perhaps you are one."

[Ancient Gamer]

Fair enough.

"Decloak", she said, and the impressive outline of a work of art appeared.

She was shaped like a supermodel. Thin, elegant, high heels and the air of superiority. She wore a tight fitting latex suit, and only her face was visible; an utterly wrinkled old lady. Parchment skin, pulled over and over, till it was so thin the very veins inside were clearly visible. She might have been pretty once, but now she looked so old, so sick, with her yellow wrinkled skin full of veins.

"So, my children. I have nothing to hide. Please let me in, so we can speak", her voice was quivering.

***

"van de Wiel. Access denied. Access denied. The personell file is restricted, Captain. But my scan shows she is 90% machine, 10% human", Mary Sue said.

[EchoMirage]

"Do we still have any rounds in the gatling?" Rebecca whispered to Angus. The scientists had found them, and she was not happy with the idea at all.
"I would ever so much prefer if they let us to do as we will. Strange - they wish to murder us or sell us as slaves at first, then suddenly, we're so precious they follow us into the lion's den. No trust wasted on the guest at the door."

And no trust wasted on guests inside, either. She didn't invite the Overmind in - but then, Berthold's infected blood did. Rebecca interposed herself nonchalantly between the sick man and Katherine, then whispered to the doctor. "Berthold has it."
She did not leave her eyes off the old man, but attempted to intervene in the siren call.

Just as a safety precaution, the muzzle of the assault rifle rose in his direction.

Truth be said, she did not have the guts to shoot him... but might have to.
If I fail at intervention, and he tries anything funny, pew pew.

[Gossamer]

"Berthold has it." - Rebecca whispered. Katherine nodded gravely and took out her revolver, aiming for Berthold's skull. "Angus, cuff him. Sorry about this, Berthold, but you need to be restrained. " - She whispered to Angus, but kept her eyes on the infected man. "After the cuffs, wrap him in steel wire, I don't want to take any chances."

If he moves I shoot him.

[valadaar]

Phil made a decison.  He would not risk the, but he needed to know.

"
Okay, Rebecca, you are in charge if I don't come back.  I'll go talk to her outside.  Ask her to step well away from the door so I can get out. Gatling still ready to go?"

[Murometz]

"Do we still have any rounds in the gatling?"

"M-hm. Frank was quite bold in his defense of the Doc, but we have enough to take out an old cyborg lady."

"Angus, cuff him. Sorry about this, Berthold, but you need to be restrained."

"Sorry, Yorkie, but this is best for you...and us." Angus said it casually, but moved very quickly to apprehend and lock-down Berthold.


"If you open the door for that scientist assassin, Cap, I'm starting a mutiny." He added to Phil, as he waited for the Doc to tell him what to do with Berthold next.

[valadaar]

Phil stopped for a moment.  He adressed the woman from the comm again, his plan to leave abandoned.

"Why, pray tell, should we trust you one iota? The fiction you are a helpless old lady does not hold up.

Why are you here. "

[Murometz]

"Atta boy!" Angus mumbled to himself, as heard Captain Phil come to his senses, while Angus was escorting Berthold away.

"Frank, join me, won't you? I'll need help taking the guns out of the hold, before depositing Yorkie inside."

---------

"Welcome to your temporary room, Yorkie. Again, I apologize, but you've been infected you see, and Doc can't have you running around the Sue, infecting others. You understand don't you? Don't start crying now, I have no empathy for crying men. Only crying women."

to Frank: "M'kay, thanks, bye now."

---------

Alone again, Angus decided to try something.

"Mary Sue, can you patch me in to Baron Rembrandtplein?"

[Ancient Gamer]

"Why, pray tell, should we trust you one iota? The fiction you are a helpless old lady does not hold up.

Why are you here. "

"Oh my, I traveled a long way to meet you children. I do not expect you to remember me, you were just 5 years old after all. But I've changed diapers on you all, including your parents, your grandparents, and... Oh. It doesn't matter. Look here...", Cyborg Sandra held up a cube, a sleek brushed aluminium cube no larger than her fist. "I will leave this for you... here", she put the cube down on the other side of the cut open door, then she bowed with a gracious flourish and uttered a single word. "Cloak". Then she was gone.

***

Berthold didn't register much of what was being said. Katherine observed him as he foamed around his mouth, and as the blood vessels in his eyes started to pop, virulent red blood mixing with black, oozing down his cheeks.

"I got an idea", Theodora said and led Angus to the aft compartment in the cargo, where Berthold's cryostasis coffin was.

"Shove him in there", Theodora said.

When Angus left, Berthold finally settled in, cuffed and wired in his cryostasis coffin.

***

When Theodora came back, Katherine was already studying the mutating blood cells. The blood cells were being destroyed at an incredibly rapid pace. It had only been 30 minutes, and already 10% of the cells had been turned, small wisps of black blood being visible to the human eye.

***

"Mary Sue, can you patch me in to Baron Rembrandtplein?"

"I am sorry, sir. I do not have any signals down here. If you were to patch me up to the command console, I might be able to connect to a comm and radar array on the surface!"

[Gossamer]

Katherine was fully focused, carefully she applied a single drop of nanites into a petri dish with an infected blood sample. While this was by far the most expensive solution, one she hoped to avoid resorting to, she needed to know that SOMETHING worked. However initial testings were bleak, the fully infected sample remained unaffected. Then a thought hit her, and she brought out a fresh clean sample from the medical fridge and then introduced infected blood into it. After a while she applied another drop of nanites to this new sample. This time she was rewarded for her efforts, she could clearly see the black blood disintegrating, leaving nothing but a silvery metalic dust on the surface on the once again clean blood sample.

Katherine spoke into her pocket-recorder. "Initial testings of the G'kraun disease have shown a worryingly swift incubation period of minutes rather than days. It would seem that even nano treatment is ineffective on a subject with a fully developed infection, however during the transitional metamorphic phase the nanites can still tell the source material from the introduced parasitic tissue. Due to scarcity of nanites available, alternative means needs be explored. Subject Berthold Geronius Yorke has become infected ...I..."

Katherine paused and cleared her throat as well as her thoughts, then continued.

"Subject has been entered into cryo-stasis, current state of infection unknown. Further examination will follow, he...the subject..."

"Science d**n it, I sound like a scientist..."

....Scientist....

At that, the doctor went and put her affairs in order, she once again reminded and cautioned Theo, both to look after herself and to start working on a cure. She also arranged for guard duty in two person teams for the civilians to guard the cargo hold, if anything climbed out of that cryo-box that wasn't Berthold, it should soon find itself full of holes. She reiterated her previous orders for everyone. And she promised her aunt and uncle that she would be careful, and said the closest thing to good bye she would allow.
-
After that, she suited up, full body armor, assault rifle and multiple clips at the ready with her doctor's kit to boot. Whatever that cyborg scientist had left for them, she would pick it up on the way, if it blew up, at least it would happen away from the ship. She eagerly awaited the rest to get ready.

[valadaar]

While the Doctor made her preperations, Phil wandered down to where Winnona was working.

"Could you patch Mary Sue in using this?" - he offered the phone Angus had given him.  "Angus said you might be able to."

[Ancient Gamer]

Phil walked into what used to be the men's room. Wionna was already in there, on her knees, welding a piece of metal to the wall. To the Captain's eyes it looked like the Mary Sue was already spaceworthy, since the hole had been completely covered by the last metal plate.

As if she could read his mind, Wionna spoke.

"It won't hold in space, Captain. I need 6 more hours to work on this baby, put on several layers, make sure the hull is prepped for space", she smiled, stroking the walls like it was her baby.

"Could you patch Mary Jane in using this?" - he offered the phone Angus had given him.  "Angus said you might be able to."

"Sure, Captain! That or the fiberoptics cable I found. This is easier I guess. I'll get right on it, sir!", Wionna saluted and walked down to the exit. She walked through the living quarters, edging her way past Rebecca who stood steadfast beside Katherine.

"Folks, let me through. On a mission for Cap Phil!"

[EchoMirage]

As Katherine prepared to pick up the scientist's 'gift', Rebecca had to voice something that's been bothering her.
"I am actually glad we did not fire at her. Most likely, it was most likely chicanery and legerdemain and not herself; one does not become as old and wicked by taunting in front of cannons. A robot puppet, perchance?"
She shrugged, and looked apologetically, not being able to offer a deeper insight.

"Perchance I should pick it up - in case it is a trap?"
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.

[Gossamer]

"Chicanery? Legerdemain?" Katherine smiled within her mask. "I'll pick it up, dear. Just be prepared to run if it starts ticking."