As the crew scattered to their quarters to prepare to board the Demeter Alex Castlebrandt sat at his post and manuevered the two ships closer together.  He attempted to follow through and his previous comments to the captain and avoid ever lining up right in front of the derelict.  With the tiny power signal the ship was displaying it seemed nigh impossible that the thing could suddenly fire that nose cannon, but something about the thing had set the whole crew on edge.  No sense risking it.  So he manuevered around behind and as close as made sense and then matched trajectories.  

.He'd heard the comment about life support.  Stasis beds?  Looking at the ship it seemed almost impossible that anyone was alive over there.  It wasn't just the damage and lack of power.  The damn thng was the Demeter.  If somebody took it down they weren't going to just let it sit there.  At least not with surviors.  It was like the wealth the ship was supposed to carry.  He didn't gamble, but he'd wager every penny he had that none of the platinum remained on that ship.  Who would shut that vehicle down and leave the prize behind?  And things didn't look like an accident.  unfortunately for the crew, anyone who would take the prize without announcing it to the world would also not leave survivors.  It was hard to imagine any set of circumstances that left someone alive over there, stasis beds or not.  But if it was possible he'd be damned if he was going to sail away before making sure.  Somethngs needed to be done.  You couldn't leave someone to float out here.  

As he finsihed moving the ship into position he looked at the captain.  "Cap'n.  The Destiny is in the best spot I can put her.  I've locked the controls in place and we should hold this position relative to the Demeter.  Also, I've set up Destiny to have a maximum probity detect.  We don't want anyone sneaking up on us.  It'll send an alarm to my PADD if something triggers.  Permission to leave my post and prepare to board?"

He expected the assent that he received.  The man had already told everyone to do just that.  But the question needed to be asked.  Once permission was given he moved quickly to his quarters to prepare.  He really didn't have much he needed to bring.  No weapons.  They'd be useless in a vacuum and he wasn't much good with them anyway.  He did grab the small camera he had with him.  Just what would be over there?  Nothing said platinum was the only thing that ship had carried.  And a mystery needed evidence for solving.  His PADD, of course, came over as well.  The alarm he had set would do no good if he left the thing here.  He should be able to make sure the thing sent the alarm directly to his suit as well.  Before heading out he also did a quick lookup of the Demeter itself.  What were the odds that somewhere he could find the blueprints for the ship itself?  Shor that, it was an Apollo class ship and some general schematics and blueprints might be useful.  A pound of prevention and all that.  

Once ready he headed towards the shuttle bay.  He was the last to arrive - not surprising since he had been the last to leave the bridge besides the captain himself.  He arrived just in time to hear Fox say, "I told you so."  He had to stop himself from visibly shaking his head.  There might be people alive over there, no matter how doubtful the matter, and the man complained?  He was confronted by an incredibly mystery and he balked at losing a few hours.  It made no sense.  He understood caution.  And he understood the fear of delay.  But to let that make you pass on such an obligation and opportunity?  Again, he could not help but wonder where the caution had come from.  He figured he had as much reason for caution as anyone, but he was as eager as he had ever been to cross that vacuum.  

He had one more thing to do before actually getting in the shuttle.  Power.  They would likely want power to be able to get the computers up and running.  Or maybe those stasis pod if someone was incredibly lucky over there.  He asked Pops about a portable battery.  They'd want one of those.

As he apologized to Alaxis her response caught the big tough mechanic off guard.

"Steady Bullet, Wouldn't want you on one of my beds.. or... maybe.."

A serious blush broke out on his face, thoughts spinning in his head of the exact meaning of her words, a shy smile breaking through, embarrassment showing to all.The big tough mechanic was not so tough in the presence of a lady it seemed.  With a last glance at Alexis, so full of questions, he quickly turned back to Wyatt.

“Wyatt, Cap’n, we have to board her, see if we can salvage the ship and her cargo"……………

"We're goin' over, Wolf. Rest easy. Alex, take us right on up like you was plannin. If that's THE Demeter, then there's a lot o' unknowns, an' I don' like unknowns. So, we all 'll be goin' over en force... 'cept Ivy. Alex, once we're in place, join us in the shuttle an' lock the controls. Make sure Ivy's got the keycode but we sure as hell ain't leaving Destiny open fer a kidnappin Pops an' Wolf, make sure the EV suits are all in the shuttle just in case we can't lock horns. Any concerns, now's the time t' speak up."

Fox was the first to question the idea "You can't be serious. This is the exact opposite of avoiding trouble."

“Dude” Fenris exclaimed “It could be the richest find of all time and just the thing to kick everything into a good place!”

Wyatt pauses and stares hard at the man. "We got an obligation at the very least. No one leaves a boat floatin' in the Black with a distress call playin' over an' over. No human being with a soul, that is."

Fox shook his head. "If that's really the Demeter, then there's no way there'd be anyone left to help. And whether it is or not, do you know what follows the Apollo-class around? The Alliance."

"I hear ya," Sung says flatly. "But we had t' come within a spit n' a throw t' even pick up on the distress call. We ain't picked up no Alliance boats in the area so that's the least of our worries.

Fenris listening to Wyatt's words to Fox had to admit there was a greater importance on the Demeter then the supposed platinum, what if there were still people alive on her.

"Now, if that's really the Demeter, then there's some possible payout associated with this humanitarian effort. An' with the Demeter havin' been missin' fer all these years, we have even more chance o' makin' that payout without trouble."

Fox barely stopped himself from snorting. "Because the 'Verse is just that kind and we're all just that lucky."

With a last glare at the pilot for all his negative waves, and a shy smile for the Doc, Fenris followed Pop’s out of the cockpit and to the EV suits.

“Pop’s you think we can be this lucky or is Fox right we are headed to board a ghost ship full of the dead?" 

No matter what Fenris, though they’d be encased in EV suits, would still be taking one of his guns over with him. The big mechanic was all about safety but old habits died hard and the one habit he knew best was its better to have a gun and not need it then to need a gun and not have yet.

No matter what they would breach the Demeter and find all of her mysteries inside................................... >

Once the plan was formed, Alaxis made her way to the medical bay and begun to grab the items she would need, her medical bag already filled and ready to go at the door she paused and grabbed a few black body bags, 

"because.. We never know..." she murmured to herself as she tucked them with the rest of the medical supplies she may need then headed back to wait until it was time to board the vessel. 

Everyone gathered gear and quickly went to the shuttle to prepare for the mission. There was only so much you could prepare for this type of mission. A dead vessel floating in the black with only a faint power signature? What could possible go wrong? A ship has backup systems and the bigger the ship, the more backups are usually there. I science vessel design for long range exploration would have multiple fail-safes.

Ivy remained behind to watch the ship and the shuttle departed. She watched nervously as you all prepared to go. She spoke privately to the captain for a time just before leaving, but whatever she said did not change the countenance of his face.

 An EVA suit was brought for everyone and multiple air canisters just in case. Alex brought the shuttle parallel to the Demeter, giving it a close once over before deciding how to proceed. Damage to the Demeter was minimal, in fact other than the communication array being completely destroyed, there was no sign of breach or harm to the hull to would have explained the current state. Any window where you might have gotten a glimpse inside was frosted up.

Alex managed to find a floor plan on the cortex for an Apollo class explorer. No telling what the modifications might have changed but it was a start. (see QnA thread)

Alaxis brought several body bags with her. It was a somber fact of life though, a dead ship could have floater in it. If you were to restore power and life support, no one wanted to see a dead frozen body start to thaw.

There was only access points you could use to gain entry into the ship. There was a single EVA port on the back of the main module, just above the long tube part of the ship.. The shuttle could do a belly to ship connection and you could try to override or manually open the port. The challenge with that would be that you could only enter the ship one at a time as the airlock on the shuttle is quite small. The other option was to do the Suited leap across to open the doors.

"Pop’s you think we can be this lucky or is Fox right we are headed to board a ghost ship full of the dead?" 

Jonah looked at the big mechanic, “If there is still stolen money over there it can just stay there. All that will do is buy a whole lot of trouble for whoever tries to claim it. That was Alliance money and they won’t sit quiet once they get wind that it might have been found. We ain’t got salvage rights and we ain’t got the means to make a sudden gain in fortune look right, especially when we are on our first paying job. So let’s just get in and out a quick as we can. Get your service EV suit and I’ll take the other so we can carry some tool to get through that hatch… If there still be some life over there we need to just get things working enough to get them safely out….This is a rescue, not a salvage.” Pops headed to his quarters to get lock tools, that hatch most likely need finesse to open, not brute force.

After they had all assembled in the shuttle and they were on their way Pops looked at the diagrams and addressed the pilot, “you think you can land her over there close to outer hatch? If clamp down the shuttle so it won’t drift away we can suit up and depressurize. That way we can leave the way we came in, through the main hatch. It’ll be quicker and save air, plus we can support each other…Wolf and I’ll head to the hatch, shouldn’t take much tinkering to get her, likely standard Alliance wiring.” Jonas looked to Wyatt for his comments.

"Pop’s you think we can be this lucky or is Fox right we are headed to board a ghost ship full of the dead?"

Jonah looked at the big mechanic, “If there is still stolen money over there it can just stay there. All that will do is buy a whole lot of trouble for whoever tries to claim it. That was Alliance money and they won’t sit quiet once they get wind that it might have been found. We ain’t got salvage rights and we ain’t got the means to make a sudden gain in fortune look right, especially when we are on our first paying job. So let’s just get in and out a quick as we can. Get your service EV suit and I’ll take the other so we can carry some tool to get through that hatch… If there still be some life over there we need to just get things working enough to get them safely out….This is a rescue, not a salvage.”

“Yeah your right its rescue, not salvage, but what if? I mean that much money in one spot, what if its really still there?…..”

As Fenris shook his head still caught up in the disbelieve of the possibility of what lay before them, he could not but help feeling tempted. That kind of money could set a person up for life on the outer rim. However the big mechanic knew Pops was 100% correct that if found, even a little bit, the Alliance would come down full force to find out where and when and quite possibly leave everything behind them in dust.

Climbing into his EVA suit he stored his Desert Eagle and an extra clip in an outer pocket in his tool belt along with his normal gear. Finishing he turned and along with Pops headed to the shuttle bay.

"Take us in, Alex," Wyatt critically eyes their destination. "Belly up."

Swiveling his chair about, the captain addresses the rest of his team. "Once we're in, Pops, Wolf, and Fox, head t' the engine room an' get life support and pow'r back online. The rest of us'll sweep the ship. Keep talkin' so we know what's what an' that everyone's good. Y'all got yer comms? Good. Let's do this quick n' clean an' keep yer heads on a swivel."

(OOC: Once Alex has latched the shuttle onto the Demeter...)

"Okay, people," Wyatt rises up from his seat and takes up his EV suit's helmet. "Suit up."

Sealing his helmet to the suit, Sung activates the air supply and checks the display on his left forearm to verify it is working. Tasting the sour oxygen that pours into his helmet, he waits until everyone is equally secured and then gives the order to depressurize the shuttle.

"Time t' do some work," he states, motioning for Wolf to get working on the door.

The team was suiting up when Jonah tapped Wolf's arm, " Best you hang back with the crew and let me check that door. It appears the only way in so it's likely they didn't leave a welcome mat. They likely got a surprise attached. I have few tricks in my scanner. That's an old Alliance design and I used to have to be able to over ride security protocols on the test ships to get the crew out in an emergency. They never really change or purge them programs. But just in case them hijackers boogered a patch that I can't catch you stay clear. " Pop's stepped past the mechanic, "Oh and if things do go badly try to salvage the scanner..Alex may be able to find a use or two."

(O.O.C. assuming Pops goes off to the hatch first.)

Pops gingerly made his way into the airlock closing the opening behind him and turned to the opposite hatch; he never liked working outside of a ship but it come with the territory in research and development. He'd been responsible for quality and that meant sometimes investigating in the black just because it didn't act the same on the ground. After decompressing the small airlock Jonah  open the portal there need to be a seal to the Demeter so he applied the seal ring and activated the magnetic clamps to hold the crafts. He then located the hatch's access panel, opening the panel he found the scanner port and an axillery power input. Attaching a portable power supplier to hatch controls and the data pigtail he switched on the scanner and probed the programs. A familiar security protocol highlighted; a couple of key strokes to checked for any triggers and an auto disarm command was activated. Pops then sent the command to open the hatch locks.

(O.O.C. if the over ride worked and there was no explosion.) 

Jonah pushed the hatch open and spotted his light into the ship. Pushing his comm, "It appears I'm still here so decompress shuttle and follow on through." Seeing the hatch open he waved the crew to follow as he made his way into the ship.

Alex Castlebrandt moved the shuttle into position.  Everything seemed to be going as planned.  What was there to go wrong anyway?  They were just moving up next to a dead hulk.  Nothing to worry about here.  Nothing unusual, just a simple and normal manuever.  

Yet the pilot could feel the tnesion in the shuttle.  He knew he was tense.  That hulk out there was the  Demeter.  Whatever had left it a dead hulk had not been a simple accident.  Something had taken out the communication array.  But hadn't done much other damage.  Yet the ship appeared to be dead.  Or at least nearly dead.  Why?  And what would they find inside.   Whatever they found it was not likely to be simple.  And that had him both worried and extremely excited.  

Once the shuttle was in position he prepared to move out with the rest.  He indicated the battery he had brought and asked those headed to the engine room if they wanted it there?  

Finally ready, he took a few calming breaths.  He reminded himself to check out the ship from the outside as they moved over.  Was there any indication of what had damaged the ship?  Any indication of a forced entry or exit?  Anything that wasn't supposed to be there?  Or was supposed to be there, but wasn't?  'Stay calm and stay observant' he again reminded himself as he waited.  

As Fenris climbed into his EVA suit he knew that the possibilities of getting to spend any of the platinum, if there was any actually still there, was a lost cause. However the Browncoat inside him wished there could be a way. Glancing around as the crew of the Destiny, minus Ivy, also geared up he noticed Doc having a problem getting the suit zipped up. Moving to stand in front of her he moved her hands to the side and grabbing the zipper with one hand and her suit with the other manage to get it zipped up all the way. Once she was all set up Fenris smiled at her feeling the adrenaline of the upcoming boarding, and boldly remarked.

“Don’t worry Space Girl, I got your six”  Giving her a clear idea of what he meant by looking over his shoulder his eyes moving briefly down toward her mid section, he walked back to rejoin Pop…….

Pops gingerly made his way into the airlock closing the opening behind him and turned to the opposite hatch; he never liked working outside of a ship but it come with the territory in research and development. He'd been responsible for quality and that meant sometimes investigating in the black just because it didn't act the same on the ground. After decompressing the small airlock Jonah opens the portal there need to be a seal to the Demeter so he applied the seal ring and activated the magnetic clamps to hold the crafts. He then located the hatch's access panel, opening the panel he found the scanner port and an axillary power input. Attaching a portable power supplier to hatch controls and the data pigtail he switched on the scanner and probed the programs. A familiar security protocol highlighted; a couple of key strokes to check for any triggers and an auto disarm command was activated. Pops then sent the command to open the hatch locks.

The doors move slightly and then stops. “Error 1742” lights up on the small display for the door mechanism.

“Well damn it.” Jonah said “Anyone know what an error 1742 is?”

Alex started to type it into the computer but Wyatt answered before he could finish, “Decompression Breach. Means the doors were opened from the bridge while the ship was pressurized. And then shut again.”

Jonah grunted in response and moved to the manual override.  It was an old turn wheel mechanism that would not work if the ship was pressurized but since it wasn’t, Jonah began to turn the wheel. The doors moved a bit more, then the wheel became too hard to move. Fenris came over to help and between the two of them, the door were finally opened.

Although in your suits, the wave of coldness could be felt from the dead ship and the life support heaters in the suits kicked in. beyond the doors was the small airlock and cargo bay of the Demeter. It was about 20 x 15 in dimensions with a steel grate floor. The door opposite to you, to get into the ship was closed and the emergency inner doors (a second set that closed only in a breach situation) were closed as well. There is nothing in the cargo bay except torn straps still hanging from where they were secured.

There are small flecks of something floating around. They are a grey silver colour and very thin, like paint flecks or film. Not a lot but enough that you notice them.

Reaching out a gloved hand, Wyatt attempts to catch some of the silvery flecks to investigate further. Pops and Wolf would have the wherewithal to set about giving them further access to the ship and didn't need their captain barking unnecessary orders. The emptiness of the chamber and the conditions of the straps told Sung a story -- A story of cargo being abruptly spaced. The condition of the inner door and the error they'd encountered backed the tale up. Let's git that li'l bit o' life figured out an' then worry 'bout the cargo.

Fox's first impression was that he'd expected more. He didn't know why. He'd been the one arguing for an abandoned ship, and here was an abandoned ship. But he still had, for some reason. The only notable thing about the space was the dust.

No cargo. Likely no payout. He was sure all they'd fine here was vaccum and ghosts.

He looked around, staying out of the way so Pops and Wolf could do their job. Having nothing better to do, he began exploring the limited space they had. Never know until you know.

(((Search the room. Knowledge (info?) checks on the dust.)))

Fenris watched, then helped as he and Pop forced open the outer hatch leading into the interior of the Demeter. As a wave of cold hit him Fenris noticed a bunch gray silver color and very thin, like paint flecks or film. As the suits internal heating kicked in the big mechanic they resembled ash flacks as if from a house fire.

Leaving it to the tech heads of the crew to figure out, he moved past Pop and further into the Demeter. Finding himself in a steel grated 20 x15 area, clearly the ship’s cargo bay, Fenris could see that the cargo door was closed and the emergency inner doors were closed as well. The area was empty of anything resembling crates of platinum bars and the Destiny’s mechanic could not help but let out a disappointed sigh.

“All clear here” He radioed over the suits comm system.

As he waited for the rest of the boarding crew to enter the bay he noticed torn straps still hanging from where they were secured. Clearly whatever had been here was long gone.........

Alex watched as the others manually opened the door into the Demeter.  He was almost bouncing with eagerness, but a lifetime of being taught the value of patience held him in place.  He waited and watched, continually looking over the hull of the ship for some sort of clue. 

When the door opened and the group moved forward they found exactly what they had expected - nothing.  Nothing, that is except closed doors, floating crap and torn tie downs.  Nothing exciting, certainly.  At least not at first glance.  He saw others looking at the silvery stuff, so for the moment he let them.  He moved to a few of the tie downs.  They had appeared torn when he first entered.  He inspected a couple of them.  Had they been cut or torn?  Did it look like a quick decompression could have ripped whatever they had been holding out of the ship?  If so, he wondered who had done it?  Those inside the ship to prevent whoever had attacked it from getting it?  A blast at someone coming to the door?  Or maybe those who attacked the ship had sent it into the black.  He didn't know, but that last seemed unlikely if these straps had held the treasure the ship was believed to have been carrying. 

He looked at the floor - was there any indication there of the size of objects held?  The floor was grating - he shined a light down there - was there anything to be seen in the grating?  There was no reason not to be thorough.  But then, floating out here in the black you couldn't expect things to settle down their either.  He looked at the exit wondering what had been jettisoned.  How long had the ship been out here?  Would it be possible to backtrack along its course and figure out its location when the doors had been opened?  If you could do that, could you figure out the trajectory of whatever went out that way?  It should be possible.  But if whatever it was had really been that valuable, then whoever had attacked the ship would have been able to do the same.  There was no reason to doubt that it had been attacked.

Finished inspecting the straps and grates, the pilot took a quick look at the silvery stuff the others were examining.  Then it was time to wait paitently for the door-breakers.  Even in the black there was work for someone who knew how to pick a lock.