Cute Girls in Space

010: Return

"The origin of the distress call is closing, Captain. Approximately 36 seconds of burn time to reach identification distance." Lia reads off the data on the screen before her.

"...I'm not seeing a ship or station just yet, so be ready for shenanigans." Anam squints at the viewing window, slightly leaning forward.

"A small asteroid field could mean that what was originally sending the signal was destroyed, correct?" Lia questions.

"Yeah, but we'd at least see debris floating around, surely..." Anam grits her teeth in suspicion. "Akarui, raise shields, just in ca--" she's cut off by an obnoxious electrical humming filling the room, causing everyone onboard to reel in discomfort and cover their ears. The lights flicker then shut off, followed by the ceasing of the noise as well as the rumble of the ship's engine.

"Umm, sir...?" Mint's voice hints of fear as the Argo now floats through an asteroid field in darkness and silence.

Anam wordlessly stands up from her seat, gesturing for Mint and Lia to follow her, but Lia does not comply. "Lia," Anam calls out to her. After no reply, she raises an eyebrow and walks over toward her, only the light reflected from the orbited planet shining through the ship's bow window reveals her state: Perfectly still, eyes shut.

"...Shit, oh shit."

"Sir?"

"The distress call was a trap; we've been EMP'd." Anam picks up Lia's inanimate body and begins to walk toward the main corridor with Mint shortly behind, turning to open up a side storage closet as the red emergency lights power on. The ship slows its drifting and comes to a stop as the emergency auxiliary power comes online. Anam carefully places Lia down in the closet, then closes the door.

Hazel and Veirence both arrive to meet the others, panic written across their faces.

"What's going on?" Concern laces Veirence's voice as suddenly the ship rumbles with explosions emanating from the lower deck.

"We fell into an EMP trap," Anam signals the crew to follow her down to the source of the explosion. "And after whoever did this finish bombing us, they're probably going to board and attempt to kill us," Several areas of the bottom deck begin smoking and showing other signs of severe damage through the continued attack. "Everyone prepare to defend."

"Where's Lia?" Hazel asks, watching Anam go down the corridor and into her room, coming back out holding a baseball bat decorated with nails.

"Lia was affected by the initial hit, but I've hid her away, so I doubt anyone will find her if they do board." Anam begins to head toward engineering down the way. "Hell, it took me weeks to find that room when I first got this ship. Only way they're finding her is if they kill all of us, and there's no way that's happening." She turns her head to face the crew while continuing to walk. "You're all going to need weapons, by the way."

"Well, I have a comically sized wrench that I wasn't sure had any practical uses, but I guess I can try that?"

"Sounds as good as anything."

As they reach the room, Hazel begins to dig through her tool stash with Anam by her side, noting that Mint and Veirence are no longer with them, however they shortly catch up holding weapons of their own.

"Always wanted to try out this gun I got a couple weeks ago," Mint smiles, holding a very large rifle? Shotgun? Thing? With Veirence wielding a nodachi sheathed on her side.

"I don't exactly have anything to fight with in my room, so Mint let me use her sword." Veirence comments as more explosions shake the ship.

"Well, we're all here, but this isn't the only entrance. Akarui and Hashir, you guard the port and starboard airlocks up top. Moon and I will guard down here. You let us know if they come in through there."