The Atropos

[Arley]

The Atropos is a massive derelict Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser. It was one of the many casualties of the early battles of the Sith War.

For unknown reasons, the ship made an unexpected and unrecorded hyperspace jump and was lost. It and its crew have been unaccounted for and presumed dead for 75 years. It now drifts through space showing no life signs.

[Ci'el Ntaryl]

*Ci'el moves the Tarkona Tyri toward The Atropos smoothly, with the skill and expertise of a pilot who's been doing this for years, though she has only been piloting for a few standard months. She glances at Char and raises one eyebrow slightly.*

"Well, would now be a good time to give me those codes?"

[Veren Gal]

*Melek stepped into the cockpit behind the Char and Ci'el.*

"That's it? Kind of tiny."

*The ship continued to approach the Atropos, and it got larger in the front port. Melek began to understand that the ship only looked tiny because there wasn't anything to give it scale.*

"Uh, did I say tiny?"

*He began to get nervous when the ship continued to grow in size until the entirety of it was no longer viewable.*

"Just how big is that thing!?

*When Ci'el asked Char for the codes, Melek tore his gaze away from the massive ship. Char hadn't killed him and Arley off when they gave up their bits. He didn't know why the Cathar was here and figured the man had motivations beyond grabbing whatever wasn't bolted down and selling it off. He hoped these reasons didn't require no witnesses. If he wasn't going to kill them, Melek was happy to keep the status quo as it was. On a ship that large, there had to be plenty of loot to go around. That is, unless there was someone alive on board. Or else if someone powerful showed up with a claim on the ship.*

[Char Khan]

*When C'iel asks for the codes, Char finally obliges. He gets out the datapad the codes are stored on and hands it to C'iel so that she can dock with the ship.*

Right here.

*Char removes himself from where he had been sitting next to C'iel and glances out at the giant ship before them. Though he wasn't quite as surprised as Melek, Char still viewed what he could of the massive ship in awe. He had never been on a ship this size before. He was more accustomed to small freighters and the like that were generally used by smugglers.*

That's alot of ship to explore.

*And yet Char had to search all of it for something specific. The only description he had was that he would know it when he saw it. Right now he was starting to doubt that. He turned his head slightly to glance over at C'iel.*

Whenever you're ready, let's dock.

[Ci'el Ntaryl]

*Ci'el has certainly seen her fair share of large ships during her travels around the galaxy, but the Atropos is simply massive. As she pulls up next to it, however, all she does is raise her eyebrows at the sight of it and chuckle at Melek's observation. She takes the codes from Char and punches them into the console. The Atropos accepts the codes and she moves in toward the ship, docking the Tarkona Tyri next to it. Her already small ship seems like a speck of dust next to this monster. When Char says it is a lot of ship to explore she nods.*

"Indeed. We should move quickly if we wish to cover it all in reasonable time. Come on, boys."

*Ci'el heads out of the cockpit, beckoning for the males to follow her. The door of the Tarkona Tyri falls open as she approaches it, and she turns to look back at the others. She has no intention of being the first to leave her ship. She would make sure the others were safely out before exiting herself just to be sure they wouldn't try anything suspicious while she was away.*

"After you."

[Arley]

Conterra's reticence to leave her ship was not noticed by the bouncy little furred scavenger as the giant treasure ship loomed in the viewport. Once they had docked, Arley bounded for the airlock and intently awaited its opening. He was alive with excited energy and hopped around the door like a small child waiting for a sweets shop to open.

"We go! Arley-Rojo wanna see!"

[Veren Gal]

*Melek entered the airlock and then stepped out onto the deck of the Atropos. Some of the ship's lights attempted to come on and flickered a bit before winking out. Melek paused awkwardly and waited a moment before a handful of lights reluctantly came on. They dimly lit the corridor in three directions for several meters.*

*The ship had a slight sweet or sour odor and the air tasted stale. There was a quiet humming from the ship's systems but otherwise, nothing.*

"Air's breathable and gravity works, I guess. That's a good start."

[Char Khan]

*Char is the last to board the Atropos before C'iel. He takes a few steps past Melek and looks around. The ship was dimly lit and the air was stale. Char reassures himself that atleast there is air to breathe. He pauses for a few moments as he looks around. They had to start somewhere. Also, splitting up was probably good to cover more area of the ship but if they ran into any trouble then they were better left as a group.

There was no telling who could already be on this ship. Smugglers, slavers, or something more unknown and sinister. Considering how large the ship was and the possible danger, the group of four was better left as such. He turned around and walked back towards the others.*

We should stick together. No telling what nasties are hiding in here.

*The Cathar sniffed the air for a moment, as if trying to use his catlike senses to his advantage. Really, he couldn't smell anything other than the various odors of the ship.*

I suppose we should start down that way.

*Char points to his right in one of the three directions they could go.*

[Ci'el Ntaryl]

*Ci'el's boots clank against the metal as she steps off her ship, and the ship dock makes a whooshing sound as it closes behind her. She sniffs the air and immediately scrunches up her nose. Well, it might be breathable, but it didn't smell too fantastic. She steps next to Char, dwarfed by his size but no less confident because of it, and addresses the three of them.*

"You boys know what we're looking for here better than I do, so I'll follow your lead for now."

*She rests a hand on her hip, her purple fingers patting the lightsaber concealed there to make sure it is still present. She never went into any unknown situation without a hand near her saber.*

[Veren Gal]

*Melek looked at the rest of the group as they joined him on the deck of the Dreadnought. Char seemed to be sniffing something out, Arley was doing what Arley does, and Ci'el was trying to look casual. That probably meant she was checking something hidden on her body, if his time at the CWM meant anything. Most people around there carried some sort of insurance and everyone was paranoid. More than one fight had broken out because someone absentmindedly scratched an itch on their neck, back, or their leg just above their boot. ~Well, as long as she saves it for our enemy (whoever they are) I could care less.~*

"The message didn't come with a map of the ship. Otherwise I would've looked for a bigger crew to come check this thing out. We won't be able to move it by ourselves, will we?" *The holos he got to watch at Milena's bar often showed large crews of people delicately maneuvering these large ships. Or else the holos showed some hotshot or grizzled vet managing to jury-rig the controls and drop a runaway ship out of hyperspace just in time to avoid something large and much harder than the starship.*

"Well, we can always try 'up'. Isn't that where the bridge usually is? Up towards the top and forward?"

[Char Khan]

*Char allowed his features to relax when he responded to C'iel with a catlike toothy grin on his face.*

Treasure, of course. That's what we're looking for. I doubt there's any map or direction for such a thing on this ship. We simply go a direction and start looking. It's a big ship, but time is really our only main concern. It'll take awhile to explore with just the four of us, but that simply means there will be more for us.

*More people would help explore the ship quickly, but it meant splitting the profits even further. Char didn't like that idea and was only moderately comfortable with a quarter of the profits. However, he looked on it as a mere bonus for what he was sent here for. It wasn't something he told the others. But a very important client had hired him to secure something specific for him. Unfortunantly the only lead Char had to go on was that he'd know it when he saw it.

Usually for Char, that meant it could be anything at all. However, this time he got the feeling that he'd know exactly what it was when the time came. He pushed these thoughts in the back of his mind however. It wasn't as though he lied to the group about his being here. It was simply an ommission of facts on his part and if nothing else, he'd claim this thing as part of his profit if it meant avoiding a three on one confrontation. Even a fairly experienced merc like Char didn't like three-to-one odds.*

And if we can find a terminal somewhere around here that works, maybe we can get a map of some sort of this ship so we can have a better idea of how to explore this ship.

*Char begins walking off in the direction he pointed in. It was as good a place to start as any. They'd likely stumble upon said terminal or some way leading up to the bridge eventually if they stayed committed to a single path.*

[Arley]

When the airlock had clicked, whizzed, and whooshed itself into safety, Arley had bounded out into the new ship. It was only the narrowness of the airlock and Melek's greater size which prevented him from being the first out. Once he made it onto the Atropos and took a few steps down one of the corridors, however, his intensity flagged significantly.

The first thing that was wrong was the air. It had that thick heavy smell of the deep dark places where dead things are and make-you-dead-things live. The second thing the little creature noticed was the sound. There was the hum of dying electrical systems, the off-tempo distant pounding of half-hearted air pumps, and the wheezing of flickering lighting. These were not the sounds of good places. They were the sounds of bad and of things waiting to eat you.

As was his way, Arley was occasionally rubbing his cheeks against portions of the walls and bulkheads nearby. Though he usually did this when energized about meeting someone new or was examining some exciting shiny, he was now doing this with growing concern. There was something bad here. He looked over at his compatriots. Most concerning was Big Kitty and his obvious wariness. Arley had long since learned that if the big scary-looking things were concerned, he should be afraid. So far that reasoning had worked well for him.

The furred scavenger stayed close to his companions despite his treasure-loving nature. The doom which hung over the enormous, empty, creepy ship was too much for his usually bouncy curiosity to overcome for the moment. Completely without pride or ego, the little trader sidled up close behind Big Kitty.

[Veren Gal]

*Melek tugged nervously on his coat and followed Char and Arley down the hallway. He saw the airlock hiss shut behind them. As they moved down the hallway, some more of the lights flickered on. This time they were at full strength. The lights turned on down the hall, most of them were still working. More than enough to see the hall was empty.*

*He saw a closed door on the right side up ahead and when they got there, he peeked inside. Being this close to the airlocks, this was a closet with space suits inside. They looked a bit creepy, like someone had hung a bunch of bipeds inside a meat locker and forgot about them. The masks were darkened so the user wouldn't be damaged by the undimmed fury of a star, so he couldn't see inside. The suits were likely empty, but he pictured each holding the a grinning skull. ~Cheery thought.~ He shuddered and closed the door.*

[Arley]

Arley was dutifully sticking close to Big Kitty. He was also holding on to the round crystal bottle Missy 'Terra had procured for him. It had been tied to his belt so he could keep his new shiny close, but he held it with a paw to ensure it didn't clink. For some reason, he didn't want to make much noise.

They all progressed down a hallway looking for a way up to the bridge. Without a readout, there was no knowing where the location was. But the little scavenger was not about to let his natural inclination to preserve his life from the potentially scary things hidden on the creepy ship override his search for treasure. That's what life was all about, right?

Just as he was thinking this, something off down a hallway caught the little rodent's large greedy eyes. Something. Some glint down the hall and around a corner. Something moving? Whatever it was, it was something shiny. That was enough to spark the little being's dangerous curiosity and dislodge him from hiding in Big Kitty's shadow. Not really considering the other members of his slapped-together group, Arley peeled off and trotted off in the direction of the glimpsed shiny. True, his backfur prickled with the danger of it all, but getting to whatever it was first was a stronger instinct. Possession was 999/1000ths the law after all.

[Veren Gal]

*Melek had been trailing behind the others while checking out the closet. He saw Arley peel off from the rest of the group and rolled his eyes. The little kleptomaniac had a habit of getting sidetracked as it rifled through piles of junk. They had no real way to communicate unless the ship's comm system still worked and no map. Arley would be lost in no time, and likely the Squib would starve or dehydrate before anyone could locate it.*

"I'll get him."*Melek broke away from the others and headed down the corridor after Arley.* "Be right back."

[Char Khan]

*When Arley took off for something shiney, Char hadn't paid much attention to it. Shortly before, he had heard some sort of noise far off down the hallway behind them, like something clattering to the ground. Could have been nothing. This rusty old ship seemed to be falling apart long before he and the others ever knew about the ship. It could have been anything.

Char finally turned his attention back to where he was. C'iel was still with him but...where was Arley and Melek? Char sighs loudly and continues walking forward again. He'd try to find a nearby terminal and run through the camera feeds, if any of them still worked, to try and locate them. That still required finding a workable terminal though. Char glanced over to Ci'el and gave a brief nod and spoke to her.*

Stick close. Shouldn't all get split up. It will be more work if we have to spend time looking for each other as well.

*Char turned to face forward again, continuing to walk down the hallway. Eventually the hallway turned into a four directional split. Greaaaaaat. That just made trying to find Melek and Arley even more difficult. Char had stopped briefly to decide which way they needed to go. Instead of continuing straight, Char takes a right and continues down that hallway.*

[Arley]

Where had it gone? There had been something. It was just here. Moving and shiny. Where did it go?

The little space squirrel's curiosity was increasing almost exponentially with each passing second his fleeting shiny was not found. He bounded down one hallway and up a next. In the course of a few seconds, he had turned more corners than he could remember, and yet still no shiny.

Eventually, Arley hit a T junction. He looked one way and then the next, completely unaware of which way to go or where — or what — the shiny had gone. Having no idea which way to go, the scavenger's progression was halted for the first time since he'd broken away from the group.

[Veren Gal]

*Melek jogged after Arley, the little guy could move fast. He passed several other corridors, they all seemed empty and not all of them lighted up when he passed. He caught up with Arley at a T-Junction, "Arley, this ship is huge. We need to get back to the others. At least until we can get an interior map of this place or something. Then we can spread out." When they did spread out, Melek's first destination was going to be the officer's quarters. That would be where the good stuff was.*

*After living in the CWM and navigating the maze-like city of Coruscant Melek had a good head for mental maps. He was pretty sure he could backtrack to the corridor the others had been in. It occurred to Melek they should probably mark the corridors back to the ship. He would be sure to do so once they were back there.*

[Arley]

Still looking back and forth from one option to the next, Arley was getting a pained expression on his furry face. Where had the shiny gone? It had been here. He'd seen it. But now where was it?

When Melek appeared behind him, the scavenger was torn between mourning the loss of a shiny and being on his guard against the potential competition the other being represented.

"Arley see shiny. Moving-run shiny. Fast. Down this way…" He looked uncertainly over his shoulder down the other possible path. "Mebbe that way."

[Veren Gal]

"So, you saw a droid?" *That was not promising, droids were commonplace but required maintenance. If there were operating droids here after all this time, then there would be someone around to maintain them. He silently hoped it was some automated maintenance service that survived the last feeble breath of the crew. Otherwise they wouldn't get salvage rights on this thing.*

"Anyway, Arley. Let's get back. Once we've found the bridge and I access the computer, we will have a map to all the shinys." He turned around and headed back towards the others. He turned when he was supposed to turn the first few times. Then, he found himself faced with a lowered blast door where an open corridor should have been. "Er," he looked to the left, right, and back the way they came. The left and right corridors were dimly lit and he could've sworn he didn't come from either of them, that he had been in a straightaway for three sections before hanging the left. He tried triggering the blast door control but no dice. He backtracked a section, thinking he might have just come two rather than three. There was only a left open here and it was dark. Melek looked at Arley, then decided that it probably was two sections and the lights simply had turned off and short-circuited since then. He disappeared into the dark corridor.*

[Arley]

"Dunno. Was moving shiny. Many shinies move."

The little being shrugged his narrow shoulders. He had no idea if the thing that had attracted his attention was a droid or what. All that mattered was it's shininess.

Arley was reticent to leave the last known sighting of his shiny, but was wooed by Melek's talk of a map to all the shinies. To him, talk of maps to shinies was akin to religious prophesy at best, or a possible good business deal at least. Whatever this one was or turned out to be, it certainly warranted attention.

The furry trader followed Melek down a number of turns until they dead-ended at a blast door. Despite the other's apparent concern, Arley was not particularly worried. Having basically been turned loose in the lower levels of the Works, it wasn't like he'd never been lost in unfamiliar territory. There were always shinies to find and food enough to scavenge as needed. All one had to do was avoid those things that would kill you and life was good.

The potential issue of there being no food or other life-sustaining items on the ship did not occur to the scavenger as he continued down a dark corridor with the horned being. On occasion the Squib ran his fingers along the smooth wall of the hall they were in. Gathering information about his surroundings.

After some time of turning down darkened corridors, Arley addressed his compatriot. "We go find Big Kitty and Missy 'Terra?"

[Veren Gal]

*Melek felt his way down the corridor, keeping one hand in front of him and another on the wall. He really wished he had some more useful gear with him. Though, if there was danger ahead he had stuff that would make Arley fight with the strength of a Rancor, or make a dead Dewback do the Kessel Run in under 5 p-*

"Did you hear that?"

*Melek paused and listened again, but he couldn't hear anything. Looking behind him, the corridor was completely dark. Melek continued forward until he bumped into a solid wall. Feeling around, it seemed to be a door. He found the control panel and hit the largest button. The door slid open into a "T" section". The corridor in front of them looked subtly different from the other ones they had been in. This corridor had some stains on the wall and floor, and small bits of debris and detritus on the ground.*

"I think we're lost."

[Arley]

Arley bumped into Melek's back in the dark corridor when the other being stopped. The furred being perked up his ears, straining to pick out whatever had attracted the other's attention. Straining in the dark to hear something that he couldn't, Arley wound up straining his eyes as well. Though he had better low-light vision than most humanoids, he still couldn't see anything, and none of it did his hearing any good.

When the door opened suddenly to his side, Arley chirped in surprise and jumped aside. Once the dimly lit other corridor was open and beamed visibly in the relative darkness, the ever-curious scavenger had something new to look at. He was timid about entering, but anything is better than wandering in the dark. In very little time Arley was inspecting the far wall. Like Melek, he had noticed the various stains and disfigurements of the wall.

In no time at all, Arley was inspecting a patch of wall opposite the door. Sniffing, touching, occasionally licking, and continuously rubbing his cheek on the wall and the stains, Arley did his version of a detailed investigation. After a moment when he both licked and rubbed his cheek on a particular section, the scavenger pushed himself away from the wall violently. As he stood, he had a nasty look on his face, as though he'd just experienced one of the most disgusting things he'd ever encountered. He looked up at Melek as he was vigorously trying to clean his muzzle.

"Bad-taste, bad-spit. Deathblood. Greasy-oil. Sickmaking bad. Blaster boom-mark."

[Veren Gal]

*Melek took a moment to translate from space-rodent to Basic. Arley was saying there was blood and mechanical debris. If those stains were blood, then someone didn't have a good day. They were definitely lost somewhere. Melek decided to head right and walked that way, looking for anything that would help them out. He did find an intercom station but it wasn't working. Further down, they ran into a dead end. Another blast door. Melek hissed in frustration, looking around for any possible way to bypass the door.*

"You think the other side is safe?"

[Arley]

Once confronted with yet another blast door and Melek's question, Arley turned to look down the way they had come. Still trying to get the gross taste out of his mouth, the little rodent shrugged.

"Can't go this-way, no. Go other-way, you bet."

He turned and went back the way they had come. When they passed the patch of wall stains, Arley crouched down to look at them again. His large dark eyes traveled down the wall along one of the dark drips — of blood or oil it couldn't be told — down to the floor. He hopped along on his haunches as he inspected a bunch of scratches on the metal floor.

"Looket! Metal-scraping marks. Hmmm… scratch, scratch…"

Arley traced the deep grooves in the floor with a finger. Eventually he got up and continued down the hallway. It was darkened down at the end, but a light from a side suggested the hallway turned. The scavenger's progress was slowed considering the suppressive effect recent discoveries had on his curiosity. Still, he ventured into the darkened hallway; what else was there to do?

As he rounded the corner into the lit area of adjoining hallway, the furred sentient stopped in his tracks. On the floor along the hallway were a pair of still forms. He dashed back into the dark and grabbed Melek, whispering in a hushed version of his usually comical voice.

"Quickstop! Dead things sleeping mebbe? Shhhh…!"