Aboard the Providence

  The Providence returns to reality.

  As soon as it does, Dell powers the ship down and begins a deep scan of the area. He does low-frequency analysis first; he knows too well that burning radar is an easy way to get someone's attention. Like before, he only finds one faint signal: broken words hidden in a static fog. He ponders if it's automated; no organic voice would be able to go for this long without resting, and if they didn't rest, Dell figures he'd be able to hear some difference in tone.

  "Hyaline... need … the Eliza has lost... Doctor..."

  The words are still a mess, but they're coming through more frequently. Dell changes the channel and slowly begins to power the Providence back to full. He approaches the signal he assumes is the Eliza. As he does so, he turns on some music; a soft synth wave starts playing over the speaker as he steps out of the cockpit. He walks down to the galley, pulls out a glass stein, and fills it with ice-cold water that frosts the glass. He chugs it halfway before filling it back up again and taking it along. He sips on it some more along his journey back to his seat, tail swishing back and forth behind him.

  He returns to his seat, places the water in the cupholder, and starts cycling through his scopes, trying to get a better view of the ship they're approaching. After some adjusting, a colony freighter comes into focus on the screen to his right. Eliza is written across the port side, the dull maroon superstructure, and the detachable modules running across the hull are bold white.

  There is another ship, one docked along its port side. A boxy freighter that Dell can't identify, although it looks as lifeless as the Eliza. As he switches his scope to scan for rads, both ships emit low levels of Ion, which is normal for ships dead in the void. As he switches to heat, both are damn cold, the boxy freighter completely powered down, while the Eliza's engines are just alive enough to keep it on course.

  Dell does one last check, which is a radar sweep of the immediate area. It's risky, but all it returns is the Eliza and its boxy friend, which causes Dell to feel more curiosity rather than concern. He feels this isn't a set up for an ambush; he can comfortably rule that out now. 'Were pirates involved?' He ponders. Part of him thinks so; looking at that boxy, unmarked freighter gives him an itch. The fully black paint job that would blend into the void gives him a feeling that whoever was onboard didn't want anyone seeing him coming.

  He tries scanning the boxy freighter, but his scanner can't even lock onto it. That concerns him, all ships should have colors associated with their Liminal Array, which should be easily picked up by his scanner. The lack of return means either the Arrya is off, or, his scanner is getting fooled. It could be pirates, but he can tell through the scope that the freighter is too nice, to well maintained to be a pirate vessel. It leads him to another conclusion.

  "Fucking corpos." Dell growls.

  Flying a boat without an ID Tag is an easy way to get fined at least and perhaps get boarded by station security upon docking. Even pirates flew ID Tags, although they were often counterfeit or false flags. Only ships that had a lot of money, enough to pay any fine and bribe any boarding patrol, would risk sailing without an ID Tag. Which means they have money to pay fines, which means they have a corp backing them.

  Domitia steps into the cockpit, leans over and looks at the screen displaying the two ships, "Who's it's friend?"

  "No idea. Doesn't even register as a ship."

  "That's a problem," Domitia observes.

  "You're telling me." Dell replies, flips the screen off, and starts the approach to the ship, "I'm going to guess this was some sort of corpo deal gone sideways. We oughta be careful."

  "We're still getting that distress signal?"

  "Yeah, it's getting stronger; my guess is he's one of the few people left alive." Dell looks up to Domitia, "Honestly, I don't think we should fuck with this. Gut's telling me we're walking into some serious shit."

  "Can't think of a worse fate than to be left to die in the cold void alone," Domitia states, "We should help, within reason, of course."

  "Alright, I'll see about getting us on board."

  Guiding the Providence closer to the ship, details of the Eliza become clearer. Scans of the vessel reveal that the hard-light shielding is barely functioning, only covering key modules of the Eliza. What's more interesting is the lack of activity; a vessel that big would have people moving around and lights turning on and off. None of that is happening. Instead, Dell finds most of the visible windows are dark, and the few lights he can see are emergency lights. As they get closer, the voice finally comes over fully.

  "This is Doctor Ruger Hyaline, a researcher for Lazarus Biotechnical! I am in distress! Pirates have boarded our vessel, and we're dead in the void! If anyone can hear this, please respond!"

  The sentence confirms Dell's suspicions about it being corp shit. Lazarus is a pharmaceutical giants, making every drug under the stars. They only have a few competitors, but their wonder drug, Brass, put them on the stage. A combat designer drug that helps Augs, persons with cybernetics, sync better with Augments. Favorite among big cyber-heads and mech pilots who need that edge. It also turns you into a hyper-aggressive junky and may even kill you if you try to go clean, but hey, a small price for some folks.

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  "We wanna respond?" Dell asks his partner.

  "This is Doctor Ruger Hyaline, a researcher for Lazarus Biotechnical!" The voice repeats almost perfectly, "I am in distress! Pirates have boarded our vessel, and we're dead in the void! If anyone can hear this, please respond!"

  "Is it automated?" Domitia asks, leaning forward a bit to hear it better

  "That's what I'm trying to figure out," Dell adjusts the volume, really trying to listen. "Do you hear him breathe at all?"

  "No."

  "Ah, what the hell, we're here." Dell then flips his mic on: "This is Dell Calliger piloting the Providence. We picked up your signal. Are you still kicking?"

  "If anyone--" The voice pauses, "Oh! Oh, thank God! Finally, someone heard me!"

  The voice speaks in almost the same exact tone as the message before. There's no laughter of relief, no sigh, or catching of breath. Hearing the voice puts Dell on edge a bit.

  "Listen! I need assistance. I'm trapped in my quarters, and I need your help." Hyaline explains, "I need help activating the Liminal Array; something is preventing me from transmitting."

  "You can use ours if you need to call--"

  "No, I can't, no!" Hyaline cuts Dell off, "Listen, it needs to be through a secure channel; I can explain once you're onboard."

  Dell looks up to Domitia, raising an eyebrow. Something's off, Dell thinks, this guy wants help fixing his transmitter. Liminal Transmitters are not exactly Dell's expertise; that's mostly due to LCS making it damn near impossible to repair one without a company-sanctioned tech. More often than not, getting a Transmitter working is witchcraft out this deep in space.

  "You said you were trapped?" Domitia asks.

  "Yes, yes I am!" Hyaline says, "Damn doors locked, probably something to do with the security lockdown. If you can help me clear that, I can restore my access to the ship! Get you where you need to go!"

  "Hmm," Domitia mulls it over.

  "Listen, Doc," Dell starts. "I understand you need to send your SOS to your big bosses, but we need to know what we're walking into. Are there pirates on board still? I see this unmarked vessel is still attached."

  "Yes! Yes, that blasted thing! They managed to trick our systems into thinking it was a tender ship. Sul, our captain, let it come aboard, the bastard."

  "Yeah, yeah, it sounds dumb, but you didn't answer my question," Dell reiterates. "Are there pirates still onboard?"

  "As far as I'm aware, a few of them are kicking around. I think something happened to their ship. I don't know, though. I've just been trapped in here ever since the lockdown started." Hyaline explains, "Please, every second we waste is another I don't have. The life support is down, I have to conserve air, and I know carbon levels are rising in my cabin. There's a lot of money in it for the both of you if you help me, I swear it!"

  Dell switches the mic to mute. He then hops atop the back of the chair to be at Domitia's eye level. "What do you think?"

  "Might be a trap," Domitia answers simply. "Could also be legit. Might've just gotten lucky."

  "Stranger things have happened," Dell looks through the cockpit glass at the imposing shape of the Eliza, "Could also be a big payday."

  "Doesn't make sense," Domitia scratches her chin. "Pirates rarely operate alone. And if something is wrong with their ship, why not repair the one they're stuck on and take it?"

  "Could just be a matter of resources," Dell guesses, "Engineering might've taken a big hit. Pirates don't have the kit to fix her up, so they're stuck until their buds show up."

  Domitia mulls it over. "Let's play it cautiously, then. We'll do a deep sweep of the ship to see if we see any indicators of weapons or personnel, and then we'll go on board."

  "Good idea," Dell sits back down. "You better get suited up then. I'll prep the way for our date." Dell then unmutes the mic. "Alright, Doc, we'll come aboard. Just give us a second to scan your vessel."

  "Why?! I'm the only one left on this damn thing!" Hyaline asks, vexation in his words.

  "It's a big ship; I'm sure you still got a few neighbors poking around; just keep yourself entertained." Dell then mutes the mic, "Fucking asshole."

  The scans of the Eliza hint at a battle that has long been over. Dell picks up trace amounts of ion rads, more than likely a byproduct of weapon discharge. The hull integrity is also failing, with multiple breaches and leaks indicating that the life support bought the farm. That worries Dell a bit, typically when the hull starts to fall apart the rest of the ship tends to follow. He doesn't want to be on board when it all comes crashing down.

  However, the things that are missing tell an interesting story. Dell only picks up the Doc's transmissions, which is expected but Dell didn't find any other short-wave transmissions. In most cases, careless pirates will leave internal wireless comms on so they can easily talk with one another. These radio waves, while encrypted, still show up under a sweep, but the lack of any signals indicates one of two things. Either they all died, which seems unlikely, or they're operating while on strict radio silence. While not out of the ordinary, it'd be odd to enforce that on a ship that is presumably under your control.

  "Are you still scanning?" Hyaline impatiently asks. "Shake a leg already! The sooner I get that SOS out, the better."

  Dell weighs whether or not he should unmute the mic to bark at the Doctor, but instead, he decides to hone in on that signal. Something had been bothering him, an itch in his ear every time he heard the doctor. His words, his pronunciation, how he never heard him ebreathe. It gave Dell flashbacks to the joy toys on his home rock, Gia Locke.

  He ends up finding the Docs location, rather easily in fact, he's not even bothering to try and hide his location. He's toward the stern of the ship, right under the observation deck. If Dell had to guess he's probably in and around what might be a habitation unit, probably his quarters. He makes a mental note on where it is.

  "God damn it! We don't have it all day! Would you mind hurrying up!" Hyaline demands, "Not getting any younger."

  Dell flips the mic back, "Keep your suit on doc," He decides to test him a bit, "Wouldn't want you running through your O2."

  "Yes... yes I should be worried about that," The tone of voice shifts as the Doc speaks. Dell reads it as either being a realization of his current situation, or him now recognizing a piece of the lie is a bit out of place, "I shall try to contain myself. But you must understand, I've been stuck here for sometime now, I'd much like to be rescued."

  "If that's the case, you can hitch a ride with my partner and I. We'll drop--"

  "That won't be necessary," Hyaline is quick to interject. "Simply aid in repairing the Array, and I'll be rescued in short order. I promise. There's no need to stick around."

  "Right." Dell looks the ship over, his scope honing in on an open airlock. I'm seeing an open airlock on the starboard side. We're gonna make our approach there. Copy?"

  "Yes! Yes, copy! I can direct you two once you're onboard. Security is toward the center of the ship, which is good! It'll mean you'll be on your way to the array!"