2020-08-30: Sealab2020 1A Bottoms Up

Bottoms Up 1A
While on a simple cruse, the Voidship Integrity is attacked and dragged to the bottom of the sea. The crew split up; half to go out side and try to repair communications, half to remain inside to try and stop the flooding. This is the inside log.
IC Date	August 30th, 2020
Players	Albright, Eden Huxley (ST), Midge, Winters, Vivian Starr (as NPC_Angela), Zelazny
Location	Aboard the VEC Integrity, near the Mariana Trench
Prp/Tp	Sealab2020
Spheres	Weaver

After a long two weeks in space for more exercises and drills, the crew of the Integrity finally comes back to Terra Nova; nestling in the ocean at night to avoid unwanted attention. Most the crew is dead tired, resting in their berthing as the ship meanders on autopilot throughout the ocean current.

'Beep...Beep...', the ships radar detecting something but the object is just too fast. 'Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!', as the the radar chirps and screams. Suddenly the VEC spins on its axis as if brushed aside and dragged at an angle. Something has hold of the ship as it shifts and rocks under the water. Red lights begin flashing as the crunch and crinkling of metal is heard, alarms going off as interior pressure of the ship rises.

Eventually, all hell breaks loose as a ballast tank ruptures - sending a deafening explosion and waking up everyone on board if they weren't already. Sea water begins flooding compartments as whatever had the ship, let go during the explosion. The integrity sinks. Plated metal collapsing as outside depth and pressure builds and builds, the groaning and echoing screams of the ship almost intolerable as members trying sealing space/water tight doors from the flooding. It feels like minutes or hours - being in the dizzying tail spin as they take on deep sea water. Then that gut hitting feeling as the entire ship rocks again, practically upside down as they hit the oceans floor somewhere.

---

It had been a rude awakening for Isaac (aka, Zelazny). Thrown out of his bunk from the initial jolt, to then have that mad dash to try to seal doors and make sure the ship did not crush like a tin can from the immense pressure outside. And then.. thrown ass over head from the ship hitting the floor, he sits up, "Fuck.. hell! Baby, no!" he touches the wall of the ship, "We're taking in water! FIND THE LEAK! SEAL IT! Or we're dead!" he yells out, to anyone that might hear. Not really very good at being the XO! He leaps into action himself, toolbelt making a noise as he rushes to try to repair the breaches.

---

A brief expression of panic spreads over Angela's features as the ship lurches and she freezes in shock, tucked away in her bunk. The cessation of activity only remains for a moment before the Void Engineer is scrambling to a nearby console and her hands are rapidly moving over the keyboard, eyes darting over the screen. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no!" she squeaks as each 'oh no' rises in octave, "This is bad! BAD! Very bad!" Her body being rocked back and forth by the spiraling throws of the flailing Voidship, Angela struggles to make her way out of her cabin and into the corridor, trying to make her way to one of the emergency sealing bulkheads and its associative console. Maybe some sections of the ship can be sealed remotely without the need for welding?

---

Dr Albright awakens to the chaos going on. The first thing she does is grab her glasses and slide them on, then gets her lab coat. She takes a moment to do up her hair like normal, then putting on a pair of gloves. She then grabs a medical bag and checks to make sure she has everything she needs. It is only after she makes sure everything is in order does she finally leaves the room to see what is going on.

---

Midge is startled awake, the sound of the alarms puts confusion and irritation in her eyes which turns to fear as she realizes whats happening. Stumbling out into the hallway and hastily donning her glasses she rushes to join Zelazny. Her ears pop and she grimaces. "Stay calm," she says as a useless gesture but she is looking for the breaches in their new prison.

---

"Guys! Can you hear me!" Isaac yells out, even as he forgets he should probably use his comms, "I am heading for the Engine room! Someone get the Cargobay! SEAL IT UP!" he is running down the central corridor for the engine rooms. From there, he can access the consoles he needs to either emergency purge what needs to be purged, or seal any internal leak. He does not wait around. The ship was built for space, not the depth of the sea (he makes a mental note to fix this if they survive).

---

"The computer is fucked!" Angela screams in both panic and frustration. Uselessly (and rather pointlessly), she smacks at the console when the machine helpfully tells her that, hey! -This- room is flooding! Thanks so much, computer! She wastes a little more time to glare at the computer before turning away and looking around the corridor again, trudging through the rapidly increasing water level. At least anger is better than mind-numbing terror. "What can I use, what can I use..." Biting her lower lip, the young VE suddenly focuses on an air vent near the floor. As rapidly as she can, Angel races through the corridor, trying to find the environmental controls. Maybe she can jury-rig them to pump some of the water away?

---

Eden doesn't look happy one bit, yet she quickly arises and watches the chaos unfold. Zelazny is off with tools as the captain hits some alarms off, everyone should be awake or know they were a bit fucked. She speaks on the intercom's. "Now, we are in a tough spot right at the moment. Preliminary reports have us taking on water fast. Either we get it fixed or we are walking home from the bottom of the ocean. A lot of our external sensors are damaged, to include our antenna. We can't hail for help. Also we can't just fix the ship from the inside, oceanic pressure will keep springing a leak. Some of us will have to go outside and fix this. I'll take the risk but might new a crew member. Get your deep dive suits ready, oxygen tanks on standby. This is not a drill. God be with you.", clicking off coms and rushing back to her exoskeleton and deep dive suit.

---

Dr Albright slowly looks the place over as she moves through the ship. Rather than being super calm, it might be more accurate to say she is just slow and taking things at her own pace. As she doesn't know much about welding the ship walls she makes her way over to where the scuba gear is. "Is there anyone wounded? What do we have to do outside?"

---

Albright, Midge, and Eden head outside. Zela and Angela will stay inside and try to repair.

---

Having found the environmental controls, Angela pulls out a small set of tools and opens the access port. A small logic probe with a jumper wire is used, causing a tiny short and a whiff of ozone to puff from the interior. "Override. Override, goddammit!" Angela mutters to herself, eyes flickering from her work on the open panel to the readout screen above, "I don't give a damn how 'not recommended' this procedure is!" Finally, the machine seems to acquiesce and the vents in flooded sections begin to gurgle and pull in sea water. Angela lets out a sigh and calls out to anyone listening, "I think I bought us a few minutes evacuating some of the flooding. But it won't do any good if we can't get this tub sealed!" She then makes her way towards the Engineering section to help out Zelanzy.

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Eden says, "... Albright...Dr... flooding..."

---

Zelazny, upon having reached the Engine room, starts hammering away at the consoles. He quickly realises he can do jack all from within here, "Fuck, shit.. this is some really Dangerous shit." he mutters. He then turns and begins to rush for the cargohold, pulling out his plasmatorch as he does. On the way, he encounters the 'Recruit', Angela, "Cargohold! Help me weld the door shut! Its taking on water and I don't think we can save that shit right now!" He then taps his ear..

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Zelazny says, "Boss!... taking on... am... the... We're losing... though. Can't be..."

---

Winters was knocked unconscious from the initial rumbling and thrashing of the ship, waking up in his berthing with a bloody head wound (2 bashing damage) and a flooding space. The ship was upside down on the ocean's floor, crew scrambling to weld doors shut and deflood spaces. Zelazny finishing with the cargo bay and trying to protect the engine room, while Angela pumped water back out the ship.

Elsewhere, Eden took Alice and Midge to go check the external hull and try to repair comms. To hail for help in case things went wrong. Everyone working together to not die at the moment.

---

Angela skids to a halt on her way to Engineering, seeing Zelanzy coming the opposite way. "Ruh-right!" she stutters, stopping only briefly to grab a plasma torch as well as some bulkhead patches before heading off after the other Engineer as quickly as she can. "How much pressure can the superstructure take before we get all implosion-y?" the young woman asks worriedly as she enters into the cargo hold and moves to assist in patching up the leaks.

---

With a grumble and groan, Winters is introduced to 'ship life' in the best way possible. Getting knocked unconscious. He'll stagger to his feet on the ceiling of the ship and stagger to the doorway, to pull himself up and through the open door to escape his flooding compartment. He'll turn, seal it before triggering comms.

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Eden says, "Stepping out."

<S.O.N.G.S.> Winters says, ""... Where... needed?""

---

Isaac (for Winters, that is Zelazny) is welding the door shut with Angela. To her question, he looks to her with just a light grin on his face, "Let's just say.. if the ship does not hold up to the pressure, you won't have to worry about the answer to that question." he explains, "If it holds up? Then you're safe!" he shakes his head, "It looks bad right now, though. We have to secure the hull. If it buckles, we are screwed for sure."

---

With the hold sealed up, Isaac looks to Angela, "Ok, we have to start surveying the ship. We have three outside already. I'd love to be out there and see what the hell is broken, but we can't all leave. So.. grab a scanner and head to the bridge. Start checking the hull. I will do what I can from Engineering. We have to start repairs from inside as much as we can." he pauses, "Alternatively, I go out and someone outside go in.." he taps his ear. He speaks into it.

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Zelazny says, "... me... someone... should... Not... where its.."

---

Angela does not grin in response. She merely winces. "Wonderful," she mutters, shaking her head. Still, no use worrying over things you can't change. If the hull fails, it fails. She concentrates on her work, going over Isaac's welding job and making sure the welds are secure. Perhaps not the best use of time, but one wouldn't want them suddenly springing a leak again. Having done that, the young woman straightens up and tucks an errant lock of wet hair behind her ear. "Okay. Okay. Scanner, get to the bridge, got it," she says, turning around and shuffling wetly off to do go just that.

---

The back of Winter's hand brushes blood from a wound that'll be sealing itself up sometime soon. He'll catch the tail end of 'scanners' and pluck one up to do the same sort of thing. At least operating these things is something he can work out. "Survey the ship and report back. Got it."

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Dr Albright says, "... just saw something really..."

<S.O.N.G.S.> Eden says, "Something...a bite... The Integrity must... confused for..."

---

On the bridge, Angela's eyes stare at all the readouts and consoles. On the bright side, some of them are still operational. On the other hand, they're all -on the ceiling-. Heaving a sigh, the young Engineer begins to awkwardly climb up on the surfaces, slipping a few times as she pulls herself to examine one of the consoles. She frowns and wedges herself between two structural members before poking at the console. "Dammit," she murmurs, moving to press one of the wired interior communication panels designed for just such an emergency like this. "Engineering, Bridge. Things are bad here. A lot of the control surfaces are still operable and have power, but we're obviously upside down. More bad news: the ballast tanks are complete toast. I could try and purge them, but, y'know... they're basically -gone-. Is it possible to reroute the piping to another tank? Maybe to one of the oxy tanks?"

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Midge says, ".. something... here!... are not alone...."

---

"Bridge. No, no rerouting. We need those tanks. I'll try to get into the tanks and repair the damage, to stop the leak." Isaac replies, "You get to looking over the structural damage. I'll deal with the tanks." he then makes sure he has all the tools he needs, along with a PADD for computational needs. He secures the padd, to then start for the tanks. Time to get wet! Not that it will bother him too much. That Ionic cloth of his is really a marvel in technology!

---

The ballast tank is shot, it looks like an exploded fire cracker with shrapnel around the room. Also there appears to be red bloody water and some kind of organic tissue everywhere. The room does need deflooding, but with only one ballast tank working on the other side of the ship. They were dead in water and unable to really steer or correct themselves. It would be difficult and a bit stressful, but the hull and burst pipes could be repaired if he worked fast enough to not drown.

---

"Understood, Engineering," Angela replies, "I'll see if I can get a more thorough damage report. I really hope the ballast tanks are not as badly damaged as it seems from up here." Having said that, the young woman maneuvers awkwardly through the upturned bridge, towards another console displaying the structural integrity.

---

Wading into the room, Isaac blinks for just a few moments, "What the f.." he begins, "..what the fuck is this?" he exclaims to no one at all. The room, basically, "We weren't transporting biological cargo!" he looks slightly horrified a few moments. The ship then moves and makes a sound, "Oh, shit! Baby, hold! I'm coming!" he then starts for the worst tear, grabbing his plasmatorch and getting to work!

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Midge says, "Its got... its... me Oh God... got... leg!"

Comms have now been restored!

<S.O.N.G.S.> Midge says, "Its got me, top side, get over here!"

<S.O.N.G.S.> Eden says, "Fuck, we're coming, Midge! Integrity... come in Integrity. We got a giant RD down here. Use the energy cannons or something and shoot it off us. It thinks we are a meal!"

The ship jostles as it's dragged across the ocean floor...

---

Angela lets out a sharp squeal at the sudden groan and shudder of the stricken Voidcraft, bracing herself tightly against the structural members. After a rapid heartbeat pause, she exclaims, "Oh, -fuck- this." Moving with determination, the young Engineer clambers her way over to the engines console, looking over it from the upside down. Yeah. This should work. It -has- to work. It's better than being crushed at the bottom of the ocean at least. Taking a deep breath and furrowing her brows in concentration, the woman begins imputing commands into the system that controls the engines. She jams her finger into wired intercom again, "Ship, be advised: I'm going to start the engines and use the plasma backwash to vaporize and evacuate flooded compartments. Hold on to your butts."

Taking another deep breath, Angela activates the engines. The complex series of commands spin up the engines, a rising hum heard. Power building, building...

And then there's a whine as the power goes away, just a small portion of the water flooding the vessel having been expunged. Angela blinks and activates the command string again... and the same thing happens. Either she screwed up or the engines are that badly damaged. Or both.

"... Well, fuck."

---

Things are happening. Comms are on the fritz and then working. But once the comms are working, Isaac wishes they were not! Because, apparently, shit is out there! Bad shit! And his crew! Well, he can't really focus on that now. He's working his ass off, getting the rupture sealed. And that sense of urgency is paying off, because his repairs kick off super fast.

---

His /stuff/ is in berthing! His vintage Iron Maiden poster, and his nylon cd folders! Perhaps the least pretty welding job is occuring as Winters gets his feet drenched. Tacky but suitable welds line large steel plates pulled from wherever. One patch even has the table legs still attached and pointing out from the wall like a hazard.

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Eden says, "Integrity we have a living Kraken trying to drag us into the Mariana trench for a meal. Please remove it - it also has Midge!"

The scraping and teetering of the Integrity only grows worse...

On the weapon cams for the particle beams a Goliath of a creature is ensnared and wrapped around the Integrity. A portion of its beak is missing, likely blown off from biting into the ballast tank accidentally. It's eyeball is twice the size of Midge alone as it lurches it's body and tries to pull its meal into the vast depths of the Mariana Trench. If the ship falls down there, it's extremely unlikely the crew would survive the pressure or the ship could be rescued without them dying.

---

Isaac has no idea whats going on! Only what is said over comms. Once he is done with repairs, though, which he did lightning fast (pats own back), the energetic Technician then hooks the plasma torch to his belt. He turns and starts to wade for the door, "Shit, shit, shit. This is so not cool." He begins to power on through, trying to get to the bridge.

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Zelazny says, "Talk to me guys! Boss? Midge? Whats going on!"

---

It is then that Angela manages to catch a snippet of the Horribleness Happening Outside. Her head whips to the weapons console and she hurriedly climbs her way over to it. "What the hell...?" she asks, staring with a mix of confusion and horror at the camera, "You gotta be kidding me! A giant squid?! Why are we being attacked by a giant squid?!"

As Winters arrives on the bridge and comes over to the weapons console, Angela moves out of the way, biting her lower lip and winces as the guns fire, but not too effectively. "Lemmie help!" she exclaims, wedging herself against the bulkhead again as she takes the auxiliary firing control console, "We need this thing gone!"

---

Winters made it to the bridge and has to account for the command consoles behind...well up instead of down. He is standing on something that had fallen to reach the controls and is canting his head around to try and make tails out of heads and heads out of tails. The first shot was /really/ just for calibration. HONEST! Now he can 'kentucky windage' the offset of the targeting systems after their damage and lay rounds into the side of this KrakenOfNoRemorse.

---

The kraken was not expecting particle beams to the face, the cannons searing its flesh as it retreats and eventually drops Midge. The creature falls back into the darkness of the Mariana Trench, leaving everyone uncertain if it was truly dead or just wounded. Waiting to come back once recovered.

At some point Eden and Dr. Albright help recover Midge and she's released from the monster. It appears they might be heading back inside to help Midge recover.

<S.O.N.G.S.> Dr Albright says, "It released her and seems to be retreating for the moment."

<S.O.N.G.S.> Eden says, "Midge is safe, unconscious though. Going to be bringing her back. Me and Dr. Albright will fix the rest of the hull. Someone stay on the guns for look out and hopefully all is well inside."

---

Isaac arrives to the bridge just as the party is over. Well, sort of over. Heading into its second inning! With a brief intermission as the beast retreats. He stumbles on to the bridge, since it is upside down, in a way of having to sort of crawl through the opening. As he does, he rambles out quickly, "What the heck happened? What was dragging the ship? And who fired our weapons under water?"

---

<S.O.N.G.S.> Eden says, "Also call for help, S.O.S. - Lets get additional assistance with comms now working."

---

Angela lets out a sigh as she sees the Kraken finally retreat, falling away into the abyss the young woman running a hand through her damp hair. "O-okay, that's dealt with," she says, peering at the video feed, "And it looks like the others are coming back." She looks to Isaac as he appears on the bridge, offering up a somewhat sickly smile from her awkward perch between structural members, "We were attacked by a giant squid if you can believe it. We fired the weapons at it. It fell down the Trench, hopefully it's dead." A beat. "Overall, a pretty crappy day."

---

It takes time dropping Dr. Halima off and letting the Integrity crew check on her, she was constricted and crushed unconscious (5 bashing damage). It could of been a lot worse, however Eden and Dr. Albright go back out into the grim dark water and spend the next two hours working non-stop on conducting the repairs and welding the hull shut. Eventually returning and looking exhausted.

The S.O.S. was sent out and in about an hour the Integrity gets a response, "VEC Integrity, this is Project: Deepwater. We can see your position and that your in distress. Unfortunately we couldn't help you with Big Judith running about out there. Seems like you scared her off. If she remains gone for awhile, we will send aquatic rovers to come pick you up. You are about two miles away. Roger?", the transmission ends.