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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1698136" data-attributes="member: 515">From her cabin, Martha works on getting the filters to clear the air in the afflicted areas. After a minute or so, the air in engineering has cleared enough for Martha to see that the mines remain where they were before. It’s hard to make out details, but the iris valve mine appears to have a rough front edge and no blinking light. The top of the second mine (presumably pointed towards the rest of port engineering) still has a blinking light on top. Martha doesn’t see any shadows being cast from the port fuel processor hold. Martha relays that information to the others. "Whoever or whatever that was seems to be hiding," she adds. "Internal sensors aren’t indicating another presence anywhere in the ship that isn’t one of us." -----Ian and Swann confer briefly about their next course of action. Fortunately for their continued life expectancy, they don’t find any of Martha’s tools in the cargo bay, but do spy a mass of cargo netting. Ian grabs the cargo netting, Swann opens the iris valve, Ian throws the netting inside, and Swann closes the iris valve. -----As the cargo netting sails into engineering, there is a flash of light and a very loud bang, and a similar cloud of powder/gas fills port engineering. Again, the ship’s filters take about a minute to clear the air. Now Martha sees both mines without blinking lights. She still doesn’t see any shadows being cast from the port fuel processor. "The second box is no longer blinking, gentlemen," Martha reports. "Still no sign of our intruder anymore. Be careful going in." -----Ian makes sure his mask is secure, readies his gauss pistol, switches off the safety, and nods to Swann to open the iris valve. When it opens, he looks across the corridor first to be sure no one is there waiting. He then enters. Swann thumbs off the safety of his autopistol and steps through the iris after Ian, first pointing his gun upward to check if anyone is lurking above. Before entering port engineering, Swann pauses for a moment and shakes his head sadly at the turn of roles. "Now wait a second, shouldn’t I be the one sneaking onboard to lift something and then trying to evade capture?" he thinks. Ian and Swann cautiously enter port engineering. Ian notes that the second mine has its front blown out and appears inert. Swann sweeps the area towards the rear of port engineering, but doesn’t spot anyone. The two then slowly approach the entrance to the port fuel processor smuggling hold with weapons drawn. -----Meanwhile, Kevon sprints to his cabin. As he rounds the corner near the port passenger airlock, he spies Vasilii’s wild eyes and wavering hand cannon. Vasilii seems to recognize the new pilot in time, and manages to avoid firing on the commander. Shaking his head and muttering under his breath that he needs to have a talk with his cousin, Kevon heads into his cabin to don his cloth armor and grab his shotgun. About a minute and a half later, Kevon goes to and opens the starboard passenger airlock and steps outside. He carefully descends the stairs and tries to spot any intruders. He doesn’t see anyone on an initial scan of the area. "Bridge, Holland. All clear so far," he reports over his comm. "Continuing to investigate the area." -----From the bridge, Vargas has been monitoring the situation and trying to spot anyone exiting the far trader. He hasn’t seen anyone leaving or anyone in the berth area. -----Saro gets back to his cabin, pulse starting to quicken, and throws his robe onto his bed. Grabbing a handy coverall, he slides it on and then grabs his portable medkit. He pauses a moment to put on a pair of boots before heading back to the bridge to rejoin Vargas. Slightly out of breath, he asks, "What's going on? Anything new happen? Is anybody hurt?" "Nope, we're still five-by-five as far as I can tell. I’m worried that we’re too spread out and disjointed though. Kevon is the only safety net we’ve got at the moment if someone is on board and gets by us here. Maybe we ought to call the local enforcers?" Vargas thinks about that for half a moment before pulling up short mentally. "Whoops, scratch that. Not with what we’ve got aboard." -----Vasilii remains watching the iris valve leading to the port cargo lock and the low berths beyond. The iris valve remains closed. -----Ian and Swann find that the smuggling hold is empty save spilled water, a number of crushed and loose Star Flower tree leaves and small branches, a fair amount of blood (at least 10 cc), and a wet, note–sized, rectangular paper envelope labeled "To: Mr. Vasilii Kugiikishshi" in elegantly flowing dark blue cursive. There is no sign of the large humanoid that was casting the shadows that Martha saw. -----"Guys, I think we should do a full sweep of the ship, and check on everything. I’ll run a computer sweep, to see if any entries have been made in the last few hours, just in case." Martha gets busy checking out computer logs, keeping an ear open for the comms or the computer’s anti-hijacking software, in case someone should locate the hidden intruder. -----Outside, Kevon completes a sweep of the area around the Bray Keaven. He doesn’t spot anything out of the ordinary other than to note that both fuel scoops have been covered with welded–on hull plating. -----On the bridge, Saro and Vargas continue to monitor the progress of the rest of the crew and the area directly in front of the Bray Keaven (mainly the berth passenger and vehicle/cargo doors). -----Martha does a full computer sweep checking all anti-hijack/intrusion logs as well as checking to see if she can detect if anyone has been fiddling with the computer system. A couple minutes searching reveals nothing unusual and no traces of how the intruder entered port engineering. </blockquote>

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