Dr.NES - The DOOM Project: The Sapphire of the Sea

[bestshot9]

Yuri:

@Ulysses: "Aye, mate, that sounds good. I assume you would prefer I use my shotgun when we commence the assault? And, would anyone care to join me in a quick nip of vodka before the assault?" *He pulls his bottle of vodka out of his pack and offers it to the assembled team members after taking a quick swig himself.*

 

[tuxedohamm]

@mod:
Once all teams going below deck 4 have departed, I will proceed to Deck 3 and set up a camera watching Deck 3 Stairs. Deck 3 cam will be my primary focus on my HUD at all times, unless I have reason to watch other cams. Though, I will check the other two cams (Deck 4 stairs and Deck 5 stairs) occasionally.

 

[germanicus12]

Sarge:

Send out a call on the radio, do not claim any major problems, just a radar malfunction due to the expanding ice fields, we are just interested to see what kind of shipping traffic we have within a certain circle around us, say.... a days travel from us. (Basically a check up call, let other ships know we are here, let us know they are there, their approximate positions and ship name.) Making sure we do not run into each other in the night, a message of that nature will always prompt a response, regardless of who the ship belongs to, no-one wants to crash into another in the icy waters of the Antarctic. Do not send a distress call or request assistance at the moment.

OOC: I just want to get an understanding of who is nearby and what kind of ships they are and should the need arise, figure out which ships would be most suitable to contact for towing. Radar can only scan so far, and with growing ice may be undependable.

A typical message could be:

(Insert ship designation here, whether it be S.S or Cruise Liner) Sapphire of the Seas requesting the position and direction of travel, of ships within 100 miles around (insert ship's current position) as our radar is malfunctioning due to ice fields.

 

[Dreadnought]

Alrighty. If anyone wants to add anything to their orders for this turn, you should do so at this time; if not, I'm going to begin the update process.

 

[hbar]

OOC:

I can't wait to find out what we're fighting. I literally had a dream last night that the hostiles were 4 foot tall anthropomorphic cats that were forcing the passengers to give them belly rubs.

Please, please let that be the case.

 

[Vertinari118]

OOC: Seriously Dreadnought does a sniper rifle only take up one slot? I mentioned in the OOC section of my last post that the AI Magnum should be changed back to a P229. I can only assume it is because you updated my stats using the original equipment list I gave before I found out the mission was on a cruise ship. I would also suggest other people, who have picked up or dropped stuff, double-check their inventories.

Finally, as Delta fireteam have run out of time to pick a leader, Youriy is the leader of Delta fireteam, and thus team Echo, this update. Delta fireteam can elect their own leader or keep Youriy after the update but right now team Echo needs a 2IC (Assistant Squad Leader or XO might be more familiar to any Americans) to lead them while I'm leading Golf.

 

[Dreadnought]

OOC: Seriously Dreadnought does a sniper rifle only take up one slot? I mentioned in the OOC section of my last post that the AI Magnum should be changed back to a P229. I can only assume it is because you updated my stats using the original equipment list I gave before I found out the mission was on a cruise ship. I would also suggest other people, who have picked up or dropped stuff, double-check their inventories.

Finally, as Delta fireteam have run out of time to pick a leader, Youriy is the leader of Delta fireteam, and thus team Echo, this update. Delta fireteam can elect their own leader or keep Youriy after the update but right now team Echo needs a 2IC (Assistant Squad Leader or XO might be more familiar to any Americans) to lead them while I'm leading Golf.

You guessed it. I used the wrong sets of stats. I'll fix it.

 

[Dreadnought]

Recon Team: You find that the entrance to Engineering is heavily fortified and barricaded. How do you proceed?

 

[Terrance888]

I want to note what you mean by fortified and barricaded: is it nailed shut by wooden/metal boards? Does it have barbed wire or firing ports?

 

[Dreadnought]

I want to note what you mean by fortified and barricaded: is it nailed shut by wooden/metal boards? Does it have barbed wire or firing ports?

Without giving too much away, its been fortified by random pieces of furniture or equipment, though it doesn't seem precisely constructed: there aren't, for example, small holes for gun barrels.

 

[Terrance888]

Scan it quickly for booby traps, then edge near it to try to hear if there is anything on the other side.

 

[Vertinari118]

Ulysses signals the following orders to the team:

"Obey standing orders. Fall back. We are not the assault team."

However, he does not move to stop Wilheim's attempt to hear what is going on the other side of the barricade.

 

[Terrance888]

Bill inched closer, watching for any booby traps. He got to a close proximity and scanned for any hostile movements, wires, or anything out of the way.

Seeing none, he leaned closer and slowed his heart rate, listening or anything that might be helpful and using his assassins training to focus on the task ahead.

OR

Seeing some, he notes their positions while slowly backing away and signalling Its Trapped. However, he still tries to focus on any other clues or sounds from this not quite close distance.

 

[Dreadnought]

Update III – Intervention

Date Unknown
Time: 0321 Hours.
Location: The Sapphire of the Sea​

“OUR MINDS ARE FINITE, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite ...”

Cautiously and hesitantly, a single individual crept down the deck's hallway, checking each door and corner as he went. The entire deck was quiet at this hour; even the late-night gamblers and party-goers had returned to their rooms before this time.

The desolate nature of the deck, plus the events of the previous day, cast an eerie aura upon the once-jubilant cruise ship; yet, in spite of all the recent occurrences, there had been no alarm sounded, no state of emergency declared. He had thought this same sequence of emotions several times in the recent hour: was he the only person on the ship that knew what was happening?

He had informed his superiors about the situation. The mission had been compromised for indescribable reasons, he said; he needed to be extracted immediately.

His superiors declined the motion. He had been sent there for a specific reason; he needed evidence so the case may be filed. He needed hard evidence.

So, in desperation, he decided to make one final, decisive maneuver to end this fiasco.

His video camera was filming as he crept down the deck, going from door to door. He hesitated twice, freezing in place as he walked; like a child in the dark, his mind conjured the most gruesome and grotesque of images, occurring around the next corner or in an adjacent room.

No, he told himself; I must continue onward.

He approached....
heard, around the corner....
he backpedaled...
fumbled for...
gone...
the door...
“Excuse me,”...
duck tape...

The camera was dropped, bouncing slightly once before coming to a rest; the device continued to record, before moving once again – grabbed by someone else.

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1811 hours.
22 Hours into the mission

“This is Ulysses. We're cleared to move. Maintain radio silence and do not, under any circumstances, give away our location. Over.”

Ulysses turned to the other operatives in his unit. Each face displayed the same emotions: Determination. Firmness. Focus. Relaxation time was over – each soldier now realized that they were entering hostile territory. Whether it be in Afghanistan or Antarctica, each operative understood the magnanimity of the mission ahead. Armed hostiles below deck with hostages. They were in this for the money; but, when combat looms ahead, each mercenary is similar to his combat relatives in the Marines or SAS or GRU. They understood that bloody work was in store. Each of them possessed a silenced weapon, and each was familiar with stealth-infiltration tactics.

Ulysses motioned for the team to head downwards.

Upon arrival on the third deck, the team noticed nothing different than their previous journey here only a few minutes ago. The deck was surprising calm, with no signs of a ruckus or disturbance; at the same time, it was completely deserted of any human beings.

Gull shivered slightly. Damn, he thought to himself. It's getting cold down here.

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1825 hours.
22.5 Hours into the mission

“Have you found anything?” Sarge whispered to Birch as he paced on the bridge.

“Nothing of significance,” Birch replied, “but then again, it is several hundred files...”

“Keep looking,” Sarge instructed. “I'm going to use the radio.”

Captain Garry stepped forward. “That won't be necessary.” His eyes shot from Sarge, to Jarkko, to his crew mate, then back to Sarge.

Sarge pointed his finger towards the Captain. “I don't friggin' give a damn what you think is necessary.” He turned towards the control panel and tinkered with the radio controls before raising the receive to his lips.

“This is The Sapphire of the Sea. Our sensor equipment is inoperable due to ice growth. Please come in. Over.”

Sarge paused for a moment, awaiting a response. When none came, he repeated the transmission. “Please transmit your location. Over.”

Sarge waited another moment before returning the receiver to its stand. Turning to Jarkko, he muttered, “Well, look's like we're on our own.”

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1910 hours.
23 Hours into the mission

Deck 3 had been thoroughly cleared before the recon team moved further downward, towards Deck 2. There had been no individuals detected in any location on the previous deck; each room was completed devoid of anybody.

The team backtracked towards the bow stairs; those were closest to the infirmary and presented the easiest escape route in case of an emergency. Silently they passed downwards, further into the abyss, with the silence of ebony shadows.

Ulysses was first down the stairs, and thus the first to meet the second deck's official greeter:

Her unmoving eyes, wide yet dark, cast a vigilant guard upon the stairway; Ulysses halted the progress forward as he gazed into those hypnotizing eyes. Though she was dead, her gaze still held a horrific and an unfamiliar power upon him, like something alien or otherworldly. He was a veteran of many engagements, but he had never seen any corpse as captivating as this one.

He motioned to the others. Ready yourselves; hostiles possible.

With the utmost of silence and discipline, Ulysses cleared the left side of the stairway's entrance, while Yuri cleared the right. The immediate area blow the stairway was secure, with only the corpse inhabiting the area.

With the area secure, Ulysses motioned for the other two members of the team to move forward and secure the two hallways that run adjacent to the stairway lobby. With the signal to proceed, Gull and Josip left the stairway silently and took their position along the walls on either side of the stairway entrance.

Gull motioned back to Ulysses. Area secured.

Ulysses and Yuri now proceeded in the next phase of this “frog hopping” maneuver. They both slid next to the wall opposite Gull and Josip, and crept towards the nearby corner to view the port and starboard halls.

Ulysses neared the corner, and prepared to peek his head around the corner...

...and that is when he first heard the gunfire. Fully automatic firepower echoed down the hall, with bullets smashing into the corner and the wall behind him.

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1801 hours.
22 Hours into the mission

“Spooks, are they armed?” Doc Jensen whispered silently as he peered towards the new arrivals on the deck.

“Not that I could see,” he replied, “though I didn't linger long enough for a thorough recon.”

Kincaid shouldered his weapon momentarily before speaking. “Well, I guess we should go talk to them. Spooks, I'm looking at you. We need to ascertain whether they are friend or foe, and if they have information we will need to procure it.”

Doc Jensen nodded. “Kincaid and I can provide cover from here if need be. Just don't do anything stupid, Spooks, and you'll be fine. This is right up your alley, you know?”

Spooks sighed. “I know how to do my job, thanks. I'll appreciate any cover you can give, should things go sour.”

Kincaid checked his weapon. “Ready whenever you are, Spooks.”

Spooks turned the corner confidently and nonchalantly and began to stroll down the hallway towards the newly recognized individuals. As he approached, he noticed that these people were not armed; instead, they appeared just as normal vacation-goers would, with their stereotypical clothing and demeanor.

They first noticed Spooks when he passed the central elevator lobby. As they turned their gaze towards him, he raised his hand in a friendly gesture of greeting. The other people did not return that gesture; instead, the stared blindly back at him, neither moving nor speaking.

Spooks motioned back to the others. They are not armed.

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1912 hours.
23 Hours into the mission

Ulysses immediately and instinctively drew back as the gunfire erupted, crouching low a few feet from the corner. The weapon continued to discharge, sending bullets crashing down the hall. The gunfire was woefully inaccurate; bullets hit both the corner itself, and the wall behind it, and Ulysses could hear other bullets colliding against the ground.

Once the first shot was fired, Ulysses impulsively began to count the number of times the weapon was fired. He had to estimate a bit; after all, he had not expected any enemy fire, considering he hadn't even turned the corner yet.

The gunfire continued in a nearly-automatic state for a few seconds before pausing. For a split second, Ulysses double-checked his mental math, before deciding that the weapon's clip had, indeed, fully discharged.

With haste that can only be gained through unfathomable experience, Ulysses rounded the corner and brought his gun to bear. He saw an individual standing erect amongst a group of four corpses; that person was fiddling with their rifle as they struggled to reload.

Congnitively determining this individual to be the hostile, Ulysses quickly aimed his weapon towards the person and fired a round. However, his motion had been too swift, and the bullet missed wildly.

Ulysses changed his posture. He aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger smoothly and calmly. In striking juxtaposition to the loud noise of the hostile's weapon, Ulysses's rifle displayed no noise other than a slight popping sound. The bullet left the chamber and struck the hostile in the leg, causing him to collapse to the floor; as he fell, Ulysses took a third shot, which struck the man in the back.

“Hostile down,” he whispered. He turned to the others. “There is no fuçking way he could have seen me. The recon has been compromised. We must move swiftly.”

Yuri nodded. “There were no cameras or motion sensors; at least, not that we saw. We must move out, unless we want more hostiles firin' at us.”

With increased momentum, the team moved forward, clearing the Second Deck. With the will of a stoic, they monitored each possible location for a hostile to be hiding; but, much to their surprise, the deck contained no more enemies.

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1833 hours.
23 Hours into the mission

Birch motioned to Sarge. “Hey, I think I've got something.”

As Sarge moved towards the computer screen, Captain Garry stepped forward discretely in an attempt to eavesdrop. As he moved closer, however, he was met with Jarkko's hostile glare; with this show of force, the Captain lost his resolve and moved back to the wall.

Birch pointed at a specific area of the screen. “Look at this. In the past I've done some work tracking immigrants – you know, passports, visas, that sort of thing. Looking for illegals, basically. Now, look at this. This guy's a new employee to the cruise ship business, as you can tell by his file, but see this: he's been slated to work on this ship's next cruise as well. That is, he's scheduled to continue to New York after this cruise. But look at this – his paperwork hasn't been authorized to enter the U.S.”

Sarge lowered his eyebrows. “He's a stowaway, then?”

Birch shook his head. “I don't know.”

“How many of these type of men are there?”

“Two so far, but I'm going to start searching by these parameters, so if there are any more, I'll find them easily.”

Sarge patted Birch on the back. “That's what you're here for.”

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1912 hours.
23 Hours into the mission

Doc McCoy stared at the blood stain on the walls in the room, moving between the smear on the floor and the marks on the wall itself.

Roger popped his head through the doorway. “Got anything yet, Doc?”

McCoy shook his head. “Nothing. I have no idea. I've heard all the ghost-story Aztec sacrificial stories so far, but...I still have no idea what, in reality, is going on here. I could be...”

Before he could finish, he heard a blast of gunfire echo through the ship, firing bullets with automatic speed not far from his location.

Instinctively, Roger ducked behind cover and pointed his weapon towards the Infirmary entrance. After a few seconds of automatic fire, the gunshots ceased.

Roger only moved nearly a minute after the weapon noise ended. Turning to Doc McCoy, he whispered, “You might have to come up with a thesis soon, Doc.”

Doc McCoy agreed. “Our recon team must have met with some resistance.”

Roger shrugged. “I have no idea. One thing's for certain, though. With the sound of that gunfire...well, I'll be damned if that weapon had not been a Kalashnikov.”

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1913 hours.
23 Hours into the mission

Rita and Mia returned to the stairway after escorting the civilian to the infirmary. Their intent was to return to the fifth deck to continue the scouting of these lower passenger areas.

Mia whispered to Rita. “So...you are zhe sizter of Arnold and Gabriel?”

Rita nodded. “Yes. We're a family. We always have been, and we always will be.”

Mia smiled. “How did you manage to remain togezer on missions and such? Wouldn't Corporate split you up to prevent...awkward situvations?”

“Well, there was that problem at first. But, when we proved...”

Before she could finish, the lights in the stairway were extinguished simultaneously and universally. Pretending their small talk had never occurred, both women raised their weapons and aimed at opposite directions in the stairway.

“Zis is Mia. Ve lost power in zhe stairway. Over.”

Sarge was the first to respond. “Bridge has lost power as well. We only have emergency lighting. How is the infirmary? Over.”

“This is Doc McCoy. Infirmary is secure, but without power. Over.”

* * *

June 24, 2012. 1922 hours.
23 Hours into the mission

The recon team, having cleared the second deck, proceeded downward, crossing the final flight of stairs before emerging on Deck One.

Without lighting, the team reorganized its formation, utilizing the night vision goggles present in order to maneuver in the low-light conditions.

Moving with the elevated levels of concern, in order to avoid another firefight, the team managed to reach the lobby of the first deck. There were two directions; immediately forward was a long, skeletal passage used to move employees across the bow and stern of the ship; behind them was Engineering.

The entrance to engineering, however, could not be secured. Gull and Yuri secured the long hallway, while Bill and Ulysses determined that there were no traps or explosives rigged to explode. The team tested opening the door; it would not bulge.

The door itself was in miserable condition. In spite of the fact that it was constructed with metal, the door had been damaged in several locations, with both denting and other marks etched across it.

Bill moved his ear closer to the door. Closing his eyes, he tuned out any other noises, whether they be the breathing of Ulysses or the rhythmic beat of his own heart. Holding his breath, he focused exclusively on the other side of the door.

He heard nothing but the low humming of machine equipment. Turning to his radio, he muttered. “This is recon. Entrance to engineering secured. Over.”

 

[Dreadnought]

Update is up.

I'm going to update this post in a little while with relevant information; please enjoy the update in the meanwhile, and begin posting anything you may require.

Sorry about the delay; Thursdays are particularly nasty for me. I hope the update makes up for it; if not, tell me where I can improve!

Feel free to ask questions about things that already occurred; for example, recon can ask about deck two even though they are now on deck one

 

[thomas.berubeg]

OOC: there is something creepy going on, I know it. I keep thinking zombies while reading, but... who knows. Regardless, great update.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

OK, folks, we need to get power up again. That should be our Number One Priority: We're going to freeze down here without heating... and, It's very hard for me to do my work of saving your lives if I can't see.

 

[bestshot9]

Fun update, Yuri shall clear the way!

 

[Vertinari118]

"Assault team, you are go. Move directly to my position. Be careful minor resistance was encountered on the way, on Deck 2 to be exact. However, remain alert as your team is larger and will attract more attention."

OOC: Given prior DOOM Neses, zombies is one logical conclusion. However it then becomes a game of bluff with Dreadnought. Let's react to available information

 

[Seon]

Interesting reference to Duc'k' tape there...knew I should have brought more