so, where is the Duke, anyway? (part CLIII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part CLII.)

Eventually, they all had something that fit, at least save the Duchess. Who frowned at the round vintage pistol she held. She wasn't even sure it would fire underwater.



Briggs looked puzzled. She shrugged. "The one gun I KNOW I have is fairly useless--Derringer-sized palm pistol. But I have been rated to carry it."

Briggs looked dubious. She didn't blame him.



"Duchess, can you keep an eye on the scanners, please? Take us in, Briggs."



Emilly pulled out her pad, watching. "Readings are...confusing. I can pick out the ship parts. I think. But there's...organics down there? I thought Hiro said the crew was rescued?"

Justine mused, "The organics could be the hostiles, or the...well, it could be the cargo."

Laurence asked, "What exactly were they transporting down there?"

"We don't know," answered Emilly. "The cargo was classified."



Laurence offered, "So what if the threat and the cargo turn out to be the same thing? God only knows what they were transporting. What are our rules of engagement if that does turn out to be the case?"

"Our mission is to neutralize the hostiles and retrieve the cargo," Justine replied, somewhat unhelpfully.

"Understood."

STAN's vaguely mechanical voice came over the gunship's speakers. "Additional intel and new secondary objective. There appears to be one survivor still on the ship. Passenger was not on manifest."

Emilly rolled her eyes again. "Oh, great."



"Hold on, here we go!" And with that, the Varyag dove beneath the waves. The crash site was barely visible through the murky waters of Dark Sea when the ship came under fire. "Retreat, retreat! What now?"

"Forget the guns, we need someone with a nuke," offered the Duchess.

John replied grimly, "I got artillery."

"Is the Prometheus in the area?" Emilly asked.

"Yeah, that one," said the Chief. "Ask Hiro, it's got big orbital cannons on it."

Justine nodded. "Okay, Briggs, head to Gearhaven and set up the artillery. Laurence and I will get you coordinates."

Emilly looked up from the scanners, alarmed. "We have bigger problems. TOTS is moving."

A mechanical voice came from her pad. "Core Computer: Ten seconds to core failure. Core Computer: Nine..."

"Damn it, ship, slow down!" cried Emilly. She unbuckled and flung herself into the cargo hold, opening the ramp, following the out of control remnants of TOTS.

(Continued in part CLIV.)