*Action* - \"Spilling its load\" pt2

Who: Captain Jed, Phil Febuggure, Rosette, Andy Roos + Efof
Where: Starbug 24
When: A few hours after the Captain announced the mission
<OOC – if you want your character to be here just assume they came
along but have kept quiet so far>
The Starbug lifted off shakily, two of Efof's four arms clutching the
steering column firmly whilst the other two were jabbing buttons and
turning dials. One would have thought that Efof's extra arms saved
time when flying, as it allowed him to operate more controls at once –
but unfortunately he only had two eyes, and only half a brain, so his
brain switched between different functions and he almost forgot what
they all were.
He was tuning in the radio whilst flying down the runway, and didn't
notice himself veering the ship to one side, scraping a few greebles
off the exterior of the ship. Phil sat next to him and cleared his
throat loudly to catch Efof's attention and get his eyes back to the
task of flying.
Efof grinned cheerily, in attempt to ease Phil's worries that he did
know what he was doing, although Phil's face remained unchanged. The
woes of the his recent family crisis still praying very much on his mind.
Jed climbed into the cockpit from the back. "Fly this boat straight
goddammit – what do ah pay you for?"
Efof didn't turn round and felt Jed's angry stare burning into the
back of his neck. He didn't want to argue with the man who was in
charge of his paycheck, Efof was on a low enough wage as it was, and
he was saving up for a new TV.
The Starbug followed the vapour trail left by Jed and Rosette's
shuttle all the way to the abandoned freighter. They found it alone in
a sector with no nearby planets, or terrain of any kind. Just inky
blackness all around. It felt so cold and empty.
The damaged freighter hung in the vacuum of space, spinning ever so
slowly, with a trail of damaged cargo leading from a massive hold in
the side of the ship. It looked like a christmas cracker, leaking
rubbish toys and fragments of party hats out into space. Efof did
wonder if there was anything of actual value on the ship, maybe that
was why a clean-up crew hadn't come yet to salvage the ship? But if
there was nothing of value why had the ship been attacked in the first
place?
Efof felt a cold shudder down his spine. Something didn't add up.
Jed however was very enthusiastic. He loved salvage missions, for him
it was like going to a supermarket where everything was free. But
hopefully without Dale Winton. The only thing holding you back on a
salvage mission is what you can carry. But the Starbug had a large
space for cargo – so Jed hoped on bringing anything of value back.
Efof pulled their ship closer. They got a good luck at the jagged
edges of where an entire section had exploded. It had been done by
someone/thing with considerable force.
Jed leaned in closer to the windscreen and peered into the huge hole.
"Look at all that booty inside, mysterious... ours." He was about as
excited as an old lady at a jumble sale, hunting for that special
piece of tat that would make his life complete.
Phil felt uneasy. He knew what they were doing wasn't exactly "legal".
Even though this ship had been damaged, the cargo did technically
still belong to someone. And they wouldn't take too kindly to it being
stolen. The idea of 'salvage rights' was a bit of a gray area.
It was agreed that the damaged area wasn't a good place to land, so
they agreed to circle around the ship to find a better place. As Efof
lifted their craft upwards and around the large tanker, they saw
something unexpected that made everyone in the cockpit gasp for breath.
A large SpaceCorps ship faced them, as if staring down at an animal.
"Geezus!" Said Jed, letting off that he was nervous about being there.
"Look. If anyone asks we're just checking fer survivors right?"
It was well known that instances such as this many people would seize
the opportunity to steal from an abandoned ship, so the SpaceCorps
took heavy action on scavengers. If you were lucky you'd get taken to
court to prove your innocence, if you were unlucky you'd get a
military-grade missile up your tailpipe.
Phil and Efof nodded. Then Efof took a second look at the sleek
military ship. "Actually... I think we're alright..." he flew to the
left to reveal a large hole in the side of the military ship. "They're
destroyed too."
Things suddenly started to feel more dangerous. The SpaceCorps ship
was a manouverable and powerful craft, armed with the most up-to-date
weapons around. Whatever beat it in a fight would be able to destroy
their small Starbug as easy as killing one of those small black bugs
that stick to yellow t-shirts in summer.
Jed still wasn't put off. He saw this as a good sign. "A SpaceCorps
ship checks in with command every two hours, an' it'll take another
hour fer a rescue ship to git hyar." he said. "We we's have usselves
three hours."
They landed inside the large tanker and climbed out, each clad in the
lumbering spacesuits. The cargo area was vast, and the team lined up
looking at the vast sight of four decks-high towers of plastic boxes.
"C'mon." Said Jed. "Don't jus' stand there gawping – there's surely
somthin' in one of those boxes that's useful."
The crew started opening up crates, but if any of them had been
looking at the cavernous hole behind them looking out into the
emptiness of space, they would have seen for a fraction of a second a
second ship flying past the wreckage. Another team of scavengers.
<OOC – So what happens next? There are no plans for this bit, so
whoever posts firsts gets to say where the story goes. If you find any
of the injured crew, they won't know who attacked them, and also the
other scavengers could be any anyone, gelf, alien or human.>