Into The Belly

8.3.5 SW
Afternoon SW-CP-Local Time
East of Crowning Point > Wombwood

There was no room to land the VTOL near the ship, but the road ran west to east from the Crowning Point settlement through the Wombwood and out toward the mines. Saygin figured he should be able to land the VTOL on the forest road about a quarter mile away from the ship.

Like the expert he was, Saygin skillfully maneuvered the Lotus VTOL through the air lowering it almost vertically with a slight rotation to miss the outlying branches of some of the trees that hung over the road.

It was going to take a few minutes to walk to the ship’s position from here.

Saygin equipped himself with an NSG and the service pistol. His partner, Malloy, he had worked with before, but only knew the man by the name printed on his uniform. Malloy carried a .357 and a 12 gauge.

The walk was steady going as Saygin and his partner moved quietly through the great Wombwood and after a bout 5 minutes they reached the clearing. Above them towered the massive, port side, engine pod of the Mantis. Beneath the cockpit was a heap of something they couldn’t yet make out.

"I can't see that pile moving as of yet, so it can wait. Let's keep to the edge of this clearing and move toward the stern. I want to get a better look at the hull, try ta figure out why she landed all the way out here..."
Saygin said.

Malloy grunted in the affirmative and pulled the shotgun off his shoulder as they began walking through the underbrush towards the stern of the massive ship.

There wasn’t much too see on or around the stern of the ship, but as they came in view of the starboard cockpit viewport, they noticed there was a pretty large hole in the glass paneling that hung angled on the floor underneath. The pile beneath the ship seemed to be composed of shards of twisted glass, like it had melted somehow and fallen to the ground.

"That rubble almost looks......melted. What the hell can melt hull plates?" asked Saygin as they drew in closer to the twisted pile.

"You're the pilot." grunted Malloy.

The uppers he had chewed for breakfast had Saygin's anxiety piqued. His eyes were narrow slits as he looked around in jerks and jolts, feeling like the air was buzzing around him.

Malloy stomped briskly straight towards the pile, to get a closer look, seemingly unfazed by the odd sight ahead of them. Saygin followed behind in a sort of excited zig-zag.

The two man security team saw that it was indeed a pile of melted, twisted glass. It looked hard and unnatural. There didn’t seem to be any residue of whatever caused the damage.

The ground a few inches circling the pile was clear of all organic life. No grass or conifer needle. As if the grass had been burned away. Looking up, they confirmed that there was indeed a large hole the size of an adult in the glass viewport.
They had no comms channel information or knowledge of the ship’s handle. The landing ramp and all cargo doors were all sealed closed but it would be possible with the right skills and equipment to hack into the ship.

Not seeing any other means of entry, Saygin decided to use his SSDD to hack the cargo door nearest the damaged viewport. It was a bitch hacking into the ship's security, but Saygin didn't give up. He was able to bypass the lock of the ship's ventral elevator, rewarded by a 'kerchunk' and the whine of mechanical servos and pistons as the it lowered down. The two men boarded the elevator and went up into the belly of the Sotillo.