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The hydrolics groaned in protest as the armoured bulkhead door slowly opened onto the exterior anteroom of Oderwerft's Dock One. The Rheinwehr soldiers within snapped to attention as the new arrival was revealed in the dim glow of the emergency lighting. Wearing a simple sanitized field uniform, the only indicator of the Director's rank was the small golden pin on his collar, and the armed guards that surrounded him.

Letting his eyes adjust for a moment, the director looked at the junior officer leading the quarantine troops on this deck. "Herr Leutnant," he nodded his acknowledgement of the man, but did not wait for a reply: "The quarantine is in full effect, ja?" The man nodded nervously by way of response, falling into step behind the director as he strode down the corridor toward the access hatches that led to the Archer Class ship sitting in the dock beyond.

Arriving at the bay's primary control, he Direktor wordlessly approached the console and busied himself tapping in a series of codes. Almost immediately the control center's screens flickered, the Quanartine Warning message disappeared and was replaced with the Buro's logo. Checking the displays Speer was pleased to see that the logs confirmed the quarantine remained in effect. "Gut, nobody in our out. Systems feed is stable, all command and control functions rerouted to this station. We can begin."

Turning to the group around him, he issued his orders in rapid staccato, not waiting for acknowledgement before moving on to the next officer. "Gut. Leutnant, double the guard on the external permiter and all adjoining hatches. Agent Sellers, there is an antechamber there," he pointed at a bulkhead door opposite the dock's disembarkation point, "set up a secure interrogation room there. Tiebe, speak to the station manager and arrange for a nearby cargo bay - transfer the necessary analysis equipment from my ship so that we can begin analysis of hardware as soon as possible."

The men wordlessly went to their work, while the director looked around the group, seeking out the Daumann representative quietly standing aside, unsure of what to do. Pointing at him, gesturing that he should come closer, the director's tone softened: "You are the Daumann representative Herr Mannlicher appointed, ja? Please assist these gentlemen with whatever they man need to carry out their orders. I must also remind you this matter ist eine Streng Geheime Staatsache - not a word to anyone." Glancing toward the embarcation point, he smiled as comfortingly as he could. "Now, I must ask you to vacate the quarantine area, danke."

As the various officers took to their tasks, the group around the director had shrunk to just a few armed guards, an agent and an officer of the Rheinwehr. The director addressed the two men directly: "Herr Klaus, Herr von Potsdam, you two gentlemen will conduct this investigation and report to me your findings. First things first: Potsdam, reports indicate the presence of at least twelve escape pods in the Seattle's primary cargo hold. They are not to leave the ship, I want them burned on site, ashes contained and prepared for shipment to a black site. Klaus, contain the crew - I want a full manifest, and a rundown of all damage to the ships systems and hardware. I will speak with Herr Webb. After that, both of you carry out a by the book Code Black Investigation. Ja? Ja. No excuses, get it done."

The director led the group toward the access hatch as he spoke. Quickly entering an override code, the gangway lit up, door slowly hissing up to reveal the access hatch of the Archer Class Cruiser beyond. He paused briefly to adjust his uniform before crossing the gangway and entering the ship, looking for the welcoming party.

Klaus moved together with the taskforce, with the director right ahead of them. He wasn't too happy about this incident, and would keep a dead look in the eyes, moving on calmly with his hands behind his back and said with a rough tone:

"Gott, I wonder what awaits us now. And there was me thinking I've seen them all, but, that's foolish to say."

As he proceeded to enter along with his colleagues, he looked around inside the Archer, amazed yet in the same time not. So far everything went according to plan as expected, but, of course, noone knew what was waiting on the other side of the next door. Klaus nodded as he waited with the Director and the others:

"This greeting party of theirs should show up soon, after this whole incident it would be rude of them to be late, wouldn't it."

Webb was rather unfamiliar with Rheinland, he was never there before, however he certainly noticed the rapid response of the authorities there.

Knowing that he's in a rather...bad situation, he wasn't certain that he and the crew, along with the vessel could return to Liberty without any further problems.

When the officers from the Military, and their specialist organizations have arrived at the door, which now was connected to the docking bay's access hatch, leading into the ship, he sent his Lieutenant. Nora Blackburn, to greet the Rheinland personnel, and told her "Lieutenant, there is no need to hurry, try to take your time, I need to contact a friend I can trust."

The Lieutenant, along with at least 5 security personnel, went to greet the delegation, and also sent some personnel to assist the Rheinland clean-up personnel in any way they can, she also adressed the crew to stand-by for scanning in case any possible infections and similar.

Nora's team was about 3 minutes late, however nothing too noticeable. As soon as she arrived at the door, which was pressurized after successfully attaching itself onto the shipyard's access hatch several minutes ago, she stood formally, and was preparing to greet the delegation.
She opened the door, and said:"Good day, we've been sent by the Captain, we're here to escort you the bridge when you'd like, however first, perhaps an introduction is in order, if you don't mind, I am Lieutenant Nora Blackburn, it's a pleasure to meet with you, despite the rather...inconvenient situation."

Director Speer looked the Libertonian up and down with a his signature cold analytical gaze, already subconciously taking inventory of the crew's behaviour and bearing. Offering his hand, he greeted her: "Guten Tag Leutnant. I am Director Speer," indicating the two officers flanking him he dispensed with the introductions swiftly, "Sonderagent von Potsdam of my agency, and Flottenkapitan Gerwald Klaus of the Rheinwehr." He did his best to offer her a reassuring smile - a task he was ill suited to. As his lips curled back, his cheek sunk and the cybernetic reconstruction of his lower face caused his visage to twist into a nightmarish grimace. His tone, however, was gentle: "I'm certain you are feeling out of your depth, but I can assure you these men are amongst the best, we will carry out our duties with as little disruption as is possible."

Without turning around, tone hardening into a practiced bark of authority, he snapped his instructions. "Four on duty here, four with me, the rest of you with von Potsdam. Comm lines open at all times, Code Black Proceedures at all times." He directed his attention back to the young officer standing in front of him. "Now, Fraulein, if you'd be so kind as to point Herr von Potsdam in the direction of the cargo bay, I am ready for you to take us to meet Kapitan Webb. Lead on."

The first meeting went better than the young Lieutenant expected, however despite her age, she has seen her fair share of "adventure".
The Seattle was present at Manhattan, when a major Nomad fleet decided to invade New York, this event has made it into one of the LPI's public announcements.

Nora saw that the delegation is not kidding around, she understood why the Captain was so nervous.
After the introductions were made, with a warm smile she said: "Director Speer, Agent Potsdam, and Mr. Klaus, a pleasure to meet you." After this, the smile was gone, it was obvious that she was about to get to the matter at hand, and she did.
Taking up a formal position, she started to answer the request made by the Director: "Very well, first, allow us to at least direct Mr. Potsdam to the cargo bay, then we can proceed to the Bridge."

"Agent, the cargo bay is this way." She started pointing at the hallway in the direction of the cargo bay,"The cargo bay will be at the end of the hallway, but be advised, we haven't checked inside since the whole incident, I recommend you exercise extreme caution, I'll ask the 2 guards at the cargo bay door to assist you." she asked the 2 security personnel at the cargo bay's door to escort Potsdam and the Agent's escorts.

After that, she gave a warm smile again, and looked at the Director, "Well then, Director Speer, the Bridge is this way, but please let us proceed slowly, this part of the vessel was hit quite heavily, some of the electronics are still acting funny."
The Lieutenant started to escort the delegation, and as they entered the hallway that was leading out of the access hatch, it was quite obvious that the Lieutenant wasn't joking when she said that part of the vessel is wrecked.
All kinds of hardware were malfunctioning, circuits being torn off, and overall flashes and interference from the general electronic equipment, "The rooms in this area of the vessel were already checked, they are secure, however your clean-up personnel are welcome to investigate them if they deem it necessary."

With that told, they reached the start of the hallway that was leading to the Bridge.
Despite the distance, it was noticeable that the Bridge's doors were closed, however that is standard procedure in case of the possibility of boarding.

Klaus was grateful that the lieutenant arrived, finally he can get going.

Guten Tag Fraulein.

He said as he grabbed her hand, kissed it gently, and moved on

So, since all this hardware is going nuts, I suppose the captain isn't, ja?

Klaus said, showing a bit of worry in the face, but still remaining doubtful on the inside. He continued to walk with the Director and lieutenant as she led the way to the bridge.

Direktor, may I interrogate der Kapitan, if du will?

He was very eager to investigate him, he wanted to show off his capabilities, and that it is no joke when having to deal with the Rheinwehr.

The director had quietly acquiesced to the libertonian's request, letting her lead the team through the ship to the cargo pay. Decades of experience, training and suspicion were already subconsciously categorising the crew's behaviour and the ships condition. The officers deliberate attempt to delay them did not go unnoticed, but everywhere they went their words were confirmed: heavy damage, failed systems and entire sections of the ship still venting into space. The Seattle truly had taken a beating out there; he hoped against hope that would be the end of the damage, absent the human component.

They had arrived at the cargo bay without incident, Agent Potsdam and a dozen agents were more than enough to deal with the pod. At this stage such operations were almost routine; nonetheless a sharp reminder of the seriousness of the matter had crossed his lips before they had once again departed, leaving the teams to their work. For a moment he remembered his first days in the agency, when he still thought it somehow cheap to kill their enemies still sealed within escape pods, but the less risk was taken with infection, the better.

As the small group proceeded toward the upper decks and ultimately the bridge, he refocused his mind on the captain. Ensuring the de-contamination process was carried out without hinderance was the main priority. They soon found out the lieutenant was quite correct about the dangers of the ship, passing dozens of systems that were smashed beyond recognition, and arcs of electricity still sparking aimlessly around the metal hull. Here and there they passed an emergency bulkhead, beyond which mangled metal opened onto space. At each stage he made a mental note of the damage, but those repairs could way until more urgent matters were tended to. The director was quite content to leave the repair to Daumann under the auspices of the Rheinwehr officer with him.

"All areas will need be checked Leutnant, but I am pleased to see your crew has taken important security steps", he nodded at the closed bulkhead they were approaching, beyond which lay the ship's bridge, "it makes our work that much quicker." His tone was clipped as always, but internally he was somewhat relieved seeing the bulk of their security intact. The captain had clearly reacted quickly; Speer mentally called up the limited file that had been compiled on Captain Webb. The Rheinwehr officers words cut through his reverie; the director responded without turning, instead fixing his gaze on the libertonian lieutenant, indicating that she should open the door. "Of course Klaus, I will speak with the Captain first, after which you will carry out the standard Code Black debriefing procedures with Webb and the remainder of his crew." Again without turning to face them, he indicated for two of his guards to stay here at the bridge access corridor, before turning back to the libertonian officer. "Two here, Wachtstation C. Give instruction of decontamination teams and security teams to begin boarding and stand ready to begin. Now, Leutnant, if you would be so kind, I think its time we proceed."

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